Dragon's Egg - Act II

[Ireth]

A full night's worth of rest leaves me feeling much refreshed. I wake to the smell of cooking meat and Baldhart's cheerful singing. "Bore da, everyone. Assuming it is day." It's impossible to tell time down here. We could be sleeping the day away and moving at night, for all I know. Oh, for a glimpse of the stars again...

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

"Morning, evening, night, afternoon… who knows? I was thinking after I wash up, I'll make some bread and then what do you say we head to the surface?" The sleepyheads must not have heard… "…for berry-picking! I need to learn to appreciate the taste of Goodberries, now, and believe it or not: I'm a better gatherer than I am a huntress."

 

[Keitsumah]

I frowned, curling up in a tighter ball with Batos when the wolf stirred and looked up at Baldart. "Don' wanna . . ."

A sharp nip brought me awake with a yelp, and i glared at Batos before i remembered where i was, and then blood rushed to my face from embarrassment.

"Umm.. yeah. Maybe I could get Batos to sniff out some blackberries." I mumbled, still sleepy and trying to hide the fact that i was rubbing the spot the wolf had nipped. He could be very persuasive when he wanted to be.

Snorting, Batos heaved himself up and padded over to the pile of bodies again and quickly gulped down several large chunks as I gathered up my belongings.

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

I not to Keit, then wash Branwen's face. "Who's a dirty girl? Look at that yucky face! Bleah!" I wash my hands—though I have to wonder how clean this water could really be—and heat the bread.

I offer a piece to everyone, saying names as I offer. "Keitsumah, Mauve, Sir Cadell, Aliron, Darin, Ankari, Sir Matthew…" I make sure everyone awake is offered a piece. Once all the people have their chance… "Branwen." I wonder if she likes bread. Normal birds do, even birds of prey and scavengers. I serve myself last—"Baldhart"—and say my name as I did the others. Maybe Branwen will know us all by name if we keep this up enough.

As I eat *chomp* I tell Keit, "You know what? I never heard of a wolf *chomp* who sniffs out berries. But then I suppose a druid's pet *chomp* would have to know that sort of thing. We could definitely use *chomp* the berries for healing, Keit. That harpy cut you pretty bad. How's that wound of yours?" *chomp*

 

[Ireth]

I smile and thank Baldhart as I take the bread, and eat gratefully. When Baldhart mentions Keit's wound, I glance over at them, remembering the healing spell I found, Perhaps it would do me good to practise it on Keit before a real emergency, just to find out what it does. Thank goodness healing spells don't have a corruption hazard.

I swallow a mouthful of bread and brush crumbs from my lip with my stump. "I found a spell that might help you, Keit, if you're willing to let me practise on you."

 

[Nihal]

I glare at the noisy elf woman. We just woke up, it's still morning... or night... maybe afternoon. My stomach rumbles when Baldhart offers me the bread.

"Oh, thank you! I'll bring more wine next time." I take a generous bite, listening to their talk and swallowing the big chunk when Cadell mentions a spell. "Spell? When? Where? Can I see it?"

 

[Ireth]

"One moment."

Holding the bread between my teeth, I open my pack and retrieve the hollow bone, uncork it and pull out the healing spell. I hand the parchment to Mauve between my thumb and forefinger, then take the bread from my mouth. "It's just a list of instructions and a name. The effects aren't described."

 

[Nihal]

"This is no didactic material; when you are writing for yourself, you can skip the explanation. So... well..." I frown, examining the parchment. "Can you help me with this? I have never dealt with elven magic. Oh, after you help her, of course."

 

[Ireth]

I smile and nod. "Of course. I think the more of us who can heal, the better."

I look back at Keit, awaiting her response. I won't try to heal her if she doesn't want me to. We will hopefully have Goodberries soon, after all.

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

"Are all of us heading to the surface, then? I can row and take two trips if need be."

Baldy! The boat!

"Oh… and all this talk of magic reminds me: Rydh and Algy took the boat, but Nissa can fly across with a torch and tow it back. At least I think she can. It might be a good opportunity to test her scouting ability. I think we should get a rope so she can pull the boat while she flies. Somehow, that seems easier than pushing. I've never flown, so it's just a theory.

"If it's too far for her to fly both ways in ten minutes…" I look at Mauve. "…one of us is skinny dipping." I remember not to discuss corruption. "It can be me. I am trained to swim long distances, and Nissa would at least get across one way, so I'd know there's nothing hostile waiting for me." I watch the snow fall. "I'm not afraid of the cold."

 

[Nihal]

"But the ring—oh, you were sleeping! With the things Aliron retrieved there were a necklace and a ring. Both are magical. Though I am not sure of what the necklace does, the ring protects against cold." I grin. "Convenient, isn't it?"

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

"Then I'm really not afraid of the cold. I am afraid the ring won't come off of my finger, though. Maybe I can wear it on my pinky if I need to swim." The necklace is pretty! "I wonder what the necklace does. Maybe in battle, whoever wears it will find out the hard way. Or the easy way, if its protection works well!"

 

[Nihal]

I nod. "Exactly what I had in mind, and if after a battle or two we do not discover we should conduct tests of another nature too." I look down at the parchment and back to her. "Can I study this first? We can never know when will we have time again, what kind of dangers we must find in our way..."

With my eyes back at the enchantment, I frown a little.

I swear I glimpsed more papers inside the bone. What are them, why didn't he mention it? Is he mimicking the ranger now, who kept the journal and all the vital information to himself? And no one complained, no one remembers. But no, I didn't forget... I resist the urge to glance at Cadell, keeping my eyes on the parchment in my hands.

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

"Tests? I did have an idea that's a little dangerous, but, well… I had to endure a lot of contact training so I'd be no stranger to pain in battle. I can easily test if the necklace would help the wearer resist fire or a blade without hurting myself much. Maybe you could throw a few punches at me. Not now, though. Not if we're going out there."

I look to the stone door. "I wonder if the troglodytes even bothered to search for their dead. I suspect they're too scared. Between the six-legger and the songbirds, the upper floor may remain clear of any hostile creatures.

"But still… if you need me to get hurt—a little—to test the necklace, let's wait until after the berry-picking's done."

 

[Nihal]

"Eh, are you reading my mind?" I make a funny face. "Though you forgot the tests with magic. I am in no hurry to hurt you so we can leave those tests to later, this if nothing can be observed during real battles." I giggle. "And we would need to find someone else to punch you!" I add, showing my small knuckles.

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

I cross my arms in obvious mock annoyance.

"I don't need to be punched hard for the test to work."

 

[Steerpike]

While you slept, the sky above the opening to the surface grew a bit lighter, though you can't be sure what time of day it is. The haze of the Taint keeps you from discerning anything about the sky as you peer up. The snow flurries stopped as well, though it is still cold when you're not near the fire.

Branwen suffers the face washing with a grimace, though she doesn't try to bite anyone. As the bread is passed around, she looks at it doubtfully, but finally nibbles at her piece. Sitting there eating, with her face clean, she looks more like you might expect a half-elf child of around four to look.

You are aware of two ways to return to the surface at this point - the way you came in, through Aslaug's old temple, and the opening above you in round room where Keitsumah was held captive. The ceiling of the round room is domed and it doesn't look likely that anyone will be able to climb across it to the opening to the surface. The opening itself is ragged in shape and where the dirt of the surface meets the top of the room the exposed stone looks to be enough to catch a grappling hook. The inside of the opening might be climbable, with great care, but a fall could be fatal.

 

[Ireth]

I nod. "Exactly what I had in mind, and if after a battle or two we do not discover we should conduct tests of another nature too." I look down at the parchment and back to her. "Can I study this first? We can never know when will we have time again, what kind of dangers we must find in our way..."

I glance at Mauve, then at the hollow bone. "I think you may have use for these other spells as well. One is an attack spell, and the other seems to guard against magic. Sound like anything you're interested in learning?"

I look around at the others. Perhaps even a non-caster could make use of these spells during combat.

 

[Keitsumah]

I shrug at Cadell, "I used First Aid on the Wound, so I should be fine as for infection, but any healing would be nice. Oh -I forgot!" Sitting up and grimacing as the bindings on my wound tighten before i stand up fully, i make my way to the harpy chick and crouched next to her.

"Hello Branwen," I say, giving her a little wave and smiling as she seems to recognize me. "I need to clean all of you up in case you might get sick -so just hold still . . ." I gingerly reach out and rub the child's head like I'm petting her, and the amethyst necklace i wear glows softly as the spell takes effect.

"We don't know if she might catch something from us, so I'll need to cast First Aid on everyone in order to keep both us from getting sick -and the harpy in case she isn't immune to anything we are." I explain, then stand again and walk over to Cadell and sit next to him, eyeing the scroll.

"Maybe I could learn this spell as well if it works out nicely."

 

[Ireth]

I smile as Keit comes to sit beside me. "It could come in handy if more than one of us learns it. I expect it will come easier to you, since you know magic already."

I look over the instructions once more, and make sure I follow them exactly as I cast the spell.

((I don't think I get to roll a save for runaway magic... thank goodness I can't get Corrupted from elven life energy! I'll leave it to Steerpike to decide what the runaway magic does.

EDIT: I may have forgotten to add my INT modifier to the roll, making it a 6 if that applies. Not that it changes things, since it's a fail either way.))