(have we found a cave? I thought he was saying there might be one around, but we'd have to locate it first )
Inamar shrieks and latches onto Weylan's arm when the lightning strikes close, then doesn't let go. She shivers as the wind gets stronger, and the jungle heat is swept away by the chill of the storm.
"What are we going to do?" she wails...though in the fury of the elements, she's barely audible.
Rooth begins the process of searching for shelter, while there is the bower created by certain arrangements of trees, she presses deeper into the rocky terrains looking for a cave that would not be susceptible to lightning strikes.
The party soon becomes wet and the wind carries away more body heat.
A heavy branch splinters and falls striking NR4ZN's broad frame, but his armored form shrugs off the impact.
The party becomes more bedraggled, but Rooth spots a shallow cave opening that looks like it could hold all but NR4ZN. Rooth believes there is even a nook where she could work on a fire with a little shelter from the wind.
"What are we going to do?" she wails...though in the fury of the elements, she's barely audible.
"We get under cover before our luck runs out." Weylan shouts over the fury of the storm
Quote:
Originally Posted by voadam
The party becomes more bedraggled, but Rooth spots a shallow cave opening that looks like it could hold all but NR4ZN. Rooth believes there is even a nook where she could work on a fire with a little shelter from the wind.
Weylan pulls the cave opening, keeping an eye out for an outcropping to keep NR covered.
NR4ZN stations itself just outside the cave without comment. The robot faces outward, tirelessly scanning for threats. Rather than seeming bedraggled b the storm, the pounding rain slowly scours away the mud and dust that had coated it.
"Goodness, what an awful evening!" Gravan muses, almost absentmindedly. I've not seen a storm so wretched since father Magnus sneezed when he was casting that control weather spell. Ah, my drenched rags are no match for nature's fury!" He turns his gaze outside, peering past the enormous machine man in an attempt to see when, or if, the storm will pass.
The storm rages throughout the day, into the night, and thoughout the next day, the crash of thunder and snapping branches and occasionally whole trees makes the prospect of travelling onward daunting.
NR4ZN and Rooth remain vigilant, the giant metallic construct buffeted by the occasional branches and his visual sensor's obscured by the thick rain but he remains apparently unperturbed.
Weylan and Gravan beging to feel a little easier in their minds as time passes in this natural setting. Despite the violence of the storm it feels natural to this reality and starts to dispel the unease and dislocation that the spectral goblin's touch induced. Gravan still feels disturbed on a fundamental level, but the edge starts to come off.
Unfortunately Weylan and Inamar start to feel horribly chilled and weak. Their faces are flushed and a quick check reveals their flesh feels warm to the touch. They notice as they reach for water flasks and food that their hands shake a little.
ooc Weylan and Gravan heal up to 2 wis damage each.
Weylan suffers 2 dex and 3 con damage, Inamar suffers 1 dex and 1 con damage.
"Oh my, look at you both! You look terrible. We can't go anywhere until this is, ah, dealt with. I'll go and fetch some herbs to brew a nice, warm curative tea. It tastes like the inside of a dead coyote but it's good for a fever!"
Gravan does his best to tend to their illness (Heal check is +7 due to wisdom loss, I believe) and then turns towards NR4ZN.
"Ah, my good metal lad? Would you be a kind fellow and accompany me on an, er, herb gathering expedition? We'll not travel far, probably. ...Really I'm not all that sure how far we'll travel. Anyway, we can also gather some berries, and I'll prepare a delightful repast!"
Inamar, huddled as she is, gives Graven a look of miserable gratitude and coughs. The moving blue marks that crawl sluggishly in her skin flare with momentary light as she does.
"Thanks," she says weakly. "Didn't think it'd get -cold- in the jungle. It's always so hot..."
After a moment she lies down on her side, curled into a damp, coughing little ball.
Leaning against the cave wall Weylan grumbles to himself "First a tree growing out of my neck now I come down sick from being out in the rain? Wonderful."
OOC: When making further saves agains the disease, Weylan will spend a PP to activate his Elan Resistance ability granting him a +4 to the save. Just let me know when to spend the points.
Gravan is quickly able to gather some useful herbs after observing Inamar and Weylan's condition. These are to be steeped into a hot tea to be ingested.
Spoiler:
You diagnose their conditions as the onset of filth fever after its initial incubation period. You can treat the underlying disease in each (~10 minutes but needs to be done twice over two days each) and the symptoms (doubling ability damage healing from 1/day or 2/full rest day to 2 and 4/day respectively). One day of full rest under your care should get Weylan back to full recovery. Pressing on would mean he would still be suffering some symptoms (ability damage).
"I think that we should stay put for a while, er, at least until this illness passes. It'll take about a day, maybe two if I feed you the wrong berries. We should at least wait until I have some tea for you. No sense fighting through the jungle while you're ill!" Gravan sets about preparing the herbal tea, humming cheerfully to himself.
Gravan's thoughts turn inward. Hmm, Tuor always said something about bedside manners, how they made people, ah, recover more quickly. What should I say? I need to think of something.
Once the tea is prepared, Gravan approaches his charges with a steaming kettle. "Ah, here you go. Um. Well drink up, you probably... won't die?"
Taking the day to rest under Gravan's competent but not entirely reassuring care seems to do the trick.
Both Inamar and Weylan's fevers break and given another night's rest they have fully recovered from the effects. Gravan feels back in his right mind again as well. With the return of daylight and calm air the air turns warm and humid again.
During the day there are only a few periods of rain as lesser storms seem to move through the area and only one of them brings occasional thunder and lightning.
One of the lightning bolts does crash near to the party though, striking a tree that crashes within feet of NR4ZN.
NR4ZN
Spoiler:
The bolt was close enough to set off electromagnetic sensors and for a warning diagnostic to report that normal insulation and electricity conductive rerouting systems are currently partially compromised, some systems would be at risk from direct exposure to external electrical current.
The storm has done a number on the woods. There are branches that broke off and crashed to the ground, occasional whole trees that were too rigid and snapped midway up the trunk, and some where the soil was loose and the trees toppled from the base exposing numerous roots and large amounts of soil. Sunlight pierces in among some new holes in the canopy and dapples on the moisture covered leaves.
The morning of the day after the full rest Rooth makes her way back to finding the trail of the goblins, the rains washed away tracks and she does not expect to see signs of their passing until the party comes upon an encampment of theirs. Also with fallen trees and debris the course of the trail is sometimes obscured and requires some ranging to pick it up again after blocked points and some awkward maneuvering to scramble over downed trunks.
Eventually the party does come upon what Rooth identifies as the goblins' encampment, places where a fire pit was excavated, wild strawberry plants that Rooth notes should have been bearing fruit are picked clean, and there is a little clearing space. A great tree is split by lightning and parts of it lie facing two different directions. At the base of the tree the bark is scorched and burned black and there is the chewed on but definitely burned corpse of a large wolf creature.
Looking around it appears lightning struck near here relatively closely multiple times.
Rooth also notes large numbers of odd tracks seeming to originate from here. Not worg, rat, or goblin, but some sort of large insectoid tracks. Odder yet Rooth finds two sets where the size of the marks seem to grow from tiny to increasingly large as if the creatures grew as they walked.
Rooth frowns and looks worried as she explain the findings to the others 'has there been some sort of summoning here?' she asks out loud to no one in paticular.
__________________ ~With Us Three Under Water You Will See the Beauty of the World~
A little subdued from her sickness, though feeling much better, Inamar marvels as the group walks at the sheer power of the storm. The wind and rain, and the lightning! Shattering trees bigger around than she was! The thought of it was both scary and yet delightful...would she ever be able to grasp power like that? Once, the question would have been ludicrous. Now she looked at the markings crawling over her hands and arms...and wondered.
At the campsite she eyes the worg-chewed tree with some trepidation, but at Rooth's question she concentrates...trying to see what was behind the air here, if there were any traces of magic still drifting like smoke after a fire.
(Detecting Magic to see if there's a residual aura)
A little subdued from her sickness, though feeling much better, Inamar marvels as the group walks at the sheer power of the storm. The wind and rain, and the lightning! Shattering trees bigger around than she was! The thought of it was both scary and yet delightful...would she ever be able to grasp power like that? Once, the question would have been ludicrous. Now she looked at the markings crawling over her hands and arms...and wondered.
At the campsite she eyes the worg-chewed tree with some trepidation, but at Rooth's question she concentrates...trying to see what was behind the air here, if there were any traces of magic still drifting like smoke after a fire.
(Detecting Magic to see if there's a residual aura)
Inamar's eyes flash with a blue light as she concentrates and a second sight comes upon her. Vague shadows appear before her eyes, almost after images compared with the solid illuminations of her staff, the Gannu's knife, and the druid's cloak that Weylan now wears. These afterimages seem most concentrated over the corpse of the worg.
Rooth looks at Inamar and the very dramatic behaiviour shaking her head. 'If we had moved into them on the start of the storm we migh have been able to stop this.... un-natural act'
__________________ ~With Us Three Under Water You Will See the Beauty of the World~
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