NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 1642546" data-attributes="member: 143">Chapter 172Zenna stirred to the bright glow of morning visible in the mouth of the pipe off in the distance, her nostrils full of the smell of roasting meat.  Her body was a bit stiff from sleeping on the hard stone floor of the pipe, her mind was clear, the horrors of the day before faded a bit into the amorphous terrain of memory.  That lasted as long as it took to sit up and see Morgan, still lying bound where they’d left them the night before. “He’ll need food and water,” she said to her companions, stretching her muscles in an effort to take out some of the lingering kinks. “Fed ‘im earlier,” Hodge said, stirring a few slabs of sloth meat in a small iron pot over an equally diminutive fire.  There wasn’t much more than scrub growth out in the canyon, anything larger smothered by the noxious gases that were given off by the pool below.  But Dannel, using his magical slippers to walk along the canyon walls, had found enough dried brush to support a small fire.  Hodge added a generous portion of ground pepper to the meat, which they’d salted and stored in Mole’s bag of holding.  Zenna wondered if the stuff would even be edible, once the dwarf had finished with it.  The familiar whistle of Vaprak’s Voice began again, building quickly into the loud roar that seemed to shake the pipe with its passage.  To her surprise, Zenna realized that she’d completely toned it out the night before, and had managed to sleep a full night through that cacophony.  She was surprised that her hearing wasn’t damaged; another benefit of her otherworldly heritage, perhaps?During the blowing of the winds, they could not converse, so she knelt down across from the dwarf.  Mole, she saw, was in her bedroll, but Dannel and Arun were absent.  When the noise had trailed off, she asked, “Where are Arun and Dannel?”Hodge pointed toward the exit of the pipe.  “They went ta take a quick looksee, just a few minutes ago, a’fore yer woke.  Ah, here they be comin’ now.”Zenna looked up to see the pair silhouetted in the nimbus of light in the mouth of the pipe.  Dannel remained near the mouth, keeping a close watch, but Arun returned to their small camp.  Mole, she saw, was stirring; the gnome had fashioned wax plugs for her ears from an old candle so that she could sleep over the noise of the Voice.  “Anything?” Zenna asked. “Quiet,” Arun said.  “Real quiet.”“Hey!” Mole said, coming over to the fire.  She snatched the little bag of pepper just as Hodge was about to add another dash of the spice to his creation.  “A little goes a long way, you know!” “Bah, yer all have no sense o’ flavor,” the dwarf complained.  “Is that the last of the meat?” Arun asked.  The other dwarf nodded.  “How are we on supplies?” Zenna asked. “There’s still one more sack of ground meal in the bag of holding, some potatoes and carrots, and about a half-pound of coffee, and another pound of the mixed nuts...”“Ate those,” Hodge interrupted.  Mole shot him a glare before continuing.  “As I was saying...  a few spices, some salt—if we find another edible animal, we can preserve it—and I had some raisins in there, if someone hasn’t found them and eaten them...”“Mole,” Zenna interrupted.  “How many days’ worth of food do we have left?”“Oh.  Well, if we can keep Hodge out of the bag of holding, maybe three days.”“We’ll be all right,” Arun said.  “The elf can help us find edible foodstuffs in the jungle, if it comes to that.”Zenna looked up at the paladin with surprise.  Praise between the dwarves and elf hadn’t been overly generous, but she realized that they had all come to rely upon each other, and that their relationship had developed into mutual respect.  It was a gratifying feeling, but still didn’t remove the sense of anticipation as they prepared to head once more into danger. “So, what’s the plan for today?” Mole asked cheerfully.  “We go in, beat up the bad guys, and take their stuff, right?”“Aye!  That sounds ‘bout right!” Hodge agreed.  “We will need to be wary of the magic of those hags,” Arun said, with a meaningful glance toward the captive Morgan.  They all turned toward Zenna, but the tiefling found herself distracted.  There was something odd... a feeling that tickled on the edges of her perceptions...Her eyes widened slightly as realization hit.  “We’re being watched,” she said.Even as the others reached for their weapons, there was a sizzle in the air, and two... things materialized at the opposite edges of their camp.  The light from the pipe mouth barely illuminated their dark forms, but Zenna needed no such augmentation to clearly discern them.  They were about the size of a full-grown human, gaunt almost to the point of being skeletal, their faces twisted into a permanent snarl of hatred.  Their weapons were vicious claws and teeth that protruded from their angular jaws, and their black bodies were covered with a slick ooze that was the color of congealed blood. Zenna knew what they were immediately.  Demons.  But even as she opened her mouth to issue a warning, both the creatures and her friends leapt to the attack.</blockquote>

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