RP (non-canon): D&D Mission 1: Getting "Acquainted"

Aurelus smiled at the short one climbing down the stairs. " 'Ey. Got sick o' their waitin' 'round? What're they doin', 'nyway?" It took only a couple of seconds to realize what they could be up to, considering Denkou was still up there.

"Don't tell me they're checkin' 'vry nook 'n cranny o' the place...! That lass can't keep 'er hands off th' loot, can she?" Aurelus frowned.

No sooner than did Aurelus come to this conclusion, than Talarin come downstairs with his stuffed rolled up for the road. "Sorry, sorry. Joanna wanted to run around the house and I couldn't catch her for a little while. Fortunately she didntcmake it out of the really big room we all stayed in last night. Otherwise who knows what woulda happened to my sweet." he ended this last statement in a tone reserved for those fathers who think everything their baby daughters do is the cutest thing ever. He kissed her head and placed her on his shoulder.

Denkou shook her head as first Sorri moved on out, and then Talarin moved on, without even responding to her. "Guess I'm outvoted then," she mumbled under her breath, following the others out. She wasn't happy with this senseless rush back to town; after all, if they were really going to drop dead this fast from the disease, the villagers would all have been dead by the time they got there in the first place. And who knows what wizards (who had the money to buy a gem that big) might have sitting around elsewhere in the house. It just seemed like the others weren't thinking this through to her.

Aurelus wasn't one to think things through, but he also wasn't one to continue pursuing enemies and traps when they were all worn out and tired. He wanted to sleep on a proper bed, or at least a haystack. The unconscious sleep had done nothing to properly rest him, and he felt sore all over from sleeping on the floor. He was pretty sure the rest of them were on the same track: weak, sore, wounded, etc...

Replenishing their strengths was now their new objective. An important one, to be sure.

Moreover, he felt really hungry.

It was his stomach growling that pushed him forward. "Oy! We get ta town at noon! If we fin' any edibles alon' th' way, ye give them ta me, aye!? I feel like I cou' ea a whole horse!" He grabbed onto the railing of the balcony, then pushed himself over it and began climbing down the rope tied to it, reached the bottom, and waited for the rest of them.

Ghira was next, the wizard carefully lowering himself down the wall as slowly as possible as to not injure himself, but as quickly as he could without delaying the others. He finally reached the ground safely, and looked up from whence he came to observe as the other party members came down.

"You people go out on journeys without packing food?"

Sorri watched Aurelus climb down and Ghira follow him, but stayed on the balcony. "I have food. It's not much, but it could be enough. And I can mix some more of those tablets so you could get to healing up, feeling better, but it'll take a while to make. She could do her exploring in the meantime." The mender nodded her head in the general direction of Denkou. "Besides, if you're feeling so bad now, it'd do you good to rest." Her head tilted.

"Besides, about the disease...didn't the cleric at the town say that it took a couple days to show symptoms anyway?" she added after a moment's thought. "What if we're wrong? It took us a day to get here, so let's say we wait a day. Tonight will be the third night of our infection and we can see if anyone starts showing symptoms by tomorrow. If we set out now only to get back and discover we are still infected, I don't think we could make a return trip here before too late. And then we would have to go through the house again anyway...I can do at least a little for Denkou so she can get on disabling the rest of the traps, and that could let us explore the house and find out what else might be kept here." She frowned. "This is serious stuff. Shouldn't we be thorough?"

Aurelus sighed, then turned around and looked up at the balcony to look at Mender. "If Denkou's gonna go lookin' through the mansion, she c'n go 'head n do it on 'er own! I already almost go' maimed in 'alf by one o' em traps, and ye want me ta go lookin fer more?! This mansion i' nothin' bu' trouble, lass! If ye already forgot, this place was almost our death beds yesterday nigh'!

If yer goin' ta waste yer healin powers on someone, ye might as well do i' on Denkou, since she's th' one tha wants ta stay 'ere. Me? I'm layin down on th' grass, if anythin! I'm tired as a mule, and I'm 'ungry, and thirsty, an I hate this mansion!

An' don' go talkin like we're still sick with tha vermin rat's disease! We go' rid o' the source, din' we? Tha was th' reason fer comin here, 'member!? If we went through all this trouble fer nothin, I'll beat that cleric ta a bloody pulp and send him straight ta hell fer lying under 'em holy robes a his!" Aurelus turned around and crossed his arms, then sat down on the grass.

"Ye can go righ' ahead n search th' place all ye want! Denkou's jus' wantin ta get 'er hands on some loot, bu' she ain' thinkin' bout other stuff like health, food n rest! More importn't than money, I reckon!"

Denkou leaned over on the railing, nesting her head to look down at the guys below. "Destroying the gem makes it so that it's possible to heal the disease, it doesn't heal it, silly. The reason you couldn't before is that the gem would just reinfect you if you got cured, so there was no point in wasting energy." She shrugged, looking back over at Sorri. "And the cleric in the village said that it had been going on for a while, so if we were going to drop dead this fast, I think we'd know."

Aurelus lifted his arms up and shrugged. He then proceeded to take off his shield from his back as he spoke. "I'm no wizerd, I'm no cleric! All I reckon i' we need ta get rid a this disease as soon as possible, an I don' reckon tha's gonna happen 'ere, ey!?" He set his shield down on the floor and lay back, resting on the grass.

"If ye're goin' ta be lookin through th' mansion, a'least make i' quick...! Me stomach's devourin' iself!" Aurelus closed his eyes and put his arms on the back of his head, frowning at the soreness of his muscles, shifting a bit before finally resting still.

Ghira sighed at the warrior's antics.

"Very well then. If it is food you want, then I suppose a search on the grounds of this mansion for edibles is in order. After all, I don't think we will get much done if they stay around there much longer." The wizard commented, gathering the magical energies necessary to summon a creature from another plane. In other words, he brought a celestial monkey into existence and directed it to find and collect fruit for them from the surrounding trees.

Sorri had been looking back to see what Den was doing before sliding down the rope herself. When she got to the bottom, she overheard Ghira's comment as she touched down.

"I said I had food. We just need some drinking water," she said, setting her backpack down yet again. "I used up the last of mine yesterday."

Some rations -- smoked meat, flatbread, and other food well-suited for long trips -- were produced and distributed. "It's not much, but it'll hold you over," said Sorri, then she looked back up at the balcony and the doorway a level or two beyond it. "There's food down here if you want to eat first!" the quarterling called out to Denkou.

Denkou made her own way down the rope. "Sounds fine to me. Might as well go in through the front, after I eat a bit, I guess." She settled her bag and equipment on the ground and settled down, waiting for the others. "And if we're here, you might as well get down to preparing yourself, shouldn't you? Might as well heal up while we're here, right?"

Nodding, Sorri offered Denkou a portion of the rations, packing the unused rations for later. "I was thinking about that, and I still don't know what that gem's light did to you all," she said after eating a bite of bread. "It hasn't worsened though...that's good."

Talarin grunted. "I just wish I could have been awake to see a little Pearl kick your butts." he gave a quick little chuckle. Then his face turned more serious. "I think we should return to town to regroup and plan the next move."

"Well, as far as I can tell. . ." Ghira began, facing the two-thirdling cleric with a matter-of-fact tone, "I feel fine as far as I can tell. Although, I suppose that doesn't exactly help much considering the fact that the disease takes several days to manifest, correct?"

The Imaskari looked towards the ground to see the monkey placing the last of the berries it found onto a scrap of cloth the wizard had laid. He directed the creature to find the nearest source of water, if it hadn't already.

"Will these berries suffice for hydration purposes? I believe they are safe enough." He said, inspecting one.

"I wasn't talking about the disease, it was the effects of the light I was asking about." Sorri glanced at the berries. "And I need water for some of these mixtures. Especially for the tablets." She held up two tablets, similar to the ones she had handed to Aurelus the day before after he had triggered the negative energy trap. She handed one to Aurelus and the other to Denkou. "I'll need to make more of these. Since I don't know how to cure what that light did to you, the best I can do is give you pain killers and a little bit of...this..."

Her voice trailed off as she sorted out a packet of powdered something-or-other. That particular mixture was something her father had taken when he needed to stay alert longer or work harder than he normally could. It had some rarer elements in it, so she would have preferred to not use any of it until it was truly needed, but the group seemed eager to get moving again. And it wouldn't do to leave Denkou poking around that house in her injured state.

If only I knew how that gem hurt them. If it was like that trap he stepped on, though, I guess I couldn't do anything about it anyhow... she thought, frowning to herself as she got up and looked around. "Didn't anyone else bring water? Or see a stream, or well?"

Aurelus was already eating some of the stuff Mender had gotten out for them. "Oi! This ain' bad! 'ow'd ye get ta keep th' meat fresh?" The fighter continued scarfing down plates in front of him, and then saw the monkey come back with berries, and had some.

"Mmmm!!! By Pelor's beard! These berries 're glorious!" Aurelus then began to scarf down berries into his mouth. "Oi, Talarin, ferget 'bout goin' ta town fer now! Ge' some grub n have a mouthful, aye!?"

Suddenly, Aurelus attitude changed 180 degrees.

Is he delirious? Sorri looked at Aurelus with a slightly worried expression as he scarfed down the trail-food she had offered him.

"It's smoked...not fresh," she answered, glancing at the jerky-like meat, then pushed the pill into his hand. "It keeps better that way. Can you swallow this real quick for me, please?"

Without a second thought, Aurelus stopped and slid the pill into his mouth, then swallowed a gulpful of food. Then he resumed his feast.

"Oi! After this 'ere picnic we're goin back in. But ye better make it quick, aye? I still wanna check up on the things I left up at the room at the inn in Caloma.

...an a bed wouldn' be bad, either, even if'm feelin a notch better..."

Denkou took her pill as well, eating a bit more slowly then Aurelus. "Don't worry. I don't plan on taking much time. Don't want to chance one of the wizards coming back after all."