Okay… I am assuming, given how beaten up the party is, that you are pausing here to rest…And regain spells afterwards. Okay, you rest for 2 days. Everyone is healed. Where to next?
You bypassed a room to the south earlier. Here is the updated Map:
OOC: Two days? Well. That's two long days of Neera taunting Anomen and playing with Alora&Oops. I imagine Aerie and Neera would talk about Elfy things. I'm honestly surprised I haven't been scolded by Jaheira yet with my irresponsible casting. I guess it hasn't hurt the party yet so no harm done. I'll prepare my standard one magic missile and one Nahal's.
Let's head back south to take in the room we missed. Alora will scout out in front, far enough away from the torches that they won't interfere with her infravision. She will attempt to be stealthy but still check for traps.
OOC: sanctuary can be transfered, so I may just use it on you or another warrior that protects you from the corpse. Or I will use it not to get skewered to death.
The corridor gradually slopes downwards and dead-ends in a 10' (east-west) by 20' (north-south) cavern. The walls here are slick with condensation, and a group of gnomes is gathered around another one lying on a small pad and covered with a blanket. That one looks ill.
Gnomes were normally well-behaved folk, so Jaheira's first inclination was to help them. "Perhaps we can assist them," Jaheira murmured. Aerie probably wouldn't need a lot of convincing, but Anomen would.
Ecstatic to see her fellow gnome kind, Aerie's face brightened as she approached. "H-Hail friends!"
But before she went into the ceremonious Baevarn greeting, she noticed the sickly gnome, and her expression fell. "Oh my... Is he ill? What happened? Perhaps we can help."
careful of a trap. Most of their ilk are thieves and magical tricksters. The rest are deranged deviants that should be locked away.
"And yet these same people you hope to condemn took me in when I thought all was lost."
Aerie glared at Anomen. She'd no wish to drudge up her old memories, and the humps on her back ached at the very thought. But at the same time, she wasn't about to let a foul word about her people go unpunished.
"I see no reason to make assumptions about this group of gnomes, Sir Anomen. Aerie is right to offer what aid she can to those in need, but given our location you do have a point about caution. Your advice could have perhaps been delivered in less harsh terms, however. No matter, I can at least determine if these fellows are contemplating good or ill."
"Anomen can hardly help himself," Jaheira told Ajantis, her distaste rather clearly conveyed by her tone. Anomen was, in a word, horrible to everybody that didn't gallivant around the countryside, playing the part of the justicar.
OOC: If Ajantis does detect evil he will warn the others. but will not immediately take aggressive action. "Have a care, Miss Aerie. These beings harbor dark intent." Unless, of course, the sense of evil is overwhelmingly strong. If it is, he will step between Aerie and the creatures and draw his blade. "Arm yourselves, these gnomes are truly evil!"
The Gnomes are not evil. They glance up when you come in, but don't attack you. At Aerie's words, one of the gnomes looks at her. He sees the image of Baervan Wildwanderer on her forehead and starts in surprise. Then, after a moment of indecision, he bows to her. "Forgive me, lady. Our companion, Gildergloss, was injured by monsters. He is badly wounded. We have bandaged him as best we can, but…" He shrugs. "None of us have the healing magic to deal with his wounds."
"You don't have anything to worry about," Alora informs the gnomes. "Aerie is very good at healing. She's healed me lots of times. You gnomes don't know where we can find a magical pool do you?"
The gnome bows, looking grateful. "Yes, please, lady."
He motions the others to one side. The gnome has been pierced by javelins and battered by clubs. The others are also somewhat injured as well, but this gnome is the worst.
"Forgive me, lady priestess," one of the younger gnomes asked. "Were you and your friends also captured by the bandits and brought here?"
"We weren't captured by bandits," Alora interrupts "We're here because I got a disease off an orc that wasn't really an orc it just looked like an orc but it was really a big balloon full of gas and they couldn't cure me so we went to a druid and she could cure me but she wanted some water from a magical pool so we came here to find it. You haven't seen a magical pool have you? It probably looks like a normal pool only, you know, magic."
Neera is going to stand around not paying attention but very amused at how cute the tiny gnomes and Alora are. If anyone tries to speak with her she's spaced out and may need a shove back down Earth. Toril. Whatever.
"What she means is," Aerie injected at the end of Alora's speech, kneeling over the wounded gnome, "it's a very long story... What of these bandits who brought you here?"
As she spoke, Aerie focused all her powers into the divine-magic blessed to her by Baevarn. Her hands glowed a faint blue-white, and a visible crease darkened her brow, knit with concentration.
OOC: Aerie casts CLW on the gnome. Possibly twice if she has to.
"We were traveling in the forest," a third gnome said quietly. "Looking for fruit to eat when a bunch of humans trapped us."
"They threw a net!" a fourth gnome says, almost angrily. He's younger than the others- practically a teenager in human terms (Like 14 in human years). "IT CAUGHT ME!" he huffs several times, then recovers his composure. "When they came to free me, the humans rounded us up and made us march off with them. They said they would sell us. They blindfolded us, brought us to this place and left us here. Then, spiders attacked them and we escaped from them."
"But this place isn't safe for us, either," the first gnome says, sadly. "It is full of monsters, and we have lost several of us. I fear for Gildergloss. And the rest of us, too."
The gnome, Gildergloss, cries out in joy as his wounds are healed by Aerie's spell. It's clear that he and his friends are more forest gnomes than anything else- they aren't adventurers or used to this sort of danger. And they are alone, unarmed and unarmored. They won't last long if you just leave them here.
Comments
You bypassed a room to the south earlier. Here is the updated Map:
While they having rest Arkanis hums ballads at the campfire. (If there is one.)
But before she went into the ceremonious Baevarn greeting, she noticed the sickly gnome, and her expression fell. "Oh my... Is he ill? What happened? Perhaps we can help."
Aerie glared at Anomen. She'd no wish to drudge up her old memories, and the humps on her back ached at the very thought. But at the same time, she wasn't about to let a foul word about her people go unpunished.
Naivety will just get you killed Lady Aerie. All I am suggesting is to be careful.
*Ajantis detects evil*
Unless, of course, the sense of evil is overwhelmingly strong. If it is, he will step between Aerie and the creatures and draw his blade. "Arm yourselves, these gnomes are truly evil!"
He motions the others to one side. The gnome has been pierced by javelins and battered by clubs. The others are also somewhat injured as well, but this gnome is the worst.
"Forgive me, lady priestess," one of the younger gnomes asked. "Were you and your friends also captured by the bandits and brought here?"
As she spoke, Aerie focused all her powers into the divine-magic blessed to her by Baevarn. Her hands glowed a faint blue-white, and a visible crease darkened her brow, knit with concentration.
OOC: Aerie casts CLW on the gnome. Possibly twice if she has to.
"They threw a net!" a fourth gnome says, almost angrily. He's younger than the others- practically a teenager in human terms (Like 14 in human years). "IT CAUGHT ME!" he huffs several times, then recovers his composure. "When they came to free me, the humans rounded us up and made us march off with them. They said they would sell us. They blindfolded us, brought us to this place and left us here. Then, spiders attacked them and we escaped from them."
"But this place isn't safe for us, either," the first gnome says, sadly. "It is full of monsters, and we have lost several of us. I fear for Gildergloss. And the rest of us, too."
The gnome, Gildergloss, cries out in joy as his wounds are healed by Aerie's spell. It's clear that he and his friends are more forest gnomes than anything else- they aren't adventurers or used to this sort of danger. And they are alone, unarmed and unarmored. They won't last long if you just leave them here.
DM sez: 0-level gnomes. Who'da thunk it?