16th of Arodus, 4713, continued.
We awakened from our fall somewhere beneath the city. After making sure we were all okay, we checked the rubble for other survivors. Firstly, we met
Nima al Enrich and her serpent Curly, apparently old acquaintances with
Krivak. She is a gnome and what I can only assume is a druid. Curly, a constrictor of unusual size, is shockingly good in battle.
Nima… has a somewhat grating voice.
Anevia Tirabade is the wife of a Crusader. Although the fall broke her leg, with some splints and use of a magical wand we managed to heal her enough to walk. Later, a potion enabled her to stand enough to at least use her bow. She seems surprisingly upbeat and amused by our situation, but I can tell she wishes to reach the surface and check on her wife, Irabeth.
Aravashnial is the elven wizard who unwisely (but bravely) attacked the Storm King. We were unable to heal his eyes, and with his blindness it’s difficult for him to aid us. Given he has lamented his uselessness more than once, I think this hurts his pride. As he works in a library and studies demonology, calling upon his knowledge cannot help but make him feel needed.
Horgus Gwerm is one of
Kenabres’ nobles. Although he is not unskilled with a rapier, after being wounded once he seems to have lost his nerve. I assume he is unused to real combat. His personality seems somewhat unpleasant (and known to
Anevia), but ultimately his bluster seems harmless.
After making sure everyone was alright and able to travel, we began making our way out of the caverns. Or at least, we hoped we could find our way out. A dead spider (giant, that is) revealed giant ants when
Lumi summoned a ball of flame upon it. We made short work of them, but although the wound was minor I think that may be the last fight
Horgus enters.
As we proceeded through a narrow passage and then around we saw an old campsite from the path we didn’t take (which met this one again). I made the mistake of trying to investigate this firsthand, and nearly stepped upon what
Aravashnial called a “tar jelly”.
Lumi’s flames failed to hurt it, but Curly and
Krivak did a much better job. Or so I was told after I was healed back to consciousness. We found a broach that
Aravashnial suggested might be related to the “Mole Men”, mutated descendants of the First Crusade.
As we continued onward, we entered a much larger cavern, stumbling upon a flail snail. It was not a creature I was overly familiar with, although the shell is apparently of great worth. Although
Krivak seemed to desire to find some way to converse with the dangerous beast, I merely greeted it with a
color spray. Imagine my shock when the spell appeared to be absorbed. Again it was Curly and
Krivak to the rescue.
Horgus was fairly upset at any damage to the shell, and even more so when he realized we could not take it with us. Although
Lumi offered to use a spell to bury and hide it so it could be retrieved later,
Krivak had apparently had enough. He attacked
Horgus with his fist, and seemed quite willing to possibly offer up more violence.
It seems I misjudged him just because he aided us before. Although I hesitate to judge people by their race,
Krivak seems to live up to all the stereotypes of half-orcs.
Horgus can be somewhat annoying, but
Krivak has seemed to be on the edge of violence since they met. I cannot view his inability to control his temper or constant attempts to intimidate the man as anything except bullying. Certainly it seemed out of proportion to
Horgus’ attempt to keep the shell, given
Lumi’s offer to help hide it. Hopefully, when we reach the surface and can part ways with the ruffian my sisters will not put up too much of an objection. Perhaps
Nima, or rather Curly, would be an adequate replacement protector.
