Challenge #02231-F041: Workarounds
"You're being stingy."
"Yes, I know." -- Anon Guest
"I warned you," said Lady Anthe. "These caverns are not as friendly as the rest of the Underdark. You won't find luminous mushrooms or special glowing crystals here, and most of the fungus among us is either deadly poison or just plain carnivorous. I used to survive in places like this."
"You mean you used to live--"
Anthe cut Marvin's well-meaning correction off. "I wouldn't call it living. After three more days, neither will you. Five if we don't have to eat Otyugh or worse before we're out the other side." During her speech, she worked quickly, moving from one stand of fungus to another. Picking samples to add to her Bag of Preserving. "So forgive me for withholding your double-blessed candy."
Marvin, carrying Wraithvine in his arms, said, "But... you're gathering lots of stuff. And we have lots of stuff."
"We don't have a Cleric, and our Bard is in the alleged company of some really nasty sorts who are only interested in keeping him alive. They're twenty days away from their underground altar of true skeeviness and if we go this way, we can maybe beat them by five. If... If we ration our supplies. If we gather everything we can at every opportunity. If we pace ourselves and only use that which is vitally necessary. If we can figure out what the hell is wrong with Wraithvine before we accidentally starve hir. If... if..." If she didn't freak out about being stuck in the morass from whence she had come. If she could deal with being a leader for real instead of having Wraithvine just... there... as backup against a massive mistake.
She only called herself 'Lady' because she liked to feel important. Without Wraithvine to add verisimilitude... she was starting to slide back to thinking of herself as 'Thief' and it hadn't even been a day, yet.
If Wraithvine were conscious, ze would advise five deep breaths, but this was not the best environment for that. Up, then. Thirty feet above potential spores, where the only concern was the smaller variety of bat. If she could nail some of them for the Bag of Preserving, then they would have the better part of a chance.
She had more resources now. Things like immovable rods and immortal rope... things that could be used to -say- haul up an unconscious Elf Wizard to a place of safety and then secure them against fall damage. Five deep breaths.
One. She had solved the first problem. Where and how to take a short rest so that none of the surviving party members were in peril.
Two. She had the advantage of knowing every trick of making it out of death caverns like this because she'd done it before. She knew the rules. She could teach.
Three. She had Wraithvine's dimensionally transcendent bag and all the magic gewgaws inside it to assist them in her endeavours.
Four. She knew the way to the altar and the secret ways to all the Cult's hiding spots. Where she had once gleaned an existence, she could now rob blind.
Five. There was also half a chance she could piss off their chthonic deity and get him to kill the Cult for her.
Second problem - find out what was wrong with Wraithvine. Marvin's Goggles of Sight had a number of settings, and Wraithvine never threw away anything that looked like a book. Anthe could read in the dark and did so, keeping a knife ready for any bats on the wayside. She had it. This ring, then that sigil, then press there, and--
"Hey," protested Marvin. "Everything's gone funny."
"More colourful, right?" She didn't wait for the nod. "Tell me the colours you see around Wraithvine and where. If they're doing anything, tell me that, too." He had to, since the goggles were bonded to him.
Consulting with the diagrams of auras and chakras, Anthe could make an educated guess. Two spell misfires synergising into a new format that put Wraithvine, very effectively, into a coma. A small phial of Wakefulness Potion should see everything back into order.
She hoped.
It was a bit of work to get the first few drops into Wraithvine's system, but after that, the rest of the potion worked. Wrathvine lurched into consciousness with hir eyes glowing in the dark. "OsweetgodsIhatethisstuff, I'mpracticallyunintelligible."
"What?" said Marvin, unwittingly proving hir point.
"That part wears off. Too many roasted khaffa seeds. I'll improve it. Later." Lady Anthe explained the situation as she untied her Wizard mentor.
"So far, so good," allowed Wraithvine. "So what's your plan."
"Take a shortcut through hostile territory and be waiting for them at their destination?"
Ze nodded in understanding. "Good plan. I have no objections."
Lady Anthe breathed easily once more, secure in the knowledge that the real leader was back in charge. "I'll have to lead the way," she said. "I'm the only one who knows it."
"By all means," said Wraithvine.
Lady Anthe gathered as she walked, giving instruction via urgent whispers because some of these fungi killed with their spores. When she got her hands on that damn Tabaxi bard...
[Image (c) Can Stock Photo / Vyusur]
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