The Misadventures of the Missed Adventurers

[narf poit chez BOOM]

all of a sudden, narp doubles over clutching his head. he staggers to the cot, falls down and mumbles "i think i'll just lie here awhile."

a loud booming sound is heard and the ground rumbles. falling dirt can be seen in the entrance of the cave, and the edge of the collapse is racing towards the cave mouth. within seconds, dirt is filling the cave mouth. the falling dirt fills up the entrance and dust covers everything for a hundred feet.

narp clutches his head and mumbles "does it have to be so loud? or dusty?"

[ June 20, 2003, 05:34: Message edited by: narf poit chez BOOM ]

[Jack Simth]

Jack (whispering) "D, do you think you could use that silence spell of yours to turn the volume down for Narp? Not enough so that he would be deaf, mind you - just enough so that sounds aren't bothering him?"

D (Also whispering) "Yes, yes I can."

D quietly casts a low-powered Version of silence on Narp's ears, to Narp's considerable relief.

Jack "As for the dust, a light fog ought to take care of that"
"Brouillard Mou Chaud Petit"
A thin, warm fog settles over the area, which makes the dust damp, and so it falls to the ground.

Jack "I haven't used that spell on myself since the first time I tried it; sure, it makes a person a virtually unstoppable fighter for a time, but I don't care for the price attached. However, I do have some small experience in making the price a little more bearable. Unfortunately, the stresses aren't of a type that can be readily healed. Fortunately, you should be over it after several hours."

D "Rabbit's ready."

Jack quietly puts some of the rabbit meat on a fork, and offers it to Narp.

Jack "I know you don't feel like eating at the moment, but it is necessary for restoring the energy you lost in the battle, and will speed the recovery along a bit."

[Krsqk]

Long after the camp below had quieted down and its occupants had drifted off to sleep, the dark figure remained perched on its branch pondering all it had overheard. Finally, it stood, swirled, and vanished, its departure betrayed by only a slight rustle. An ominous storm began brewing over the nearby solitary mountain...

[narf poit chez BOOM]

narp mumbles "thanks."

narp looks at the piece of rabbit.

narp is still looking at the peice of rabbit.

narp is still looking at the peice of rabbit.

a hand comes shakily up, takes the peice of rabbit and brings it to his mouth, where he blows on it a few times, stares at it dubiously, then eats it. after a few more peices, narp spends two hours trying to go to sleep before finally succeding.

ooc:[i get migraines, so that's where i'm getting this from. except that i've gotten so annoyed with them i've gotten to the point where i just eat if i'm hungry. if i throw up, i'll feel better. if i don't throw up, i'll still feel better.]

[ June 20, 2003, 06:40: Message edited by: narf poit chez BOOM ]

[Jack Simth]

ooc:[Krsqk - Is it okay if we pretend Narf posted first? The reason I ask is because Narf's post was a continuation of live action while yours reqires a delay, and this kind of thing falls apart very quickly when people get into an argument; further, the timing is close enough that Narf was probably typing when you posted.]

Jack and D also eat, and, after Narp drifts off, D puts up a brief intrusion-detection spell. Finally, Jack and D both go to sleep.

After a good night's sleep, everyone (especially Narpichez) is feeling better. Unfortunatly, the first drops of the storm are hitting the camp.

Jack "I don't think we need to be wandering around in this rain."
"Évitez La Pluie"
With that, the rain starts avoiding a circle with a radius of about a dozen paces, centered on Jack.

Jack "That should also suppress any nearby lightning, and the dense jungle should suppress any fire caused by more distant lightning."

Jack "Hang on - this storm feels off, as though it is from a weather-control spell. Well, it doesn't appear to be immediately threatening. So, does anyone want to pick a direction?"

[ June 20, 2003, 07:00: Message edited by: Jack Simth ]

[narf poit chez BOOM]

narp "well, we could head towards that mountain with the weird looking clouds over it. according to the fifth book of 'a short study of weather magic', unusual cloud formations usually means someones messing with the weather. now, the first book of 'intermediate investigation of weather magic'" D. says "relevancy." narp "oh, yeah. you know the 'short guide to relevancy', pocket Version...what? you don't have to glare at me! as i was saying, would indicate that scholarly discussions should wait until there's no rain. and that since whoever's doing the weather magic doesn't seem to be aiming it at us, we can ignore it. but, and this is relevant, according to 'the in-depth study of villinious mages, wizards and other magic Users' that's it's short tittle, you know, vilinious mages are the most likely to use broad range weather magic because it's effects can be very unpredictable. we can at least knock on there door, so i say go."

[ June 20, 2003, 07:11: Message edited by: narf poit chez BOOM ]

[Jack Simth]

Jack "Odd - where I come from, wheather mages are in good employ for their ability to prevent drought, flood, and hail. Here it's a tool of villany? That's just strange."

Jack "However, up the mountain works for me; high ground will avoid any flooding from the storm, and should offer us a good view for scouting out the terrain, perhaps finding a town where we can pick up some supplies."

D "Works for me."

With that, the small band of adventurous explores begins the trek towards the mountain.

[narf poit chez BOOM]

narp "unfortunatly, the mad emporor ester meddled so much with the weather about thirty to fifty thousand years ago that weather magic is still unpredictable on this continent. not much else is known about him, or other continents because of that. with all the changes, it's probably gotten worse. most good weather mages do stuff to put things back on track, so most of what they do isn't noticable. unfortunatly, most mages don't talk to scholars to much. no offense to you to, but i've met some pretty secretive mages. and a few with little respect for knowledge that didn't lead directly to power."

narp "isn't there something where forgetting though? breakfast?"
after another golem and a large rabbit, they head off toward the mountain.

[ July 11, 2003, 00:12: Message edited by: narf poit chez BOOM ]

[Jack Simth]

Jack "The one mad emporer would explain the bad reputation for weather magic, wouldn't it?"

Jack "Secretive mages though, that's just strange. It doesn't serve a good purpose. Even for the crazies that lust after power for its own sake, it ultimately doesn't do any good. Sharing spells, techniques, and information between a larger community allows for more rapid magical development as the same ground doesn't need to be covered over and over. Secretive mages are left in the dust, unable to compete. To encourage sharing, the Council created the Spell Journals. There is one basic criteria for recieving the Spell Journals: a mage has to contribute articles to them every now and then. This also allows acess to the backlogs, for a mage and any associated apprentices or journymen. As the Journals have been in place for several millenia, all of the most effective spells and techniques are in them, and they are often found nowhere else. Villans have very little hope of getting anywhere with their villany. Not only are they outnumbered, but they are outgunned as well."

Jack "For that matter, mages needs to be honest about their abilities in order to compete well in the market. Mages that exaggerate their abilities quickly develop reputations for not being able to live up to their promises; mages who hide abilities lose contracts to those that don't. A secretive mage is just foreign to me."

[narf poit chez BOOM]

narp "well, there's three basic types of mages here. there's the ones that cooperate, which are rare, the ones that do sometimes, which are less rare, and a number of ones that hoard. sounds like your plane is more organized than this ones. even the empire, whenever it gets major control, has trouble getting mages to cooperate. "

narp digs around in his pack and comes up with a bunch of pages, loosly bound between wooden slats. pulling out a quill pen, which he doesn't need to dip, he scribbles a few things and then says "could you tell me some more about your plane? i'm putting down ideas for a modest five volume work. small volumes. maybe only a thousand pages."