#7 The Evening Following the Djinni's Release

Arristuun looked around at his cretfallen comrade-in-arms. This probably called for a rousing, inspirational speech. Too bad he didn't have it in him. He did have some practical things to say, though.

"My concern isn't that we don't have enough camel meat; it's that we don't have salt to preserve it with. Spellcasters, can you summon enough fire to at least cook the rest, so we don't use up the last of our wood?"

"With the woven mats in this place and some long sticks, we could maybe cobble together one tent and take turns using it for shade during the day.

"Without the camels to carry our armor during the day, we're going to have to do something else with it all. I do not advise wearing it during the day in the heat and the sun. If we have enough large sacks, we can load our armor in them and just pull them along behind us in the sand."

The healing went fine, although Baal did not have any healing left since he'd needed to ask for two blessings on Galatea earlier. Osric was still heavily injured from his worm related injuries and called to Ishtar for help. Thorsan was still cut and scraped and bruised from his own purple worm experience (sounds like a Hendrix album, btw), but did not complain about such things. Saskia was completely healed and Alfburn was only lightly injured.

They also remembered their own squirreled away equipment. Saskia remembered her canvas and rations stashed in her boot (would she tell the others?). Taliesin had canvas as well, in a roll on his backpack. Along with the reed mats and a few curing camel skins, all of the components for a tent were there, except for a pole. Those had been too damaged to make use of. Much of the party still had dried rations in their packs, but this was not that comforting. Hardtack was even harder in this dry environment.

Baal also told them of a trick he'd used before near the oasis he'd called home. Since he'd had water, he would dig a hole in the sand and wet the sides to keep them from collapsing; covering the top with skins to avoid the heat. Perhaps if they had enough water left from prayer they could use this trick to do something similar the next day.

The skins were scraped beautifully and would be ready to sun cure. (Leatherworking & survival checks quite successful for Baal.)

It would take longer to travel now without the camels. Perhaps 8-10 hours, close to an entire evening to get back to the fork in the road to take the other path towards what was assumed to be the pyramid. Thar general direction was also where the spirit crow had flown off to.

[We'll continue in the next folder unless there's additional dialog needed before you depart. HP are updated in the quick stats area. If I can get a second on the motion to move on we'll continue the trek.]

((I second that [e]motion. See what I did there? Also, Baal should have one more CLW since he originally prayed for three: cast two on Galatea with one left over. I edited my character sheet earlier subtracting one casting of CLW because I only thought he cast one for Galatea earlier))

The rest of that day was uneventful. Even with divine healing, they felt spent as a whole. Getting to sleep later in the day gave them less time before they broke camp. At the very least, there was less to break down. But it was not comforting knowing why. As the party left the hole and into the world above once again, it was obvious how only a few days here had affected them. Camel's blood, dust, sand and dirt clung to them heavily. Some spider bile here & there, sweat staining every inch of their being. They stank of all manner of disgusting things, and to an outside observer, would evoke the phrase, "murder hobos".

It was time to move on.

There was one trail before them and it led back to the fork. Unless they wished to brave another direction?

(Yep.)

Earlier, Arristuun had said to Thorsan, "Good suggestion. Maybe we can store the camel meat in skins and store them in your magic sack? Maybe they'll even keep longer in there. Is the environment inside the magic sack as warm as it is outside?"

Now, Arristuun followed Alfbern, or traveled alongside him. "We now have but one choice -- the pyramid," the river ranger said dramatically. But since no one was looking at him at that moment, he looked back at Am and said it to the goat.

[All healing spells and natural healing have been applied to the quick character record folder. The only person with survival actually specific for the desert environment is Baal/Kevin's PC. However, I did roll with modifiers for the brother and sister.]

The weather continued much as the same, it cooled to the mid seventies in the early evening. The extra-dimensional space created by their magical items was always cool, about as warm as a root cellar. Alfbern on the rare occasion saw movement in the sand, the occasional rodent or scorpion. Baal claimed that the rodents were okay to eat, but that the scorpions were only edible if the tails were removed. The area was devoid of water and most plant life. It would be hard to hit the rodents with arrows, a snare would be more suitable to catching the things.

The trail continued on, and as they got closer to the next day, they spied a group of five spiders the size of small ponies, sand colored, cresting a dune about 20 yards off from their right. They seemed to be aware of and were quickly advancing upon the party.

[Intentions?]