The night passes peacefully.  It seems that, as some had surmised the previous evening, the presence of orcs and an ogre in the decrepit fortress have encouraged other potential troublemakers to give it a wide berth, and knowledge of their demise has not yet spread.

Fergus survives the night, and though his sleep is fitful, he does not awaken.  His face is pale, and he sweats continuously, even if the room is not overly warm.  Still, he does not appear to be losing blood any longer, but given the pallor of his skin, that could simply mean that he doesn't have any more to lose.  In any case, he is still breathing as the first faint light of dawn washes over the crumbling stonework of what is, presumably, Eralion's keep.

Aarnr and Eilieen also live still, in spite of the terrible injuries both have suffered.  And now the dawn of a new day brings new hope, for it means that the clerics will be able to beseech their respective gods for aid, each in their own way.

The dawn also brings a chill in the air, along with morning mist shrouding the forest.

The trapdoor has remained firmly closed throughout the night.  If there are vermin, or worse, beneath the floor, they have not attempted to break into the chamber where the party have rested.
This message was last edited by the GM at 11:07, Sun 07 Apr 2013.

Eilieen spends much of the night sleeping.  The rest?  Checking Fergus each time the pain of her wound wakes her is the top of the list, followed by a more cursory check on Aarnr.  Not that she balks at examining the other priest, but he's in far better condition than the former farmer.  Fergus worries her greatly; she doesn't like his fever, and his inability to regain consciousness is a terrible sign.  In this place, in these conditions, there's only so long she and Aarnr can keep him alive with mundane means, no matter her intensive training in such things.

But with morning comes hope.

Having prayed to the rising of the sun, Eilieen feels the heat within her spirit echoing the warmth of the burning orb upon the horizon.  The air is cool and damp, but she feels it not at all, for Zadastha's power stands with her once again.  Drawing the tattered remains of her cloak and gown about her, she steps through the refuse to kneel beside the broken warrior.

"Ah, Fergus.  Return to us now."  One hand brushes the hair back from his glistening forehead, and her voice rises.  "Zadastha - lend your grace to this one, fallen in the defense of his friends!  Grant him the strength to step back from the door between this life and the next, to resist death's tidal draw!"

OOC - The only difference between Eilieen's spells this morning is she's taking 'mending' twice instead of 'detect magic' and 'create water'.  Also, she actually has 3 level 1 spells, so she'll take 'Divine Favour' as well.

Also, Cure Light Wounds on Fergus!  :)

Edit: The dice roller hates me.  A whopping 4 hp.  :(  Or maybe I should be using Aarnr's method...
This message was last edited by the player at 13:09, Mon 08 Apr 2013.

Having happily committed the lives of himself, Eilieen and Fergus to the care of Bowbe, Aarnr passes a quite blissfully unworried and comfortable night.  Of course, it helps that any ticks or lice which try to bite him would be lucky to live to tell the tale.  Indeed, the only time he stirs and them momentarily  is when he wakes himself up with his own snoring thence glares at anyone unlucky enough to be breathing heavily at that moment.

Like Eilieen, Aarnr spends some time in conversation with his god, though predictably this is an occasion of loud name-calling and ranting as the priest puts forth his demands for the day.  Honour eventually satisfied, Aarnr returns to the tower only to stand shaking his head as he sees Eilieen already up and about and trying to sneak in some healing when he wasn't looking, though truth be told it's not less than he expected.

With Bowbe's attention not yet wandered far, his priest elects to insist on his favour quickly with the usual lashings of invective.

"Would thou have me shamed before froggin' Zadastha's doxy, thou currish, half-faced, plume-plucked, swag-bellied, full-gorged, spleeny minnow ?!!!  If thou want thy harvest, then thou will gleepin' well tend to our wounds, thou frothy guts-gripin', priblin' dewberry !!"

OOC: CLWs all round ... and I think from this we can certainly see who Bowbe's favourite is ! ;>

21:56, Today: Aarnr Foultongue rolled 5 using 1d8+2. CLW on Eilieen.
21:56, Today: Aarnr Foultongue rolled 6 using 1d8+2. CLW on Fergus.
21:56, Today: Aarnr Foultongue rolled 7 using 1d8+2. CLW on Aarnr.

"One more gleepin' matter," Aarnr's habitual glare softens somewhat as he regards the dishevelled priestess. "If thou can scare up a bowl or somesuch, I'll have Bowbe gift thee with clean and sparkling water ...

OOC: Create Water, 4 gallons ... if there's anything to catch it in. :>
This message was last edited by the player at 14:19, Mon 08 Apr 2013.

"Zad..."  Eilieen's eyes fairly pop from her skull.  "Zadathsa's doxy?"  There's a limit, here.  "You..."  Steaming, she grinds her teeth as Aarnr begins his run of healing, tapping her foot.  The burning pain of her wound fair vanishes under the other priest's ministrations, and his placement of palms puts the pallor in Fergus into retreat, but it only mitigates her anger somewhat.

"You listen," she snaps, prodding his chest with a finger she'll have to wash afterward.  "I am well-content to hear you speak ill of your own god, should that be your choice.  Or myself, if it comes to that!  But speak no ill of the Lady!"

Breathing heavily, the tiny woman glares up into Aarnr's visage for a long moment.  Then Eilieen straightens, brushing down her clothing.  "As for your offer, it is a kindly one, Aarnr, and far more suited to your noble heart."  Her scowl fades into a small smile.  "I will take you up on that, and thank you again for your kind healing; I need only find a proper vessel to wash.  But first...are you yet injured, Aarnr?  Do you, yourself, require divine ministrations?"

One eyebrow arches.  "Of the healing sort?" she clarifies.

Colwyn suppresses a chuckle at Eilieen's outburst, and concentrates instead on the pile of loot.  Finally, as the healing is finished, and Fergus is actually sitting up and looking about, the rogue announces, "I's reckonin' them there orcs was bein' too poor.  Bowbe wasn't even touchin' their stuff in the night, on account of it was bein' too cheap fer 'im.  's'all still bein' there."

Aarnr's generous offer actually brings a smile from the rogue.  "There was bein' a bucket at the well.  Ozzy was usin' it fer a bit." he suggests.  It's not a bowl exactly, but it might serve to hold water while Eilieen cleans up.

OOC: Just so that everybody knows...

Characters' Apparent Health

Aarnr Foultongue: Hurt
Aramil:           Good
Bilfro Gabbins:   Good
Colwyn Akbar:     Good
Corian Barade:    Good
Eilieen:          Hurt
Erista:           Good
Fergus Andarson:  Critical
Oswald Osbourne:  Good

In a corner, in a ruin, exasperating for a while, dwelt a geezer, quite a sneezer, who was spewing bitter bile.

"Oh my spell book, oh my spell book, oh my spell book once so fine, you are lost and gone forever, dreadful sorry, spell book mine."

Dark he was and a bit lairy, and his beard were crooked too;  flying wildly, put it mildly, it was quite a ballyhoo.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:06, Mon 08 Apr 2013.

Corian moves a little closer to Ozzy, and a little further from Bilfro.  Keeping his voice pitched low, he opines, "You know, I do believe our new friend has been driven insane by the loss of his spell book.  He speaks of it as if it were a lost love."

Aarnr's brow furrows as he tries to determine exactly what Eilieen's complaint is.  'Doxy' was in fact one of the politer words the slave taught him, though his keen sense of self-preservation suggests that the priestess most certainly does not want to hear any of the available alternatives.

Sometimes the priest despairs of ever understanding the tortuous paths of civility !  Give him an enraged pheasant any day ...

Still, Eilieen's anger seems to pass swiftly - and perhaps just as well, for in Aarnr's simple way of looking at things, 'divine ministrations' entails hacking the foe into small pieces, and the priestess has certainly proved herself more than capable.  But even so, "just a few gleepin' scratches," he assures her. "Should scar nicely."

"All ours then," Aarnr turns to Colwyn with relief.  "Reckon the gorbellied rutters," frog it, that was another one, "lewdsters," still no ... ah, "gudgeons !" he belatedly but triumphantly corrects himself, "didn't put up a good enough show."

The rogue's suggestion is, however, a good one and the priest hurriedly retrieves the bucket from the well.  His demands upon Bowbe are most certainly neither clean nor sparkling, but the fresh water that fills the pail succeeds on both counts. "There thou go !" Aarnr holds out the bucket to Eilieen as a peace offering.
This message was last edited by the player at 13:33, Tue 09 Apr 2013.

Erista, sitting near Ozzy, looks up at Corian and nods.  "That's why I don't use 'em," she says.  "Reading's fine in its place, but you can't let it control you.  So, Ozzy, I found this mail shirt upstairs, would be about your size if you're interested.  Not magic, but it looks awfully nice.  Or at least, it could, with a little polish.  Also, a fair sized bag of coins, but it was getting a bit late for counting."

Fergus finally wakes and sits up slowly, with a groan.  He blinks several times, bleary-eyed, before any semblance of awareness finally dawns.

"Freya's grace, you're alive, you're all alive."

"I had the worst dream," Fergus explains, "There were orcs everywhere.  We tried to fight but there were too many, and always that ogre.  You all died." Fergus seems very upset, on the verge of tears.  He looks around again until his eyes light on Erista.

"I'm sorry, sis, I tried to get you out of there, but I wasn't fast enough."

OOC: Oh wait, no, that was a different game :P

Ozzy grins, then smiles, then outright blushes as Erista offers him the chain woven shirt. " A gift? For me? I'm so sorry, I didn't get you anything. What's the occasion?" He stands, trying on the shirt and adjusting for comfort with a few shrugs of his little shoulders. " And money too? Well, it's never to early for counting your blessings, shall we?" he adds, looking as hungrily at the coin purse as he would a morning meal. Speaking of which, who was making breakfast? Anyone? His stomach growls for an answer, already protesting the added work of carrying the bulk of a chain shirt. Seeing Fergus coming around is the only thing that snaps him from his eyeful of greed, and he walks over with his chest puffed out, buffing the front with one sleeve as he boasts, " Good morning Fergus! Look what Erista got me, don't I like formidable now?"

The mail shirt is a good fit for Ozzy.  Perhaps a little on the large side, but then halflings tend to like a bit of space to fill out.  In any case, once it's cleaned up a little, it should make him look quite dashing.

The orcish armour and weapons seem cheap and shoddy, and poorly maintained, so probably not worth taking.  The coin, on the other hand...  A quick count reveals that, between the orcs, and Erista's little find in the ogre's chamber, there are some 270 gold pieces, plus a handful of silver and copper.

Corian seems disappointed with the haul.

"Was there naught else up there?"
This message was last edited by the GM at 12:49, Wed 10 Apr 2013.

Eilieen sighs heavily at the mention of her wound scarring.  But then, perhaps a sufficiently large scar might keep the other priests at bay should she ever return to the temple...well, no.  Probably cause her no end of problems.  She cocks an eyebrow, one corner of her mouth twitching as Aarnr attempts to mends his vocabulary, then breaks into a sunny smile as he retrieves a bucket and fills it with bright, sparkling water.  "Oh, Aarnr!"  The priestess had neglected that divine magic herself, from a need to heal and help the others.  "That's so kind of you - such a gentleman!"  Bowbe's bellowing blasphemer receives a pat on the cheek for his trouble, then Eilieen closes her eyes and whispers.

"Zadastha, repay this kindness with your own; seal away the last of his wounds that he might enjoy this bright new day."

Light flares about her palm as Fergus awakes.  Sweeping the bucket from Aarnr, Eilieen plunks it down beside the injured farmer.  "Ah, poor Fergus.  We live, all of us."  Though the Nameless One does not...and his sister?  What of that?  Perhaps a reason this man travels with them.  "Fear not - I hold something for the pain of your body, with the hopes it helps relieve the wounds in your heart."  Another touch, this one to the once-farmer, and her hands again shine.  "Zadastha, touch this one with your love and care; sooth his hurts that he might step further into the light."

Power flares once more, and the farmer finds his injuries much improved.

"And yet, my work is not finished.  Hold steady, Fergus.  Breakfast comes soon."  Gathering up her bucket, Eilieen quick-steps over to the bawling Bilfro, gently reaching out to touch his much-maligned manuel.  "Bilfro...I know not if this will suffice, but I shall make an attempt.  Zadastha," she prays.  "Mend this wizard's tome, that he may weave spells to bring hope to this world."

A flare of light and power; what it brings, she cannot say.

"And now, perhaps," she states with a weary smile, "I might avail myself of Colwyn's cleverness and Aarnr's altruism.  In private."

OOC - Healing Aarnr, 7 points.  Healing Fergus, 11 points.  :)
Casting 'Mending' on the spellbook.  I have no idea what it'll do - shouldn't explode, or anything, but I don't know if it'll work.  Still, worth a try!