[IC] New Crobuzon & the World Beyond

[Ningalu Baal'urki]

Ning desperatel;y wants to cast detect magic, but does notr dare risk the Torque for something trivial. Instead he contents himself with examining the jars and knock nacks,, seeing if there is a way he can perhaps create a satchel she can carry her supplies (or someone else can carry for her) out of perhaps her bedding,, so that she will have both clothing and bedding material

[OoC common boy scout trick.. roll it into a tbe and tie the ens of thge tube together as a buyndle holding everything that you can then justr lkoop over your shouldere.]

[GM Marvel]

[OoC: I think it's time to invest in a spell checker.    I cleaned it up in the quote below. ]

Ning desperately wants to cast detect magic, but does not dare risk the Torque for something trivial. Instead he contents himself with examining the jars and knick-knacks, seeing if there is a way he can perhaps create a satchel she can carry her supplies (or someone else can carry for her)  out of perhaps her bedding, so that she will have both clothing and bedding material

[OoC common boy scout trick.. roll it into a tube and tie the ends of the tube together as a bundle holding everything that you can then just loop over your shoulder.]

Ning looks over the biscuits and cookies.  Most are just your typical round shape.  There are a few she's shaped into whimsical men, women and animal shapes.  If he picks one up he notices they are rather hard from lack of baking ingredients which is likely why she went to get some of her jams to add sweetness.

Cozar gets a whiff of the sweet smelling vapor and suddenly feels tingly all over his body.  Then he starts feeling warm and relaxed like he slipped into a nice warm bath that he never wants to get out of.  He chuckles at the vapors that seem to morph into different shapes like winged pink elephants, tweeting birds and chubby little purple dinosaurs chasing their tails.

"Found some," the old woman chimes from downstairs.  Then one by one, six jars float up the stairs, each filled with different colored contents.  "Thank goodness for mage hand," she says while slowly climbing up the stairs. 

Cozar hears someone faintly speaking to him.  Through slitted eyes and wearing a stupefied smile, he slowly looks around searching for where the voice was coming from.  He flinches slightly when he finally notices the old woman's face is mere inches from his own.  She seems to be saying something but her voice sounds so faint he's having trouble making out what she's saying.  A few moments later he finds himself sitting in an arm chair and marveling about how he feels like he's floating.

"I'm so sorry," the old woman says to Ning (who's probably standing beside the chair the old woman helped Crozar to sit in).  "I guess I should have warned you both about what I was making but like I said, it's been a long time since I've had visitors to be concerned about.  I use this concoction to numb the senses of intruders like the were-snails.  It's much easier to deal with dangerous creatures when they're half-baked."

[Crozar the Sunspot]

Crozar sits awkwardly in the chair, its spines stabbing into the upholstery, and the stiffness of its wooden joints obvious.  Absently shifting to take some pressure off the spines, it plucks several and begins to use them like thin chopsticks to try to catch the hallucinatory creatures out of the air. It mumbles to Ning, "Got summa Nang's poopimals o'err here.  Dumb mammimals.  Otter be more planty.  All walkin' round, shit on erryting, stompin' on da liddle, bittle stemmies." Slow, sappy tears begin to well up in the corner's of it's eyes.

[GM Marvel]

Giggling at the baked Cactacae, she says, "I don't think he got a strong dose so he should start to come out of it soon.  I have to admit, from time to time I've sniffed the sweet vapors to take the edge off the misery of being stuck in this cave.  It's some gooood stuff!"

[Ningalu Baal'urki]

"When you say you use it against intruders, how do you administer it?Do they have to ingest it, or do you deliver the fumes somehow.  It could be useful."

[GM Marvel]

"When you say you use it against intruders, how do you administer it? Do they have to ingest it, or do you deliver the fumes somehow.  It could be useful."

"Since the intruders around here are usually carnivorous I usually use a breakable container that can be stepped on or thrown so they get drugged long before they can get to my home."  She replies.  "l've actually spread several score of such containers on the outskirts of my property except for the direction you came.  With the Tree-Giant on guard duty I don't need much protection from creatures from that direction.  When I was younger and could hunt better I could use the excess game I caught as bait.  But now I can barely catch enough for meat for myself let alone have enough to bait traps.  So I don't use ingestion as a way to drug intruders anymore."

"Okay, that's enough of that," she says while snapping her fingers in front of Crozar's face.  "Come on... Snap out of it!"  Suddenly Crozar blinks (do Cactacae blink?) as the hallucinatory creatures vanish and his senses return to him." 

"Good morning, Mr, Cactacae.  I hope you enjoyed your ride.  That'll teach ya to go sniffing around in a woman's things," she says with a chuckle.

[Crozar the Sunspot]

Crozar awkwardly stands up, coughs and smacks it's lips and says, "Indeed.  My apologies for overstepping, ma'am.  My curiosity overcame me.  I've always had an interest in the dietary habits of humanoids as they are so radically different from my own.  I can see how that could be an effective deterrant.  I'm not aware of many concoctions that can impact the Cactacae so quickly."  Crozar pauses a moment to take a long drink from the waterskin on it's belt. "Once we get out of here, I may have a business proposition for you," it says with a sardonic smile.

[GM Marvel]

[OoC: To clarify, when she stated she doesn't use ingestion as a way to deliver the drug, she meant that it no longer can be used in that way. The only way to deliver the drug now is through inhalation. ]

"I get attacked by every type of creature out here and some types may not even been discovered yet.  The Torque is full of surprises.  So when one of my squash turns into a giant-old-woman-eating-squash-monster I need to be able to drug it to make it harmless too!  I've had decades to perfect this drug so it pretty much works on anything."

[Ningalu Baal'urki]

"When you say you use it against intruders, how do you administer it? Do they have to ingest it, or do you deliver the fumes somehow.  It could be useful."

"Since the intruders around here are usually carnivorous I usually use a breakable container that can be stepped on or thrown so they get drugged long before they can get to my home."  She replies.  "l've actually spread several score of such containers on the outskirts of my property except for the direction you came.  With the Tree-Giant on guard duty I don't need much protection from creatures from that direction.  When I was younger and could hunt better I could use the excess game I caught as bait.  But now I can barely catch enough for meat for myself let alone have enough to bait traps.  So I don't use ingestion as a way to drug intruders anymore."

"Okay, that's enough of that," she says while snapping her fingers in front of Crozar's face.  "Come on... Snap out of it!"  Suddenly Crozar blinks (do Cactacae blink?) as the hallucinatory creatures vanish and his senses return to him." 

"Good morning, Mr, Cactacae.  I hope you enjoyed your ride.  That'll teach ya to go sniffing around in a woman's things," she says with a chuckle.

"You have some of those prepared and stashed around the property?  Would you mind if I purchased some from you?  If you are leaving them behind anyway, they could be of some use."

[GM Marvel]

By this time, the tiny creatures have stopped sprouting from Nang's arm-body.  The duration was only about an hour.

The old woman replies, "If you get me out of this place, I'd be happy to sell you some of my drug.  Until then, if you all are - no offense - slaughtered before we escape, I will need all the drug I have to get back to my hut.  I'll also need the drug-mines I've hidden to protect my home so I have home to come back to if you fail."

Outside, while the rest of the group is waiting, Tomeal says, "I don't think we should stay here for long.  Every minute we aren't moving is another minute more the Torque will have to turn us into a walking turnip.  But we also have to keep our eyes out for a safe place to make camp."

[I'd like everyone outside to make Spot checks ]