OK, I have started a new thread, since the old one was burgeoning. Please continue what you were discussing in the last thread here.

It will be nearly two weeks before you are at a respectable strength again, even with Nuyok's healing. Cas and Celeste are the primary concerns. Cas will just be weak and anemic for a while, but Celeste has internal injuries to heal.
Under Nuyok and Stout's ministrations, they should be healed in that time.
Beka will recover in a few days for the most part. The poison will work out of her system in that time, and then there are only a few minor wounds to heal.
Rath also will heal quickly, since his wounds are numerous minor and older injuries.
Vagrant's wounds are likewise minor.
In short, all but the two first mentioned will be fine in a week; the other two will be fine at the end of two.
During this two weeks, you can study and practice what you have spent your experience on, and plan what you want to take on the next leg of the journey. Both caravans still have enough supplies in store to reach Adala without needing to purchase anything at the lizard. Anything extra would be in the way of buying more trade goods, luxuries or personal items.

Lastly, My responses may be spotty for the next couple weeks. I am feeling the pressure of some new art assignments from Hero as well as writing my weekly FTF game. I spent a lot of posting time on Fort Lizard and it has taken a bit of a toll.
I still hope to log on daily, but the posts may be shorter.

If it is really taking as long as it is looking, Cas will finish up her main spirit chess figurine set about a week maybe week and a half into it. After the first set is finished, she will move out to the main room when crafting. She keeps the wood she collected earlier nearby incase she can find a way to trick someone into learning her craft.

She will also try to learn crafts from other people provided anyone is patient enough to deal with her.

For the next week, Celeste remains in the infirmiry. She's pretty bored unless people come by to visit her. She spends some time cleaning and oiling the falchion to make sure no rust appears from its night in the rain, and since her belt was lost in the jungle when Bones tied her up; some time fashioning a belt of sorts out of lightweight ropes, utilizing the various sailors knots. At the end of the week, if Stout and Nuyok say it is okay, she will move back to the inn.

She opens the door to the common room of the inn, "Master Jame, is my room still available?"

OOC: Not sure how much time it takes Ricco to start moving, but once he is recovered, Faliol goes to see Celeste in the hospital.

"Hello big sister! Stout taking good care of you? Is there anything you need?"

Leans forward in conspiratorial fashion

"Nice throw you made on the roof, by the way."

Celeste greets Faliol with a big smile. In response to his last statement she says, "Well, it wasn't so much a throw, as a gentle nudge....in the right direction. He may have been corrupted by that artifact, but I saw the look in his eyes, I don't think there was anyway to save him even after it was destroyed...I'm sorry about Abel, he was a good man, he did not deserve what happened to him." Celeste pauses for a moment, "Things seem pretty quiet around here now don't they?"

"As to your first question, yes, Lt. Stout is taking good care of me. Too good if you know what I mean...I think I'm getting fat lying here all day. And what I 'need' is to get out of the infirmiry and back with the rest of you. I miss you guys. Lt. Stout said maybe in a few days I can go back to the inn."

"You know, I haven't seen Rath yet, that was some very impressive team work the three of you performed up there you know. I'm sure Cas is working on a great story..." Celeste continues in a whisper, "...both versions. I think the real story will be known eventually though. Even if we say nothing, there were too many people involved for it not to come out"

Whispering, "Able was a good man. Teamwork? Wish I could say that we had a plan, but we didn't. Rath wouldn't let me get in front. When he focuses on something, it is just better to get out of his way. With reavers on all sides, I couldn't get around both Rath and Vagrant to attack...you know who. I guess we all decided to shoot him pretty much at the same time. I will tell you one thing, I am not standing right next to Vagrant the next time we fight something. My ears took a full hour to stop ringing..."

Celeste's eyes narrow as she recalls the earsplitting noise, "I remember that, and fire from his hand. What was that, another artifact from the Demon Kings?"

"He is a strange one, that Vagrant. If he has given an explanation for that thing, I wasn't around to hear it. Yes, I believe that it was another Demon King artifact. Isn't it weird how one almost kills us and another helps save us? Celeste, I swear that if I ever find one of those things I am going to sell it first chance I get. Betsy is reliable, accurate, and doesn't blow up!"

.oO(What kind of moron designs a weapon that blows your hand up when used?)

"I wouldn't sell it, I would take it out to sea and drop it into the deepest part of the ocean I knew. Look what happened when it wound up in someone's hands. You know, I think maybe that is what happened to Horn's party, they must have found it and brought it to Ash. "

Cas at this point has been sitting in a seat away from drapes carving. She hears "Horn" and "what happened" and her ears jump straight up. She very quickly and stealthfully moves into position as if she had been their the entire time.

"Actually, if I might interject," she says but doesn't wait for a response before she continues. "Horn and company were sent to retrieve the artifact that had falling into the hands of some bandits. Ash knew this somehow, he didn't say how, and had them acquire it for transportation."

Cas continues despite protests, she talks over their words, "You see the artifact had been originally in the hands of a group of bandits who had discovered it in some ruins in a land called Mich Mice. It had been located in a locked room inside a Demon King temple. It was resting nicely on a pillar as if waiting to be claimed. Unable to pass up on this, they took it thinking it might be worth a fortune."

Cas pauses for a moment, "My lips are very parched. Faliol, would you fetch me a drink? It still hurts to move like that. Thank you."

Cas continues, "Ash somehow learned of this and had Horn and his traveling companions transport three statues. Why you ask? Because Adala sells statues very cheap and he needed to give the appearance that they were legitimate traders. Of course, he also needed statues of himself so that he could begin to decorate his face all over the lands he controlled."

"Anyway," Cas says getting back on track. "Horn and company encountered the bandits who had gone quite mad from the device. So it was easy to kill them and take it. Then each in turn went mad until only Horn was sane enough to reach the fort. He was seen by Ash soon after. Ash changed his psyche and placed a big fat hole in there so that Horn would not know anything related to the artifact."

Cas leans back and enjoys her drink.

"And you are just telling us of this now? What else do you know of this Demon King temple?"

Is everyone visiting Celeste in the hospital?

[EDITED on Tue March 11, 2003 @5:05 PM (CST)]

OOC: I think Cas thought Celeste had returned to the inn but that was my fault, I posted that for the end of the first week, then Faliol came to visit before she actually left the infirmiry....I think they are all at the inn....I dunno....

from Lt. Stout, Celeste will move on back to the inn....(hate being out of the loop) "I thank you kindly for your services Lt. Stout, but I think I am ready to go back to the inn. I will need to get used to moving around again before we leave." She will gather up her falchion and any other items that accumulated during her stay at the infirmiry and make her way back to the inn. Opening the door to the common room, "Master Jame, is my room still available?"

Celeste will spend the intervening time between leaving the infirmiry and the eventual departure of the caravan, slowly getting her body used to moving. One morning, loud cracks can be heard coming from the practice area of the armory.

OOC: Actually, yes - remember, Nuyok has to check up on her

OOC: Nuyok has designs on Celeste's 'bracelets."

OOC: Oops, did my hand slip?

I thought only Celeste's face had designs...

OOC: Shows what you know.....

OOC: I know what you show.
That didn't sound right...

OOC: Hey! You weren't supposed to tell anyone!

OOC: Yeah, I thought this was at the tavern during the later portion of the week. I'll post my response even if it is later ruled invalid.

"Other than it was made completely out of marble stone I know nothing else. Master Ash was more obsessed with his portion of the story than some silly bandits or a crazy trader gone mad."

"Did he give any indication of location, or from conversations with Horn do we recall anything on this? With the dangerous artifact gone, it could be worth exploring."

"Horn came form Adala and if the bandits and Horn met before coming to Fort Lizard, we can only assume that the bandits got their item from somewhere to the west."

"That was my assumption as well, but figured I'd confirm in case there was something else you might know," Nuyok's clearly referring to this sudden revelation of information of the temple.

Rath isn't seen very much in the two weeks, and when he is he doesn't have time to talk. Observers will notice that he talks to Mako and then ususally leaves the fort. If asked what he is up to, he will give his child-like grin and tell them "Just trying to fix a mess. Leave me alone for a while and I'll tell you all about it," as he says this you can see he can barely contain his excitement.

Hey, Rath...
trying to get his attention as he's running by...

Rath!
(running in the other direction)

Don't I know you...(as he scoots by) mumble, from somewhere?

"Listen you, Beka has been trying to talk to you for three days now! She'd never do this to you! She's up in her room crying right now!
Probably shouldn't have said that.
Thinking you've forgotten her, hoping you're alright, worrying I have no IDEA why she even bothers!