Secret of mana IC thread

[Ridai]

Hearing Coney's retelling of the supposed legend of the Black Rabite, it has Thaum thinking.

"The imbalance created and awakened a lot of very powerful beings, so I can see there being truth to the story, though it is probably anybody's guess at this point what such a rabite's intentions were in general and when it fought the heroes. Finding someone who actually interacted with it would be quite illuminating, if the stories do tell the truth to some extent."

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At the cave entrance, the healer looks at the hasty disguise that seems bigger on ambition than actual execution.

"Either we interrupted an effort here, or someone took a break before finishing their work," Thaum mentions, looking at the "seams" of the disguise, hair slowly following the head's motions as he guides the everbunring torch in his hand towards wherever he is looking. He does brush some of the vines off of the goddess statue.

As he opens his bag, Thaum adresses his companions. "Many of my protective spells are relatively short in duration, so unless you have wishes otherwise, I will apply them as needed. These caverns supposedly are quite large and I may just be burning mana we might need later," he says, pulling out a peculiar black rod from his bag.

"This should help us with crossing chasms and getting up to rock bridges above us, should the opportunity arise." He wiggles the item a bit for emphasis, then puts it back into the bag. "As mentioned earlier, many beings are averse to attacking me if I don't attack them first, though strength of will is a factor in this. Much of my healing can also be done at a distance, though please do not expect me to close your wounds from across a grand cavern. Where would you like me to be in the marching order?" Hopefully, that should provide the more experienced adventurers of the group with what they need to know in regards to what to expect from Thaum and how he may figure into exploration and, if it comes to it, combat.