Sitting on the floor his back against the wall, able to see the approach of any guards Vrah has kept silent listening to the ebb and flow of discussions between the prisoners.
He chuckles to himself careful to keep his thoughts hidden, How many times have I heard these same discussions over and over. There are some differences between this group and the others but the outcome is always the same - Vrah is once again left alone in this wretched cel until the next group of prisoners are brought in. There is no life other than these shackles and the back breaking work thrust upon them with survival at any cost the only option. Grinning inwardly, I wonder if I catch Ilvara on a good day and expose the plannings of these wretches, she will free me. The grin quickly fading, probably not, she can not be trusted and the thought of me wringing the life out of her is something I desperately want to do, and soon.
Turning his attention back to the group and continuing to listen in, Hmmm, their planning seems pretty solid so far. Not completely reckless as others he has heard. There might be a chance and seeing as Vrah does not have too many years left, it might be in his best interest to make a go of it this time.
"I will help with watch and will make sure no one," as he looks over at Buppido, "will do anything." Then he pauses, "The drow are vicious and have squashed many attempted escapes before, we have to be careful and lucky. I grow tired of being a prisoner and want to be free, one way or the other."
“Ah, remember magic does not work in here. I tried speaking to the little spider earlier, the spell went poof! And nothing. We can communicate silently with our mushroom pal. Maybe try when we are let out of the cage? But maybe the guards will see us.”
”Oh hello big guy, uh…so you been here a while, what’s the guard situation outside the cell? Like when we are out working? Oh, I guess I can help keep watch as well.”
I'm going to move us forward to the next "morning." If anyone had something else they wanted to do during the night, we can fill that in.
After an hour, the effect of the spores wears off. You kind of miss the community of being connected in that way to your fellow prisoners, but it was also disturbing to have other people's thoughts in your head, especially as you were trying to sleep.
Those who keep watch don't notice much. Every hour or so, a guard comes across the rope bridge from the tower and looks in to make sure no one is causing problems.
Some of the other prisoners, especially Sarith and Topsy, have very fitful sleep, tossing and turning and occasionally crying out in their sleep. On waking, a number of you report having bizarre and disturbing dreams. You're going through a traumatic experience, but the dreams are strange. One of you dreams of your skin breaking out all over in horrible growths and boils. Another dreams of weird gibbering slimy creatures that begin oozing forth from the walls and ceiling. Others are lost in darkness, hearing the breath of creatures all around you.
It wasn't good sleep, but any of you who expended resources get the benefit of a long rest.
Your cave is still dark, so the only way you know it is morning is when a guard clangs his sword against the bars and tells you to wake up.
Shoowaa uses his tail as a pillow for the night, hugging it tighter as the nightmares came. He whimpers and tosses and turns in his sleep. Even with the terrible sleep, he is annoyed when the guard beats on the bars to wake him up, knowing that he won't be able to keep at it and wonders how the bugbear was able to deal with this prison. Shoowaa slowly gets up and dusts himself off, and he was hoping his capture was another nightmare. He looks at the guard, wondering what they want to do with him this time around.
Vethna sit sup, keeping a friendly arm on Sprout, patting the mushroom creature as it wakes up. Once Sprout is awake and ready, Vethna gets up and looks around. She waits to hear what the guard wants, remaining silent otherwise.
To Tanis, the dreams only confirm what he already suspected. For me and perhaps others, not dying down here in the darkness is a fate as bad as dying. This group collectively seems as good a shot as we'll get. We have to wait for the right opportunity and then take it without hesitation.
He checks visually to confirm that his fellow prisoners are unharmed (other than the nightmares). When the guard is not there, he would go around, discussing quietly with the others that had been in yesterday's telepathic circle, probably what everyone already knows but just making sure we are all working together:
"Let's all keep our eyes open. Not just for means of escape (like jumping down to the pool) and gaining supplies, but looking for an angle between Ilvara, Shoor and Jorlan that might benefit us."
"And once the work detail is over and the drow are gone, we should all make an attempt to slip free of the manacles without drawing attention. I believe we can even help each other when we make our attempt. If free, we should probably not take any further action since we currently can't get out of the cell. We should just keep our freedom from the manacles concealed. This will leave as many of us possible ready and unchained in case a chance does arise."
Tanis will of course humbly listen to any responses and further suggestions.
Phodoxia sleeps fitfully, twitching and growling in her sleep at the nightmares. Between oozing walls, slimy goop covering little goblins' and gnomes' mouths and noses, and painful boils breaking out on her skin where she can't catch them, feeling rested is a battle. Towards the end of the night, the nightmares recede, and Phodoxia sleeps peacefully, watching a silently, overgrown forest, watching for an ivory glimpse of an ephemeral, furtive creature, like a flash of light in the deep green shadows. When she sees it, she gets up and chases after it, and finally just as she reaches the creature and extends her hand out to touch its nose as it bends its long neck, a long, spiraled horn on its head flashing over her and the last of the boils on her skin disappear.... she wakes up to the clanging sword on the bars and the shout of the guard.
Phodoxia sits up and shakes her head in irritation. She is not very quick to respond to the half-elf, looking at him with bleary black eyes, like she doesn't quite know where she is. As his words sink in, she looks down at the manacles chaining her wrists, and shrugs thoughtfully. It might work...
The guard calls out "Alright. We're doing two work teams today. The mistress thinks that tired prisoners might have less energy to cause trouble. I need the little people - the goblins, gnomes and whatever you are (he points to Vethna) to line up. You lot are on kitchen duty - washing dishes, scrubbing floors, food prep. Then I'm gonna need the bugbear, the lizard, the two drow and the half-breed (he points at Tanis) for rock stacking duty on the cavern floor. You're gonna love it. Fish guy, mushroom, Derro and his royal highness the prince (he makes a deep bow in the direction of the Quaggoth), you're staying here 'cause your either too much trouble or too useless. I'll be back with an escort in ten minutes. Be ready or taste the lash." he turns to go, then turns back.
"Oh yeah, if you don't cause any trouble today, Mistress Ilvara says you might get to eat later."
Phodoxia perks up immediately at the thought of getting to leave the cell, even if it is to wash dishes and chop mushrooms. Seeing more of the outpost will definitely help give her ideas to contribute to the prisoners' escape plan. She finds the other goblin, Shoowaa, and stands behind him in a haphazard line attempt. "Maybe we can borrow a chopping knife for that tail of yours," she says to him in Goblin. Then she giggles, "and put it in their stew..."
Shoowaa replies in goblin “Good idea! But we need to be quiet about it or they may punish us more than no food. And hope they don’t notice. Ah wait what if the food is not for the drow but for prizoners? We can’t make them eat that.”
Kisiki shakes awake at the guard's "alarm clock" and listens to the news of his assignment. Stacking rocks. A skill rarely useful for survival, but supremely useful for surviving today.
He lets his fellow prisoners know, "I will see what I can see, and hear what I can hear."With that somewhat cryptic promise given, he remains stumm and awaits his day's labor.
Petmailer comes awake and gives the guard a look in the dark that could peel paint. "Rock stacking. Wonderful. Can't wait." he says quietly. He sits down next to Vrah, says "We've seen the routine, moving rocks again. SSDD. Just.. keep your eyes open. Maybe we could help each other. I know you want to get out of here as bad as I do."
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
A wizard is never late, nor is he early, he arrives precisely when he means to.
Tanis does some stretching hoping to reduce the eventual soreness from hours of stacking rocks. He's never been the strongest, but he is resilient and has no problem with doing the work. Or with being called a half-breed. He's kind of proud of the latter. He keeps his face blank and posture neutral, ready for when the guard returns with the escort.
Vethna pats Sprout on the head as she leaves the mushroom person with the prince. "Please protect them, I do not wish the Derro or someone to harm them while I am not here." She requests of the elven prince.
Vethna then shrugs and moves over to line up with the goblins. She did all of her speaking the previous night, so does not believe any more is needed here and now, especially where a guard might be able to overhear.
"Oh, you know, you might be right," Phodoxia replies in Goblin, with a frown. "They probably aren't trusting us with their own food. Well, we'll just have to see what things are like when we get there." She turns to give Vethna a little sharp-toothed smile as the small human joins them.
You all are marched across the short rope bridge to the guard tower. The drow seem to be used to these things, but for you, they are tricky, especially with your hands in manacles. They sway back and forth under you. You can see below you thick layers of spider webbing. It's a little comforting to think if you fell, you'd be caught in the nets instead of plummeting to the cavern floor, but of course, you know these webs have inhabitants. There are guards with crossbows trained on you as you pass briefly through the guard tower.
Shoowa and Vethna, with your passive perception, it's easy for you to spot the trap door in the ceiling, confirming there is a room above. It's closed right now. The room is sparsely furnished. There is a table and a few chairs. Cards are left on the table as if there is an ongoing game. On the walls, there is netting made of what appears to be thick strands of spider silk with hooks spaced out across the net. It's being used as a place to hang or stash equipment when it isn't being used.
You pass out the other side of the guard tower and step onto another, longer rope bridge. The guards watch you from behind and others are waiting at the other end, also with crossbows trained on you. The bridge connects to a large platform built against the wall of the cavern. You pass near the large stalactite tower where you were told Ilvara and others live, but you can't see in. That tower can be reached by a short rope bridge. When you get to the platform, it appears to be made of wood, but it has a strange spongy kind of texture. It's still firm under your feet, but it isn't like wood you've seen before. This large platform connects directly to the two shorter towers. You're ushered off to the first cavern on your left. You can see two other cave entrances further down. The main hall you enter serves as a gathering and eating place for the drow warriors. It has four circular tables carved from something similar to the material making up the platform. Each is surrounded by five chairs. These tables are covered with dirty dishes, platters and cups probably left over from dinner the night before and breakfast this morning. Portions of the hall are segregated off and used as a food preparation area and a pantry. There is a heavy iron brazier for cooking and it gives some dim light. The walls are also covered in places with a phosphorescent lichen or moss that give them a dim glow.
The guards show you where there are barrels and buckets for scraping off leftovers and scrubbing dishes and plates. It looks like fish was served at dinner. Lots of the plates and platters have long ribs and spines and pin bones left from the fish. They were pretty diligent at finishing off what food they had. The guards warn you not to eat the scraps. Three guards with crossbows stay near the entrance to the room, watching you constantly. There are a couple of quaggoths already in here working, organizing and stacking some crates and barrels in the pantry section of the kitchen.
The "rock" crew is similarly marched through the guard tower and over to the platform, crossbows trained on you the whole time. When you reach the platform, instead of going left toward one of the caverns, they turn right and walk you in between the last two stalactite towers. In between them you see the "lift." Attached to the edge of the barracks platform is a winch-and-basket device consisting of a large swinging arm that carries a thin cord of strong spider silk. The cord runs through a series of pulleys from a hand-cranked horizontal spool to a heavy woven basket suspended at the end. The basket is sitting on the platform when you approach. Two quaggoth attendants wait by the lift to crank it up or down as needed by the drow.
Up to four Medium creatures can fit somewhat snugly in the basket, which is swung out over the edge of the platform and lowered to the cavern floor below by turning the spool using attached handles. The drow first direct Vrah and Kisiki into the basket while the three others wait. As you are lowered down, you pass through an opening in the webs. You can see that they are a few feet think. You think you see dark shadows moving off in the distance in the web, but there is too much webbing to see them clearly. Once you clear the web, you can see it's a long drop to the cavern floor. As the basket eases downward, you see a group of four drow with crossbows waiting for you along with the drow called Shoor who was with Ilvara the other day. It takes about 20-30 seconds to make the trip down, then it's a little faster to crank the empty basket back up. The drow direct Petmailer, Skarith and Tanis to climb in and the quaggoths lower the three of you down.
Shoor says "Alright, here's your project for today. We have been working on restricting the flow of water from the waterfall out of the cavern." He's shouting over the sound of the waterfall pounding into the pool below. As you were descending in the basket, from what you could see, the pool does look deep. He points off toward the north eastern end of the cavern where the water flows into a gap between the cavern wall and the floor. "You're going to collect rocks from there (he points to the western wall of the cavern where a section of the ceiling has collapsed and made a large pile of rocks and boulders), load them into the cart and haul them over to where the water exits and pile them in the stream. We want to restrict the flow to flood more of this cavern so our outpost is more protected from anyone passing through." Now that he mentions "passing through," those of you with darkvision notice that there are passages leaving this cavern to the northeast, northwest and south west.
To help Kisiki be more useful, there are a few small fires built over near the pile of rocks and some torches on posts near the stream so that you have dim light to work by. The far edges of the cavern are too dark for you to see although there are some phosphorescent fungus or lichens growing in patches here and there on the cavern walls.
Kisiki gets to work, guided by the dim lights that have been lit for his benefit, he supposes. He considers whether to attempt fleeing, but decides he wouldn't make it far without either his talisman or sine allies, so he quickly abandons that fleeting thought. When they are out of earshot of any guards (hopefully not hard due to the waterfall) he asks his companions, "Can you see the bottom of the waterfall? Is it deep and wide?"
Later, after chewing on the thought for a while, he also says, "Did you see the - you call it a lift, no? They wind and unwind the spider silk. It is too small for everyone, but when the lift is at the bottom, the silk goes all the way from the top to the bottom. We can slide down it, like a fish down a river."
He pauses before saying, "We will escape. Nature provides a way for all our needs."
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Sitting on the floor his back against the wall, able to see the approach of any guards Vrah has kept silent listening to the ebb and flow of discussions between the prisoners.
He chuckles to himself careful to keep his thoughts hidden, How many times have I heard these same discussions over and over. There are some differences between this group and the others but the outcome is always the same - Vrah is once again left alone in this wretched cel until the next group of prisoners are brought in. There is no life other than these shackles and the back breaking work thrust upon them with survival at any cost the only option. Grinning inwardly, I wonder if I catch Ilvara on a good day and expose the plannings of these wretches, she will free me. The grin quickly fading, probably not, she can not be trusted and the thought of me wringing the life out of her is something I desperately want to do, and soon.
Turning his attention back to the group and continuing to listen in, Hmmm, their planning seems pretty solid so far. Not completely reckless as others he has heard. There might be a chance and seeing as Vrah does not have too many years left, it might be in his best interest to make a go of it this time.
"I will help with watch and will make sure no one," as he looks over at Buppido, "will do anything." Then he pauses, "The drow are vicious and have squashed many attempted escapes before, we have to be careful and lucky. I grow tired of being a prisoner and want to be free, one way or the other."
“Ah, remember magic does not work in here. I tried speaking to the little spider earlier, the spell went poof! And nothing. We can communicate silently with our mushroom pal. Maybe try when we are let out of the cage? But maybe the guards will see us.”
”Oh hello big guy, uh…so you been here a while, what’s the guard situation outside the cell? Like when we are out working? Oh, I guess I can help keep watch as well.”
DAY TWO of captivity
I'm going to move us forward to the next "morning." If anyone had something else they wanted to do during the night, we can fill that in.
After an hour, the effect of the spores wears off. You kind of miss the community of being connected in that way to your fellow prisoners, but it was also disturbing to have other people's thoughts in your head, especially as you were trying to sleep.
Those who keep watch don't notice much. Every hour or so, a guard comes across the rope bridge from the tower and looks in to make sure no one is causing problems.
Some of the other prisoners, especially Sarith and Topsy, have very fitful sleep, tossing and turning and occasionally crying out in their sleep. On waking, a number of you report having bizarre and disturbing dreams. You're going through a traumatic experience, but the dreams are strange. One of you dreams of your skin breaking out all over in horrible growths and boils. Another dreams of weird gibbering slimy creatures that begin oozing forth from the walls and ceiling. Others are lost in darkness, hearing the breath of creatures all around you.
It wasn't good sleep, but any of you who expended resources get the benefit of a long rest.
Your cave is still dark, so the only way you know it is morning is when a guard clangs his sword against the bars and tells you to wake up.
Shoowaa uses his tail as a pillow for the night, hugging it tighter as the nightmares came. He whimpers and tosses and turns in his sleep. Even with the terrible sleep, he is annoyed when the guard beats on the bars to wake him up, knowing that he won't be able to keep at it and wonders how the bugbear was able to deal with this prison. Shoowaa slowly gets up and dusts himself off, and he was hoping his capture was another nightmare. He looks at the guard, wondering what they want to do with him this time around.
Vethna sit sup, keeping a friendly arm on Sprout, patting the mushroom creature as it wakes up. Once Sprout is awake and ready, Vethna gets up and looks around. She waits to hear what the guard wants, remaining silent otherwise.
Grumbling quietly, Vrah wakes up and stretches out the kinks as best as he can. nodding a greeting to his companions.
"This day should prove interesting, I wonder what they have in store for us." He states.
To Tanis, the dreams only confirm what he already suspected. For me and perhaps others, not dying down here in the darkness is a fate as bad as dying. This group collectively seems as good a shot as we'll get. We have to wait for the right opportunity and then take it without hesitation.
He checks visually to confirm that his fellow prisoners are unharmed (other than the nightmares). When the guard is not there, he would go around, discussing quietly with the others that had been in yesterday's telepathic circle, probably what everyone already knows but just making sure we are all working together:
"Let's all keep our eyes open. Not just for means of escape (like jumping down to the pool) and gaining supplies, but looking for an angle between Ilvara, Shoor and Jorlan that might benefit us."
"And once the work detail is over and the drow are gone, we should all make an attempt to slip free of the manacles without drawing attention. I believe we can even help each other when we make our attempt. If free, we should probably not take any further action since we currently can't get out of the cell. We should just keep our freedom from the manacles concealed. This will leave as many of us possible ready and unchained in case a chance does arise."
Tanis will of course humbly listen to any responses and further suggestions.
Tanis(Ranger1): Shiverquill's Tempest City | Xarian(Fighter2): NioNSwiper's Tyranny of Dragons
Dyson/Eleo(TwilightCleric4): Vos' Beyond the Veil | Soren(ShepherdDruid5): Bartjeebus' Ravenloft | Ophelia(WildMagicSorcerer4): Ashen_Age's Risen from the Sands
Joren(EchoKnightFighter6): NotDrizzt's Simple Request | Sabetha(MercyMonk3): Bedlymn's Murder Court | Seri(NatureCleric3/DivineSoulSorcerer1): Bartjeebus' Greyhawk
Phodoxia sleeps fitfully, twitching and growling in her sleep at the nightmares. Between oozing walls, slimy goop covering little goblins' and gnomes' mouths and noses, and painful boils breaking out on her skin where she can't catch them, feeling rested is a battle. Towards the end of the night, the nightmares recede, and Phodoxia sleeps peacefully, watching a silently, overgrown forest, watching for an ivory glimpse of an ephemeral, furtive creature, like a flash of light in the deep green shadows. When she sees it, she gets up and chases after it, and finally just as she reaches the creature and extends her hand out to touch its nose as it bends its long neck, a long, spiraled horn on its head flashing over her and the last of the boils on her skin disappear.... she wakes up to the clanging sword on the bars and the shout of the guard.
Phodoxia sits up and shakes her head in irritation. She is not very quick to respond to the half-elf, looking at him with bleary black eyes, like she doesn't quite know where she is. As his words sink in, she looks down at the manacles chaining her wrists, and shrugs thoughtfully. It might work...
The guard calls out "Alright. We're doing two work teams today. The mistress thinks that tired prisoners might have less energy to cause trouble. I need the little people - the goblins, gnomes and whatever you are (he points to Vethna) to line up. You lot are on kitchen duty - washing dishes, scrubbing floors, food prep. Then I'm gonna need the bugbear, the lizard, the two drow and the half-breed (he points at Tanis) for rock stacking duty on the cavern floor. You're gonna love it. Fish guy, mushroom, Derro and his royal highness the prince (he makes a deep bow in the direction of the Quaggoth), you're staying here 'cause your either too much trouble or too useless. I'll be back with an escort in ten minutes. Be ready or taste the lash." he turns to go, then turns back.
"Oh yeah, if you don't cause any trouble today, Mistress Ilvara says you might get to eat later."
Phodoxia perks up immediately at the thought of getting to leave the cell, even if it is to wash dishes and chop mushrooms. Seeing more of the outpost will definitely help give her ideas to contribute to the prisoners' escape plan. She finds the other goblin, Shoowaa, and stands behind him in a haphazard line attempt. "Maybe we can borrow a chopping knife for that tail of yours," she says to him in Goblin. Then she giggles, "and put it in their stew..."
Shoowaa replies in goblin “Good idea! But we need to be quiet about it or they may punish us more than no food. And hope they don’t notice. Ah wait what if the food is not for the drow but for prizoners? We can’t make them eat that.”
Kisiki shakes awake at the guard's "alarm clock" and listens to the news of his assignment. Stacking rocks. A skill rarely useful for survival, but supremely useful for surviving today.
He lets his fellow prisoners know, "I will see what I can see, and hear what I can hear." With that somewhat cryptic promise given, he remains stumm and awaits his day's labor.
Petmailer comes awake and gives the guard a look in the dark that could peel paint. "Rock stacking. Wonderful. Can't wait." he says quietly. He sits down next to Vrah, says "We've seen the routine, moving rocks again. SSDD. Just.. keep your eyes open. Maybe we could help each other. I know you want to get out of here as bad as I do."
A wizard is never late, nor is he early, he arrives precisely when he means to.
Tanis does some stretching hoping to reduce the eventual soreness from hours of stacking rocks. He's never been the strongest, but he is resilient and has no problem with doing the work. Or with being called a half-breed. He's kind of proud of the latter. He keeps his face blank and posture neutral, ready for when the guard returns with the escort.
"Good luck everyone. Stay strong."
Tanis(Ranger1): Shiverquill's Tempest City | Xarian(Fighter2): NioNSwiper's Tyranny of Dragons
Dyson/Eleo(TwilightCleric4): Vos' Beyond the Veil | Soren(ShepherdDruid5): Bartjeebus' Ravenloft | Ophelia(WildMagicSorcerer4): Ashen_Age's Risen from the Sands
Joren(EchoKnightFighter6): NotDrizzt's Simple Request | Sabetha(MercyMonk3): Bedlymn's Murder Court | Seri(NatureCleric3/DivineSoulSorcerer1): Bartjeebus' Greyhawk
Vethna pats Sprout on the head as she leaves the mushroom person with the prince. "Please protect them, I do not wish the Derro or someone to harm them while I am not here." She requests of the elven prince.
Vethna then shrugs and moves over to line up with the goblins. She did all of her speaking the previous night, so does not believe any more is needed here and now, especially where a guard might be able to overhear.
"Oh, you know, you might be right," Phodoxia replies in Goblin, with a frown. "They probably aren't trusting us with their own food. Well, we'll just have to see what things are like when we get there." She turns to give Vethna a little sharp-toothed smile as the small human joins them.
Kitchen crew:
You all are marched across the short rope bridge to the guard tower. The drow seem to be used to these things, but for you, they are tricky, especially with your hands in manacles. They sway back and forth under you. You can see below you thick layers of spider webbing. It's a little comforting to think if you fell, you'd be caught in the nets instead of plummeting to the cavern floor, but of course, you know these webs have inhabitants. There are guards with crossbows trained on you as you pass briefly through the guard tower.
Shoowa and Vethna, with your passive perception, it's easy for you to spot the trap door in the ceiling, confirming there is a room above. It's closed right now. The room is sparsely furnished. There is a table and a few chairs. Cards are left on the table as if there is an ongoing game. On the walls, there is netting made of what appears to be thick strands of spider silk with hooks spaced out across the net. It's being used as a place to hang or stash equipment when it isn't being used.
You pass out the other side of the guard tower and step onto another, longer rope bridge. The guards watch you from behind and others are waiting at the other end, also with crossbows trained on you. The bridge connects to a large platform built against the wall of the cavern. You pass near the large stalactite tower where you were told Ilvara and others live, but you can't see in. That tower can be reached by a short rope bridge. When you get to the platform, it appears to be made of wood, but it has a strange spongy kind of texture. It's still firm under your feet, but it isn't like wood you've seen before. This large platform connects directly to the two shorter towers. You're ushered off to the first cavern on your left. You can see two other cave entrances further down. The main hall you enter serves as a gathering and eating place for the drow warriors. It has four circular tables carved from something similar to the material making up the platform. Each is surrounded by five chairs. These tables are covered with dirty dishes, platters and cups probably left over from dinner the night before and breakfast this morning. Portions of the hall are segregated off and used as a food preparation area and a pantry. There is a heavy iron brazier for cooking and it gives some dim light. The walls are also covered in places with a phosphorescent lichen or moss that give them a dim glow.
The guards show you where there are barrels and buckets for scraping off leftovers and scrubbing dishes and plates. It looks like fish was served at dinner. Lots of the plates and platters have long ribs and spines and pin bones left from the fish. They were pretty diligent at finishing off what food they had. The guards warn you not to eat the scraps. Three guards with crossbows stay near the entrance to the room, watching you constantly. There are a couple of quaggoths already in here working, organizing and stacking some crates and barrels in the pantry section of the kitchen.
The "rock" crew is similarly marched through the guard tower and over to the platform, crossbows trained on you the whole time. When you reach the platform, instead of going left toward one of the caverns, they turn right and walk you in between the last two stalactite towers. In between them you see the "lift." Attached to the edge of the barracks platform is a winch-and-basket device consisting of a large swinging arm that carries a thin cord of strong spider silk. The cord runs through a series of pulleys from a hand-cranked horizontal spool to a heavy woven basket suspended at the end. The basket is sitting on the platform when you approach. Two quaggoth attendants wait by the lift to crank it up or down as needed by the drow.
Up to four Medium creatures can fit somewhat snugly in the basket, which is swung out over the edge of the platform and lowered to the cavern floor below by turning the spool using attached handles. The drow first direct Vrah and Kisiki into the basket while the three others wait. As you are lowered down, you pass through an opening in the webs. You can see that they are a few feet think. You think you see dark shadows moving off in the distance in the web, but there is too much webbing to see them clearly. Once you clear the web, you can see it's a long drop to the cavern floor. As the basket eases downward, you see a group of four drow with crossbows waiting for you along with the drow called Shoor who was with Ilvara the other day. It takes about 20-30 seconds to make the trip down, then it's a little faster to crank the empty basket back up. The drow direct Petmailer, Skarith and Tanis to climb in and the quaggoths lower the three of you down.
Shoor says "Alright, here's your project for today. We have been working on restricting the flow of water from the waterfall out of the cavern." He's shouting over the sound of the waterfall pounding into the pool below. As you were descending in the basket, from what you could see, the pool does look deep. He points off toward the north eastern end of the cavern where the water flows into a gap between the cavern wall and the floor. "You're going to collect rocks from there (he points to the western wall of the cavern where a section of the ceiling has collapsed and made a large pile of rocks and boulders), load them into the cart and haul them over to where the water exits and pile them in the stream. We want to restrict the flow to flood more of this cavern so our outpost is more protected from anyone passing through." Now that he mentions "passing through," those of you with darkvision notice that there are passages leaving this cavern to the northeast, northwest and south west.
To help Kisiki be more useful, there are a few small fires built over near the pile of rocks and some torches on posts near the stream so that you have dim light to work by. The far edges of the cavern are too dark for you to see although there are some phosphorescent fungus or lichens growing in patches here and there on the cavern walls.
Kisiki gets to work, guided by the dim lights that have been lit for his benefit, he supposes. He considers whether to attempt fleeing, but decides he wouldn't make it far without either his talisman or sine allies, so he quickly abandons that fleeting thought. When they are out of earshot of any guards (hopefully not hard due to the waterfall) he asks his companions, "Can you see the bottom of the waterfall? Is it deep and wide?"
Later, after chewing on the thought for a while, he also says, "Did you see the - you call it a lift, no? They wind and unwind the spider silk. It is too small for everyone, but when the lift is at the bottom, the silk goes all the way from the top to the bottom. We can slide down it, like a fish down a river."
He pauses before saying, "We will escape. Nature provides a way for all our needs."