Vilus sighs, he looks around in frustration and as an answer to his predicament he curls one hand up drawing the purple Eldritch energy from the air and casts it toward the nearest rubble hoping the force will blow it back if it even exists there. "Maybe it's not real..."
If he sees no movement or threat, Joren spends a few moments following Vilus' lead and trying to fix in his mind that the debris does not in fact exist.
If and when that tactic fails, he peers across the cellar (60' darkvision) for a fixture to which he could tie one end of a rope securely on the far side of the wreckage. And also on the near side for the other end of the rope. So that after echo-swapping across, Joren could setup up a taut rope along which Vilus could hang and pull himself along to the other side, hand over hand, without having to touch the floor with its hazards, seen and potentially unseen.
The eldritch blast regrettably splinters the wood it strikes.
Looking across the room, Joren sees a wall sconce next to the ladder, but he doubts it would be able to support Vilus' weight. An ominous trembling causes the heaped debris to tremble a bit. Chunks of rotten wood tumble down by their feet, as if the wreckage were trying to reach toward them. Vilus could clamber through, but the going would be tough and perhaps a bit painful.
(Clambering through requires a dex save. DC 12 to go through slowly and take half damage. If you decide to go fast, the DC is 16. Anything over 20 and you take no damage)
Joren shakes his head. "You seeing a way, Vilus? Nothing easy, it is looking to me. All of that... odpadky in the middle is almost seeming alive. Hungry."
The warrior points across to the other side. "If I am first echo swapping across, then throwing one end of a rope back over to you. If you are then tying it around, maybe I can be helping to haul you across in case it is snagging you on the way over? Or just holding it taut so you can steady yourself."
"not sure what okpadky is but it seems there's only one way through for me... I'll take the rope, if something happens pull I'll heal up after, just gotta be careful." Putting thoughts of the room being alive or hungry out of his head vilus gives jiren the go ahead to deploy his plan with the rope. Once Vilus is tied on he starts making his way over, on tio toes for some of it, picking his way through the debris slowly, methodically. But unable to avoid the worst of it as he begins to get caught on the majority of the hazards. (Dex save 11)
"Ah... sorry," Joren mutters, distracted, "Being rubbish. Trash. Odpadky - that." He gestures at the debris. "Speaking my language out of habit."
He moves his echo to what appears to be a safe spot on the other side of the debris, peering across with his darkvision, then swaps places with it. Throwing one end of his rope back over for Vilus to tie on. Stowing his Dunamis Blade, Joren holds the other end of the rope, wrapping it around his forearm twice. Not actively pulling but taking up the slack, ready to either haul the goliath over if needed in a pinch, or let out slack should he retreat.
In his other hand, Joren draws the new handaxe that blacksmith Don had fashioned for him in Demain. The echo shadows Vilus as he crosses, hovering just above. Joren makes ready to defend his friend against any... attack (?) which may come from the seemingly menacing debris (Sentinel feat).
(Joren relies on his 10' Blindsight to warn him if anything is sneaking up on him from beyond, where the blue light is coming from.)
Vilus clambers over, and though he has some help from Joren, he finds his fake leg to be a frustrating impediment when searching for good footing. The debris always seems to respond in the worst way, collapsing under him, or levering a plank up to hit the back of his legs, as if the pile has a malevolent will of its own (7 damage).
Finally he reaches the other side, bruised and scraped, with a puncture wound on his good leg were a bent nail from a tumbling board pierced his thigh.
Together, Vilus and Joren look at the ladder to see that it looks as rotten as everything else down here.
Joren winces as the... odpadky... strewn across the cellar seems almost to willfully attack Vilus, but he says nothing beyond a grunt and a nod as the goliath reaches him on the other side, somewhat the worse for wear.
As he stows his handaxe and loops his rope back up, Joren takes a step towards the ladder beyond and tilts his head, considering.
"Being no way to go but forward. The ladder looking unsafe, we can be assessing. If not too high, I can try echo-swapping up, then dropping a rope?"
Dunamis Blade drawn and held in both hands, balancing in a ready stance with each step, Joren cautiously approaches the decayed ladder and glances up at the trap door from which blue light is spilling. The hairs on his arms stand up under his armor as mute warning that none of this seems in any way right. Unless Vilus stops him with an alternate suggestion, he gently pokes the trap door up (if necessary) with the tip of his Dunamis Blade to gauge whether his stated echo-swapping and rope plan might work, or to react to whatever else he might see (with 60' darkvision or 10' blindsight), hear or smell.
Vilus gets to the other side and clutches at his wound, the puncture dripping dark stains into his trouser leg. "Odpadky, your language feels terse beyond mere practicality, it's useful. Feels like swearing" Vilus says trying to grin through the stinging. "I cannot hear ash's voice any more. Can you? I hope they didn't get caught up in the same debris. We can't keep scraping through." He states looking at the ladder. "I've had two ideas, one for me and one for you. I need a minute, I'll conjur my familiars and have them scout ahead, look for the others it'll hopefully stop us getting lost in here. For the idea for you, does your echo have any ability to sense things through blindsight?"
After a minute of casting, the three familiar shadow butterflies rip themselves from Vilus' Goliath markings and fly from his shirt. Leaving the room via the ladder and any other exits to scout around
"...does your echo have any ability to sense things through blindsight?"
Joren grunts again and shakes his head, as he watches Vilus' shadow butterflies warily.
"A philosophical question about alternate realities being difficult to answer. If he is having blindsight, it is doing us no good. Not being able to communicate or sense from his position, only attack, move, or swap places. After swapping, I can be using my own blindsight as always."
Per Vilus' other question, among other things, Joren strains his ears for Ashley's voice, or that of his other companions. (See above Perception: 22).
"I'm just thinking, the majority of what we believe is what we see, if we're having difficulty then maybe you being able to sense without seeing will reveal some truths. It might be too much of a risk though, if it doesn't work then we're just stumbling through obstacles blind instead... I just don't know how the others got through here, or why..." Vilus is puzzled, clearly grasping at straws here but waits for his familiars to report back, taking a moment to see through their eyes before reporting what may lay ahead to Joren.
"Aye, depending on what your butterflies are reporting, then..." Joren looks up. "I will be echo swapping up and we will be sensing what we sense."
He smiles wanly. "In a perfect world, I will then be dropping a rope for you to climb up and we both go recover Ash, Sam and Mal. But I am sensing, as you are my friend, that we are pretty bloody far from being in a perfect world right now..."
Vilus takes a moment to think, "ok, I know that its safe up there, but I'm not gonna say how the room looks, I want you to go up there blind and tell me what you sense... It feels like this entire place is the exact opposite of what the watcher has made me. Power by observation, by scrutiny, where seeing is believing, but here? No here it's the other way around. believing is instead seeing, so I'm telling you that it's safe... If you trust me then you'll believe me and it will therefore be true..." As Joren echo swaps up the ladder, Vilus takes a moment to cast mending on the more rotten bits of it. "I trust in my magic, I trust in myself, if this is fixed then it will bear my weight." He mutters to himself.
"how does it feel up there? Keep those eyes closee" The Goliath calls after his friend, if indeed Joren has echo swapped up without looking around.
With an uneasy glance at Vilus and another grunt of assent, Joren grips his Dunamis Blade, the whiteness of his knuckles belying the words which follow.
"Safe, aye... being perfectly safe. Trusting you The only way is trusting each other."
His echo moves up to the best estimate he can make of a stable standing position adjacent to the trapdoor, and if no attack or imminent hazard affects it in the next moment, Joren swaps positions with it so he is standing there and the echo is below with the goliath. He reaches out with his senses, both 60' darkvision and 10' blindsight, trying his best to keep his "certainty" of the location being "safe" firmly in his mind.
(Hoping Joren can keep his prior Perception roll of 22above, which I don't think has yet been resolved.)
IF he senses no imminent danger or threat, Joren holds his Dunamis Blade in one hand and fishes his rope out again to drop for Vilus to climb up.
Vilus sighs, he looks around in frustration and as an answer to his predicament he curls one hand up drawing the purple Eldritch energy from the air and casts it toward the nearest rubble hoping the force will blow it back if it even exists there. "Maybe it's not real..."
If he sees no movement or threat, Joren spends a few moments following Vilus' lead and trying to fix in his mind that the debris does not in fact exist.
If and when that tactic fails, he peers across the cellar (60' darkvision) for a fixture to which he could tie one end of a rope securely on the far side of the wreckage. And also on the near side for the other end of the rope. So that after echo-swapping across, Joren could setup up a taut rope along which Vilus could hang and pull himself along to the other side, hand over hand, without having to touch the floor with its hazards, seen and potentially unseen.
Perception: 12
Tanis(Ranger1):Shiverquill's Tempest City | Barn(Paladin1):Damian_May's Ereworn Under the Shadow | Lyra(Warlock2/Bard4):VitusW's Silverwood Forest
Joren(Fighter6):NotDrizzt's Simple Request | Sabetha(Monk3):Bedlymn's Murder Court | Quyen(Adept1, ba5ic system):ConstancePhokas' Nentir Vale (Discord)
Xarian (Fighter3):Luna_Dust's Marks on the Map | Ophelia (Sorcerer2):BillM's Icewind Dale | Shin(Wizard1):Culuril's Strixhaven
The eldritch blast regrettably splinters the wood it strikes.
Looking across the room, Joren sees a wall sconce next to the ladder, but he doubts it would be able to support Vilus' weight. An ominous trembling causes the heaped debris to tremble a bit. Chunks of rotten wood tumble down by their feet, as if the wreckage were trying to reach toward them. Vilus could clamber through, but the going would be tough and perhaps a bit painful.
(Clambering through requires a dex save. DC 12 to go through slowly and take half damage. If you decide to go fast, the DC is 16. Anything over 20 and you take no damage)
Joren shakes his head. "You seeing a way, Vilus? Nothing easy, it is looking to me. All of that... odpadky in the middle is almost seeming alive. Hungry."
The warrior points across to the other side. "If I am first echo swapping across, then throwing one end of a rope back over to you. If you are then tying it around, maybe I can be helping to haul you across in case it is snagging you on the way over? Or just holding it taut so you can steady yourself."
Tanis(Ranger1):Shiverquill's Tempest City | Barn(Paladin1):Damian_May's Ereworn Under the Shadow | Lyra(Warlock2/Bard4):VitusW's Silverwood Forest
Joren(Fighter6):NotDrizzt's Simple Request | Sabetha(Monk3):Bedlymn's Murder Court | Quyen(Adept1, ba5ic system):ConstancePhokas' Nentir Vale (Discord)
Xarian (Fighter3):Luna_Dust's Marks on the Map | Ophelia (Sorcerer2):BillM's Icewind Dale | Shin(Wizard1):Culuril's Strixhaven
"not sure what okpadky is but it seems there's only one way through for me... I'll take the rope, if something happens pull I'll heal up after, just gotta be careful." Putting thoughts of the room being alive or hungry out of his head vilus gives jiren the go ahead to deploy his plan with the rope. Once Vilus is tied on he starts making his way over, on tio toes for some of it, picking his way through the debris slowly, methodically. But unable to avoid the worst of it as he begins to get caught on the majority of the hazards. (Dex save 11)
"Ah... sorry," Joren mutters, distracted, "Being rubbish. Trash. Odpadky - that." He gestures at the debris. "Speaking my language out of habit."
He moves his echo to what appears to be a safe spot on the other side of the debris, peering across with his darkvision, then swaps places with it. Throwing one end of his rope back over for Vilus to tie on. Stowing his Dunamis Blade, Joren holds the other end of the rope, wrapping it around his forearm twice. Not actively pulling but taking up the slack, ready to either haul the goliath over if needed in a pinch, or let out slack should he retreat.
In his other hand, Joren draws the new handaxe that blacksmith Don had fashioned for him in Demain. The echo shadows Vilus as he crosses, hovering just above. Joren makes ready to defend his friend against any... attack (?) which may come from the seemingly menacing debris (Sentinel feat).
(Joren relies on his 10' Blindsight to warn him if anything is sneaking up on him from beyond, where the blue light is coming from.)
Tanis(Ranger1):Shiverquill's Tempest City | Barn(Paladin1):Damian_May's Ereworn Under the Shadow | Lyra(Warlock2/Bard4):VitusW's Silverwood Forest
Joren(Fighter6):NotDrizzt's Simple Request | Sabetha(Monk3):Bedlymn's Murder Court | Quyen(Adept1, ba5ic system):ConstancePhokas' Nentir Vale (Discord)
Xarian (Fighter3):Luna_Dust's Marks on the Map | Ophelia (Sorcerer2):BillM's Icewind Dale | Shin(Wizard1):Culuril's Strixhaven
Vilus clambers over, and though he has some help from Joren, he finds his fake leg to be a frustrating impediment when searching for good footing. The debris always seems to respond in the worst way, collapsing under him, or levering a plank up to hit the back of his legs, as if the pile has a malevolent will of its own (7 damage).
Finally he reaches the other side, bruised and scraped, with a puncture wound on his good leg were a bent nail from a tumbling board pierced his thigh.
Together, Vilus and Joren look at the ladder to see that it looks as rotten as everything else down here.
Joren winces as the... odpadky... strewn across the cellar seems almost to willfully attack Vilus, but he says nothing beyond a grunt and a nod as the goliath reaches him on the other side, somewhat the worse for wear.
As he stows his handaxe and loops his rope back up, Joren takes a step towards the ladder beyond and tilts his head, considering.
"Being no way to go but forward. The ladder looking unsafe, we can be assessing. If not too high, I can try echo-swapping up, then dropping a rope?"
Dunamis Blade drawn and held in both hands, balancing in a ready stance with each step, Joren cautiously approaches the decayed ladder and glances up at the trap door from which blue light is spilling. The hairs on his arms stand up under his armor as mute warning that none of this seems in any way right. Unless Vilus stops him with an alternate suggestion, he gently pokes the trap door up (if necessary) with the tip of his Dunamis Blade to gauge whether his stated echo-swapping and rope plan might work, or to react to whatever else he might see (with 60' darkvision or 10' blindsight), hear or smell.
Joren's Perception: 22
Tanis(Ranger1):Shiverquill's Tempest City | Barn(Paladin1):Damian_May's Ereworn Under the Shadow | Lyra(Warlock2/Bard4):VitusW's Silverwood Forest
Joren(Fighter6):NotDrizzt's Simple Request | Sabetha(Monk3):Bedlymn's Murder Court | Quyen(Adept1, ba5ic system):ConstancePhokas' Nentir Vale (Discord)
Xarian (Fighter3):Luna_Dust's Marks on the Map | Ophelia (Sorcerer2):BillM's Icewind Dale | Shin(Wizard1):Culuril's Strixhaven
Vilus gets to the other side and clutches at his wound, the puncture dripping dark stains into his trouser leg. "Odpadky, your language feels terse beyond mere practicality, it's useful. Feels like swearing" Vilus says trying to grin through the stinging. "I cannot hear ash's voice any more. Can you? I hope they didn't get caught up in the same debris. We can't keep scraping through." He states looking at the ladder. "I've had two ideas, one for me and one for you. I need a minute, I'll conjur my familiars and have them scout ahead, look for the others it'll hopefully stop us getting lost in here. For the idea for you, does your echo have any ability to sense things through blindsight?"
After a minute of casting, the three familiar shadow butterflies rip themselves from Vilus' Goliath markings and fly from his shirt. Leaving the room via the ladder and any other exits to scout around
Joren grunts again and shakes his head, as he watches Vilus' shadow butterflies warily.
"A philosophical question about alternate realities being difficult to answer. If he is having blindsight, it is doing us no good. Not being able to communicate or sense from his position, only attack, move, or swap places. After swapping, I can be using my own blindsight as always."
Per Vilus' other question, among other things, Joren strains his ears for Ashley's voice, or that of his other companions. (See above Perception: 22).
Tanis(Ranger1):Shiverquill's Tempest City | Barn(Paladin1):Damian_May's Ereworn Under the Shadow | Lyra(Warlock2/Bard4):VitusW's Silverwood Forest
Joren(Fighter6):NotDrizzt's Simple Request | Sabetha(Monk3):Bedlymn's Murder Court | Quyen(Adept1, ba5ic system):ConstancePhokas' Nentir Vale (Discord)
Xarian (Fighter3):Luna_Dust's Marks on the Map | Ophelia (Sorcerer2):BillM's Icewind Dale | Shin(Wizard1):Culuril's Strixhaven
"I'm just thinking, the majority of what we believe is what we see, if we're having difficulty then maybe you being able to sense without seeing will reveal some truths. It might be too much of a risk though, if it doesn't work then we're just stumbling through obstacles blind instead... I just don't know how the others got through here, or why..." Vilus is puzzled, clearly grasping at straws here but waits for his familiars to report back, taking a moment to see through their eyes before reporting what may lay ahead to Joren.
"Aye, depending on what your butterflies are reporting, then..." Joren looks up. "I will be echo swapping up and we will be sensing what we sense."
He smiles wanly. "In a perfect world, I will then be dropping a rope for you to climb up and we both go recover Ash, Sam and Mal. But I am sensing, as you are my friend, that we are pretty bloody far from being in a perfect world right now..."
Tanis(Ranger1):Shiverquill's Tempest City | Barn(Paladin1):Damian_May's Ereworn Under the Shadow | Lyra(Warlock2/Bard4):VitusW's Silverwood Forest
Joren(Fighter6):NotDrizzt's Simple Request | Sabetha(Monk3):Bedlymn's Murder Court | Quyen(Adept1, ba5ic system):ConstancePhokas' Nentir Vale (Discord)
Xarian (Fighter3):Luna_Dust's Marks on the Map | Ophelia (Sorcerer2):BillM's Icewind Dale | Shin(Wizard1):Culuril's Strixhaven
Vilus takes a moment to think, "ok, I know that its safe up there, but I'm not gonna say how the room looks, I want you to go up there blind and tell me what you sense... It feels like this entire place is the exact opposite of what the watcher has made me. Power by observation, by scrutiny, where seeing is believing, but here? No here it's the other way around. believing is instead seeing, so I'm telling you that it's safe... If you trust me then you'll believe me and it will therefore be true..." As Joren echo swaps up the ladder, Vilus takes a moment to cast mending on the more rotten bits of it. "I trust in my magic, I trust in myself, if this is fixed then it will bear my weight." He mutters to himself.
"how does it feel up there? Keep those eyes closee" The Goliath calls after his friend, if indeed Joren has echo swapped up without looking around.
With an uneasy glance at Vilus and another grunt of assent, Joren grips his Dunamis Blade, the whiteness of his knuckles belying the words which follow.
"Safe, aye... being perfectly safe. Trusting you The only way is trusting each other."
His echo moves up to the best estimate he can make of a stable standing position adjacent to the trapdoor, and if no attack or imminent hazard affects it in the next moment, Joren swaps positions with it so he is standing there and the echo is below with the goliath. He reaches out with his senses, both 60' darkvision and 10' blindsight, trying his best to keep his "certainty" of the location being "safe" firmly in his mind.
(Hoping Joren can keep his prior Perception roll of 22 above, which I don't think has yet been resolved.)
IF he senses no imminent danger or threat, Joren holds his Dunamis Blade in one hand and fishes his rope out again to drop for Vilus to climb up.
Tanis(Ranger1):Shiverquill's Tempest City | Barn(Paladin1):Damian_May's Ereworn Under the Shadow | Lyra(Warlock2/Bard4):VitusW's Silverwood Forest
Joren(Fighter6):NotDrizzt's Simple Request | Sabetha(Monk3):Bedlymn's Murder Court | Quyen(Adept1, ba5ic system):ConstancePhokas' Nentir Vale (Discord)
Xarian (Fighter3):Luna_Dust's Marks on the Map | Ophelia (Sorcerer2):BillM's Icewind Dale | Shin(Wizard1):Culuril's Strixhaven