When Sam is finished with wielding Gewyn, he flexes and unflexes his hand a few times to get blood flowing. "From how old the blockade is, my first guess at its constructor would be Favian. But the question then becomes, why? Elthana. that groaning you mentioned, is it coming from the blocked path here?"
With Sam and Muir having each checked out the blockage and come to their own satisfied conclusions, the group leaves that particular passage alone and moves along.
After five minutes of travelling further down the right hand passage more markings appear on the walls, the same exact rune etched with a heavy hand, over and over again, the scribblings of someone maddened, crazed or possessed.
After ten minutes of walking the rune covers every inch of visible space on the walls and where no room remains it appears that whoever was writing it, started instead gauging out the rock instead. violently beating at the walls until large chunks of rock fell and cascaded over the floor, only for them to begin etching once more on the new section of wall that had been unearthed.
Fifteen minutes walking, the group find a bridge, a small wooden platform, poorly built of a few long planks with no guard rail, it extends over a chasm which is 40ft wide and deep enough that even those with darkvision cannot see the bottom, though they hear it, running water, a steady but strong sound indicating a stream below. On the other side of the bridged chasm those with darkvision see that the tunnel splits once more, this time three ways, as they approach a cross road. but first, a bridge!
Sam studies the new runes and remarks how they are getting more and more reckless. “For some reason they had nothing else to say but this,” he notes.
What heights do these runes appear at? If nothing else that might give some clue of… something.
Upon reaching the bridge Sam holds back. “I’ll go last. Once you are all on the other side,” he states firmly. If there is and protests he simply rises up and stretches to his full height, puts his shoulders back and gestures at himself. “I’m enough of a test for the poor thing, don’t you think?” He asks. Then he looks at Muir, having temporary forgotten his Loxodon friend. “We’re certainly not both stepping on it at the same time!” Sam says with a bit of a laugh.
Observing the crazed etching of the giant word for 'beautiful' across the cavern, it appears to be carved into the ceilings too, which stretch up to around 20ft at some points.
Elthana creeps to the edge of the chasm and looks down. So that's where the water sound was coming from. She backs away and starts digging in her pack. To Gewyn, she responds, "I don't hear the moaning any more, I'm not sure which direction it was coming from."
She pulls out the 50' length of rope from her pack and hands the end to Sam. Tying the other end around her waist before heading over, she looks at the rest with grim determination. She then nods and starts towards the bridge. She grabs her pole to use as a walking stick and as soon as the pole touches the first plank, it gets stuck and as she wrenches it lose... she falls over the side.
She holds onto the rope that is tied to her waist and uses her slow fall reaction so that she doesn't pull Sam down with her.
Sam lazily wraps the rope around his waist a couple of times before making a rough knot. Elthana is stepping out onto the bridge almost before the Half-Orc can think to brace himself as he expects it'll be Gewyn or Muir who may decide to take a misstep...
"Yoikes!" Sam calls out as suddenly Elthana is falling! He starts quickly trying to wrap up extra slack around his arm even as he leans back and awaits the inevitable yank!
(DM - Let me know if you want a roll of want to use my Dex check I already made for this instead, as I am not crossing...)
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Vin waits for his turn to cross. He's a bit more nervous then normal as he doesn't have any plans for the cave beyond find where the portal is. The giant writing was curious. He wondered what was that way but they can always come back after. "That bridge looks precarious at best. Looks like it would collapse with repeated use... perhaps they didn't come this way? Perhaps also a way around whatever lurks in these tunnels too."
Neferox in the meantime is on high alert for any sense of danger. She's ready to ponce and seems high strung, more so then usual. Vin pets her behind the ear but she still seems on edge as she smells around the area and tries to get a sense of what has passed through here and what might be ahead.
As Elthana crosses she happens to put pressure on the wrong part of the wooden bridge, it lurches surprisingly to one side causing Elthana to lose balance and have to correct herself, but the plank flips completely as she does, leaving no footing for the rest of her.
Fortunately the plank doesn't fall into the chasm, unfortunately Elthana does. The rope goes taught and grains as it takes her weight, she stops falling suddenly and is slammed into the side of the chasm wall (3 bludgeoning damage) Sam and Muir quickly start the process of pulling Elthana back up.
Much to Elthana's dissatisfaction the walls of the chasm are completely smooth and offer her no purchase to be able to assist her own ascent, she has to merely hold onto the old rope and accept her situation.
Neferox barks, it is impossible to distinguish whether she is concerned or perhaps sarcastically congratulating Elthana on a job well done, but what everyone has no problem hearing is the groan that echoes through the tunnel in response, "HRRRKRAATH" whatever made the noise was close, not close enough to see, but close enough to send a shiver up everyone's spine. Neferox quiets immediately.
The bulkier members of the party drag Elthana up with ease, though once she is up and over the edge, she sees that her rope is strained and frayed beyond usefulness, also that she is back where she started.
The groaning doesn't appear to be getting any closer but It appears that any element of surprise that the group may have had is now gone.
Muir looks at the frayed rope and frowns. He sees Elthana's face and tries to cheer her up with what he thinks is a joke "Perhaps you would have better luck if Sam and I threw you across"
“Sure, we toss them each to the other side then I throw you and you throw me,” Sam says with a relieved smirk. What could go wrong…”
“Barring whatever made that groan bring a one eyed, one eared, giant pure people eater, that is.” Sam looks down the cavern and then back to the bridge. “We still want to try and cross? Perhaps if Muir or I try and hold it steady while others cross?”
Muir slowly and steadily makes his way across the bridge, the planks groaning and complaining as he goes. As he reaches the middle, these thin beams bend threateningly under the weight, the sound of wood splintering is worrisome, but it holds. Muir makes it to the other side, where himself and Sam can assist with steadying, one from each end.
“Well done!” Sam says, relieved but not actually shouting across.
“Not that I was worried or anything,” he assures the others. “And not to hurry you or anything but that moaning sound earlier? That was giant speak… been a while but I’m pretty sure they were saying ‘make beautiful’… so our graffiti artist may be around.”
As Vin and Nef make it to the other side with Muir and Sam helping, Vin draws a sigh of relief. Nef seemed to insist going after them as they seem interested in making sure they are between Vin and whatever is making the moaning noises. Once on the other side Vin looks to the others on that side and offers in a quite whisper "Giant? Geez, that makes me nervous. Alright, I'll peek ahead while the rest are crossing. Then I'll come back and report. I won't go further then any turn or just seeing what's next through this tunnel." If there is no objection Vin will vanish in shadows and darkness and make his way forward a short ways. Nef seems to worry and watches in anxiety anyway as the boy vanishes down the tunnel while the rest of folks continue to cross the bridge. Vin doesn't go far, but enough to see around the next bend or two to see where this is heading. The ability to see through the darkness granted to him by Nef it is proving very handy right now. Vin is extra cautious as he doesn't want to get caught out and he leaves 0 chance that anything other then his friends can come up behind him. Once he sees around the bend he returns to the group, hopefully all across now, and reports what he saw in a quiet voice.
Once all but Sam head over, Elthana grabs hold of her pole with a look of frustrated determination on her face. Instead of using it as a walking stick, she balances it out horizontally like a tight rope walker and glides right over the bridge. Once across, she pats Muir's shoulder as he holds the bridge, "Thanks. Not sure why I didn't do that in the first place, but you and Sam holding the bridge, definitely helped."
Gewyn steadily makes his way onto the beam and makes his way across, it is a practiced and careful motion, assisted by the steadying of Sam and Muir. Once across there is only Sam left to cross.
Letting his side go, and stepping into the planks it is immediately obvious how much more dangerous this crossing is without both sides being held down. The planks sway and protest under Sam's weight but he slowly creeps forward, determined.
At the half way point the bridge groans loudly and splinters as it did under Muir. Sam stops for a second to make sure his footing is right and then...
Snap!
Muir is left holding half of the bridge as the other half begins to descend into the chasm, Sam's arms rise up attempting to catch something to hold on to but nothing is there, he is in free fall as the bridge breaks in two directly below his feet.
Sam reaches the other end of the blank and pretends to dust off his shoulders. "It's easy, really. It's all a trick of the mind that makes you want to lose balance. Just think, if it was just an inch over the ground, you'd have no prob-"
Snap!
Gewyn spins around in horror at the sound of splintering wood, just in time to see Sam reaching out a large hand. Looking, hoping, for someone to help him. "SAM, NO!"Gewyn reflexively drops to his knees and reaches out over the edge for Sam's hand, but doesn't even come close to spanning the distance between them.
Vin is just coming back from his short scouting and turns visible to report when the sudden "SNAP" happens. Vin was going to report what he say but instead he is greeted by the sight of Sam suddenly about to plummet as the bridge collapses. Vin rushes to the side hoping he is close enough as he draws up his rope from his bag and tosses one end at the big man. There is absolutely no way the young man can hold the rope if Sam grabs it. Vin shouts "SAM!" It may be a pointless attempt even if Vin is somehow fast enough to toss the rope to him but it was all Vin could think of in a split second. He will likely be drawn down with Sam if the big man even catches it. However, the large black hound has been on alert and although not an enemy to bite and maul she is quick to make sure that Vin isn't dragged down with Sam and quickly bites onto the end of the rope that Vin is holding.
Elthana watches in almost stunned shock as the SNAP is heard and Sam starts falling. She briefly looks down helplessly at the frayed rope in her hands, knowing that it would break if she tried it. Then, in the corner of her eye, she spots Vin react quickly with his rope and jumps on top with Nef, hoping to hold Sam up.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
When Sam is finished with wielding Gewyn, he flexes and unflexes his hand a few times to get blood flowing. "From how old the blockade is, my first guess at its constructor would be Favian. But the question then becomes, why? Elthana. that groaning you mentioned, is it coming from the blocked path here?"
With Sam and Muir having each checked out the blockage and come to their own satisfied conclusions, the group leaves that particular passage alone and moves along.
After five minutes of travelling further down the right hand passage more markings appear on the walls, the same exact rune etched with a heavy hand, over and over again, the scribblings of someone maddened, crazed or possessed.
After ten minutes of walking the rune covers every inch of visible space on the walls and where no room remains it appears that whoever was writing it, started instead gauging out the rock instead. violently beating at the walls until large chunks of rock fell and cascaded over the floor, only for them to begin etching once more on the new section of wall that had been unearthed.
Fifteen minutes walking, the group find a bridge, a small wooden platform, poorly built of a few long planks with no guard rail, it extends over a chasm which is 40ft wide and deep enough that even those with darkvision cannot see the bottom, though they hear it, running water, a steady but strong sound indicating a stream below. On the other side of the bridged chasm those with darkvision see that the tunnel splits once more, this time three ways, as they approach a cross road. but first, a bridge!
Sam studies the new runes and remarks how they are getting more and more reckless. “For some reason they had nothing else to say but this,” he notes.
What heights do these runes appear at? If nothing else that might give some clue of… something.
Upon reaching the bridge Sam holds back. “I’ll go last. Once you are all on the other side,” he states firmly. If there is and protests he simply rises up and stretches to his full height, puts his shoulders back and gestures at himself. “I’m enough of a test for the poor thing, don’t you think?” He asks. Then he looks at Muir, having temporary forgotten his Loxodon friend.
“We’re certainly not both stepping on it at the same time!” Sam says with a bit of a laugh.
Observing the crazed etching of the giant word for 'beautiful' across the cavern, it appears to be carved into the ceilings too, which stretch up to around 20ft at some points.
Elthana creeps to the edge of the chasm and looks down. So that's where the water sound was coming from. She backs away and starts digging in her pack. To Gewyn, she responds, "I don't hear the moaning any more, I'm not sure which direction it was coming from."
She pulls out the 50' length of rope from her pack and hands the end to Sam. Tying the other end around her waist before heading over, she looks at the rest with grim determination. She then nods and starts towards the bridge. She grabs her pole to use as a walking stick and as soon as the pole touches the first plank, it gets stuck and as she wrenches it lose... she falls over the side.
She holds onto the rope that is tied to her waist and uses her slow fall reaction so that she doesn't pull Sam down with her.
Sam lazily wraps the rope around his waist a couple of times before making a rough knot. Elthana is stepping out onto the bridge almost before the Half-Orc can think to brace himself as he expects it'll be Gewyn or Muir who may decide to take a misstep...
"Yoikes!" Sam calls out as suddenly Elthana is falling! He starts quickly trying to wrap up extra slack around his arm even as he leans back and awaits the inevitable yank!
(DM - Let me know if you want a roll of want to use my Dex check I already made for this instead, as I am not crossing...)
Vin waits for his turn to cross. He's a bit more nervous then normal as he doesn't have any plans for the cave beyond find where the portal is. The giant writing was curious. He wondered what was that way but they can always come back after. "That bridge looks precarious at best. Looks like it would collapse with repeated use... perhaps they didn't come this way? Perhaps also a way around whatever lurks in these tunnels too."
Neferox in the meantime is on high alert for any sense of danger. She's ready to ponce and seems high strung, more so then usual. Vin pets her behind the ear but she still seems on edge as she smells around the area and tries to get a sense of what has passed through here and what might be ahead.
Perception: 25
Muir thinks about what Vin says as he watches Elthana fall. He quickly lunges towards Sam who has the other end of the rope to help him pull her up
As Elthana crosses she happens to put pressure on the wrong part of the wooden bridge, it lurches surprisingly to one side causing Elthana to lose balance and have to correct herself, but the plank flips completely as she does, leaving no footing for the rest of her.
Fortunately the plank doesn't fall into the chasm, unfortunately Elthana does. The rope goes taught and grains as it takes her weight, she stops falling suddenly and is slammed into the side of the chasm wall (3 bludgeoning damage) Sam and Muir quickly start the process of pulling Elthana back up.
Much to Elthana's dissatisfaction the walls of the chasm are completely smooth and offer her no purchase to be able to assist her own ascent, she has to merely hold onto the old rope and accept her situation.
Neferox barks, it is impossible to distinguish whether she is concerned or perhaps sarcastically congratulating Elthana on a job well done, but what everyone has no problem hearing is the groan that echoes through the tunnel in response, "HRRRKRAATH" whatever made the noise was close, not close enough to see, but close enough to send a shiver up everyone's spine. Neferox quiets immediately.
(Athletics from both Muir and Sam)
(18 for both Muir and Sam)
The bulkier members of the party drag Elthana up with ease, though once she is up and over the edge, she sees that her rope is strained and frayed beyond usefulness, also that she is back where she started.
The groaning doesn't appear to be getting any closer but It appears that any element of surprise that the group may have had is now gone.
Muir looks at the frayed rope and frowns. He sees Elthana's face and tries to cheer her up with what he thinks is a joke "Perhaps you would have better luck if Sam and I threw you across"
“Sure, we toss them each to the other side then I throw you and you throw me,” Sam says with a relieved smirk. What could go wrong…”
“Barring whatever made that groan bring a one eyed, one eared, giant pure people eater, that is.” Sam looks down the cavern and then back to the bridge. “We still want to try and cross? Perhaps if Muir or I try and hold it steady while others cross?”
Muir slowly and steadily makes his way across the bridge, the planks groaning and complaining as he goes. As he reaches the middle, these thin beams bend threateningly under the weight, the sound of wood splintering is worrisome, but it holds. Muir makes it to the other side, where himself and Sam can assist with steadying, one from each end.
“Well done!” Sam says, relieved but not actually shouting across.
“Not that I was worried or anything,” he assures the others. “And not to hurry you or anything but that moaning sound earlier? That was giant speak… been a while but I’m pretty sure they were saying ‘make beautiful’… so our graffiti artist may be around.”
As Vin and Nef make it to the other side with Muir and Sam helping, Vin draws a sigh of relief. Nef seemed to insist going after them as they seem interested in making sure they are between Vin and whatever is making the moaning noises. Once on the other side Vin looks to the others on that side and offers in a quite whisper "Giant? Geez, that makes me nervous. Alright, I'll peek ahead while the rest are crossing. Then I'll come back and report. I won't go further then any turn or just seeing what's next through this tunnel." If there is no objection Vin will vanish in shadows and darkness and make his way forward a short ways. Nef seems to worry and watches in anxiety anyway as the boy vanishes down the tunnel while the rest of folks continue to cross the bridge. Vin doesn't go far, but enough to see around the next bend or two to see where this is heading. The ability to see through the darkness granted to him by Nef it is proving very handy right now. Vin is extra cautious as he doesn't want to get caught out and he leaves 0 chance that anything other then his friends can come up behind him. Once he sees around the bend he returns to the group, hopefully all across now, and reports what he saw in a quiet voice.
Once all but Sam head over, Elthana grabs hold of her pole with a look of frustrated determination on her face. Instead of using it as a walking stick, she balances it out horizontally like a tight rope walker and glides right over the bridge. Once across, she pats Muir's shoulder as he holds the bridge, "Thanks. Not sure why I didn't do that in the first place, but you and Sam holding the bridge, definitely helped."
Gewyn steadily makes his way onto the beam and makes his way across, it is a practiced and careful motion, assisted by the steadying of Sam and Muir. Once across there is only Sam left to cross.
Letting his side go, and stepping into the planks it is immediately obvious how much more dangerous this crossing is without both sides being held down. The planks sway and protest under Sam's weight but he slowly creeps forward, determined.
At the half way point the bridge groans loudly and splinters as it did under Muir. Sam stops for a second to make sure his footing is right and then...
Snap!
Muir is left holding half of the bridge as the other half begins to descend into the chasm, Sam's arms rise up attempting to catch something to hold on to but nothing is there, he is in free fall as the bridge breaks in two directly below his feet.
Sam reaches the other end of the blank and pretends to dust off his shoulders. "It's easy, really. It's all a trick of the mind that makes you want to lose balance. Just think, if it was just an inch over the ground, you'd have no prob-"
Snap!
Gewyn spins around in horror at the sound of splintering wood, just in time to see Sam reaching out a large hand. Looking, hoping, for someone to help him. "SAM, NO!" Gewyn reflexively drops to his knees and reaches out over the edge for Sam's hand, but doesn't even come close to spanning the distance between them.
Vin is just coming back from his short scouting and turns visible to report when the sudden "SNAP" happens. Vin was going to report what he say but instead he is greeted by the sight of Sam suddenly about to plummet as the bridge collapses. Vin rushes to the side hoping he is close enough as he draws up his rope from his bag and tosses one end at the big man. There is absolutely no way the young man can hold the rope if Sam grabs it. Vin shouts "SAM!" It may be a pointless attempt even if Vin is somehow fast enough to toss the rope to him but it was all Vin could think of in a split second. He will likely be drawn down with Sam if the big man even catches it. However, the large black hound has been on alert and although not an enemy to bite and maul she is quick to make sure that Vin isn't dragged down with Sam and quickly bites onto the end of the rope that Vin is holding.
Elthana watches in almost stunned shock as the SNAP is heard and Sam starts falling. She briefly looks down helplessly at the frayed rope in her hands, knowing that it would break if she tried it. Then, in the corner of her eye, she spots Vin react quickly with his rope and jumps on top with Nef, hoping to hold Sam up.