Zander covers his mouth with his hand. Then puts it down. Then puts it back up. Then puts it back down.

"Whe-when did you last see you-your husband, Mirna?" He says in a trembling voice.

(It's more matter of not having to make the check to cross to the otherside afterward. So they can always take an axe or something to the still covered side once they cross to open it then toss down the rope, yah? Cause I /really/ don't feel like falling back into that hole again if I don't have to. :|)

OOC: Is that ... genuine emotion from Zander? :) Vondal, I'm OK with you RPing that you call up and tell Karl your idea about getting you out of the hole on the other side. Karl, attack the floor!

Mirna seems to gather herself before answering, her eyes still on her husband's body. "Three, four, five days ago? Thel stood up to them after they were rude to me at our shop. They ... they killed him. Right there in front of me and a few others from town. To make matters worse, they picked up his body and left with it and threatened me if should follow. Then, that night, they came into our home and grabbed the three of us and drug us to the old manor house and put us in those pens."

"We need to bury him," Nilsa says.

Nars acts like he wants his mother to release him. "Let me go," he whines.

(Yeah, Zander's kinda a spooky emo boy. "I have no feelings, I killed them long ago. You don't understand my pain, mom! Get out of my life! But first can you drive me and Sheryl to the mall?)

"I'm... I'm going to go down. Try and get it."

Zander takes a rope from his pack, and hands it to one of the villagers. He then hands it to one of the villagers, and lowers the other half to the ground in the pit.

"Someone take the children somewhere else. Not too far, though."

He then casts a quick spell on himself(Guidance), and begins to clamber down, relying on the other villagers to hold the rope in place.

Athletics: 16(Added guidance to the roll)

(OOC: I assume I don't need to roll to hit the floor)

Karl says "stand clear" as he pulls out Pacifier II and starts hammering the floor. As he hammers away he says to Vondal "you know this sorta approach, that is the direct one, is my preferred approach to a problem!"  

Vondal does as requested and then some in case nearly the whole trap is undone. "As I know all too well, Uncle. But as I've clearly demonstrated, the direct approach is not always so good." He had to laugh at his own expense. But by the sounds of it, the gold dwarf didn't mind so much. "Oi! Nif! Keep an eye out on way ahead just case." He calls up in warning. As soon as the rope is lowered from the right side, Vondal gladly takes to climbing up... after rapping the end well around the waist!

Nif will watch down the corridor, whilst Karl recues Vondal.

Perception: 3

Karl begins whaling on the floor tiles. Vondal covers his head as almost all of the trapped floor falls around him; only a small portion by where he fell in is left. After climbing up with Karl's help on the east side, he looks over to see Droop starting at him with wide eyes on the west side of the hole. Nif attempts to keep watch, but is distractedly nosy about Vondal's progress and isn't really watching at all.

Zander easily descends into the crevasse. Despite his orders concerning the children, Mirna and her two young ones actually move a little closer to the edge to watch. As Zander descends the 20 feet, he is surprised at the unnatural cold that quickly surrounds him. The temperature difference from surface to the floor of the crevasse cannot be natural, he thinks. By the glow of the rock, he can see that the body of Thel has been feasted upon in many places ... yet, he is surprised that the blood appears to still be as glossy as it is. Taking a second to look around, he sees the remains of many bones and, underneath the north bridge, a cubbyhole. Zander hears in his head, "Why down there?"

"Oh. You. Please, I mean no harm. I need this body. I know you use it for... for..." Zander almost retches at the thought. "Food, but I need it. I will offer fair exchange. I have food. And if you can offer more than this body, I might give you more. I can find... flesh, if you need it. Just... please, I need this one. It needs to be buried properly."

So Vondal looks over, and just... facepalms. "Mya's tits." He mutters, shaking his head. "Do you mind, uncle?" He gestures over to Droop, and then throws her an apologetic smile. While Karl hopefully works out the logistics of getting Droop across, which at this point will probably involve jumping across with her on his back, he takes off Clever Sever and continues down the eastern side of the hall, carefully but quietly pushing on the ground every five feet or so just a foot ahead of him with the stick.

(S/N: If there's at least 10ft leading up to the pit, and if Droop is light enough(might have to leave any pack behind on the east side), Karl could make a running jump 15ft across without a check just going by the rules with her on his back. Well, by himself without one, but up to you DM if he wishes/decides to go that route?)

LOL - Talk about passing the buck.

"Now I'm helping bloody Gobbo's get across pits" Karl mutters as he glares at Vondal. "Don't you be going anywhere until I've got your pet across this hole" he says to Vondal as he starts to slip off down the corridor and then finishes with "by the way you'll owe me." He then says to Droop "catch this" as he ties the rope around his waste and then throws one end to her. "Now tie it around your waist and follow the same way the young 'un and I did. If you slip, I pull you up on the rope and you wont fall in the pit" (Athletics check in case Droop slips 9) (OOC: I reckon that rope is a bit frayed)

(@Grant: What? Everyone else is certified bad asses. Whereas I'm just trucking along. :P)

Vondal stops his tapping to give Karl a half-hearted glare. "Friend, Uncle. Not pet." He corrects. "But fine. You can have my share of whatever rewards awaits us back in village... once we through here." The offered made, and seeing Karl choose a more dangerous method, gold dwarf callused hands find room on the rope to hold and help his Uncle should the worst happen with Droop. 

Droop looks at the rope in her hands, then back at Karl. Before the dwarves' eyes, the rope drops to the floor and then slides down into the hole as Droop's form reduces and changes shape into that of a rat. Her nose twitches, and then she easily trots along the ledge to join the others. On the other side, she rises onto her hind legs and twitches her rat nose at Vondal.

Vondal and Karl are 15 feet from the end of the hall, 10 feet from the corridor that leads south. Nif is 5 feet closer to the end of the hall. Vondal didn't find any other suspicious tiles.

Zander hears in his head, "Hungry," but does not see or hear any signs of the nothic.

Karl mutters to Vondal "next time you ask for help for one of your pets - make sure they need it" as he recoils the rope and stows it on his backpack.

Vondal just stares wide-eyed over the whole spectacle at a complete loss for words. After a moment or two more his brain starts working enough to kneel down and offer his hand to her to climb aboard, eventually resting on his shoulder. "I've heard o've the pointy-eared ones -- elves, turning into animals. But can't say I quite expected the same from you, lass." He smiles, and just barely resists the temptation to rub her forehead. 

Rising and cracking his back one last time, Vondal again continues eastward down the hall with staff in hand, and expression hard as he looks around for any door or corner to turn down into at its end. 

Karl follows along muttering something along the lines "rats ain't any different to Gobbos - just smaller and got more legs!"

The 10-foot-wide hall ends in a dead end, but five feet from the end, a five-foot corridor heads south. Vondal can see the corridor is 10 feet long and ends at another door.

"Now, don't you think of jumping me, because my friends will be over in a jiffy if you do, and you will, pardon my french, get your ass handed to you on a silver platter. So please, don't even think of trying to eat me, I taste of weird gross magic stuff."

OOC: Forgot: All four of you earn 25 more XP for surviving the trapped hallway. Waiting for a post or two from the other group before replying to Zander's post.

"Don't mind Uncle." He whispers to Droop along the way. Finding a door at the end of one hall, Vondal quickly motions for everyone to hold in one of his sister's military gestures. "Get ready." He quietly requests of the others as he creeps up to the door. A glance back to make sure everyone seemed ready precedes the gold dwarf attempts to crack the door open enough for a peek. Only once the room beyond at least seemed clear does he dare adventure feather, if albeit on guard. 

Stealth: 7. (if necessary)

Perception: 17. (PP 11) (if necessary)