(Chrys and Nym have ropes, and with a little guidance and help from everyone else, she's probably going to be able to climb across with said rope so others will have an easier time of it, since she's fairly good at athletics (+7) or even just jump across too (20' with a 10' running start). Not sure what the subsequent checks to cross other gaps might be, but with makeshift rope bridges the rest of you might be able to make whatever check with advantage).
Looking up at the route once again, and thinking about your skills and equipment, you figure that the best option would be to have Chrys rock climb across each gap, while someone belays her (Helping for advantage), then she can belay each person across one at a time while they follow the climb. Then repeat at each of the broken bridges.
So, for the first gap, I’ll need an Athletics check from Chrys with advantage.
Chrys eyes the rockface with a glint her eye, and sunny memories of her childhood scrambling across the mountain hillsides, chasing after her pet goat. The first crossing is actually enjoyable for her, despite the situation, as the familiar feel of stone under her fingers is almost a comfort, rather than a challenge.
((Sorry... to answer Lumen's question, Fivin tells him that there are no supplies of any kind down here. Everything is either inside the keep, or up on top of the butte that you are now trying to reach via the Sky's Ascend.))
With your strategy now decided, you begin climbing the carved stone steps of the Sky's Ascend, which will take you up to the keep. Being so close to the cliff face, you can no longer see the magnificent elven keep above you, but you can at least take solace that nothing inside or on top of the keep would be able to see you either as you begin to make your way up the lower stairs.
It's relatively easy going at the bottom; for the most part, it's not too steep, and the stone is fairly dry. Moving quickly, but certainly being deliberate, since the stairs are very exposed. There are a few sections where a rope has been fixed for added security, but it's still requires a degree of relative agility and are to move at a consistent pace. Obviously, this staircase doubles a defensive feature in some regards, since many creatures would find it quite difficult to ascend.
Staying calm, though you're able to cover the first 20%, and after about 50 feet, you reach the first gap, where you can see that the wooden bridge has been destroyed across a narrow but steep gully. As you saw from below, the terrain is such that Chrys will need to climb across a steep, but featured rock face to make it across.
Tying the rope around her waist, she hands the other end to Kess, who does her best to find a secure perch from which she can belay her companion, and ties herself to one of the wooden posts that act as the bridge supports. When Kess is all set, she gives the signal, and then Chrys steps off the last step and begins traversing across the gap, easily finding hand and footholds on the rough, but highly textured quartz and feldspar crystals in the stone, which she knows to be pegmatite, a type of volcanic rock.
Using the handholds to keep herself balanced, she quickly, and quite deftly navigates the rock face with a clear exhibition of well-practiced rock craft. Being a mountain dwarf, she's clearly in her element here, and it's obvious that she's an experienced climber, and watching her move with such efficiency an a combination of strength and even a little bit of grace, you can't help but notice this display of agility that you've never seen from her before.
In a few short minutes, Chrys reaches the other side and steps down onto the other side of the bridge. From here, she can either belay everyone else across this section of rock, or use the rope in some other way to help the rest of the group across. You can let me know what method you come up with and post accordingly.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Lumen says, "huh. She made it seem a lot easier than I thought it'd be."He offers to help others across, and then does his best on his own. He casts prestidigitation to "make a color, a small mark, or a symbol appear on an object or a surface for 1 hour" to mimic exactly the climbing route Chrys took, for the others to follow. (Thinking like the labels for different indoor climbing routes.)
After creating small colored magical "markers" on the hand and footholds that Chrys used to climb across the short traverse, Lumen ties into the middle of the rope and steps off the edge of the bridge onto the rock face. His notion of her "making it seem easy" suddenly falls by the wayside, and he reverts to his original mindset that it's actually a lot harder than she made it look as he finds himself scrambling to keep his boots on the small footholds.
The usually confident Lumen does his best to repeat Chrys's movements across the rock, but his hands and forearms quickly tire (from rolling that natural 1 😱). Struggling to hold on, his left foot starts shaking on the small hold as his calf muscle begins to tire as well. Then his foot pops off the small ledge and he suddenly finds himself falling, his hands and body scraping on the rough stone as his body drops a full body length before the rope goes taught as he's arrested by the double belay that both Chrys and Kess are providing.
Lumen is not hurt, except perhaps for his pride, and the skin on his hands are scraped up a bit and feeling a little raw, but otherwise, he's safe. Gathering his composure, while Chrys and Kess use their own strength to hold his full body weight on the rope, Lumen's eyes scour the rock as he looks for new hand and footholds. He quickly finds some, steps back onto the rock and gets his weight off the rope.
Taking a few deep breaths, he calms down and climbs quickly, moving both up and to the left with much more efficiently than he'd originally demonstrated. In a couple of short minutes, he reaches the other side of the gap and Chrys helps him back up onto the bridge and unties the rope for him, since his hands are beginning to sting from his fall.
Chrys grunts and does her best to haul Lumen to safety. "Don't worry, tha first time's hard fer e'eryone,"she comforts the orc, blatantly ignoring the fact that he's not a young child and has probably climbed something before in his life. Turning her attention back to the line, she gives a sharp glance to those below and a firm nod. "I got ye,"she says under her breath, tightening her grip and widening her stance.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Nym allowed herself a small smile as she kept to herself the thought of, 'Well of course Chrys made it seem easy...' And sure enough the bard was likely swallowing his words with dry throat now as Nym watched him very nearly plummet to his death, her heart hammering under her chain mail and beads of sweat dotting her dark skin. Taking a breath to steady herself as she watched Chrys haul him to safety, the cleric glanced over the markers that Velan had left behind while looping a section of rope diagonally across her torso. After that was secured she palmed her sword briefly with a prayer to Eilistraee before making taking a few steps back and getting what running start she could before pushing off as hard as she could to get a strong jump and try and use the strength of her legs to get her as far as she could.
Athletics: 12 Athletics 2 (if with advantage): 22 Guidance: 1
Chrys watches the others fumbling their way across the rocks with a look of concern as she holds the rope. "... Y'all gotta take a vacation at Twilight Tor sometime, y'know? We got rock climbin' courses fer beginners..."
Apparently deciding to try and leap across instead of climbing, after watching Lumen flail on the rock, Nym loops the rope around her body, then backs up as far as she can to get a running start. Both Chrys and Lumen watch her from the other side of the gap, and seeing her plan, they position her in such a way to allow her a suitable landing zone. Kess and Vesper give her plenty of room on their side as well.
After saying her prayer, the drow takes off running as fast as she can across the stone steps before her feet hit the wooden planks of the rope bridge. However, the shift from solid ground to the swinging bridge totally throws off her balance, and as she reaches the edge of the bridge and pushes off, she realizes instantly that she's not going to make it. Nym sails forward through the air with less momentum than she would have hoped, which fills her with a sense of dreadful surprise.
Both Lumen and Chrys see the shock in her eyes and the misjudged trajectory that their companion is taking they watch her fly over the gap towards them. Recognizing that she's going to fall short and plummet down into the rock filled gully, they both grab the "railing ropes" with one hand and extend their free hands as they lean out as far as possible.
As Nym nears the other side, she throws her own arms out, and just as her body begins to lose altitude, Chrys and Lumen both grab with desperation, hoping that they can prevent her from falling. Both of them manage to lock hands with their terrified friend, but just barely. One they have hold of her, they lean back and pull as hard as they can (Help Action), providing enough extra momentum to allow Nym to make it to the other side.
Her upper body crashes down onto the wooden planks on their side of the bridge, and her waist slams into the edge, leaving her feet dangling in the free air. Quickly, Lumen and Chrys give another hard yank and pull her fully up onto the bridge, where she lies there for a few moments, breathing heavily from relief. She's a little sore from the impact, but unhurt, except perhaps for her ego.
(Good thing you rolled advantage for help!!😱)
Vesper and Kess are next. Someone can roll for each of them.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Lumen turns to the others. "This is going to be impossible with two scared children. And we have to do it how many more times? Fearful of a dragon coming by to strafe us? Fivin, you better not be lying about the impossibility of the spider passageway!"
(Don't forget to roll with Advantage so you guys can help each other across.)
After watching Lumen and Nym cross the gap with surprising effort and awkwardness, Fivin answers. "I agree... this could be difficult with the children, but perhaps we'll be able to find some materials inside the keep that can be used to build makeshift bridges across these gaps. I feel that would be much safer than throwing them across or having them climb on the rocks.
With that, Fivin takes his turn to tie into the rope. Instead of trying to jump across, he attempts to climb the rock, but quickly runs into trouble, not being an especially adept climber. He scrambles as he tries to get good purchase on the rock, and after watching him struggle for a couple minutes, it becomes evident that the best way to get him across is to simply have Kess lower him on the rope, and then have Chrys, Nym and Lumen pull him across and up from the other side.
Fivin steps down from the rock and lowers himself down from the broken rope bridge, then while Kess keeps tension on the rope, the three of you use your combined strength to easily get him across the gap and up onto the bridge. This method works quite well, and so you repeat it with Vesper and quickly get her to the other side as well.
Kess is last, but since she has to untie the rope from her side, and there is no one else to belay her or lower her down, she ties the end of the rope around her waist, then grabs it rope firmly in both hands, sits down and scoots to the edge of her side of the bridge.
"You got me?... Here goes nothing!" she says before scooting the last few inches and then dropping off the edge and doing a daring swing across the gap. You all hold your breath as the arc takes her towards the rock wall under the bridge at the other side. Fortunately, she gets her feet out in front of her and manages to use them to cushion the impact, instead of slamming into the stone with her body. It's actually an impressive display of her acrobatic skills, and when she stops moving, the rest of you yard on the rope and easily pull her up to the bridge.
"Well... that went better than I was expecting!" she says with a sly, but obviously relieved smile as she unties and helps coil the rope. "Onward and upward we go?"
Lumen nods and looks to the next gap. If there is any way to build or fashion some kind of easy harness or use a plank to make a bridge to make the return easier now they are on the other side, he does so.
Looking around, there's not much here you can use. Basically, at each of the five gaps where the stairs meet some sort of gap or gully, some of which are very long drops, a rope and plank bridge has been built to allow passage across these gaps. The posts for the bridges have been dug into the stone at either end, and while they remain, they are driven in too tight to remove. And they're not long enough to span the entire gap.
As I described before, the ropes and planks appear to have been recently destroyed. Either the entire bridge is gone, leaving only the posts and the frayed/cut ropes that dangle on either side, or in some cases, only a single, frayed rope and a couple of planks remain spanned across the gap, but obviously not strong enough to support someone. So, if anything, you could cut pieces of the dangling ropes and use them for something, like a harness or rope belt for each person.
Leaving the first gap, behind, you continue to climb upwards on the stone steps of the Sky's Ascend and traverse upward across the exposed rock face. As you get higher, the footing become more precarious in spots, with entire sections being damp and covered in moss from the spray of the waterfall. A fall from any point would not be pleasant, but fortunately, the steps are wide enough that as long as you move with care, or are not distracted by anything, you feel you can ascend safely.
After another hundred feet or so, you come to the next gap. The rope bridge over the 15 foot wide and 30-40 foot deep gully has been partially destroyed. It appears to be somewhat intact, but just cut in the middle, so each half of the rope bridge dangles on its respective side.
You can see that a small rough ledge, perhaps the width of a dwarf's foot at its widest, traverses across the rock face on the rock wall next to you. The face above the ledge is steep, but not quite vertical, and it's quite damp from the spray, as is the ledge itself.
"Hold up,"Chrys says, making a loop on the end of one rope. "I need another rope," she says, taking any one offered and making a loop in that one, as well. She pulls the simple knot tight to make sure both loops don't budge, then hands one rope to Vesper for use later on. "I'm gonna need yer mage hand ta help me out here,"she instructs.
Chrys climbs down the bridge on her side of the gap, stopping at the last rung. She throws the non-looped end of her own rope behind that bridge plank and giving the signal, has Vesper pick up the loose, non-looped end of her own rope, now dangling next to the bridge, and whisk it across the gap to loop around the last bridge plank of the other half of the broken bridge, on the other side of the gap. The mage hand carries the end back to Chrys's outstretched hand. Once in control of the rope again, Chrys then carefully threads the loose end of her rope through the loop she made, effectively securing the two ends of the broken bridge together with a loose rope. She then begins the arduous climb back up the bridge, still holding onto her rope. As she does so, physics dictates that the rope is pulled taut as she does so, and thusly, the two bridge halves slowly rise with her, starting to close the gap.
Once on the ledge with the others again, she hands them the rope and says, "Everybody, pull! This bridge ain't light, but we can bring it together with some teamwork!" Like they're playing tug-of-war with the bridge itself, Chrys encourages the entire party to heave, ho, and pull, until the two ends of the bridge have completely met again via the patchwork repair job. "Now hold this tight, Kess's life depends on this!"
She hands Kess the other looped rope, and tells the elf, "Jus' dance on o'er across that bridge with yer light feet, an' do the exact same thing in the middle o' this broken bridge, so it'll be stable an' we can use it to cross again later. This'll make it easier on them kids, too, what with this bridge repaired an' all."
(Let me know what rolls I have to make for the climbs and stuff, and if I can have guidance please XD Obviously will edit this post if Chrys fails a check and falls to her doom or something XD)
((This is absolutely brilliant! Great thinking and awesome description for your action. Chrys definitely gets Inspiration for this one, and no rolls needed. 👍))
After doing a precarious, but manageable climb down the rungs of the rickety rope ladder that's dangling down below the last step, Chrys thread the rope around the bottom plank, tosses the other end and alerts Vesper. Watching her agile vertical movement on the free hanging bridge and deft rope work, you can start to picture in your minds how entire colonies of dwarves would navigate with such a high degree of skill and efficiency, up and down the deep mine shafts that have brought so many precious materials out into the world.
When she gets the signal, Vesper uses her Mage Hand to loop the end of the rope around the bottom plank of the other side of the bridge. Once it's secure, Chrys climbs back up, and then you all yard on the rope and bring the two half together.
Then the four of you hold the rope as tight as possible, while Kess takes the other looped rope, says a quick prayer, and then give you all a confident, but slightly uneasy grin before dancing across the now-intact rope bridge with the kind of light-footed agility that you're used to seeing from her.
Stopping in the middle to finish securing the two half together, she then moves quickly to the other side and beckons the rest of you across.
“Chrys that is brilliant! Well done, and I didn’t even realize you could do that, Vesper. Wow. Is there a way to try to do this to the last bridge, and the ones ahead? I’m happy to do the next or last one so you don’t have to always risk it, Chrys.”Lumen says, grinning.
Chrys huffs. "Wouldn't mind a break, really. Much as I love climbin', doin' this non stop will wear a gal out," she admits, wiping some sweat from her brow.
(FYI, the last bridge was totally destroyed, so this technique would not have been possible. You don’t know what kind of condition the other three are in up ahead, but at least you know how to proceed if the next ones are in similar shape.)
For a split second, the drow was sure that she would be done in by nothing more impressive than gravity. Her mind immediately thinking of her clan and Duaric and the children waiting for help that might never arrive. But then she saw help for herself in the form of two outstretched arms. Reaching out with her own and just managing to grab hold, she still crashed rather violently into the wooden planks of the bridge, the air getting knocked clean out of her lungs. Struggling to get the rest of her body fully onto the bridge with her companion's help, the white haired woman coughed, lying there for a moment and trying to catch her breath after the ordeal.
Nym panted, sweat on her brow as she looked up to Lumen and Chrysoberyl whom she was still clutching the hands of before letting go. "Th-Thank you. Apologies, I didn't personally have much climbing to worry about in the Underdark."Though she did hear of some rather crazy caverns where the use of spiders was rather key.
Grimacing at the Fivin's idea, she countered, "I don't savor the idea of trying to repair a bridge with possibly a dragon at our heels."Though to be fair she didn't have any better ideas. When the dwarf spoke to Vesper about some sort of magical hand, Nym cocked her head in confusion and watched in wonder at what Chrys was engineering. As soon as the paladin called for them to heave, she scrambled to take hold of a bit of rope and pulled with all her might. "Gods above Chrys, are you sure you aren't some great sage?"
Seeing the dwarf wipe sweat from her brow, Nym smiled and patted her back before glancing up at the keep warily. "Suppose we should keep quiet the closer we get, hm? Unless.... Fivin, since you got here before us, have you seen Duskbringer at all? Returning or leaving?"If they could confirm the dragon wasn't here at the moment they could move a lot faster without having to keep quiet.
(Chrys and Nym have ropes, and with a little guidance and help from everyone else, she's probably going to be able to climb across with said rope so others will have an easier time of it, since she's fairly good at athletics (+7) or even just jump across too (20' with a 10' running start). Not sure what the subsequent checks to cross other gaps might be, but with makeshift rope bridges the rest of you might be able to make whatever check with advantage).
Looking up at the route once again, and thinking about your skills and equipment, you figure that the best option would be to have Chrys rock climb across each gap, while someone belays her (Helping for advantage), then she can belay each person across one at a time while they follow the climb. Then repeat at each of the broken bridges.
So, for the first gap, I’ll need an Athletics check from Chrys with advantage.
(only rolled once because it was a nat 20: 27)
Chrys eyes the rockface with a glint her eye, and sunny memories of her childhood scrambling across the mountain hillsides, chasing after her pet goat. The first crossing is actually enjoyable for her, despite the situation, as the familiar feel of stone under her fingers is almost a comfort, rather than a challenge.
((Sorry... to answer Lumen's question, Fivin tells him that there are no supplies of any kind down here. Everything is either inside the keep, or up on top of the butte that you are now trying to reach via the Sky's Ascend.))
With your strategy now decided, you begin climbing the carved stone steps of the Sky's Ascend, which will take you up to the keep. Being so close to the cliff face, you can no longer see the magnificent elven keep above you, but you can at least take solace that nothing inside or on top of the keep would be able to see you either as you begin to make your way up the lower stairs.
It's relatively easy going at the bottom; for the most part, it's not too steep, and the stone is fairly dry. Moving quickly, but certainly being deliberate, since the stairs are very exposed. There are a few sections where a rope has been fixed for added security, but it's still requires a degree of relative agility and are to move at a consistent pace. Obviously, this staircase doubles a defensive feature in some regards, since many creatures would find it quite difficult to ascend.
Staying calm, though you're able to cover the first 20%, and after about 50 feet, you reach the first gap, where you can see that the wooden bridge has been destroyed across a narrow but steep gully. As you saw from below, the terrain is such that Chrys will need to climb across a steep, but featured rock face to make it across.
Tying the rope around her waist, she hands the other end to Kess, who does her best to find a secure perch from which she can belay her companion, and ties herself to one of the wooden posts that act as the bridge supports. When Kess is all set, she gives the signal, and then Chrys steps off the last step and begins traversing across the gap, easily finding hand and footholds on the rough, but highly textured quartz and feldspar crystals in the stone, which she knows to be pegmatite, a type of volcanic rock.
Using the handholds to keep herself balanced, she quickly, and quite deftly navigates the rock face with a clear exhibition of well-practiced rock craft. Being a mountain dwarf, she's clearly in her element here, and it's obvious that she's an experienced climber, and watching her move with such efficiency an a combination of strength and even a little bit of grace, you can't help but notice this display of agility that you've never seen from her before.
In a few short minutes, Chrys reaches the other side and steps down onto the other side of the bridge. From here, she can either belay everyone else across this section of rock, or use the rope in some other way to help the rest of the group across. You can let me know what method you come up with and post accordingly.
Lumen says, "huh. She made it seem a lot easier than I thought it'd be." He offers to help others across, and then does his best on his own. He casts prestidigitation to "make a color, a small mark, or a symbol appear on an object or a surface for 1 hour" to mimic exactly the climbing route Chrys took, for the others to follow. (Thinking like the labels for different indoor climbing routes.)
Athletics: 8 (if adv: 15)
After creating small colored magical "markers" on the hand and footholds that Chrys used to climb across the short traverse, Lumen ties into the middle of the rope and steps off the edge of the bridge onto the rock face. His notion of her "making it seem easy" suddenly falls by the wayside, and he reverts to his original mindset that it's actually a lot harder than she made it look as he finds himself scrambling to keep his boots on the small footholds.
The usually confident Lumen does his best to repeat Chrys's movements across the rock, but his hands and forearms quickly tire (from rolling that natural 1 😱). Struggling to hold on, his left foot starts shaking on the small hold as his calf muscle begins to tire as well. Then his foot pops off the small ledge and he suddenly finds himself falling, his hands and body scraping on the rough stone as his body drops a full body length before the rope goes taught as he's arrested by the double belay that both Chrys and Kess are providing.
Lumen is not hurt, except perhaps for his pride, and the skin on his hands are scraped up a bit and feeling a little raw, but otherwise, he's safe. Gathering his composure, while Chrys and Kess use their own strength to hold his full body weight on the rope, Lumen's eyes scour the rock as he looks for new hand and footholds. He quickly finds some, steps back onto the rock and gets his weight off the rope.
Taking a few deep breaths, he calms down and climbs quickly, moving both up and to the left with much more efficiently than he'd originally demonstrated. In a couple of short minutes, he reaches the other side of the gap and Chrys helps him back up onto the bridge and unties the rope for him, since his hands are beginning to sting from his fall.
Who's next? 😀
Chrys grunts and does her best to haul Lumen to safety. "Don't worry, tha first time's hard fer e'eryone," she comforts the orc, blatantly ignoring the fact that he's not a young child and has probably climbed something before in his life. Turning her attention back to the line, she gives a sharp glance to those below and a firm nod. "I got ye," she says under her breath, tightening her grip and widening her stance.
Nym allowed herself a small smile as she kept to herself the thought of, 'Well of course Chrys made it seem easy...' And sure enough the bard was likely swallowing his words with dry throat now as Nym watched him very nearly plummet to his death, her heart hammering under her chain mail and beads of sweat dotting her dark skin. Taking a breath to steady herself as she watched Chrys haul him to safety, the cleric glanced over the markers that Velan had left behind while looping a section of rope diagonally across her torso. After that was secured she palmed her sword briefly with a prayer to Eilistraee before making taking a few steps back and getting what running start she could before pushing off as hard as she could to get a strong jump and try and use the strength of her legs to get her as far as she could.
Athletics: 12
Athletics 2 (if with advantage): 22
Guidance: 1
Nym Durnodel - Aspiring Heroes of Faerûn // Danica Amastacia - Red Dead Annihilation
Chrys watches the others fumbling their way across the rocks with a look of concern as she holds the rope. "... Y'all gotta take a vacation at Twilight Tor sometime, y'know? We got rock climbin' courses fer beginners..."
Apparently deciding to try and leap across instead of climbing, after watching Lumen flail on the rock, Nym loops the rope around her body, then backs up as far as she can to get a running start. Both Chrys and Lumen watch her from the other side of the gap, and seeing her plan, they position her in such a way to allow her a suitable landing zone. Kess and Vesper give her plenty of room on their side as well.
After saying her prayer, the drow takes off running as fast as she can across the stone steps before her feet hit the wooden planks of the rope bridge. However, the shift from solid ground to the swinging bridge totally throws off her balance, and as she reaches the edge of the bridge and pushes off, she realizes instantly that she's not going to make it. Nym sails forward through the air with less momentum than she would have hoped, which fills her with a sense of dreadful surprise.
Both Lumen and Chrys see the shock in her eyes and the misjudged trajectory that their companion is taking they watch her fly over the gap towards them. Recognizing that she's going to fall short and plummet down into the rock filled gully, they both grab the "railing ropes" with one hand and extend their free hands as they lean out as far as possible.
As Nym nears the other side, she throws her own arms out, and just as her body begins to lose altitude, Chrys and Lumen both grab with desperation, hoping that they can prevent her from falling. Both of them manage to lock hands with their terrified friend, but just barely. One they have hold of her, they lean back and pull as hard as they can (Help Action), providing enough extra momentum to allow Nym to make it to the other side.
Her upper body crashes down onto the wooden planks on their side of the bridge, and her waist slams into the edge, leaving her feet dangling in the free air. Quickly, Lumen and Chrys give another hard yank and pull her fully up onto the bridge, where she lies there for a few moments, breathing heavily from relief. She's a little sore from the impact, but unhurt, except perhaps for her ego.
(Good thing you rolled advantage for help!!😱)
Vesper and Kess are next. Someone can roll for each of them.
Lumen turns to the others. "This is going to be impossible with two scared children. And we have to do it how many more times? Fearful of a dragon coming by to strafe us? Fivin, you better not be lying about the impossibility of the spider passageway!"
Vanilla d20 rolls for Kess: 10 and Vesper 20
(Don't forget to roll with Advantage so you guys can help each other across.)
After watching Lumen and Nym cross the gap with surprising effort and awkwardness, Fivin answers. "I agree... this could be difficult with the children, but perhaps we'll be able to find some materials inside the keep that can be used to build makeshift bridges across these gaps. I feel that would be much safer than throwing them across or having them climb on the rocks.
With that, Fivin takes his turn to tie into the rope. Instead of trying to jump across, he attempts to climb the rock, but quickly runs into trouble, not being an especially adept climber. He scrambles as he tries to get good purchase on the rock, and after watching him struggle for a couple minutes, it becomes evident that the best way to get him across is to simply have Kess lower him on the rope, and then have Chrys, Nym and Lumen pull him across and up from the other side.
Fivin steps down from the rock and lowers himself down from the broken rope bridge, then while Kess keeps tension on the rope, the three of you use your combined strength to easily get him across the gap and up onto the bridge. This method works quite well, and so you repeat it with Vesper and quickly get her to the other side as well.
Kess is last, but since she has to untie the rope from her side, and there is no one else to belay her or lower her down, she ties the end of the rope around her waist, then grabs it rope firmly in both hands, sits down and scoots to the edge of her side of the bridge.
"You got me?... Here goes nothing!" she says before scooting the last few inches and then dropping off the edge and doing a daring swing across the gap. You all hold your breath as the arc takes her towards the rock wall under the bridge at the other side. Fortunately, she gets her feet out in front of her and manages to use them to cushion the impact, instead of slamming into the stone with her body. It's actually an impressive display of her acrobatic skills, and when she stops moving, the rest of you yard on the rope and easily pull her up to the bridge.
"Well... that went better than I was expecting!" she says with a sly, but obviously relieved smile as she unties and helps coil the rope. "Onward and upward we go?"
Lumen nods and looks to the next gap. If there is any way to build or fashion some kind of easy harness or use a plank to make a bridge to make the return easier now they are on the other side, he does so.
Looking around, there's not much here you can use. Basically, at each of the five gaps where the stairs meet some sort of gap or gully, some of which are very long drops, a rope and plank bridge has been built to allow passage across these gaps. The posts for the bridges have been dug into the stone at either end, and while they remain, they are driven in too tight to remove. And they're not long enough to span the entire gap.
As I described before, the ropes and planks appear to have been recently destroyed. Either the entire bridge is gone, leaving only the posts and the frayed/cut ropes that dangle on either side, or in some cases, only a single, frayed rope and a couple of planks remain spanned across the gap, but obviously not strong enough to support someone. So, if anything, you could cut pieces of the dangling ropes and use them for something, like a harness or rope belt for each person.
Leaving the first gap, behind, you continue to climb upwards on the stone steps of the Sky's Ascend and traverse upward across the exposed rock face. As you get higher, the footing become more precarious in spots, with entire sections being damp and covered in moss from the spray of the waterfall. A fall from any point would not be pleasant, but fortunately, the steps are wide enough that as long as you move with care, or are not distracted by anything, you feel you can ascend safely.
After another hundred feet or so, you come to the next gap. The rope bridge over the 15 foot wide and 30-40 foot deep gully has been partially destroyed. It appears to be somewhat intact, but just cut in the middle, so each half of the rope bridge dangles on its respective side.
You can see that a small rough ledge, perhaps the width of a dwarf's foot at its widest, traverses across the rock face on the rock wall next to you. The face above the ledge is steep, but not quite vertical, and it's quite damp from the spray, as is the ledge itself.
"Hold up," Chrys says, making a loop on the end of one rope. "I need another rope," she says, taking any one offered and making a loop in that one, as well. She pulls the simple knot tight to make sure both loops don't budge, then hands one rope to Vesper for use later on. "I'm gonna need yer mage hand ta help me out here," she instructs.
Chrys climbs down the bridge on her side of the gap, stopping at the last rung. She throws the non-looped end of her own rope behind that bridge plank and giving the signal, has Vesper pick up the loose, non-looped end of her own rope, now dangling next to the bridge, and whisk it across the gap to loop around the last bridge plank of the other half of the broken bridge, on the other side of the gap. The mage hand carries the end back to Chrys's outstretched hand. Once in control of the rope again, Chrys then carefully threads the loose end of her rope through the loop she made, effectively securing the two ends of the broken bridge together with a loose rope. She then begins the arduous climb back up the bridge, still holding onto her rope. As she does so, physics dictates that the rope is pulled taut as she does so, and thusly, the two bridge halves slowly rise with her, starting to close the gap.
Once on the ledge with the others again, she hands them the rope and says, "Everybody, pull! This bridge ain't light, but we can bring it together with some teamwork!" Like they're playing tug-of-war with the bridge itself, Chrys encourages the entire party to heave, ho, and pull, until the two ends of the bridge have completely met again via the patchwork repair job. "Now hold this tight, Kess's life depends on this!"
She hands Kess the other looped rope, and tells the elf, "Jus' dance on o'er across that bridge with yer light feet, an' do the exact same thing in the middle o' this broken bridge, so it'll be stable an' we can use it to cross again later. This'll make it easier on them kids, too, what with this bridge repaired an' all."
(Let me know what rolls I have to make for the climbs and stuff, and if I can have guidance please XD Obviously will edit this post if Chrys fails a check and falls to her doom or something XD)
((This is absolutely brilliant! Great thinking and awesome description for your action. Chrys definitely gets Inspiration for this one, and no rolls needed. 👍))
After doing a precarious, but manageable climb down the rungs of the rickety rope ladder that's dangling down below the last step, Chrys thread the rope around the bottom plank, tosses the other end and alerts Vesper. Watching her agile vertical movement on the free hanging bridge and deft rope work, you can start to picture in your minds how entire colonies of dwarves would navigate with such a high degree of skill and efficiency, up and down the deep mine shafts that have brought so many precious materials out into the world.
When she gets the signal, Vesper uses her Mage Hand to loop the end of the rope around the bottom plank of the other side of the bridge. Once it's secure, Chrys climbs back up, and then you all yard on the rope and bring the two half together.
Then the four of you hold the rope as tight as possible, while Kess takes the other looped rope, says a quick prayer, and then give you all a confident, but slightly uneasy grin before dancing across the now-intact rope bridge with the kind of light-footed agility that you're used to seeing from her.
Stopping in the middle to finish securing the two half together, she then moves quickly to the other side and beckons the rest of you across.
“Chrys that is brilliant! Well done, and I didn’t even realize you could do that, Vesper. Wow. Is there a way to try to do this to the last bridge, and the ones ahead? I’m happy to do the next or last one so you don’t have to always risk it, Chrys.” Lumen says, grinning.
Chrys huffs. "Wouldn't mind a break, really. Much as I love climbin', doin' this non stop will wear a gal out," she admits, wiping some sweat from her brow.
(FYI, the last bridge was totally destroyed, so this technique would not have been possible. You don’t know what kind of condition the other three are in up ahead, but at least you know how to proceed if the next ones are in similar shape.)
For a split second, the drow was sure that she would be done in by nothing more impressive than gravity. Her mind immediately thinking of her clan and Duaric and the children waiting for help that might never arrive. But then she saw help for herself in the form of two outstretched arms. Reaching out with her own and just managing to grab hold, she still crashed rather violently into the wooden planks of the bridge, the air getting knocked clean out of her lungs. Struggling to get the rest of her body fully onto the bridge with her companion's help, the white haired woman coughed, lying there for a moment and trying to catch her breath after the ordeal.
Nym panted, sweat on her brow as she looked up to Lumen and Chrysoberyl whom she was still clutching the hands of before letting go. "Th-Thank you. Apologies, I didn't personally have much climbing to worry about in the Underdark." Though she did hear of some rather crazy caverns where the use of spiders was rather key.
Grimacing at the Fivin's idea, she countered, "I don't savor the idea of trying to repair a bridge with possibly a dragon at our heels." Though to be fair she didn't have any better ideas. When the dwarf spoke to Vesper about some sort of magical hand, Nym cocked her head in confusion and watched in wonder at what Chrys was engineering. As soon as the paladin called for them to heave, she scrambled to take hold of a bit of rope and pulled with all her might. "Gods above Chrys, are you sure you aren't some great sage?"
Seeing the dwarf wipe sweat from her brow, Nym smiled and patted her back before glancing up at the keep warily. "Suppose we should keep quiet the closer we get, hm? Unless.... Fivin, since you got here before us, have you seen Duskbringer at all? Returning or leaving?" If they could confirm the dragon wasn't here at the moment they could move a lot faster without having to keep quiet.
Nym Durnodel - Aspiring Heroes of Faerûn // Danica Amastacia - Red Dead Annihilation