Ront quickly looks at the birds and giant insects to see if he can determine what they are. (ID (animal handling or nature): 2. +2 for perception or survival.)

If he thinks these flying creatures are more likely to ignore their group, he makes a bold tactical decision and calls out to the group, "Quickly - down the rope to the bottom! The guards will be busy with the flying things for a few minutes, and this may give us just the chance we need!" 

Are you going to slide down the rope or lower the basket?
What is the order that people are going down (rope or basket - see question above) in?

OOC: I'm guessing my totally excellent rolls weren't enough to escape the manacles.

Topsy grabs onto Turvy, who immediately steps between his sister and the flying creatures. The male gnome produces a rusty iron bar from somewhere on his person, holding it in both hands like a club. "Go, go," he hisses at Topsy. He jerks his head, telling her to follow Ront while he continues to keep a watch on the activity around them. Topsy hesitates for a second, then does as she is told, following the orc.

OOC: I'm guessing my totally excellent rolls weren't enough to escape the manacles.

What an excellent guess!

The orc will lower as many of the smaller folk in the basket as will fit, grabbing the dwarf to help him with the rope. He will repeat this as many times as he can, eventually lowering himself in the basket!

The orc will lower as many of the smaller folk in the basket as will fit, grabbing the dwarf to help him with the rope. He will repeat this as many times as he can, eventually lowering himself in the basket!

One of the characters who has been on rock stacking duty says to Ront "the basket can only fit four and it'll take four rounds to lower it to the cavern floor and another two to pull it up empty."

Prince Derendil will look down at his shoulder where the spider, appears to whisper something, nod and turn to the orc. "You get them down, I'll hold them off." He  then bends down to find a few fist sized rocks he can ready to throw if needed.

Eldrik, caught slightly off guard by interaction from an orc that has gone out of its way to ignore him, gets to action and helps of the lift.

Ront snorts. "Do ya wanna be safe, or do ya wanna escape? Hold on - it's gonna be a fast ride!!" The orc will quickly scan the apparatus and try to determine if it can handle a combat maneuver - a quick descent and a rapid deceleration near the bottom! If the supports and anchors are sturdy, he'll try and get them down faster than four rounds! If, however, it looks cobbled together or rusty or likely to pull apart and fail catastrophically, he'll err on the side of caution (despite his natural tendencies to say 'Screw It!' and just drop them anyways!)

(OOC: Sorry guys we need to retcon this. None of us - including myself - looked at the map properly. The lift location '#5' (see map at front of adventure) is right next to one of the Drow Barracks '#4' where the Drow are milling about trying to prepare/defend against the flying creatures. I don't think you would have therefore rushed that way - happy to be proven wrong. Can people have a look at the map (Post #29), have a chat among yourselves, and then let me know what you want to do.) 

1. The only ways out are from the cavern floor - northeast, northwest, and southwest. Yes? And there are no other exits that we know of...
2. The birds and insects are coming in from the northeast or northwest entrance?
3. Where are the guards - all by the lift?
4. How deep is the water at the bottom of the waterfall?

looking at the map, maybe we will try the north exit (13)?

1. The only ways out are from the cavern floor - northeast, northwest, and southwest. Yes? And there are no other exits that we know of...  Correct for those who walk. Flying creatures can also exit - admittedly at height above the cavern floor.
2. The birds and insects are coming in from the northeast or northwest entrance? - Yes but they were flying at a height of about 100' above the cavern floor
3. Where are the guards - all by the lift? - most of the guards are by the lift? Yes it is next to the barracks but parties have headed off towards the northeast and southwest entrances.
4. How deep is the water at the bottom of the waterfall? Difficult to tell but looks deep. Height from cell is about 100' but from the webs below the outpost it is about 50'

So it sounds like the only clear path down is to jump into the waterfall? Are the guards evenly distributed all along the way? Perhaps this isn't a helpful distraction at all!!

Ront curses as he realises that there are too many Drow clustered around the lift bucket for them to be able to access the cavern floor that way but at least the flying creatures meant that the Drow were not focused on the escaping prisoners. He then looks at the webs strung below the outpost and realises that the party could drop into those and then drop into the pool at the base of the waterfall.   

Have Topsy or Turvy seen any giant creatures capable of creating the webs while ascending, descending, or working below?

Would Sarith know another way down?

Have Topsy or Turvy seen any giant creatures capable of creating the webs while ascending, descending, or working below?

Occasionally Topsy and Turvey have seen Giant Spiders moving among the webs but they seem to avoid the section closest to the waterfall. 

 Would Sarith know another way down?

As far as Sarith is aware the only way down is via the lift bucket.

As the party scratch there collective heads, the swirling mass that is the aerial circus of the the bird and insect melee smashes into the webs near the waterfall and tears a great hole in them. There is now a collection of threads that reach down almost to the water's surface. 

"That's it - everybody jump to the webs and use those strands to climb down to the floor. Move!" And with the, the orc runs towards the waterfall and jumps over the side, aiming for the mass of webs. Once there, he will move to the broken strands, test them, then climb down to the floor as quickly as he can.

Topsy grabs her brother's arm. "Come on!" she says, pulling him. Finally, he relents and follows behind her as she once again follows the orc.

(OOC: Don't know what happened to my post but meh!)

Could everybody following Ront please make an Athletics/Acrobatics roll whichever is the best for the PC.