Sarith, Stool, and Aimon are out. Jimjar has 1 hp, and Eldeth has 4. Topsy takes no damage because she is immune to nonmagical bludgeoning damage.

Jimjar Strength Check: 21

Eldeth Strength Check: 10

A pile of rocks shifts as Jimjar pushes the rocks off of him with a groan of exhaustion and pain. Since he got a natural 20, as he pushes the rocks off himself, his movements also release Sarith from his rocky tomb.

Sarith Death Save 1: 17

Topsy crawls across the rocks where Aimon's hand is peeking out of the rubble. She desperately begins to claw at them, trying to shift their weight off of him. 

Topsy Strength Check: 15

Through sheer determination and grit, she moves the rocks off of Aimon and pulls him free of the rubble. Aimon looks terrible. His breathing is shallow and ragged. He is bleeding from several wounds where the skin has split under pressure. You can see on of his bones poking out from his leg.

Anyone still pinned (Caelynn, Stool, and Eldeth) takes 1 bludgeoning damage as the rocks press down on them. You can make another Strength Check now. Someone who is free and conscious can assist someone else to give Advantage.

(Sorry for knocking you out a lot, Aimon. I promise it's not on purpose :)

After resting for a moment, Caelynn tries again to drag herself out.

13

As Jimjar breaks free, Trill sees Sarith's battered form. 

"Get up, stand up!", she sings in a mellow croon.

6, healing word

When she can, she'll turn to the wreck of flesh that is Aimon.

"Don't give up the fight!"

7, healing word

(OOC - should Aimon wait a round before responding to Trill's healing word? And no apologies necessary. Aimon is a wee bit reckless to begin with. He's been taking less punishment than I thought he would.)

((I think Aimon will be in Trill's round two of stuff, since she saw Sarith first. I was just posting so that Dimir had it if/when it came around to that.))

Sarith gasps and his eyes flutter open. Trill's words wash over him, mending his wounds and breathing life back into him. He sits up with a wince and groggily and takes in his surroundings. 

Eldeth Strength Check:20

With a shout of anger and pain, Eldeth bursts out from a pile of rocks and looks around wildly as the adrenaline wears off. She staggers a bit before plopping down in to a sitting position with a dazed look on her face.

Jimjar staggers over to where the sound of Caelynn's struggle is happening. Topsy move over and starts helping him shifting away rocks. 

Jimjar Strength Check: 14

With Caelynn's straining under the rocks and the assistance from the gnomes, the rocks crushing Caelynn fall away.

Stool Death Save: 6

A moment later, Trill's encouraging words wash over Aimon. Aimon, you awaken from the darkness that is gripping your mind and body.

As soon as Caelynn is able to scramble out from under the rocks, she pulls Stool out from her bag and casts Cure Wounds on him. Afterwards, she'll cast it on Jimjar, then herself.

Stool: 5

Jimjar: 4

Caelynn: 9

The party is all conscious.

After the hectic moments of saving others in the group, silence fills the area around you. Jimjar laughs after a moment and says, "Well, that's one heck of a way get closer to the Darklake." He falls back into his back and lets out a with of relief. 

Now that the excitement has died down, you take a moment to look around at your surroundings. You are near a slanted wall made of dark stone. It extends off into both directions. Ahead of you beyond the pile of rocks, the relatively smooth stone floor extends into darkness. Surprisingly, a very faint mist cloaks the ground. You appear to be in a colossal cavern. 

 "The mist means we have arrived in the Fields of Sorrow," a tired Eldetth says grimly. "Be on your guard."

Aimon shakes some rubble off and rubs his leg, where moments before a bone was sticking out is now just inflamed skin.

He smiles at Trill. “Thank you my Kenku Queen.”

He stands up, looks into the mist and darkness and shouts into the emptiness.

”Yahoo. Nice try underdark. Aimon’s still standing.”

Barely he thinks to himself.

Looking over at Eldeth and Jimjar, he asks “I think perhaps we should know a detail or two about this Fields of Sorrow place.”

Then he looks around at everyone.

”Where’s Zack?”

(Zack hasn't been on in a while. If he doesn't respond by Saturday, I'm going to open recruitment for a replacement player.)

Aimon's shouts echo through the darkness. An echo of his voice returns to the party, and you hear a twisted, sinister whisper of what he said, "Still standing." It sounds deeper, quieter, and like many overlapping versions of Aimon have said it.

 "Don't taunt the darkness," Sarith quietly warns. " The Fields have a tendency to harm those that disrespect it."

Aimon turns to Sarith.

"Is it safe to rest in the Fields?" he asks. "We're a battered group that needs a break."

Feeling his own aches and pains of this latest near death experience, he continues "Some of us more than others."

"When I've had to travel through the Fields, it was safe, but uncomfortable. It has this melancholy feel to it." Sarith closes his eyes and relaxes his tense muscles. " Right now, I don't feel that melancholy. I feel... Anger. Hatred. Loathing.'' He opens his eyes and looks at you. "Something has changed." 

 "Changed," his voice echoes back in a warped, twisted tone even though Sarith was talking quietly.

 "To answer your other question," Jimjar says, "the Fields of Sorrow are a bunch of ancient ruins near the Darklake. Rumor has it that a dark ritual was performed thousands of years ago that killed everyone in the city. True or not, the Faezre in the region is definitely tainted with foul magic. The earth itself is trying to erase the memory of what happened there, hence the earthquakes."

 "It's supposed to be haunted or some bullcrap," Eldeth adds. "Nobody has gotten hurt there from what I've heard, but it is unsettling. However, the Underdark seems to be... different lately."

Trill shivers at the creepy echoing voices.

In as cheerful voice as he can manage Aimon says, "so the longer we stay in this quaint meadow, the more likely that will get another big ground shaker, yes?"

He feels the bruises and inflamed tissue and the battered bones of his body.

"Not sure that I want to test myself against another one of those any time soon."

Looking to the rest of the party he asks "I know we need to rest, but can everyone keep going for a little while longer until we can find ground that isn't going to open up and put a rather anticlimactic end to our great escape?" 

"How long will that take us?" Caelynn asks Jimjar and Sarith "If it's more than a couple hours, I say we just rest now. We've been going nearly all day, and I don't want us to overexert ourselves, especially given our recent injuries." 

"If we really push ourselves, we can make it across the Fields of Sorrow in about 14 hours if an earthquake doesn't collapse the ceiling in on us or something," Jimjar says, eyes scanning the mist.

"I think we should take a small rest before we continue so we can catch our breath," Eldeth says. " I don't know about everyone else, but I feel pretty beat up. "

Aimon sighs with relief at Caelynn's, Jimjar's and Eldeth's words, and has his head on his pack and is almost asleep before Eldeth even finishes speaking.

This will be considered a Short Rest. Feel free to burn hit dice to regain hp.

The party rests in the rubble that once almost killed you. The Fields are quiet and calm. The mist begins to fill the gaps between the rocks, sending out questing tendrils that caress your battered bodies. After you have had the chance to relax, you start to feel a strange sensation. It feels like you aren't wanted here. It feels like you are trespassing, and you can feel a sense of hostility being directed towards you. About 5 minutes into your rest, the earth groans and shudders slightly from a small aftershock. Other than, it is quiet and peaceful.

(OOC Burning all three HD: 7 )

When Aimon awakes, even he finds it hard to be his chipper self. This place is beating down on their psyches like waves pounding on the beach. At the very least the rest helped his battered body.

He hoists his pack on to his back and looks around at the others to make sure everyone is up and ready to go. His eyes look more closely at Topsy, trying to decide if he sees any change in her features. He's never come across a were-creature of any kind before and doesn't know what to expect. Despite himself, he hopes she truly will change. That would be a sight to behold.

He counts their number. There are many fewer than when he first awoke in the drow cell. 

"Well, another beautiful day in the Underdark," he says, then realizes how that may have come across. "No offense intended to those who call this home. But for a topsider like me, this has been a tough adjustment. I can't begin to guess how you manage it, Caelynn. Spending so much time down here."

He pats Jimjar on the shoulder.

"Point me in the right direction my good sir and I will take a turn in the lead and try not to run us into too much unpleasantness."

(Just using one hit die for now: 7)

Caelynn sits cross-legged on the ground, knowing if she allows herself to fall asleep, it'll be hours before she wakes up. They don't have that kind of time. She absentmindedly runs her fingers through her hair, detangling the knots and redoing the five tiny braids adorning it. After a minute of consideration, she adds a sixth one, fingers deftly weaving the strands together.

She chuckles dryly at Aimon's comment. "Believe me, it isn't by choice. I'd much rather be back on the surface."

(Edit: adding the extra d6 from Trill 3)