Gatherine waddled her way after the others with her her new brood of lizards tucked in her tricorned hat,bickering with Tol all the way.
You continue south for about a mile when the trail comes to an abrupt end. There is a fifty foot cliff overlooking the sea below. Several knotted ropes and vines hang over the edge, and lead down to the rocky beach below.
The face of the butte to your left is about 20 feet high. It appears your choices are up, down, or back the way you came.
"Mr. Cherthand,do you think Gorra can follow us down this cliff? I don't think so, but you are the owner."
It looks highly implausible that Gorra would be able to make it down here. There was a path back where you fought the lizards. Much of the beach along the way appeared rocky enough to be a fair challenge as well. There is another cliff running roughly perpendicular to this cliff, and about the same height which would be possible for Gorra to jump.(but failable, and most likely fatal if failed)
HUH. Can't we tie rope around her and just haul her up pulling altogether?Gatherine suggested.
Perception
:
"That's an awful lot of work...." Syndlara demurs, looking around. "Maybe there's a trail nearby."
"Looks like we'll have to go back to the place where we fought the lizards"
While looking along the rocky beach, you see what looks like a very large sea turtle shell turned over and partially obscured by vines.
you think you see a couple primitive oars fixed to the edge.[/ooc]
Gatherine held up a pistol,squinting suspiciously over at what apparently was a primitive boat.Anybody see that boat?
Tol examines the cliff and looks across the jump. "No, she can't climb down that. Jumping across... She might, if she wasn't weighed down. I wouldn't risk it, though. We could maybe lower her down with ropes, but we'd need some sort of harness, maybe pulleys, a--" He breaks off as Gatherine mentions the boat. "Everyone get down! Where is it? Are there natives on it?"
"Yeah, I see the boat. We might be able to put it to use," Syndlara replies. She continues, turning to look at Tol. "No, I don't see any natives. I can take a closer look, if you'd like."
"Saw it, but didn't immediately understand it had oars.As Syndlara, i see no one else but us."
Iolana then turns to the elven woman
"I could assist you if you like"
Dat rock over there? Dats a ship? the tribesman tries to focus his eyes at the far distance.
Bettar if we dont split. Maybe people living in that one too. Bettar if we all go back and around... Mugambi seems nervous about the perspective of splitting the group.
After a couple of seconds. ...but if ya wana go just be very carefull, right...
"Don't worry Mugambi,you'll have to tolerate my presence for a long time yet."
"We'll have to go back anyway, if we're going to get Gorra down the cliff. It will take time, but it's got to be done. If Miss Iolana and Miss Syndlara want to go secure the boat until the rest of us can make it around, I won't stop you. However, I will, ahem, remind you what happened before when we sent a scout ahead of the rest of the group. A zombie was involved, you may recall. It's safer if we stick together."
Syndlara winces in remembrance. "A point well-taken, Sir Dwarf."
Iolana instinctively puts a hand around her chest and shudders "Right mr.Cherthand.My ribs still remember that encounter.Let's get moving backward then, all togheter."
You return to one of the paths down near the lizard nest. The narrow beach is easy terrain for over half a mile. Once you are within sight of the vines hanging down, you are faced with a barrier of jagged rocks. The water here is much more calm than most of the beaches you have encountered here... you might be able to swim around the 150-200 feet of rocks. The turtle shell boat you saw from above was on the other side of the outcropping of rock.
Perception
Climb
Acrobatics
Tol looks at the piled rocks and sighs. "Well, girl, there's no way you're climbing over that," he says to his horse. Gorra whickers in agreement. "We'll just have to swim it. Could someone help me with this armor?"
Once the armor is removed, he stows it in Gorras saddlebags, and leads the mare into the water.
Mugambi looks at the rocks and the sea with dismay.
Tol, chief. Could Gorra take Mugambi's armor too please?
The tribesman strips his armor and store it in with the war horse if the dwarf alows it.
"I'll just need some towel to dry myself and my clothes once on the other side,but i can swim in my armor and equip."
Saying so, the sailor-girl dives into the water.
edit:
Gatherine climbs up the large rocks on the beach. She stumbles across a difficult area and collects a few bruises.
You reach the other side. There are vines hanging close enough to you to easily climb down. You notice behind the vines is a recessed hidden cave about 15 feet wide and 8 or 10 feet high.
As you come around the wall of rocks, you see Gatherine at the edge of the rocks within arms reach of the vines.
Hidden in the shadow of the cliff, behind the vines is a cave about 15 feet wide 10 feet high.[/ooc]
Syndlara climbs the jagged rocks with ease, showing off a little as she dances from one rock to the next with practiced hops and pirouettes.
You reach the other side. There are vines hanging close enough to you to easily climb down. You notice behind the vines is a recessed hidden cave about 15 feet wide and 8 or 10 feet high. Just inside the cave you see scorch marks similar to the ones you saw near the lizard nest.
"I think there might be more of those lizards about, guys!" Syndlara calls down from her perch on the rocks. For the moment, she stays put, hoping to avoid further entanglements with the shocking reptiles.
Slowly the tribesman enters the waves and starts to swim at the best of his ability, which is low... At first he makes good progress but half way through he goes under and the rest of way is less dignified. Mugambi arrives at the other shore in a fit of cough.
Once she is on the beach on the other side,Iolana starts shaking away the water from her clothes and hair.
"Noticed the cave Syn. And i'm not so eager to face those fu****g lizards again."
Then she readies her bow and arrows.
"But just in case,this time i'll stay afar from them."
Bruised and sporting a skinned chin,the plump she-dwarf struggled to heave her bulk over the rocks. When the prancing elf shouted a warning about more lizards,she stiffened.
She remembered how both Iolana and Syndlara both nearly dropped during the skirmish with just three of them. There was no telling how many more there were.
Carefully,she reached for the vines at the mouth of the cave and slid down them to the bottom. She tried to be as quiet and still as possible.
Perception
Stealth
Climb
As you move closer to the cave, you smell death... rot. You do not see any movement... it is dark and well hidden by the vines. As the vines sway from Gatherine's descent you start to make out the dimensions. The shallow cave is about 15 feet wide and 8 feet high, and you see the back wall no more than 20 feet back from the entrance.
The sea turtle shell boat is to the left of the cave covered in vines.
Just past the vines are faded scorch marks similar to near the lizard nest, but a large unmoving rotting shocker lizard with three small spears pinning it to the ground catches your eye.
There are several small skeletons here... but just the top halves. At the base of each of their torsos are dozens of small thin bones, like skinny drumstick bones. An old crate sits against the back wall with crude instruments on top.
"Gatherine, wait! Don't go exploring hidden caves alone, haven't you learned anything?" As soon as he reaches shore, Tol grabs his axe and shield and runs to the cave entrance, still wet and without armor.
That dwarven girl will be the death of me
"Wait all of you, we go together or nothing"
Iolana switches back to her blade and follows the dwarves.
Gatherine relaxed when she realized that it was a dead lizard. She climbed into the cave,moving past the dead shocker lizard.
Mugambi ready his shield an mornngstar before following a little behind the others
In the shallow cave there are three small (lifeless) skeletons. Two are on either side of the decomposing speared lizard. One is near the crate against the back wall. All three skeletons are intact from the ribcage up, but have a pile of dozens of small bones in place of their legs.
The crate rests on planks of halved trees at the the back. There are old primitive tools and heavy stained bowls. There is also a smallish lizard skeleton pinned to the top of the crate with a bone dagger.
Tol looks around the cave dubiously. "Doesn't seem there's any threat at the moment. Hmmph. Wonder what happened to their legs?"
Iolana's attention is drawn to the area by the crate.
You notice a greater darkness between the gaps in the logs on which the crate sits. It appears they are covering a hole. As you move around it, you see a gap where it appears something had pushed aside the cover enough to get out. Without further moving the crate and logs, you can guess the hole underneath is 3 or 4 feet wide.