"Lemme see. If that bone is what I think it is, it might be of use to us."
The sorcerer snaps his fingers, casting his cantrip, and then squints at the wand, scratching at his beard.
"Well, this thing's magic all right. But I have no idea what the hell it does."
The damp cleric leans over Silva's shoulder and has a little gander at the wand.
"I'm not really trained in this stuff." she adds after giving it the once over, before turning to Davben. "So should we try and swim across and take the northern cliff face?" With a little stretch she prepares to get back into the water.
As the group continues to discuss the situation, the sun reaches its peak and slowly descends toward the sea in the west. Shadows begin to slowly appear and lengthen. Any lingering clouds from the morning ocean gloom finally burn off to reveal the sun which begins to blaze down on the glittering beach. It really is quite picturesque.
Many of the party find themselves daydreaming about sitting on the beach with someone whose company they enjoy and having some snacks while sunning their toned bodies...or rather they would be if they weren't in an intense discussion about what to do next.
"Only about mine, I'm afraid," Silva says to Nicea with a melodramatic sigh.
"Anyway, I'm pretty sure I can swim across, but we'd need someone to get a rope down from those cliffs if we're going that route. Otherwise, I vote that we go back up and blast away some goblins before we run out of sunlight."
As he waits on the others to decide on what to do (while working on his suntan), Silva turns back to their "treasure" and attempts to identify the arrows' properties.
"I didn't, I'm not the best swimmer." She points at her hauberk; "But willing to try."
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"Right. Time for an executive decision. Silva, since you don't have any armor on and you enjoy exploring wet holes, you get to swim through the underwater tunnel and tell us what's there. We'll tie a rope around you and you can give it a sharp jerk if you want us to haul you in. Remember, only swim half the distance you can hold your breath, unless you have some sort of a breathe-y spell thingy." She pulls her silk rope from its place on her pack and approaches the unfortunate mage, shaking loose a length to tie around him.
"Whoa whoa whoa, hold up," Silva says, backing away from Nicea and her rope. "I'm no stranger to being tied up, but I'm no deep diver. Let Zara take a shot at it. That slick armor of hers shouldn't give her any trouble."
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Davben shakes his head at Nicea's question, "No I was a little preoccupied, I only swam down in the immediate area with the bunion, mostly avoiding being eaten."
Also not wearing any armour and having volunteered to swim Davben's a bit curious why Nicea decides Silva should be the one to do it... maybe she's ignoring him. "I'm sure we all want to be rid of Silva at least for a while, but he's really not the best choice... look how puny and scrawny he is he'll probably drown in two meters. If you think it is worth exploring I can go, I'm a pretty fair swimmer."
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Nicea backs away from Zara with the rope and tosses an end to Davben, beaming at the monk. "Excellent, a volunteer. You'll do better than noodle-arms there, and we really don't need Zara stripping down any more than she already has. I think it's worth a try, Dav. But we'll use the rope in case you run into any more bunions down there. We can haul you back pretty fast. OK?"
Zara stops unbuckling her nice new leather-hauberk, her crimson scarf over the shoulder jingles slightly with the sharpened coins. "Fine, be careful Davben. It's a trifle cold in there."
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Davben catches the end of the rope and starts fastening it around himself, he's not really sure what they're expecting to accomplish swimming out there, but it's hard to say no to Nicea when she beams that way, and really Davben's probably the most likely to make it.
"Ok I'll go see what's over there."" Looking to Zara he gives a wry smile "Well I think cold will be the least of my worries if there's another bunnyhop in there. I'll give the rope a good tug if I need saving."
The young monk leaves the end of the rope with Nicea, and starts swimming out to the explore the exit to the North.
He emerges out of the other end to find a small beach off to the left, and Thistletop in front of him. The large stone base of the Thistletop fort is a long swim away. Davben can see that high above to his right is a wooden bridge connecting the briar maze to the fort atop the stone. From this vantage, Davben would almost think the shape of the stone is that of a face? Hmmm...maybe not.
The cliffs above are maybe 80 or so feet from the beach and ocean. The tangle of briar rises from them soaking up the spray of the ocean as the choppy waters slam into the cliffs' base. If the Heroes of Sandpoint were climbing experts this may be a good means to avoid the maze...assuming no one—or no thing—spotted them as they scaled the wet cliff surface.
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Davben swims over to the beach where he unties the rope from his waist, and finds a good spot and ties the rope off to a good sized rock that even Nicea's strength shouldn't budge. He makes sure the rope is secure and won't slip, then takes a quick look around the beach to see if he notes anything of consequence.
After the search he starts the swim back to the grotto hanging onto the rope in case the undertow starts to pull him away, but avoiding pulling too hard on it in case Nicea thinks he's in trouble.
Davben emerges back up out of the less rough water of the grotto, the return trip made with ease as the healthy man uses the rope as a guide and works with the current to swim through the underwater opening. When he arrives, Samara is puzzling over the sliver of bone that Silva claims has magical properties.
Maybe it's worth twenty gold if that's true?
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Nicea is hanging on to the rope. She smiles when Davben emerges.
"Good to see you're back safe and sound. That didn't take too long. Did you make it through? More importantly, could the rest of us make it through? And is it worth the swim?" She holds out a hand to help him out of the water and onto the shelf.
Damieka stands in her spot by Silva in deep thought, listening to the others but not reacting to what is being said. Her head lifts a tiny bit as Davben goes for his swim then she is back in her own study of something or other.
Finally she shrugs her shoulders and picks up the arrows to check them over, trying not to show her concern over Davben sent ahead into unknown territory. She tries to figure out what exactly the arrows are.
((Pin - what would you want as a roll for that. Sorry brain is gone.
Sorry for being so late. My sister moved to Edmonton so I've been distracted by that and then our mother was in the hospital again. I'll try to keep up.))
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Davben smiles back towards Nicea and nods, coming over to take her hand to climb out onto the shelf. "Yes I managed to get through, it's a very rough swim though, noodle arms and scrawny pants wouldn't have made it. It could be a good shortcut if you feel like climbing a wet slippery cliff. Otherwise I didn't really see anything very useful."
He nods back towards the opening he came out of "I tied off the rope on the other end, so if we tie it off on this end as well we can pull ourselves along instead of just trying to swim it, should be a lot easier. In case anyone wants to go over"
"Yeah, well, better you than m- Oh wait, you're back already," Silva says with genuine surprise when Davben rejoins them. Of course, he tries very hard not to seem too impressed. "Not bad for a guy who punches thing for a living, I guess."
"So do we go back up top? Check everything out from the cliff-edge?" She looks around hoping someone else will take the lead.
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Nicea thinks hard, helmet smoking slightly. "If we climb back up, whoever is up there can harvest us like gophers popping out of a hole. No, I think we go through the tunnel that Davben prepared for us. We can pull through with that rope, right Dav? I don't much like the idea of trying to swim through the rough surf. Unless noodle-arms can make us fly, I think the rope is our best bet."
"Sure, I can fly," Silva claims, wiggling his fingers around. "I can also stop time and blow people up with my mind. I just don't because it'd make you punching, stabbing folks look bad."
"But in all seriousness, if any of you can get another rope down from that cliff, then I'm game. Because, uh, the noodle arm thing. I'd rather my obituary not read 'cracked his skull on a sharp rock.'"
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Nicea huffs in annoyance. "We don't have to worry about goblins; we have to worry about thorns and drowning and falling. I hate problems that can't be fixed with a scythe!" She plops down into the water, grabbing the rope. "I'll give this a try, then. If I can't make it, Noodles surely won't be able to."
plus any bonuses from rope.
Patting herself down and making sure that anything that could be ruined by water is as safe as possible (or discarded); Zara gets ready to follow Nicea.
"Hey, here's an idea," Silva starts as he lowers himself into the water. "Why don't you just fish out of the other side like we did with the bunyip? We could just hold onto the rope, while you and 'Ben pull us out."
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Nicea sighs just before she submerges, lightly blowing bubbles. "Fine," she says heavily as she pops back up, "I had no idea you guys were such wimps. Just untie it from this end and.. uh... need another one for 'Ben to pull you back. Jerk this rope when you're ready."
With a glub, the grumpy girl is gone.
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Samara does not seem impressed with the wand, handing it back to Silva wordlessly. She says once Nicea is properly underwater, "I think it is better this way. That is a thing that I think. I am not the strongest swimmer." The quiet elf takes hold of the rope so that she can get pulled through when the time comes.
Sorry for being so late. My sister moved to Edmonton so I've been distracted by that and then our mother was in the hospital again. I'll try to keep up.
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"It'll be much easier with the rope for sure, but of course noodle arms is probably a hopeless cause, we can drag him through and Samara can probably come along for the ride, we'll need someone to untie the rope on this end so we can use it again anyway." He looks towards the underwater entrance then adds "Better to save your strength anyway, the hard part is going to be the climb."
The monk sets out to swim across after Nicea and Zara following along the rope
Nicea and Daven reach the other side with ease, and in one Herculean effort, Nicea yanks the rope in one swift tug timed with the receding of the surf pulling all the others through easily.
The party is now assembled on the small beach. Weathertop fort is visible through the surf spray in the distance, an example of defensibility made of wood high above on a very large stone. The ocean between here and there looks fairly dangerous. To the east is a wood and rope bridge suspended between the mainland and Weathertop leading into the briar hedge maze. It swings in the currents of air caused by the weather.
"Well that was easy," Silva remarks once they've come out on the other side. He rolls his shoulders around, his arms feeling like they could have come out of their sockets. At least he was able to hold his breath.
The sorcerer takes one look at the choppy waters between their beach and the giant rock, letting out a huff.
"All right, back to square one. How the hell are we getting across? I mean, don't get me wrong, that bridge up there doesn't exactly look like my idea of fun either."
Pulling herself out of the water and upon the beach, Zara looks worriedly between the harsh, choppy sea and the vertiginous cliffs. "Simple...."
"I do have a strength blessing that could help make someone strong enough to climb up there. Or we could save it for combat." She adds, heavily implying she's not going to be first to scale the rock-face. Then checking her pack to ensure that nothing is too badly water damaged. Rubbing the excess water from her bodice and reaches inside to produce a scarf to tie her hair back in a tail.
The cliffs above are maybe 80 or so feet from the beach and ocean. The tangle of briar rises from them soaking up the spray of the ocean as the choppy waters slam into the cliffs' base. If the Heroes of Sandpoint were climbing experts this may be a good means to avoid the maze...assuming no one—or no thing—spotted them as they scaled the wet cliff surface.
As Silva looks up at the soaring heights to reach the bridge above them, hears Nicea's words echo in his mind.
"...what's the problem? We hike along the beach and either climb up to the bridge and cross it, or swing along underneath. Simple, pimple."
Her idea of simple, pimple is certainly a novel one.
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"I do have a strength blessing that could help make someone strong enough to climb up there. Or we could save it for combat." She adds, heavily implying she's not going to be first to scale the rock-face.
Nicea ponders Zara's plan. "You know, if we don't get up there, we probably won't get into combat anyway. Not unless we keep standing here debating while more bunnyionops decide to explore the beach. We can give the climb a try and then ask for strength if we don't make it? I'd guess from the looks of things that it's either me or Ben doing the climbing. I'm getting out of this armor if I go up. Ben, what do you think? Flip for it?" She pulls out her last copper.
I was certain those things were bunions, but maybe Ben is right and they're bunnyhops...
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"I do not think the banyonhips are going to explore the beach. That is not a thing that I think," says Samara, having a hard time keeping the name of the things straight with everyone saying different things all the time. "Maybe it's better for Davben to climb," suggests Samara, "So that you don't get ambushed without armour."
"Well we're all going up there, though mass stripping sounds...." Zara adds still dripping from their swim. "So who wants the strength power to climb to the top, secure a rope & we all follow?"
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"Well as fun as it sounds to get Nicea out of that armour... like Samara said we don't want her stuck in a fight without it" Looking up at the cliff the monk lets out a sigh "I'll go first though I"d rather not become a smear on the beach either."
Davben starts getting ready securing the rope around his waist, then moves over to the cliff "Can't be as bad as it looks right?" He starts making an attempt at the long climb.
Davben begins climbing only to discover there are pitons embedded in the cliff face. Very weathered now, but apparently at one point there must have been a rope ascent with belaying support. Davben is able to use this old rusted climbing gear to attach the rope he carries, so the others may follow easily.
Soon everyone follows him up, and they stand before the rickety bridge that leads to Thistletop fort. They can hear possible goblin activity in the briar maze to the south, so time is not on the party's side. Decisions and action will be needed.
A rope bridge spans the gulf between the cliff and a roundish, flat-topped island sixty-some feet to the north. Thick patches of nettles and briars grow here and there atop the island, but its most impressive feature is a wooden one-story stockade. Two thirty-foot-tall watchtowers guard the stockade’s southern facade. The rope bridge itself is made of hairy rope and thick wooden planks; the whole thing creaks and sways in the wind above the churning surf eighty feet below.
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Nicea hauls herself up the cliff last, panting and sweating under her armor. "Damned sun. Gonna smell like a pig in s*%@ soon. Pull up the rope, do you think, or leave it for a quick getaway?"
Clapping Davben heavily on the back as a reward for blazing the trail up the cliff, she surveys the bridge.
"I see they don't want visitors. We can probably make it one at a time, but it'd be best if somebody good with knots went first to secure the other end... just in case. Anybody here into kink? Dameika? Lieutenant?" She scrutinizes the elven treasure hunter, eyes slitted with suspicion. "It's always the quiet ones that'll surprise you."