Jakun nods at Thistle, "The door my friend, let's see what you make of it".
Caitlyn scowled at the dead end. Turning to Mariel she replied, "Perhaps we should. Preferably finding one without the restless dead behind..."
Thistletorp quickly pronounced the door to the north entirely boring. Beyond it lay two more lamentably boring chambers, both partly collapsed and littered with debris.
Loren observed the exchange between Jakun and the spirits with a mix of anxiety and displeasure. Flirting with such abominations... dangerous to the soul. He risks much. But, he remained silent. The ruined fortress was a death trap, as close to Chemosh's realm on Krynn as he could imagine. Once away from the spirits, he would draw his sword once more and watch for threats.
"I cannot believe I am saying this, Corij forgive me, but... perhaps Master Jakun, you should have asked the spirits from where the dwarves had come?" He gestures with his sword towards the shaft, "I'm increasingly coming to believe that is the direction we need to go, but any wrong move in this place could be the end of us and the refugees."
Jakun's eyes widen at Loren's statement, "An excellent point Sir Knight! We need to go down, the dwarves would have come from below!"
They may also have attacked Zhaman from different venues as well she remarks.
"Quite possibly. Anyway lets check this door to the north then perhaps make out way down?" replies Caitlyn.
Ignoring the dancing ghosts she quickly heads back and makes her way to the door they ignored earlier. She listens carefully to see if there's any noise from the other side and checks for the presence of any tracks, the dead where restless in this complex after all!
"Quite possibly. Anyway lets check this door to the north then perhaps make out way down?" replies Caitlyn.
Ignoring the dancing ghosts she quickly heads back and makes her way to the door they ignored earlier. She listens carefully to see if there's any noise from the other side and checks for the presence of any tracks, the dead where restless in this complex after all!
[dice=Perception]1d20+12
[dice=Survival]1d20+12
Checking the western door, Caitlyn heard the same moaning from beyond it that Thistletorp had earlier. Beyond it lay a hall opening on a series of ransacked chambers. A disembodied moaning filled the air.
Caitlyn frowned at the hall filled with disembodied moaning, "So either we get life sucked out of us by whatever's in there or we get to try going down that half-melted metal staircase. Great. Just great..." Looking at the others she asks, "So what's your poison?"
"The island appears to be enticing us to explore it but I do not trust it. I say we head down and see if we can locate the Prince and the key. If we do not, we can explore that island before we leave as we should exit the way we came in. A reasonable course of action?"
I can explore the island!
I can explore the island!
Loren cautiously approaches the shaft with the metal staircase, eyeing it warily and trying to see if he can get a sense of how to traverse it safely.
Caitlyn notes Loren eyeing up the staircase with a look of fierce concentration, it was as if he was trying to measure it and divine which parts might hold their weight. This was very sensible but Caitlyn believed in action and she was getting restless... "Loren the best way to get down is like this."
She sets a rope, tied around anything (driving pitons into the wall if needed) and repels down down the ruined stairs.
At the bottom or as far down as it's safe to go, she has a good look around before climbing back, hand over hand to report her findings.
Loren gave the stairs a good, hard look. He thought they would probably hold through a descent, but the Companions had best take care. Sudden, hard jolts might pull them from the walls and send everyone on a swift trip to the bottom.
Thistletorp notices the others heading towards the staris and he follows them with a wistful look towards the island full of shiny things.
I may require some assistance in getting down she states. strength is not my forte she smiles.
:)
Jakun awaits the results of Caitlyn's descent.
Caitlyn found that the dark shaft offered few handholds, so her descent took some time. Still, that beast the faster option for keeping her bones unbroken. For than two hundred feet she inched her way down the cold black stone, finding purchase in whorls, gaps, and occasionally where the smooth stone gave way to screes of rubble that must be all that remained of now collapsed floors. The metal stair hung near here the whole time, silently watching her slow travail.
At almost three hundred feet down, near as she could reckon, the top of the shaft was almost a memory above. There the stairs came to an end in a tangle of twisted metal that abruptly broke off in jagged, drooping fingers. Just below that spot, in easy reach of the end of the stair, Caitlyn saw a rough crevasse break through the shaft wall. It looked to angle upwards, perhaps leading to some way back to the surface or to chambers beneath the Skullcap otherwise closed off by its ruin.
Below, the walls became more tumbled stone and looked to be an easier climb as the plunged deeper into the darkness.
Caitlyn could hear a chittering and scrabbling from within the crevasse.
The chittering put her teeth on edge, but she tried to get a closer look to see if there where any identifiable tracks in the crevasse before climbing back up the stairs to report.
Loren watched Caitlyn begin her descent with a jaw clenched with anxiety. Quietly, he said to no one in particular, "Not sure that it's necessary, though... after my entrance into this place, I'd likely find a way to slip on the rug of a Palanthian noble." When no crash or scream is forthcoming, his anxiety eases, only to begin to increase as the silence stretches on ever longer. "Something is wrong, we should... Wait, is that her?"
The chittering put her teeth on edge, but she tried to get a closer look to see if there where any identifiable tracks in the crevasse before climbing back up the stairs to report.
[dice=Survival]1d20+12
Caitlyn sees what might be tracks in the rubble at the crevasse's mouth and scattered about. Something with many legs likely crawled in and out of the opening, even to the stairs, several times in the recent past.
Thistletorp drools at the island. But, he doesn't move.
Frowning, for Caitlyn did not relish the idea of fighting some multi-legged monstrosity she tried to climb back up... Thoughts of giant centipedes or spiders came unbidden which distracted her during her initial attempt to climb back causing her to have a scary moment! Banishing those thoughts from her mind she knuckled down to climb the rest of the way back up and explain to the others what she'd seen.
Frowning, for Caitlyn did not relish the idea of fighting some multi-legged monstrosity she tried to climb back up... Thoughts of giant centipedes or spiders came unbidden which distracted her during her initial attempt to climb back causing her to have a scary moment! Banishing those thoughts from her mind she knuckled down to climb the rest of the way back up and explain to the others what she'd seen.
[dice=Climb]1d20+12
[dice=Climb]1d20+12
Caitlyn made her way back safely.
Once back up Caitlyn tells the others what she found, "The crevasse looks like it angles upwards, perhaps leading back to the surface or to chambers beneath Skullcap. I'd tempted to say we should explore it, we'll need to set up ropes for Mariel because I don't trust those stairs at all. Oh we'd need to be careful for something lives down there, something with lots of legs!" She shivered at the thought.
Once back up Caitlyn tells the others what she found, "The crevasse looks like it angles upwards, perhaps leading back to the surface or to chambers beneath Skullcap. I'd tempted to say we should explore it, we'll need to set up ropes for Mariel because I don't trust those stairs at all. Oh we'd need to be careful for something lives down there, something with lots of legs!" She shivered at the thought.
"So.. let's go to the island! It'll be fun!"
"Well, both seem fraught with peril. Which shall it be, descent or island?"
"The island looks shiny! Jakun! It'll be just liek that time on the moon!!!"
Descent might be more prudent she states.
Loren looks incredulous at the kender's suggestion, then just shakes his head with a wan smile. "Even if it isn't a trap, it leads us no closer to finding safety for the refugees. At best, it would only weigh us down." He gestures towards the shaft, "Descent. What I can see of the stairs so far, I think it's safe enough."