The chute is a tight fit, but Appario is able to squeeze into it and start making his way upwards, hardly making a sound at all. Before he comes far, he realizes whatever lies above is as dark as the chute itself.
At hearing Appario's difficulties, Maddok grazes the climbing Abadaran's boot and asks the spirits to show him the way.
***
Light spreads upwards from Appario's boot where he's bracing it against one of the chute's walls. He sees that the chute is fairly short; in fact his eyes are already slightly above the floor of the room above.
From his boot's position down the chute, the light's spread doesn't provide much help with seeing what the room above looks like. But Appario does see a pair of boots moving silently to right beside the chute's opening, and the length of rope held in the arms of the man wearing them. There's a noose at the end of the rope.
As far as Appario can tell, the man doesn't see him. Instead, he sits down on his haunches with the rope at the ready, waiting for someone to appear in the chute.
***
Appario stares at the man for a few moments, thinking.
I bet one of those hats are wide enough to stop that noose. Or maybe Yahirma has a plan.
Stealth to Climb down
Appario will quietly act out what he saw to everyone using all his thespian training.
Bluff
Derek suddenly stiffens and only barely manages to avoid giving himself a facepalm.
I just said my magic involves singing...and then I cast as spell anyway! Not the same spell granted, but still...
He contemplates telling the others, but the shame of making such an obvious mistake is too much and he keeps quiet, hoping that he has not revealed their position already.
Maddok stares at Appario, completely baffled by what he's trying to convey.
Appario rolls his eyes at their inability to clearly understand the gesture of noosy-man-above-planning-to-stranglify-us.
All that time on stage and I still suck as an actor. Perhaps Xerath will give me lessons. He's very good at pretending to be human.
Appario relents the gesturing and speaks quietly.
"Noosy-man-above-planning-to-stranglify-us. I don't think I can get him cleanly while climbing. Also, he might be deaf."
"Why didn't you just say that?" Xerath quietly asks.
Stranglify? The man is using a different dictionary than I am. Maybe he is drunk? Does that mean I should act like a soldier of Abadar?
Confused and somewhat curious about that idea, Derek forgets his previously so crippling guilt as he looks around the room, suddenly seeing everything covered in a golden sheen as well as having a tag with name and value attached.
Oooooh....shiney....
Maddok looks up again.
"There's no way all of us will be able to get up there quickly and quietly enough to surround him. Do what you can", the big Shoanti whispers.
Appario smiles and nods at Maddok's suggestion.
"What could possibly go wrong?"
Appario slowly and stealthily climbs back up.
Take 10 climb = 19.
Stealth
* * *
When he is as close as he can get without being seen, Appario will reach for the man, trying to grapple him and drop him (with Appario falling too) down the chute.
CMD to grapple
Appario grabs onto the man's foot and pulls him down along with his own fall, a surprised yell escaping the other man's lips. Appario lands on the ground below the chute, with the man landing on top of him after first striking the floor next to the chute's top.
Both Appario and the man lie prone on the ground. The man wears some type of lenses over his eyes.
***
Current Initiative order:
23 - Appario
19 - Livia
18 - Thieves
17 - Maddok
16 - Yahirma
15 - Xerath
13 - Derek
***
Appario, somehow, is still able to react first to the development.
Round 1, Init 20
Wow. Like I thought, nothing could possibly go wrong.
Appario will draw his sap as he moves to get up and brings it crashing down.
to hit (prone);
nonlethal damage (sneak).
AC 23, touch 17, flat-footed 22. (+7 armor, +3 Dex, +2 deflection, +1 dodge)
hp 58/61
Fort +8, Ref +11, Will +8
Lay on Hands: 5/day 3d6 healing
Smite Evil (+2 to hit, +2 AC, +6 damage) 2/day - 1 used
Divine Bond 6/min day. -used
***
Appario's sap strikes the man over the head, causing a bump to form there, although the hump is smaller than he'd expect. Perhaps the blow wasn't as precise as he thought, after all.
Shortly after, Livia's whispered voice comes from above. "There's another one up there!"
The man on the ground tries to stand , while drawing his rapier.
to hit;
nonlethal damage.
The sap once again connects with the man's head, and he wobbles somewhat as he stands. Yet, he's still able to shout "There's an intruder!" and attempt to stick his rapier into Appario.
Appario takes 4 damage as the rapier hits him.
***
"Damn..."
Maddok looks up at the dark room above.
***
The claws of the archon scrape against the floor above as it moves about, and then stops. The language of the Heavens, somehow mixed with a hound's growl, floats down to the group below.
"They hide, but not well enough!"
***
"Scuffling with one as delusional as he must be tiring. I suggest you take a nap." Xerath says to the one fighting Appario.
As Xerath breaks the invisibility sphere, the thief thankfully decides to take a nap instead of informing his friends of the additional intruders he can now see.
***
Round 2
Appario will actively look for a way out of this closet, clearly there must be something they were missing.
Appario will take out his Lens to aid his active search.
Perception
"There has to be a latch, a catch, or a door here someplace."
Appario doesn't find any other exits from the chamber beyond the chute leading up, and the hidden door the group entered through.
***
Damnit, didn't bring any rope or manacles.
Derek begins to look around for something to use in restraining the man sleeping.
Derek notices the 50-ft length of rope the man was holding in his hands before he fell, which now lies directly beneath the chute.
***
***
Yahirma bends down next to the man attempting to go to sleep and gently picks the lenses off his head. You'll sleep easier without these. She begins to say what she was thinking, but then realizes Infernal might not be the best language to use for soothing someone. Instead, she rises and puts the lenses away.
***
From above, the sound of several crossbow bolts being fired in quick succession can be heard, followed by a hound's growl and then the sound of something big crashing into a door.
Livia's voice cheerfully floats downwards. "I'll help the dog!"
***
Maddok grips the sides of the chute and starts pulling himself up.
Maddok finds it fairly easy to climb the tight-fitting chute, but he quickly realizes that the light coming from Appario's boot (currently below the chute) won't be able to help him much once he gets up into the dark room.
Maddok looks around blindly in the darkness and stays near the chute to help anyone else climbing up.
Derek retrieves the rope before moving over to the sleeping man.
As he kneels to begin the process of tying him up he calls over his shoulder to the others.
"Can someone fix a gag of some sort?"
Round 3, Init 20
Appario searches for another way in again.
Perception
If Appario finds something, Appario will open/move/twist it.
If he finds nothing, he will begin to climb, following Maddok.
Climb
AC 23, touch 17, flat-footed 22. (+7 armor, +3 Dex, +2 deflection, +1 dodge)
hp 58/61
Fort +8, Ref +11, Will +8
Lay on Hands: 5/day 3d6 healing
Smite Evil (+2 to hit, +2 AC, +6 damage) 2/day - 1 used
Divine Bond 6/min day. -used
Appario remembers the front doors into the building, and might consider them a potential alternate way inside.
He doesn't find any other path forward from the current chamber. In fact, the chamber seems to contain nothing except the hats on their pegs. As far as Appario can tell, though, neither hats nor pegs appear to be connected to any sort of magical or mundane mechanism.
***
The man trying to sleep absent-mindedly pushes at the rope Derek has in his hands and mumbles "I don't need that to sleep."
***
Xerath casts a spell to have vision in total darkness. He then attempts to climb up after Maddok and Appario.
Xerath's hands and feet are unable to find purchase on the walls of the chute, and he makes no upwards progress.
***
Yahirma lightly touches Derek's shoulder and whispers.
"Let him sleep. The ones above will know us soon enough."
At Xerath's struggles, she points at the knotted rope sticking out from Appario's haversack.
"Let us wait until he's up, then our climb will be easier."
***
Following his time spent looking around, Appario gets about halfway up the chute.
***
The light from Appario's boot lets Maddok see enough of the room above to figure out it's vaguely octagonal in shape, and that the archon next to him must have tried and failed to break through a door Maddok can barely see. The archon braces for another attempt, yet before it can try again Livia's voice sings out an incantation and the door flies open on its own.
The room beyond is dimly lit, perhaps by no more than a single flickering candle. Several more thieves stand within the room, all with hand crossbows at the ready. The archon storms inside, receiving a peppering of crossbow bolts for its trouble.
Two bolts strike the archon, but they don't seem to bother it. Instead, it flies into the throat of one of the men beyond, easily flinging him to the ground .
***
Maddok rushes into the room drawing his hammer as he does.
He roars a warcry as he closes, sending Shu-Ak’eh-Di's power through the weapon's head just before he swings in a screaming arc.
Maddok's hammer crushes into the nearest enemy, coming close to dropping the man in a single swing, yet not quite doing so.
***
Xerath will tap his foot impatiently waiting for Appario to get out of his way. He will call upon his magic to protect him from physical harm.
On his next turn, Appario will climb again.
Climb
If he makes it up the chute and he will draw his shield.
Let's get ready to smite-ble!
Appario makes his way up the chute without problems. With the added light shining from his boot, Appario sees that this chamber has three doors, one of which is currently open. Behind that door, Maddok and some kind of big dog are fighting against several men dressed in similar fashion to the man he pulled down earlier.
Appario also notices a spy hole in one wall .
***
Muttering under her breath in Infernal as Appario neglects to send the knotted rope down to help the rest of them climb up, Yahirma attempts the climb unaided despite her slim chances at succeeding.
Somehow, she actually does manage to get up the chute, perhaps aided by her indignation.
***
But as per usual, he cannot make it up.