"This is where we may find a way off this planet," Valai explains. "Is that not so, Keth?"
"And I haven't seen any other place that little guy that flew off woulda likely gone to."
Booker walks over to Entaro and, assuming no objections, ties one end around his own waist, leaving the other with Entaro, then walks over to the pit.
"If I can't climb down this thing, I have my doubts any of you could. No ill intended."
He begins an exploratory descent.
Celia watches from the mouth of the pit, wide-eyed.
Entaro grasps the end of the rope, holding on tightly, even though it is still slack. He stands at the edge of the hole to allow Booker as much room as he can to maneuver. If all goes well, Entaro won't have to do anything more than just stand there. "Be careful," he says, simply.
Climb Speed Ability A creature with a climb speed has a +8 racial bonus on all Climb checks. The creature must make a Climb check to climb any wall or slope with a DC higher than 0, but it can always choose to take 10, even if rushed or threatened while climbing. If a creature with a climb speed chooses an accelerated climb (see above), it moves at double its climb speed (or at its land speed, whichever is slower) and makes a single Climb check at a –5 penalty. Such a creature retains its Dexterity bonus to Armor Class (if any) while climbing, and opponents get no special bonus to their attacks against it. It cannot, however, use the run action while climbing.
But in the meantime, why do things carefully when you can just jump in? :D
Keth looked to Valai.
"Scans seem to indicate so," he nodded.
Booker began to climb down. Entaro braced himself, hoping to not let his companion slip. However, as he started down the wall, both Booker and Entaro noticed Booker's lightness. The low gravity of the planet made holding on to the rope an almost laughably easy task.
"Huh. Look at that. I guess I'll give it a whirl next. If I die, can't none of you have my stuff. With that, Marshall braves the descent.
Entaro is surprised at how light Booker is, until he realizes that it is due to the planet's low gravity. Entaro continues to hold onto the rope, just in case, but his mind is more at ease now that he knows this climb will prove to be easier than it first looked.
Valai watches the two climbers very closely, in hopes of picking up cues for how she might best descend herself, when the time comes.
Realizing that the climb is so easy, Booker eases up and starts trying to get a look at what's waiting below as he descends.
"I reckon you folks'll probably be okay; the handholds are easier than I expected given the surface. Still...might be a place to tie off just in case." He looks around once he reaches the end of the rope for any convenient place. "Keth, these suits wouldn't by chance let us keep talkin to each other when we're outta sight of each other, would they?"
"The suits can communicate up to a range of 120 feet."
"I will hold the rope for the rest of you, if you wish." Entaro looks in the direction of the group members who have not begun their descent.
Once the rest of the group have reached the bottom of the rope and are on their own, Entaro will begin his own climb down.
"Looks like shot ourselves a big door down here. Y'all just wanna come down and we can knock? I can probably carry someon down if I need to. Got a hammock, we could rig up a sling for Billy."
Booker starts heading back up. He'll go around the other climbers if possible, and if not he'll climb right over them.
"That would be kind of you," Valai says, riding over William Goat's sudden bleating, which sounds like a very clear statement of objection.
After forcing the trucculent goat into the sling, Valai starts to make her own way down the shaft.
Celia follows after Valai, biting her lips once again.
"Thanks, Entaro."
Nervously, she tries to make her way down.
Booker secures the irate goat to himself and begins the climb back down, doing his best to placate the animal, climb carefully down, and assist struggling climbers on the way.
And a very distracted monkey descends.
Marshall finds the climb not terribly difficult and hooks his arm around a metal spar projecting from the wall. "Give me a second, folks." A quick hitch gets Entero's fine silk rope securely tied to Marshall's rougher hempen cord. "This'll at least get us closer. Maybe prevent a horrible death. Horrible maiming seems much better." Marshall continues down to the bottom.
Entaro, the last to climb down, continues on after the rest of group. He catches up to Celia and Valai fairly quickly, ready to reach a hand out should they stumble.
"Horrible maiming I can fix." Celia agreed before continuing her descent.
"How nice," Valai mutters, her voice less than perfectly appreciative.
Catch a Falling Character While Climbing: If someone climbing above you or adjacent to you falls, you can attempt to catch the falling character if he or she is within your reach. Doing so requires a successful melee touch attack against the falling character (though he or she can voluntarily forego any Dexterity bonus to AC if desired). If you hit, you must immediately attempt a Climb check (DC = wall's DC + 10). Success indicates that you catch the falling character, but his total weight, including equipment, cannot exceed your heavy load limit or you automatically fall. If you fail your Climb check by 4 or less, you fail to stop the character's fall but don't lose your grip on the wall. If you fail by 5 or more, you fail to stop the character's fall and begin falling as well.
Valai's grip had slipped as she made her way down. Wary of such a circumstance, Entaro quickly reached out and caught her arm. However, the sudden pull of catching her, pulled him off the rope as well. They began to fall and spin, albeit very slowly. Valai prepared to yell out the word to cast her feather fall spell, but quickly realized it was unneccesary. They were drifting down slowly enough that they would land safely, assuming no other surprises. The others watched as they floated down. They looked almost majestic and graceful, save for their flailing as they tried to right themselves for a proper landing.
"I'm never going to get used to this place..."
Not wanting Valai and Entaro to have all the fun in this dreary place, Boodka decides to "fall" the rest of the way down himself.
Entaro lets go of Valai's arm as they descend, once he finally realizes that they are not going to impact the ground with much force. He then starts to wiggle and twist to try and right himself so that he'll land on his feet. He looks like a fish flopping on dry land until he finally somersaults into a mostly upright position.
He lands easily and looks up to see the rest of the crew still hanging on to their ropes. Everyone but Boodka, that is. The orc is right above him, falling a little faster than he did (probably due to his more massive size). Entaro quickly scrambles out of the way of Boodka's belly flop, just managing to avoid being landed on.
After helping Boodka to his feet and making sure Valai is okay, Entaro looks around.
"Hell's bowels," Valai gasps once she has regained her footing. "Thank you," she adds, for Entaro's benefit.
Marshall slides down the rest of the way heedlessly, seeing that there seems to be no real danger of a bad fall. "I guess we ought to leave the rope here so we can get out again. I'll hate to not have it if we need it for something, though."
"I say bring your rope," Valai counsels. "If the way out really is down here, we might not have time to retrieve it before our departure."
"Good point."
From his position up the wall, Booker calls down "I can head back up and toss those down. Maybe Billy too. He gives the goat a quick grin.
William Goat glares, so far as a goat is capable of doing so, and closes his mouth in a very definite way. His teeth make a sharp clicking noise.
"I'm just joshin ya, little buddy. We're in this together." Booker pats William on the helmet, tosses down the rope once everyone else is done with it, then proceeds to climb down the hole face-first, heedless of his small, now inverted companion.
Following Quentin's lead of sliding down the rope, Celia gave a sigh of relief when her feet were firmly planted on the ground.
She was just about to celebrate by pulling out her holy symbol and magically filling it with ale when she remembered that she couldn't drink it. Her expression soured as she put the flagon away.
"Rocksucking flabberjibbits...,"
"Very well, the way is clear before us," Valai says. She speaks a single Word of Power and snaps her fingers. As soon as William Goat is loose, he clip-clops to her side. "Who wishes to walk in front?" she asks as she starts to stroll towards the door. "No need to say it, just walk in front of me."
Once everyone is down safely, Marshall takes the lead and cautiously peers around in the doorway.
Entaro follows behind Quentin, his low-light vision helping him to see better where Quentin may not.
If possible, Celia takes up the rear.
Booker slips in behind Entaro, and motions Boodka into the line in front of himself. He pulls out his gun.
Refusing to follow any normal gaming instincts, Boodka neither goes to the back of the line or the front, instead proudly claiming the middle.