| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Lueck nocks an arrow and lets fly.
-------- >>---->x
"There's my dot." Satisfied with the results, he waits with great patience.
With their escort leaving, Lueck strings his bow and starts to lead the way. After a dozen paces or so, he glances back to make sure the others are following. When he resumes down the path, he moves at a slow, deliberate pace, his senses alert for danger.
He is looking for tracks, traps and ambushes as they go, wary of predators on the way to the well.
Edit: So, bow in one hand, pole in the other. For tracks, he is looking for anything crossing the trail that might warn of an amush along the path to the well.
The boat trip didn't bother him. Sure, Erich hadn't ever been on a boat before, but he adjusted quickly, learned how to walk with the motion of the water and not against it. And yes, Captain Kolvio was a bit of an ass, but Erich got back at him ("I'll show him an 'elf'," he muttered) by sneaking into the cargo hold late one night and tapping one of Kolvio's precious casks of dwarven-brewed whiskey. He sampled enough of the smooth, coppery-tasting liquor to make him feel notably warm and bright, and slipped back to his berth with a satisfied smirk plastered across his face.
Zelkor's Fury didn't bother him. It wasn't the sort of burg Erich would have wanted to spend a night in, but aside from being tiny and boring, it wasn't that bad.
The druid bothered him a bit. Once he got over being awed at her obvious power, he realized the message she was sending by having a half-dozen wolf packs escort them: this expedition wasn't something that they could turn their backs on. Her wolves were there to protect them, the druid claimed, but Erich could see that they would have an easy time of hunting down anyone who was foolish enough to decide discretion was the better part of valor.
But the clearing really bothered him. The wild, high grass, and the subtle unnaturalness of the grazing beasts. From the first glance, it was evident that this was a forsaken place. A place where something dark and awful had once happened--might still be happening.
So Erich made his way down the trampled trail cautiously. He wanted to chat and joke with his allies, but his mouth was dry, and he couldn't think of anything to say. I wonder if any of them are as nervous as I am, he thought. They all seem so...confident.
"Let's find this well, I guess," he said, trying to keep his voice calm. As the group went forward, Erich watched the tall grass on the sides of the trail, wary for any sort of movement.
Kára finds herself sick more than once on the boat clearly not used to the sensations of aquatic travel. She ignores the captain's racism choosing not to alienate the man giving her a ride. During the trip she is friendly to most but asks many questions of those who live outside of Bard's Gate.
She controls herself during the hike. Though awed by the creatures to either side of her, the dire situation didn't make well for pleasant conversation.
That she was being called specifically by Drusilla had weighed heavily on Lyrasael's mind the entire trip down the river to Zelkor's Ferry, and as a result the elven woman is absentminded and perhaps a mite quieter than she normally would be until their arrival. Rumour had it there was a foul taint in this place, and so, of course, as an initiate of the first circle, she was duty-bound to investigate. Only two things cause her to noticably stir from pensiveness during the trip: one, Cairenn being an absolute dolt (certainly not an infrequent occurance); and two, the constant referral to her travelling companions as 'elves' by the captain. She'd tried to patiently explain it once before--They're half-humans, don't you know? Nary a chance to become a real elf!--but in the end had given up with a sigh of disgust. Humans just didn't get it.
Leaving the fringe of civilisation seems to perk Lyrasael up somewhat, however, and she is much more talkative during the journey to the Forest of Hope. She's a jovial conversation partner, if a somewhat arrogant one, disliking to be found wrong or feeling that she has 'lost' something. Her red-tailed hawk, a creature she had introduced as Ruan and whom she constantly dotes over, spends much of the trip in the skies, keen eyes scouting out danger from above. Lyr herself is rarely seen without her bow in her hand, just in case of trouble sneaking up on them. Nothing much changes upon meeting their escort, except that Lyr gains a strange sense of shyness, working herself up to speak with the powerful druidess on a number of occasions only to grow despondent when the attempt no doubt fizzles...
Emotional swings of the trip aside, Lyr immediately hardens upon seeing the strange, blighted animals, a frown darkening her brow. "Terrible," she murmurs with undisguised disgust. "I can see why you asked me to come here now."
She offers the druidess a nod, her expression serious. "I will see to it that this blight is cleared."
If his half-sister is more quiet than average, Cairenn makes up for it. He talks. He talks a lot. He tells Kara a good deal about life outside of Bard's Gate... despite this being his first time more than a few hours' walk from the big city.
He enjoys the boat trip... and is rather less enamored of the trek through what is (to him) dense, overgrown, treacherous, awful forest. Ugh. The songs never mention this sort of nonsense...
(Though the wolf-escort will make for an excellent detail to stick into a line, he thinks. Definitely needs to be described as taking place at night, though. Full moon. Very poetic.)
He looks at the cows with a slightly-wrinkled brow for a while before shrugging. Maybe that's what cows are supposed to look like...? How would he know, he's not a butcher.
"Yes, let's make our names," he says airily, walking along and swinging with his morningstar at some of the tall grass, in the idle way a boy might do with a stick. Zwish, zwish. "For glory and immortality, et cetera, et cetera. Let's see now, moon-- soon, rune, loon, raccoon... hmnnmmm...."
He lets Lueck do whatever... bizarre thing he's doing-- is that a pole? ten-or-so feet ahead of him. Is the man probing at the ground? How odd-- while continuing to mutter potential rhymes under his breath.
"Damn! That thing's huge," Erich says, nervously. He glances around as if expecting whatever laid the egg to suddenly pop out of the grass. "Gods, I can't be certain, but from the pattern on the shell it looks something like a..."
"...a Wyvern's egg! Oh, that's probably not good."
Lueck will indeed will point out the different spots where creatures have been bedding down.
Once they reach the well, Lueck doesn't take the set up for granted. He'll pull up the rope from below, checking it as he goes to make sure it is sound. He'll pull on the rope against the stake as hard as he can, trying to make sure it will indeed support their weight. When he's satisfied by the rope's integrity, he'll turn to the gathered team.
"How do we want to handle light while we are down there? I have a sunrod, which they tell me will burn like the sun for a quarter of a day. Do we have other sources of light? What I'm aiming to do is tie a light to the end of this rope; that way, when we lower it back in, we can check the well walls for nasty surprises and we can have the space we are coming down at lit up for us."
"A wyvern's egg?" Cai says to Erich's alarmed identification. "Are you certain? Hrmn..."
He watches with bemused brows at Lueck's extremely thorough testing-of-rope and all the rest of it, and a smirk grows on his face at the suggestion of tossing down sunrods.
"I have a simpler methodology, if you'll permit... Let us let the dead scout for us. Abraxes! I call you back to the land of the living, to shed light!"
Cairenn gestures melodramatically, and a wavering, manlike form of greenish light springs into being by the well. The half-elf gestures commandingly towards the well's dark pit, and the glowing humanoid shape drifts down the well, shedding light over everything as it goes.
"I'm not familiar with Wyvern is it dangerous?" Kára asks with a concerned look.
She twirls her finger above her head and a ring of light appears.
"Well, I'll save my sunrod then."
Lueck watches closely as the light moves down the well. Assuming he can see the bottom and the rope would go down that far, Lueck will tie one end of his 10' pole to it, lower it, and then climb down after it.
As usual, it takes Cairenn's idiocy to snap Lyr out of her pensiveness, and she rolls her eyes at his theatrics. He was always going on about ghosts and the dead and gods-know-what, something she found quite distasteful at the best of times and potentially dangerous at the worst. But... he'd never actually produced anything that seemed 'undead', so for now she let it slide. Instead, she murmurs a prayer in the empty air, collecting a few motes of glinting sunlight on her belt buckle and causing it to emanate a warm radiance.
"If there is an egg here, the mother will no doubt return to this place at some point," Lyrasael points out while she observes Lueck's well maneuvers from a safe distance. "We'll need to be careful when we leave."
"I'm not familiar with Wyvern is it dangerous?" Kára asks with a concerned look.
"I haven't ever seen one myself," Erich confesses, "but from what I understand, yeah, they're pretty nasty. They're dragon-like, big, strong, and dangerous."
Erich looks back down the trail, peering out across the tall grass. "From what I've heard, a full grown Wyvern would make pretty short work of us. We might be able to handle a newly hatched one, but..." Erich shrugs "I don't know for sure."
"What really worries me," Erich says, biting his lip, "are those animals we saw coming in here. A Wyvern's bad enough, but the thought of one that's been changed, twisted by whatever evil blighted this place...well, that's unnerving."
"I have a simpler methodology, if you'll permit... Let us let the dead scout for us. Abraxes! I call you back to the land of the living, to shed light!"
Erich's eyes widen. "Whoa." Erich shakes his head, surprised and stunned. "That's some impressive magic, Cairenn. I have to admit--and I hope this won't offend you--I was starting to worry that you might just be all talk!" Erich laughs. "I'm actually really glad to find out I was wrong. Having an actual necromancer along should only help strengthen our odds."
Turning back to the well, Erich notices Lueck about to descend. "We're obviously not the first to come through here. Looks like that rope is pretty well secured. We might even be able to make some sort of base camp at the bottom."
"Oh, no need to apologize," Cairenn says airily to Erich. "Many," and he gestures to his dear, dear sister, "don't believe me at first."
Once Lueck and Erich have disappeared inside, Cairenn stands at the well's mouth, so that he can see the area his 'ghost' is exploring.
When he hears a guttural tongue from below, his pale brows knit in irritation. Cairenn fishes a tiny pinch of charcoal from their last campfire out of a pouch and mutters quietly over it. "Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, the tongues of the dead do not rust."
He eases his shortbow off his shoulder, as well.
"Trouble," Cairenn says crisply. "Two enemies below you, Lueck, and a third has gone to warn others of their filthy kind!"
Lyr rolls her eyes as Erich marvels at Cairenn's magic, muttering bitterly, "Don't encourage him..." The strange, innate power of the half-elf was something she didn't quite understand herself, but she was fairly sure that making Cai feel like any more of a special snowflake than he already declared from the rooftops himself would be a very bad idea.
Nevertheless, he came in handy. Sometimes. Very occasionally.
"Let's get down there, then!" the elven woman declares firmly, following Erich and Lueck without another moment's hesitation. "I don't want to face the entire warren down here!" Ruan, previously perched on her shoulder, takes some of the burden off of his mistress by slowly yet surely gliding in circles down into the darkness.
Lueck hisses in anger when the creatures below speak. He draws his dagger and lets himself drop the rest of the way, doing his best to absorb the impact of the drop.
If he is halfway down, then it should only be a 10' drop.
Acrobatics
Lueck will drop and take the damage, and use the surprise round to stand again.
Do we need a map for this? How big is the space at the bottom of the well?
Thanks! So, surprise round he stands, round 1 he steps closer to one of the hobgoblins and slashes at it with his dagger.
To hit
Damage
How are they armed?
Erich sees Lueck drop to the cavern floor, almost landing on his feet, but then falling prone. Ouch, Erich thinks, looks like that hurt. He might have twisted his ankle...
A half second later, Erich spots Lyrasael heading down the ladder toward him. Well, no sense in just hanging around to clog up traffic!
Erich takes a deep breath and readies himself for the fall, trying to picture just how he'll need to land and roll...
Whew! That was close!
As soon as he lands, Erich whips out his daggers, twirling one in his hand before throwing it at the same time Lueck lunges to attack.
Cairenn peers down into the well, keen eyes following his 'ghost' and the others. Of course Lyrasael's going to throw herself down there...
He keeps his bow ready, but at this angle, should he bother taking the shot? Perhaps his friends would benefit from words of guidance, instead. Words of historical relevance, even!
"So into the dark Alsain did walk
"To chase her love, 'twas lost;
"And with grave Death himself, to talk
"And swear herself to pay the cost..."
Cairenn weaves a small portion of his soul into the music, his eyes gleaming a bright blue as he does so.
There ain't much for it, really--Lyr keeps on climbing down, hoping Lueck and Erich could hold the hobgoblins off until she could get onto solid ground.
Kára, with much less bravado than the others makes her way down the rope.
Quick as a flash, Lyr's bow is in her hands, trained and calloused fingertips testing the taught bowstring even as she reaches over her shoulder for the ammunition in her quiver. A hawk feather-tipped arrow is carefully lined up for the close-range shot, one that turns out to be as easy as shooting fish in a barrel.
"Go after the runner!" Lyrasael hisses as she grabs for her next arrow, ready to fire. "But be careful...!"
Hoping to protect Lyr while she shoots and keep the well opening clear for Kara's descent, Lueck slides around the hobgoblin, menacing him with swift swipes of his dagger. When he sees an opening, Lueck stabs at him.
To hit
Damage
Possible crit, confirm roll:
Damage
Edit: Revised above to include inspire courage bonuses.
"Go after the runner!" Lyrasael hisses as she grabs for her next arrow, ready to fire. "But be careful...!"
"I'm on him!" Erich dashes after the runner, though his rash movement leaves him open to an attack from one of the hobgoblins.
Once in the larger chamber, Erich again twirls one of his daggers, hurling it at the form of the retreating hobgoblin. "C'mon and die already, will ya?"
Cairenn frowns at realizing he doesn't have a clear line, and slings his bow back over his shoulder. Then, he heads after Kara on the rope ladder.... while singing on the way down, which is pretty impressive, if you've never tried to climb down a rope while singing at the top of your lungs.
Kára moves out of Cairenn's way and takes position near the exit preventing the escape of the other hobgoblins.
She wields her polearm with grace and slashes at the nearest enemy.