Glimmil lowers his lance and pokes at the first man to threaten his good friend Finneas.
Lance (10ft reach, power attack, cover): for
Toffitt lets Finneas tend to the first runner and remains ready to stop the second man.
The man steps from the doorway and tries to slip sideway between Toffitt and Finneas. Only the top half his body makes it there as Finneas's swing slides through the man's guts with only a brief drop in speed as it pops through his spine.
The other man at the door stares for a second before talking. "You needed to get down to Triel? You need the key?" He pulls out a chain from underneath his shirt with a key on it. "Oh, you mean *this* gate key."
"Thank you. Oh, you've got red on you. I should let you know, we're probably going to tie you up, and the old man behind me is going to knock you out with a cudgel after asking you a lot of questions, but we're not going to kill you, so please don't struggle."
Finneas shakes his sword off.
Atol moves in the room and takes some rope out of his pack. He proceeds to tie up the shaken guard carefully with a length of it.
He steps carefully to avoid the squishy bits in the room.
Wow that Finneas has really improved! I wonder, have I gotten that much better at my job?
Dyrant pulls out his cudgel and moves to help Atol with the rope.
"I just have a couple of quick questions for you, now that you've seen the error of your ways, friend. We'd like to keep any more bloodshed and broken bones out of this, so if you don't mind answering a few questions for me, I'd appreciate it."
Dyrant tries to smile.
"Let's start with some easy questions."
"Who else, besides Triel, is down there? How many 'men' are with her? How does the wrench and cage work? Is the water in that lake safe? Besides us, what is the last thing down there that you'd not want to be in the same room with?"
Let the Great Cudgel spare this one. Or not.
"There are a few dozen of us down there working for Triel. She's hooked up with some crazy cultists. I don't know what they're up to. My job was easy. Just don't let anyone use the winch who wasn't with Triel. The key here unlocks the gears."
"I don't know what's in the lake, but they do throw people into it everyone once in a while that are never seen again. There are some really big spiders lurking around the ruins too."
"You're going to cut me loose when you come back this way, right?"
"Ah. That is good to know. Thanks." Dyrant smiles at the man.
"Oh, I hope you'll work your way free of these bonds long before we get back...and don't worry, if anyone asks, we'll tell everyone that we threw you into the lake. That way if no one will ever think to look for you again...you can go and be long gone."
Dyrant will aid Atol in tying up the man...not so tight that we won't be able to free himself in an hour or so.
"How does the winch work?"
"Hey, why don't we just let him go now? If he's going to run and we'll pretend he's dead, there's no reason to tie him up right? You wouldn't do anything to make us angry right friend?"
Finneas nods at the poor man.
"What was your name again?"
"I'm Narthus. That there was Kildivy."
Narthus explains how to operate the winch. "Someone has to operate it from here or down there. There's usually no one at the other end. They bring someone out with them to opearate whenever they leave."
Dyrant will take the key and unlock(?) the winch. He will then test it to see how it works and gauge the efforts to make it go.
Operating the winch is just moving a simple lever back and forth from UP to DOWN. Out the small window, he can see the cage moving back and forth.
So easy that even an Atol could operate it.
"You there, Narthus. How much weight does this cage hold?" Dyrant asks while looking at Atol, Finn, and Cog/Glim...as they are in descending order of weight.
"Cultists?" Glimmil wonders aloud, to nobody in particular.
"I wonder what they are a cult to?"
He mentioned spiders, maybe they worship spiders?
Glimmil frowns at the icky thought and dusts off his arms and legs.
"We usually have 3 in there at a time. Sometimes 4 or 5, but then it creaks awfully."
Dyrant begins some mental calculations - weighing weights while everyone waits.
"Hmmm...I would suggest Glim, Cog, and the Doctor go first and secure the landing. Then we'll send it back for Atol and Finn," Dyrant ponders.
"I'll ask the Angels of St. Cuthbert to carry me across the lake."
Dyrant looks around...
"...unless someone has a better idea?"
"I would be more comfortable if our first team had Atol or Finneas, as their healing may be needed. Perhaps Finneas and I first with Dyrant, and then Dyrant could return with the cage. Glimmil and Cogg together may be light enough to count as one of these bandits."
Toffitt ponders for a moment.
"An alternative might be to disguise two of us as these gatekeepers, although I'm not sure any of us are gifted enough at dissembling to fully convince them. But perhaps long enough to allow the cage to safely return."
He ponders further.
"The lake is likely inhabited by hostile creatures. However, I have potions that would allow us to swim across very quickly. We could likely traverse the lake before anything had a chance to attack us. The only challenge would be climbing down..."
He turns to the gatekeeper. "How long does it take for the cage to descend and return?"
"It takes about a minute to go one direction. There's a lever here and one down there. It has to be held down to keep the cage moving."
"What are we waiting for?" Glimmil asks with much enthusiasm, almost ignorant - well actually completely ignorant - of any discussion of who is going in which trip.
Glimmil and Cog hop into the cage and look eagerly at the others.
"Well, someone throw the lever!"
Cog's tail wags furiously with excitement.
Kyson holds the door open for the Doctor.
"Let's go, Doctor. Then Atol and Finn. I'm sure nothing can possibly go wrong."
* * *
When the doctor is in, Dyrant will work the levers to make it go.
"Wait, if the lever has to be held down both here over there, how do we get the cage to move?"
Dyrant, at least do me the courtesy of responding to my ideas if you disagree with them.
"I'd appreciate your thoughts about the alternatives I posed, Dyrant. Atol? Finneas?"
The lever needs to be held down at one end or the other. Not both.
"If you want Dyrant I can go down with the Doctor. Kord has granted me the ability to obscure an area with mist, and I can use it at the bottom to keep anybody off us as we guard the bottom lever. Whichever you want though."
Finneas will either go if Dyrant agrees or wait at the top if he does not.
"That sounds excellent! Glimmil, the cage might be able to hold you and Cog as well, but then we would be leaving Atol here alone."
Or I suppose I could stay, but who will keep Glim from going to announce our presence loudly and emphatically...?
I wonder if anyone would notice if I just wandered off. At this rate it'll take them another day to decide what they're doing. Maybe there are some cultists on the other side of Cauldron that could use my services. Yeah. Maybe a nice cool cave. This humidity has totally ruined my hair and this nagging cough just won't go away. It's like living in Orak's bathhouse.
The man starts to casually shuffle towards the exit.
"Hey, you. Stop. You're not going to get far anyway, trussed up like that."
Dr. Toffitt moves to get into the cage, sensing that God or the gods might want him to get a move on.
With Toffitt in the cage, Dyrant moves the lever to make the cage move.
"Atol, cudgel that one for me, eh? Nicely," Dyrant says, pointing at Narthus.
Sweet. I'm making it go.
Sounds like Glimmil, Cog, Doctor, and Finneas in trip one. Atol and Dyrant for trip two.
As the party begins to descend, Narthus shouts out, "Be sure to look out for the trap in winch building."
The trip down is smooth enough and half the party ends up on the beach. Dyrant and Atol wait up top for the cage to be returned to them.
The large beach is covered with rocks and patches of fitfully glowing phosphorescent fungus and algae. More impressive are the stony ruins that protrude from the sheer rock wall along the beach's western edge. The architecture of these ruins seems melted and somehow intimidating--whatever creatures built these dwellings were obviously inhuman and alien in nature.
The winch on this end is housed in a wooden building.
Toffitt listens and looks for inhabitants as he leaves the cage.
He then drinks his curative draught, feeling his control over the panther ease off. He whispers, "Glim, Finneas, why don't I sneak up and see if I can find this 'trap?'. Happy to have you charge in if things go wrong."
When the party unloads, Dyrant will recall the cage, hopeful that Dr. Toffitt will be able to work the other winch.
He's the smart one.
When the cage returns, he will scootch Atol into it before entering himself.
"Thanks again Narthus. I hope to never see you again. Travel with the cudgel."
"Of course Doctor, see if you can find anything. Doctor?"
Where'd he go?
Male voice: He's right in front of you.
Oh.
Old Kopru saying, "Quiet feet are good for hearing things, but perception checks are better for finding traps."
No one is seen on the beach. No one is heard in the winch building. The door is unlocked.
Atol moves over to bludgeon the prisoner. ...and stops.
This man has done nothing wrong that we're aware of. All he's done is helped us out.
"Thanks for your support. Remember the Cualdron Five and be a good man."
He then waits his turn to ride the cage down into the dark.
Dyrant smiles as Atol returns from the man.
"Well done, Atol."
Dyrant waits his ride down as well.
"So...did you notice that smile on Glim? What do you think that was all about?"
"So...did you notice that smile on Glim? What do you think that was all about?"
"I'm sure he's still thinking of Skie." Smiles "She's quite a catch for him. I wonder which of the 'Five' will be married first and retire?"
Atol thinks for a moment.
"Are you married?"
Dyrant pauses, trying to make sense of the question.
Married? Me?!
Dyrant's mind quickly flashes to the red-headed Stormblade and then again to the hottie they saved in the basement of the Flunky Munkee Inn.
"Uhm...only to the Cudgel, I suppose. I haven't, uh, found the right one..." Dyrant's voice catches a bit, but he continues, "...right one yet."
Dyrant sighs.
What time is there for love when so many need the Cudgel?
"Maybe after we find these wands, I'll move to address that, Atol. I believe that St. Cuthbert needs more young adherents and maybe I should convert a few of my own. What about your plans, Atol?"
"No, not me. I've been too busy I guess. There's time I think."
I wonder what Coryston is doing now? Too bad she wants a retired adventurer... Maybe I'll look her up when I begin preaching.
Dyrant reaches into his pouch and pulls out some chocolate eel monsters and offers some to Atol.
"Eel monster?"
Dyrant will put a few in his mouth and look down at the other station, wondering what is taking so long, chewing in silence in a swinging cage under Cauldron.
Never expected to be in a cage over a lake with an Cuthbertine while I gnome riding a dog, a half-orc wrestler, and a strange doctor tried to activate a lever to permit access on a chain. Tis strange times, Angel. Strange times.
Dyrant puts another eel monster in his mouth, offering the bag again to Atol.
Toffitt takes some time to look more carefully at the door. Trap? Hm. Where is it.
Toffitt notices trip wires inside the first room of the winch house. The gears are in a second room beyond the first.
Hrm. Do I think the wires easily avoided, or will it take a spoon to keep us from tripping them?
Toffitt attempts to navigate the wires.
Toffitt casually steps over the wire. A bit too casually and his toe catches the edge of the wire. Nothing appears to happen ar first, but then suddenly the entire side of the building collapses. Toffitt tries to dodge the falling timbers, but there are too many and one catches him on the head. He's left with a ringing head that matches the booming echoes that now fill the cavern.
The half of the building with the winch controls is still accessible.
Toffitt moves to the winch and activates it. He then pulls out a curative potion and drinks.
The cage with Dyrant and Atol begins to slowly descend toward the party. It will arrive in 10 rounds.
Glimmil's legs wiggle with anticipation as he watches Atol and Dyrant descend in the cage.
He comments to Finneas next to him his thoughts on the vehicle.
"It needs to be faster. Much faster. It would be a lot of fun if it went like... I don't know, a hundred times faster?"
A hundred times. Maybe two hundred? That's not too much right?
Glimmil wanders toward the cave, lance ready in case something bad comes along.