Theo stumbles along the dark track, hoping that this is the group he is looking for and not some group of bandits.
"Hello...anyone there? I am Brother Theodor of the Madriellian church."
"Ah, thank The Redeemer! I was afraid I might have stumbled into a bandit camp. What brought me here, you ask...well you did, or your group. I was bid by my superiors to find you and offer whatever help I could to your mission. It was all rather hastily done, I'm afraid, so I only have the barest of knowledge about your quest. But as I have said, I am Brother Theodor, a follower of Madriel, the Angel of Mercy."
After this long-winded reply, a youngish and stout male human walks out of the dark and into your camp. He carries a spear and is wearing scale armor in a dull white color. The pack on his back is well worn and does not seem overly full. The man himself stands around 5'10" with a stocky build and short, brown hair. His eyes are a bright blue and almost seem to shine with an inner light.
Lhienne has a stone loaded and sling readied as soon as she hears the scuff of boots, she'd not be caught unprepared again... she watches the newcomer warily.
"I've got little time for religion, but for my part I won't turn down another torch against the dark of this place."
"Well perhaps not a torch...." Theo says and a brilliant white globe of light appears in his hand.
He looks directly at Lhienne with a sad smile on his face.
"I hope that through my actions and that of The Angel of Mercy we can bring you to a better understanding of our church and what we can do for our congregation."
"Well-spoken, priest." A half-orc adorned with chains emerges from the shadows, a bloody sword in his right hand and a sturdy shield in another.
"I am called 'The Unchained.'"
"Greetings warrior, and the blessing of The Redeemer upon you, and all of you. I am sorry to interrupt your evening, so I will quietly sit by the fire and warm myself before turning in...unless you would like me to stand a guard this evening?"
"Bah, you'll get your turn if you join us. But tonight, you can rest."
The night passes uneventfully for once, your watch rotations passing without interruption. In the morning, Xar-Nixx takes his portion of the supplies from the cart and heads back toward Fangsfall, the new addition of a Madrielite priest speeding him on his way. You depart the ravine and travel several hours through the rocky, blighted land toward your destination.
As you work your way around a great tor of broken boulders and slabs of rock, you see before you an enormous rift torn in the earth. Surely this is the so-called Chasm of Flies. Two tattered rope bridges sag across the gaping expanse, while a third hangs from one end into the chasm below. As you approach the ledge, an acrid updraft wafts skyward from the depths below. Peering down into it, you can see ragged stone walls that drop away into the shadows below. You can just make out tattered swaths of massive spider webs hanging from the walls or stretching across the chasm in layers further down.
"Shh. Something skitters down below." she considers readying her sling, but it's doubtful it will be much use firing at anything in the webs.
Not hearing whatever it was that the halfling heard, Brother Theodor moves to the bridges and he examines them for strength and safety.
The Unchained readies his blade.
The two intact bridges seem pretty secure- they hold under Brother Theodor's weight. Who built them here and why remains unanswered.
"I'm not exactly at home climbing, but if we tied a rope around me you can haul me up easily if I run into trouble. At least for the length of the rope. I'm sure the chasm's deeper than that but might see a little more from down there."
Iliberos remains silent as the newcomer joins, distrustful by nature the Forsaken Elf does not fully trust the man yet.
As the group discusses options, "I can see quite well in the dark, perhaps I should be the one to be lowered".
Theo eases back from the bridges across the chasm and looks into the depts with the others.
"Good idea, Lhienne. Who has the rope?"
"I got some." Lhienne unloops the rope from her pack. "Not that I don't trust you to keep hold of me, but we should secure this end just in case."
A large rock is procured and the rope is tied off to it. Lhienne is lowered carefully into the chasm.
"Ah, the chasm of flies. Now I think, of full spiders. Pehaps we could tie off a rope from the center of the bridge? That way we aren't sticking our hands into the shadowy lairs of the creatures surley living in the walls?"
Lhienne tries to still her breathing and strains her senses to see if she can detect any movement down here. .
Unless something catches her eye moreso, she will tug the rope and start back on ascent. There's no reason to rush into further danger, plenty of time to report back and discuss.
Lhienne tries to still her breathing and strains her senses to see if she can detect any movement down here. [dice=Perception]1d20+2.
Unless something catches her eye moreso, she will tug the rope and start back on ascent. There's no reason to rush into further danger, plenty of time to report back and discuss.
While you steer clear of many of the holes in the chasm wall, you see furtive movement from several of them and catch glimpses of black shapes the size of house cats and hear the skittering of many limbs.
Iliberos peers over the side with a spell ready on his lips to aid Lhienne should she need it.
Lhienne tugs the rope to raise back up, keeping away from the 'hand-holds', walking/getting pulled back to the top.
"More of the same, something skitters in most of those holes, not sure I'd want to stick my hands near them. Still can't see the bottom. Thicker webs, a couple of rough columns at an angle, not sure if we can drop to them from the bridge - use them as a platform to drop lower maybe? Or maybe we could trek up or down the cavern a mile or two, see if the webs thin out, come at the bottom from an angle that's not so... skittery".
She eyes the bridge for a moment, "We could cut the bridge, use the ropes to give us more length without having to use the holes?"
"Just tell me what you need done."
The Chasm is about 140 feet across, each of the pillars being 25 feet in diameter leaves about 45 feet between the chasm wall and the nearest column or pillar. Webs are strung throughout the chasm and grow thicker the deeper down you get. It's hard to say what the clearest path would be- and the webs may be helpful should anyone take a spill.
"It does kind of stop us crossing the Chasm if we need to later." Lhienne admits. "Since we're not in an especial rush, try a mile down that way, see if it looks like its thinning out?"
"I know it would probably give away our position, but could we not burn the webs, and perhaps force whatever is in those holes to come out so we could battle them out here in the open..on the ground of our choosing? Just a thought."
"It may well bring everything out to escape the flames, and may well destoy anything valuable down there..."
After salvaging the severed bridge, you have about 420 feet of rope, though it looks a bit frayed and weathered. You also have a bunch of wooden planks and the stakes driven into each side of the Chasm available to you.
"Hard to tell with all the webs, I've not see the bottom. I suppose we've made enough noise that anything down there knows we're here, could try the old stone drop and counting?"
You suss out what looks like the least webbed up part of the chasm from where you're standing and toss a sizable rock down there, repeating as necessary if you just don't hear anything.
The first toss gets stuck in some of the webs (it's pretty thick in there) but after a second attempt, the stone disappears into the darkness. By your count, the stone traveled about 150 feet before striking something.
If whatever is down there didn't know you were here, it does now.
"hundred and fifty foot or so, with the rope we've got could string up three lines? Not sure I'd trust this old rope with more than one of you tall folk on the rope at once. Could be a short drop at the bottom if our guess is off." She peers back over the edge. "Long way off if we run into trouble though..."