swiftstab uses the conversation as cover to take to the shadows. Not very difficult, since light is minimal at best in here anyways.
"Ooh, nesting she says. Eggs that means! Wonder what skags look like though..."
Silent as a butterfly, Swiftstab slips over to where Ida had pointed.
stealth
Balthe moves quietly when they move on.
Ida, trying to be stealthy, doesn't pay as much attention to the ground ahead of her as she should, and trips.
Luckily, for the sake of not getting into the encounter the Skag is sleeping.
The group gets around and out of the caverns, leading into a forest with large trees, most have a diameter between 10 feet to 50 feet. There still is walls of stone which Five seems to follow the markers on the stones, a sort of blue abstract signs. Possibly Eridian.
Soon enough the group comes upon a massive fountain. Five seems to be enraptured by the beauty of the place. Six statues of different creatures stand around the fountain with water pouring out of cisterns, vases, their mouths, or their own hands. Will Save DC 12 or be enraptured as well, there is also a suggestion to rest and enjoy the fountain, whispering in everyone's ear even if you save. It is a female voice melodious and soothing.
Elo throws off the manipulation as if it never existed and turns to the group. "STOP! The fountain can bewitch your mind! Claptrap, get in the way or trip over anyone who moves towards it!" If anyone starts going so, she'll try and grab them and pull them back.
Silent as a butterfly, Swiftstab slips over to where Ida had pointed.
Oh, wow! Now that's a big dog! But they call this a nest? There's no eggs here at all! Only these weird dogs and... Oooh! Puppies! They's so cute! Better go and ask rest first if we can keep one.
Swift scuttles back to the cave to call the rest in, only to find that the group is gone.
Huh? Where's them tall folks gone of to?
He decides that the most likely scenario is that they simply moved on without him, so he follows the caves until he sniffs a breeze of cold air.
Ooh, big trees! Perhaps here there be special sleep flowers like in nature book! Better be careful, and keep eyes open for special flowers. Might even have black lotus or scorpionflower. Or green pepper! With a bit of basil and sage on sweet 'tators and fish! Rabbit stew would be nice too. What was I thinking about again?
((for 'special' vegetation))
((for finding clues as to where the team went and no, I don't have track feat or scent))
((a "what would Five do?" thought. It's kinda far fetched though, so you may ignore this if you so think ;) ))
That works Swifty. You can track the group easily enough, no special vegetation yet. Look at the strange blue markings, Five would go that way, and the group did!
You also know that you will have to go past the puppies to get back to the truck. :)
Ida barely notices the manipulation as she simply ignores it, and as she hears the voice, she rushes up to Five. "Hey, Five? Do me a favor and snap out of it? If you don't, I'll have to slap you again, you know...," she says, pushing him back, away from the fountain.
"Ohhh! This fountian is filthy! Why it has grime and mould and dirt and... and... is that blood? Imagine how beautiful this would look if I just pollished it up a bit!"
And with that he takes out his mop and starts washing down the walls of the fountian.
Balthe walks over to Claptrap
and tries to snag the mop out of his class. Failing at that he bonks Claptrap on the top of the body. CLANG Would you focus here?
"I AM focusing here! Can't you see this stain I am trying to remove here? Just you wait! I will have this fountian looking brand new before the week is done!"
Somehow that does not seem to thrill you...
bonk!
This is fun, its just like the treasure seeking game that we used to play with the kobolds when we were kids! Jup, there's another of them blue markers! Oh how much fun that was. Especially once they found the treasure chest, in the centre of a pit trap. The surprise on their faces when they couldn't resist their curiosity any longer and opened the chest while being trapped in the pit only to find out it was filled with venomous scorpions! Ah, fun times indeed. I miss being a kid.
Swiftstan looked up from his trip down memory lane when he here's the voice of a woman. Did she say something about slapping Five?
There was the squeeking sound of the rolling gear box.
And a hollow bang and a gruff voice yelling. Balthe or Jack?
Didn't matter, sounded as his band.
As he closed in there was another voice. A beautiful voice that he couldn't place.
It seemed to try to persuade him somehow, but Swiftstabs didn't give in that easily.
"Hey guys, I found puppies! What's with the gearbox?"
Elo manages not to roll her eyes at her group and concentrates on the fountain. "Can anyone see if any eridian energy is active in this thing? Is it dangerous?"
Five snaps too, before the slap... He looks at Ida and smiles, probably the biggest smile any of you have seen him have, well except for Ida. "Thank you Ida." He winks at her.
Five then says an incantation, moves his hands for somatic actions and his eyes glow blue. "Yes it is magical...Give me a minute." He looks around for a few minutes. Analyzing the fountain.
No one does much until Five has had some time to study the fountain.
"Yes, there seems to be an enchantment spell emanating from the fountain, also a few other wards, it would not be wise to touch the water, though don't touch any part of the fountain either. Now we take the path on the right. Also remember if you can stow your weapons that would be best. We should be near the town." Five states rather matter of factly.
Balthe frowns and undoes hisweapon chord, and stows his pick. He follows next to Five, quietly.
"But but but... I have only cleaned this tiny portion of the fountain! I cant just leave the rest unfinished! It would look uneven! And its unethical! But but but.... Sigh... Fine... As long as we come back here!"
with what seems a very hesitant and painful gesture, Claptrap puts the mop away and turns to follow Five, pausing to glance back at the fountain for one more sorrowful look.
After another half hour of traveling down a path with tall trees and markers on boulders to keep them on the path, you come to a chasm.
Five looks at it and scratches his head. "Hmmm... interesting, well according to my memory we should be at the town now, perhaps I mixed somethings up... I will let you look around, while I pull out my book." Five walks 15 feet away from the edge of the chasm and sits down. He pulls off his backpack and pulls out a book then starts leafing through it.
The Chasm seems to be about 30 feet wide, and a good 300 feet drop. The other wall on the other side seems to be about 20 feet up as well, from the lip of our side of the chasm.
"Townspipple needs way in and out too. Must be secret passage then. Like with tunnel from trucks. Maybe if you finds tracks or worn away spots, you know where secret passage starts."
Swiftstab begins eyeing the ground more closely for spots that seem unusually smooth, as if people have been standing and walking it really really often, but doesnt seem to find anything of such nature
Balthe searches w swift
though they keep bumping into each other
"Its the bumbling detective duo! will show you how its done!"
He then goes and stares blankly at a wall (which just might have a clue on it)
You all would see that there are many foot steps in the area, quite a few places where people have likely sat next to the walls, but nothing truely ground breaking. A survival check to follow most of the tracks would likely help.
Perhaps we should be following the tracks here...
Balthe does look at the tracks and it seems they stop just before the ledge and with the extra depressions in that spot it seems like they have jumped.
What the...Anyone know how to fly?
Balthe peers over the edge.
Balthe you notice that there is a rope attached to the cliff wall about 10 feet down, there are some handholds down to the rope. The rope seems to be about 50 feet long and made of very thick hemp.
It appears they climbed down. Let's do this! Balthe climbs down
Climb checks
"What is with this town? Climb this, climb that, why what is next? Stairs? This is not conducive to Claptraps Accessing the town. Oh no, not at all!"
He then heads right over to York without another word, almost expectantly...
Ida, having been searching in entirely the wrong area, turns when Balthe finds the rope. "Alright, good job. Five? Let's get going, then, huh?"
Jack having been quite silent to this place turns to the group and asks. "Does anyone require a boost. I can carry quite a few people on my back and I am able to scale down this wall and land with no problem."
Hearing the big cat speak up Claptrap swivels around and comes directly over to him
"Yes you will do nicely! You will carry me down and we shalnt worry about no scary rope or no scary cliffs!"
Elo looks down the drop and winces, before turning to Jack.
"Let's tie a rope up here and go down; you detach it and climb down, if you're that good. Clap-trap strapped to your back if you're amazing, lowered down via rope if not."
Please don't fall on me toolbox.
"Huh, what? Oh we... did we find the rope? Yes, good, well it seems that you tie end of the rope to a willing participant and throw them, I am not for sure but that is the instructions. The exact words is 'trust in the protectors, the farther you leap with your soul the safer you will be.'" Five says as he puts away his book, having a piece of paper still out.
Yes it would be a DC 5 to go down a knotted rope with a vertical surface next to you, though this rope only has one two knots one at the starting point 10 feet down, and about 30 feet down from that, and another one about another 15 feet down. So the DC is 5.
Jack climbs down the without needing the rope carrying whomever needs a lift down easily enough. Once he reaches the bottom he looks around from the ground to see if there's nothing more he can spot from at the bottom. He attempts to do this stealthily.
Jack you get to the bottom of the rope and see nothing but a cliff wall on this side, it appears that a cave mouth is directly across from your current position on the other cliff face. 15 feet wide about 10 feet tall.
while strapped to Jacks back Claptrap is humming away merrily to himself, quite possibly ruining any attempt at stealth you are doing.
"Hump de dump. Hump de dump. Hump hump de dump de dump de. Hump de dump. Jack and Jill..."
Yup. Not stealthy.
Swiftstab thinks about Five's instructions for a bit. Tie someone to the rope and then throw him? Well, to throw someone, you need some rope left, thus pull it up first. It is ten feet down, need about five feet to make a decent knotted loop around the middle, so that would leave you about fifteen foot. And then you throw him over the edge... To have him smack against the wall ten plus twenty-five is thirty-five feet below.\
"That makes no freakin sense at all. Give me those notes of yours, cuz what your suggesting is giving someone a running start to a mountainsized face-palm! If that's really what it says right there then they are watching us right now, waiting till they can laugh their asses."
The little goblin holds up his hands trying to snatch the notes Five is reading.
Well if Five is sure. I will go.
Balthe ties himself into the rope, after coming back up to the top. Jack if you would be so kind?[/b]
There is a knotted loop at the end of the rope.
Five gives Swiftstab the notes, though it is his notes in Draconic.
If you know Draconic the notes say pretty much what has been said.
Five nods to Balthe, "Yep a jump of faith, at least you have a rope attached, wait anyone have a way to fly?"
Swiftstab, looking at the note, has a hard time reading it. Oh he knew Draconic al right, their neighbouring tribe spoke it as their main language. But those kobolds sure did not use the full sentences the dragons did. Where here it read "And when thou takes/leaps to the sky upon the wings of faith/conviction/unwavering certainty, thou shalt not plunge/descend (rapidly) forlorn in eternal twilight, but be caught/held aloft/arrested and harboured/sanctuaried (is that even a word?!) by thine trust" the kobolds would simply have written "Go nutz, jump cliff! Catch you we will! Maybe..."
"Oh boy. Stupid lizard-tongue. Hates that language. Well, aim for entrance, feet first. Perhaps pop a few rounds of yer crossbow ta see if theres anything ta hit down there."
Then he remembers how he first met the Claptrap. "Hey gearbox, youztill gots that falling cloak of yours?"
After another half hour of traveling down a path with tall trees and markers on boulders to keep them on the path, you come to a chasm.
...
The Chasm seems to be about 30 feet wide, and a good 300 feet drop. The other wall on the other side seems to be about 20 feet up as well, from the lip of our side of the chasm.
Thus the cave would be 30 feet away, but down 60 feet or so.
Lets do it
Ida shakes her head, then takes her armor off. Sometimes, it's good to think, but at the same time, sometimes you have to just go.
Ida grabs the rope, and, getting a running start, jumps.
30 feet across, and 20 feet up to get to the top of the other cliff.
Ida, so are you running with Balthe when he is jumping?
Jack with Balthe permitting wraps a rope he has on him untying the halfling from the rope that will be much too short to get him across the chasm. The rope is tied to his feet as opposed to his waist as that might cause some problems. With his metamorphosised body he roots his tentacles to the wall and turns around so he is facing his target.
"This is a good plan I've got going here, you'll get to tie that rope onto something so the rest of us can get across." He assures Balthe without really telling him what is going on.
This way he won't be afraid if I accidentally drop him, I have a rope tied to him so it won't be so bad. I'll just pull him up.
"This will be like playing a game of pool, half ball, corner pocket. Here comes the pull. Now throw!"
The halfling has likely gone the distance and with the rope attached he can safely secure it on something. Jack makes sure to thread the rope through his hand as the halfling makes this daring 'leap' so as not to lose the rope further down the chasm. Jack forgot to account of one thing, he hopes Balthe knows how to land correctly or that landing might hurt just a tad.