"That makes sense Stanley."
Dohrlok hangs from the chain, looking for a steer from the group below.
"I have rope. Not sure how I feel about climbing it right now, but I do have it. I see Elly and Verrik have grappling hooks attached to their bags so I'm gonna assume you both have rope to go along with it."
Ellantera looks up the chain, but cannot see the monk. "Master Dohrlok, is there a place to tie off a rope? We could knot it to help with the climb."
"Ok, let's get this rope knotted and the end thrown up to Dohrlok. The strongest of us should go up first so as to aid bridging the gap at the top."
Dohrlok climbs back down to grab the end of the knotted rope, climbs back up and ties it on to a link near the top of the chain. Then he swings over to the entrance of the tunnel.
Dohrlok swings over to the tunnel entrance and pulls himself within. A ten foot wide passageway stretches away into darkness, beyond the range of Dohrlok’s dwarven sight.
Ellantera motions to the hesitant Tyvall, ”Come on, let’s get up there, eh?”
Adoven follows last of all.
Tyvall grumbles a few choice phrases under his breath, but he does head for the rope and begin pulling himself up slowly but surely.
At the top Tyvall begins swinging back and forth and finally leaps for the edge and Dohrlok's grip.
Dohrlok pulls his fellow dwarf into the tunnel.
Ellantera climbs up and attempts to follow suit once Dohrlok and Tyvall are ready for her to make the jump.
Stanley watches stoically as each of the others climb, despite being his idea, he dreaded the climb itself and hoped that by being last he could be the one that got pulled up. Physicality was never one of his strong suits, so he waits while securely attaching his staff to his pack. Once the last of them has climbed up, he gets a sure grip on the rope and calls up, "Could the lot of you pull the rope up with me on it? This would also hide our path in case anyone were to follow." He offers weakly, being sound advice, but not as important to him as the thought of not having to climb on his own.
Dohrlok reaches out to grab Ellatera.
Ellantera is grateful for the darkness to hide her embarassment, but there's nothing hiding her breathing as she tries to get it back under control following the near miss.
She calls down the shaft, "Yes. Can you tie it about yourself?"
Verrik might smirk just a bit at the request Stanley makes, but he's careful to hide it. "Like the girl said, let's get that rope tied around you, here you go." He aids the man with the task before heading up the rope himself. "Stay near the chain until I'm to the top or you're going to make my climb a bit harder."
Most of the group now stand at the lip of the upper passageway, with a long drop behind them and a dark passage ahead.
"Well, shall we make a start?"
Adoven casts a minor light spell on a small pebble and throws it down the corridor. The corridor continues straight for about seventy feet, it’s far end shrouded in gloom but clear enough to Adoven’s sharp elven vision. The wall at the end of the passage is carved into the shape of a great stone face that almost completely occupies the ten foot wide, twenty foot high wall. The features of the face are humanoid, and its carved mouth is open in a silent but angry looking scream.
"Well now... that doesn't look inviting." Tyvall starts edging down the hallway cautiously. "Doesn't this branch off somewhere? Or maybe the face is some kind of puzzle?"
Ellantera muses, "The theme around here has been wind, right? I don't want that thing blowing me down the tunnel to fall 100 feet. Maybe we should anchor ourselves just in case while scouts scout."
Dohrlok nods approvingly at Ellantera's suggestion.
"A good idea."
Tyvall freezes. "Oh. Now that is a damn fine observation. I don't have any pitons though. Anyone else?"
Stanley nods with the assessment, very astute for such a brash young lady, before realizing what the implication could mean. He remembers the broken body down below, and understands how it could have gotten there. He shines the light on his staff as far forward as he can, while calling upon his magics to once more recognize auras while he looks.
Looking closely at the floor of this passageway, Ellantera observes that the stonework is very well constructed, as with most of the rest of this complex; the large stone slabs that make up the floor fit very closely, with almost no cracks in between … for the most part. She notices that one particular slab near the far end of the passage, just before the carved stone face does have a slightly wider gap – perhaps an eight of an inch – between it and the surrounding stones. She also notices several long shallow scratches in the floor, as if something had been dragged – or pushed – down the passage at some point.
Stanley examines the passage with his detect magic cantrip and can detect no magical auras, although from his position at the rear of the group the far end of the passage and the face itself is outside the far range of his spell.
"Doesn't look like we could wedge pitons in if we tried. How about we rope each other together, and the strongest of us take a firm stance and not move while we investigate?" Adoven glances at Dohlock as he says this.
Looking at the floor, Ellantera asks, "Anyone have a crowbar?"
At Adoven's suggestion, she frowns. "With nothing to brace against..." she looks up and down the visible portion of the hall, "It could be tricky. And how long would we need to hold out? I wonder if we could use the chain in some fashion - maybe tie ourselves off to it so we cannot fall far if we do fall."
"Verrick, you ever see anything like this? If we set it off, you think it will take a while before it is active again? I could summon something to set it off, then dismiss the creature before it is pushed back to the shaft."
Verrick thinks it over...
Stanley looks around the barren hallway, taking in what little detail there is, or what resources they lack to overcome this obstacle. "Well, for starters, it seems we have only two choices. Face the potential danger ahead, or go back down." He states the obvious, but the others can tell that it is part of his process as a man of medicine. First he must determine what he knows, then what he doesn't, and lastly how to proceed or resolve the latter.
"The hallway ends at the face. We assume it is trapped, but have no proof of such. If it is trapped, it has the potential to kill any one, or possibly all of us. All of this begs one question, why do we want to go down a hallway that ends in nothing more than a potential trap?" Despite his own questioning he strides closer, only slightly, until he can bring his spell into range of the end of the hallway.
Verrik scoffs at Stanley, "Did we or did we not come here to get rich or die trying? I thought we were pretty well on the same page about that. Problem with tying yourself off to the chain is the hallway is longer than the fall down the shaft, so a rope ain't gonna do much for whoever is down there poking around that angry looking face. Annndd I guess we know who that's gonna be. Right. So. We aren't going to figure this out from here. You guys got a minute or two to tie off if you want." The rogue creeps off down the corridor toward the face to get a better idea of what is going on while searching for triggers, arcane or otherwise.
The girl shrugs, "That's why I just swing the hammer. So," she indicates her mentor, "Maybe we can tie ourselves to the chain and try to catch you when you come flying past."
Stanley scowls at his former childhood 'playmate', "Do what you will Verrik, I know you don't need to be told twice." Turning to the others he suggests, "For the rest of us, I don't know if tying off will help, but we do have the advantage of having two humanoid equivalents of a bulwark. Considering dwarves are known to be nigh immovable in stance, both physically and in their opinions, maybe the two of you would stand at the rear of the group? Not at the edge, but a few paces in, to act as a wall for anyone that may get thrown back." He jerks his head Verrik's direction, indicating the one he expects to suffer the most.
He thinks for a bit, then looks at Vesnik and nods, "Yes. We could also try to each lay flat. If it is in fact a blowing wind, our odds of getting pushed reduce if we decrease our available surface area." He looks at those assembled, "That is, if there isn't enough of our bodies exposed to the wind, we won't feel as much of it." Taking his own advice, he instructs Vesnik to bundle up in his hood, before laying flat on his stomach as he watches Verrik.
Adoven nods and follows suit, trying to find something to grip just in case.
Ellantera takes the rope and ties one of the hooks to it so she can go chain-fishing. Once she's been able to draw it to her, she ties herself to it and braces as best she can manage, staying low (but not prone) and watching the man edge forward.