With a leap of faith, Brash steps out over empty air, risking severe rope-burns to his hand at the leadt. His stomach lurches as he begins to free-fall – but within a second or two his descent slows, and he floats gently the rest of the way down the shaft. His vision becomes dark as he passes out of the glow provided by Boland’s torch, and by the time his feet come to rest smoothly on the floor below he is in darkness.
"Hmmm... I can no longer see him... but I think he made it... Brashen???"
'Im down here ok, but have no light. Can someone come down with a torch, or drop one down.' Brash will take a step forward to clear the shaft and then stop and listen.
With his usual self-assuredness, Da'gret takes the rope in a solid grip and begins lowering himself down the hole.
With his usual self-assuredness, Da'gret takes the rope in a solid grip and begins lowering himself down the hole.
Andolphas takes the everburning torch from Boland's hands and tosses it down the shaft. "Light source incoming," calls the cleric to Brashen, careful not to hit the half-orc. Once Da'gret reaches the bottom, Andolphas begins his own cautious rappel.
After Andolphas gets some way down the rope, Boland carefully grabs hold and nervously begins lowering himself down. He is a touch less nervous than the previous day's effort, but he none-the-less finds it difficult and travels slowly.
By taking the climb slowly and carefully, everyone is able to make it safely down to the next level.
Now lit by torches, the chamber at the bottom of the shaft looks much as it did the prior afternoon. Debris from the crashed elevator litter the floor of the chamber. A few small beetles scuttle about here and there, but nowhere near the swarm proportions the group faced before.
Ahead, the passage stretches into darkness, dead beetles littering the stone floor.
Da'gret leads the way back to the flooded passage not waiting if the others fall behind a little as he is unconcerned about light. Once there he shrugs off his pack and crouches down touching the surface of the water with the palms of both hands in what passes for spiritual communion. When the others are ready, he shifts back into the great white boar, circles back, and charges into the water.
Da’gret does not wait long once the others catch up to him at the top of the submerged stairs; he changes into boar form and charges down into the cold, dark water. The bristled back and tail of the white boar is visible to the others for a moment more, and then the druid is completely underwater, large ripples spreading out on the surface of the pool formed by the stair shaft.
Da’gret:
The stair ends, and a short passage, about twenty feet long and ten wide, opens out into a large chamber. As near as you can tell, the chamber is some forty or fifty feet long and of a similar width – you can dimly make out the far wall. Your darkvision, while incredibly useful down here, does not seem quite so effective as in air, as the water here is murky and heavy with particles – centuries worth of dirt and refuse. The stone walls and floor are covered with some sort of algae, and here and there tiny shapes – underwater insects or minute fish – dart about, nibbling at the algae and the floating particles. A faint current stirs the particles around in the water.
The ceiling of the chamber is about twenty feet high, and the water comes right up to it. Four chunky pillars – one near each corner of the chamber – rise up through the murky water to support it, whilst in the centre of the room is another pillar, this one almost twice as wide as the others. There are a couple of what appear to be stone benches on the floor – grown over with algae, but otherwise the chamber is sparsely furnished.
At the far end of the chamber is some sort of passage or alcove, whilst another two narrow ones mar the left and right walls of the chamber about halfway down its length.
DM Moth:
Da’gret:
DM Mothman:
Da’gret does not wait long once the others catch up to him at the top of the submerged stairs; he changes into boar form and charges down into the cold, dark water. The bristled back and tail of the white boar is visible to the others for a moment more, and then the druid is completely underwater, large ripples spreading out on the surface of the pool formed by the stair shaft.
Boland watches incredulously as Da'gret eagerly charges into the pool and quickly disappears out of sight. "I guess we wait..." he says to no one in particular.
However, he does grab a couple of the spare wine flasks the group picked up and begins inflating them with air, lest the group need to head in after Da'gret. Once done he takes the spare rope and uncoils it.
Da’gret:
A short time passes … no sign of Da’gret; but then it’s hardly been long enough to worry …
It does occur to you though that you really don’t know how long you should wait before you begin to worry…
"Hmmm... I suppose it would have been too much to ask the big oaf to rope up before diving in... how long do we wait? And who will be first to go looking for him? I fear that the Dark-Eyed Lady all too frequently has a way of inviting the reckless and foolish into the Great Beyond sooner rather than later... and if such were her designs, and if the lad had willingly charged into his doom, then who would I be to interfere? It might be futile and just as foolish for any to go in after him, should he fail to surface..."
DM Mothman
Da’gret:
DM Moth:
Da’gret:
Angered, you thrust your head forward through the water, seeking to gore your strange opponent. Oddly enough, you meet resistance when your tusks meet the clear water – and then they are through, and a flow of bubbles burst forward into the dirty water, accompanied by an odd sound like distant waves crashing.
The thing lashes out at you again, and this time the watery pseudopod hits you with the force of a storm-fueled wave .
A few ripples appear in the surface of the pool.
DM Mothman
DM Mothman
As time passes and Boland finishes preparing the rope and wine-skins, he begins to get worried, wandering if something has happened to the half-orc. "Ah, p-perhaps we should venture in and make sure he's ok?" he suggests, looking primarily at Brashen.
"Whoever goes should keep the rope tied to themselves and take some air. If they get into trouble, they can pull on the rope and we will haul them back as fast as we can? I can use some magic to help light the way for you..."
Da’gret:
At that, the thing seems to enter a frenzy of sorts of its own. It begins spinning faster and faster, its relatively distinct form dissolving into a rushing, spinning tower of water that stirs and agitates the water around it. You feel yourself pushed back slightly, although the whirlpool does not seem quite large enough to completely effect you.
Next thing, the thing spins away from you , moving far faster than you could swim, disappearing back into the dark alcove from which it emerged.
Another series of ripples (these ones almost like small wavelets) disturb the surface of the pool.
Overwhelmed in his frenzy, the boar thrashes through the water in pursuit
Da’gret:
The ‘alcove’ is in fact a short passage which opens up into another small chamber (also flooded). In the centre of the chamber is a swirling column of dirty water, particles, sand, small pieces of stone and other bits of debris spinning around at an enormous rate.
DM Moth
The boar paddles in eying the funnel. If this were the woods he would cautiously circle such a threat to gauge its strength, but here he can only try to close the distance while boiling with fury.
As time passes and Boland finishes preparing the rope and wine-skins, he begins to get worried, wandering if something has happened to the half-orc. "Ah, p-perhaps we should venture in and make sure he's ok?" he suggests, looking primarily at Brashen.
"Whoever goes should keep the rope tied to themselves and take some air. If they get into trouble, they can pull on the rope and we will haul them back as fast as we can? I can use some magic to help light the way for you..."
Andolphas nods in agreement. "Those ripples don't look good, and he's been down there too long... He must be struggling against something... And I hate to imagine what..."
Da’gret:
DM Moth
Whoops. Maybe I overplayed my hand there on the hope that one more hit would kill this thing since it tried to run away. Now one more hit will kill this poor pig!
'I can go if needed but im not a very good swimmer, so may not be much help. If someone else is better suited to the water then i while anchor the rope here and pull them back if needed.'
'I can go if needed but im not a very good swimmer, so may not be much help. If someone else is better suited to the water then i while anchor the rope here and pull them back if needed.'
Andolphas shakes his head coolly. "Not I..."
Da’gret:
The thing whips and swirls about, and slaps another watery appendage at you …
… which hits …
The ripples have all but subsided now. No sign of Da'gret.
Mothman
Da'gret reels with the blow, knocked senseless momentarily. In that slow floating moment it first occurs to him that he is hurt. Hurt bad. The boar expands outward into his normal brutish half-orc self and grabs for a vial tucked into his belt.
Moth
Da’gret:
Strevlik drops his pack and weapons apart from his dagger, take the light in one hand and the rope in the other and dives into the water. Once down, he looks around for Da’gret.
Strevlik:
There is no sign of Da’gret – but the water is swirling fast around the entrance to an alcove or passageway on the east side of the chamber.
While waiting for his companions to respond, Brash has been tying one of the lengths of hemp rope he bout around his waist, either to help him anchor strev or so he himself can dive in and have the others hold the other end of the rope
Strevlik will swim towards the passage, looking for Da’gret.
Brash, yeah, you can tie the two ropes together. I’ll assume that in the time you were waiting you worked out some sort of signal (eg, two tugs on the rope means pull Strevlik back in or something).
Strevlik:
"Pray I shall not need to utter their last rites sooner rather than later..."
Boland quickly finds a piece of debris in the room and whispers some arcane words over it, causing it to glow with a magical light. He passes it to Strevlik. "This should grant you light for the next 20 minutes or so. If you need darkness, simply cover the stone."
Then, as the ranger is about to depart he calls out "Wait! I should have thought of this earlier!" Rummaging around in his belt pouch, he pulls forth a small piece of copper wire, and, pointing at Strevlik, and then Brashen in turn, he speaks the words to another spell.
"We should now be able to communicate over distance - you will hear my voice as a whisper in your head, and likewise anything you whisper will be heard by myself."
As Strevlik dives in and disappears out of sight, the tension growing within Boland continues to gnaw at him. He fidgets and paces nervously around the room, constantly glancing back towards the surface of the water. After a minute he cannot contain himself any longer. "Strevlik, can you hear me? what's happening? Is Da'gret there?"