Similarly you can also make a DC 16 Reflex check to keep from slipping in the moving stream as you crouch to pass through.
Brogdar Reflex check:
Aegwyn tries to keep her feet in the rushing water:
Acrobatics:
Reflex:
I watch with non-plussed fatalism from Varan's back as things unfold. I'm in no position to grab Brogdar; I only hope that his careening toward us doesn't send us all crashing in together.
Aegwyn grabs for Brogdar
Brogdar's head comes shooting out of the water as Aegwyn pulls him up. He coughs deep lungs full of water, his eyes panic stricken, until finally he seems to be breathing again without difficulty, although quite rapidly. He sputters out, a deep look of love in his eyes: "Aegwyn, I can't possibly thank you enough! <cough!cough!> I saw my life flash before my eyes and I thought I was done for! <cough!> Twice in one day you have come to my aid, and for that I shall forever owe you."
Chuckling at the absurdity of this all, Varan glances back over his shoulder at Toranindracar, “Hold on. This is going to be… interesting.”
Reflex:
Thank the winds - it is they who guided my arm to save you. You think I could pull one such as you from the rushing river without the aid of the fates? It was my time to save you today. In the future, it will be yours to save another, maybe that'll be me, mayhaps another. Don't falter when that day comes.
Aegwyn smiles at Brogdar and sets him back on his feet. She unwraps a rope from her pack, taking a moment as her pack straps flap and flutter.
The footing's treacherous - perhaps we should lash together, and one with good footing and some strength should hold the back?
Muttering to myself and tightening my pack straps, ready to tie the rope around my body ...
"Almighty Me: if we get through this without splitting our skull or washing away in an underground waterfall, I promise to treat us to untold delights at the Houses. There shall be much gambling and tabac, and very little of swimming or murderous khthonoi mentalists."
Bijnnar, hanging out just in front of Brogdar when he slips, attempts to dash out of the way.
Reflex save
...and falls flat on his back. He begins to follow Brogdar down the stream, struggling to keep his head above the water as he does. Swim check (masterwork studded leather = no AC penalty).
He barely keeps his head above water.
Thomi you steady yourself, firmly planting your feet in the now more swiftly flowing stream. You are about ten feet away from the overhang ahead. Beyond that you will have to crouch down and advance. How do you make your way forward?
A sudden commotion and splash in the back of the line as Bijannar slips and falls into the stream and begins careening toward the front of the line.
Desperately Brogdar, recalling Aegwyn's words, thrusts his arm into the water in an attempt to grab Bijannar and pull him up to safety.
Brogdar Reflex save -
Despite his best efforts, Brogdar is unable to catch Bijannar who continues, half being dragged, half swimming, toward the front of the line....
I hop up to a sitting position on Varan's shoulders , gesture to Bijannar and cast levitate, lifting him out of the water and up to the ceiling until the friction of rubbing against the ceiling halts his forward movement.
To All:
"All right, quickly now: this spell will only last 5 minutes. Into the breach!"
Aegwyn suppresses a grin at the antics of the brothers and forges ahead.
Aegwyn updates her sketched map of the cave layout.
Thomi - indeed, the overhand proceeds too far back and the water is too high for you to be able to make out anything back there but the dimmest of shadows playing of the flowing surface of the water.
Toranindracar - You levitate Bijannar up to the height of the cave entrance, roughly seven feet here at this point, although only about 4 feet above the water level here (it drops significantly further ahead until it is only roughly 4 feet in total height, with three of those feet occupied by water).
Toranindracar on his back, Varan forges on ahead through the rushing water, following as close on Thomi’s heels as is safe. Over the susurrus of the stream, he mutters, “Best to just get this over with and see what’s on the other side.”
Thomi you wade your way forward, crouched down almost on your knees. The stream is extremely treacherous. Thankfully years of professional training combined with an almost unnatural coordination have left you with the ability to quickly discern your own balance and observe, at the very last moment, as the stream slopes sharply downward into a near sheer slope and then comes back up. Just as you regain your footing, your breath hastened by the experience of narrowly avoiding the shallows, you come almost to the other side, where the overhang becomes a small cavernous room. You are so relieved at the site of dry land that you almost don't notice an imperceptible wire running across the stream at exactly throat level....
I groan out loud and mutter: "Oh, dear mother. Of course there's a trap..."
I urge Varan closer and try to get a better look. I'll leave the disarming to Thomi, but if possible I'd like to try to tell if it's old, or if it was set up in the past few days (i.e. maybe set by those we're pursuing).
Perception:
Bijannar grabs the rocky surface of the ceiling, pulling himself along as he does. "Thanks"
Varan quirks an eyebrow, shakes his head with a rueful chuckle, and then leans in as close as Thomi considers safe,, to give Toranindracar a look at the tripwire.
Bijannar pulls himself along the tunnel ceiling as best he's able, hanging upside down above the lip of the tunnel and looking down. He whispers to the group, "Pssst.... Hey Toranindracar. When you guys get down, would you slowly lower me down?"
Inspecting the tripwire, I pretend not to hear Bijannar.
Bluff:
Bijannar looks right at Toranindracar as he turns away. Sense motive .
"Hey, don't ignore me...."
Demonstrating his devotion to inspecting the wire, Toranindracar mutters distractedly: "Wha--what? Yes, of course, of course. Just ... remind me when it's been five minutes, or I may forget."
Thomi keenly recognizes the wire for what it is and traces the wire back to an elaborate device. On one side, cleverly hidden behind a rock protrusion, is mounted a specialized hand crossbow, attached to the wire, and with an unusual bolt. The tip of the bolt is a long rough piece of steel with a portion, a few inches back of the bolt wrapped in an oil drenched cloth, where a manufactured extension of the crossbow itself touches a long section of flint, mounted on an extension. The effect is clear enough. When the firing mechanism is triggered, the rough steel on the bolt's tip will rub against the flint, causing sparks to ignite and set the oil drenched cloth aflame. Thomi traces the trajectory of the bolt and determines that it would strike and penetrate a small wooden hand keg, igniting its contents.
Just as Bijannar sets feet down into the swiftly flowing stream, Thomi tests the tension on the wire and very carefully cuts the wire, releasing the tension and disarming the trap.
The glow of Thomi's torch reveals up ahead a narrow cavern, descending an easy 10 to 15 feet down and quite long but just slightly wider than the stream itself. At the very furthest edges of your vision, with only the barest suggestion, Thomi can see the rough outlines of a passage to the heading to left, along the outer narrow edge of the pathway that curves along the streams edge. An acrid smell still lingers in the air and you can make out large piles of debris, stones as if from the wall itself, strewn upon the narrow ledge bordering the stream.
Aegwyn peers into the darkness, to see if there's anything untoward hiding out in the piles of debris
She smiles at Bijannar's misfortune and asks the winds to help steady his feet, and those of her companions.
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I remove the hand crossbow and the small keg from their niches, and place them in my backpack. The bolt slides into my bolt case.
To all: These items might be useful in the future.
I cautiously proceed down the cavern until I reach the pile of debris, keeping an eye out for more traps.
Perception:
Stealth:
Varan lets Toranindracar down on the bank of the subterranean stream and offers Bijannar a hand up, out of the water. He then heads up behind Thomi, his sword and shield at the ready for any trouble that might emerge from the shadows.
The dark crevice beacons, it jagged maw waiting to be explored. Some powerful force has clearly expunged this debris from an otherwise unassuming passage, and Thomi's lamp casts a strange glow through the unnatural passage to a smooth well chiseled chamber fifteen feet below. Who passes through the open mouth of the cave's opening into the darkness below?
If the spell is not expired and Bijannar wishes to step over the opening, I will lower him in.
Either way, my first action is to quickly scramble away from the stream and motion for the others to stay close to the stream: I search the area for traces of our quarry before our party splashes water all over.
Perception:
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I set my torch down on on the edge of the crevice, crawl over to the edge, and ask Varan to grab my wrists and lower me down as far as he can. When ready, he will let me go and I will drop into the chamber, hopefully land okay (should make the drop about 5-6 feet at that point), and then Varan can toss me the torch.
Acrobatics:
Reflex Save (for the drop):
Reflex Save (to catch the torch):
Aegwy jumps down after Toranindracar, being careful not to step on the areas he's examining.
Varan does, indeed, assist Thomi as requested. When the rogue touches down, he then drops the torch and peers in, eager to see what’s down there.
As the party makes its way to the back edge of the narrow embankment which hugs the flowing course of the stream, you begin to take notice of the scene that apparently transpired. A medium sized hole has been made at the very back western edge of the cavern and pieces of rubble, obviously part of the cave wall, surround the opening. A fine black grit cover the ground and the lip surrounding the hole and the whole space smells acrid. Toranindracar’s almost supernatural powers of observation detect splinters of wood and he is able to determine that both the fine black dust and the wood splinters form a cone shaped pattern which center on the wall and extends out toward the direction of the stream.
Thomi pushed his way through the narrow hole made in the cavern wall and slides down through, with the help of Varan’s strong arm, the last ten or so feet. Thomi lands with a heavy thud, although muffled by his skill and expertise and raises his torch aloft to survey the room. You stand in an ancient room, the air here thick and heavy with years, in what can only be something of the bygone past. The walls and floor are smooth and raise to the very limits of your torch light above. Great care and craftsmanship went into constructing this room as far above you can see the fine flowing script of Sylvænar etched all across the top.
The room is a long rectangle and you have entered into its southern most wall via the hole which was made for you. The length of the room is such that you cannot make out the far end, however, you can see the exceptional craftsmanship along the long walls. About 15 feet ahead you see on either sides of the room a long series of thin, roughly two inch thick, columns made of an exquisite braid of three strands of silvery metal, all etched with fine details. The columns are driven into the stone floor of the room itself and extend all the way to the ceiling, as near as you can tell and the stretch, on either side of you, as far as you can see. For all it appears to you it is as if you are in the most majestically carved and crafted daetholayn prison.
Roughly twenty feet ahead of you, in mirror opposites on either side, cascade a single narrow plume of water from up above. You peer up and see, again on either side, the fine chistled features of a daethol woman, her hands held to her face, as the water cascading from her eyes as an interrupted and eternal flow of tears.
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I put a skill point in Linguistics, which allowed Thomi to learn a bonus language. The description of the Linguistics skill says that the person can work with a language in both its written and spoken forms. I would presume that means a person can read, write and speak known languages, unless you have a different interpretation.
** spoiler omitted **