Wow. Maybe they needed to only bring things that were not flammable? Like we covered ourselves in water to come here?
Trini paces the room again with a different object in mind.
"If I can retrace their steps, maybe I can understand their logic..."
(+1 guidance)
What are you looking for?
"I'm looking for tracks."
Unfortunately, Trini is unable to locate anything like tracks. There isn't nearly enough light in this room as the speckled ceiling stones seem to be absent from this cavernous room, leaving much to darkness and dim light. She does uncover what appears to be fragments of hemp, mostly likely from a rope being scraped on something, but there's nothing like that in the middle of the room.
"If it's too difficult to see anything, Korunar or myself could do some extra searching."
Honestly, just some mundane items, what you might find in a stores house neatly scattered around everywhere except the middle of the room. And....its odd. the ceiling might be higher than you expected, but even with your dark vision you can't really see the top, you can't see past the darkness.
Ah...supernatural darkness.
"This is weird. Us dwarves can see pretty well in the dark, but there's a part i can't see, towards the ceiling.
I can only speculate, of course, that something is obscuring it. But as i'm no mage, i can't sense if it's true."
the ceiling stands about 30 feet high until obscured.
Emerich grabs a pebble or a piece of debris, and tries to throw it into the obscured area, listening to see if it hits the ceiling or not.
The rock sails up into the air and instantly dissapears as it passes the threshold of hte magical darkness. However, there is a distinct "knocK" as it hits the ceiling where you estimated it should be.
"Could someone try to light the ceiling? I don't have a torch and I can't summon fire like Arnek does."
Casts detect magic, then casts light on a rock handing Ito Korunar. Finally he sends a ray of fire towards the darkness to see what happens .
There's no hole. Emerich backs a few steps away and raises his arms in front of his face, knowing full well it would be little protection against a raging inferno.
As Arnek blasts flames to the ceiling, the fire seems to join with the inky supernatural blackness the covers the ceiling. It churns, and mixes, and eventually the darkness disperses.
You now see that the ceiling is actually fairly well lit. Large chunks of the growing rock are embedded into the ceiling as if meteors had crashed upwards. In the center of the ceiling, there is what appears to be a large hook. On the hook, you can see pieces of burned and frayed ropes.
"Looks like it's time to climb."
Emerich ties one end into a loop, then throws it onto the hook. He pulls himself up the rope, all the while staying cautious
Emercih prepares the rope and wih accuracy of a spear fisherman, manages to loop the rope over the hook and secure it firmly. He pulls himself on the rope, and then....something happens...
The sound of grinding stone fills the room, and as you look up Emerich you see a cylindrical stone shape being pulled down from the ceiling. Simultaneously, below Emerich the floor begins to open up to reveal a large hole into darkness, stretching farther than the eye can see. A long climb indeed.
"Get back here, or you'll fall in.
Grab my hand."
Trini casts Guidance on Emerich, then Daniel, before casting Light down into the hole.
I was not expecting that...
Arnek inches a little closer to the hole and takes a peek down into the darkness casting dancing lights and sending them down into the pit.
Emerich's string of curses could make even the saltiest sailor blush.
If any of you have a net, or suddenly learned how to cast a spell that could help me, i'd be very grateful.
He grabs Daniels hand and jumps off to the side of the hole
Before Emerich makes his leap of faith, he estimates he can see about 50 ft down before his view fades to darkness. A nasty fall indeed if the bottom wasn't a hundred meters of fluffy feathers.
"Nice going, you make it look easy."
"If there's a few things dwarves aren't great for it's keeping pace and jumping distances...."
As Emerich leaps off the rope and back to safety, there is slow grinding as the stone jutting from the top of the cavern room slowly recedes. As it does so, the floor begins to close once more, hiding the hole that seems to go on endlessly. there is a brief thud as it closes completely, and there is no trace of it ever being there, save for the rope that is now permanently stuck between the hook and the floor.
Trini looks down. "Did we want to be at the bottom there? Where to next?"
Probably. Should I go back on? Emerich gulps, nervous, but willing.
"If you don't want to, maybe we can just tie a weight to the rope. If we stand on all sides and send more light down to the bottom, we can see if there's a tunnel there."
Its simple enough to find weight replacements with the all the supplies in the room, but with the rope taught and secured between ceiling and floor, the group must either sever it or string another rope along the hook.
Regardless of how this is achieved, once the rope is weighted again the floor opening appears once more.
Trini casts Light on the weight, casts Guidance on herself, then peers down.
(+1 guidance)
Emerich peers down as well
Daniel does too. :)
"Hmm, anything special down there?"
To Emerich, not much can be seen. However Trini's keen eyes and Daniel's natural darkvision are able to pierce just enough to make out the smallest detail as the first rope (which has been cut to tie a weight onto) can be seen splashing into water about 100 ft down. It's tto far to tell much else.
Trini relays what she sees to the others.
"Guess it's time to get wet again..."
Emerich gathers up all the rope and starts tieing them together.
"Either Korunar or myself can go down, since we can see in the dark.
Although it might better be me, since his armor is heavier.
Unless, that illuminating magic is used, that'd shed some light on the matter, if someone else wants to swim."
The party debates on what to do as they stand looking into a dark abyss of a hole that seemingly has water at the bottom. How deep, its much too far away to tell.
Arnek keeps a low profile, while the others decide who is going down the hole, picking through a random pile of supplies.
Please don't let them think of tying a rope around me, just because I'm light, and lowering me down like a piece of bait on a fishing line for whatever might be lurking down in that water.
We could throw something down, to see if something is in the water.
Decisions need to be made, but the group ponders on what to do next.
Daniel picks up a random rock and tosses it into the water.
The rock falls and plops in the dark water, the sound of the splashing water echoing up towards you. The ripples eventually settle. Nothing happens.
Well, that's comforting. Let's tie these ropes together and go down, and hope it's not a trap.
The party makes its way down the rope. Its a long ways down, but eventually you near the water's edge. The Darkness is almost complete, but you soon realize what you could not from the angle you were peering down at the top. There is a small tunnel hidden in the darkness right above the water. You each get into the tunnel and find it leads to a small smooth way. Upon closer inspection, it seems that it is covered in an almost oily substance making for a very slick way.
Dammit, dammit. Emerich gestures for everybody to stay back. He splashes water inside the tunnel. This may be the "final fury of fire" trap, or something. See the oil? We should get a light in here. Something that does not use fire.
Trini casts light on her bow and holds it in ahead of them.