Karozekas removes his everburning torch from his pack. Do you want to tie this to the end of the rope and lower it down first?
Alas, that is a spell I have not learned yet. Karo tells Sarusa.
Hearing Karo's response to Sarusa's question, Morin grumbles (though admittedly smiling a bit in spite of himself), "Better for you that you haven't, and especially better for our ley-sensing friend there. I supposed I'd be greased up for my own safety, so the horrors down below couldn't lay hold of me? Right thoughty of ye, that."
Morin then hauls Corbyn's rope back up and ties himself in to the end of it, fashioning a simple bosun's chair, with a final turn around his waist so he can be hauled out even if he's upside down or unconscious. He checks that his swords and dagger are in their proper places, and tucks a sunrod into his belt where he can get at it quickly if necessary. He then turns to Tekkis and says, "Bait's on the hook. Ready to go fishing?"
By the time Chloe gets to the rooftop, she realizes she must have completely spaced out in calming Dodi down after Gellig used her as a jumping stone, as it were. With her goggles off, she squints at the scene before her, trying to make sense of it with her lifeless eyes.
"Is... is that another rope? Ah... and Morin's missing..."
The oracle grimaces as she puts details together.
"Y-you know I have shielding spells... right? I could have... this isn't... If something happens to him down there... Sorry."
Corbyn begins to lower Morin down into the crypt, but the rope slips in his sweaty hands, sending the brave young halfling hurtling towards the floor below.
Morin needs a DC 15 acrobatics check to avoid 10' falling damage, but will be prone no matter what.
Morin crashes to the ground, thinking as he falls, I said we should have the strongest guy do it. Sure, I'm light, but we should still have the strongest guy do it. Maybe they'll hand the rope to Corvus to pull me up, just to see if it works... He manages to roll a bit with the impact, ending up lying on his stomach on the ground, wondering what's just happened and what those sounds are...
"MORIN!" Chloe calls out, immediately jarred into action... albeit a bit slowly on account of her horrible reflexes... and the fact she's forgotten where she put her mace. Was it on the left side or right side? Her hands worry about that on their own, mind. Chloe's mind is too busy obsessing with every terrible thing that could have happened down below, in the dark...
Sarenrae, please! Don't let this be like Neice dangling meat over an anthill... and then dropping it...!
Karo is speechless, he had just turned to replace the unwanted torch, when everyone started shouting.
Karo begins yelling. Pull him up! Pull him up! There is something down there. He grabs the rope and starts pulling, hoping to help Corbyn get Morin up faster.
"UNDEAD!"
Tekk tries to help, but by the time he grabs the rope, Karo is already hauling Morin back up!
Sarusa turns to Chloe. "I don't know much about channeling. Can you zap them from the top of the hole? Or do we lower the rope and get them as they climb up?" she says quietly, her face betraying some excitement at the prospect of battling undead.
DC 12 Fort v. Paralysis
Morin falls to the dusty stone floor of the crypt. He manages to tuck and roll, avoiding the worst of it.
Sarusa continues to detect for unnatural presences. Her senses narrow in on three necromantic auras, at least one of which is of moderate strength.
A lean shape on four emaciated legs, with matted, patchy brown fur and a sharply pointed canine muzzle rushes out of the shadows towards the fallen explorer. You all hear as sickening crunch as it buries its fangs into the halfling's shoulder.
Karozekas begins to haul Morin out of the pit. The creature attempts to keep its prey, but the elf manages to jerk his friend out of its viselike jaws. In the dim light, anyone close to the hole in the roof can clearly see that half of this thing's face is rotted away, and a deep gash mars its chest. These wounds do not seem to impede it in any way.
Initiative order is:
Sarusa
Dog Thing
Karozekas
Morin - we are here
Corbyn
???
Tekkis
???
Chloe
"Th-the more I can get in a burst.. the.. the.. better, but I could try-," Chloe stammers, emitting a small whimper at the sound of the halfling getting savaged below, finishing her thought only after she perceives the rope being lifted.
"-or I could be lowered i-instead... only just enough t-to-,"
The oracle seems too distracted to continue, waiting for Morin to be pulled back up.
Morin doesn't fully understand what has happened, but he's very glad to feel the rope tighten and begin to lift him back up towards the roof. All the same, he'd like to get up as quickly as possible. He reaches up for the rope above his head and attempts to pull himself higher out of the reach of the horrific creature that attacked him, while focusing his attention below him, ready to pull his legs clear if the beast leaps or he is otherwise attacked.
However, the pain of his injuries proves too much, and he can only sit in the bosun's chair and hold onto the rope to keep himself upright.
I'm pretty sure it's 20', since Morin just made the save to take 10' off his fall damage, and he still took 10' of fall damage. I think we'd do better to rain destruction from above than jump down.
Worried about Morin's injuries, Tekk loses his focus and is unprepared when Karo begins pulling again!
Sarusa loads a dust burst bullet in her sling, waiting for an opening to fire.
DC 12 paralysis
vs. DC16
vs. DC16
DC 12 paralysis
DC 12 paralysis
As Karozekas begins to pull Morin out of the crypt, the halfling takes it upon himself to assist his ascent by climbing upwards. Unfortunately, fate does not smile upon him, and he slips back to the bottom, wrenching the rope in Karozekas hands. Fortunately, the elf manages to hold on, but Morin's frantic scurrying allows his attacker an opportunity to bite again at his unprotected back.
With Corbyn and Tekkis' aid, Karozekas hauls Morin seven feet off the ground. As the group strives to pull their friend out of danger, two more shadowy forms jump through the air at the young halfling, battering him like a Chelish pinata. Fortunately, the aid of Corbyn and Tekkis keeps Morin from plummeting back into the chamber.
Round 2 begins now.
Morin screams in agony and goes limp at the end of the rope, his weight swinging back and forth wildly as the beasts bat at him.
Karo yells, I don't know how much more strength I have to pull, I hope you two have a good grip of the rope.
Chloe moved forward like a woman possessed, joining the others with a sudden and surprising yank from a person who seemed to have trouble finding the armstrength to mount Dodi.
Sarusa joins in on the Morin-haul, carefully setting the dustburst bullet down.
Sarusa puts down her pellet and grabs the rope, pulling Morin out of the reach of the snapping jaws of the undead creatures just before they can savage him again.
With the aid of Chole, Tekkis, Corbyn, and Karozekas, the young halfling is returned to safety. His flesh is pale and shredded, but blood no longer seeps from his wounds. He draws a faint, ragged breath as you lay him on the weathered stone of the roof.
The three creatures below let out baleful howls before disappearing into the shadows once more.
The oracle wastes no time in going to Morin's side, shaking with both the strain of her efforts with the others with the rope, and the fact she'd almost lost her link. Her friend could have died (and, she suspected, momentarily did) in such a horrible way... Even now, he looked so breakable. If their strength had failed even once more-Ah, no, she couldn't bear to think about it.
Chloe kneels down and places her hand on the young man's fluttering heart, eyes mistier than she would have liked.
"Please... please.... wake up. Sarenrae, please...,"
"Morin..."
Morin slowly blinks his eyes open. Where am I? he thinks. He remembers the devilish dog-beast snapping at him, reaching for the rope, falling, and the dog striking again, spinning him uncontrollably. Then a pain beyond imagining, and darkness. So dark, he thought he'd never know light again.
But then he does see light, and the blurry face of Chloe and his friends - new friends, some, but they've been through so much together already. Then, without warning, a sudden pounding on his chest! And a voice, a voice he knows, crying out about his death and blood.
Morin, startled into action, rolls quickly to his feet, hands raised defensively, crying out "Dead dogs attacking! Watch out! Pull me up...?" Morin sees his friends staring at him and realizes he is safe, the danger is somehow past. A small smile creeps onto his face and then slowly slides off, as he collapses to the ground in a small, bloodstained heap, too exhausted by the ordeal to stand any longer, or keep his eyes open another moment.
Thank you... oh, Goddess, thank you...
Chloe lurched forward to catch Morin before he hit the roof in entirety, pulling him into a one-armed hold long enough to cover him in her stained travelling cloak. She set him back down gently and inclined her head just to the right of the hole, giving off a rare emanation of anger.
"D.. do you think we still have some fishing in us...? B-because I think... I think they'll find me less rewarding to have.. dangled over their heads."
"Tekk, could Chloe borrow your armor for a few minutes? Chloe, I agree that you could dangle and cast to catch our fish, but I think you'd do better as a tougher bit of bait."
Sarusa doesn't let go of the rope. "And let's tie this thing, for the love of the Green."
Tekk glances over at Chloe then back to Sarusa. "Sure, if she's okay with it."
"Thank you."
Chloe nods, shedding all of her gear except for the basest clothing necessary to pull everything off. She wanted to be easy enough to pull back up if there was a problem with the rope for any reason (though this was definitely not preferred.)
Following this, she casts a healing spell on herself, as her link with Morin had ended up taking a decent amount of her vitality.
Karo watches all this going on and looking around the roof, says Is there anything to secure the rope to, so as to only let out say ten feet into the hole? Don't we have two ropes? Chloe, I will drop in too if it will make you feel better
"...It will. You have magic, right...? Anything that can hit at some distance...?"
I do have a spell that will shoot fire at range. If we can't find something to tie off on here on the roof, we should have enough to tie off to the horses.
Morin stirs and opens his eyes slightly, then opens them much wider as he sees what appears to be Chloe, but wearing Tekkis' armor, and just setting the helmet on. I was hit worse than I thought, he says to himself, I'm seeing the most unlikely things.
As his eyes come in to focus, he sees that his companions are tying ropes around Chloe and Karozekas' waists and he says in a weak voice "We goin' fishin' again? Let me check the knots and tie off the ropes, 'fore ye heave 'em over the side. Gotta take care of those two, 's dangerous down there. I imagine we want the ropes a bit shorter than mine was?"
Morin pulls himself to his feet and walks over to assist with the knot-tying, fixing the knots like a climber's harness, so they'll work whatever position the person is in. He takes particular care with Chloe's knot and says quietly, "Lass, I know ye're suited to this in some ways, in terms of undead and all, but I'm pretty well suited to ropes and sneakin', and look what happened to me. You take care, and I'll be at the edge of the hole watching out for ye."
With that, Morin walks to the edge of the crack in the roof and sits down, exhausted from the effort of walking and talking, and peers in to the opening to watch his friends descend.