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"Try and keep me alive, kind lady," Thorvin shouts to Lianth. "Death or glory! HAAARRGH!" Thorvin raises his trusty battle-axe ... and charges around the corner in an attempt to cut the bombardier beetle down. Sadly, it does not seem like his blow does any real damage. "Back me up here, longshanks!" he shouts at Virgil.
Thorvin bellows his pain and outrage at the assault, acid sizzling his skin. He registers Lianth's healing magic but dimly. "It's a giant bombardier beetle!" he shouts. "Territorial bug! Close the door and it won't follow!"
"Let's do it, then," Thorving grunts. The dwarf hefts his axe and gets moving.
"Hold on, let me take a look," Thorvin grunts as he gets down and peers through the narrow gap. "Can't make anything out," the dwarf soon curses. "Someone else want to have a try?"
"Make room for me," Thorvin says, already starting to surge forward. "I can see what hides in the dark. And ask yer wolf what he smells"
"Try the door to the side, first," Thorvin advises. "If there's someone in need of saving at the end of this tunnel, there might be guards or keys in there. If there's some horrible beastie waiting to butcher us, maybe there's some spears or similar to keep it at bay."
"Depends," Thorvin says, shouldering his axe. "We could split up, or we could try and sneak by going West or we can try and bull straight through the trouble and head East. Pers'nally, I think sneaking's already out, what with the big door opening. But then again, if we head East, something may come from West and try and take us from behind." The dwarf grins humourlessly. "Ain't this just a walk in the daisies?"
"Jam the mechanism if you can, lad!" Thorvin shouts to Carrion as he barrels towards the open door.
"Don't say it," Thorvin warns Virgil. "I'm a dwarf, we don't do 'fast'. Carrion, lad, now we know how it works, would you be the one to pull the lever then run by the route I just took?"
"Makes me wish I'd bought some alchemist's fire before leaving town," Thorvin grunts as he rewinds and stows the rope. "At least then we could blast our ways out if we become trapped. Anyway, weapons out, people." Putting action to word, Thorvin readies his axe as he strides through the open door. "Stay behind me," he advises. "If there's anything in the dark, I'll see it first."
"Shake a leg, lass," Thorvin calls down, the good-natured tone of voice belying the gruff words. "I'm not a tree stump, to stand here all day. Y'want us to try and hoist you up, otherwise?"
"Get her outta there, ya roaring fool!" Thorvin roars at Virgil. Putting words into action, he starts to move towards the place where Lianth fell, fishing in his pack for a rope.
"Ver' well, then," Thorvin sighs, shaking his head. "Carrion, care to stand at my side for this one?"
"Let me make a guess, here," Thorvin says. "Either we have to push down all the levers to get the door to open, or we have to push them down all at the same time to get the door open. And then whatever's a-wailing can come see us. Is everyone ready for that?"
"... Interestin'," Thorvin says. He grunts, then shuffles further into the room. "A suspicious man," he says as he continues the procedure of moving and checking the room, "might suggest someone's trying to catch intruders alive. Worrying thought, yes?"
"Is it me," Thorvin asks, "or does anyone else feel like this room is one giant trap? We haven't been sent out to serve as regular sacrifices to some crypt-spirit, have we?"
"Let's hope, then," Thorvin says slowly, "that it's baddies doing the wailing. And not innocent victims of some torment." Shaking his head, the dwarf walks on and keeps his eyes open.
"Hold on, lads," Thorvin calls. "Time out. The uneven tiles may be traps, may be someaught else, but what's with the levers? Anyone know anyaught of engineering?"
"More of those uneven tiles," Thorvin calls out. "There's a big iron lever to the south'a us. Carrion, if I point out the tiles to ya, can you mark them with light? And can you check whether there's any magic on them or on the lever?"
"Come on in," Thorvin calls to the others, beckoning them without turning to face them. "Come stand where I stand, it should be safe." As soon as the others have done as he orders, Thorvin moves forward another five feet, eyes scanning the room anew. And he pays special attention to the strange tile. "Don't follow me in yet," he cautions the others. "And don't step on this!" he orders sternly, indicating the aberrant tile.
"That won't be a problem, lad," Thorvin says in an airy tone of voice. "I'm ready to do what ye can't." The dwarf winks at Carrion and Lianth, moves five feet ahead of the group and probes the darkness, Dwarven eyes penetrating the darkness with ease.
"Thorvin's rambling makes sense, on a certain level." "Who's rambling, boyo?" Thorvin asks, one eyebrow raised, but smiling a little. "I'm just trying to keep up you two longshanks' spirits by not mentioning you can use a stunning arrow for knocking down a talljob and dragging it off for a human sacrifice or cannibal cook-out, too. Lots of folks prefer a prisoner to be alive when they've trussed it up and stick the knife in." "Who would have best use for non-lethal arrows? Does anyone else have immediate need of rations, I am down to one days worth, damn wolves." "I prefer an arrow that actually does the job I shoot it for, thank you," Thorvin says in a gracious tone of voice. "You're welcome to the food, says I. The howl, too, but I suppose whoever or whatever's making it has brought enough for all of us."
"Think about it, lad," Thorvin says, moving his finger from the blunted arrows to the pillow and giving a crooked half-smile. "There's more on birds that people don't like to see damaged than the meat. What do you usually stuff a pillow with? Feathers. And if you're going after fine feathers from rare birds, what better container for them than a stout pillow case, hm?" The dwarf chuckles and shrugs. "'Course, I may be dead wrong. But that hasn't stopped me yet."
"Well now," Thorvin says as he eyes the debris in the room, "looks like we've met our predecessors ... and they didn't do too well. Would anyone like to say a few words for their souls, lest their bones rise up again?" The dwarf makes a face at Virgil's and Carrion's show of disrespect for the bones of the fallen and mutters something in Dwarven.
Dwarven:
"Raise a man's head too far off the ground and the thin air makes 'em lose all propriety ..." "Where do we go after here?" is the Dwarf's next question. "Do we just try to find the fastest way to the everflame, or do we look around a bit to see what has happened to this place?"
"Thank you," Thorvin says to Lianth, moving his arm around and grimacing at the stinging feeling in his chest. He just grins at Virgil. "Lucky swing, human," he mocks him goodnaturedly. "I'll bet a silver coin you can't do it again."
"Gah, you dead piece of trash!" Thorvin howls as the skeleton claws him. "Have at thee and return to the grave!" Furious, the Dwarven Ranger swings his battle axe at his opponent.
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