True accompanies Greylan. She shrugs at the the high shaft and its climb.
"This is a bad idea. Armoured priest's aren't built for this."
"Nor wolves. Do we have rope?"
"I've got rope and a grappling iron. We could get up there I think."
"Have you done much of this? What with the rope and hook, I guess so."
Kallista shrugs her shoulders.
"I just thought they'd be useful things to bring. I've never climbed anything myself. It can't be that hard can it?"
"I have some rope as well. Do you think the chain hanging from the blue lantern is strong enough to support us? Maybe....if I could....just..."
Greylan starts to shimmy up the blue lantern's chain.
Okay kiddies, you can all eventually get up there if you take 10. I do need to know where you've pointed the sarcophagus before climing (is it left pointing at the metallic cylinder corridor or did you shift it?) and which corridors have lanterns in place and which of these lanterns are currently lit?
"I would rather stay down here in armour at first. P{erhaps Hetta could take my place as the protector and healer. It may just be an empty room with more mold."
True moves to help anyone climb. Anyone else that is.
"Grey - will you stop hurtling off by yourself."
Kallista squeaks indignantly, sighs and barely aware of her armour, shimmies up after him.
Climbing up you arrive in a thin passageway that extends into shadows to the northeast. Perhaps seventy feet away, the passage ends in what looks like an enormous stone, humanoid face, it's mouthopen in an angry scream.
Spot DC 15:
Entranced by her climbing success Kallista doesn't take much notice of her surroundings.
"There's a passage ending in a screaming face up here." she calls down quietly to the others.
Hetta is too concerned about having to leave Hugh behind with True to be much aware of what is up above.
"Wow! Incredible! What craftsmanship!...What is it? Maybe a door of some kind? Maybe the handle is inside the mouth."
Greylan moves right up to the door, inspecting it.
There is indeed a door just inside the mouth of the angry face. Through the gaping mouth is a long, dark room with no floor. A three-foot-wide beam of petrified wood spans the chasm, leading straight ahead into darkness. About ten feet below the beam, countless iron spheres the size of large oranges form an irregular floor, but it's impossible to tell if they're a wholly solid surface. The nortwest and southeast walls (the walls to the left and right of the beam) are covered in a honeycomb of geometric patterns. A featureless stone ceiling extends about twenty feet from the beam.
"Watch out for traps, ignore the craftmanship. remember we found a body down here, didn't we."
True keeps close to the wolf, without touching. Whenever Hetta's head pops up she waves and smiles.
"We're alright Hugh, yes?"
True keeps close to the wolf,
"Anybody got a light?", Greylan asks.
Greylan reaches back into his quiver, pulls out an arrow, and waits for someone to cast the spell on it, causing the thing to glow brightly. He takes the arrow in his hand, and utters his own spell. "Lasto!", he commands, and the arrow begins to hover in front of him, glowing like a torch.
"There, this should illuminate the room."
Hetta is happy to light Greylan's arrow.
Kallista stays in the corridor, examining the walls and floors. Again. She doesn't feel she's helping much ...
True looks down at the riding dog in surprise. "I thought... ah well Hugh it's good to have you here."
"I should attach a rope to somewhere up there and sling it down. Just in case you need to leave in a hurry."
The dotted box is the angry face who's mouth you climbed through. The thin strip over the greyed out area is the petrified beam. The greyed out area is the uneven 'floor' The diagram in the top-left is a cross section of the room.
With the magical light you can see the door at the end of the beam.
Hetta swallows. "I'm not sure I can make it across there. Is that where we're going?"
Kallista exchanges glance with Hetta.
"Maybe if we knot some rope together and somehow crawl over? We could use the rope to help balance us - and stop us falling over the edge ..."
She stops talking realising she's not making the halfling feel any better.
The sound of giggling fills the room, it sounds roughly like the voice of a young boy.
"Better and better... alright, whoever you are!" Mikel calls out, "Show yourself!"
Silence is all that greets Mikel's words.The room still seemingly empty.
"Great, ok, now we're playing hide and seek... Shall I count to 10? Come out, come out, wherever you are!"
"Mikel, don't piss it off. I'd rather not see it. It sounds pretty creepy."
Hetta cranes her neck, peering about the room from the safe floor.
Over the years there have been a few cases of children running away/going missing, it's possible (though unlikely) that one got in here.
As Hetta scans the floor it appears to be entirely made up of small spheres and whilst uneven it looks as though it would be possible to walk along.
Kallista gazes hopelessly at the beam, unable to work out if it will bear her considerable weight.
"I could try crawling across it with some rope, I'm just not sure it'll support me. And I don't want to fall on those spheres. If the rest of this crypt's anything to go by there'll be huge spiders underneath them."
The beam looks fairly sturdy to you all, you're fairly certain it will take your weight over to the other side so long as you head across one or two at a time to be on the safe side.
"Well, I guess I'll go first! I've got a spell on the tip of my tongue that will float us safely to the ground if we start to fall. Anyone else coming?"
Greylan begins to cross the beam as slowly as he can bear; patience is not one of his qualities.
Greylan makes his way across the beam he gets about halfway across when a wooshing sound fills the room and from the geometrc patterning in the wall is launched an iron sphere which hurtles at the wizard, striking him and knocking him off balance.
"Grey! Are you alright?" Kallista leans down to see if she can help her friend out of the pit.
"Hey, Mikel, is there some way of disabling the walls? I'm not crossing that thing if we're going to be hit by flying whosits."
"Yeah...I'm alright", Greylan yells up at the others. "Those things pack quite a punch though. Be careful. I think walking along the beam sets them off. I'm going to look around for a bit, now that I'm down here."
Greylan sets out exploring the ball-floor, looking for anything really.
The mystery voice gives a tiny gasp as Greylan is struck by the iron sphere but this shock quickly turns into an impressed "Ooooh!" As the wizard casts his spell and drifts down to safety. Being curious as ever the elf starts digging around, unearthing a body in some fine looking armour but as he bends over to get a better look the phantom voice calls out in worry.
"Look out!" As the boy's voice echoes around the room a creature rears out of the haphazard floor made of countless metal balls. The wormlike creature has a body as long and tall as a man is tall, with four tentacles a little longer than human forearms. The tentacles, located on it's head along either side of it's jaws, are segmented, as is the body itself.
Giving a hungry roar it dives for Greylan.
Mikel, keeping an ear out for the phantom voice that had been irritating him is first to react to the warning...
Tumble - Dex +3 armour penalty -1 (1d20+2=18)
Mikel draws his weapons and with gritted teeth, makes a leap for the bizarre creature!
Mikel runs partway along the beam and with a great deal of agility throws himself at the strange worm-like creature, easily missing the iron sphere that is fored from the wall as he goes.
Bhaal's bloody balls, I did it! Panting with exileration, Mikel snarls and rams his sword into the beast's strange hide!
The wormy thing rears up and gives a pained sound, apparently not only did Mikel land well he managed to strike something vital. It's still moving but is no longer looking fit and healthy.
"Wow.." Whispers the mystery voice.
"And for my next trick!" Mikel calls out prior to-