As soon as he can, Sasha will try to climb up the steps to assist his friends, stashing the crossbow first.
"A huge spider?" I frown. "Interesting. What's it doing?" I call as I hurry up the rope and steps after Alexander.
Gashelle looks at the grapple and rope, currently supporting four squirming people, dubiously. As soon as two of them step off the rope (or fall, she allows) she'll start climbing.
In the meanwhile, she continues to actively scan the area for either spiders or anybody who might have drilled the tunnel.
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ok to speed things up i rolled Avinars initiative he gets a 19
so the order is
Avinar(from round 1)
Sasha(from round 2 onwards)
Spider
Tristan(from round 1)
Eltariel(from Round 2)
Gashelle(from round 2)
oh and I got it wrong,,the rope is 60 feet long so a double move action on round two will get everyone to the entrance
Avinar springs up the rope and side steps a pincer from the giant spider, he spins to its flank as he draws "Mother's Kiss" And attempts to slash at the furry spider's flank.
Acrobatics roll to flank the spider with Tristain
Acrobatics (19).
Acrobatics (Tumble)
Att
Dmg
Attack and damage.
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Avinar tumbles neatly past the arachnid and skewers it with his rapier. In reply the Spider whirls, mandibles scoring but not penetrating his armour which is smeared with the beasts poison.
Tristan rushes up behind and stabs but his blow is badly timed and he fails to connect.
Down below Sasha begins to climb the rope, Eltariel, moving slowly her mind distracted by the thought of combatting the creature in the tunnel,follows him whilst Gashelle continues her watch.
Er ... I make that round two and Avarin first up?
Avinar now flanking the arachnid, slashes at its side while keeping its pincers far away from himself, Almost as if he is dancing, Avinar elegantly sways and rolls from the creature's mandible after his poetic slash.
Mother's Kiss glistens as the sun reflects off of its hilt. Its blade's keen edge covered in the ochre coloured blood of the giant arachnid.
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Round two
Sasha reaches the tunnel mouth just as Avinar strikes wounding the creature deeply a second time. It lunges at him but he side steps its bite and comes off once again unscathed.
Tristan seeing the beasts distraction picks his spot carefully and lunges his rapier impaling the beast straight through its brain dropping it immediately
as the spider twitches in its death throes the party assembles in the tunnel...not far ahead a bright glow can be seen.
I examine the construction of the tunnel - is it rock or earth? If earth, are there roots showing?
For good measure I'll also pick up a rock and cast Light on it, and toss it into the passageway ahead of us to light that up between us and this light source.
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The tunneel is rock..a mine tunnel by the look of it...your knowledge is not sufficient to say if it is dwarven or not.
The tunnel height is about 7 feet and width averages 5 feet all the way to the light about 30 feet away. The tunnel floor is covered with small rocks and other detritus..it would appear this place is long abandoned which makes the lit area even stranger
Gashelle recalls our initial impressions when we came acros this tunnel.
You head back east about a quarter mile and see a hole in the side of the escarpement about 60 feet up. Dust devils play around the hole which is about 6 feet in diameter..
It's obvious that something burst out of the ground here recently but what it was you can't tell. Whatever it was it's gone now.
Still on the ground below, Gashelle calls up, "Can you tell what b- burst out?"
I turn back to face Gishelle.
"Not a clue, but it looks like an old mine working. Coming up? There's a light from deeper in we need to investigate ..."
Glancing back at the rest of the party I gesture for us to advance.
Gashelle complies.
Well Ladies I am guessing if there are any threats to us in there, they are either deaf with all this yelling, or they are laying an ambush as we speak, I understand the sounds of fighting that spider were not silent, but your calling to one another is not helping, I am wary of more threats" Avinar grips onto Mother's Kiss tightly as he scouts into the tunnel about 30 feet (if that is possible)
"Tristain follow behind me I assure you I am the hero you will write about"
I glare at Avinar, but stay silent and follow him and Tristan, casting Light on another rock under my cloak and keeping my eyes peeled.
"Well Ladies I am guessing if there are any threats to us in there, they are either deaf with all this yelling, or they are laying an ambush as we speak, I understand the sounds of fighting that spider were not silent, but your calling to one another is not helping, I am wary of more threats."
Gashelle looks appalled and ashamed. Unable even to apologize, she humbly complies.
Catching Gishelle's eyes I roll my own in Avarin's direction with a grimace. Then I turn my attention back to the footlocker:
I use my sickle to nudge open this and examine the contents.
Scanning the room and beds for something out of place
Perception Roll.
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As you fan out around the chamber searching it for clues you uncover a number of items
Sasha spots a handle poking out from beneath a bed...on Investigation it turns out to be a gnome hooked hammer
Tristan turns up a small pouch which contains 3 uncut topaz gems
Avinar finds a magnifying glass...still intact
Eltariel hooks the remnants of the lockers lid aside with her sickle and finds that it does indeed hold 3 bottles of wine...wax sealed and probably still good.Wine is rare in these parts and you could turn a good profit on these
Gashelle moves the piled blankets of the bed with her glaive to reveal the bones of a small humanoid.
For Eltariel
"These look like a gnome's bones'," I remark quietly. "I can't see a gnome leaving another one unburied here ... or sharing a room with a spider that size. This poor chap's been gone a while, I think."
I'll stash the wine in my pack and murmur a prayer over the remains, then carefully cover them. We can take them out and bury them after we have investigated properly. I'll also look for any means of identifying who he was ...
Gashelle surprises herself by takeing the discovery of the bones so well. She takes the time to detect if anything in the room is magic.
"Gnomes s-see in the dark just f-fine," she whispers. "There isn't anything h- here to read; why have the p- place lit?"
Tristan seeing the beasts distraction picks his spot carefully and lunges his rapier impaling the beast straight through its brain dropping it immediately
Sasha ponders the strange item he is holding. "Gee, the gnomes even fight complicated." He gets ready to fall in behind anyone who will lead the way onwards.
I heft my glowing rock and nod to Avinar, looking at the shadowy passage.
"Shall I?" I ask quietly. "Or would you prefer to blunder into anything there in the dark but have the vital element of surprise?"
"Goodman Tristan, I think th- this chamber evidences a- against your suggestion that the entrance was a s- simple explosion. What kind of ex- explosion could have moved all that rock but left the room intact?" whispers Gashelle.
To Avinar and Eltariel, "Should I t- t- take second r- rank? Or draw my damshah (longsword, literally "mannish blade") and g- go first?"
"I shall lead, Gashelle take second rank in case we are attacked, someone who is decent with martial play should protect our rear, Tristain I want you near me, you need to have a front seat to witness my heroics, Plus I need your eyes to detect any traps that may lay in wait. Eltariel, I have offended you, I am sorry, I am just concerned for your safety and the safety of us all". Sasha stay in the middle we need your abilities, and we need you to stay protected, Eltariel, we need you guarded as well in case one of us needs your tending. I am sorry for my earlier curtness, but we must be careful now that we are inside this maze
"As to your lit rock Eltariel, we have too many that cannot see in total darkness, alas even we cannot see so well with out the light of the stars to guide us, do what you will with your rock, but I assure you my elvish princess, the word BLUNDER is not in my vocabulary."
"I shall lead, Gashelle take second rank in case we are attacked, someone who is decent with martial play should protect our rear, Tristain I want you near me, you need to have a front seat to witness my heroics, Plus I need your eyes to detect any traps that may lay in wait. Eltariel, I have offended you, I am sorry, I am just concerned for your safety and the safety of us all". Sasha stay in the middle we need your abilities, and we need you to stay protected, Eltariel, we need you guarded as well in case one of us needs your tending. I am sorry for my earlier curtness, but we must be careful now that we are inside this maze."
Gashelle suddenly relaxes, with a bemused look on her face. She whispers, "An excellent plan, save f- for its one flaw. There are two of us with m- martial skills, hero, you and I. If you're l- leading, and I'm in s- second rank, shall we r- rouse the gnome here to protect our r- rear?"
She turns to Tristan and asks mildly, "Goodman, your skill with that blade does you credit. Are you capable of both p- protecting us from foes b- behind, and capturing Avinar's great derring d- doo?"
I am wary of this maze being set with traps to keep would be explores like us from entering. I think we need Tristan near the front to spot any hazards Gashelle
"Avinar, I was only teasing," I smile at him. He's quite fetching when he's flustered and not posing with that weapon of his.
With a flick of my wrist I toss the glowing rock down the shadowy passageway and take up another to enspell it as well, ready to use if we need it.
"Sasha, it would seem we are the rearguard," I say to the sorcerer. "I hope you have some skill with that sword of yours?"
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I love the RP between you so far, there are some nice character hooks developing..so have 50XP each as a bonus
The rock skitters down the tunnel and bounces off the wall just past the kink.Stepping forward cautiously Avinar finds the tunnel runs but a few feet and then opens out into a small rough cut chamber.
A large metal platform dominates this small 15-foot square area. Standing atop it is a detailed life-size metal statue of a gnome holding a pick and appearing to shout at the ceiling.
A large lever is built into the opposite side of the platform.It seems to have three settings and is now pulled to the right of the statue.
A working fountain burbles out water into a basin on the west wall. Two cruder metal statues of gnomes holding picks stand near the
basin.
Avinar scans the chamber but can see no immediate threat nor does thre seem to be a tunnel leading out off this place
"Sasha, it would seem we are the rearguard," I say to the sorcerer. "I hope you have some skill with that sword of yours?"
"Oh, I prefer to live by my wits rather than the sword", Sasha answers flippantly to cover his insecurity, "but I'll see what I can do."
I'll go back and pull up the rope, then hammer in a piton to anchor it better than the grappling hook. I'll cut enough rope to make the climb down, coil it and tie it onto the piton, and take the rest and the grapple with me.
Reaching the chamber after the others, I'll look curiously at the metal statues from my position at the back: are the crude ones crude because they are corroded/weathered, or are they crude because they aren't made well (with my craft skills I should be able to take a good guess)?
Avinar cautiously steps into the room so the others can get a look, scanning the area he looks for any hidden passage ways. "Tristain, if you do not mind, would you take a closer inspection of this area". Avinar tries to see what the statue is staring at as well.
"I doubt my magic would do anything to those ... things", Sasha mutters, taking out and loading his crossbow. He will try to stay out of harm's way, if possible. If any of the statues come within 10 feet he will cast Mage Armor on himself.