I guess getting him to shut up is the real trick. Azruk asks the half-drow. My name is Azruk-Hal. Yours?
He looks back at the new arrival. You know about this place?
Only what the little one is relaying through to me. It looks that the only ways up are to climb
"I am Daelendross. Dael is acceptable if you find the full pronunciation a bit much. My experience with those without elven blood is our nomenclature can be a bit unwieldy. That is Bazogobergoban, and for all his faults he has his uses. Anyway, it would seem working our way down from the second floor might be the easiest option, then. I'm no mathematical genius, but it would seem if the weight of the building itself hasn't sunk it in of itself, our little group wouldn't succeed in bringing it lower where several tons of stone failed, so, it should be safe, no?" He gives a hopeful smile.
"If she is like me, her link grows weaker and so does she the further she travels from the handbag pouring you sacks of meat drinks. It's actually surprising she's come this far."
Looking down at himself.
You'd be surprised. Tell you what, I'll go first, so if anything crumbles, it'll land on me.
Also, did I hear the word "goober" in his name? Azruk seems to be starting to ignore the Eidolon.
Our connection is much stronger, Unlike you i am not bound to orders, Although handbag is a good insult, i will give you that.She comments, laughing at the mention of goober...
"Something like that. My Abyssal is a little rusty...they don't exactly send half-breeds to the academy in the Darklands...but, roughly translated it means, 'I hear your cries'...we met under...less fortunate circumstances. I will send Bazo with you. If his current body dies it is only a minor inconvenience, and it will only take me time to summon him again. His true form is in the abyss. I will follow at a safe distance. I know a bit more magic besides summoning demons, but I'm not really an expert like my mother, so I hope you understand my hesitancy to take the lead." The young half drow offers a grim smile.
"I suppose since you got this far away from the Darklands, whatever magic your mother is expert in, it's not divination. But I can tell you this - Darklands is not the only place where half-breeds are shunned. Surface elves may be not as cruel, but are just as self-absorbed."
Ciaran draws his crossbow.
"I, too, prefer to stay out of the front line. But give me a shout if you see anything worth checking out, or a kobold in need of shooting."
there are two paths you can see to climb up
up the rubble ramp leading to the second floor
or climb up using the walls
knowledge engineering to find out more .
i'll need both a climb check and which path you climb up
Fitting in, huh? Azruk tries climbing the rubble ramp.
...and his weight causes him to slide down in every step as if trying to climb straight up a sand wall.
Ciaran carefully attempts to climb up the ramp, following Dael and Bazo's footsteps.
Azruk slides down finding the rubble loose the first time. everyone else carefully climbs up the loose rubble, Azruk following.
Open to the sky above, this exposed upper floor contains only some smashed furniture and a sprinkling of rubble. A trap door is set in the floor against the northwest wall, but a stout timber has fallen across it.
"Yeah, don't look at me to move that thing. I am a quadraped, ans I haven't got hands, and Mr. Magic over there is a f***ing wimp. He can't even do one pull up! I mean, I don't even have thumbs and I'm pretty sure I could do that."
Bazogobergoban does have shoulders, however, (or would that be front-hips?) and he shrugs them. "As I am eager to get this idiocy over with, I know the blueberry that calls himself my master has some rope, and I have a mouth that grip like a succubus's, so I can help the gecko pull it if it turns out the other interbreeding accident and the girl the size of my stool have the same physical prowess as my enfeebled companion."
Daelendross glares at Bazogobergoban, and Bazo merely shrugs again. "What? Don't act like the pull up thing isn't true."
"I suppose since you got this far away from the Darklands, whatever magic your mother is expert in, it's not divination. But I can tell you this - Darklands is not the only place where half-breeds are shunned. Surface elves may be not as cruel, but are just as self-absorbed."
"I took some...precaution. My sisters had rivals...My death was faked along with theirs. Since she didn't care about someone murdering a half breed that resulted from a little torture rape of a slave when she was bored, she didn't bother investigating my 'corpse', and since my sisters only saw a demon kill them, it wasn't traced back to me, since demon summoning is pretty common back home."
He sighs and shakes his head. "Really, I had a younger sister born a few ago from a new consort of my mother, so I'm pretty sure she thinks it is him trying to seal his daughter's place as my mother's heir. He is a moderately powerful sorcerer himself, and, well...drow politics and all."
Daelendross smiles weakly, and extends a hand. "I was always taught to kill surface elves, as they would kill us first, but then I was taught slaves were no better than livestock, and I learned that to be a lie when they put me in charge of them. Plus, I mean, I guess we're both half human, so that's a bond, right?" He scratches his head. "Am I being weird? I don't know, this I new for me."
Very weird. Take it from someone talking through experience, ya don't want to spend all your time worrying what people think. Azruk uses a round of rage, and tries to pull the log off/out of the way.
Try to cut back on rape torture talk though. He advises while hefting the log with seeming ease.
Ciaran stares blankly at Dael's hand for a few moments, trying to shake off the mental images, before finally sealing the handshake.
"Your teachers were not lying. I was taught to shoot the drow on sight and run to proper elves for help - for the exact reasons you just mentioned. But I've always thought that attacking unprovoked makes us no better than them - or their demon allies, for that matter."
As Azruk-Hal opens up the trap door, Ciaran looks down, crossbow in hand, to check out the area with his low-light vision.
with a good pull the timber flies off literally, the trap door is pulled off it's hinges exposing a ladder and a tunnel going down.
upon climbing down The only source oflight in here is what sifts in through the open trap door above. The dungeon levels below this
room are completely lightless. The trap door continues down further blocked by another trap door.
"Blind mortals can't even see in a little darkness..."
Bazo and Dael both peer down the hole.
"Yeah, a ladder. I...don't do ladders."
Daelendross starts to untie the rope from the log and tie up Bazo to lower him down. "Aww, poor little immortal, can't even use a ladder. Since you're expendable, you're up first."
As Bazo is lowered down he see's a room full of smashed furniture, another trap door, and the bodies of two green scaled creatures very much dead.
Once Bazo signals it's clear, Daelendross climbs down after him and starts to search the bodies. "Sorry guys. I, uh...don't really know any light magic or have any torches. Not really something I, um, prepared for." He raises an eyebrow at Ciaran. "You can't see here? Weird... Sorry little guys, but you won't need anything you have wherever you have gone."
Yep, it's definitely dark down there. Azruk lights a torch, and holds it out behind him, following Ciaran down the ladder, waiting for him to finish climbing first. He has come to understand certain structures have a "weight limit".
Picking through the kobold bodies you find very little: a few broken javelins, two broken pickaxes, shovel, a a smelly burlap sack
"Seems like nowhere to go but down."
Dael opens the second trap door and peers down.
just by peering down the walls to you seem a bit unstable, you also hear skittering of some kind. From this angle you see nothing else other than another ladder.
Azruk motions with his free arm towards the opening further down.
Shall Bazo take the lead again? Although I'd like to see him get pasted by whatever's down there, he can also see better.
"No objections from my side. My own eyes are next to useless in total darkness."
"Sure, why not; lower him down!"
Lowering Bazo down the chute, he hits the ground. it's dark and the floor is dusty. the skittering and noises echo loudly through the room.
Five beds lay against the north and south walls there wooden frames rotted to the core.
the southwestern portion of the room broadening into a larger chamber, a rusted iron statue standing in between the two parts of the room, it looks rusted and odd. the southern wall has an iron door.
crawling forth from other parts of the room, two giant long red bugs each possessing many legs and vicious mouth pincers. The crawl towards Bazo hungrily
"Finally, something to kill!"
"I'm taking all my frustration and boredom out on you!"
"Have fun Bazo. Do what you want. Um...after you gentlemen...and lady."
(touch)
(acid)
one of the giant insects crawls quickly towards Bazor missing it's attempt to bite and feed on the demonic outsider.
Dael's Acid orb flies, splashing on the Insect causing it a bit of pain.
Bazogobergoban starts to laugh at the little bite.
"BWAHAHA!! Really? That's adorable. Let me show you how it's done..."
Bazo starts ripping, shredding, biting, and tearing at the bug in a fury of disgusting frenzy.
After a flurry of misses Bazo's final claw connects, killing the Centipede in one vicious blow.
Azruk draws a javelin from the makeshift sling on his back, waiting for something to come into view as well.
Ciaran takes up a spot opposite Azruk-Hal, and peers intensely into the darkness below, his crossbow locked at the border between the faint light from the shaft and the surrounding darkness.
The centipede doesn't approach the group instead keeps it's distance.
At this point Azruk will take the time to drop down the ladder, hanging on with his free hand, and as a second move action, he'll toss the torch forward slightly, and draw his blade .