Edward's restraining himself from yanking sight with the spyglass.
"They WHAT?"
*Peers through*
"Damnit...if they did harm her, so help Besmara them, i will kill them."
Alabaster checks his pistol to make sure it's loaded as he grimly replies to Edward.
Ye ain't the only one, mate. I'll be bringin' tha wrath o' Besmara 'erself down on em iffen they were fer hurtin' either o' em. That be a promise.
He looks through the glass, and snarls before yanking it out of its perch and handing it to Isaac.
I think we be needin' ta leave, Silver. Iffen they got tha stones ta parade aroun' in Sandara's hat...
"Ya, need to be savin dem ... but need to be findin water after. Dis one be thinkin we still needin it even if Isaac being Captain."
Isaac takes the spyglass from Alabaster and puts it in his pack. "Thank ye. I agree. Now tha' we hav' som' kin' o' trail, we need to be following' it. Aft'rwar's, we can cross som' thin's off our lis'."
Isaac looks to Jesal. "Aye. Even if we be gettin' th' Man's Promise, we still be needin' th' wat'r to surviv'."
Isaac wrenches the spyglass out of its resting place in the stockade wall, and your group sets out across the treacherous, rocky ridge toward the spot where you spied the grindylows. The sun crawls toward noon as you make your way southward, and it's a few hours into the afternoon when you finally reach the spot--almost at the edge of the island's steep western cliffs--where you saw the grindylows earlier.
There's no sign of grindylows now, sadly. You easily find the sinkhole you saw earlier, though: roughly 30' wide, it's a sheer-sided opening in the rock face. One side of its lip slopes steeply down, and the cliffs that surround it range from 40' to 80' in height. They surround a deep cove churning with dark seawater.
Alabaster looks in and points.
Tha water there be deep, an' no rocks. See 'ow it be churnin' about? We could be divin' in iffen we ain't fer climbin' tha cliffs.
Isaac nods at Alabaster's observation. "Aye. Th' questio' be: shoul' we clim' or div'? I be votin' fer divin' down."
"Dis one prefer to be climbin ... wit a rope if dere bein one. But be followin da Capn."
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"This does remind me of the tale of one eyed Roger.
The guy went diving, only to find a shark was swimming nearby."
Edward says this drily, but with a hinting undertone.
At Jesal's questioning about a rope and hook, Isaac digs through his pack and pulls out his rope and grappling hook. "Tha' won't be a problem."
Arhiel pauses a moment and nods to the guys. "I'm not much for diving in but I'm more than willing to climb down a rope to save our friends. If they are savable, then we must do this!" Isaac may take this as a change to her attitude, but really it isn't, she just didn't think they'd be anywhere reachable in the grindylow's hands.
Isaac nods. "All righ' then. Let's clim' down." He then wedges the hook into the rock and lowers the rope down the rocks. "Th' rope be fifty feet in length. Shoul' be enough to ge' down. Though, I be wonderin' if I coul' leav' it here so we can be climbin' back up."
Arhiel winces at the length of the hanging rope and waits for someone else to go down first to hold the rope steady while she climbs down... When it IS her turn she climbs down as well as she can.
Isaac climbs down first. He has little to no problem scrambling down the rope.
He keeps an eye on Arhiel, ready to aid her.
Isaac swarms down the rope without much difficulty, and finds that although the waters of the basin below are churning heavily, he's a skilled enough swimmer to stay afloat with little trouble. With him bracing the rope against the wall, Arhiel is (just) able to make her way down to the basin as well, slipping at one point and banging her elbow on the wall, but not hard enough to do anything worse than sting.
She has a much harder time staying afloat in the churning tide pool, but with Isaac giving her a hand, she's able to at least keep her head above water.
Arhiel almost weeps in relief when she reaches water level, only to be almost swept away if it weren't for Isaac.
"Oh... my... thank you, Isaac. Stop worrying about me though and hold that rope steady for the others... I'll just hang onto you so the current doesn't get me away from you while you're holding the rope... .Don't worry about me, I'll be fine." she says with only a hint of worry in her voice.
Muttering
Damn tha rope, I be a pirate...
Alabaster dives in!
Jesal will climb down the rope ...
... and once down will.put on his swim fins.
"Dis one be casting 2 spells when needed. One be makin someone swimming better for 3 minutes. Da other be makin email breathe air underwater for da same time. Be usin dem when needed." He looks.meaningfully at Arhiel.
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Jesal makes his way carefully down the rope before jumping the last few feet, landing in the water with a splash and surfacing gracefully, shaking water from his hair and treading easily. Alabaster makes what would be a perfect dive...were it not for a loose stone that turns under his foot right near the lip of the cliff. He manages to almost straighten himself out, but still hits the water side-on. Edward, too, has a bad fall when he's scared by a stirge that flaps out of an unseen nest on the cliff wall, chirping angrily, and the pirate plunges into the water with a *smack*!
Regrouping, your party is faced with a choice between a tunnel to the right, that leads in the direction of the open sea, or a tunnel to your left that leads into the rock. Isaac, Alabaster, and Jesal can easily swim forward and see that both tunnels appear to be completely flooded, and turn not far from their opening into this hole; the weaker swimmers, Arhiel and Edward, are only able to tread water if left unaided in the strong tidal pool.
"Being goin' into the rock, dis one thinks. Be scouting first?"
"Into the rock sounds promising... scouting a bit sounds like it might be dangerous... scout might end up alone in trouble... I'd send Jacko with the scout, he can't fly in water, but he could let me know if he's in danger, but that's about it, but we'd know to catch up quick... OR, we could just all stay close. Comes down to it, I guess it's Isaac's call as he's our de facto leader."
Arhiel almost weeps in relief when she reaches water level, only to be almost swept away if it weren't for Isaac.
"Oh... my... thank you, Isaac. Stop worrying about me though and hold that rope steady for the others... I'll just hang onto you so the current doesn't get me away from you while you're holding the rope... .Don't worry about me, I'll be fine." she says with only a hint of worry in her voice.
Isaac nods. "All righ' then, Arhiel. If ye be needin' me, le' me kno'. Jus' hang on tigh'." He then tries to hold the rope steady. Though, it doesn't seem to help.
Isaac thinks about the options presented to the team. He points to the passage into the rocks. "We be goin' tha' way. Arhiel, release Jacko to scout ahead. Howe'er, we be sticking' toget'er. We stay behin' Jacko by a good amoun'. Tha' way, we stay hidden an' Jacko can be gettin' bac' to us."
"I'm not sure how well Jacko can move alone in the water... I was thinking more he goes with the scout, and we use my connection to Jacko to know whether or not they are in danger... but if he can maneuver in the water somehow, he'd make a good scout alone, I'll grant you that, his small size would make him hard to spot."
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Jesal will go since no swim checks are required. Spear out and ready to channel if he gets attacked.
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Edward still thinks there's a dangerous fish swimming about.
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Taking a deep breath, Jesal dives and vanishes beneath the surface of the water...
Regardless, seeing that there is air here, he will return to get the others
After a few tense minutes, just as you're beginning to worry, Jesal reappears from the tunnel, shaking his head to divest himself of the water.
"Bein air pocket ahead with land. Bein somethin talkin in Aquan as well. All be goin."
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"In aquan?
More of our little friend's kin maybe?"
"Dis one be thinkin so. Didna see dem."
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Isaac chimes in. "Eit'er way, we needin' to be sneaky. We can't be havin' 'em ge' th' drop on us."
"Agreed, we need the element of surprise for ourselves."
Isaac nods and prepares to go into the deep of the rocks.
[ooc]EDIT: And I blow it...[/dice]
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As you all surface in the dark cavern, Isaac tries to stealthily peer over the lip of stone ahead of you...unfortunately, he slips on some cave slime and makes a clattering crash as he regains his footing. Distantly, you hear: "ຈະເປັນແນວໃດສິ່ງລົບກວນທີ່ນີ້?" "ຄົນນອກ! ໄດ້ຮັບໃຫ້ເຂົາເຈົ້າ!"
Peering into the cave to his right, which is dimly lit by glowing lichen on the walls, Isaac sees a mob of grindylows making ready to attack!
Isaac and Jesal leap into action as the grindylows are still grasping their spears...
Initiative
Isaac, Jesal <------
Grindylows
Arhiel, Alabaster, Edward
Isaac curses as he loses his footing. He then sees the grindylows, draws his cutlass, and shouts out in Aquan, "Ye ca' not be hopin' to win her'! Ye shoul' run!" He then runs, diving into the deeper water, and swims a bit.
Isaac dives into the water and begins swimming toward the grindylows as they shriek and clutch their spears!
Jesal will hold action in cover until.they move in closer. Once they've swarmed forward he will.move out and channel to control.
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