Down the Drain
Log Info
- Title: Down the Drain
- Emitter: Solar Flare
- Characters: Delilah, Donna, Ashes, Elyanna, Sirri, Illiria
- Place: Alexandrian Sewers
- Time: Monday, February 28, 2022, 8:28 PM
- Summary: Trapped in a Cistern with gelatanous cubes rapily filling it up, the Valethor gang decides it wants to quit this bowl of jello. They all rush the central drain which Donna unplugged, and drop down it. They escape with only a bruised tail, although the cubes are working on becoming cylinders. Not wanting to tarry, the gang and guests head deeper, looking for Veren's lair.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Appearing -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Delilah 5'4" 106 Lb Human Female A golden haired human girl in white robes. Donna 5'4" 106 Lb Human Female A black-haired human girl in black robes. Ashes 5'11" 177 Lb Hobgoblin Female A somber arvec in grey clothes with a skull face. Elyanna 5'11" 153 Lb Half-Orc Female A grim, Arvek-blooded woman in raven feathers. -=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--= -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= NPCs of Note =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Sirri Gnome Female Leader of the expedition Illiria Merfolk Female A damselfish in distress, Cleric. -=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--= -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= As the GM -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Solar Flare -=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=
There's four cubes now, Donna has a manhole cover open. Elyanna is carrying Illiria. There's a cube between her and the manhole. The hobkin is close, within range of its attacks.
GAME: Delilah rolls 1d20+5: (12)+5: 17
Roll the bones indeed.
With her song very much continuing, albeit under strain of carrying even a svelte mermaid in such a frenetic venue as this is becoming, Elyanna moves as deftly as she can toward the avenue of escape Donna has uncorked.
Her obstacle, fresh for the fight, takes a malignant swipe at the women in transit, but Keeper's deft reflexes and creative weaving spares either of them any bad touching.
Drawing up at the threshold to the depths below, the hobkin looks down into the darkness and warns, "No dire threats below, I will follow!" and risks opening herself up by easing Illira down.
Because it happens.
Ashlee lets her crossbow hang slack, staring at the minimal effect the great arc left in its wake. With the cistern un-corked and Donna ordering the retreat, the Mourner runs, >klong<-ing across the bottom of the basin to get to the drain.
A drain that is mostly dry, with nothing of any great threat. Cobwebs.
GAME: Donna rolls reflex: (16)+8: 24
Donna is able avoid the cube trying to land on her. It is further away from the manhole. Unfortunately, Donna is also further away from the manhole cover and now have a cube between her and it.
And Sirri, who's still hanging on for dear life.
GAME: Ashes rolls reflex: (17)+5: 22 GAME: Elyanna rolls reflex+3: (7)+10+3: 20 GAME: Elyanna spends ONE use of BARDIC PERFORMANCE.
The Cubes refuse to be denied their dinner so easily as that. Not that they have any particular emotions, or indeed thoughts, on the matter; they're just squarish globs of goo that have the singular drive of eating things and getting bigger.
One of them proves it by lurching forwards, rolling over itself and landing with a mighty crash in the space where, moments earlier, Donna had been. The brawler is fortunate to not be on her way to padding out the weight of a cube, but unfortunately said cube is now between her, Sirri, and freedom.
Meanwhile, Elyanna and Ashes have to hastily jump back themselves, as the goo specimen that Elyanna had just run around tilts over, and they both also manage to avoid being landed on. Luckily, the manhole is still open; just barely. The cube leans over the edge of it, making any descent perilous at best.
The situation on the whole might, as some would say, be becoming dire. Another loud impact signals the arrival of a fresh cube nearby; and then another, and another, further off in the distance.
Illiria sucks in her breath and holds it, as she's lowered down into the manhole; she grabs hold of the edge, and then the rusty ladder beneath, not that it does her a great deal of good once Elyanna lets go of her. She drops the last few feet down and sprawls out, amongst the cobwebs and general ick, but it seems she isn't one to complain.
"I'm alright!" she calls up, once she's regained her breath. "Please, hurry down!"
GAME: Delilah rolls 1d20+5: (18)+5: 23 GAME: Delilah rolls 2d6+2d6: (10)+(9): 19 GAME: Donna rolls fort: (4)+8: 12 GAME: Delilah rolls 1d8: (6): 6 (Mirror Image - Not Donna)
With the way open, and most of her compatriots down to safety, Donna bounces a couple times on the balls of her feet. "Just a little longer, Sirri," she says, eyes darting around the field to plot the best route to her goal. "You go down first, we'll be right behind ya." The brawler assumes a low crouch, knocks once on the metal ground, and lurches into an impossibly fast run.
Surrounded by copies of herself, but only one carrying the gnome, it might have been easy to tell which one is the real Donna. And, in fact, that might explain the eerily accurate massive tentacle swooping down onto Donna's head. But the magic she used has an oft-overlooked backup strategy.
For Sirri, the world seems to ~*(stutter)*~ a bit, as Donna swaps places with one of her illusory doubles, lurching ahead two feet from her previous position. As they close on the manhole, Donna slides to a halt, turning her back to the exit to let Sirri off.
Glancing over at Elyanna, the brawler gives the Keeper a wild grin, fondly nudging the hobkin's shoulder with an elbow, before following the gnome down into the depths. "Exit stage down, Ely! I'll catch ya!"
The gnome hasn't quite stopped shrieking, after almost being walloped by an oozey tentacle, by the time Donna is poking her down into the manhole. She scurries down, and is still visibly shaken, even as she's helping Illiria to sit up. "Got to tell, someone, the Cistern is lousy with cubes," she gasps. "Lousy. Lousy with cubes. ...Have to send... some adventurers to... to sort it out." There's another loud impact up above, from a cube landing on the cobbled floor. "Have to... send the whole *army* I think."
"I'm going to flay that gangrenous goblin with a potato peeler!" Elyanna snarls through her teeth as the dice keep rolling against them, in this case, nearly completely obstructing their egress.<goblin-talk>
The nudge from Donna accompanies the reassurance from Illiara.
The Keeper looks to see where Ashes is on her journey of escape. Seeing her friend so close, she turns to Donna with a nod, then drops down into the depths. Nearly as soon as her boots hit the floor, the Keeper is sidestepping to clear the way, and Maidnhead slithers free in her hand once more as she scans about for hidden dangers.
One of the cubes is literally covering part of the manhole.
They aren't so much closing, as they've... closed.
They're closing. They've closed. There's a cube covering part of the manhole, and everyone else has dropped down.
Ashes follows, stepping into the circle of darkness and climbing down and continues to the bottom.
As Ashes makes it down the ladder, there is another loud crash, as the cube that had been near the manhole cover rolls over again, and is now completely covering it. More muffled thuds can be heard coming from above; presumably there are more cubes, dropping down from the ceiling and landing on the Cistern floor.
"I think we best not linger," points out Illiria, pointing up towards the top of the ladder; the cube covering the exit is busy trying to force itself through the small hole, but is having difficulty with a large, metal chest overflowing with a small fortune of gold coins, that's gotten stuck. One of the coins emerges from the goop and falls, bouncing off the passage floor and coming to rest in a bit of a goopy mess.
"Best leave that." Ashes says, her voice flat. It can add to the legend that Alexandria's sewers are lined with gold. She nods to Illiria's expressed thought. "Which way?"
She hasn't had a chance to count the exits; the Mourner brings up her glowing bolt, holding it out to Donna, "Light."
The Mourner checks on each of her companions, Illiria, Sirri, Elyanna, Donna. Everyone is present with all pieces. "Lead the way."
Elyanna accepts the relative safety of the situation, trickle down economics, notwithstanding, and returns the lash to her belt.
"Agreed." she nods toward Ashes' advice about the consumptive currency, and she moves forward to once again take up the burden of their guest from the deeps.
"Do we know where we are?" the Keeper wonders, then pushes back up to her feet with a grunt as she hoists Illiara once more.
"Everyone all right?" Donna says between pants, leaning over with her hands on her knees for a moment, as she catches her breath. Once she's sure she can breathe without gulping air, the brawler straightens, taking the bolt with a nod. The light gets turned contemplatively between the fingers of one hand, as she peers down the tunnel. "Good question, Ely... Sirri, any idea?" But with no way to go but forward, Donna holds the bolt out in front of her and gets to stepping, lighting their way.
"Nope!" Sirri stands up, dusts herself off, and turns her goggles back on, illuminating the inside of the passageway. "No, wait, actually yes. Yes I do know where we are. We're in a passageway, under the Cistern, which wasn't meant for carrying icky water 'cause it doesn't have a channel in it." She pauses, biting her bottom lip. "This was for servicing. And we came from that way," she points, "So we want to go... this way."
"Before that Cube figures out how to get in here and eat us," she adds, already making haste down the tunnel.
Ashlee nods, looking down at Sirri, her eyes flicking to Elyanna. Her hobkin has her hands full of damselfish, her attention switches to the gnome. "Do you want me to carry you?"
She's falling in behind Donna, orienting on the indicated direction, "What do your goggles detect?"
"I'm fine," Illiria breathes. "A little bruised on the tail, but given what we've all just been through, that's nothing surprising, nor anything to complain about." The priestess clasps her hands to Elyanna's shoulders, and smiles at the Keeper. "Thank you for looking after me. I hope we are safer, for the rest of your journey, yes? No more massive cubes."
Sirri pauses, looking up at Ashlee, and shakes her head. "No thank you, I need to be walking around to get the feel of the place. ...And, my goggles give light and illuminate ghosts and undead. Just in case! You never know what's gonna be lurking down here."
"You are welcome." The red woman starts, trying to recenter herself in the wake of their near engulfment.
As the mermaid hopes aloud for no more cubes of such scope, "The smaller ones are not much more fun." Elyanna remarks offhandedly and looks her companions' over, verifying their states of readiness.
She shuffles in behind the others, then, "I apologize. There was no time to set you down more carefully."
Following the gnome's indications, Donna maintains a semi-casual stroll down the passageway, eyes darting left and right. "Good thinkin'. But if there's anything down here, 'least it's gonna be a bit more punch-sized."
The brawler falls silent, for awhile, focused more on being alert and prepared for danger than conversation, because this is the Alexandrian sewers. But after awhile she speaks up, again. "...Sorry about the boat, Illiria. I'll keep an eye out for a way out, if you wanna take it."
"I have a friend with a boat." Ashes offers, also trying to maintain some vigilance. She stares around at the tunnel. "My spells can hide us from undead and find secret doors."
A few more steps, then she adds, "Only for a short time. So it's better when you know it's needed."
Exactly how one knows when there's a secret door around to employ the spell for, is an esoteric question. It's possible with a detailed map, to note hidden areas and large gaps. Alternatively, passage ways that simply end, are good candidates also.
It's still a desperation tactic.
