Wight Investigation, part 3
So.. things are bad. Not necessarily imminently bad for your group, but bad in general. There is a fear that Alexandria may have a very short future ahead of it. The elemental Shilde's report of what she saw is less than inspiring; a giant, undead worm.. probably some form of risen purple worm... is tunnelling through the mountain. This is a revelation; it offers some explanation of how this recent scourge of wights has come to the lands around Alexandria. It is likely they have been escaping out smaller caverns, tunnels and mine shafts as the great tunnel below exposes them to the horde that is following.
There is a bit of hope. Normally when Worms tunnel, they don't leave a useable passage behind them. The hope is that in making the tunnel, there is some measure of slowdown created by a need to actually remove the earth and stone displaced by the worm. Of course, the flip side of this is that if the horde is that organized to perform such a task there is almost certainly a great intelligence moving it.
While she offers what she saw, Shilde expends much of the magic in her wand (which she'd managed to retrieve on her way to catch up) on the group, particularly Skielstregar and Barclaiigh, before declaring she is going to go see if she can find out more. If there are objections, she listens.. but ultimately, well. She's made of stone. Her mind is made up and nobody is going to stop her.
Another member of the party also makes their departure. Ramirez is possibly the fastest memory of the group, so Paenitia, in her customary colourful language, declares she will bring the message to Alexandria. Haste is definitely a priority at this point.
This leaves the four of you to make it out of the caverns. Shilde has promised to return, of course, but considering her current form, she is more likely to be able to find her way out if she gets into trouble. Most of you, however, are limited to the current passages. And considering the recent earthquake, these passages may not be as trustworthy as you might hope.
Skielstregar needed quite a bit of healing to get back on his feet, as he suffered quite a beating. Panting and fatigued, he squirms against the healing magics rendered unto him. It works, but it always felt... uncomfortable.
He rubs his face as the others depart, and a languid sigh leaves him as he catches his breath. "... thisss one doesss not agree splitting off isss... good. But... here we are."
His attention shifts to Cor'lana. "Ssshaman Ravenssstongue, the map, you have, yesss? We can try and retrace..."
"Yes, I have the map," Cor'lana responds. She pulls it out of her bag and holds it out, the sheet of paper having been carefully folded and tucked away. "I just hope it's still relevant. If a passage collapses, we've got a lot of backtracking to do."
She doesn't say the scary part out loud: if all the passages collapse, then there's no going home.
Vaera is back to travelling with everyone recovered for the most part, there wasn't time to spare, and with even less people any threats were even more of a problem. "Read it as we go, I already marked the tunnel exits as they lead into the main area." Vaera chuffs. "We need to stay of everything underground though, while we still can."
"'n don't you let me push you around, none, Barclaiigh. Y'better stand up fer yerself,'" Meowclaiigh is doing his Shilde impersonation and feeling catty (in more ways than one). He falls to grumbling quietly as he pads the perimeter, sticking his nose this way and that to sniff as the others get their bearings. "-- not like y'all'll listen if'n I offer any danged objections..." Rowr.
The panther stops next to a headless handle that might've once been a pickax leaning against a wall. Cat-eyes narrow in frustration and disgust and he bops it over to fall and clatter.
Turning back, his whiskers flex and he does his best to shake his head like a proper dwarf might. "I can worm a whole right-through the stone fer us if there's a collapse," the druid assures the group. "Assumin' Ea ain't makin' snap judgements'n pluggin' her ears when y'try'n say how danged-- rrrgh."
GAME: Skielstregar rolls acrobatics: (9)+5: 14 GAME: Skielstregar rolls reflex: (11)+6: 17 GAME: Barclaiigh rolls Catrobatics: (12)+Catrobatics: 12 <OOC> Barclaiigh says, "(14)" GAME: Vaera rolls acrobatics: (7)+4: 11 GAME: Vaera rolls reflex: (15)+9: 24 GAME: Barclaiigh rolls Reflex: (7)+5: 12 GAME: Ravenstongue rolls Acrobatics: (1)+2: 3 (EPIC FAIL) GAME: Ravenstongue rolls Reflex: (18)+6: 24 GAME: Williwaw rolls 1d6: (3): 3
Another tremor rumbles throught he cavern, this one even worse than the last. The very ground, it seems, is trying to break you, trying to throw you about like a dog shaking off water. More rocks and dust break from the walls and ceiling, making it temporarily difficult to see.. a particularly large rock finds its way to striking the panther before rolling away.
I mean, Shilde's not a powerful druid. Surely she didn't hear his grumbling. Surely she had absolutely nothing to do with the small bump forming on Barclaiigh's noggin. Surely.
When the dust settles, however, there is worse news. The floors, the walls, the ceilng.. dark, jagged cracks reveal structural damage and ahead... ahead, the ceiling has collapsed, piling stone and dirt into the passage and blocking it off.
GAME: Ravenstongue rolls Perception+2: (16)+4+2: 22 GAME: Barclaiigh rolls Perception: (1)+15: 16 (EPIC FAIL) GAME: Skielstregar rolls perception: (19)+12: 31 GAME: Vaera rolls perception: (17)+12: 29
Skielstregar gets jostled jostled around as they're going but then the earthquake rocks him, him clattering to the rocky ground in a musical cacophony of metal. "Agh!"
The makes a 'buh' sound as he gets to his knees, him looking around. "Isss everyone alright?" he huffs out cold air, picking up his halberd as he gets to his feet as he stares ahead to the damage. "... thisss... one doesssn't like the look of thisss..."
Cor'lana groans a little as she's knocked to the ground. Pothy tries to apply salve to her emotional wound of falling by nuzzling her hair with his beak. "Oopsy-daisy," Pothy says.
"You got that right," Cor'lana groans, and she gets up to her feet, looking around at the cavern that's been rearranged and refurnished by a landlord with no taste. She grimaces. "Well, shit."
There's a suprised, backthroated clack as Meowclaigh opens his mouth and his eyes go wide. The ground shifts and his paws go wide. It jumps again and his forepaws slip out while his hindlegs kick out to one side. He's down and his tail is swishing angrily. Paws flex and claws extend as he blinks away the stars from his vision and works back up to his feet.
"... didn't reckon that could happen lookin' like this," he drawls, shaking out alternating paws to work the fine dust and scree loose.
"We-- agh!" The druid had something on his mind but stops blinking and shaking his head, raising a paw and trying to wipe at his eyes. "Dang... ol' dust... ack."
Vaera doesn't fare much better than the others when the ground shakes, and she's sent tumbling down the tunnel floor, only to hop back to her feet. "I'm fine." Vaera states. "But our path is not. If you are not concussed barclaiigh, we may need you to make a path through there, unless there was another branch on the map that leads back."
Skielstregar puts a hand near the side of his head, listening before stepping up towards one of the walls. "... do.. you all hear that?" he rumbles, putting a hand on the cracked wall. "There may be open air here. A larger tunnel that hasss settled." He taps a hand on a pickaxe on his belt.
"I could use my water jet spell to help," Cor'lana suggests. "It pushes stuff around. But that pickaxe might be a better idea."
Pothy looks around curiously. Are there shinies? Insects? /Snacks?/
"Got a spell t'shift the stone if we're in a hurry. Ain't gonna be a hole big enough t'live in, but..." Bar is still trying to get the dirt out of his eyes.
GAME: Skielstregar rolls survival: (19)+12: 31 GAME: Vaera rolls survival: (17)+12: 29
"There's air, but no way of knowing where it leads. Could be a dead end that only got revealed because of the rockslide, now the gas in it is escaping." Vaera chuffs. "Could be a way out, worth checking at least. But we can't afford to get caught in there, either."
GAME: Skielstregar rolls constitution: (14)+4: 18 GAME: Skielstregar rolls constitution: (19)+4: 23
Skielstregar looks down to Meowclaiigh and Cor'lana, him rubbing his face free of dust as well. "Perhapsss sssave the magicsss for when we face more dire entombment," he rumbles, taking up the salvaged pickaxe he got from earlier and resting it in his hands. "Perhapss thisss wall hidesss a way to get around. Give thisss one a moment."
He grips it tight, black ichor flowing from his hands onto the head of the mining tool as he slams the tip of it into the crack of the rock face.
Things shudder. He stops, looking a bit timid. "... perhaps... a bit too much..." he whispers to himself before going at it with a more careful approach.
Enough stone gets broken away to show a tight, natural passage beyond. "... it'sss a tight fit, but maybe..." he says the others, him panting out gouts of frozen air from the labor.
"How's yer bird at playin' canary, y'reckon?" Meowclaiigh wonders of Ravenstongue.
Cor'lana just looks flatly at Meowclaiigh. "I'm not sending Pothy in there to die," she says, folding her arms.
Pothy even looked offended. But then... he considers the Pothy-bilities. "Gimme the goods," he says, and then he whistles something to his mistress.
Cor'lana's violet eyes go wide. "What do you mean, you'll pretend to be a canary for snacks?" she asks, sighing. "Fine! Go squeeze your way in."
And so Pothy flies into the passage, spurred on by the promise of snacks.
As much as Vaera may have wished to help, there was only one pickaxe to work. So instead she kept a look out on the way they came, until it was open enough to traverse.
I know your tail end well enough to know you'll fit just fine." Vaera chuffs. "Though, if Pothy is willing to check it first, I suppose that would be best. Assuming he can actually see in the dark, that is."
Eventually, Pothy comes back. He fits back through the passageway and lands on Cor'lana's shoulder. She seems very pleased with this development and offers him a handful of dried fruit for his troubles.
Then he starts whistling, and Cor'lana translates. "Pothy says he saw a short and awkward tunnel that opens up into a large cavern that is generally ovoid, but the hole opens up kind of close to the top. There's another large crack that people can squeeze through not far from there, and he heard running water in the depths of the cavern, too. So... It's a direction."
Another tremor rocks the cavern. It's enough to shake loose even more dust, and the dust on the floor shifts and swirls in random patterns. No rocks this time, though.
Skielstregar chuffs and nudges Vaera with an elbow. "Then follow behind this one to make sure this one doesn't get stuck," he tiredly teases in his native tongue. <Draconic>
The bird returns after Skiel suppresss a laugh from Meowclaiigh's antics, and the rumbling echoes briefly. The Warrior ceases, a firm look about his face. "Right, let'sss get a move. Sssmaller folk firssst, then Vaera and thisss one will go."
Cor'lana does as suggested, going ahead of Skielstregar and Vaera as she's relatively small compared to them. "I /really/ hope this is fine," she mutters. "Missing home right about now."
Pothy whistles at Cor'lana and she rolls her eyes. One can only guess at what was said.
"All y'ever hear'a these critters is that they're waterskins with fur," Meowclaiigh grunts. The panther lopes the short distance to the crack in the wall and crawls up and in.
"Impressive work, mister Skilltriggers... grow a beard'n I reckon you could pass..." he offers from the front.
"What, you don't trust my judgement? Very well, I suppose I'll take the rear then."
"Back at camp I will, at least. For now, we need to focus." <draconic> She adds", before waiting to enter the cave after everyone else, the firearm vanishing into her glove to free up space.
Skiel chuffs. "Perhapsss, Sssshaman Barclaiigh. Perhapss they will get a fake beard to look the part?"
He just gives Vaera a look, a snort, and he squeezes on through.
The passage is a tough squeeze, at least for the Makari. It is also quite claustrophobic-unfriendly. It almost seems like the recent quakes have opened what might have originally been a narrow fissure into something larger. Rocks and dust get kicked further down into darkness, and the split in the rock seems to go upwards a fair pace. Broken pieces of rock have split away from the walls, causing you to have to climb or duck.. and there's a constant watching that your feet don't get stuck in the narrowing crack of what passes for a floor.
And like Pothy said, the crack eventually opens up into a large chasm. Barclaiigh can see the other opening. It looks like a friendlier one than the one you're in.. but there's one problem. How are you going to get there?
"Aaah... that ain't no claws for no kinda alarm," Meow opines. The black-furred feline flexes his toe beans to give sturdy talons some fresh air.
The shape shifted druid lifts a forepaw back to realize he doesn't have his pack. "So... my rope is... wherever this stuff skedaddles off to when I'm bein' a critter. Anyone got a spare?"
He hops, pawing up the wall to 'stand' and bares a mouth of fangs. "'imme 'ere," he chomps to demonstrate.
Skielstregar pops out of the narrow passage with a relieved sigh, only for him to suck that air back in as the chasm before them was... much deeper than he imagined.
"R... right," he rumbles to Barc, him reaching behind himself and digging out a coil of rope. "Do you want thisss one to hammer a piton into the wall? Tie you to it or...?"
He holds one end out to Meowclaiigh.
"Pothy can help if the rope needs to be flown somewhere, too," Cor'lana suggests, but it seems like Meowclaiigh has it handled just fine. She just looks around the cave nervously.
"'oo 'an angor. 'ood iyea." Meowclaiigh answers with a mouthful of rope. "'ime 'oo up'rade, 'ough," he offers considering the quality of rope.
"I 'ow a 'uy," he promises before stepping out into the open air. It takes him awhile to he safe and cross the relatively short distance. His felted tail is ramrod straight and his hips are folded almost flat against the craggy rock as he goes.
Barclaiigh takes 10 for a 31 Athletics.
While this is happening, you feel another... not a tremor. It's more like a moan, but felt rather than heard. Felt through your feet, through hands in contact with the stone. And rumbling.
Lyme looks up, eyes probing the darkness. "Oh, I don't like that at all."
GAME: Skielstregar rolls athletics: (16)+15: 31
Lyme looks at the rope with trepidation. "I..." He closes his eyes. "I'll be strong." Kor witness.
Skielstregar hammers in a piton and ties off the rope as Barc makes their way... across? "... this rope isss fine? What upgrade?" he muses before it's anchored across the chasm.
"Thisss one will cross. Tie rope to yourself and toss it over to this this one. They can guide you.' A look to Lyme. A smile. "We can do thisss."
Skiel turns, gulps, then grabs onto the rope before hand over hand shimmying to the other side. With a sigh of relief, he plops to solid ground. "Toss over! Thisss one hass you!" he calls to the others.
GAME: Vaera rolls athletics: (2)+5: 7
Having braced to see Skiel across, Meowclaiigh surrenders his hold and space so the stronger sith-makar can take over seeing the others across. The panther glances down into the chasm and then skulks ahead a ways, scouting their path further to be better prepared for the other's arrival.
GAME: Williwaw rolls 1d6: (1): 1 GAME: Williwaw makes Ravenstongue roll athletics:(13)+1: 14 GAME: Williwaw rolls 1d6: (5): 5 GAME: Lyme rolls athletics: (15)+4: 19
Lyme grabs the rope, steels himself, and then pulls himself over with an ease that surprises himself. Call it focus.
"Sorry, the nice rope is back at camp." Vaera snorts before she ties herself off on the rope and passes it across the chasm. The red makari started working across the rope, but their metal leg slipped on some crumbling stone, and sent them swinging out and into the wall until they could be pulled back up.
"I suppose I deserved that." She grumbles, before getting across the rest of the way.
"Y'all be safe... but hurry," Meowclaiigh calls back, his voice echoing back off the tight cavern walls in between the low rumbling and groaning of the earth. "We ain't... reckon this is more'n just shaky ground." His tail swishes nervously to go with the speculation and he eyes the rock and rubble beneath his paws.
"This ain't better be t'do with you, miss Shilde..." he rumbles to himself.
Skielstregar panics some as a couple slip and are reeled up by him,but he sighs in relief. "Glad you are all well," he rumbles, putting an arm around Vaera briefly before turning back towards where Barc went. "Coming!" he calls back .
The new passage is a little bit easier to navigate. It has more of a floor, for starters. It may have actually have been worked, once.. a deliberate tunnel, though unstable at best. Several collapses from both the walls and the roof obstruct, but none so completely as the first that had knocked you off of your feet. They are navigable; climbing over top or sucking in your guts to move around.
As you push forward, almost subaudible groaning continues, getting louder....