The Colony - Rescue Efforts

After Rennard falls into some sort of trap or illusion, the group starts immediate rescue efforts. This is a relatively brief update because the party wasn't really sure what they were dealing with.

Start Date: August 25th, morning
Start Status: Paladin Dive Competition
Start Location: ???

Adventuring: Rennard, Jinx, Brigg, Smoke, Zenobe
At the Tulip: Castor, Hagan, Xon, Aaron


The Turn

The vanishing paladin puts the party on high alert. "Light, I'll get light going. Who has rope!?" Smoke digs into her pack.

"Here." Zenobe also starts rooting through his pack and comes up with a hank of silk rope.

"Give me the end," says Brigg stowing his bow to free up his hands.

"I'll hang on to the near end," adds Jinx, edging toward the spot Rennard vanished. "Oy! I think there's a hole here!" The fighter's angle-walking ring reveals a circular irregularity in the floor. "Bide a moment," Jinx probes the floor with his bayonet. Poke. Poke. Splash. He squats and feels it with his hand. "It's water, but it's full of silt or muck. I don't think it's magic, just an optical illusion. Can you see it?" Brigg shakes his head, so Jinx quickly scrapes a line along a wide arc. "If it's deep, Rennard is going to drown in his armor. Ready to swim?"

Brigg sighs, sheds his bow and pack and grabs a head-sized rock. "Ballast. Three tugs mean pull, one tug means come on!" He takes several deep breaths and plunges feet first into the pool with a quiet *sploosh*.

The muck on the surface of the water quickly stills the ripples, aside from those created by the rope as Jinx pays it out. 5 feet. 10. 15. "Deep," mutters Zenobe, who helps Jinx with the rope. Meanwhile, Smoke has her torch lit and is keeping a nervous eye on the various exits from the cave. "I got a bad feeling about this," she mutters.

Three sharp tugs. "Pull! Steady now. We don't want to yank it out of their hands." Zenobe and Jinx pull at a steady pace, 5 feet, 10, 15.

Brigg's arm breaks the surface, followed by his head and shoulder. "Grab him!" he coughs, struggling to lift the half-drowned Rennard above the water.

Jinx grabs the paladin's armor, heaves, and nearly ends up in the drink himself. The muddy floor of the cave provides poor footing at best. Eventually, he and Zenobe get both Rennard and Brigg out of the slick-sided pool. The water goes still almost immediately and, once again, the hazard vanishes. "Neat trick that," mutters Jinx as Zenobe tends the slightly blue Rennard. Finally, the paladin coughs, pukes up a nice puddle of black water and blinks. "How..." he asks, a dazed expression on his face.

"Brigg went in after you," answers Zenobe. "You probably owe him your life."

Rennard offers his profuse thanks to the monk (after he recovers his breath and bearings), and the two men try to dry themselves off. Brigg has dry clothes, but Rennard is not so lucky. His gear is completely soaked. "Not so funny now, is it," mutters Smoke, remembering her own dunking. Jinx spends the time marking the edge of the pit with bits of stone. It's roughly circular, about 8 feet wide. To Jinx, it looks like a natural opening.

[Rennard's shield is lost at the bottom of the pit.]

After 10 minutes or so, the group starts moving again. While Smoke argues the for checking out the doors at the end of the stairs, the others want to continue past the pit along the open rough-cut passage. Majority rules. With Brigg taking point, they slowly advance up the crude tunnel. Brigg moves around two huge boulders heaped along the west side of the shaft and notes a split ahead. He's about to continue when... *snap* *snap* *snap*. The sharp sound of crossbows being fired reaches his ears. Two of the shots are wide of the mark, but Brigg is able to snatch the last bolt out of the air before it hits him.

"Trouble!" he calls as he dodges behind the boulder pile. "Crossbows ahead!"

"Should have opened the door down the stairs," says Smoke as she looks for cover.

OOC:

The passage splits into three, left, right, and straight. The bolts came from straight, beyond of Brigg's vision range.


End Date: August 25th, morning
End Status:
End Location: ???