(048) The Undercroft

[waysoftheearth]

Green Lama wrote:
Stunned to survive Jan watches his staff spin down into the darkness. At least that seems reasonable, no hand to hold it after all.

Jan tries to wedge himself, or his dagger solidly into the chain. Lord knows he needs a rest.
Once his grip is solid or if he cannot manage to make a makeshift hold Jan opens the iridescence and begins to swing gently back and forth. He hopes to reach a gantry, ledge, or even another chain with a bucket at the end.

Ahhh... ahhhh... holdonholdonholdonholdon...

[waysoftheearth]

waysoftheearth wrote:
Jan's pack and heavy blanket seem to weigh a ton upon his back, dragging him inexorably downward. He struggles to wedge his dagger through a link in the chain, eventually creating something resembling an awkward handhold...

...then, nearing exhaustion, he risks loosing his hold to open his eerie lamp somewhat, and then begins to swing gently back and forth.

For a minute or two he works at building up a gentle momentum, before the chain suddenly lurches upward into the darkness! He almost looses his grip (and his life) as the chain cranks and rattles upward, and finds himself once more spinning uncontrollably in the darkness. He sees a second chain, nearby, descending as his rises -- with a largish still bucket attached and rushing downward at pace.

Then, just as suddenly as it started, the chain stops dead, and Jan's progress halts alarmingly before he is left dangling once more. The other chain is about 20ft away, the largish steel bucket attached to it is hanging somewhat below his present position.

He can also make out several gantries, maybe 80ft above him... lit by more candles and busy with miners...

What now?

[waysoftheearth]

Green Lama wrote:
Don'tlookdown.Don'tlookdown.Don'tlook.....down.

Bucket is closest. Swing, swing again to either fall forever into the darkness or reach the transient safety of a small iron bucket.

[waysoftheearth]

waysoftheearth wrote:
Sans backback Jan will have twice the odds of successfully making the leap to the bucket. Abandon it, or lumber it with you?

[waysoftheearth]

Green Lama wrote:
Abandon. Goodbye spellbook we hardly knew ye.
Swing.....swing.....



Leap!

[waysoftheearth]

waysoftheearth wrote:
Jan unloads his heavy pack, and spares it barely a glance as it vanishes into the dark below him. His focus is all upon the nearby bucket -- he sways back and forth, nearer and farther, upon the chain. The nearest he ever gets never less than 10ft, but when he judges the moment is right (as right as ever it will be); he leaps!

{1d6=5!}

And Thuul's Eyes he makes it! He drops awkwardly into the steel bucket, causing it to swing frightfully with the impact, but he grimly holds on. And with some further scrambling, he rights himself in a bucket that might have been made to seat an adolescent boy.

And not a moment too soon! His head has scarcely comprehended the huge risk he has just run when the bucket is suddenly drawn upward at pace! The chain clatter and rattle as the bucket rushes toward the gantries above... at this rate, he'll reach them in a quarter minute!

What now?

[waysoftheearth]

Green Lama wrote:
Exhausted Jan quiets his light and scrunches down into the bucket to hide. If there is no room in the bucket for a growing boy then our spelless weaponless wizard rests as he can and awaits his fate with the bravado of the young.

[waysoftheearth]

waysoftheearth wrote:
Tafari Kitami.

Your adventure begins... now!

The road from Xanadu to the Hinterlands was a long and weary one; you traveled by caravan, by horse and by foot with merchants, refugees, and travelers and you learned to be guileful and wary of most folks along the way. You arrived recently in Ket, and necessity dictating, you survived... dishonestly, keeping away from the eyes of the authorities.

Curiously, the place seems to be run by Goblin and Human merchants alike, with all their petty quarrels. With this kind of establishment, there'll always be work for talented folk...

...and so you find yourself here. In the vaults of an older ruin upon which the present town is built, chasing an errant Goblin whom someone has a grudge against.

You've slipped into the cavernous mines via the sewers and find yourself upon a series of fragile gantries that cling to the cavern wall, looking down at another platform some 30ft below you, where three grubby goblins are operating a mechanical winch, which hauls long chains -- rattling and clattering -- that move a series of suspended, rusted buckets through the dark void of the cavern...

What do you want to do?

[waysoftheearth]

aquebman wrote:
Tafari checks for a spot she thinks she could latch and let down her ladder away from the goblins prying eyes. She will use the sound of the loud chains to cover herself as she moves.

[waysoftheearth]

waysoftheearth wrote:
The gantries are interconnected by rickety ladders as it is, so it would be much easier to use the existing ladder, or to slide down a supporting pole fireman style (the latter being the quicker but less sneaky approach).