(052) Reckoning the Abbey

[waysoftheearth]

flightcommander wrote:
Lantern at the ready, Armando follows the others down the stairs.

[waysoftheearth]

heartless wrote:
"Gee Thanks Desmond", and Rufus wraps carefully the "XX" and "XXX" bottles and packs them away.
Then Rufus will go down last with Highbough down through the cellar door after the others down the narrow stair. Keeping an ear and eye out for any sign of trouble behind the party.

[waysoftheearth]

waysoftheearth wrote:
Desmond/Mondes is first onto the narrow stair, followed by Dorgan, and then Wen, with the light held overhead...

The way is barely 3ft wide, and even steeper than it looked initially -- especially for the short-legged folk.

But Desmond/Mondes moves bravely forward, one cautious step at a time, with his trusty fellows near behind him... {1d6=2} alas, half a dozen steps down he feels a distinct "schick" as he puts his weight onto the next step, and by then of course it is all too late. The step, and several more beyond it, immediately flatten into a steep ramp, and Desmond/Mondes plummets into the dark with a clatter, and vanishes from sight!

Dorgan, who was above Desmond on the stair, can see the next dozen steps have flattened, and beyond them is pitch darkness. He hears Desmond's quickly receding clatter, then the echo of a serious thump. It sounded inconveniently, rather than impossibly, far off. Perhaps 60 or 80 feet?


Desmond/Mondes tumbled alarmingly out of Wen's torchlight, and into jolting, thumping, and bumping darkness before suddenly finding himself hanging in sightless, rushing air. Then he crashes into an unforgiving, stone surface very hard, suffering 8 hit points damage. Ouch that hurt. And he can't see a thing.

What now?

[mgtremaine]

mgtremaine wrote:
Wen would halt on the stairs a listen to the aftermath of the Desmond/Mondes trap adventure trying to judge how far he has tumbled. "A trap, how delightfully cruel, someone really doesn't want us here. Desmond, Mondes are you alive down there! We'll work on rope and light in short order, don;t you worry.

Wen would look to the others to see who has rope and how we need to reorganize in the narrow staircase to deal with this new challenge.

[waysoftheearth]

ehiker133 wrote:
Desmond struggles to his feet. Checking himself over with his hands, he sees where he sliced his leg on his sword when he fell. He presses his hands on the wound to staunch the bleeding and looks up, calling, "I'm OK. Watch out for that fifth step... Or maybe it is the sixth one. Could use a light down here..."

Then, as the dark starts to get the best of him, he scrambles around until he finds his shield, then he backs up to the stairs/ramp and sits down, bracing the shield in front of him with his left arm and holding his sword at the ready with his right.

[mgtremaine]

mgtremaine wrote:
If it seems that Desmond is a reasonable distance away, say 80-100 feet judging by sound, Wen would dig a fresh torch from his pack and get it going. Then call a warning out before gently pitching it into the darkness. "Flaming torch coming down, heads up!

Wen hopes that strongly burning torch will not extinguish on the trip down , he might be wrong but it is worth a try. Wen will also place a candle on the wall and then retreat up the stairs to allow room for the rope and spike crew to resolve this problem.

[waysoftheearth]

ehiker133 wrote:
In the pitch black, Desmond turns to look at Mondes with a start, as if the other head could see his expression of fear at the thought of getting hit with a burning torch.

Mondes is already one step ahead of him, though, as he takes control of their legs and stands up to make sure they can easily avoid being the victim of more damage due to something falling...

[mgtremaine]

mgtremaine wrote:
ooc: Hopefully that wasn;t a bone head move, I sort see it as a gentle toss down slope, and you have a shield... But hell I might roll a 20 and hit you in the eye ;p

[waysoftheearth]

sulldawga wrote:
Dorgan has iron spikes in his pack. Perhaps someone can come up behind him and dig one or two out. He also has rope but it's only 60' worth. We may need some more.

In the meantime, Dorgan will examine the wall to see if it looks like he can securely hammer in a spike or two to hold the rope.

[waysoftheearth]

flightcommander wrote:
"We can assemble a sufficient length of rope using square knots; by adding my rope here we should have more than enough. We might even be able to anchor it on some furnishing in the dissection room above. I do hope the poor chap ... er chaps ... are ok €” I am willing to descend with the lantern to retrieve them."