The grate is slippery indeed, and the constant rush of water pounding on Torqua from above doesn't help either! Unable to get a solid grip on the grate, Torqua plunges into the water below her, falling a half dozen feet below the surface, and offsetting the water level with her considerable girth. Leather, Ursa Major, and Ursa Minor have no problems treading the surface of the water like pros. Ursa Maximus stares upward at Fhangrim through the water, uncaring that there is a lack of oxygen where he stands.
OOC:
[MENTION=85946]Goldhammer[/MENTION]: Roll an athletics check for Torqua to swim to the surface.
I also need athletics checks from Haaku and Ilex to breach the surface and tread water.
Ilex is a not a water nymph and momentarily wished she was. Swimming was not part of her training. Not that the concussion of water from the walking warehouse of magical mastery falling back into the water helped her in any way. Nocta on the other hand treaded the water with realative ease.
Noticing that Ilex is missing and with no one seeming to respond to his call for a rope, Leather takes a deep breath and swims down to the bottom to find Ilex. When he spots her, he takes his arm around her waist and pushes his legs against the ground, kicking hard towards the surface once more.
Nicely done [MENTION=75065]jbear[/MENTION]! No additional rolls are needed, as you can easily carry her weight plus your own in the water thanks to your high strength score. I simply increased the DC from 10 to 14... which you eaaaasily passed. Kudos to you for helping out your companion!
Leather, filling his iron lungs with air, drops to the bottom of the chamber just as Torqua hits the water like a breaching whale trying to scrape barnacles off of its belly with a belly flop. The water surges up the side of the chamber walls, hitting the 19 foot mark on either side, before sloshing back toward the middle where Leather appears, Ilex in tow, and breathing sweet sweet slightly filtered nasty sewer air. It's better than drowning anyway, right?
Although Leather and Ilex managed to surface, the sloshing water went right over Torqua's head as it settled back to its original level, causing her to hold her breath. She had managed to take a small breath before impact, but she wouldn't be able to stay under water forever!
With Leather's help, both he and Ilex tread the surface of the water, which was still rising at an incredible rate! Much longer and the entire chamber will be full! Better get out of that chamber and fast!
OOC:
[MENTION=85946]Goldhammer[/MENTION]: Roll another Athletics check to swim back to the surface of the water. She has currently sunk to two squares beneath the surface of the water.
Haaku kicks off the reservoir floor, only to crash into the floundering Torqua! A surprisingly adept swimmer, he takes her under the arm and powers her to the surface. He's fortunate that fat floats, or else doing so would probably have been beyond him. Haaku blows water off of his lips so he can speak clearly, and then shouts, "Good, the grate's open! Now we can just wait for the water to carry us up to it, can't we?"
Torqua starts to panic as she begins to sink, making it difficult for Haaku to carry her back to the surface. All she can think of as she falls into the dark murry depths is "Oh sweet heavenly Baker, I'll do anything you want! Eat everything you ask! Just please, please don't let this be old sewer water!"
Torqua, with the assistance of Haaku, also manage to break the surface of the *mostly* clean sewer water. All but Fhangrim, who easily opens the now un-(magic?)'d grate, feel themselves surging toward the top of the chamber. The grate is large enough for a normal human to pull himself (or herself) through it with a little extra room on the sides. It does, however, mean that you'll have to pull yourselves up one at a time...
OOC:
[MENTION=78756]Son of Meepo[/MENTION]: Roll Athletics DC 15 to climb up through the slippery grate hatch
(1d20+1=8)
