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Message: <blockquote data-quote="the Jester" data-source="post: 2822672" data-attributes="member: 1210">The shadows in the ravine are growing deeper.  The brain-shocked halflings mill about.  Our heroes (and Tron) seem to be nearly the only ones with any sense of self-preservation or motivation.  “We have to climb,” Martini states grimly.  Naomi looks fearfully up the face of the cliff.  There are some handholds, but...“Maybe we can send one person ahead and tie a rope,” suggests Erasmuz.  “Do we have a rope?” asks Martini grimly.  “Remember how different our supplies are... my arrows all have different fletching.”“Food stores different,” Jawbreaker grunts after a quick glance into his magic bag.  He frowns.  The very thought that someone has tampered with his food leaves him angry.  He growls softly to himself, clenching and unclenching his fists. The party checks for rope, Tron jabbering in the background about selling the stained loincloths that the illithid the party killed had been wearing.  “I bet I can get some money for these,” he says dreamily.The others find that they have, between them, about 150’ of rope.  Gazing up the ragged climb, Nara groans, “I don’t think it’s enough.”“Two hundred feet,” nods Jawbreaker seriously.  He considers the climb thoughtfully.“Hey Chief Jawbreaker, I bet that you could climb it,” says Erasmuz cunningly.*“Maybe- but long fall if wrong.”“I could stop your fall with my powers, if you were in any real danger,” Erasmuz offers.  “If you were to fall, that is.  I bet you could make it.”“You can stop fall?” Erasmuz nods.  “If you can drop a rope down most of the way... maybe we can even get these other guys out of here,” Nara suggests.  “Hey!” barks Naomi at the herd of halflings behind them.  Spittle flies from her fat mouth.  “We’re going to get you out of here, but you’re going to have to climb.”  All of us are, she didn’t add, wondering if she could haul her ponderous bulk up to the rope.  If Jawbreaker can even get it up there, she thinks.“We can’t climb that,” moans one of the halflings.The corpulent psion replies, “You’ll have to.  After all, the mind flayers will be coming once it gets dark.”A low moan comes from the halfling crowd.  They shrink back.  Several clutch themselves.  “Besides, Erasmuz stops fall.”  Jawbreaker grins, taking all the rope, and he begins to climb.“Go, Chief Jawbreaker!” cries Nara.The halflings watch, spellbound, as Jawbreaker begins to pull himself, hand over hand, up the wall of the ravine.  There are many small hand- and toeholds, but the wall itself is nearly vertical.  When Jawbreaker is about 40’ up, his foot slips.  Everyone gasps.  Jawbreaker hangs in space for a moment- then he is falling back and away from the wall, a strangled cry issuing from his mouth.  Erasmuz does nothing, his face remaining impartial as the chief slams into the ground.  “I thought you said your magic could save him!” cries Nara, and the mind-shocked halflings cringe and cower back, more fearful than ever.“He was in no danger,” Erasmuz answers.  “I have to save my powers until we need them.  I can only do it so many times a day.”Jawbreaker scowls as he stands up, but Nara quickly heals him of his injuries.  He begins the torturous climb again, and this time he paces himself better, taking his time and choosing his route carefully.  Slowly he crawls up the side of the mountain.  Finally he reaches the top, from which he casts the rope down to the others.  The entire time, the others are trying to persuade the mind-shocked halflings to accompany them, but they are frightened of the attempt.  Even the oncoming night doesn’t motivate them.  For some of them, it’s as if they want to be recaptured by the mind flayers.  Our heroes cannot force the climb upon them.  “We can’t just leave them here,” objects Nara.  “They’re halflings!”“We can’t do anything from here,” Martini reminds her.  “We have to get out and see if we can get help.”The group slowly ascends, one at a time, to the base of the climb.  From there they continue up, having a much easier time of it.  There are a few falls during the initial setion, but once they reach the rope everyone seems to do fine.From the top they can see the sinking sun.  Only another hour of light...“What’s that?”  Naomi points into the sky.  Some kind of winged forms are in the air, and in the distance- upslope- there is some kind of large nest.“Eggs!” they all say together at once.Next Time: Bird-men!  A monestary!  Another party member!  And the mystery of the fugue starts to unravel!*I don’t know if I’ve described him this way in this thread, but Erasmuz is like a little halfling Anton Levay- bald with a goatee.  And of course, he is an ur-priest.</blockquote>

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