Whizbang Dustyboots
Gnometown Hero
The group makes a careful and deliberate retreat through the northeast tunnel, following the map once more.
The next chamber in fact, is not the Lady Parts Room, as Tock has insisted on calling it: This huge area is at least 40 feet wide with a ceiling about 10 feet high. A 15-foot chasm bisects the room, running from the east to west walls. The only exit is on the far side.
A metal spike has been hammered into the floor on the near side. A rope has been knotted to the spike and runs across the chasm, where the rope is affixed to another spoke on the opposite side.
Renraw examines the rope and the knot attaching it to the spike. The rope has a few frayed strands from what appear to be small claws, but it appears strong enough. Without claws, though, the Delvers will have to be carefully as they cross, as the rope wobbles a little even under Renraw's inspection.
"Gentlemen, if I could for a moment," Renraw begins. "I might take young Katadid's turn here and suggest something more complicated than our obvious route: We cross two at a time, using Chaplin's rope tied securely around our torsos and thrown over the top as a safety. Should one of us fall, the other can keep the slack until they can climb back up and continue."
Katadid peers down into the ravine, his brow furrowed. The claw marks bother him for some reason, and he attempts to examine them more closely to see if he could guess from what they came from.
"Or climb down and climb up the other side," he mutters. He hands his desiccated rope to his cousin as Tock and Renraw start arguing. Kat reaches into his sack and hands Ragglus a torch hopefully.
Ragglus lights the torch and edges close to the chasm, trying to gauge its depth. The bottom is visible at the dimmest reaches of the torchlight: It's approximately 35 feet deep.
Renraw seems slightly put out by the decision not to test out his rope idea, but Kat's paranoia seems to win out. The Delvers begin to climb down the cavern walls.
They pick their way down the ravine, but as rough as it is, it becomes clear there are sections they can only pass one at a time, necessitating a few urgent discussions while clinging to the rock face.
As Ragglus descends, he finds his foot finally hanging over empty space: Below him is a cave completely hidden by the lip of the rock above it. He's about to call up that he's going to need a second to figure away around it when he hears something shift its weight in the unseen cavity below him.
He silently signals his fellow Delvers above him, pointing to the lip of the rock, and motioning as if to draw his sword.
"Crap, here we go again," Tock mutters to himself.
Katadid waves to Ragglus and points downward. Kat then points to his eyes. Rags shakes his head and taps his ear. Kat nods. Kat holds up his fistful of sand and then puts his hands together and tilts his head yawning as if sleepy. He points to Rags, taps his own ear and then holds his hands apart with a questioning look.
Once Rags has mimed the estimated distance of where the rustling sounds are below him, Kat takes several steps back and begins to mutter an incantation, ending by throwing the sand down the ravine at the hidden cave.
The spell goes off without a hitch, it seems, and there's the sound of something starting to snore. And then it snaps out of it. There's a hissing sound of something both surprised and scared and then the Delvers watch as a rubbery-limbed creature crawls out of the hidden alcove, glances up at the rope line of Delvers above it, and races down the wall.
About the size of a gnome, it is naked all over, and has a mottled, rock-colored hide. Its arms and legs are all extremely long and don't seem to have bones: Its limbs -- probably more properly described as tentacles -- all end in four digits, with the palm of each "hand" in turn covered in small points. The creature glances over its shoulder with panicked black eyes before racing down the ravine wall, its tentacles each shooting out up to 10 feet at a time.
From its alcove, it could have easily reached out and grabbed one of the Delvers as they crossed on the rope.
A moment later, the beast has vanished into the darkness.
"Good job with the 'make it run away' spell, cousin," Tock drawls.
Katadid watches the retreating figure nervously. Motioning for Renraw to hand down his precious staff, Kat climbs down a bit and peers inside the creature's lair, looking to see if anything of interest is inside.
The choker has apparently been making a meal of slow-moving rats crossing the rope above: There are rat carcasses, chewed harnesses and several bags. Some of the bags are still attached to their harnesses, while others have been ripped off and bitten open, only for the choker to discover there's nothing edible inside.
Katadid can see spilled coins, a snuffbox, a perfume bottle and more.
Renraw kicks Katadid gently in the head, urging him to get down and get into the cave. He's tired of hanging, and he, too, would like to see what the choker kept.
"Ow!" He turns to the Delvers. "Treasure."
He and Renraw enter the cave and begin stuffing the most intact harnesses full of the choker's booty.
"We should take everything here back to the top of the chasm and leave it there until we're ready to leave," Renraw says, shoving Katadid away when the younger man attempts to remove some of the huge coins from his bag. "You're out of your mind if you think we're leaving it."
In addition to a large number of half-eaten rats and a few well-gnawed lizards, the choker's lair contains 88 gold pieces, a crystal perfume bottle, an obsidian game piece, a mother of pearl snuffbox and four gems. The treasure goes easily into all the rats' sacks or into the Gentlemen Delver's other gear.
Below them, noises from the bottom of the chasm remind them that they are not alone, nor is the choker unaware of what they're doing.
"Should kill it," Ragglus growls. "Gonna eat us otherwise."
"I don't think so," Kat says, a fistful of sand in his hand once more, but this batch is dyed. He looks up with unusual lucidity. "Chokers, as they are affectionately called by layman, are efficient hunters, but not very bright. They attack from positions of safety and very rarely otherwise. We scared it enough that it wouldn't trust attacking until it's confident. Hence, I think even if we walk down the ravine and back up it will leave us alone. It isn't smart enough to figure out we were lucky in seeing it first.
"However, it may be bright enough to figure out we want the treasure for some reason. If we leave it here, it very well may use it as bait, much like a fancy dagger, especially if we leave it on the side directly under his home."
After pulling the treasure up the eight feet to their side, the Gentlemen Delvers decide to leave the items there for future retrieval. They then finish their climb down and make their way cautiously across the ravine. The choker scrambles away from the group as it makes its way across the bottom of the ravine, its black eyes reflecting the light of Renraw's torch-staff as they pass.
The group makes their ascent of the far side of the ravine. Looking back across the rope bridge, they see the treasure they left behind and Renraw makes a sad little noise in the back of his throat as they head down the next passage.
The next chamber in fact, is not the Lady Parts Room, as Tock has insisted on calling it: This huge area is at least 40 feet wide with a ceiling about 10 feet high. A 15-foot chasm bisects the room, running from the east to west walls. The only exit is on the far side.
A metal spike has been hammered into the floor on the near side. A rope has been knotted to the spike and runs across the chasm, where the rope is affixed to another spoke on the opposite side.
Renraw examines the rope and the knot attaching it to the spike. The rope has a few frayed strands from what appear to be small claws, but it appears strong enough. Without claws, though, the Delvers will have to be carefully as they cross, as the rope wobbles a little even under Renraw's inspection.
"Gentlemen, if I could for a moment," Renraw begins. "I might take young Katadid's turn here and suggest something more complicated than our obvious route: We cross two at a time, using Chaplin's rope tied securely around our torsos and thrown over the top as a safety. Should one of us fall, the other can keep the slack until they can climb back up and continue."
Katadid peers down into the ravine, his brow furrowed. The claw marks bother him for some reason, and he attempts to examine them more closely to see if he could guess from what they came from.
"Or climb down and climb up the other side," he mutters. He hands his desiccated rope to his cousin as Tock and Renraw start arguing. Kat reaches into his sack and hands Ragglus a torch hopefully.
Ragglus lights the torch and edges close to the chasm, trying to gauge its depth. The bottom is visible at the dimmest reaches of the torchlight: It's approximately 35 feet deep.
Renraw seems slightly put out by the decision not to test out his rope idea, but Kat's paranoia seems to win out. The Delvers begin to climb down the cavern walls.
They pick their way down the ravine, but as rough as it is, it becomes clear there are sections they can only pass one at a time, necessitating a few urgent discussions while clinging to the rock face.
As Ragglus descends, he finds his foot finally hanging over empty space: Below him is a cave completely hidden by the lip of the rock above it. He's about to call up that he's going to need a second to figure away around it when he hears something shift its weight in the unseen cavity below him.
He silently signals his fellow Delvers above him, pointing to the lip of the rock, and motioning as if to draw his sword.
"Crap, here we go again," Tock mutters to himself.
Katadid waves to Ragglus and points downward. Kat then points to his eyes. Rags shakes his head and taps his ear. Kat nods. Kat holds up his fistful of sand and then puts his hands together and tilts his head yawning as if sleepy. He points to Rags, taps his own ear and then holds his hands apart with a questioning look.
Once Rags has mimed the estimated distance of where the rustling sounds are below him, Kat takes several steps back and begins to mutter an incantation, ending by throwing the sand down the ravine at the hidden cave.
The spell goes off without a hitch, it seems, and there's the sound of something starting to snore. And then it snaps out of it. There's a hissing sound of something both surprised and scared and then the Delvers watch as a rubbery-limbed creature crawls out of the hidden alcove, glances up at the rope line of Delvers above it, and races down the wall.
About the size of a gnome, it is naked all over, and has a mottled, rock-colored hide. Its arms and legs are all extremely long and don't seem to have bones: Its limbs -- probably more properly described as tentacles -- all end in four digits, with the palm of each "hand" in turn covered in small points. The creature glances over its shoulder with panicked black eyes before racing down the ravine wall, its tentacles each shooting out up to 10 feet at a time.
From its alcove, it could have easily reached out and grabbed one of the Delvers as they crossed on the rope.
A moment later, the beast has vanished into the darkness.
"Good job with the 'make it run away' spell, cousin," Tock drawls.
Katadid watches the retreating figure nervously. Motioning for Renraw to hand down his precious staff, Kat climbs down a bit and peers inside the creature's lair, looking to see if anything of interest is inside.
The choker has apparently been making a meal of slow-moving rats crossing the rope above: There are rat carcasses, chewed harnesses and several bags. Some of the bags are still attached to their harnesses, while others have been ripped off and bitten open, only for the choker to discover there's nothing edible inside.
Katadid can see spilled coins, a snuffbox, a perfume bottle and more.
Renraw kicks Katadid gently in the head, urging him to get down and get into the cave. He's tired of hanging, and he, too, would like to see what the choker kept.
"Ow!" He turns to the Delvers. "Treasure."
He and Renraw enter the cave and begin stuffing the most intact harnesses full of the choker's booty.
"We should take everything here back to the top of the chasm and leave it there until we're ready to leave," Renraw says, shoving Katadid away when the younger man attempts to remove some of the huge coins from his bag. "You're out of your mind if you think we're leaving it."
In addition to a large number of half-eaten rats and a few well-gnawed lizards, the choker's lair contains 88 gold pieces, a crystal perfume bottle, an obsidian game piece, a mother of pearl snuffbox and four gems. The treasure goes easily into all the rats' sacks or into the Gentlemen Delver's other gear.
Below them, noises from the bottom of the chasm remind them that they are not alone, nor is the choker unaware of what they're doing.
"Should kill it," Ragglus growls. "Gonna eat us otherwise."
"I don't think so," Kat says, a fistful of sand in his hand once more, but this batch is dyed. He looks up with unusual lucidity. "Chokers, as they are affectionately called by layman, are efficient hunters, but not very bright. They attack from positions of safety and very rarely otherwise. We scared it enough that it wouldn't trust attacking until it's confident. Hence, I think even if we walk down the ravine and back up it will leave us alone. It isn't smart enough to figure out we were lucky in seeing it first.
"However, it may be bright enough to figure out we want the treasure for some reason. If we leave it here, it very well may use it as bait, much like a fancy dagger, especially if we leave it on the side directly under his home."
After pulling the treasure up the eight feet to their side, the Gentlemen Delvers decide to leave the items there for future retrieval. They then finish their climb down and make their way cautiously across the ravine. The choker scrambles away from the group as it makes its way across the bottom of the ravine, its black eyes reflecting the light of Renraw's torch-staff as they pass.
The group makes their ascent of the far side of the ravine. Looking back across the rope bridge, they see the treasure they left behind and Renraw makes a sad little noise in the back of his throat as they head down the next passage.
