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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Whizbang Dustyboots" data-source="post: 3812594" data-attributes="member: 11760">Renraw taps the end of his staff hard on the trap door Ragglus just fell into, testing to see if it will open again, even for a moment."Chaplin! Chaplin, do you hear us up here?"With sufficient pressure, the concealed trap door groans open, letting in light and slightly fresher air."Are you hurt, old boy?" Renraw calls down. "Answer! Throw up your grappling hook if you can! If we're attacked, we'll need you up here to swing wildly at things!""Ooh!" Katadid drops to his knees and attempts to peek down into the pit until Tock grabs him and hauls him back out of the way. "What's down there anyway?""Give your hook, Rags," Tock says. "The ass who built this crap better not be dead yet. I say Rags gets his neck."Down in the pit, Ragglus bites back an angered, frustrated scream. He remembers the calming exercises Bufer taught him, and begins counting silently. By the time he reaches six, his breathing has slowed, and has reduced his full-on maddening rage to a mere maddening rage.He gives a single wave to the faces peering down on him, letting them know he's OK. Hurt, but OK. He takes out the healing potion, thankful that it is undamaged and takes another swig. It suddenly hits him: I might have been dead if not for this.Since he's down there, he makes a quick search of the pit, hoping some unfortunate rich person fell down it at some point, but finds nothing but wet earth and a few curious earthworms.Ragglus takes out his rope and grappling hook."Here she comes!" he calls up.Katadid barely manages to get out of the way of the hook before Tock manages to catch it deftly in the air. He looks at Kat, who holds his chest painfully, and Renraw, who has also suddenly come down with a bad chest cough."Great," Tock sighs. He lays back and jams his feet against the side of the passageway, clutching the hook with both hands.With a bit of grunting and swearing, both from above and below, Ragglus climbs back up to the main passageway of the tunnel."Thanks," he mumbles, motioning for the others to stand aside, backing up to prepare for a run and leap over the trap door. He easily clears the pit, landing on the far side, although it occurs to him that he's now on the alone with whatever waits in the dark tunnel beyond."Any of y'all think you can't make it?" Ragglus whispers, just loudly enough to be heard, equipping his sword and shield once again, and keeping one eye on the tunnel beyond. "Ain't too hard."Katadid leaps, but coughs just as his feet leave the ground, and the others look on in horror as it's clear he won't make the distance, the hacking cough pulling the air from his lungs just when he needed it most.His chest slams into the wall of the pit, his chin cracking down hard on the stone floor. His hands and one foot clamber frantically at the edge and, as Ragglus races to pull him up, Kat grips the pit edge with all four limbs, determined not to fall.Ragglus pulls him up by the scruff of his neck and sets him down well away from the edge of the pit. Other than a coating of wet rock and grit and a bloody gash on his chin, Katadid has made it across, safe and sound."Oh, honestly." Tock steps back and, with a wink at Renraw, lightly leaps across the chasm, landing exactly on the far edge. He wobbles a second, his expression betraying that this wasn't exactly how he had it planned, but then Rags reaches out, steadying the bard, who steps across. "See? Easy."Renraw grumpily walks to the edge of the pit, taps the trap door with his staff three times, and purses his lips in an unhappy grimace. With a dramatic sigh, he walks away far enough for a running start.Just as he's finished preparing himself for the sprint, he stops, relaxed again. He makes sure all the annoyed faces are looking back at him."I just want to make one thing very clear before I do this: The rest of you WILL hoist me out of this pit."Then he runs all out for the jump, knees popping.Renraw flies through the air, clothes flapping in the breeze, and crashes into Ragglus, Katadid and Tock on the far side. In the end, he made the most impressive jump of them all."Perhaps I should learn to embrace my new identity," Renraw crows as the party begins moving again. "Perhaps this moustache and this new name are all a part of a new beginning for me. I'm a spider-slayer and a natural jumper. I find myself positively brimming with confidence now, my fellow Delvers.'""Brim a little quieter, Kem." Ragglus admonishes.Renraw smiles, but does as he's told and lowers his voice."It's Cmelak now, Chaplin. Rodger Cmelak."</blockquote>

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