With only one stirge hatchling buzzing around near Sularius, victory was surely in the hands of the Stormhavians now!

Any intelligent creature would have hightailed it out of there by now, but such was not the case for these pests. The stirge dive bombs Sularius in one final blaze of glory...and manages to plunge its proboscis deep into the elf's flesh.

At least it would get one final, richly satisfying elf-blood meal before it met its end.

Mmm... Sweet ecstasy...

OOC: Stirge hits Sularius for 1 point of damage and is now attached. Ravick inadvertently went in the wrong stage, so he has already used his turn. Norion and Saliq may take their Stage 3 actions however.

---

1 Stirge Hatchlings: AC 8. HP: 1
7 have already been slain.


PC          AC    HP      AP    Notes
Ben         7    04/06    2     Surprise +2
Norion      3    12/12    2
Ravick      3    09/09    1
Saliq       7    03/04    3     Surprise +2
Sularius    8    06/07    3     Surprise (4 in 6 nonmetal armor & alone or with elves & halflings), Stirge attached

STAGE 1: Ben, Sularius
STAGE 2: Stirge Hatchlings (Init: 5)
STAGE 3: Norion, Ravick, Saliq

<Orange>OOC: Round 3, Stage 3 is UP!

Gagging in disgust at the sight of the repulsive creature feasting, Saliq moves to aid Sularius. After a moment of hesitation he strikes, driving his already ichor coated dagger deep into the hatchling's tiny brain.

"Urg... thank all the gods but that's the last of them!"

OOC:
12:30, Today: Saliq Musfara rolled 13,1 using d20,d4. Attack and Damage (dagger).

With the last of the hatchlings now splattered onto the cavern floor, the chamber becomes much less frenzied now. The stirge's attack had only lasted a couple of minutes, but they were blood-pumping minutes at that!

Literally...

Save for the sound of water flowing into the chamber and down the dark tunnel where the hatchlings came from, the chamber is quiet. No obvious exits lead off from this chamber, except from the gaping maw and the dark tunnel.

---

PC          AC    HP      AP    Notes
Ben         7    04/06    2     Surprise +2
Norion      3    12/12    2
Ravick      3    09/09    1
Saliq       7    03/04    3     Surprise +2
Sularius    8    06/07    3     Suprise +1 while unencumbered or 4 in 6 nonmetal armor & alone or with elves & halflings
This message was last edited by the GM at 14:32, Sat 11 Feb 2012.

"Well, if that's the teeth, and that's the gums, over there's the gullet... hmm.. hmm.." carefully testing his footing on the smooth stone. "Well my lad, what can we do?"
Slowly moving over the the body at the entrance, "No, I don't think he'll mind, but its disrespectful all the same!"

Timidly turning to the rest of the party, "Would it be bad to throw something down this chute?"

In reply to Norion Ironaxe (msg #52):

"What if we give it indigestion?" says Ravick to the Dwarf.   The priest winces as he approaches Ben and says, "How's your backside, lad?  If I had some sort of salve or unguent, I'd happily give it you." 

As the dwarf and human converse, Sularius circles the chamber, searching for any concealed or hidden passages that they may have missed but seems content that there is nothing to find.

Glancing down the dark tunnel, he motions towards it, "I suppose that way is our only option."

OOC:
16:02, Today: Sularius Alariel rolled 6 using 1d6. Active secret door check.

Despite an exhaustive search, Sularius does not find any secret or hidden doors in this cavern.

The elf does notice that there appears to be a series of handholds running along the right side of the tunnel that leads off the chamber. The tunnel pitches slightly downward and seems to extend just beyond the torchlight's range before it becomes more steep and curves away to the right.

Norion judges these handholds to have been recently added to the tunnel, for they are not natural features and seem to have been hastily carved and no great care went into their construction.

"I think we can manage with these handholds, slowly perhaps. I do wish I'd brought a bit o rope. That's one more lesson I've failed to remember..."

Slumping his shoulders just a bit, Norion holsters his axe and secures his sack and shield in preparation for the descent. He waits a moment to see if anyone wants to take point or scout out ahead.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
If nobody takes charge, Norion will carefully make his way downward using the handholds to brace himself.

---

Before Norion takes the lead, Ravick says, "Perhaps Ben should poke head down there first and take a gander.  He's more adroit at moving without making sound.  What say you, Ben?  Are you feeling up to it?"

"That's why I'm here" smiles Ben cheerily, while pulling a large coil of rope from his shoulders. "Anybody want to hold onto the end of this while I go down?"

Saliq steps forward to take up the rope: "I will my friend." He grins and adds jokingly; "it's always best to know exactly when to start running."

"I can give you a hand with that my lad." says Norion as he plants his feet and joins in the anchoring of the rope.

Ben ties the rope in a harness around his torso and ignores the handholds, trusting instead in the strength of his companions as eases his way over the precipice. "If you feel any violent tugging, pull me up as fast as you can", he quips as the light from his torch disappears over the edge.

OOC:
21:15, Today: Ben Scristos rolled 84 using 1d100. climb walls (85% base chance).
Close! GM, are you applying modifiers?


21:21, Today: Ben Scristos rolled 54 using 1d100. move silently (20).
Hard to do when you're hanging on a rope.

This message was last edited by the player at 20:22, Sun 12 Feb 2012.

Ben finishes securing the rope and then begins making his way down the slippery tunnel toward the darkness ahead. The going is slow but the sure-footed thief makes it to the end of the tunnel without any major mishaps, sure a minor slip here of there, but Ben remains upright through it all.

The tunnel descends for about 30 feet before dropping precipitously down into a somewhat roundish chamber some 20 feet below. The chamber is about 60 feet in diameter, but mostly filled with dark water. There is however a narrow ledge that runs along the right side of the chamber, offering some semblance of dry ground below. A series of small tunnels are set into the eastern half of the chamber, which are reachable from the ledge, but what lies within these is not able to be determined from Ben's current vantage point.

As he has reached the end of his rope, Ben calls out to his colleagues what he can see and recommends that they tie the rope off at their end and make their way down. He draws his sword and keeps an eye (and ear) out for trouble.

OOC: 16:53, Today: Ben Scristos rolled 62 using 1d100. hear noise (10).

Ravick kneels down and begins helping Norion tie the rope to the uppermost rung of the ladder.

Once the rope is securely tied, Sularius steps towards it, "I'll go first."  Assuming there are no objections he starts carefully climbing down.

Humming a dwarven mining song, Norion nods in approval to Ravick's rope skills. He places a hand on Ravick's shoulder and quietly whispers, "I can stay up here and watch the rope if you want me to, ya kno' in case someone comes along to fool with it."

Saliq waits til Sularius has reached the bottom before taking to the rope himself.

In reply to Norion Ironaxe (msg #66):

"Better we all delve together, friend."  Ravick's face splits into an ugly smile and he pats Norion's burly shoulder.

Sularius climbs down the rope while angling away to his left, toward the narrow ledge along the east side of the chamber below. There was a difference of about 10 feet to make up, but thankfully the elf finds some jagged outcroppings that allow him to scale down with relatively little effort.

In fact, it was quite possible that a sure-footed, unencumbered man could make the climb with no ropes at all. Perhaps that was how the dead man you found at the cave's entrance made his way into the cave?

During Sularius' descent, someone barely notices a line of nests along the north face of the cavern wall, about 40 feet above the water. The nests are obscured in shadow, but appear to be constructed of odd scraps of cloth, leather, twigs, and perhaps...bones?

These could be the nests where the hatchlings came from. Maybe the stirge-mother was circling about elsewhere in this cavern complex?

The elf eventually makes it to ledge, thankfully unolested by any stirges.

After Saliq and Ravick shimmy down the passageway and out of sight, Norion flexes his stubby fingers and takes hold of the rope. After a long exhale, "Well my lad, here we go..." He then makes his way down the rope to join the rest of the party.

The rest of the companions make their way down the rope to the ledge below and nobody has any undue difficulty with the task at hand. The wall actually had several strategic holds along the way that made the descent quite easy, especially with Ben down below guiding the way.

The ledge itself is a narrow, crescent-shaped wedge rising just above the dark pool, and quite slick. There are several small pools of standing water on the ledge, in addition to calcified water lines near the bottom of the cavern wall, which suggests that the cave may occasionally see higher water levels. Five small tunnels, ranging anywhere from 3 to 5 feet in diameter, lead away from the ledge, all generally in an easterly direction.

Just beyond the entrance to the north-most tunnel, a metallic shimmer reflects your torchlight.

Once everyone is gathered, Ben attempts the traverse over to the ledge but then elects to find out how deep the water is (using his whole body as a 10' pole).

08:40, Today: Ben Scristos rolled 97 using 1d100. climb walls (85% base chance).

Noticing the metallic glint, Sularius draws his sword and quietly makes his way over to it to see what it is.