Darcon's mastery of air made his descent a graceful affair, gliding softly downwards to touch the surface of the pool lightly, sending ripples emanating out into the darkness. The fetid pool of water was only ankle deep, not enough to be a hindrance to movement.
Garland and Constantine, on the other hand, endured a gross misadventure trying to navigate the dangling line. The first mishap came at the edge. It wasn't easy to lever oneself over without a wall to brace against, and Garland found himself in a precarious position. He was hanging on his chest, his legs dangling, one hand gripping the stones in front of him and the other gripping Constantine's forearm. But he found that, with the lip of his breastplate caught on the edge, he would have to shimmy himself free in order to descend the rope. He tried, he failed, and for a horrifying moment he hung suspended in the air as he slipped free, grasping in vain at the edge or the rope.
Constantine tried to grab his companion, overbalanced, and went tumbling down the hole after him.
"Garland! Constantine!" Kendra shrieked as they vanished down the pit.
There was a great clattering of armor as the two doughty adventurers landed in a heap on top of each other, crashing pile of tangled limbs and bruises. The rough square of light above them was punctuated by an anxious face as Kendra peered down at them.
But our heroes had time to do little else than untangle themselves and stand before the dull glow of Darcon's ghostly light began to intensify. No, his light wasn't growing. It was reflected by an unearthly glow that seemed to emanate from the walls, from the floor beneath the shallow pool.
Gooey ropes of slime seemed to squirt out of the walls and fountain from the floor. They wavered, pusating with necromantic energy before oozing into twin clots. They roiled, resolving themselves into two dripping, amorphous, barely human forms.
Garland recognized the forms as ectoplasmic creatures. They were not ghosts in truth. But in any area with a high concentration of necromantic activity the foul residue of ghosts and haunts, ectoplasm, tended to collect. Lesser spirits, too weak to manifest on their own, could use ectoplasm as a conduit to manifest in a more limited way.
The creatures oozed forwards towards Darcon and struck in unison, teriffic blows that seemed to belie their wavering, tremulous nature. They clawed ferociously, rending flesh, and the mage fell dead at their feet.
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Darcon reaches the floor of the chamber without any trouble.
Garland fails a climb check and falls to the floor, taking 3 damage.
Constantine, I wrote the GM post as if you had climbed down as well. I rolled a climb check for you, which you failed. However, you never actually said that you were doing that, so if you would prefer you can start the combat up above the battle (the hole is the square above where you three start). If that's the case you need to make two DC15 climb checks to descend the rope. If you are okay with the GM post as written you take 6 damage from the fall.
At the start of combat the ectoplasmic creatures manifest and attack Darcon for 33 damage, killing him. Darcon, I've split you off into your own thread to discuss what we should do next.
EC1 - Ectoplasmic Creature - AC12, Touch 10, Fort +0, Ref +0, Will +1, DR5/Slashing
EC2 - Ectoplasmic Creature - AC12, Touch 10, Fort +0, Ref +0, Will +1, DR5/Slashing
DAR - Darcon - Dead
GAR - Garland - 3 damage
CON - Constantine - 6 damage