Expedition - Bromric/Reclaim the Mountain - June 3, 1 VC

[Marullus]

If the elf is ready also, Bromric continues forward down the next shaft towards the 'Thringrinir'.

[Rusty Tincanne]

Perthrin mumbles through the formalities, not sure if he is fully understood. He is glad Grimdar send peaceful and won't hinder the group's journey. We thould get Kennit and our packth before dethending further.

[Marullus]

Mumble-grumble-everything's-a-dragon-mumble-grumble. Bromric grouses a bit to himself.

Then, he turns to Perthrin and Gilgamesh, considering, "I neglected that Kennit would be disadvantaged down here, without a torch. Perhaps we explore this next leg and see what we face in this excavation? We'll need the help at the top to get back up, as we can't leave Yusef and the ponies indefinitely..."

KingOfCowards - up to you. If you want to come, we'll call up and you can catch down and light a torch. If you want to hold at the top with Yusef, hopefully we'll find the thringrin and come back shortly with a plan. I don't want to OOC leave you out.

[Keehnelf]

Looking over the further descent, it appears that the party will need more rope to continue, or some other means of conveyance, unless they want to try the difficult climb down a near-vertical shaft that they can't bridge with their arms. The stone around it is also a bit treacherous, sloping downward like the opening of a whirlpool.

[Rusty Tincanne]

Patting his shirt and pants, Perthrin looks at the dwarfs. I theem to be out of wope. You?

A huge oversight, but Perthrin did not bring any rope on this adventure.

[Marullus]

If Bromric expected to scale down shafts instead of just move stone via excavation, can I retroactively have him acquire more rope? He bought crowbar, pick, shovel, block-and-tackle, pitons, and rope for the excavation, but as a player I didn't know what he knew about the shafts until we arrived...

[KingOfCowards]

Mumble-grumble-everything's-a-dragon-mumble-grumble. Bromric grouses a bit to himself.

Then, he turns to Perthrin and Gilgamesh, considering, "I neglected that Kennit would be disadvantaged down here, without a torch. Perhaps we explore this next leg and see what we face in this excavation? We'll need the help at the top to get back up, as we can't leave Yusef and the ponies indefinitely..."

KingOfCowards - up to you. If you want to come, we'll call up and you can catch down and light a torch. If you want to hold at the top with Yusef, hopefully we'll find the thringrin and come back shortly with a plan. I don't want to OOC leave you out.

Actually, I am okay with staying up top. Its funny that infravision isn't usually a big advantage when you are surrounded by humans, but when its all dwarves and elves it can be pretty nice. I didn't realize until now that Kennit was the only one who couldn't see in the dark. Kennit can stay up top for now, hopefully I don't miss too much.

[Keehnelf]

If Bromric expected to scale down shafts instead of just move stone via excavation, can I retroactively have him acquire more rope? He bought crowbar, pick, shovel, block-and-tackle, pitons, and rope for the excavation, but as a player I didn't know what he knew about the shafts until we arrived...

Since I only ever described the area around the collapse as chimneys earlier, I'm not keen on setting a precedent of retro-actively re-fitting the team or buying new items. Sorry

[Rusty Tincanne]

Perthrin has 57 gp he can spend on rope or other climbing gear.

Perthrin will be carrying 5 flasks of oil, 10 candles, 5 fresh rations, flint and steel, his spell book, parchment (in a scroll case), quill and ink and his wineskin. And whatever rope Bromric suggests. Everything else will be left up top with Kennit, et al.

[Spartakos]

Perthrin has 57 gp he can spend on rope or other climbing gear.

Perthrin will be carrying 5 flasks of oil, 10 candles, 5 fresh rations, flint and steel, his spell book, parchment (in a scroll case), quill and ink and his wineskin. And whatever rope Bromric suggests. Everything else will be left up top with Kennit, et al.

I believe Keehnelf was saying he is NOT okay with retroactive equipment buying. We have what we brought, and are stuck with our own lack of foresight.
Apologies, Gilgamesh isn't carrying any rope; I thought we were excavating, not rappelling.

[Rusty Tincanne]

Right you are! I totally misread his post. Glad I didn't go and change my equipment list.
Thanks for setting me straight.

[Marullus]

Bromric checks to see if Kennit and Yusuf have any additional rope which could be lowered upon return. He then looks to see if his pitons will make a difference in securing their ability to ascend again once the rope is untied.

Once he's done his best to secure ascent, he takes the rope to continue further. He'll go down to see the situation and then use pitons, etc., To repeat the process.

He asks Kennit and Yusuf to wait as long as they feel safe. If they need to flee, we'll meet them back at the tower.

Good?

[KingOfCowards]

Kennit offers up 50ft of silk rope he carries in his pack.

Sorry about that. For whatever reason, I thought they had tied his and Bromric's ropes together already. But when I checked back, they both came from Bromric.

[Keehnelf]

Yes, a dozen pitons is sufficient to establish a navigable "ladder" along the first stretch of chimney.

[Marullus]

Anyone else have more pitons?

With a navigable ladder established back to the surface, Bromric takes the three lengths of rope and hopes it is enough to complete their task. He anchors the rope at the top of the next chute. "I will go first into the breach," he offers. "If I signal like this, pull me up. If like this, come down," establishing their protocols.

[Rusty Tincanne]

Perthrin really has little or value for this mission. Apparently I'm really good at playing characters with low wisdom.

[Spartakos]

Gilgamesh nods stoutly to Bromric, and braces himself to help belay his descent.

[Keehnelf]

June 11, 1 VC - 2:20pm

The party works to build a safe ascent from Grimdar's vaulted chamber up to the surface with pitons, hammering carefully as they go until they re-connect with Kennit and Yusuf who are waiting patiently under the warm mid-day sun. They gather up the rope and then descend once more, fastening it carefully away from the edge of the sink in Grimdar's room and then dropping quickly down the wide, vertical chute another thirty feet, where Bromric and Gilgamesh immediately identify a section of the chute that is wider and damaged that appears to have been a twist in the original formation that resulted in something like an extrusion of stone that must later have come loose. Sure enough, thirty feet further down, they come to the bottom of the chute and find the floor a mess of large sections of shattered rock. A faint echoing voice greets their bootsteps on the rock. "Hello!" it calls. "We need help!"

After some quick exchanges, Bromric feels confident that the voice belongs to Jerdan, the speaker of the thringrinir he had encountered before, buried six or eight feet directly under the party's current position.

[Marullus]

So I understand correctly: We have a vertical shaft (no room to the sides). We are 60' down. We need to excavate 6-8' of fallen rock straight-down (removing the detritus at the top of the shaft) to free the Thringrnir into this shaft. Is that right?

Bromric confirms that he is the same one who promised to return, having now done so at his word. He also inquires about the status of their health and provisions. Having found their objective, he calls up and asks Yusuf to descend. He unpacks his picks and shovels for he and Gilgamesh, and rigs his block-and-tackle with the ropes so that Perthrin and Yusuf can haul the rubble back out of the way. (Unless there is only room for one in the shaft, in which case he stays below and asks Perthrin and Gilgamesh to haul the stones.)

[Keehnelf]

No extra room at the sides, though there are some small side-chimneys leading off that could potentially be crawled through or opened up. The shaft you're in is just about ten feet across though.