Move 149: The Sky is Falling
The Garlstone Mines--Afternoon, 2 Eleint, 1374 DRThe prisoner looked at Aloysius indignantly, "Fine, don't believe me. I won't tell you now anyway. You can figure it out for yourselves."
Before anyone could respond to that gem of wisdom, a stalactite freed itself from among the other formations on the ceiling and fell within a foot of where Arachne was huddled on the floor. It didn't shatter, as one might expect rock to do, and it blinked at her and started moving slowly closer to her, as one would definitely not expect rock to do.
"This is the kind of thing I'm keeping you alive and relatively unharmed for," Jana reminded the prisoner. "What's that?" she asked, pointing at the moving rock thing.
"That's one of those piercer things, I think they're called," the prisoner told Jana. "We've already gotten rid of most of them, but I guess we missed that one."
Cethryan turned from listening to Aloysius only to see the stalactite fall from the ceiling. She moved back near the prisoner.
Aloysius jumped as the "stalactite" hit the floor of the tunnel. "Egad!" he exclaimed, "this is obviously
not a good locale in which to engage in extended discussions. Stargazer favors a change of venue to
one that is somehwat more stable."With that, Aloysius headed back in the direction the party had come from, lantern in hand.
Rennirolas drew his longsword and eyed it warily as the stalactite crawled across the floor. "Shall this be the
second blade I'm to lose," he mumbled. Renn risked a look up at the cave's ceiling as he interposed himself
between Arachne and the 'thing'.Arachne blinked at it, then rolled away from the stalactite before clambering to her feet in a tangle of cloak, blanket and gnome.
"Tartar sauce for this," she swore, straightening out her layers of clothing -- at least enough so that she could walk. "Dead if I go on, dinner if I stay put. I've had it." She started back out the way the gang had come.
Ceth watched as Aloysius ran away. "But ..." she began, "the stalactite seems to be moving. Arachne, perhaps you should move back. Do you think we could fight it?" she added.
Ceth moved near to Renn, her staff out. "Perhaps my quarterstaff would be more effective, not to mention easier to replace, though I am sure I am not such a good fighter as you are."
"That is most debatable," Renn smiled as he gripped his sword and shield. "Though it would most likely be
wise to try to learn another weapon, my sword and bow are not always the best solution. Perhaps if we get
the time, you could begin to instruct me in the use of the quarterstaff Cethyran?" Renn asked."I would be honored," Ceth replied.
"Oh," remarked Arachne
Having re-sheveled her disheveled cloak and blanket, Arachne found that a brave elf was willing to defend her against the balefully blinking pointy rock. In spite of her griping.
"All right," she sighed. "I won't give up, yet. Thank you, Renn." But she did look around to see if there might be a safer place to huddle.
"Great....you guys have finally argued enough that the mine itself is trying to shut you all up." Etienne then looked up warily at the ceiling.
"I've got a better idea." Blacky went over and attempted to pick up the thing, holding it's mouth or whatever it seemed capable of attacking with away from him. Then he threw it down the sinkhole. Hopefully hitting the ladder on the way down.
Between Blacky and Daelen, the heavy creature was lugged over to the mineshaft and tossed down. It did seem to hit the ladder a couple of times on the way down. Nothing other than gravity seemed to happen it.
Echo glanced down the hole at the piercer. "I don't see any traps on this ladder," she told everyone. "I
could miss magic ones, but one strong one on the top like what hit Daelen could be all. I don't want to
say names of priests of Cyric even if I knew them. Bad mojo. Renn, maybe if you do your danger sensing
ability, we can go on. I don't want anyone getting killed if I'm wrong but I think the ladder's safe now.""Good," Jana said. "Our new friend here can test your theory." Jana searched the prisoner once more for weapons and moved him toward the ladder. "Is it safe?"
Daelen watched it fall with grim satisfaction, then swore suddenly under his breath.
"I forgot, my pack is still down there!" he explained.
"Er," said Ceth, "If he knew the safe way down anyway, letting him go first means nothing much, does it?"
"And, let's hope the fall killed that rocky thing--and that a backpack did not break its fall."
"If you would like me to, Echo, I will test the ladder."
"I doubt that -- on all counts," Arachne said, from whatever post she'd decided might be safest. "Falling beside me hardly seemed to bother it -- and that time it didn't have a ladder to help slow it up a little. Indeed, I'd almost guess that falling is what it _likes_ to do. Reminds me of a story I heard once about a rabbit, a fox and a briar patch -- Anyway, don't you think that the party Daelen was trying to hit with his backpack would've carried it off, just to see what was inside?"
"You're probably right." Ceth nodded. "Maybe they thought we were offering them a bribe to leave us alone." she contemplated.
Echo replied, "I don't know how Renn's danger sensing works. Can he tell if you'd be in danger? I'm
willing to try it too. I want to be as safe as possible, but at the same time, get on with this so we can stop this evil once and for all. I'll go get Aloysius while the rest of you decide who would be the safest person to try it first. We need his spells if we ever get down there." She walked back out of the cave the way Aloysius went.Rennirolas sheathed his sword as the 'Piercer' was thrown down the hole. He turned to watch the prisoner and said, "It would bode well for you to continue to cooperate. Perhaps the authorities would be lenient with you should you prove no further hindrance. So, I'll ask again, what are the passwords needed to climb down the ladder? And does everyone who climbs up or down need to say them, or just the first person?"
The prisoner gave no sign that he intended to provide any additional information, in spite of Renn's words. His main reaction was a snort at the mention of leniency.
Echo and Aloysius returned in time to hear Renn's explanation of his granted power.
"I do still believe I should be the one down the ladder," Rennirolas added as he looked to the group. "Mostly due to the manner my sixth sense works, but I'll wait to explain until Echo and Aloysius return."
Renn waited for Echo to return with Aloysius before he spoke again. "The sixth sense I'm granted would detect any unexpected danger that myself or another could get into, so to speak," Renn explained. "But that person would have to be within ten feet of myself. It does not tell me what the danger is, but gives me a moment's notice that something foul is going to happen."
"I would hate to lose you," Ceth said, "but you must do as you believe is right."
When Aloysius returned with Echo, he seemed to be cautiously (and nervously) scanning the ceiling as best he could for more falling nasties. Upon hearing Renn's explanation of his ability, his attention redirected to the elf.
"If I understand thee, Rennirolas, you should be able to employ the ladder, with thine ability providing thee with notice 'enow so as to enable thee to skip a warded rung. If the entire ladder is warded, thou shalt know that as well."
He thought for a moment and then nodded slowly. "Aye. As much as Stargazer hates to name another to engage
in something potentially harmful, Rennirolas would seem the logical choice to try the ladder first. He can then advise the rest of us as to how best employ the ladders ourselves."Aloysius looked at the prisoner. "I see no reason to even bring him along. First, we would have to untie
him so he can descend the ladder, and second, as soon as we meet the remaining villains, he will simply
attempt to escape. Why not simply leave him up here, bound and gagged, until we can return and take him to
Garyld?"Leaving his question hanging, Aloysius waited for Renn to begin his descent.
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