OOC: I think the point being made is that the entire party (whether players moved their tokens on the map or not) is standing near Chandan at all times - as agreed many moons ago.
[OOC Oh and I can't move the Whisper token. Watching through her eyes she cannot be too far ahead, maybe about where the map ends, so a few squares in front of Chandan ]
Gypsy, I fixed that for you. I also revealed some areas. And with the assumption that you'll share....
DM Whisper, excited to be back with Jaliera and eager to prove her value once again, flies down the steps to see what's there. She, of course, can see very well in absolute darkness.
A narrow ledge overlooks a large cavern that houses a surging, seething body of water. The rhythmic booming heard throughout the mines is louder here. At regular intervals, a fresh surge of water funnels into this chamber and slams against the wall just below the ledge. The echo suggests that this cave might be one arm of a much larger cavern to the northeast.
[[ OK ... is =ANYONE= still left in the building??? Some show up there on the map and that makes it difficult for Bern to join the others when there are some left behind!! ]]
The old monk is a little surprised by this report, since the mines are about 30 miles inland. But who knows where the water comes from? There are deeper seas beneath the earth, and mysterious shores hidden in darkness, according to the tales told by Earth and Water.
Alas, the caves Chandan has visited have been at far higher elevations in the Yehimals.
Always excited to see new things, he waits for the light and then hurries the party along. Once in the cavern, Chandan breathes deeply of its air.
Does the water smell brackish? Fascinating, either way.
"Ah," He says, "this is a place I could sit a while!"
But there's a passage to the north-west and a dwarf still to rescue. No time for meditation. Such is life!
"Nevermind." Says Chandan, and with his spear gleaming, leads on.
[OOC Yes Jaliera will share everything Whisper relays to her. Map updated ]
Jaliera
She flattens herself against the rock. Whisper is looking ahead and with quick glances through the bird's eyes, the rest of her focus is on the water, bow trained in that direction.
Grumbling to himself as Chandon and Jaliera continue their 'wandering'. He moves up into the cavern where he can keep an eye on them =and= the rest of the group.
OOC: I'll give everyone a chance to catch up and move their tokens. Gypsy, you should have control over Whisper now. Let me know if you don't. You didn't move her with Jaliera.
Standing next to Ryssa after everyone else has moved up, he urges her to come along and he moves up to where the bulk of the party is. OOC: I moved both PC's up. Mike, you decide how far back you stay.
DM Jaiera sends Whisper forward to scout. When she turns the corner she can see beyond the end of the tunnel open into a cavern. A wide rift fills the eastern half of this cavern. A stream pours out of the west wall , then tumbles down into the rift and flows out again to the north. Several ropes are secured to iron stakes along on the western edge of the rift, leading down to the chasm floor. From where she is, Whisper sees two bugbears clearing rock on the rift floor. Another bugbear is standing guard in the western half of the cavern and behind him is a male drow standing near a wall and an exit at the far west end of the cavern.
She relays what Whisper sees to the others, recalling her and adding her thoughts.
"What do you think? It doesn't seem so promising but it does depend on what might lie further on. I would send Whisper to scout further but that Drow worries me. If Whisper is detected, that might alert them to our presence and we don't know how many more there might be."
[I was thinking the Black Spider was a female drow, but I might've just equated "Black Spider" with Lolth.]
Chandan
He ponders this latest report from Whisper owl. The chasm would separate them from the drow and one bugbear, whilst the second two would be sitting bug-ducks in the bottom.
"If we can sneak up to the ledge without alerting them, we might have control of the fight.
"For us, better than being surrounded in wide open space."
"It is a good defensible place for attacking them", he agreed. "As long as ... knowing where we are ... they can't send others in from where we just came. As 'maze like' as this place is, I wouldn't discount that the way exists nor that =they= would know that way."
What Chandan and the ranger said made sense and she merely nodded and, as usual, let the warriors decide on the tactical details.
Ryssa looked down at her shiny new found mace and thought that she, herself, felt just a bit more warrior-like than she had before. She looked forward to trying the bludgeoning weapon sometime soon.
"Unless there hidden passages, the stairs up offers a natural choke point to stop anyone coming up from behind us. If those work tables in the green forge room aren't two heavy we can grab one or two to block at the top of the stairs?"
She likes the idea of using the ledge as a place to attack from. She considers what Whisper had seen and tries to work out how effective her bow would be from there and how many rounds she might have before the creatures could get to her.
"Yes, sounds like a good strategy and I like the idea of protecting our backs Davroar."
She smiles at him, something she finds very easy to do.
He does not object and turns around to head back to the forge and see if any of the work benches can be carried out while saying, "I'll get a table if someone will help please?"
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