xibalba ♔ sublime | like a heartbeat | in its own beat

[everyredcent]

Heartbeat - Gazelle Twin 

WHO || Christos, Risa, Gaz, Ella, Katniss, Dante  [closed] 
WHAT || The Knights explore several drow raids stemming from a series of caverns in Belize
WHERE || Cave of the Crystal Sepulchre, Belize 
WHEN || March (date TBD)
HOW || Actionspam (single thread)

[ Travel to the Mountain Nature Reserve goes smoothly, and as promised, a woman who works for the park meets them and escorts them within as 'researchers', guiding them towards the area near the cavern entrances.  She speaks very fluent English and makes it clear that she's willing to put her job at risk getting them in there if it means putting a halt to these attacks before waiting for it to get cleared through red tape with the authorities.  She stops them at the cave mouth, nodding at the entrance. ]

From here, you must swim inside of the cave, and then wade up the river within for about a kilometer before you will reach dry ground.  The caverns stretch within for another few kilometers.  Will you be alright from here?

Comments

1/2

[layonhands]

[ even a 10 is enough! which is good because that's what risa gets too, stepping gingerly down the tunnel, keeping one hand on the wall ]

[everyredcent]

[ with a 23 balance, christos easily moves ahead of the others as they head down, and gaz notices light footsteps in the dirt heading in both directions - up and down. there are multiple pairs, suggesting they aren't the first group to move through here recently. the tunnel ends abruptly in a wall of hewn granite that looks rather out of place among these natural tunnels. a hole gapes in the floor right in front of the wall, and a large iron ring is set securely into the floor a couple of feet from the lip of the hole. it's completely dark down that hole, but a rope is tied to the ring and dangles into it. ]

[sorceresslite]

Creepy. [ ella peers down the hole into, you know, darkness. and sees more darkness. cool. so she casts dancing lights. four pale green will-o'-the-wisps shaped lights flutter over the hole before drifting down it while ella watches to see if they'll reach the bottom. (range is 180 ft.) ]

[anthophobia]

[Katniss' shoulders tense because magic is weird and she'll probably never entirely get used to it, even if she appreciates being able to see.

She distracts herself by taking a look around, now that they're not completely plunged into darkness at the bottom of the tunnel (spot 16, listen 17).]

[layonhands]

[ the wisps float down for about ten feet, illuminating rock with green light on all sides, before they move into a cavern of some kind below, its floor another ten foot drop. katniss is sure that she hears some movement down there, but they can't see anything more. ]

[anthophobia]

[At the sound of the noise she looks to the others, tapping her ear before pointing down into the cavern. No doubt whatever is down there will see the lights, but they shouldn't give away anything else if they can help it.

As she continues to move, her hands reach for her bow and an arrow, in case whatever she hears is dangerous.]

[farmgirlfighter]

[ Gaz (silently) points out the tracks she spotted, then draws her swords, also ready for danger. ]

[everyredcent]

[ christos goes stark still, watching and waiting... but nothing else stirs, and the movement below stops. ]

[sorceresslite]

[ ella halts the lights, but doesn't draw them back, looking back at christos like WELL WHAT NOW?? ]

[everyredcent]

[ gdi. he isn't pleased about this but it is what it is. he moves against the stone wall, crouching there and gestures for them all to do the same.

gonna have to fucking wait. ]

[buttholy]

[dante crouches with christos. what a fun mission his has been so far. :'| ]

[farmgirlfighter]

[ Gaz is not good at waiting quietly, so it's a good thing she rolled well and got an (unnatural) 20 on her move silently check to go crouch with Christos and Dante. ]

[anthophobia]

[Meanwhile, Katniss presses up against the wall as well, hiding herself in the darkness (hide 34).]

[layonhands]

[ risa goes to crouch beside them, and trips on a rock as she puts out her light spell (move silently 4), but gaz manages to catch one of her arms and keep her from crashing too loudly. she glances at them with wide eyes as christos settles in, annoyed, to listen for any response to the momentary noise ]

[sorceresslite]

[ ella crouches quietly (move silently 21), and pulls a scarf over her bright hair. the lights only last a minute so they fade soon enough and st patrick slithers silently (move silently 19; hide nat 20, 23 total) to the mouth of the hole. maybe his snake eyes see something???? (spot 25) ]

[everyredcent]

[ what do your snake eyes see, st. patricK?????

welp. a shape slithering up through the darkness towards him that he would slowly realize is a rope. it comes up on its own accord and loops through the metal ring, tying itself there as if by an invisible hand, dangling into the hole below ]

[sorceresslite]

[ once st. patrick relays the information, slithering back slightly, ella leans over to relay it to christos, voice a low whisper. ] Rope from below. Invitation?

[everyredcent]

[ christos looks at ella like BITCH NO and pulls out his rapier slowly ]

[sorceresslite]

[ FINE CHRISTOS, GOD. ella draws her dagger like she's gonna use it, haha, that's a funny joke. ]

[anthophobia]

[Katniss draws her bow completely then, notching an arrow and waiting for some kind of signal or sign.]

[buttholy]

[dante joins in everybody else's battle prep and draws his longsword. we're gonna have a good time y'all.]

[everyredcent]

[ in the utter dark, they can barely make out the two steps that climb up the rope, a flash of white beneath cloaks the only visible feature of the two armored humanoids who make their way up. christos signals to risa, and she lets her light flare up again, causing one of the figures to hiss against the abrupt glare... annnnd time for init ]

[farmgirlfighter]

[ Looks like Gaz is gonna be the first to make a move. And move she does, crossing the small cavern to attack the figure who flinched. (24)

Then, because she's apparently awesome, she swings her paired longswords in a flurry of blades, attacking four more times. (17/19/24/10) ]

[sorceresslite]

[ bad decision bears elinór caílte rushes forward in all her teeny irish insanity and grabs at the one gaz is currently not turning into ceviche. instantly, lighting skips from her hand to the armored person (?) as she casts shocking grasp on a fierce whisper of gaelic. (atk 21, dmg 25) ]

[farmgirlfighter]

[ oh yeah and that's 20 total damage from Gaz how does combat? ]