10. Exploring the Crack and the trip back

T.M.O.L.: Campaign Notes: Chapter 5

Morning dawns and the group wakes to the sound of a very unhappy troll hitting his head on the ceiling as he stands up. Krolmar laughs at his troll friend, and Brashak grumbles something incomprehensible about dwarven architecture, as he puts his boots back on and prepares to leave. Brashak puts the weaponsmithing notes inside the book covers and wraps the books in an old piece of cloth to carry with him.

The dwarf Troubadour goes over the equipment in the chest, looking for things of historic importance. Tori takes the letter, the scrolls detailing paper and ink construction, the knife, quill, inkpot, silvery vial, and the blank scrolls. She muses over the silvery vial, wondering what it could be.

Once the group is ready, they collect their equipment and head out into the cool morning. Mist fills the Bottomless Crack as usual, but also piles up above the ledge, reducing sight to only a few yards. No'ther leads the way along the ledge, and within minutes reaches the support stakes that held the bridge. The bridge is still attatched at this end, but dangles uselessly down the cliff.

"What's the plan, Brashak?" asks No'ther.

"Well, Merrin's body and Tyrian's sword are at the bottom of the gorge below us, the entrance to the mines is some way down the cliff wall on the other side, and my equipment should be a few yards from where the other end of this bridge was attached." Brashak looks down, seemingly less uncomfortable than the previous day. "We can either continue along the ledge looking for a better way down, or we can climb down here. Personally, I'd prefer the former."

Krolmar grabs a stone and drops it over the cliff into the mist hoping to hear when it lands. After waiting for a few moments, he gives up.

"Wow, its a long way down there."

"Fine, we'll try continuing then," says No'ther.

The ledge continues on past the bridge, and begins sloping downwards. At times the group if forced to climb down short drops where the continuity is broken, but nothing very hard. After an hour of walking and climbing along the ledge, it gradually diminishes in width until it is no longer safe. The group estimates that they are about fifty feet lower than the bridge, but it is hard to tell. The mist down lower is even thicker, so that they cannot even see the person two places in front.

"Guys, this is seems a bit ridiculous. We can travel like this for days. Brashak, as noble as it is to find Merrin's body. I think we can count it as lost. I don't see any chance of us getting around this gorge in the immediate future, so I vote we head back." says Krolmar.

Brashak turns to face Krolmar. "Alright, I can accept that we can't get to Merrin and the sword, but I do need to get to Hollow to tell of his death and I do need to get to the other side of this gorge to get my equipment. And who knows, maybe the people of Hollow know of an easier way down." He turns towards No'ther. "You had an idea how to get across?"

"This is not the way surely?" queries the ork.

No'ther peers once again into the mist. "There's no way of telling how far down this goes, and I don't relish the prospect of climbing down and running out of rope, and then having to climb all the way back up. Like I said before, I could throw a rope across the bridge and climb across it. If all you wanted was to get your equipment back -- assuming it is still all there -- then I could go across and bring it back for you. Is that good?"

"Sounds like a far better plan," Krolmar agrees. "Anyway Brashak, this may seem a bit . . . harsh, but you can always send a messenger. It may not be personal like you want it. but at least the family still know."

Brashak kicks a rock over the ledge in frustration. "I can't believe this damn. . . hole in the ground, is going to stop me!" He takes a few moments to calm himself. "Alright, but I have my doubts about the equipment still being at the bridge. The people from Hollow have probably come looking for us, and if they have they'll have taken my equipment back with them."

The group backtracks up the ledge, which is quite a bit harder than coming down. At a few of the short cliffs No'ther climbs up and puts down a rope to make sure that nobody falls trying to climb unassisted. By the time that the group reaches the bridge again, it is mid-morning, and the mist has thinned somewhat in the sun so that they can just vaguely see the other side.

After a brief break for a bite to eat and a rest from their exertions, No'ther takes out a dagger-like implement and loops his rope through the hook at the end. He pushes a part of the handle up, causing barbs to spring out from the sides, like a grappling hook. Unshouldering his pack and other excess equipment, No'ther begins trying to throw his grappling hook at the post barely visible on the other side of the canyon.

The hook and rope fly straight and hard, but clank off the stone below. Undaunted, No'ther reels in the rope and tries again. On his third attempt, No'ther catches the post and pulls the rope tight. He ties it securely to the post on this side, and prepares to climb across.

Hand over hand, he swings across the rope, seemingly unaware of the drop into oblivion below him. Still, he makes it across safely, and looks about on the other side. "Did you leave it right here?" yells No'ther across the chasm.

"Yup! It should be right there!" Brashak shouts back in reply.

"I can't see anything! How about I go to Hollow and ask them there? It shouldn't take too long, should it?"

"Yeah, that's a good idea. You do that, and if they want to talk with me just bring them back here."

"I'll be back in a few hours then," shouts back No'ther. "Just make sure that rope is still there when I get back. Could you tell me how to get there from here?" Brashak gives some quick directions as he remembers them, and then No'ther heads off and out of sight.

Krolmar sits down and unslings his backpack. He grabs a small portion of a ration and pulls out Garm. The rat sits happily on Krolmars legs as the ork feeds him.

Krolmar looks up to Brashak "How long will it take to get to Hollow and back?"

"If all goes well, he should be here before nightfall," Brashak answers.

While waiting Brashak sits down to study the Weaponsmithing notes and books from Tyrian's Forge. Brashak recognises the book titled 'Basic Tennets of Weaponsmithing' as the same which he saw his master use several times, but Brashak never had a chance to study it himself. Books like this are lovingly copied by hand, and a very rare find. Flicking throuugh the yellowed pages, Brashak realizes that it would take him weeks or months of study just to read through it, let alone understand all the principles involved.

While they are waiting, the Adepts see very little in the way of animal life. Ants scurry around on the ledge and cliff, and a large bird glides slowly down the canyon at one point. The weather stays fine, and after noon the mist at their height clears away, but they still cannot see very far down into the canyon. The rope bridge still lies down the side of the cliff, but there is no sight of the ledge or tunnel entrance below.

As the sun is setting behind the mountains to the west, No'ther reappears across the canyon, carrying a backpack and an axe. "No problems," he calls over, "once I found the place."

No'ther withdraws his grappling hook and ties the rope directly to the old bridge post. He ties the axe to the side of the pack with some excess rope, and tries shaking it upside down to make sure that the axe will not fall out easily.

That done, he gets under the rope and begins inching his way along. The posts creak from the weight, and the knots move a bit, but they hold. After a tense minute, No'ther stands up again on firm ground alongside the others. His face is covered in sweat, despite the cool temperature. "It didn't look so bad when you can't see very far," he comments, wiping his forehead.

"Here you go, Brashak," says No'ther, giving the pack and axe to the troll. "The villagers said that it was all there, and I assume they were telling the truth. They're so trusting I doubt they even considered taking anything."

Brashak smiles and gives No'ther a big pat on the back. "Excellent work, No'ther!"

A quick examination of the pack and contents by Brashak shows that indeed all his belongings are still in there. Brashak packs his belongings again and carefully examines his axe. The axe is somewhat unusual in appearance. It is two-bladed and the center part of each blade is missing. The blades are also richly decorated with carvings of what resembles a giant airship battle. As he takes a few test swings with it, it emits a sort of swooshing humming sound. Apart from the axe Brashak also has a small crossbow attached to his pack. As he was rummaging through his backpack the group also saw a chain mail armor, a light quartz, and also what looked like a potion bottle.

Seemingly satisfied Brashak addresses the gathered group. "Well, unless anyone cares to try the mines, I think we should head back to New Lebensraum. And unless anyone has a better idea I suggest that we head back the way we came. That way, at least, we know what we're up against."

Tori looks back up the cliff face they just recently climbed down. "If there's no rush, I suppose we could look around a bit."

No'ther looks up at the darkening sky. "If it's alright with you, I'd rather wait until morning before climbing back up there. We can stay in the Forge again for the night, I suppose."

The group heads back to the abandoned Forge and prepares to spend the night there again.

Tori sits up for quite a bit going through the documents she found in the chest. Some of the others seem to be having a bit of trouble reading the books so she offers to translate sections so they can get an idea about what the tomes contain.

Morning dawns with the sound of pouring rain on the ledge outside. "Great, just great," says No'ther, coming back from looking outside. "We can't even pass water without getting soaked. Tell me, do you people want to try climbing up in the rain, or wait till it stops. I'm not worried about myself, being a Thief Extraordinaire, but the likes of you could find it tricky in the wet."

Tori, who is still staring at No'ther because of his rude comment, says she would prefer to wait until the rain stops -- or look for another way out if it is not too dangerous.

"I hardly think we are capable of climbing the rock wet, so I suppose we will have to wait until it stops raining," Krolmar replies, patronisingly.

"Yeah, I have to agree with that. Going's tough enough as it is without the rocks being slippery wet," Brashak adds.

The ork slides his sword out its sheath and starts meticulously cleaning it, waiting for the rain to stop. After a full hour of cleaning his sword Krolmar starts a thorough search of the forge and dwelling. Brashak continues his study of the books and notes, perfectly happy with an activity that does not require hime to move about in the dwarf size cave. No'ther wanders around the Forge for a while, and then finally sits down and fidgets, clearly unhappy about the lack of activity.

After finishing cleaning his sword, Krolmar decides to do another inspection of the forge. He looks in the forge, which looks like a larger version of the magical hotpots which some rich people have in their homes. He is not sure how it works, but the pressure point to activate it does not appear to have any effect.

There is not much else to investigate, Krolmar finds. The bed is made from a protruding rock shelf, so it cannot be moved. Krolmar moves the chests to see if there is anything behind or underneath them, but does not find anything interesting there. The chests themselves are very heavy, especially the ones which still have weapons, armour, and tools in them, but even the one with just the clothes is quite heavy.

There are plenty of cobwebs behind the chests, and around the racks of tools. Inspecting the tools Krolmar recognises some of them from the lessons which Thorum gave him, but he has no idea about the function of many of them. There are whole sets of tools almost identical, but with slight differences in the shape of the head, or the handle, or both.

No'ther spends some time looking up into the ventilation hole in the middle of the roof, and eventually asks Krolmar to give him a boost up. The strong ork easily lifts up the skinny dwarf so that he can stick his head in the shaft, and No'ther reaches his arms up to feel around inside. He pulls out a small light quartz from one of his belt pouches, unwraps it from its protective fur, and hangs it around his neck by the attatched leather strap. Abruptly, he grabs something inside, and lifts himself up inside. Krolmar is amazed that a dwarf could fit in a hole that small, but No'ther squirms around inside, trying to get higher up the rough shaft.

After a few minutes of squirming, No'ther gives up, and begins squirming down again, falling in an ungraceful heap on the ground. "Bah, too small up there. If only I was a Windling, I could just fly up." No'ther looks longingly up the shaft. "I wonder where it leads. The rain isn't coming through, and there was no light either. Who knows what secrets or treasures could be up there," says the Thief, wistfully.

"What those annoying little things, I swat them like the overgrown bugs they are," Krolmar says with a repulsive look on his face.

Just when Krolmar is getting so sick of waiting that he feels that he must do something, the rain drizzles out and stops. Krolmar walks outside the cavern looks along the ledge and up the slope. Water pours in little rivulets down the slope above, splashing off the ledge or falling straight into the mist below. Everything is soaked in water, but looks cleaner and brighter, other than the low threatening clouds. Seeing the rock is still glisening with water, the ork walks back into the cavern.

"The rock face is still pretty wet. It will probably take a few hours to dry." Krolmar says. "Looks like we a stuck for a couple of hours at least if we want to try and climb the rock face safely."

Tori looks up from her reading and glances outside. "We could be here for a long time," she says to the others. "How long we stay here really depends on you big fellow's patient. I guess if we prepare carefully, we could climb the cliff safely."

Brashak looks up from the book he is reading. "Let's wait another hour or so and be on our way."

After waiting a few minutes, No'ther goes outside to take a look. He returns later, and says, "The rope I left is still up there, and seems secure, which is good. We shouldn't have too much trouble climbing up, although being wet does make it slippery. At least it is better than if it is raining."

After an hour of waiting for most of the water to run off the cliff, the group decides to leave and try climbing up the cliff. Tori and Brashak carefully pack their books in their packs, hoping that they will not get water damage. Walking out, No'ther leads the way along the ledge to the rope which he left when they climbed down earlier.

At the bottom of the rope, No'ther turns to the others and says, "Here's the plan. Krolmar, you give me your rope, and then I'll climb up. Then I'll let your rope down so that you can use it as a safety rope when you are climbing. Also, we could use one of the ropes to pull up the packs rather than carrying them. Sound good?"

Krolmar gets out his rope and hands it to the skinny dwarf, who slings it over his shoulder after removing his pack.

No'ther claps his hands together and begins the climb. Bracing his legs on the slope and pulls himself hand over hand up the rope, so blindingly fast that he is up the top almost before the others realise that he has started. He ties Krolmar's rope to something up the top, and then throws it down for the others to use as a safety.

Krolmar ties the safety around his waist, and begins the climb up the cliff. Being almost all armwork, he pulls himself up the slope easily, and joins No'ther at the top.

Next No'ther instructs Krolmar to pull up the packs from below, and they arrive dirty and wet, but secure. As Tori is climbing up next, a light drizzle starts, but not heavy enough to cause much of a problem. Tori eventually makes it to the top, after several long waits trying to get past a slippery part where she could not brace her feet properly. No'ther tells her and Brashak to hurry before it starts raining properly.

Brashak follows suit, but finds it even more difficult. The rope is getting more and more slippery in the light drizzle, and the troll finds the slope very slippery and hard to brace himself against it. As he steps on a small outcropping, it crumbles under his weight, and Brashak begins to slip. His hands slide on the wet rope, and he cannot stop himself from falling. The safety rope snaps tight for a second, and then goes slack as even Krolmar's vice-like grip fails in the wet and he is forced to let go. Brashak slides down the slope helplessly, and bounces off the ledge at the bottom and out into the chasm. The safety rope reaches the end of its length, and pulls tight. With a crack, the rock around which No'ther had tied the safety breaks loose from the strain.

With desperate dives, both Krolmar and No'ther leap for the safety rope as the end of it snakes across the ground towards the edge of the cliff. Krolmar grabs the loop at the end, and No'ther grabs Krolmar as he also slides towards the edge. The ork hits a small outcropping at the edge, which stops him for long enough for No'ther and Tori to hold him fast.

Half over the edge, Krolmar gasps in agony and strains to hold the loop of rope in one hand as pain shoots through every joint in his arm. He gives out an earsplitting scream of pain.

"AAAAHHHHH. . . umpf!" Brashak screams in abject terror as one of his worst nightmares comes true and he plunges to what he believes to be his boneshattering death until he comes to an abrupt stop at the end of the rope.

Tori realises she is little help just trying to hang on Krolmar -- her small weight and strength contibute little. Once she is certain the whole lot of them are not about to go over the edge, she tells No'ther that she is going to secure her own rope about the out-crop and tie Krolmar to it. Then, hopefully, the Thief can go down and see he if he can help Krolmar.

"No Tori," No'ther says, "tie it to Krolmar, then we can tie the rope Krolmar has to mine. Bring Krolmar up then we can get Brashak."

As soon as Tori releases Krolmar, he and No'ther begin to slide. She quickly grabs Krolmar again, and No'ther braces himself again, nodding to Tori to try letting go again. She does so, and this time Krolmar stays in place, with No'ther's help. Krolmar finds it surprisingly easy to maintain his hold on the rope, maybe something to do with the fact that he can't feel anything below his elbow, and his fingers are locked in place.

The small dwarf does as No'ther instructs, and securly ties the rope to the outcrop then to Krolmar. No'other carefully checks the knot, but tells Tori to untie it and tie it again because it will not hold. She does so, trying to hurry as she sees Krolmar's face. She loops the rope around Krolmar's waist several times and ties it off. Satisfied with her second attempt, No'ther slowly releases Krolmar making sure he falls no further. The rope stretches, but holds, squeezing the ork's waist.

During the whole process of securing the rope, Brashak just hangs limp from his end of the rope, but it is impossible to determine if he is trying to avoid putting more strain on Krolmar or if he is simply scared senseless.

"I hope you know what the hell you are doing No'ther," Krolmar says, grimacing at the strain of Brashak on his arm.

"So do I." replies No'ther. The Thief climbs a few feet over the edge, and finds a good foothold so that he can try to pull Brashak's safety rope up. He strains at it, but barely moves the rope at all.

"Hmm, plan two," says No'ther. He gets the excess from Tori's rope, and starts tying that around the loop that Krolmar is holding. He finishes it with shaking hands, and looks at Krolmar. "Tori, if that rope doesn't hold, you'll have to hold them," says No'ther.

Tori nods and takes hold of the rope holding Krolmar, knowing that she has no hope of holding it. "Let go of the rope, Krolmar," says No'ther. Gradually, Krolmar forces his locked fingers open and releases the loop. It falls a foot before Tori's rope pulls tight, and holds.

As the rope falls when Krolmar releases it, Brashak's head suddenly snaps up and his body tenses visibly. Finally convinced that he is not yet about to die he tries to reach for the cliff to climb up onto the ledge, half climbing and half pulling himself up the rope.

Krolmar is left tied to the rope, but the pressure comes off his waist. No'ther inspects the knots, pulling at the loops around Krolmar's waist. "You know," he says, "I think we can cut you free, Krolmar. That rope goes up there, through there, around there, through there, and out. So we could. . ." Before anyone can stop him, No'ther grabs the back of Krolmar's shirt, slips a knife between the rope and his waist, and cuts it. ". . . cut it."

No'ther drags Krolmar back from the edge and collapses on the ground. "That was too close, you know."

As he reaches the ledge, Brashak collapses in a heap and does not move for several minutes. He finally gets back on his feet and looks up to where the group is. He seems very reluctant to try the climb again, but finally pulls himself together for another attempt.

First No'ther cuts the safety rope at the knot and reties it around a promising looking protrusion. Brashak begins the climb through the rain, trying a slightly different path than his first attempt. This time, he reaches the top safely with only minor delays.

Reaching the top, pale faced and trembling, he says "Thanks," in a weak voice and once again collapses to the ground.

"Glad to have you back with us, Brashak," says No'ther. "If you'd gone down I'd be hard up for payment, wouldn't I?" No'ther grins, trying to make light of the near death situation.

"How's the arm, Krolmar?"

"A lot better when I couldn't feel it," Krolmar says with a half hearted smile. "Can somebody give me a hand to put my arm in a sling, oh and don't forget the ropes."

No'ther coils up the ropes quickly, cutting off the knotted part of Tori's rope. He loops his own rope over his shoulder, and hands the other two to their respective owners. "Now that we are up here and all wet, I can't see much point in sitting around. We can probably still reach home today, and get someone who knows what they are doing to look at that arm and Brashak's head."

"Yah, let's get going. . . as soon as the ground stops moving," Brashak mumbles.

Everyone picks up their packs, with Krolmar gingerly shrugging his onto his good shoulder, and the group starts walking around the side of the mountain and back towards New Lebensraum. The light rain continues for a few hours, and then trickles away. The clouds stay low and the light dim and depressing, as the party trudges over the sodden hills. At the small cliff which Krolmar had fallen down earlier, No'ther searches for a while to find an easier way down, and eventually picks a spot where the cliff had crumbled, leaving a steep slope. He puts down a rope as a guide, and one by one the group picks their way through the rocks and dirt to the bottom. Krolmar finds himself badly hampered by his dislocated arm, but manages the climb with only one.

In the late afternoon the clouds to the east clear away as they more out over the plains to the west. The party winds their way through the small forest at the base of the Bluff, and then down a few more hills to reach the dwarven mining town. With the comforting sight of the low thatched roofs and lazy smoke rising from the chimneys, the groups picks up their pace and hurries down into town.

As they pass the first houses of the town, No'ther turns to the trollish Weaponsmith and says, "Well, I got you to Hollow and back, like I said."

"Well, more or less. But you've definitely earned your pay," Brashak says with a smile, obviously recovered from the shock he suffered earlier that day. He pulls out five shiny gold coins from his pouch and hands them to the Thief.

No'ther bites on one of the coins, and smiles. "Any time you want to go climbing again, give me a call. Although I'm not sure you are going to be wanting to go climbing in a hurry, are you?"

"No."

"You can get yourselves to the Healing Rooms fine, can't you? Good, I'll see you later then." No'ther jogs off down the street towards the hovel he calls home. Tori helps Krolmar towards the Healing Rooms, along with Brashak.

In the Healing Rooms the master healer helps Krolmar to a bed, telling the others that he should be fine in a couple of days, but not before that. She gazes up at Brashaks cuts and bruises from his fall, and tells him that he would benefit from a night or two in the Healing Rooms too.

"Well, alright then. One night, that's all I can afford. I'll keep Krolmar company," he answers.

Tori tells the others that she will visit the Golden Oak in two days time. In the meanwhile, she is going home. The dwarf has yet another challenge to face -- tell her family what happened!

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