OOC to Tahldar: I assume you mean levitate on Shapfren, not Dalharen?

Shae takes off after Geebo. Fingas mutters, "And he seemed like such a nice little fellow," before he follows after Shae.

Shapfren picks just the right moment and dives in after the formula, just beating Borimer, who was about to do the same. Borimer begins pulling out a rope when he sees Tahldar step forward with a spell ready.

Shapfren...reaches out but misses the formula as it dips above and below the water. She goes around another circuit to try again...

Meanwhile, Tahldar is ready with a levitate spell...

And then you see movement in the rubble. Dalharen's hand reaches out. He is somehow still alive, but he seems to have reverted to his (supposed) true form. You can see the traces of his Drow heritage in his dark skin and pointed ears.


On the second revolution, Shapfren still can't seem to get her hands around the formula. (Bad rolls.) She is one revolution away from sinking to the center and being lost, so Tahldar must cast on her next round or lose the chance.

She will have one last chance to grab the swirling formula as it dips and bobs violently in the torrential water.

Kahan grabs one end of Borimer's rope and wraps it tightly around his arm before running across and jumping the gap in the bridge. If he falls, he hopes the fighter will be able to pull him out, if not, he means to try to save Dalharen by first using a Stone Shape spell to create an alcove he can perhaps climb out of, or at the very least, should alleviate some of the pressure from the collapse. If he seems to be in decent enough health, he will try to cast Cure Light Wounds but it might not work because of the antimagic barrier he doesn't know about yet.

OOC:  Tahldar will cast levitate on Shapfren.

On the next rotation, Shapfren manages to grab hold of the formula at last. Tahldar casts levitate and gets her safely out of the water.

Kahan runs and jumps across the bridge gap. He makes it to the other side, and he soon determines that no spells can work within a certain radius of the fallen doppleganger creature, which is now reverting to its original dark skinned, almost drow like form.

However, Kahan is able to move some stones to get Dalharen freed. He is very injured, almost dead, and no heal spells or the like will work on him. Bind wounds or the like might help.

Dalharen mutters, "My brother, his psionics are powerful. My other brother is lost to us." He points to the tunnel behind him (west, turning north) and says, "The exit is there. My brother is going now to the Earthgold. Follow the heat and it will take you there. I have failed." He is struggling to breathe now, which appears to be something different from the head and trauma injuries from falling rocks.

Having been across the bridge for even just a minute, Kahan feels a little light headed. The rabbit is dead.

Shae and Fingas are running after "Geebo." He is a bit far ahead of them and going fast.

PM
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:10, Tue 23 June 2020.

Shae stops and turns to Fingas. "When we were off fighting a literal god to get the goblet, were you and Geebo ever separated from each other?" Shae also watches to see if the doppleganger thing stops and waits.

"Kahan, come back to this side.  We have to get the earthgold, if there's any left after Geebo gets his."

"Borimer, can you fly over and carry them both back?"

Two points Tahldar and Kahan will have realized with their larger than normal sized brains:

1) You are not sure if "Geebo" is trying to get the cure at all, and if so, he will likely need the goblet and other materials

2) Geebo wanted the items he took that were put in the bag (that Dalharen wanted). He did not take the goblet. You are not 100% sure why they are wanted, but Dalharen said something about them helping him escape.

Kahan attempts to help Dalharen to his feet after binding his wounds, and if he can, will wrap the rope around his waist and essentially toss him over the gap, hoping Borimer can help him the rest of the way. They needed to get back across the gap to find breathable air, as whatever was in this cavern was slowly suffocating them. "Borimer, help me out here!" he shouts, and once Dalharen is across, he will also jump the gap if possible.

Borimer's fly spell was dispelled when the dispel magic spell was cast on him to make him regular size again.

ROUND 2
However, Kahan binds the wounds of Dalharen. As he does so, he begins to feel weak and a little dizzy.

Borimer goes to the edge of the broken bridge and lies on his stomach to catch the rope and haul in the "captive."

ROUND 3
Kahan then ties the rope around Dalharen. His eyes are beginning to sting, and his breath is shallow.

ROUND 4
Kahan then throws the end of the rope to Borimer. Borimer is blocking the bridge, so Kahan will need to wait for Borimer to move.  Kahan is feeling his breathing constricted and his eyes watering.

Dalharen's half-dead body is rolled into the whirlpool, where Borimer begins pulling it in.

OOC: Here is where rolls will start. Borimer will need to pull Dalharen up. Kahan is still on the far side of the bridge. How long it takes will depend on the rolls. Kahan cannot jump across the bridge without landing on Borimer, so he can wait, talk to Borimer about an alternate plan, or figure out another way across.

Back up the cave with Leo and Shae...
PM

OOC: How big is the anti-magic field around Dalharen?

It is hard to tell exactly, but it emanates directly from his body for about 10 feet.

In what side of the pond did Shap land?

She is by Tahldar on the far side from Kahan. She successfully retrieved the formula.

Shae says to Leo and Fingas, "Let's go back and get the group before we proceed. I think these things try to separate individuals before taking over their forms." If no one objects, she will go back to the group to lead them this way all together.

Shapfren finished recovering her breath and getting over the whole experience. She was still soaking, but didn't want to dwell on it. "Borimer! Try to move the rocks!"

Kahan pulls out his grappling hook and ties it to a length of rope. "Hurry up and pull him out of the water before I suffocate, will you?!" the priest coughs as he leans down to try to find some fresher air. Once he has the rope tied together, he will attempt to attach it to the other side of the rock bridge somewhere.

"Yeah, we should probably not follow him." Leo agrees.

You are all still feeling weak from blood loss. It is hard to believe that was only a few hours ago.

Luckily, with his incredible strength, Borimer is able to swing and pull the half-conscious doppleganger creature up onto the bridge after only the first revolution.  He quickly moves out of the way and drags Dalharen to the side where the others are at. Dalharen is still barely alive and suffering from whatever killed the rabbit.

Kahan struggles with both the blood loss and whatever it is that killed the rabbit and was killing Dalharen. This weakens him immensely. Yet he still runs and jumps to try to get across the broken bridge. It is a 10 foot jump to just a 2 foot wide stone, crumbling bridge...but Kahan makes the jump, tumbling to the ground.


At this point, Leo, Shae and Fingas return. They tell you that they followed "Geebo" and that Geebo was keeping ahead, but not too far ahead, to make sure they didn't lose him.  Then they stumbled on the body of the real Geebo, freshly killed, and Fingas admitted that the two had been separated for a time when they were fighting the "giant" rats. They can lead you back to the corpse and in the direction Geebo disappeared.
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:29, Mon 29 June 2020.

"What do you want to do with him?" Borimer says, nodding down at Dalharen.

"Why did you come back? We knew that wasn't really Geebo, obviously!" Kahan shouts angrily as he tries to regain his breath, kneeled down on the floor. "Dalharen may be our only hope of getting out of here alive, especially if his brother is as dangerous as he claims," he responds to Borimer, slightly more calmly but still a bit annoyed.

Shae says, "The brother is trying to get us to split up, I think so he can kill and transform again, now that his cover's blown. We should try to avoid too much splitting up. Let's take stock of the situation. We have Dalharen here alive. What are we going to do with him? I don't think we can trust him, at least not toally. His brother is Che'alau Haklara, who he claims is more evil, or at least that he wants to rejoin Tarimar, which is the same thing in my book. He also said Haklara is 'one of my brothers,' which makes me wonder how many more there are. He said that Haklara will be our destruction if he gets the items in the sack, which he already got. He also took our white hare, but maybe we can get another one back in Tenvillah's hovel?"

She stops and thinks. "We could tie him up here. Magic won't work and we can't even heal him to have him tag along. Haklara seemed to be waiting for us. I don't think he's going anywhere but we have to proceed cautiously. Dalharen said we can find the Earthgold, and his brother, by following the heat. They apparently use psionics instead of magic. I don't know much about that."

She looks to the others for ideas. Tying him up seems to be her best idea, and then they go chasing after Haklara.

"We need to follow the heat source for the earthgold.  Then leave."  Tahldar says to the group.  "And I agree with Shae, we should stick together."

"But it seems wrong to leave Geebo here.  He didn't deserve this fate."  he adds with concern.  "Kahan, can you raise him?"

Shae nods. "That's not a bad idea if Kahan can do it. Assuming he has the spells. We've done a lot of casting today. But what about Dalharen?" She points her ancestral spear at the man. "Maybe we tie him up? And one other thing bothers me now that I think about it. His brother was going to the Earthgold for some reason, but then after that, he will come straight through here to exit. If we all leave this area, he may easily bypass us and leave. Should we leave Borimer here to guard the exit just in case?"

She is both wary about splitting up and also about letting Haklara potentially escape.

"I can certainly try, but it might not take," Kahan responded. "It is possible that it won't work, depending on Geebo's fortitude," he adds as he begins climbing to his feet, still a little woozy from whatever gas was on the other side of the whirlpool.

OOC: I'm not sure where you guys are for next steps. Are you going to tie up Dalharen? Borimer is strong enough that he might be able to sling him over his back, but he wouldn't be good for much else while holding him.

Are you going to leave someone behind to watch the exit (and Dalharen) or all go together?

Are you ready to go to the point where Shae and Leo left (Geebo's body) are do you need more time at the whirlpool?

This is interesting because I never expected Dalharen to live, much less be rescued by Kahan, so we are definitely in unknown territory.