RP (non-canon): D&D Mission 1: Getting "Acquainted"

"It was a new rope," Sorri muttered to herself. The rope was stiff, not yet broken in, and she hadn't the strength to tighten it down. She thought she had, but apparently not...

With Aurelus going along with her Plan B, Sorri took off her cloak and backpack, laying her staff against the small pile. That was everything, save for her boots and clothing...and she preferred to keep her armor on. How heavy could a halfling-sized set of leathers be?

"Someone, please be ready to catch me if I miss," she said, nerves starting to hit as she got ready to be thrown at a house. Looking back up at the house, a passage she had just read that day while walking came to mind; she whispered it as a prayer.

"'...protect me from men of violence who plan to trip my feet. Proud men have hidden a snare for me; they have spread out the cords of their net and have set traps fr me along my path...'"

After Sorri took of all of her heavy gear, Aurelus readied himself and launched Sorri into the air. Sorri watched the ledge of the balcony come nearer, and then pass by her and move further away. She was about 5 feet over the balcony before she finally came to the top of her arc and fell onto the balcony.

While Sorri took off all her heavy gear, Aurelus took off his armor, his belt carrying his weapons and the shield strapped to his back. Once that was done, Aurelus walked to the prepared cleric.

Aurelus nodded to her request. "Aye, one of ye be on th' look out for the lass in case she falls! I might not be able ta launch her and catch 'er as well!" Walking behind the shortest of the group, he leaned down and placed both of his hands beneath both of Sorri's armpits.

"Right then, now I'll need ye ta crouch down and wind up fer a jump. When I count ta three, ye make ta jump as hard and as high as ye can, got i'?"

Aurelus began to count down, grabbing the short one tightly. "On three, eh?

One...

two...

...three!"

Aurelus used the impulse Sorri had presumably used with her own legs to his advantage, and straightened up as he launched his arms upwards and jumped along with Sorri's jump. With the combined strength of Sorri's legs and Aurelus' legs and arms, he hoped to overcome the distance between them and the balcony a good 5 feet above. When Aurelus was done ascending, his body slowly tilted backwards and subsequently landed on the floor on his back. "Oof!" Such was the strength he had used to launch the quarterling up to the balcony railing.

The result was astounding even for Aurelus. How he had managed to push that short woman all the way 5 feet over the railing was anyone's guess. All of the strength in his body had been able to launch the girl that far up... he wondered if he had some hidden jumping talent he didn't know of. As he stood up, he chuckled in amusement. "Ha! HAHA! I did i'!

Denkou! Did you see tha'!? Hah! I don' know my own strength! By the gods that was amazing!

'ey! Mender... Mendel, whatever yer name was! Ye alrigh'!?" He yelled to the balcony, trying to catch a glimpse of the cleric against the backdrop of star-lit sky.

THUMP.

Sorri hit and did the best she could to not move from the spot she landed, crouching stock still to wait for something to happen.

Nothing happened.

She took a breath and examined the floor around her, checking to make sure she wasn't stepping on a pressure panel or something before she swiveled in place to look around and examined the space between her and the railing of the balcony as she could without moving from her current spot. The human-halfling hybrid was no rogue and never quite got the hang of building complex traps or had the opportunity to learn to spot professionally-laid ones, but she knew the basics of what to look for. Anything out-of-place.

Her father had told her some wild stories when she was younger -- all fictional, he had said -- about stealthy agents infiltrating heavily guarded fortresses filled with triggers, pitfalls, and guards. But her favorite were tales of a runner-bird outwitting a hungry dire wolf and his ill-fated schemes. As much as she remembered, Sorri tried to look for the tell-tale signs that denoted traps in those stories: Wires, X's or other marks, panels that moved when they shouldn't...

"Perhaps we should take advantage of this and toss the rope up to her." Ghira finally commented, having stayed quiet for most of the wall-climbing.

Finding nothing, but not trusting the low-light conditions, Sorri edged toward the balcony rail and reached over to grab the short spear before cautiously standing and waving down to the rest of the group.

"Good throw! Can you toss my backpack up here too?" Pause. "Maybe tie the rope to it."

"Aye! Lemme see if I can find i'!"

The fighter looked for the backpack on the floor. By now it was much darker than when they had originally arrived at the mansion. It took him a while before he finally found it and then headed to the rope, and tied the rope to the backpack.

"Alrigh', i's comin up! Ge' ready!"


"HOOP!" He picked it up and launched the backpack up to the balcony, hoping he'd be able to throw it over the railing.

As Sorri approached the railing, just before she passed underneath the stairs, a sudden sense of foreboding hit her and she paused. There was something bad here...they should be very careful, more than they already were. Was it because she was so near an instrument of death, or was there evil enough in this place that she could feel it merely by being here? Or maybe she was now realizing just how dangerous this situation was becoming. She desperately hoped it was the last option.

Sorri reached the railing just in time to see her backpack hurling toward her, almost getting bowled over as she caught it before she recovered her footing. Figuring she should just leave the properly-tied rope alone, she pulled the entire rope up, coiled it, then wound the rope around the railing so her backpack also served as a plug of sorts (it wouldn't fit through the railing's posts) and let the coiled rope unwind and drop toward the ground for the others to climb. Standing, the diminutive healer waved down at them. "All set," she called down in a stage-whisper. For some reason, she felt the need to be quieter than they had been up 'til now...

"Ye done, lass!?" Aurelus grabbed onto the end of the rope touching the ground and tugged it twice, seeing it finally come down after having been coiled around the railing. It seemed pretty taut.

"Seems like i'! Alrigh, lads, the rope is ready! Go on ahead and I'll catch up after I don me stuff back on!" The fighter said, walking to the pile of stuff he had unequipped in order to toss the quarterling to the balcony: his chainmail, his belt and the shield.

Talarin walked over to the rope and gave it a tug to test the security of the rope. After ensuring the safety of the rope, he began to climb it.

Denkou sighed to herself, looking longingly back at the front doors. Of course they pick something vertical. Why not go vertical, when your trapfinder is a horizontal person, right? That decided, she set about following the others up the rope, doing her best not too look too much like an idiot.

Talarin grinned as he reached the top of the rope without any incidents. He looked at the quarterling and thrust out his hand palm forward and his fingers pointing straight up "Good job" he said and held the hand out towards her. Obviously he was expecting her to react positively.

Sorri watched the first two begin their ascent, glancing around the balcony and looking nervous. She caught Talarin's wave and compliment and managed an uneasy smile. "Thanks," she mouthed.

Talarin slumped as she reacted with a thank you. Then he frowned as he realized his head was filling in her voice. "Why are we being quite?" he whispered back to her. He picked up his spear and gave a few quick practice jabs towards the doorway. With that done he leaned over the balcony to watch everyone climb up.

After Denkou made it after whatever number of tries and failures, Ghira began his ascent up the rope, praying he wouldn't slip and fall.

As Ghira attempted to climb up the rope, he found himself slipping down the rope over and over again, never making it more than a foot or two up the rope.

As Ghira made it to the rope, Aurelus finished donning his armor, his weapons and his shield. The fighter walked over to the rope and looked at the wizard. "Nee' a hand?"

Aurelus crossed his arms, grinning, and then proceeded to aid the middle-aged man up the rope. "C'mon then, I'll help ye up!" He put his hands on the man's sides and hefted the wizard up as he tried his best to climb up the rope.

Thankfully for Ghira, Aurelus was very useful in situations like these, and the wizard made it up the rope in due time.

"Thank you very much!" He called down, then faced the others. "I can't imagine that they expected this. Are we drawing straw to decide who enters first?"

Talarin glanced nervously at the stairway leading to the next flight of stairs. He didn't want to end up like the monkey just a little while ago. He gulped audibly as he started to walk up the stairs toward the second balcony.

Aurelus finished his own climb after having helped Ghira through the rope, one hand on the wizard's back, the other on the rope, legs curled around the thick string. Once on the balcony, he looked down and began to roll the rope up.

"Finally! Now le's get goin'! We have ta stop this disease before i' takes any lives!"

Aurelus turned, having finished rolling up the rope, to the stairs that the sorcerer was now climbing. "Hold on there, Talarin! Migh' wanna send Denkou first ta check for 'em traps, dontcha think?!"