Session 32: Bridge Over Troubled ... Water?

The adventurers and Tohd stand at the bottom of a long spiral staircase down a stone chute, and in front of a big wooden door.

Rather than messing with the door themselves, they let Tohd make short work of it instead. Behind it was a creepy laboratory: bodies on tables with signs of vivisection or body parts removed, all manner of tools hanging on the walls, and pools of acid congealed with blood that appeared to have been used to dissolve bodies.

There's not much else there that they can find, so the gang move on. There is only a single path leading to a pithc-black corridor that eventually opened up to an underground cavern and a ledge down into a deep chasm. Across the chasm stood a single bridge made of wooden slats and rope edges. Needless to say, the group stopped to consider their situation before making their way across the bridge.

Elisen, Hazel, and Aggie investigated the area. The chasm was too deep and too dark to properly see the bottom, but there were signs of gentle movement down there - like water, only no water sounded. Instead, when Aggie laid on the floor right at the edge of the chasm, she could hear the fainest sound of whining, moaning, and bones scraping; the sounds of people or things in pain.

The bridge looked strong, but was still made of rope and wood. As a safety precaution, the group tied themselves together. Much discussion was had about the weight of Tohd, and the relative safety of the front and back positions. They eventually decided on the following order: Aggie, Maurice, Abe, Tohd, Hazel, Elisen, and Billy.

Elisen and Hazel healed Billy and Abe back up as much as necessary, and the group carefully set out across the bridge. The other side was too far to see across, so they were walking blind. As they walked, they noticed two things. Firstly, that the bridge was split in half by a stone pillar in the centre, holding up the two halves of the bridge and acting as a potential safe-haven if something bad were to happen. Secondly, the wailing that Aggie had heard earlier began to grow louder, and louder, and louder until it was deafening in the ears of the entire party. It contained a magical component that caused some members to become disoriented and confused. In the confusion, Tohd walked off the edge of the bridge and into the chasm.

At one end of the rope, Hazel managed to grab onto the bridge to stop herself from being pulled into the chasm, and Elisen and Billy help her to hold up Tohd. At the other end of the rope, Abe is just as dazed as Tohd and he falls off with him. Aggie grabs the opposide edge of the bridge to stablise herself, expecting Maurice to help pull him up. Sadly that was too much faith in Maurice, who simply cuts the rope tying him to Abe, causing Abe to drop further into the chasm.

The group are eventually able to pull up Abe and Tohd onto the bridge, but in the confusion they keep stumbling back off, almost pulling Hazel down each time. Aggie tries to help Abe, but she is still attached to Maurice who is adamant about wanting to run to the centre pillar and onward to safety. Rather than letting him cut the rope and run off alone, Aggie runs with Maurice. They make it to the centre pillar, and from there they can see a huge stalactite-looking monster hanging from the roof of the cavern and heading their way.

Meanwhile, Tohd and Abe are still hanging from their rope off the edge of the bridge. In the confusion of the wailing, which is still pounding in their ears, Tohd makes a violent swing and hits Abe in the chest with his axe, narrowly missing the rope tied around Abe's middle. Hazel, Elisen, and Billy eventually pull Tohd back up from the edge and Billy starts slapping Tohd across the face to try and pull him back to reality, becoming the target of Tohd's crazed attacks in the meantime. Abe, still swinging, finally wakes due to the pain from Tohd's hit, and finally he can see the bottom of the pit: a mash of fleshy parts, bones, and teeth writhing in a squishy mass at the bottom of the canyon. Below him is a maw with its own teeth ready to swallow him if he falls.

Maurice, still tied to Aggie on the centre pillar, shoots at the monster as it approaches the bridge, as does Elisen. The rock monter sends out several tentacles, picking up both Maurice and Elisen as well as Aggie and holding them in the air above the flesh pit. This also pulls Hazel off the bridge.

Maurice, Elisen, Hazel, and Aggie each send out ranged attacks towards the monster, while Billy deals with Tohd and gets Abe back onto the bridge. The monster is killed without too much trouble, but the real problems start as soon as it falls from the roof. Elisen and Hazel fall, but are saved by the rope still tied around them and Tohd's confused-but-stable weight on the bridge. Billy and Abe manage to pull them back up, and finally each person on that end of the rope is safe on the solid structure of the bridge.

Maurice and Aggie have no such saving grace. They each fall into the pit below, still tied together. Aggie immediately falls unconscious on impact.

Up on the bridge, Elisen and Billy are only able to see the vague area where Aggie and Maurice fell. Elisen gives Billy two health potions, one for each of them, and tells him to climb down the centre pillar to rescue them. Billy opts instead for the time-saving option and leaps down straight through the air, afforded a graceful and non-painful landing by his monk powers. However, when he gets there, the flesh pit starts immediately trying to pull him in. Like walking on quicksand, he tries to make his way to where Aggie and Maurice fell, but he finds only a blood splatter and no bodies. His legs are being eaten by the flesh pit and in extreme pain, so Billy calls for help.

Finally, Tohd wakes from his confusion stupor. He asks Elisen where everyone is, and Elisen merely states that they fell off the bridge. Tohd, in a fit of misplaced heroism, takes a running jump off the edge of the bridge. Elisen and Abe react quickly enough to cut themselves free from Tohd's rope, but Hazel is dragged down. Tohd catches her mid-air, and shields her from the damage of hitting the bottom. There, Tohd is also starting to be consumed by the flesh pit. He quickly scoops up Billy and deftly climbs up the centre pillar back to Elisen and Abe at the top. The whole group run to the end of the bridge and finally make it to the other side.

Beyond the end of the bridge and in the path towards the next room were two figures: one standing and one lying down. As the group approached, they could see it was Maurice standing over an unconscious Aggie. Elisen ran to heal her, and luckily Aggie was okay. Maurice explained that he had simply teleported them out of the pit, but that he wasn't able to heal her, and that was all there was to it.

The group were shaken but mostly okay as they pressed on to the next room.

It was filled with mirrors against every wall and sitting at jarring angles, funhouse-style. Aggie goes to inspect one of the mirrors, poking at it, but mostly finding that the mirror itself behaves fairly normally. At the other end of the room is a large stone door with no handle or keyhole. Billy is able to see that in the reflection of the door in the mirrors, the door is open. Before anyone can react, Aggie's reflection reaches out of the mirror, grabs Aggie by the throat, and pulls her inside.

*The end*