One dark night..... the newest RPG

[Cynder]

Rounding the last row of Stalagmites, Frizelious and SuperBattler find themselves right next to the cavern wall.

In the corner of your eye you get a brief glimpse of red from high overhead on your right. You hear a yelp cut off with a thud, followed by a splash.

Looking up you see a large long opening (ledge? cave?). On the right side of it, like a straw hanging from the corner of a mouth, there is a long straight (shelf?) something that continues in a slant downward & off into the distance along the wall. It is braced frequently and attached to the wall high overhead.

The movment & yelp seemed to come from where the thing exits the opening mouth. There is some fainter splashing sounds moving away down this thing.

Over to your left, some steps have been carved into the wall leading up to the opening. The drips seem to echo from this opening.

[frizzer]

Frizelious decides to head towards the steps, he can always backtrack if it yields nothing of interest

[Cynder]

They are really a rather nice set of steps... rather short steps. You could probably take them two at a time without any difficulty.

Now that you are right up next to them, you can see that the steps take advantage of a sort of crack that makes a tiny ledge leading upward. There are plenty of handholds.

There is a strong smell of fresh earth and... uh...something a little less savory.... Fresh manure! That's what that smell reminds you of!

[frizzer]

Frizelious bounds up the steps towards the ledge, and the stink

[Cynder]

Frizelious charges up the steps. Other than the smell of fresh earth & fresh manure, there is nothing unusual about the steps.

There is one zig-zag and then Frizelious is at the top. There is a lovely view of the cavern from here. You can even see where you fought the flying beast.

You are standing at the opening of another cavern. Looking in, you see a small pond with a path going around the edge. Soft moonlight glow lights the cavern, but you see no openings for it to be coming from.

Drips fall at irregular intervals from high above, splashing into the little pond. It really is little... only 10 meters/30 feet across... or there abouts. But you can't see the bottom.

When you put your back to the water & look back out the way you came you see a channel has been cut into the rock on your left. There is a little bridge going over the channel (part of the path that circles the pond).

There is a little sluice gate where the channel meets the pond. The gate is open and a thin stream of water pours down the channel, too thin a stream to make any noise.

[frizzer]

Frizelious first decides to approach the pond, he peers in and cannot see the bottom, he picks up a decent size rock and drops it in the pond

[Cynder]

*SPLURNK*

The rock makes a HUGE sound entering the water-- this is quite the echoing chamber!

Ripples travel out from the splash to send wavelets lapping at the rocky shores. The gurgles they make echo, too and as they recede back to the pond, they send counter ripples across its surface.

Soon the surface of the water is full of ripples crossing & crisscrossing. Gradually the sounds die down, but the ripples don't seem to.....

At first the ripples had eminated from the rock entering the water, then the water was simply ruffled, but now... now the ripples seem to be eminating from under the surface -- across the pond from where Frizelious is standing.

[frizzer]

Frizelious stands and takes a few tentative steps back, he also pulls out his double daggers just incase.

[Cynder]

The ripples seem to calm and then Frizelious feels a shudder in the ground and a big ripple (with a few small ripples following it) starts from the far edge of the pond and travels across to splash up the shore near Frizelious's feet.

[frizzer]

Frizelious backs up even further, steadies himself and waits to see if anything emerges from the pond

[Cynder]

The water calms a bit and then the surface is disturbed by a number of small ripples eminating from the far shore. Gradually these die down and then a final batch of ripples cross the water. After these die down, the water returns to its former peaceful state -- only disturbed by the occasional drops of water falling from above.

[frizzer]

Frizelious, makes his way around the pond and decides to cross the small bridge, he sheaths his daggers on the way

[Cynder]

As Frizelious crosses the bridge, he can see the channel cut for the water to run through. It is deeper than it is wide -- about four feet deep and less than 3 feet across. A small trickle of water runs along the bottom of the channel and disappears around a corner. Is that a tiny footprint in the muck at the bottom of the channel?

The path continues across the bridge and around the edge of the little pond.

[frizzer]

Frizelious continus along the path and over the bridge

[Cynder]

Across the bridge the path turns into the cavern. Now Frizelious is walking a narrow path between the water (on his left) and the cavern wall (on his right).

The cavern wall is moist and the water is dark but not entirely still. Drips from the ceiling fall at irregular intervals.

You are almost halfway around when you see a narrow crack in the cavern wall. At the crack, the path crosses an open gridwork over what appears to be a channel of water disappearing into the cavern wall.

Right next to the gridwork is a lever sticking straight up. You would have to cross the gridwork (or stand on it) to reach the lever.

Just as you finish noticing the lever, you feel a brief, slight tremor in the ground and a few ripples spread from this gridwork out across the water.

[frizzer]

Frizelious looks at his supplies and realises the rope he has is not long enough to loop around the lever, if he wants to pull the lever he must stand on the gridwork, which he is certain is some kind of trap. But, trusting his dexterity, he crosses the gridwork,braces himself and pulls the lever.

[Cynder]

The lever is surprisingly stiff and Frizelious's first effort barely moves it. Frizelious will need to use more strength, but feels he can move the lever if he really puts his back into it.

There is another of those tremors directly beneath him. As if something large is slamming against a barrier. And then there is a sloosh of water that comes out of the gridwork as something large brushes up against it from underneath.

[frizzer]

Frizelious has an idea, that in the event that the gridwork gives way, he will still be hanging on to the level, so once again, and with an almighty effort pulls the lever

[Cynder]

As Frizelious pulls the lever, there is a grinding noise and a wave of water sloshes the bottom of the gridwork. Frizelious has the brief impression of something very large and dark swooshing beneath his feet. A large ripple of water crosses the pool and then begins to circle back as something big moves just beneath the surface. Little wavelets lap the tiny shoreline and the surface very quickly becomes choppy.

[frizzer]

Frizelious makes his way back across the gridwork, he knows he has released something and his inquisitive nature, make him head back towards the pool