So yeah, no gaping Abyss. The rush of relief was tempered with just a little hint of disappointment. Not that I hadn’t been sucked into the Astral Sea but because it confirmed there wasn’t a cool bag of holding or portable hole in the loot. Still, hopefully when we got someplace safe and could spend a bit more time trying to get the darn thing open we’d find the whole venture worth something.
“So, now what?” Ceylas asked.
“We should return to the Palladium Rise,” Cambrin said.
“But what about the alligator?”
“Lo’Kryn and I are both gravely wounded and I have no means of healing upon my person. We must retreat to recover. We can return to venture into other parts of the sewer in search of the alligator tomorrow.”
I considered suggesting we just camp out here for the night, but the idea something big and nasty weighed against the fact that the sewer grate we’d entered through was really only a few hundred feet away, meant it was probably safer, and certainly more likely to be more comfortable to return to the surface. Besides, it would give us a chance to cash out on what we’d found so far and maybe buy a few things to help venturing deeper be something safer for all of us.
“Do we backtrack the way we came?” I asked, knowing the odds of coming across something was, hopefully, lower if we retraced our steps.
“There is little choice, the other paths were filled with impassible debris. But we will move with caution regardless.”
I nodded and began heading in that direction. I kept low and carefully placed my steps (Stealth: 6+2=8) but the my boots had become sodden and each time I pressed it to the tile I squelched. “Damn it,” I whispered, feeling the wet ooze between my toes. When Cambrin and Ceylas both tromped behind me (Stealth (armor disadvantage): 9+0=9 and Stealth: 2+1=3) I sighed, stood back to full height and muttered, “Screw this. Let’s just get out of here as quickly as possible.”
We managed to shuffle down the long corridor back to the corner where we’d found the hidden chest. As I rounded the corner and saw the growing light in the distance I drew a breath of relief. Then I remembered that darn rusted metal grate we’d had to cross over earlier. With wet boots and tired muscles it was going to be torture for Cambrin.
“Hey, Cam?” I said, “Pass me one end of that rope. I’ll jump across and keep it tight while you and Ceylas cross, just in case.”
He gazed, a look of dread on his face, as he saw the churning water rushing through the channel beneath the grate. He nodded his head, lifting the rope over it and handing one end to me. Behind him, Ceylas took up the other end, close to where her brother was gripping it with both hands.
“Maybe tie it around your waist?” she said, looping the end around him and helping him secure a knot.
I gauged the distance, taking a few steps back so I could make a running jump of it, then made sure they’d given me enough slack on my end of the rope to easily cover the distance. “Ready?” I asked, glancing behind me. Cambrin seemed very, very still, but Ceylas nodded her head.
I took a running jump (Athletics: 14+3=17) and easily made it over, landing steady on the opposite side. I turned, drawing the rope tighter and twisting it firmly around my hand as I braced myself on that side. “Okay,” I called, “I’ve got you.”
Ceylas seemed to be whispering into her brother’s ear. He nodded at whatever she said and then took a first, wary step onto the metal. Once he was half way across, Ceylas stepped on to cross behind him. She was careful to keep to the middle of the rails so that her footsteps didn’t cause it to wobble.
Out the corner of my eye (Passive Perception: 12 - Creature Stealth 8+2=10) I caught a glimpse of dark shadow. Scaled ridges broke the surface of the water. My breath caught and I felt a weight like stone sink in my gut. “Cambrin,” I croaked a half whisper half shout, “You need to hurry.”
He glanced up at me, then straight back to where his feet had frozen on the step. I kept my gaze fixed on the creature as a snout huffed a mist of water then sank beneath the surface.
“Seriously man, move!” I cried, “Ceylas, move, both of you, move, move, move.”
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Ceylas, more fearless than her brother but smart enough to know when something was going down began moving faster from rung to rung. She reached Cambrin and nudged behind him, urging him step to step. “What is it?” she cried, keeping her gaze fixed on the rungs ahead of him as she pushed her brother along.
He stumbled and I gripped the rope taught. Behind him, Ceylas wobbled slightly as she felt the tension on her end but she managed to grip his arm and hold him steady. They both paused in that second, righting their balance.
“It’s the alligator, guys. You need to hurry.”
Distracted, Ceylas glanced up the channel. The shadow of the beast created a ripple of darkness in the water. “Shit!” She cried, shoving Cambrin in the back. “Run you idiot!”
Cambrin was still frozen in fear. I janked on the rope and he stumbled a step forward, catching the rung. “Choose your fear, Cambrin. Maybe falling or definitely getting eaten!”
I saw his jaw clench. He pushed himself back to his feet and started pushing himself forward, step by step by step. It was only a ten foot gap but it felt like it was taking them forever.
Finally, Cambrin’s feet hit the tile and he pulled himself away, clinging to the wall beside me. Ceylas was right behind him, her foot on the final rung of the grate when a giant brown snout with two-feet long jaws filled with rows of razor-sharp teeth lunged out of the water. The jaws snapped down at Ceylas’s ankle (Bite: 15+4=19; damage 1d10=5+2=7), grasping her calf in it’s fangs and latching on. The croc dangled, claws scrambling on the metal as it tried to drag her back into the water.
Ceylas cried out, agony lancing her voice. Cambrin and I both reached forward to grab her arms, tugging with our combined strength to wrench her free. Ceylas yanked her leg as hard as she could (Strength Check DC 12: 14-2=12!) and I winced as she cried out, her flesh tearing away. The teeth tore through the edges of her boot but she was free.
“We have to run,” I shouted, grabbing her under one arm to help her run on her wounded foot. “Go Cambrin, we’re right behind you.”
Cambrin nodded and sprinted down the corridor. Ceylas and I were right on his heels.
I chanced a glance behind us to see the alligator drop back into the water and turn a circle toward us. It’s tail lanced behind it, speeding it through the water. It was swimming fast and would probably outpace us, especially as Ceylas’s injury hampered our speed. I dropped an arm to scoop under her legs and gripped her against my chest as I darted forward (Athletics: 11+3=14).
The slight rise in the tunnel here was actually to our advantage because the downflow of the water had to be slowing the beast down at least a little. “Faster, Cambrin!” I shouted as my own longer legs brought me right up behind him just as we were reaching the corner. In a fluid motion (Acrobatics: 19), he darted around the corner and up onto the earthen stone floor headed south toward the sewer entrance.
I kept pace behind him and we were about ten feet from the channel of water when Ceylas screamed. “Guys! It’s coming!” she shouted, looking over my shoulder. I glanced back to see it lurching out of the water and shambling after us on the land.
“Keep running Cambrin! Get to that door!”
Cambrin didn’t even turn around. He kept sprinting down the corridor, hung a right and shoved his way back through the wooden door. I darted in behind him, dropped Ceylas to her good foot, and turned to help him shove the door closed. (Strength (help advantage): 19)
“Hip pocket,” I cried to Ceylas. She looked at me blankly. “The writ, Ceylas. To get us out of here?”
“Oh, right,” she said, reaching to my belt and fumbling through the pouch where I’d stored the letter. She drew it out and gingerly ambled up the stairs to the portcullis. I sighed as, moments later, I heard the grind of metal gears as the gate started to rise.
Then freaked as something heavy slammed against the other side of the wood door (Strength Check (Crocodile) 17+2=19;). Cambrin and I were shoved back as the door splintered at its hinges. Wood shattered as the creature’s teeth crunched on the thin barrier between us (Bite: 8+4=12; damage: 7+2=9).
“Tell us when it’s almost open enough for us to get through, Ceylas!” I shouted back up the stairs. “And make sure they’re ready to drop it as soon as we get there.” Cambrin and I both kept our full weight against the fracturing wood.
I yanked my hand back as the alligator’s teeth gnashed through the wood just inches from my skin (7+4=11; damage: 10+2=12). Wood shattered in all directions but I leapt backward (Acrobatics: 11+4=15). “Run, Cambrin!” I shouted. I hesitated only long enough to make sure Cambrin was already in a dead sprint before I took the stairs two at a time. The alligator lunged at Cambrin but the gnome had been fast enough and managed to outpace, just barely, the alligators speed on land.
As we hit the top of the stairs I noticed Cambrin was falling behind me, just slightly, so I gripped his arm, pulling him forward and we both tumbled rolling through the four-foot gap under the gate.
“Now, now!” Ceylas was shouting at the guards who still looked started but managed to drop the anchor that would slam the portcullus closed behind us just as the alligator’s giant head loomed over the top of the stairs. It lunged at the gate, snapping its feral jaws through the bars. The heavy metal scraped against its teeth as it thrashed for a several minutes before eventually hissing a final snarl at us and turning to slink it’s way back into the sewer.
Cambrin and I both sat on the ground, our lungs heaving as we gasped for breath. I glanced at him once quiet had settled around us. “One hell of a Tuesday, huh?”
He shook his head but his shoulders shook slightly as he chuckled.
Ceylas knelt in front of us both. Then she used both palms to shove us in our chests. “Don’t you ever do that to me again!” she said. Then burst into tears as she pulled Cambrin into a hug.