Relaxing for the moment Rothrar takes the supplies from the backpack left by Elminster and puts them in his sack.
"I suppose that we couldn't of been provided with a mule or a cart to put this lot in." Once he finishes rearranging his sack he starts to give the group the once over checking there strengths, weakness and possible vulnerabilities (no physical contact, just casting an eye over them quickly (spot check to notice anything, total=15)) then speak again
"If were going to survive down here I suggest that we only eat our rations when foraging isn't possible and that we fill our water-skins whenever we find water, just common sense stuff but I've been in campaigns like this one when all the food was eaten quick and we almost waisted away to nothing...
Can anyone purify water here?... We also need to sort out a formation, I'll stay back with any spell casters who can't defend themselves well if I'm needed there as I don't fancy leading this group." He then opens his belt pouch and draws out a marble sized metal sphere and proceeds to say
"This is a flash pellet, it'll blind anyone within a 5ft area above ground but could be more effective so when I shout (he says now in the giant dialect) close your eyes for a short time but no too long. Also who's going to draw the map?"
(How many days are the rations and water good for + what is its combined wight? I will update my character when I know.)

The portal shimmered open three times, and each time the figure that came through seemed more exotic than the last. First came a huge figure that had the gait of a man but who bore the tusks and leathery skin of an ogre. Second came a gnome – a svirfneblin no less – whose cheery greeting showed that he bore no ill will to Aelistae, even though he seemed to recognize her as drow. Finally there came a human whose skin was almost as dark as her own, whose words were honeyed but whose eyes betrayed his intentions.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you all,” Aelistae said in Common, after Dusk’s hungry eyes finally turned to regard another. “My name is Aelistae, as I earlier said to...to Rothror,” she added, carefully pronouncing the syllables of the strange-sounding name.

Aelistae heard the exchange between the half-ogre and Dusk, but she bore it no mind as her gaze fell back upon Confundus. Always had the drow warred with the diminutive svirfnebli, and she herself had been witness to the cruelty her kin had inflicted upon the diminutive gnomes. She had seen gnomish children killed with glee upon the alters of Lolth while their parents stood mutely by, their bodies so tortured and paralyzed they could do nothing to prevent it. She had also heard the rumours of how Blingdenstone, the proud city of the deep gnomes, had been finally destroyed by a plague of fiends sent by the drow of Menzoberranzen.

And yet, in spite of all that, Confundus had smiled at her. He had treated Aelistae with more warmth than she or her kin deserved.

A smile played out across her lips as she moved to pat the small gnome on the shoulder. “I hope that one day I can repay the trust you have shown in me.”

The smile quickly faded. Her ears pricked in alarm as they detected low growls and grunts beyond the heavy breathing of her companions.

“Cretok!” she whispered urgently in the language of her people. With a slight hiss she drew her long intricate blade and then pointed further into the darkness. “Orcs!”

Dusk’s eyes followed Aelistae’s down the darkened passageway as she announced the presence of orcish kind. Dusk stood and leveled the bow in his hands training his sight down an arrow before putting both away and drawing his twin blades. Moving towards the darkened passageways Dusk smiled back towards the others as the darkness of the tunnel seemed to swirl a little closer around him like a loving mother’s embrace.
“Allow me to scout ahead and determine the nature of danger which lies in wait.”
With a smile Dusk took one step into the passageway and literally disappeared. (Invisibility)
Erring on the side of caution, Dusk moved with all the stealth and silence that had become second nature to him living in the Underdark. Though invisibility was a blessing, coming to rely solely upon the ability to magically veil him from sight would end up getting him killed one day when he encountered a foe upon which the illusion proved ineffective. Picking his way down the passageway Dusk kept his senses about him as he stealthily proceeded forward.

(Hide:-17 Your total roll is 33 and a mod of +16.)
(Move Silently:-4 Your total roll is 20 and a mod of +16.)
(Spot-13 Your total roll is 20 and a mod of +7.)
(Listen-4 Your total roll is 11 and a mod of +7.)

A young elvin woman walks towards the portal and steps through. Stepping out on the other side she darts her eyes around the room and spots a few others, her eyes momentarily stop upon seeing the Drow woman but says nothing as she smiles softly, her voice soft almost as a whipser,

"I'm terribly sorry I'm late. My name is Velkyn." Her bright blue eyes seem to compliment her silvery white hair as she looks upon the rest of the party, awaiting to begin the adventure she finds herself in.

As you enter the room you see a hulking figure straighten up from where he was crouching on the floor, he looks over 7 foot tall, carries a backpack and a sack on his back, for you can only see his back, and as the drow utters the work 'orcs' raises his bow in the direction of the exit.

"We have one more, I hope you know when to speak and when not to as a voice echos wildly down here." He whispers to you.
"Now shush." He continued in the same hushed tone.


(Speaking to the newcommer elf as our characters don't know our names yet)
(Character Sheet Updated)

As Dusk begins to move Confundus steps up .. in a whisper he calls out to him. May this spell provide us with much needed reconnaissance. Confundus takes out a short piece of copper wire and after saying a brief word in undercommon; Dusk, the Drow and himself gain a strong perseption of each others words. It seems now that all three of them can hear one another even at the lowest whisper and from a long distance.

I hope there are orcs indeed confundus thought to himself They are so weak minded and easy to play around with

Aelistae knew that there would have been nothing to fear from the Orcs had she been with her Sisters. Many times evil creatures had strayed onto glades and hillocks held scared by the Lady of the Dance, only to be slain by her followers before they could even draw their weapons in defence. All Elistraeen were instructed in how to kill swiftly and silently. Their movements were co-ordinated in the silent hand language of the drow, and their blades fell upon the throats of their enemies to ensure no words of alarm could ever be spoken.

Aelistae did not feel quite so confident in her present company. Dusk had rightly scampered off to scout ahead, but, to Aelistae’s eyes, his half-ogre friend did not seem quite so capable. His sheer girth ensured that each step he took rang in an echo off of the stone, and his boasts of how many he would kill sat uncomfortably with the drow.

‘Well I suppose ogres are not exactly known for their subtlety,’ she thought to herself with a shrug.

At that moment, the portal sprang open once more and an elvish woman emerged from it. She was pretty in her way, and her hair was almost as light as her own. But as her eyes fell upon Aelistae, she caught the flash of concern at noting the colour of her skin.

“Mae Govannen Velkyn,” she whispered in Elvish to the woman, shortly after Rothror’s rude dismissal of the elf. “My name is Aelistae. I can assure you I mean you no harm, despite the colour of my skin. I wish I had time to win your trust, but there is none. There are Orcs in the tunnels ahead, and we may be in battle sooner than I’d hope.”
A soft buzzing in Aelistae’s ears stole her attention, and it suddenly seemed as if she could hear the breathing of Confundus and Dusk.

“That’s some spell,” she whispered to Confundus with a smile, even as she sheathed her sword and drew out her crossbow.

“Dusk this is Aelistae. What do you see?”


OOC: Aelistae’s words to Velkyn are in Elvish (hence the italics there).

Aelistae will draw and load her crossbow while she waits for Dusk to report back. If she has to fight she'd prefer to kill/wound one from range before having to close into melee.

"Orcs" Alistae hisses while whipping her sword free of its sheath. Thinking better of her position and possibilities she quickly switches weapons to her ranged crossbow.

“Allow me to scout ahead and determine the nature of danger which lies in wait.” Dusk replies as he literally vanishes into the rock wall. As he moves off in the direction Alistae points Confundus whispers words of magic permitting Alistae, Dusk, and himself to hear each other quite easily.

In that moment the portal whirled to life spitting yet another adventurer into the parties midst. A mist elf has just arrived announcing herself as Velkyn.

As Alistae and Confundus ask Dusk what he sees he makes his way through the doorway onto the platform that on the other side looked quite safe despite the orc sound; orc sounds he now hears though he can make nothing out. The room he has just entered is framed in the perpetual darkness of the underdark as there is no torch but one on the other side of the room illuminating the faces of two brutish orcs. Though the orcs are not what currently has Dusk's attention; he gazes upon a rickety old bridge that expands over a large, dark and formidable abyss. Though darkness is as brighter as any light to Dusk's specially acclimated eyes he can see no bottom to this abyss. Looking around the his side of the room Dusk notes that it is empty almost as if it wasn't meant to be a part of the room. Gave him the feeling the bridge was a last defense mechanism trapping any invaders on this side for little more than target practice. However on the side of the orcs he sees that they sit at a table with mugs in their hands and bows close by. They are the average looking orcs with broken down armor and swords sheathed to their side. They don't even seem to realize their being watched.

Dusk's gaze fell over the expanse which lay before him, the tremendous depth of the gorge escaping even the Shade's highly attuned eyes. That first step's a killer, Dusk quietly whispered back to the others while relaying all the information he could about the room back to them. There are two Orc's notably unaware of m presence, but likely ready to cut down the bridge should anyone be seen attempting to cross it. Allow me to keep our host's entertained while you proceed.
Proceeding under the veil of invisibility and moving exceedingly slowly across the bridge while searching for traps or weak spots in the bridge itself, Dusk will ever-so-rediculously-slowly move across the bridge doing all he can to be quiet (All ahead full on the move silently checks lol) to the other side where he will attempt a coup-de-gras on the nearest sitting-down neck exposed Orc. (if u deign a coup-de-gras unworkable, then a double weapon sneak attack will suffice on the dexless/mobility penalized creature before becoming invisible again after my attack (once/round in this case the end of the round)

I think our friend dusk is on the move. He reports two guards but also a trap of a room that might prove a wee problem. I think that surprise be in our favor. Perhaps a glamour of a spell might help in this case. Or a gentle dark mist rolling in might be providin' the cover we need. In any case, we best be movin' quickly if we are to keep our good pal Dusk from fightin' the lot of them on their lonesome Confundus looks at the others after sharing this information. He holds open his hands and motions for any other suggestions that might be good. The way I see it we have three options if not more. We can go in fightin' and see what kinda' whoopin we can dish out or we can go in stealth like. A third option might be to disguise our motive or our appearance as to have those dolts of orcs offer us entrance under false pretenses. In any case the only way ahead is past that trick of a gateroom and those dolts who some orc army saw fit to station here.

In the years Aelistae had spent on the surface she had overheard many tales of the Underdark told to children who, in their parents’ eyes, had foolishly befriended a drow. If those stories were to be believed deadly dark elves, brutal duergar and horrific illithids stalked endlessly along narrow, lightless passages deep within the earth. Aelistae knew different. The Underdark was dangerous, but the reason it was so was that every creature in its depths was overwhelmed by fear of the unknown and so desperately sought out some cave or tunnel it could call its own. Whole battles were fought over small ponds or narrow ridges that held little worth other than that some creature made its home there.

As Aelistae heard Dusk’s description of of the gorge ahead, and of the orcish duo that were on the far side of the deep expanse, it seemed to her that history was going to repeat itself. It was unlikely that the orcs were guarding anything of worth beyond the bridge, but she knew they would die protecting it nonetheless.

“Dusk wait!” she whispered urgently in her accented Common. “Do not cross the bridge yet. If one of the orcs cuts the bindings on the bridge you’ll be lost to us. Come back here for a moment before you go across. There’s a trick common to my people that I can perform. It will cause a dark cloud to fall about you wherever you move, and will blind all creatures near you. When you want the cloud to disappear just place the token I will give you in your pocket.”

“It will hopefully enable us to cross the bridge, while the orcs are still confused,” she added to Dusk and to those around her.

[OOC: If there are no objections to Aelistae’s plan]

Aelistae placed her crossbow by her side, and drew forth a single copper coin. A brief glance at the coin was all it took for the whole room to be bathed in an inky, impenetrable darkness. And a slow tightening of her gloves hand around the coin was all it took for the globe of blackness around her to disappear.

OOC: Unless anyone objects, Aelistae will cast Darkness upon the coin and then hand it to Dusk. She’ll follow the rogue into the cavern until she can see the forms of the orcs on the other side. She’ll then wait there until the dark cloud emerges over the orcs, and then start heading across the bridge.

Dusk believed the magical darkness would indeed increase his chances of a stealthy advance, and so returned to collect the coin with gratitude; slipping it in his pocket allowing everyone else to see once more. "I thank thee for your assistance priestess. Off I go. Stay near the entrance to the gorge, and when Darkness falls, make swiftly across the bridge."

Dusk will then return to his previous plan of slowly crossing the bridge while invisible and dropping the darkness ensorcelled coin before making a one main weapon sneak attack/ coup de gras on the nearest sitting dexless/mobility-hindered and now blinded orc

(*On the off chance I horribly foul up on the bridge and attract the orc's attention--Ie. they move with blades towards the bridge-- I'll remove and throw the darkness coin towards the far side of the bridge to blind/confuse the pair while I move in to engage in dual weapon invisible sneak attack fun*)

"Pardon my rudeness Velkyn but the slightest out of place sound can give away our location." The half-ogre whispers to Velkyn seemly relived by the use of the spell cast by the gnome.
"My name is Rothrar and I am indeed a half-ogre as you probably suspected but I have renounced the ways of my kin and you have my oath of protection so long as you are in my sight."
Turning to the rest of the group he said
"Now if you have no objections I will go to the edge of the gauge to give Dusk backup if he needs it unless you have any other ideas." And he proceeds to the down the tunnel to the gauge as silently as possible (Taking 20's no matter what the time needed)

Velkyn stood silently where she appeared after going through the portal. She heard Aelistae greet her and she nods her head in the lady drow's direction in greeting after having been told rather rudely by the half-ogre to shush. She listens intently to the conversation, while taking in her surroundings. Her eyes roam the room inwhich she's standing. After awhile her eyes return to the half-ogre as he speaks to her, she looks at him and nods her head showing that she heard him, but doesnt say anything else.

She then turns her eyes back towards Aelistae as she speaks of a plan, she watches closely to what the lady drow is doing, then speaks, her voice a soft whisper, almost too quiet to be heard,

"I also, agree with the plan." She then takes out her long sword and short sword and stands there waiting for the sign to move ahead.

Have we all forgotten about this?