Snail Mail (Part 2)

So you're tiny and hard to notice. To Kore, this is probably not a new sensation, but to Darius and Walery, it mgiht be a problem.

In any case, you're staring at large clumps of dust and hair and the fact that this pilot, deceased as he may hbe, was involved in using large amounts of poweful shrinking magics.

Which are impacting you. Now you have to figure out how to get out of here and get this undone, as waiting it out may or may not be an option.

Walery hrms now that the immediate threat has been dealt with. Now, about getting out of here. He takes a look around. "Have you ever made a paper airplane?" he asks conversationally. "I think something like that and a good launching place may enable us to get out of here..."

Walery is not suited to treacherous climbs, but he has allies. He looks at Darius and Iskandar and Kore, and wonders, "Do any of you think you could climb up that desk and lower a rope? If we can build a paper airplane, we shoud be able to fly out of here. If we can get back to the Explorers' Guild, they should be able to help us."

"I can make the climb," Kore will state in a confident tone. "The real question is if we have enough rope. We should... Probably lash our ropes together and find out before I head all the way up." The Monk seems to be content to be the one to risk falling to their death whilst climbing the leg of a table or chair.

Walery nods to Kore about lashing ropes together, he hauls a spool from his pack out and will see it tied to the others' ropes.

Iskandar walks over to the desk in question. Or at least, the table-leg like part closest to them. He spits on his hands and rubs them together. Then he puts them together like a stirrup and holds them low, for Kore to put a foot in if it will help her. Whether he just wants to give her a few inches of height or he plans to lift her and try to caber-toss her even higher is unclear.

Darius looks at Walery, "A paper airplane wouldn't hold all of us or be able to fly... you DO realize that even though we've shrunk, we're still wearing armor and carrying heavy gear and it's proportional weight?" That said, he pulls out his Spidersilk Rope to tie to the end of the spool as well.

"I am being having Spidersilk rope." offers Lysa as she shakes her head and breaks her brain out of the sense of shock. She steps up closer and reaches into the bag hanging at her side. She withdraws the fifty foot length of lightweight rope, "Is that being helping?" she asks.

Walery taps the side of his nose with one finger and smiles crafily to Darius. Or what he hopes is craftily. Mostly he looks constipated. "Only one of us needs to escape to summon aid," he explains. "Though I think I could put together a plane large enough for us all. Hot wax, from a seal found on any desk, would serve as a fastener so we could use several sheets of paper."

Iskandar says, "I'm not so sure this paper airship idea will work. But at least with a higher vantage point, Kore may be able to guide the rest of us. If there is another potion that will restore our height..."

GAME: Kore rolls Athletics+2: (14)+13+2: 29

Well, then.

It is a slow process with a lack of useful handholds, even for one as skilled as Kore, but she eventually triumphs over the adversity of scaling a mountainous... desk. And reaches the top of Desk Mountain!

Darius isn't too keen on this whole climbing business... agrophobia really is one of his flaws, like B.A. Barracus from the A-Team, if someone wants to get him up there, they better knock him out first.

Walery isn't hugely skilled at climbing. He's bookish and skinny, but with a bit of effort and the rope in place, he manages the ascent and surveys the desktop for useful materials.

But knocking Darius out would mean having to carry him -and- climb. But... Lysa doesn't know his fears. She offers, "I will be being the last one up the rope. The better to be being guarding the rear." And she has her sword in hand, waiting just in case.

Iskandar begins climbing. The rope makes it much easier, and he ascends hand over hand until he can put his hands on the top of the desk and pulls himself atop it. He looks around. While he does so he opens and closes his hands a few times to regain the feeling in them.

Darius looks at Lysa and is about to say something, then closes his mouth and shakes his head, "No... I'm sorry... I'm a true warrior, but I do not like heights. If the gods wanted me to leave the ground, they would have given me wings like a bird..." He looks up ... and up... and up... and his eyes begin to swirl as he gets a bit of vertigo and says, "I'll stay here... you go up m'lady, I'll wait for you to find something to restore us to our proper size..." He steps back, shaking his head vigorously.

Narrowing her eyes, Lysa glances to Darius. "A true warrior would be being going with his companions." she turns to face him fully then and holds out a hand, "If you prefer, I could be being fastening the rope about you that the others might pull you up."

Darius winces at the rebuke and says, "That... probably will be the only way I get up there then..." He sighs, seeing no way out of it, and walks over and says, "I still suggest you go up first... I..." He closes his eyes, "Will probably err..." He then trails off, "Just go ahead of me..." He gives her a pleading look.

Iskandar leans over the edge of the desk and peers down at those still below. "What's taking so long," he mutters. Then he stands and trots over to the opposite edge, looking over the room.

"Nay." says Lysa softly, "I will be being with you. Insuring that nobody else is being coming after us." And then she looks upwards before reaching for the rope to begin fastening it about Darius's waist. "He is having an old injury that makes him unable to climb! Pull him up!" she calls to the others.

Walery will help pull, for what it's worth. His pipestem arms contribute little, but he's helping.

Darius mutters, "It's not an old injury... I just don't like heights..." Just then he's being yanked up and his eyes go wild and as soon as he's a couple feet off of the ground, starts to yell, "NO! NO WAIT!!! THIS ISN'T!!!! STOP!!!!!" and he latches onto Lysa, crying like a baby. The big bad warrior... afraid of heights, who could have guessed it.

Iskandar hears the call to pull and returns to that side of the desk. He has a slight frown on his face but he takes the rope and applies his own strength to the effort. "Are we going to have to do this again," he grunts, "When we climb back down?"

"No, down is easy. Wrap the rope around behind you, hook a foot into it and slide," Kore will reply, apparently unperturbed. "Just don't let go."

Walery shakes his head to Iskandar, and he says, "I think if climbing a rope is this bad, flying in a paper airplane of any sort will be a problem. We may have to leave him here when we go for help, and then come back to get him."

Yelping a bit, Lysa clutches her sword tightly so that she doesn't drop it. But having a blubbering warrior hanging onto her makes it harder on everyone. "Be being not letting go now." she mutters to Darius as her other arm fastens about him.

/Eventually/ Darius is hauled upwards. It's a thing.

It's a whole damn thing.

Still, once everyone is on the desk, you're now tiny and... on a desk.

There are papers everywhere here, as you recall, most of the (now very large) shipping manifestos and more.

At least there's no more rats, but man, the flies up above you buzzing around the single mana light are huge looking like this.

Darius has been clutching onto Lysa this whole time, whimpering, when they finally get on top of the table, he scrambles quickly as far from the edge as he can get on his bottom and then turns to his side and throws up loudly... let's all give the man some time to compose himself shall we. When he does, he walks over to Lysa, looking down and says quietly to her, "You have my eternal thanks... and apologies for grabbing onto you like common wench... I owe you a debt I can never repay m'lady."

"Be being repaying such a debt in battle." suggests Lysa. She pulls out a skin from her shoulder-bag and holds it out to him. "Perhaps some golden brew mead will be being washing the flavor from your mouth." she suggests before looking to the others, "Are we being having a plan from here?" she asks.

Walery just kinda watches Darius for a moment, then looks away and goes back to gathering sheets of paper and the sealing wax thing. He's enough of an engineer that he has several paper airplane designs in his head of varying complexity. Which to use?

Iskandar looks over a paper. Then he grasps an edge with both hands. He pulls it off another and then spreads it out next to the first like a blanket. "Perhaps there's a clue in here. If we were shrunk by something in here, their may he a cure."

Darius accepts the mead gratefully and drinks it slowly, the honey taste taking the sourness of his bile out. He blinks, "This... is incredible... where did you get this?"

Turning to head over towards Walery and Iskandar, Lysa glances back over her shoulder to Darius, "It is being my own brew. Golden to honor Daeus." she adds. The mead looks almost like molten metallic gold more than just honey mead. She smirks a bit and then looks to the others, "How can I be being helping?" she asks.

GAME: Walery rolls knowledge/engineering: (3)+13: 16

GAME: Walery rolls perception: (16)+10: 26

GAME: Lysa rolls perception: (10)+7: 17

GAME: Iskandar rolls perception: (8)+10: 18

GAME: Darius rolls perception: (6)+8: 14

GAME: Lysa rolls athletics: (5)+-2: 3

GAME: Darius rolls athletics: (13)+6: 19

GAME: Iskandar rolls athletics: (19)+8: 27

GAME: Walery rolls athletics: (13)+-2: 11

GAME: Walery rolls fly: (3)+11: 14

Now, you have a paper airplane. These are simply enough things to do, especially in the face of the existence of gliders and airships and an understanding of the genral principles of flight. Time is spent folding a large sheet of paper, large to you, and eventually mount up to go towards that open window that Walery spotted.

Up, up you go towards the window and then everyone is able to hang on for dear life right up until you arch through it and then plummet...

...oh no...

YOU ARE HEADING TOWARDS A SEWER DRAIN. FOrtunatrely, Walery is on the ball enough that you instead are all dislodged from the airplane into a gutter which is full of water which is merely HEADING towards the drain.

.. the water is up to your necks.

This is fun.

Darius yells, "This is not what I signed up for... not the sewers AGAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIN!!!!"

"It could be being worse." mutters Lysa as she attempts to get to her feet and resist the flow, "You could be being up in the air once more." And yes, she is leaning into the current...

GAME: Kore rolls Athletics: (8)+13: 21

GAME: Iskandar rolls athletics: (15)+8: 23

GAME: Lysa rolls athletics: (7)+-2: 5

Walery acks at a downdraft and tries to fight it, but fails. The airplane pluges into the water, and he boldly, or at least frantically, strikes out for the edge of the water. It can't be that wide, can it?

GAME: Walery rolls athletics: (13)+-2: 11

GAME: Darius rolls athletics: (19)+6: 25

Iskandar hops off of the paper and splashes into the water. Despite his armor he manages a solid breastroke. He peers at the sewer and then the plane. "Abandon ship!" he bellows.

It's not easy.

Walery and Lys are being pulled into the storm drain, but Kore, Darius and iskandar are more than capable of grabbing hold of the other two and getting them up above water, so to speak. You're able to get out of the gutter, barely, and haul youyr tiny selves onto the street side -- but well -- it's daytime and people are coming and going. There's /traffic/. If you're going to make it somewhere you can get help to get this undone, say the arcanist's society, you've got a ways to go unless you can hitch a ride on a wagon heading the right way or something...

Walery is pulled out of the gutter, and hacks up a bit of filthy water. "Yuck," he says, watching out so he doesn't get stepped on. Trying to get his bearings, he tries to figure which way to the Arcanists. Or is the Guild closer? They can help, too. If only to take them to the arcanists.

Finally scrabbling out of the water flow (with help!) Lysa ends up lying on her back in her heavy armor, chest heaving with deep breaths. But she glances over as her head turns to the left and she sighs. "Wonderful.." she mutters. "We are being about to be being run over by the very people we are being trying to defend." But she sits up and looks about. "Any thoughts?" she asks.

Iskandar peers about. He tries to find a landmark to orient himself. But everything is so big and his perspective is so low. Finally he holds out his hands. "If we can find out which way the river is, and the bridges..."

Walery ahems, "I think if we went -that- way," he points, "the Soldiers' Defense might actually be closest."

"Aye. Also the Temples are being that way. Perhaps... I am being knowing many of the volunteers at the Defense. Perhaps we could be being getting word to one of them and thus, to the temples." suggests Lysa. "Once word is being gotten there, we can receive aid."

GAME: Iskandar rolls knowledge/local+2: (18)+5+2: 25

Iskandar brightens. "I think I know where we are now," he points.

GAME: Lysa rolls perception: (9)+7: 16

GAME: Iskandar rolls perception: (4)+10: 14

GAME: Walery rolls perception: (18)+10: 28

GAME: Kore rolls perception: (20)+16: 36

You make your way alongside a building in the direction of the Soldier's Defense. This is going to take a while. At this size, the idstance is comparatively vast! It could take hours -- hours at which you are operating under a high degrree of threat...

But so far so good right? No one has been crushedf and you're inexorably making progress, you hope...

Walery acks! "Uhoh. Cats," he says to the others. "If we could ride them, we'd go faster, but animals don't like me much normally. Unfortunately, I think we look a little ratty to them."

"...They are going to try to eat us," Kore will reply, doing her best to remain stoic. "We should probably figure out how to get out of here soon. Compared to us these cats are the size of elephants or something..."

"MEOW," echoes distantly.

Rolling her eyes, Lysa sighs, "Of course there are being cats." And she shakes her head, "I can be being attempting to placate the long enough for others to get upon them."

Iskandar draws his shortbow. Like the rest of their gear it is small, but the tiny arrows if aimed well might drive off a cat if it comes to that. "Ride a cat. Yes, what better way to travel through a city."

So far, they've only just noticed you. As you study, now tuned into the danger, you can see roughly a half dozen cats spread across the various buildings in the area. Some of them are paying attention to you, no doubt debating whether they want to get closer for the kill or not. There's an excellent chance some might start stalking you once you start moving again, though so long as you keep your eyes on them, they don't move.

Noticing that, Lysa says, "Be being starting to move. I will be being guarding the rear." Once again, she draws her sword and lets the blade catch the sun. Should the need arise, she can summon flame onto the blade. Fire might scare them off.

Walery draws his death ray, then, and nods to the others. "Anyone see any rats, or dogs? A dog might chase them off. "

If Lysa wants to bring up the rear, Iskandar decides he will lead the way. Now that he can picture where their path goes - a route he remembers walking through the city not too long ago, when he was still normal stature - he has a good idea which side of the streets to travel on to avoid puddles or potholes.

GAME: Lysa rolls handle animal: (6)+8: 14

GAME: Walery rolls stealth: (18)+2: 20

GAME: Iskandar rolls stealth: (18)+4: 22

GAME: Kore rolls stealth: (18)+16: 34

With Lysa (and her tiny flaming sword) keeping an eye on the various cats that are beginning to pay attention to you in this diustrict, thje rest of you re able to, especially with Kore taking poiint, make substantial progress out of the area. They're noticing you, but keep getting distracted by other sources of movement. You are fortunate for the time being. None of the cats leap to attack you. Really, only Lysa is keeping their attention and one does indeed continue to stalk you, a particularly large and extremely orange cat.

It keeps its distance, but it's definitely continuing to follow.