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.There was a rope bridge over the gorge, but it wasn't sheltered by the ridge.Consequently the bridge had been battered by the wind with such violence that it was a knotted tangle of ropes and reeds that appeared completely uncrossable."You want to try unravelling the bridge, or should I just fly us across?" Jas asked Joel.Joel watched the bridge flap about as the wind came ripping up the gully."Do you think you can fly in that wind?" he asked.Jas shrugged."I trust my wings more than I trust that contraption.""I knew a caravan guard who used to say all the luck in the world won't make up for willful stupidity.I'm thinking we should test the reverse of that rule.Perhaps some willful reasoning will make up for all the bad luck in this realm.We're not going to leave anything to chance."Since Emilo was the smallest, and together Joel and Jas could bear his weight easily, they rigged up a harness for the kender to use while he tried to unravel the bridge.They attached the harness to two lines of rope.Joel held one line and Jas took the other.Should the bridge collapse, Joel would keep the kender from falling into the gorge and Jas would risk flying upward to keep him from slamming into the sides of the ravine.Emilo started down the rope bridge, untangling it as he went with his dexterous hands.The moment the kender had gotten all of the reed walkway to lie flat, he dashed across the rest of the bridge like a startled rabbit.The whistling wind made communication impossible, so they weren't sure what had alarmed Emilo.The kender turned, and to demonstrate the bridge's unreliability, he gave a sharp tug on one of the old worn ropes.The ropes snapped in the center of the bridge, and the bridge flopped sideways.Emilo removed both lines from his harness and attached them around a boulder.Joel held both lines on the opposite bank.With a lead rope attached to the lines, Jas flew across with the first knapsack.The winds buffeted her, but the lead rope held and kept her from losing control of her direction.She checked the lines Emilo had affixed before flying back for the second backpack.Before Jas carried him across, Joel hammered a piton into the rocky ridge, slipped one line through the piton, and joined the lines into one.Jas had more trouble with the bard's weight.She lost altitude rapidly shortly after taking off.Joel's stomach lurched.Then the wind forced the winged woman back upward.When they reached the other side, she ducked behind the ridge and collapsed onto the ledge.Joel untied the knot joining the two lines Emilo had affixed about the boulder.He tugged the rope through the piton.Somehow he'd forgotten to check the ends of the line before he began pulling.A knot near the end of the line caught in the piton.He tried yanking at the piton to no avail.Then he cut the rope and let it fall back into the gorge, where it hung forlornly from the piton until a gust of wind caught it and sent it flapping about until it was tangled with the useless rope bridge.When they reached the mountain slope where the ridge ended, the finder's stone's light pointed to the right of the ridge, which meant walking once again into the wind.Wearily they started out again.They'd only been traveling a short while on the new face when there was a tremor in the ground and a great thunderous rumble all around them.Small rocks tumbled down the slopes, pelting the adventurers until they took shelter downslope of a great boulder.All the while, Joel prayed that the boulder wouldn't suddenly start rolling.The tremor subsided.Then suddenly the wind died and they were encased in a thick gray fog."Are earthquakes followed by fog regular occurrences in the Abyss?" Jas asked Joel."Or do you think it had something to do with you-know-who and her sister?"Joel shrugged.It was possible that Tymora had released another burst of power, and Beshaba, unable to absorb it quickly, had to disperse it into her realm.It made sense, but it was mere speculation.Fearful of the terrain's uncertainties, the adventurers decided to make camp right where they were.The ground sloped at least thirty degrees where they halted, but Joel doubted they'd find a gentler incline if they continued.They fixed a rope between two boulders and stretched a tarp overhead.Huddled in their makeshift tent, they feasted on the contents of Winnie's backpacks.There were packages of fresh berries that had been magically enchanted.Just a few berries left them feeling reasonably nourished.To dispel the chill brought on by the fog-laden air, Joel heated one of the metal flasks with a spell to boil the water within.With his back against the boulder, Joel kept watch while Jas and Emilo slept.By the light of the finder's stone, the bard perused the magical scrolls Winnie had placed in the backpacks.Some time later Emilo woke and took over the watch.From one of Winnie's packs, Joel pulled out a magically glowing lantern and gave it to Emilo.Then the bard rolled the finder's stone into a spare tunic and used the tunic for a pillow.The kender stared into the fog, imagining all sorts of creatures in the swirling mists.He began whistling softly to keep awake and to fight off the cheerlessness of this place.Whenever he fell prey to bad dreams, this was the sort of place in which the dreams were set.He whistled a second tune, and just as he began whistling a third melody he spotted a flame burning somewhere off in the mists downhill from their camp.It's a campfire, Emilo thought, and not too far off.He wondered whether something evil had settled nearby.He knew he should wake the others, but he suspected Joel would be overly cautious and insist they avoid going anywhere near the light.His curiosity roused, Emilo couldn't stand that thought.The flame seemed to draw the kender like a moth.He had to see it up close.Leaving the magically glowing lantern behind, Emilo slipped out from under the tarp and padded silently downhill toward the flame.As he got closer, he slowed his steps and proceeded more cautiously.The kender ducked behind a boulder no more than twenty feet from the fire and peered around the edge.The flame flickered a foot off the ground with nothing to fuel it, as if it were an illusion or some other sort of magical fire.Emilo could see no one around the fire [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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