Story I: The Rift

Callie nods her head to Baric and says, "Of course. I'm here to help!" She studies Pyrrah as she speaks, snickering at her comment, but as she grows closer Callie becomes concerned. Her brow furrows and her mouth frowns at the mention of Brynn's comrade. "Chella," she murmurs to herself. She gives Pyrrah and firm nod and adds, "Absolutely. I'll tell her."

The group then departs out of the guildhall doors and toward the Rift. The rickety lift sways back and forth with the breeze, creaking noisily. Callie follows you out, both satchels over her shoulders. She carefully takes one satchel off of her shoulders at a time, placing one onto the platform, and then the next. She dusts off her hands, even if there's nothing dirtying them, and lets out a breath. "Well," she says, "Need anything else before you go?"

The platform groans and the ropes can be heard stretching as each new companion boards. It sways ever so slightly under the weight, only more so as Devanis begins to pull the rope, which causes the platform to shudder downward. Callie stands on the edge of the Rift, watching as you descend into the dark. She waves and calls out, "Be safe! I will see each of you soon, and you can be sure I'll have some tea ready for you!" Her words echo off the cavernous walls long after she spoke them, until they're drowned out by the creaking sound of the lift. Moisture drips out of crack in the walls, dropping onto the wooden platform, onto your shoulders, or down into the dark abyss.

The light from above dwindles more and more until your vision becomes hampered; the details in the faces of your companions fade as shadows replace them and soon they appear as nothing but shadows themselves. Those of you with Darkvision begin to see more clearly, albeit in black-and-white, where the ghostly whites of your less fortunate companions' eyes stare about blindly. The platform jumps as a corner of it catches on a rock wall nearby, lifting one side of the platform a few inches before it scrapes off noisily and returns to position. After this, the wooden lift only groans more noisily, as though in pain, and the whining of the winch around you.

Soon the descent stops altogether. The rope is at its end, and the thick knot at the bottom will not allow it to go any further. The platform still gently moves back and forth, instantly informing you that it hasn't settled to the ground. Those of you that can see in the dark can tell that the ground awaits just three feet below. It is uneven at best, mostly broken stones and boulders that must have fallen when the Rift was formed. A tunnel branches off the side of it, sloping slightly downward into darkness. Notably, a corpse lies half-buried in the rubble. It is pale-skinned, covered in dirt, grime and year-old bloodstains. It is only somewhat decomposed, and even at a distance can be plainly identified as a human male with a light shadow of dark hair on his scalp, about 30-years-old.

Devanis has to pry away some loose rocks to check the corpse beneath the midsection, revealing a coin purse, sheathed blade, and a small, hemp sack.