Arana rushes ahead first toward the sounds.
Victor holds out a hand to slow Arana down but she's too quick and races past him. Deciding joining her is the best plan, Victor sings loudly and hurries to catch up to her with his crossbow loaded.
Sildarin stands agape as the quicker members of the group bolt past him, the draws Serbanas's sword and sprints forward as well. As Sildarin draws the blade it exudes a bright blue light!
Yes, Sildarin still receives the XP, because he was there acting in character.
The tunnel weaves and twists a few hundred yards with no offshoots, still basically going eastward. The height remains the same; uncomfortably short for everyone save Rallyn. It's a wonder Sh'ar had no trouble navigating this space.
The group rounds the first sharp turn they've seen so far and an odd site greets them.
A human-sized dwarf lies on the floor, blood pooled about his feet, a crossbow quarrel sticking out of his chest. He's breathing, but clearly unconscious. A mechanicanistic looking tripod holds a very large crossbow* about fifteen feet away.
*In the empire, arbalests are fairly common abeit exotic weapons. Typically the arbalest is used by Imperial snipers since they have such a long effective range. They are a 1d12 weapon, crit 19-20/x2, weigh 15 pounds and are otherwise treated as "Great Crossbows" from S&F. This particular one does look somewhat different than a normal arbalest.