Crossed Paths, Part II

[Manzanita]

Dhormium walks North, entering a columned hall, walking to edge of the others' feild of vision. The ceiling in this room has even more bats, and the 20 foot floor is covered by at least 6 inches of bat guano. The room is about 30 feet wide. About 50 feet to the north, the room narrows slightly, but that's as far as the dwarf can see.

 

[eoghanbt]

Tullius, perhaps by habit, turns to face back the other direction, head tipped, pearing into the darkness as the dwarf walks into the edge of deep shadow. The flick of movement catches his eye and he tenses a moment, but the flutter of bat wings and the tell-tale screach causes an almost half-swallowed chuckle. He brushes his right hand against his necklace, scratching with his knuckles.

 

[Jarval]

Brioc holds up his hand to bring his companions to a halt, having taken heed of Dhormium's warning about waking the bats.

"Both the north and eastern routes have been traveled recently. The eastern path has seen by far the largest passage of people." He bends to inspect the tracks more closely, looking for any details as to who (or what) might have passed this way.


(Brioc's inspecting both sets of tracks, but is focusing primarily on the trail to the east.)

 

[Manzanita]

tracks

The tracks are footprints, but they're so slimey, it's impossible to say much more.

 

[Krilith]

~Dhormium groans in disgust, and turns back to the group at the base of the stairs and speaks in but a mere whisper~

"The other room has even more bats, and by the look of all the mess there it could well be their main sleeping place. Lets see if we can finda better passage in the eastern tunnel. If we find bats there as well, i'll advise to come back at night. Most of the bats will hopefully be outside hunting for food.
And for the darkness...it won't matter to us all, your eyes need the lantern anyway and mine work just as well at night. Right? right! lets go."

~Dhormium, very pleased with his own logic and idea, walks on to the eastern doorway inspects to inspect the stonework briefly. When the others start following him again he starts to walk into the coredor. When he reaches the bend to the north he peers around to corner.....~

 

[Manzanita]

East

Dhormium walks down the eastern passage. The bat guano quickly dissapears. At the end of the corridor, he can see that it turns & leads North about 40 feet before turning west.

 

[Krilith]

~Dhormium motions to everybody to come closer, he is clearly happy that he no longer has to walk in the bat guano. When the others arive he speaks softly~

"This corredor is a lot better, we can move quicker here"

 

[doghead]

Marcus follows as best he can.

I wish these two would decide which way they are going. I can't be in two places at once.

The grim underdark is making him grumpy, and he knows it, so he keeps his mouth shut. The darkness of underground and that of night are nothing alike, and Marcus has no real liking for the former. The dwarves are welcome to it.

 

[Jarval]

Abandoning his examination of the footprints, Brioc catches up with Dhormium, glad for the less treacherous surface of the clean stone floor.

"Onwards?" He says, moving north to the bend to the west. He looks cautiously around the corner, the fate of Tullius' companion at the forefront of his mind.

 

[Manzanita]

The passage leads about 25 feet West, before turning north for another 25 feet (See map, attached. Red lines indicate party's progess). As the party heads north, just before reaching the bend East, the stone under Brioc's foot creaks and shifts as his foot lands on it. He jerks back, and behind him he hears a slap of wood on metal, as two spears hurl out of the wall behind the party. Both strike Octar, sending him crashing down with a cry. (9 pts dmg). Looking back, the party sees nothing. Just the wall. Ahead, around the corner, Brioc and Dhormium think they hear movement.