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Message: <blockquote data-quote="CanadienneBacon" data-source="post: 3583358" data-attributes="member: 11146">Maelicent finds the same drag marks in the smooth narrow tunnel that he spotted in his first reconnaissance of this area.  The thick clear slimy goop is still there, as well.  The packed dirt in front of and as far as he can see down both the southern tunnels looks to be devoid of prints, but has obviously been traversed sometime in the last 24 hours; the dirt has been carefully swept.  Pausing to scout at the easternmost of the pair of south-bound tunnels, Maelicent peers into the dark and quite clearly makes out that the tunnel takes a sharp dog-leg to the right some 30 feet in.  The tunnel's grade is steep, much steeper than the hour-long trek back up to the cracked cave at the beginning of this complex.  After assuaging his curiosity regarding the pair of southern tunnels, Maelicent intrepidly treks into the large cavern to the east.  The rock in here has the look of being worked, though is still in its natural state. Someone has taken tools and dug and scraped in a rough improvised manner until the worst of the drop offs, holes, and ledges are made even. Though damp, the air in the big cavern reeks like a barnyard on a hot day. The floor of the cavernous space is spongy with spoor and offal, out of which sprout a patchworked carpet of mushrooms. There are normal specimens a few inches in height and giant varities as tall as Maelicent.Taking a moment to have a look at the pool at the far end of the cave, the Gudwulf warrior's keen eyes pick up the glint of gold illuminated through a gap in two patches of brown algae at the surface of the pool.  What looks to be a magnificent glowing gold coin lies at the bottom of the very mucky water.  The water itself appears to be perhaps six feet deep.  Something in the water plucks and sucks down a bit of the algae at just that moment, however, and though the gold coin continues to shed enough light that that section of the cave is yet still softly lit, the coin itself is obscured from view as water ripples and the patch of algae shifts.Moving north, Maelicent finds a patch of smooshed grey ooze lying strewn across the gravel floor in front of a heavy iron door that hangs widely ajar.  From his hiding spot near the stalagmite, the goblin spies owlbear tracks passing out the door and beyond his own position and quickly ascertains that the beast must have pushed open the iron door and rushed out, in so doing, it also likely squished some sort of amphibian or slug-like creature unfortunate to be caught in its path.  A moment later, after peering round the stalagmite, the mystery of the scritching is answered.Movement on the north and east side catches the goblin's attention.  Two pairs of vacant white eyes clouded with film on the far eastern and northern side of the cavern in an alcove blink at the goblin. The eyes take turns blinking, then one of the creatures haltingly slithers forward, a crude rake-like polearm in its grasp. The thing resembles a squat humanoid with a slug-like tail that it uses for locomotion. Slimy, with gray skin the same color as the mushrooms growing in the cavern, the giant slug silently snakes closer to Maelicent, who takes note of a ropy and well-muscled set of humanoid arms holding a hoe.  Off to the south, a third live slug slowly plods at its patch of earth and dung and seemingly takes no heed at all of the Gudwulf warrior.  To the northwest, a tool rack containing more hoes, rakes, and four crude-looking longspears, along with some very queer-looking pots of earth containing mildered wood rests along the cavern's natural rock wall.</blockquote>

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