The Rock Critters and the Stairs
Nathan and Desimus both manage to recognize the creatures - they are earth elementals.
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The group heads slowly towards the tunnel with a staircase on your left, cautiously looking below to ensure that nothing in the lower cavern notices you. As your eyes adjust to the distance, you notice that there are humanoid creatures down there - goblins, orcs, humans, halflings, and a few elves. They appear to be sorting through the piles of gems, looking for something. Occassionally a Thri-Kreen strikes one with an unusual whip-like object, and the subject screams out in pain - a strangely muffled sound like the whimpering of a dog.
You step lightly upon the staircase, and find that it is stable. A few more steps, and you are sure of yourselves that the staircase is real. As you head down, you find that it is a spiral staircase.
After you go down what seems to be around 20 feet, you find yourselves in a small cavern. The staircase continues down into the ground, but the step that Syld is on at the moment is quite wide and appears to be melding with the floor here, the dirt being seamless and seems to have been pounded into the floor with the passing of many creatures.
There is a doorway in the wall of this cavern, and as you look out, you find that you are in a small cavern off of the main one you saw earlier from above. You also notice that there is a Thri-Kreen standing just outside the cavern's entrance. It doesn't appear to have seen you, though, as it is watching the mining operation with great interest.
Nothing outside your small cavern seems to have noticed you. The cavern you are in is completely bare, other than the staircase and the entrance.