J'herin

He looks across at Cinabar as he moves back to the door they came in through.

"I think Zathynae is referring to the noise from next door. We need to decide now, continue on towards the noise and try to thwart any plans they are putting into operation - none of which would be good for us? Or search further here to see what the trapdoor reveals?"

He looks from one room to the other.

"I favour the first, followed by the second."

<Cinabar>

"oh", she says quietly. She hated when she wasn't following everything that was going on.

Zathynae

She smiles at J'herin. Always cautious. Of course that cautiousness has saved us more than once.

"Let's see what's behind the trap door. The one advantage if they are blocking us in, is that they're also blocking themselves out. If needed I can transport us back to the entry room, behind their 'wall'. Hate to leave something like this behind, or have to come back to check it later. You never know what other distraction we'll run into."

She moves to check the trap door for traps and locks.

Ashil

"That's a very good point. They can't trap us in here... so we might as well explore the trap door while we have a chance."

DM

In the sitting room, Darryn, Selos and Ashil stand guard. The noises from the hallway and above continue. These sounds are scraping, thumping, banging, rumbling, shouting and running footsteps. The house is alive with activity...or is that a poor word to use, alive? Such noise could only be made by a very large number of individuals.

Standing at the threshold between the sitting room and the dining hall is J'herin. He waits patiently, ever cautious, fingers ready to grasp the hilt of his sword, eyes scouring the doors and windows in one room while watching the two priests and Zathynae in the other.

Zathynae approaches the trap door while Esteban and Cinabar look on. She moves her slender but sensitive fingers over the edge of the door without touching it. Her experienced hands guiding her eyes around the edge. Finally she settles her focus around the hand grip. It is a metal lined cut in the wood; nothing more than a simple grip. While she knows that anything is possible, including illusions and other arcane techniques, she thinks that if there's a trap or a lock, that it is hidden well beyond her ability to find it. Confident of her abilities she decides that it is unlocked and trap-free.

Zathynae

Having determined that there are no traps, or else they're beyond her skill to find, she smiles up at Esteban and Cinabar and pulls the trap door open.

DM

When Zathynae lifts the trap door she sees steps down. They are rickety wood steps and her low-light vision lets her see enough to tell that there is some light down below, not a lot, maybe just the flickering of a candle or two, but there is light. The steps lead to a landing and there seems to be a passage to the left.

Zathynae

Turning to Cinabar and Esteban she says, "Tell the others I've found an underground passage. No telling how far it goes or what's down there. See if anyone, or everyone, wants to come with me. Or I can go by myself and come back and let you know what I find."

<Cinabar>

"If there is no immediate threat from down there, perhaps we should think about finishing up with the mansion here before they have time to mount a serious defense?"

Zathynae

"Same reason as before. We can bypass any fixed defense they try to mount. And besides, this has all the signs of being something important, and if we get involved in something else we may not get a chance to come back here."

She peers below trying to see anything unusual. "I can go take a quick scout and see if anything is worth following up on."

Darryn

The paladin appeared at the door.

"Everything okay?"

<Cinabar>

"Zathynae is trying to run off again", she told Darryn, sounding almost pouty. "Someone needs to go with her, but I cannot be very quiet."

J'herin

He looks over at Zathynae from his position in the door way.

"I think we all ought to stick together, separating could leave us too exposed. I suggest we all move in here.." He points to the dining room. "..and maybe Zathynae can scout ahead with some backup and others following on?"

Darryn

"No she's not." he said firmly.

"If she's goes down, I'm following." he said seriously. Zath knew that with Darryn behind her there would be no stealth. I agree with J'herin. We need to stick together. Apart they can overwhelm us."

<Cinabar>

Clearly she is relieved that Zathynae is not going down alone.

Zathynae

She shrugs, but smiles at her friends. "Well, let's all go then. We can close the door above us so they can't follow so easily, and escape magically if we have to when we're done."

She looks at J'herin and Darryn. "If you don't think it's safe for me to go alone, then it's probably not safe to leave one or two of us up here alone either."

J'herin

"So we all go."

He grins.

"And with any luck the opposition will be curious as to where we have gone and start dismantling their barricades just in time for our return."

He looks over at Darryn.

"If we are all going, in a close underground situation, there is little point in stealth. If you provide back up, I'll take the rear, making sure we have no pursuit to take us by surprise."

Esteban

He glanced in the direction of the barricading sounds.

"Leaving enemies behind us is risky. Are we certain this course of action will be profitable?"

Zathynae

She chuckles at Esteban. "Well, let's just say that the potential for profit by going below is likely, while the potential for profit by remaining up here is almost negligible."

<Cinabar>

"And I don't see that we have any direction we can go where there won't be enemies behind us Esteban. There may be foes in the hole below, waiting to come up as soon as we are engaged elsewhere. Perhaps we can secure this trapdoor once we are through so that those above cannot follow us", she said hopefully.

Darryn

"Sounds like it's decided. Let's move. The one thing we know for sure, standing around won't help us at all. The only questions I have going below is can we see and can I wield my weapon? Tight and narrow favors those who would attack us with claws and teeth."

Zathynae

She nods and pulls the trap door all the way open. "I don't have any spells that give light." She shrugs. "Don't need them so I never learned them. Maybe one of the others do?" She gets ready while the group sorts itself into their normal exploring marching order.

<Cinabar>

She held up her brightly shining coin. "Already handled", she said with a smile.

[[ Cin cast continual light on the coin earlier. ]]

Ashil Wildeyes

She smiled very slightly and nodded.


"Let's go, then..."

DM
Led by Cinabar's light, the group begins down the steps. They have to move single file down here. There was some light visible coming from below before she had displayed the continual light coin. Now, however, they could all see clearly.
The steps are wooden up here but they end about thirty feet down. The ground there is stone - a natural cave or something carved out of the stone and there's a passage to the right.

OOC: if you're moving to the front of the marching order or planning to do anything while exploring, let me know now. Note that the marching order is: J'herin, Darryn, Selos, Esteban, Ashil, Zathynae and lastly, Cinabar