Well, Paxton was correct. There's a crack in the right side of the passageway, and there are several fire beetles inside, each a bit over two feet long. Their glowing attachments created the shadow play on the opposite wall.

[1XP for Paxton]

Grumbling, Pock drew back an arrow and followed in after his friends.

Durek moves towards the crack, battle-axe at the ready should any of the fire beetles try to move into the passage.

"Quickly," he hisses to his companions, motioning for them to move past the crack.



[If I've understood properly, Durek will stand in front of the crack and Parry (only if he needs to) any attacks from the beetles should they try to enter the passage...hopefully giving the rest of the party the time to pass by]
This message was last edited by the player at 08:08, Wed 10 Feb 2021.

"Ok, ok, they're not huge but they're still the biggest fricking bugs I've seen..." Manaku mutters when he understands what scared him. He passes Durek and the crack quickly and proceeds to scout the passage ahead.

Assuming everything goes as planned, Alietra will pass the firebugs by as well.

In reply to Alietra (msg # 61):

Brodd passes them next. If they ignored the party, the party could ignore them.

Dwarghar grunts and continues on after the scouts.

Paxton moved past the crack, but paused on the other side, waiting for Durek... ready to assist if things go wrong.

In reply to Durek Stoneshield (msg # 59):

The bugs seem to be ignoring Durek and doing their buggie things in the crevice.

Durek gives Paxton a nod and, once everyone has gone past, rejoins the rest of them.

Paxton falls in with Durek and then tries to resume his original position in the party.

Leo follows, not sure he wants to return past the bugs.

Lesson learned from the fire beetles, Manaku resumes his position at the point and scouts the passage ahead using his infravision.

Sharing a smile with the good Brother, Alietra continues onward, though she does spare half-a-second to look at the bugs as they pass by, never having seen such a thing. She spends the other half a second examining the crack they are in, could that be a secret door of some kind?

OOC: Please make the roll for me, GM.

In reply to Alietra (msg # 70):

It's like putting your face near the crack of an oven with all the heat radiating from the beasts, and you get a whiff of an acidic smell, and you see rat-sized bones lining the floor inside the crevice. One of the beetles hisses at you and snaps its jaws defensively; the pincers look wide enough to sever a neck from its shoulders. to but the crevice does seem just wide enough for a human to pass through; that is these...you count seven...glowing beetles the length of your forearm weren't blocking the way.

Wow, didn't mean top get that close! Eek... I back away quickly, but make a mental note that there might be another passage there. I wonder how much water it would take to douse seven of the little buggers.

Pock will have crossed once everyone else had passed over, so that there was Durek's parrying arm and Pock's drawn bowstring to defend everyone.

The passageway continues east another 20 feet until it comes to an abruptly turns north, revealing a passageway 20' ahead.

Opposite the turn, there is a door to the south here as well, but it's boarded up with crudely drawn black skulls on it.

In reply to DM (msg # 74):

Brodd holds his light aloft and checks out his surroundings, including the boarded door when he gets to it.

Durek will move a few steps into the north passageway...battle-axe at the ready...to keep watch for anything coming down that way whilst others inspect the door.
This message was last edited by the player at 18:33, Mon 15 Feb 2021.

Alietra will pause and listen at the door.

Feel free to roll for me, so I don't know if I succeeded or not.

Manaku presses his ear to the door and listens. If he hears nothing, he'll continue to scout the northern passage ahead of the party.

"Black skulls. A warning perhaps... Can't be anything good." He quietly whispers to the others.

Staring at the back of Manaku's head when he opts to listen as well, Alietra simply shakes her head. He didn't seem to hear anything though...

"I'm pretty sure black skulls are Orcish for 'come on in, dinner's almost ready, and you're it!" Paxton said wryly.

He leaned closer to see if he could see any writing, but otherwise kept up with the others.

"You read Orcish, Paxton?" Pock said, affecting an air of gullibility even as he grinned over it.