Hatchman follows them, looking around for anything strange in the cavern and seeing if there is any easy way to climb up to the tunnel.

Leo scouts out with the group, but then starts to head back looking at all three tunnels heading out of the area, muttering to himself. "They said they turned right and down at the four caverns, so the one they came down must slope up going back the way they came."

OOC:waiting for GM to confirm if I find what I am looking for.

Leo can only scout out the first two tunnels since the other requires getting up there.

Leo finds that the two tunnels interconnect through a larger cavern that leads to the southwest, like this.

Leo throws up his hands in frustration. "This just doesn't make any sense....at least if that parchment was right. I mean it read right down slope at cavern 4 caverns Which should mean if it was them mapping down that the tunnel we are looking for going out would slope up. Right?" he asks no one in particular looking around at the faces of the group.

Hatchman strokes his thin beard as he looks up and down the corridors, back and forth, bacvk and forth.  He is trying to remember details.

He says, "Actually, we had never traveled into the cavern with the big lake and water.  We were coming up from the south side, just like you.  But I think I remember that we came down from that tunnel up there and then turned left down one of these side tunnels.  That's how we ended up down in that direction.  That being said, if we climb up to the tunnel and go southeast, I think that takes in the direction we came from.  Too bad we didn't leave ropes for ourselves to climb back up."

"Shall we go south west then?  We can always return and try to climb up to the south east tunnel if we have to." Tahldar asks of his group.

OOC:  For the heck of it while we decide which way to go I'll do a quick scan for secret doors in the tiny cavern with the SW and SE exits.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:15, Sat 21 Sept 2013.

"I'm good at climbing, if you want it, I can go there carrying the tip of a rope and secure it for you to go there"

"How about we check out the lower passage first, and then Shapfren can get a rope for us to climb up into the other one?"

Leo responds. "I am fine with that if everyone else agrees."

You find no secret passages.

The very large cavern to the south (with the southwest exit) is similar to the others, with spotted stalagmites and stalactites.  Its exit to the southwest is once again a very large tunnel over twenty feet high and about 50 feet wide.  Otherwise, there is nothing odd about it.

(Not sure if you were going to continue southwest or not.)

Borimer continues forward with the group, heading southwest ever-wary of ambush.

Shapfren advances close to the walls, mandoline in hand, and alert in case Leo makes a noise indicating danger.

You move to the southwest.  The tunnel curves sharply to the south, climbing up huge platforms of natural steps about 5 feet tall each.

Hatchman, Lukas and Donovan indicate that they think they came this way during their time stuck in the caves.

The tunnel eventually straightens out and goes south, where it branches off into large corridors heading west, south, and northeast.  The Hatchman group (let's call it that for now) thinks they went south or west but none are quite certain which at this point.

"How about west first, and if it's a dead end or another intersection, than we check south to continue our map, eventually taking the east passage as well...?"

"I think we should go East first, it is out best chance to escape this cave exploring the places we haven't been in before, which I believe is still the priority"

"East works for me," says Hatchman. "I think going west or south puts us in backtrack mode toward those crazy viper monsters.  I'll go either way, though."

"East is also good,"  Borimer agrees.

Tahldar shrugs in agreement at going east.  He cares little which way they go as long as they keep moving.  He has said little about it, but a growing mustard seed of fear that they will encounter a giant gnaws at his mind.  He wishes for little more at the moment than to be out of the catacombs, the faster the better.

Donovan follows as fast as his little legs can carry him.

OOC: Is he still small?

Leo thinks to himself they should probably travel up each about 100 yards to see if any of them start to rise, but hold his comments and follows the others backwards down the NE passage.

You explore a little further around, and then go to the northeast.

In the main cavern, you see a tunnel heading to the west, and as you circle it around in a counterclockwise direction, you find what appear to be two stone doors, one heading west and one heading south.  The stone doors appear to be enormously heavy, and each is connected to a pulley similar to the one by the pit you crawled out of.  Even use of the pulley appears to require significant strength, and this again gives you the thought of giants.  The pulley and door do not appear to have been used recently.  The south door is somewhat larger than the western one.  The west door is about 10 feet wide by 20 feet tall.  The south door is about 20 feet wide by 15 feet tall.  (So south is wide and squat while the western is tall and thin.)

You continue around to the northeast passage.  This leads to another large, rounded cavern.  There is no other exit from this cavern.

Here, you see even further signs of occupying giants.  There are various blackened firepits on the ground, the walls are black from smoke, and the ceiling itself is at least a hundred feet high with what appear to be numerous small holes like pores leading up. The holes are about five inches wide.  There are also some scattered items like broken wood for tools, a stone box that has some firewood in it, some tattered cloths, and even a large piece of cloth 15' x 15' that might well have served as a blanket for a giant.  As with the other areas, it does not appear that this area has recently been used.

So the possibilities are to look around this room, try to go through the stone door to the west, try to go to the stone door to the south, go west down the tunnel, or backtrack around to the giant stone steps.

The group that was rescued never ventured this far south, so they think they must have gone down the tunnel to the west since they don't remember seeing these types of indicia of giants here.



This message was last edited by the GM at 19:16, Thu 26 Sept 2013.

Shae looks around the campfires to see if she can tell how long it's been since they were used.  She also looks through the dirt and ashes for anything of interest.

As Shae searches, Tahldar examines the walls with his keen elven eyes for any secret compartments.

Donovan looks for tracks.

Borimer turns around and stands at the southwest opening the party just walked through, keeping guard against any incoming danger.