"Okz Minmorcz. I followz you."

 She walks slow so he can rummage in rubble and stuff to see if there's loot n stuff.

Jurz follows on, still wondering about singing rocks, as he settles himself at the back of the group alongside Dregz.   he mutters quietly, as he too takes an occasional check behind.

Minmorc scouts ahead and leads the way down the steep tunnel. Moffdust sends Cat the bat along just behind him to keep track of him.

The deep voice outside among the boulders resumes its song a little while after the rest of the group enters the tunnel but by that time they are all too far away to make out the words, even if anyone besides Dregz could understand them.

The rest of the group is about 250 feet behind Minmorc and unable to see him when he finally reaches the end of the tunnel after exploring it for about a mile. 

OOC: Main game map updated.

"Oi, wot was dat!? I can't hears yer, I fink yer muffled by der webs!" Minmorc will start rummaging around in his pack for a torch and his tindertwigs.

"Webz, Did he say webz?" Oopses wasn't thrilled with the idea of webs after so recently getting entangled in them, in fact it was probably better for him to stop right there in the middle of the party.

Minmorc's shout is only just intelligible at that distance. If there is any response to his question it is too soft for anyone else to hear.

 "Webz? Dey is webz? Like spiderz webz? I hopez dey ain't big spiderz! I can eatz small spiderz."

 She hop skips faster trying to catch up with Minmorc but watches out for rubble and spider webs.

Jurz looks across to Dregz, raises and eyebrow and then continues along sedately at the back of the group.

Minmorc will continue to yell "Errrr... I never bin gud wid passwords... errr... Is it Password?"

Minmorc's yell echoes clearly back to everyone else although they still can't hear whoever it is that he is speaking to.

Moffdust nods sagely at Raven's wise words. "Yes Birdie Girls, de big ones can eats youse." She hurries along to see what Min has found, and what has Cat so spooked.

"Huh. No. Instead, yous tell me anyfing I wants ter know or I burns yer webs an kill anyfing wot falls out."

Light flares at the end of the tunnel as Minmorc lights a torch. Now he is visible to the rest of the group as they follow him down the tunnel although they cannot see or hear whatever he is shouting at. In her excitement Raven starts running down the tunnel with her glowing rapier in hand, leaving the less hurried remainder of the group behind in darkness, which suits everyone else just fine.

OOC: Main game map updated.

"I fink dis is wots an in pass. So... dis issa node an is a long way down... at der bottom is der a tunnel wot leads ter a town inna middle of a lake? Der gods ave sent me ere ter find dat place an I ain't payin ter go through ter der wrong place."

Bulldust eagerly hurries along the tunnel after Raven.   It sounds like Min may need some help with starting the fight.

Minmorc doesn't look like he is about to start a fight just yet.

 She runs along toward Minmorc trying to see what he is talking about, her light held up high. She was ready to fight for her buddy if he's in trouble.

 "Here I iz Minmin! Youz needz help?"

"Dunno. Looks like we dun found der right way ter go, fella in der webs says dis is a node wot leads ter a tunnel wot leads ter a town onna lake. Says dat he wants a hundred gold ter let me pass and fer sum reason he'll attack me if I light him on fire. Tryin ter decide if I'm gonna light im on fire fer der fun of it, I do likes a gud fight an I aven't killed anyfing in a few hours."

At the back of the group with Jurz, Dregz can be heard to mutter in his native tongue.

[Language unknown: "E and it ekname uttipa pe ouravesta sa te astmantio et eleeek ionot thi a houof a ate tr."]

Minmorc's end of whatever conversation the big orc is having might only sporadically carry to his ears, but what the hairy little priest hears sounds very much like there's soon going to be flames and fury to light the way.

Though instinct and reason suggests waiting till that's all over, there is a member of his tribe at risk (well, at least potentially, though around Minmorc the risk seems to fall mostly on those he's taken a disliking to) ... but also the lighting of any fires has a good chance of attracting the notice of anything else down here.

"Hurry ups !" Dregz calls to those before him.  "We'se must save Minmorc !" or something like that.

AND he makes sure to look behind him as they hopefully pick up speed.  Ambushing is a dirty trick and is just what he'd do ...

As Minmorc turns his attention to Raven's approach there is a pause in his conversation with the unseen guard that allows the rest of the group to catch up and join him at the end of the tunnel. The roughly hewn tunnel widens into a terrace about 15 feet wide and with a ceiling rising to 10 feet high. This ledge ends at a gaping hole in the floor and ceiling. It looks like a vertical shaft about 15 to 20 feet diameter. Looking down the walls of this shaft get further apart as they go down and angle inwards above the ledge. They might taper to a point about 40 feet above your tunnel  but even from the edge of the terrace your view upwards is blocked by a dense mass of webs about ten feet above your tunnel. However, there is a funnel-like opening on the southern side of the webs that looks like it would allow passage by a giant spider or whatever else might have created those webs.

As the rest of the group arrives a voice with a slight hiss or lisp speaks in the common tongue from the webs above the tunnel opening.

"So, you are not alone after all, orc. That matters not. The rules are the same for them as for you. Anyone who wishes to go down to the earth node to reach the Sullen Sea and the city of Pedestal must pay me the entry fee of 100 gold pieces each. 100 gold coins or equal value in any other type of coins, gems, jewellery or other valuables."

OOC: Main game map updated. There is no sign of anything in the tunnel behind the rest of the group.

Minmorc seems rather bemused by the whole situation. "So, youse wanna fight, pay or jus ignore dis guy? Eivver way me an Nuffle'll gives it our blessing."

"Catses doesn't likes wot he sees at de bottom of de 'nodes'. He's safe flying, but doesn't wants ter lands." Moffdust reports. Peering down into the 'node' she kicks a pebble over the edge and listens until it lands, then she bustles everyone back into the tunnel for a group meeting away from the webs.

"Like Catses says, it is a hundred and fifty feetses ter de bottoms. I can Fedder Falls us down dere, so wes doesn't needs helps ter gets down, if dats wot dey is tollin us for. We should pays de tolls ter keeps it all nice an quiets before we lands down at de bottoms and enters de cities, but wes has gots ter haggles! Tell dem dat de Birdie Girls eats spiders! And we wants a group discounts!"

In reply to Moffdust (msg # 47):

Oopses gulps as the rest of the group begins leaving him behind and he syarts to follow slowly, pushing himself forward with every step and giving any webs he can a wide berth.

 "Wellz, we gotz da gilderz? Whatz ifn we'z gotz to com bak dis wayz? ifn we stiffz dem dey be bad mad rit?"

 She looks down the tunnel toward the shaft then back along the way to see if Oopses and the rest are there yet.

"Unless one of you knows the password?" the unseen speaker adds as an afterthought. The scepticism in his voice makes it pretty obvious he doesn't expect anyone to know it.

All of the group has arrived at the end of the tunnel by now.