PM

PM

"Stay down here if you want, but the last time we heard a clicking sound like that it wasn't good."   With that Leo heads up and relates to the group what he saw.  "The stairs make a natural curve to the right and begin widening until they are 20 feet wide.  At the bottom, about 100 yards from the top, the cave opens up into a giant cavern.  One thing is very different about this cavern:  it is teeming with life.  The stairs end on a wide platform about 20 feet long and 60 feet from side to side.  Stairs at the front lead down to dirt below.  A spell of darkness appears to cover what lays beyond.  Also, beyond the darkness we heard the slight noise of chittering beyond the dark veil.  It sounds like many things moving or cracking wood slightly in the distance.  I don't for sure what that last part means but the last time we heard sounds like that it was a close call for all of us."

"Let's go down and deal with it I guess.  I see no reason to delay." Talhdar says as he prepares to join the others down the stairs.

Borimer heads down the stairs and listens for any sounds of clicking or wood breaking. "Damn bugs..." he mutters.

OOC: I'll give you the same description:

As you descend, the stairs make a natural curve to the right and begin widening until they are 20 feet wide.  At the bottom, about 100 yards from the top, the cave opens up into a giant cavern.  One thing is very different about this cavern:  it is teeming with life.  The stairs end on a wide platform about 20 feet long and 60 feet from side to side.  Stairs at the front lead down to dirt below.  A spell of darkness appears to cover what lays beyond, for you see nothing but darkness beyond the platform where you stand.

However, you begin to hear the slight noise of chittering beyond the dark veil.  It sounds like many things moving or cracking wood slightly in the distance

As the others came down the steps Vuzyl pushed through the wall of darkness with his sword and dagger drawn.

"The only spell I have that is effective against the bugs is web.  But I'll need to see to target anchor points and I can't do anything with the darkness."

"If need be, I can cast a continual light spell on one of us or a rock or some such to carry around with us. It should dispel, or at least negate the effects of the magical darkness," Kahan responds, heading down into the cave with the others.

Pushing through the darkness, Vuzyl finds that it is not so much a darkness spell as simply a black mist so thick that he cannot see through it.  On the other side, there are no bugs or beetles.  Instead... (PM)

As Vuzyl strides out of the Darkness no longer hiding weapons still in his hands although lowered Its a thin vail of mist or something. beyond is a large cave  with a tunnel at the other end so i guess we go there. looking at the spell casters he says there are some other puddles of darkness that I do not like the look of, do any of you have any spells that could blow one or more of them away? just an idea.

Shae will step through the mist next to Vuzyl and check out the surroundings, her spear ready at hand.

"I have no means of creating wind, magical or otherwise. Tahldar?" Kahan asks, looking to the mage for an answer as he moves to follow the ranger.

"Nope.  No wind spells on my end either.  Let's just do our best to avoid the puddles of darkness as best we can." Tahldar says in reply to Kahan.

Borimer follows Shae following Vuzyl through the darkness to the other side.

Those walking through the mist find themselves in a large, dark cavern with wet and glistening stalagmites and stalactites all around.  There are  small dead trees all around with no leaves or anything, nothing but twigs.  In the darkness, you cannot tell what was making the sounds, but it sounded more like twigs breaking than the sounds of more beetles.  In fact, twigs are littering the ground all around.  The giant round cavern, which is 300 feet in diameter,  tapers to a 20 foot tunnel that curves hard to the right.  The black mist is rolling out of pores in the ceiling and ground to create a wall in front of the entrance.  There are also pockets of black mist around the large cavern that also act like walls that could be hiding just about anything.  Some are long like walls and some are round like black pillars.

Following the others, Leo moves cautiously with the group.  "Well, at least it's not beatles.  Maybe it's termites."

Shae will walk over to peek behind the closest column of black mist.

Tahldar follows along with the other pensively.  He knows something malevolent lurks nearby and he waits with trepidation for the inevitable to strike.

Borimer continues following Shae towards the column of black mist. He gets ready to draw the Godslayer...

Vuzyl stalks forward weapons ready

Shae walks around the nearest pillar of black mist, her feet crunching over the sticks beneath her feet.  She looks behind and sees...

...nothing.  Except for the many sticks on the ground and a few small leaveless twig trees, there is nothing there.

All is still in the entire cavern.  Whatever you heard moving before does not appear to be here now.

Borimer growls and moves to the next nearest wall or pillar to discover if anything lurks behind.

Kahan follows the others, weary of his surroundings. He tries to go over in his head some of the most evil creatures he can think of, wondering what this test will throw at them this time.

Tahldar picks up a twig and examines it closely to see if he can glean any information on how they were broken.

OOC:  I'll try to see if the twigs have been bitten, broken naturally or perhaps snapped off.