Kraw wraps and packs the crossbows. The weapons were exotic enough to be worth some gold, he guessed.

When the second derro finally falls, Kyra concentrates on healing the wounds party has taken before looking over the newly discovered tunnel.

"I don't like how tight this damn tunnel is. And the stench... ugh. But there could be something magical down there." She casts a spell to light the tunnel, trying to determine how far it goes.

Casting Dancing Lights and having them move down the tunnel as far as they can go. Are those magical auras she detected earlier moving by any chance?

Kraw already got healed for 8 hp, so with his fast healing he should be ok. Kyra taps Figus once for 6 hp, and Ayeesha three times for 15 hp. That takes the wand down to 37 charges, I think. This thing is really paying itself off.

Figus takenthe time to examine the the dagger the derro used and checks both for any more of that strange liquid. For now he will take the dagger and the sheaf, but will hold the dagger in his left hand. If any more of these vile creatures are here, he is planning to give them a taste of thier own medicine.

OOC: How long will the poison stay on the dagger?

HP 17/25. Fast Healing I 7/10 rds left

"My nose says no way," she says, looking down the tunnel following Kyra's dancing lights with her gaze.

"But why else take the trouble to disguise a door if you don't want people to stay out of there? Seems like we need to go down, as tight a squeeze as it is. But yes, healing would be appreciated greatly, Kyra. Whatever you can spare. There are unexpected dangers down here, we must be ready."

Kyra once again senses the magical auras and confirms that as best as she can tell they haven't moved around.

The dancing lights illuminate a narrow tunnel. Judging by the light the tunnel only goes about 20' before hitting a solid obstacle, likely a door similar to the one they just opened.

Figus has no idea what kind of poison was added to the dagger. It likely will not last very long given that the derro had a mechanism to add the poison only upon drawing the blade. Looking close they could see the blade and sheath were designed so the wielder could draw it or sheath it one way to not break the vial insert while drawing it a different way would break it and spread the poison along the blade as it was drawn.

Like the crossbow it is quite the ingenious invention.

Kraw says "I can contort myself to reach that door. But I'd be facing whatever is there alone unless one of you can join me. Still, this is what scouts are for..." Kraw keeps one blade drawn as he makes his way through the tight tunnel. Once there he checks the door for traps or locks.

20:28, Today: Kraw rolled 28 using 1d20+8 with rolls of 20.  Escape Artist .
Natural 20!

20:27, Today: Kraw rolled 14 using 1d20+10 with rolls of 4.  Perception
This message was last edited by the player at 03:28, Tue 10 Mar 2020.

Moving through the tunnel the smell only gets stronger. Opening the door on the other end reveals a large open cavern. The majority of this space contains a nasty-looking stretch of
mud—a partially collapsed sinkhole—kept damp by rivulets of water seeping from the walls. A patch of solid ground extends into the mud to form an island, on which is heaped a reeking
pile of body parts. To the north, a rickety wheelbarrow sits on its side against the wall.

As Kraw scans the room he sees a large creature similar to the ones they faced in the streets during the riots: an otyugh currently happily munching down on a corpse. It pauses every now and then to let loose a belch that causes Kraw's stomach to flip over and over again.

Kraw quietly closes the door and reports "an otyugh feasting on corpses. Nothing we need corcern ourselves with."

Kyra listens to Kraw's report before speaking. "There's probably some other way to get there then. I doubt anyone would go through the trouble of dragging corpses through this tunnel. It might still be worth checking out later, as there does seem to be something magical there."

Looking at the map, I think we got here through entrance at square P13. If so, there's still a passage at S14 and stairs (down? up?) at T13 left to explore. What do the rest of you think?

If we are skipping the tunnel, I'd still like to return later to search the place (after killing the monster, of course).
This message was last edited by the player at 09:30, Wed 11 Mar 2020.

Figus nods "We are here to find the boy. I doubt they would dispose of his body in this way. Lets us circle around."

Kraw points back the way they came. "Look, another passage to the right. It might lead where we are going. Say, I've an idea. Why don't we trade the Otyugh these freshly killed derro bodies in exchange for whatever trinket you detected? Dead dwarves will just rot here, so might as well make good use of them."

"We are here to find the boys BODY! Are we really so sure he isn't in there with the otuyugh? Do we really want to take a chance we'll have to return it AFTER it passed through the otuyugh? I say we kill the beast and search the room. We know there's something interesting in there."

She shrugged at kraws plan. "Not sure we're going to be able to bargain with a carrion-eating monstrosity. I think I'd rather try to take it by surprise, put it out of our misery," she winked.

Kraw points out "to take that thing out, you would all need to squeeze through that small tunnel first. I doubt we could get more than one person through that door and quietly into the room before it noticed us...not unless they were reeeeally stealthy."

Kyra shrugs. "Either way it looks like we will have to deal with that otyugh sooner or later. If we are not going through the tunnel we should look for another way to get there.

Heh, I actually forgot why we were here in the first place. I'm fine with going through the tunnel or circling around. If there's a wheelbarrow there that means there must be another way to get there, possibly through necromancer's lair.

"So that's a 'No' on trading it the Derro bodies?" Kraw asks. He'd been rather proud of the notion.

Exploring the narrow tunnels the party finds more and more tunnels leading to other secret access doors. It appears like the derro have burrowed these tunnels to move around unseen. One of the tunnels leads back to the entrance in one of the skeleton pits. Two other doors are found, one leading South and another leading Southeast.


OOC: Map updated and zoomed out to better show overall map

Kraw checks the first tunnel to the south. Despite the narrowness, it must be passable or the Derro would never have dug it.

It looked like they had a front door into the otyugh pen, but Ayeesha waited for Kraw to check out the southern tunnel, ready to back him up.

"Busy little bastards, aren't they?" Kyra whispers as they explore the tunnels dug out by the derro. She waits for Kraw to report back before continuing.

So, those stairs in the room with derro lead back down to where we are? Also, we still have not explored the main tunnel in the center of the map, right?

OOC: Yeah, they go up and over the main tunnel so the two stair cases connect to one another.

Kraw carefully peaks through the Southern hatch and sees a lone derro working over a corpse on  table. The derro has his back turned so the hatch movement isn't noticed at the moment. The corpse on the table doesn't appear to be the size or markings of a barbarian, instead it looks thin and weathered, likely a vagrant the derro had picked or  retrieved from the gutters.

OOC: Is Kraw able to squeeze through that passage?

OOC: Yes. You won't be able to fight but you can wiggle through it like an air vent :D

Figus signs to Kraw to wait, and then points to the rest of the party and makes a circling motion.

If Kraw nods in understanding, Figus and those who follow will circle around to the entrance of this chamber. Once in position, the plan is to rush the derro and let Kraw come at him from behind.

Kraw nods and waits. Once the group has left he slowly and quietly squeezes through, timing his arrival with the others.