Blaze nods at his friends comments on both light and wall "A green light you say? Sounds like Team Green should go investigate" He says flashing them a smile.
"Wouldst a large amount of acid in a pool or lake glow like wha we see ahead?"
Kaavel looks at where everyone sees the light, wondering if he can see it as well. Seeing the light he wonders what can make light that color.
Theres only one way to find out Grusk. Sounded like we got orders to scout ahead. Time to be quiet?
"Acid don't usually give off light."
Stealth
Perception
Knowledge nature
Grusk is able to easily make it silently to the edge of the larger chamber. It is roughly 100ft in diameter, with a floor that slopes gently down to it's center. The green light is being shed by a coating of moss that daubs much of the roof and some of the floor and walls. It is light enough that Grusk's view slips back into the visible spectrum. He can see no ankheg in clear view, though kens a couple of other tunnels that lead out of the chamber on the far side... however the center of the floor is a curious thing.
Grusk can see the point of a structure made of ochre rock sticking up through a hole in the chamber. From this distance you cannot ken much of the detail, but it is carved and there is a gap around it large enough for one of the green bugs to slip through.
Stealth -
Perception -
Knowledge/Nature -
Sentis had extinguished his light spell and crept along behind the rogue. Getting closer to the chamber he was finally able to recognize the source of the eerie glow.
Look grusk, its all of that moss thats giving off the light. I'd heard of such things but never seen them before. Hey that rock is carved. Ankhegs shouldnt be able to do such a thing.
Sentis can also pick up distant sounds of skittering limbs on stone coming from below the chamber through the hole.
The druid taps Grusk on the shoulder and points back to the group before making his way to where the rest of the Wolves waited.
The strange light is coming from the fungal moss on the cave walls. In the chamber ahead there's a curiously carved ochre rock sticking up through the center of the floor. There's a big enough opening in this stone for an ankheg to crawl through...oh, and I can here some of them skittering around down inside the hole.
Grusk identifies the area as a natural choke point and likely a place to set up bug catching operations if other approaches can be eliminated.
Grusk waits for the others to finish having a meeting before they show up in this chamber.
Kaavel listens to Sentis as he speaks wondering to himself what the ankheg were doing.
"Sounds like something that's going to require more investigating, let's move forward and all have a look. Sentis, you want me to kill my light?"
I doubt youll need it for awhile. The chamber is lit well and it might add to our surpise if we need it.
Nodding, the Magus extinguishes his spell, then moves forward with the rest of his squad.
Doc brings up the rear less quietly than the rest and looks around. Taking a moment to scrape a swath of glowing moss off the wall and bottle it, he looks at the hole. "Nice. We could hold this point easy."
Cortland moves forward with surprising clumsiness, though he's not incredibly loud. He looks around at the chamber warily. "It's defensible sure but... I have a bad feeling about this."
"Bout time someone other than me got tah experience a bad feeling."
The squad moves forward towards the protruding structure carefully, wary of green terrors that can eat their way through rock and dirt alike. As you come closer the markings on the rock look familiar to you... reminding you of the depths of jungle, a lake of insects and skeletal guardians of lost knowledge. Most of the stone etchings are worn down to flatness... but you can see two noticeably - a fanged maw and a face blessed with but a single central eye...
The rock beneath your feet looks well trodden... you'd guess that if there is a nest of the bloody bugs then it's likely beneath the earth and through the hole. The side of the ochre structure is pretty steep, and you get close enough to the hole rent through it to figure that you'll need rope and pitons to traverse below.
However it also looks like there is not far to go. The next solid base below the hole is only about 40ft down, and should be sizable enough to accommodate you easily. You cannot see the walls from above - and there does not appear to be an opening on this side of the ochre building. You'll need to move down to get a good look around.
Perception
"Can hear them bugs skitterin round, but not sure where them err."
Sentis followed not so silently behind the others as the neared the ochre stone.
Stealth -
Perception -
I can hear them as well but cant determine where they are either.
Blaze nods at his two sharper eared friends "If you say so. Doc, looks like we're gonna need some of your fine genius to get us below."
"Dinnea expect this. Ah really cannae wait t' git th' pack wagon fully built an' outfitted. Ah hate feelin' unprepared."
"We're 'bout thirty feet unnerground, an' this place 's pretty stable. There's a few places we could anchor. Mah big worry 's gettin' back out quick-like if'n this gits t' be more'n we c'n handle. Did anyone see any other entrances t' this spot? is the way we came in th' only way t' git t' th' mouth o' this hole?"
"Ah wan't t' clear or block these other two entrances b'fore we head down. How d' ye want t' do it, Blaze?"
Sentis had no choice but to trust in the dwarf's judgement as to how far below ground they were. Not that it mattered much. Being anywhere where he couldnt see sun or stars caused him slight discomfort but he was getting past that...wolves do dwell in caves... he thought with a smile.
If only we could get the ankhegs to come up here. We could take them on one at a time as they come through the opening. Barring the other tunnels is a really good idea. Sound thinking Doc.
"Might could use tha skins we took off tha critters, seems tah resist tha acid better tha rock....an this big rock is a good anchor point."
Points at the opening....
"Might need tah scout down a bit."
Well? What do we need to do to block those other tunnels without alerting the ankhegs below Doc? All this standing around is making me nervous.
"Blocking the tunnels seems a bit tedious, I say we just move down them, kill whatever we come across, then head down. Unless Doc seems to think that would take too long, I'm not much of a tunnel expert."
"One tunnel rat headin down."
"Look, we go down there without knowing what's still up here, an' we might be caught from both sides. It ain't ever a good idea t' leave yer only escape route unguarded, especially when that escape route's right in the middle o' an enemy base camp. Meybe we cannae collapse 'em right 'ere, but we should at least clear 'em an' maybe collapse a choke point further away. Then we c'n bring them M'wangi down 'ere t' watch th' top o' th' hole. It'd be nice t' have someone ready t' haul us up if'n we git inta hot water."
"Yeah once tha meetin is o'er an yah got mah back covered I meant."
"Sides Doc I saw yer first design o tha bug catcher an it had me up-side down tied by tha ankle on a giant fishin pole!"
"Tha' design ain't gonna be practical until ah git Kaavel's big armor workin'."
"Still no reason t' play it quiet. How d' ye want t' go, Blaze?
"Let's just move in and take them. They can sense us coming and there's no reason for stealth."
"Cort's right, let's just clear each tunnel as quickly as possible, as they aren't are real target."
The squad moves to the tunnels in turn and makes a decent recon close to the ziggurat chamber. You find many signs of ankheg passage, but no actual beasts themselves. You'd wager that the bugs have withdrawn below for the most part...
Doc takes a look at the tunnels while you walk and gauges that it wouldn't be too difficult to collapse them if that was the intent. But once they're down it would take effort to dig back through the blockage.
"Looks like we could bring this down easy."
Looking around Kaavel notices a glint he says "I think there is something over there." He points at the area he saw a glint.
Moving over to the glint and excavating Kaavel discovers that it was the tip of a spear buried beneath the soil. The head on the thrusting weapon is a wide and brutal looking tip with backwards facing barbs that would hinder it's removal from flesh once inserted.
"Whul damn." Doc says with a thoughtful frown as kaavel reveals the wicked weapon. "Looks like one o' the harpoons we used t' use on ship. Nasty peice o' business, that."
So we collapse all but this one tunnel thats our way out and see what happens? Maybe the noise will bring some of them up here.
"Maybe err maybe we gots tah go down, Guess we could collapse tha place an wait fer them tah surface again...I mean they eat...they eats from tha surface from our experience."