Jorrick positions himself in the center of the group, keeping his rather pessimistic thoughts on what he expected these other people would do to them to himself. Once they were in, he took out his dagger, and cast a Light spell on it.
Moving to the front of the group, Cythraul peers into the darkness.
With the help of the light spell Kentalla begins to go in following the group. She keeps an eye out mostly around the tail end of the group. Looking around for how strong this structure is, and how long it has been since it was built.
She draws her bow and has an arrow at the ready if need be.
Holding up the light, Jorrick looks around as well.
Perception:
Karsha will follow behind Jorrick.
Unlike Jorrick though he sends his Dancing lights spell ahead of the party to see what is in front of us?
"Let me know if I should stop the lights." He tells the others.
Hollowe peers into the yawning portal, and fears the darkness. Still, his band is strong, and he is by association. He follows along with the rest...
The narrow passageway gently descends via large stone stairs down a dark corridor. The air is stagnant and strangely humid. There is a slight and unfamiliar , unpleasant scent about.
You notice some sort of mechanical rigging with bone and wood arms connected to each stair allowing them to change slope. The mechanism is located on the left of the tunnel, just three stairs into the descent.
Perception
Jorrick sniffed the air, frowning at the strange smell. At least nothing had shown up to eat them yet.
Moving forward with her bow and an arrow at the ready, she is soaking in this strange structure.
Tortok proceeds carefully. Hopefully whatever lurks here will be friendlier than the creatures outside.
Wrinkling his nose at the scent Karsha moves carefully with the others, head swiveling as he tries to look everywhere.
The runners enter the tunnel and shortly after the door behind them slams shut making a loud echo down their tunnel. They can hear faint laughing beyond the door. It is unlike any laughing that they have ever heard with as much hissing as chuckling.
Karsha spins, hurrying back and examining the door to see if it can be opened?
Ignoring the laughter, Cythraul slowly moves forward, checking for additional traps as she advances.
Tortok grunts warily, joining Karsha in examining the door.
Jorrick also rushes to the door.
Aid Another Perception
While everyone is rushing towards the door, Kentalla begins to make her way slowing down the tunnel.
Those who turn back, realize quickly that the door is much to heavy to force back open, but they do notice a keyhole in a small raised stone area.
A loud Clank! is heard.
Those moving forward trigger the staircase trap that essentially turns the stairs into a sandy slick slate-like slide.
"Skaw!!!" Hollowe cries, trying to spread-eagle but finding no purchase as he slides down the sloping floor...
Tortok grimaces as he stumbles and slides downward into the cavern.
Seeing that the door was unlikely to be opened, Jorrick turned around to see the others sliding down into the darkness.
"You alright?" he called down uncertainly.
#%&&!
Bracing herself as the stairs shift beneath her feet, Cythraul manages to stay upright, but is obviously less than happy as she watches others tumble past her.
Cythraul and Jorrick manage to avoid their descent as Jorrick is on the upper landing by the door and Cythraul is able to place her feet along the edge of the walls to gain traction. Karsha remains helpless with Jorrick, the two of them peering down the chute.
The rest of the party slides down the chute into the cavern with the stalactites. From behind them, small spears are launched at the unfortunate sliders.
All attacks fall short of their targets, as the weary runners, hearts still beating furiously from the encounter with the scorpion and worm, face a new challenge against some sort of reptilian creatures.
Jorrick
Hollowe
Karsha
Cythraul
Kentalla
Tortok
Creature
Hearing the sounds of his allies slipping down the stairs Karsha turns and makes his Dancing Lights move down the path so he can see where they have landed?
Jorrick and Karsha remain on a landing fifty feet above the curved shoot and cannot see what is happening in the tunnel below.
Cythraul has wedged herself in a standing position about 30 feet from the bottom of the chute that curves slightly to the right as it descends.
The others are on the floor of the dark cavern as they are attacked by the reptilian creatures hiding behind the stalactites, hissing and cursing in some language you can't understand.
Karsha's Dancing Lights descend the cute slowly and begin to light up the cavern. The creatures cry out in despair as they retreat to a darker part of the cavern along the back wall.
The Cavern is sixty by forty feet with three stalactites standing as pillars directly in the middle of the room. The runners who fell are at the northwest end, while the aggressors are hiding in the shadows of the east end. The creatures are fifty feet away from the runners who slide posing no threat to them, should they decide to get up.
Tortok gathers power and readies to shoot an earth blast at any creature who moves to attack.
+1 attack and damage if within 30 feet
"So, do we plan on going down to join them, or...?" Jorrick inquired of the others who were still upstairs with him. Either way, it would probably be best for them to coordinate here instead of further splitting the party, and presumably he would not be able to slide down the chute while Cythraul was in the way anyhow.
Kentalla sidesteps to allow herself to be clear of her attackers, if possible, and fires an arrow at the attackers.
"Haik!!!" Hollowe yells, angrily sending a slingstone toward the scaly cowards.
[+3 Dex]
[+2 Str]
You must have at least one hand free (holding nothing) to use this feat. Once per round when you would normally be hit with an attack from a ranged weapon, you may deflect it so that you take no damage from it. You must be aware of the attack and not flat-footed. Attempting to deflect a ranged attack doesn't count as an action. Unusually massive ranged weapons (such as boulders or ballista bolts) and ranged attacks generated by natural attacks or spell effects can't be deflected.
As Jorrick tries to assess what is going on from the landing, the creatures unleash an attack upon the runners at the bottom.
Three stones are launched at the unlucky runners. Hollowe swiftly bats his away, while both Tortok and Kentalla feel a terrible sting where their stones hit.
Tortok, angry but stoic, raises his hands to send a quick blast of dirt and rock, astonishing both his enemies and allies alike. The blast blows one of the creatures of its scaly feet and renders it lifeless on the cavern floor.
Hollowe’s stone smacks loudly against the rear wall of the cavern.
Karsha’s dancing lights slowly move towards the creatures making them hiss at it.
Kentalla lets an arrow fly, nipping one of the creatures that squeals and hisses in pain. Three creatures remain in the cavern, none too happy.
Tortok gathers power and once again takes aim at the creatures with a piercing blast of earth.
Karsha carefully moves down the slope to join those at the bottom.
Jorrick carefully follows Karsha down.
Hollowe's eyes bulge as Tortok blasts earth toward their ambushers.
"Koo! Nice trick Tortok! I'll send more rocks their way!"
Not wanting to leave his small group, Hollowe opts to sling stones.
Jorrick slowly moves down the chute by placing his hands and the outer edges of his feet against the wall with pressure, watching for any signs of trouble.
Two stones come flying at Tortok and Hollowe, doing nothing but bouncing off of the cavern walls.
Once again, Tortok raises his hand in a menacing manner, concentrating so hard that a slight grin can be seen. The dirt and rock from the cavern floor, bellows up into a projectile mass and is thrust towards one of the creatures so rapidly, the not even the final exhalation can be heard from the blow. In fear, the final opponent darts off into the tunnel behind it.
As the dancing lights make their way into the center of the cavern, three stalactites rise from floor to ceiling splitting the cavern into two parts almost symmetrically. There is a tunnel in the far, western wall, but there are also two tunnels to the right. One quickly veers off near the chute, and the other is down about 40 feet along the right side.
Karsha moves down along with Jorrick to rejoin the party. The air begins to feel somewhat damp and there is an odor that reminds the runners of their youth in the yard, when animals were kept about.
All is calm and quiet.
"Get after that thing before it sets up more ambushes?" Karsha asks the others, sending his lights into each passage to see if anything shows up while he waits for their responses.
Hollowe's head cocks to the side in his characteristic attitude of consideration.
"I think this entire place is as good as an ambush for us. We are lost here, with no way of knowing which way good, which way bad. We will only rush into their home. I vote we go slow, and carefully."
"Agreed, Jorrick said, scanning the area with Detect Magic to see if the enemy had left any unpleasant surprises behind.
Jorrick’s spell comes up empty handed. And there is not much else to see in this cavern other than the stalactites and three other tunnels. A faint heavy breathing sound emanates from the tunnel directly on the opposite side of the wall from where the runners descended. It is also the tunnel that the reptilian creature disappeared into.
Tortok nods and readies to slowly follow the group towards the creature.
Jorrick readies to follow the group towards the creature as well. Couldn't hardly leave that thing just running around behind them, after all.
Karsha stays with Tortok and Jorrik, moving when they do after the more martial types.