Down Once More

Karn goes over and helps Astaban.

With some shoving, you put the crates in place to prevent someone from entering through the south door. The bodies of the slain kobolds and zombies are no longer here; blood-stains indicate they may have been dragged from the room through the south door.

Wyngrad moves down the corridor 5 metres and stands guard, lest someone try to ambush the party while they are working.

Layna walks over to her saddle bags and pulls out three, one foot long iron rods, each with a golden tip. "The quartermaster told me these provide better light and last quite a bit longer than a regular torch," Layna says as she holds out one of the rods. "He called them 'sun rods.' They seem like they would be lighter, or at least less cumbersome than a torch or lantern, as well."

"Blake, would you want to hold onto these, for when your light runs out," she asks.

She wrinkles her nose as she notes the blood trail on the floor and takes note of the missing corpses. "Why would they take the zombie" she mutters to herself.

The hallway to the north is dark and silent. There a few trails of kobold prints here, but no others. The east-west split is dimly lit by Blake's spell, but around the corner in either direction is completely black.

The barricade is now completely erected, and the horses picketed by the west wall. They seem unsurprised to be back in an enclosed space, and merely munch at their feedbags.

Astaban looks at the blood stains, indicating where the corpses had been dragged, and shudders a bit.

He proceeds to take the lead position in the group, draws his sword, and looks down the hallway, gently tapping Wyngrad as he reaches his position.

Staying alert, Wyngrad is not at all alarmed by having someone behind him tap him. He knew it was an ally.

Without saying a word, Wyngrad looked at Astaban over his shoulder, waiting for some sort of sign of what was next.

Blake

"I'm sort of hoping we'll be done by then," he says, but regardless tucks the sunrod into the the rope that serves as his belt. He takes a cook pot out of the camp gear and balances it on top of the crates. Then, seeing, Astaban go, he hurries to follow and take his place in the marching order.

Karn waits for the others to form up and takes his position at the back of the party with Sofia. As they move he checks over his shoulder to make sure there is nothing behind and keeps his ears open in case he hears something coming behind before he can see them.

Layna heads over to Astaban and then turns to the assembled group, "Let's swing up to the forge (7), then down to where we caught the hobgoblins sleeping and broke down the door (4), then back around to here (5). Then we can move the barricade and check the room across the hall where we first encountered the kobolds (3)."

"Assuming that's all clear, I'd just as soon continue and check the old bunk room (10) and then the store room (2) before sweeping the southern portion of the mine," Layna says in an emotionless voice. "All those rooms should be empty except the one to the southeast (6) - that's where the there seemed to be some large scorpions, and I have no desire to investigate that right now."

"If that's all clear, we can head to the ramp down," she says. "We'll want to keep an eye out for the caltrops Sikhandyn left, but since there have been kobolds up here, I'd anticipate that the caltrops are now gone."

"We can gather in the empty room (8) just to the west of the ramp and use those potions and finalize our plans below," Layna says, seeming a bit more interested in the next portion of the venture. "We'll need to move quickly and maximize the element of surprise."

"Keep your eyes and ears open, and try to keep the noise to a minimum," she needlessly warns. "The sound will carry quite a distance, and we don't want to alert the kobolds, Sparky, or anything else to our presence."

Layna waits a few moment for a response before moving through the north door and taking the turn to the left.