"I'm pretty sure they know we're here already."  Doc commented to the others as he noted the secret stairwell in the room.  "Stay on your guard and be ready for anything..." he added before forgoing any attempt at stealth and slowly making his way down below, keeping any eye out for dangers.

Perception: 10 

"Don't go down yet... we need to check a few more doors before heading down, we don't want something sneaking up on us from behind."  Arora heads back to the hallway (22) and into room 20 just to ensure that it's 'empty'.  After checking 20, then heads back to 23 where the other secret door is.

"Well, it definitely seems like there is misdirection and distraction going on here."  Raza follows group, uneasy about the situation.

Mock rubs her hip, grumbling under her breath. She shoots a thumb up at Doc and aims a kick at one of the bodies at her feet. Nothing hard, but enough to express her ultimate displeasure. She ends up following Arora to explore the last couple of rooms on this floor. "Got your back," she says, axe dangling from her hand as they make their way through the other rooms. "Probably shouldn't be going alone."

More empty rooms. And, thankfully, no ghoublins or drug induced drow. You can hear commotion going on down below.

“Perhaps we should sneak down this time?”  When Daewen, Arora and Raza are ready, we would lead the sneak down to the lower level...

Sneak :  26

"You hear that Mock??  We best get back to the rest of the group.  I'm thinking we have a few more of these druggy drows right below."

Once back at 24, Arora listens closely to see if she can tell which side has more noise coming from it - 23.... or 25?  "Shhhhh.... you hear that?"

Perception: 15

AREA 25 definitely has more noise coming from there. "It sounds like it's coming from there, and downstairs!" Kasha says. "Come on! I have to pee!"

"I'm all for the sneak attack... you think it'll work??  Daewen, Raza, you up for this?" she whispers.

She then looks back at the rest "you all come running down as soon as you hear us jumping into action.... you know... the ole sound of our rapiers hitting them." she whispers.

Looking to Kasha "We'll find you a good place to pee soon."

Time to sneak... 18

Arora will lead Nephvir, Daewen, and Raza down through 25 to 37... in hopeful surprise "Rapiers out y'all..."

Daewen looks at Kasha with a concerned look, wondering what kind of soldier doesn’t think to relieve themselves before going into battle.  Shrugging her shoulders in acceptance, she mutedly snickers a little bit under her hood, before proceeding down to the next floor, following closely behind Nephvir.

AREA 37

You can hear the commotion coming from AREA 39. There is a singular open door that leads into area AREA 39. This is it, folks. 

Arora will ever so quietly lead them through to 39 - hoping for the extreme surprise! 

Kasha would probably pee her pants... she thinks.

Mock wrinkles her nose as they decide to split up. She leans a shoulder against the wall, crossing her arms over her chest and watching the stairs as the party descends. She casts a look around those staying upstairs with her. "So how long before we charge down after 'em?"

"I'll take up the back!"  Raza whispers to Arora, waiting for everyone to pass her and filing in last.

21

Kasha is seen joining the group again, buckling her belt. "Whew! All better."

AREA 39

As you enter AREA 39, you see a sea of white disembodied heads with empty eye sockets. They are all wearing clergy robes. There are three powerful looking Drow in the center of the room. Off to the side is Juriendor, on the floor, unconscious, and wounded. A pile of rubble is in the middle of the floor. The drow are releasing something. A massive looking spider creature emerges. The spider thing looks like a combination of a spider and a demon - multi eyed, thorny, with a gaping maw of sharp teeth. One of the drow is escaping with the Moonshard down the tunnel the spider demon just emerged from.

Arora holds her hand up to stop the group and motions for them to move back a bit. She quietly moves them back out of the way and whispers “Any thoughts?  This doesn’t look good.”

Nephvir sends an urgent message to Mock, "Come down now, no time to explain, hurry, come in swinging!"

Nephvir moves to the side and aims his short bow at the drow, specifically for the legs, trying to bring him down before he escapes.  

It's Bo time : Attack: 23 Damage: 7

Sneak :  5

Well... I guess it’s death then...

Arora draws her bow and casts Hunters Mark on a different drow and then fires an arrow at him. 

Attack: 13 Damage: 12

”ah crap, we all gonna die....”

"Wait, what?  I thought we were snea...oh crap!"  Raza's head whips back and forth between Arora and Neph.  She pulls her bow forward, nocking an arrow after seeing Neph shoot an arrow at the drow and aims for the same one.

Attack: 18 Damage: 4

Sneak 5

Doc was too slow getting down the stairs to tell the rest of the squad to hold up.  As they began their assault on... whatever it was they were facing, he took a moment to survey the space and make sure there wasn't anything missing before deciding how to proceed.

• Perception to see if he saw anything of note that could help them within Area 39: 14