Seeing that the man moved away and was no longer threatening, Raker puts away his arrow and bow, then opens up his backpack.  He brings out a hooded lantern and his tinderbox, lighting it.  “Leads to … here.  Need to head below and see if we can pick up the trail..”. Raker starts to head down the wooden ladder carefully, moving to the bottom and then holding it for his companions as they come down.  

As the party descends the ladder you're able to see you're near a junction in the tunnels leading North, East, South, and West. Which way do want to go?

[[OOC: Assume descending in a location more on the Eastern edge of the town.)

Raker looks around on the ground, searching and focusing his lantern on the floor, looking in each direction.  “I can’t see… anything.  Can any of you?”

Survival : 3 (to find tracks again to follow)

Gaius follows the metal man and Raker down the hole.  He picks up the glowing rock and hands it to the automaton.  “If you would rather your hands be free for fighting, I can hold onto this,” he says.

Gaius looks about for clues of recent passage. ((Survival check = 6)). “I don’t see much, Raker.  My guess is away from town.”

Gaius checks over his gear, making sure his spell components and focus are at hand.

With a 3 and 6, Raker and Gaius aren't able to find much anything in terms of traces as they look.

[[OOC: So we have 1 vote for heading away from town. Any other inputs and which way you guys want to go? ]]

“As good off a place to start as any… anyone else see anything?”  Raker swings his hooded lantern back to each direction, looking for prints but having difficulty with it.

Gaius looks down each tunnel.  If nothing is seen, “I would guess away from town.  If there was resistance or screaming near town it might be heard.”

With Relic leading and lighting the way ahead, the party begins down the Eastward tunnels. Moving through the bricks are older and in a different style than what you've seen aboveground. You're able to tell the sewers were made long ago. At first there's nothing really of note. But as you move further in the edges begin to have loose dirt and rocks piled on the side and the ground gets a little muddier.

After a few more minutes you're able to hear a noise up ahead that sounds like the splashes of small* creatures moving through the tunnels ahead.

[[OOC: Updated the owlbear link for a more detailed view. Green lines are the walls (I do have a little beyond one wall visible, but that's just for practicality with making the names visible for reading). Squares with a brown shading are where the dirt and mud are thicker, making those squares rough terrain.)]]

*D&D creature size small, not vernacular small

Raker whispers, “Hold here.  Let me look ahead, see what is going on.  I hear kobolds…”.  He narrows the shutter on the hooded lantern and restricts the beam of light, moving ahead very slowly, listening to what is happening ahead, looking to see who is causing the splashing.  

Stealth : 26

Raker is able to move through the dark tunnels like a ghost making barely any sound. As he approaches he's able to hear the evidence of two distinct groups. To the left he hears a larger group of at least 6 along with a smaller skeletal sound. To the right through its tunnels he's able to hear evidence of a second group of at least 3.

edit: fixed some directional issues (repeated "to the left" instead of having a "to the right" and used "upwards" without an actually incline because it was "upwards" when viewing the map)

Gaius waits with Relic for Raker’s return.  If a commotion starts he will hurry down the tunnel to investigate, urging Relic to join him.

Relic stands, axe ready, waiting for Raker to return or for something terrible to emerge from the darkness.

“Don’t worry, big fella,” Gaius whispers.  “I’ll protect you.”

Raker moves silently to the south, toward the smaller noise, trying to ascertain who is making it.  If he senses any movement towards him, he reverses course and heads back to the party.  After he spies what is to the south, he heads back to report his findings.  

As they're waiting for Raker, Relic and Gaius find the tunnels to be peaceful for the time being and don't detect any further presences.

As Raker continues down Southwards he's able to hear some hushed chatter to the North, perhaps 20-30 ft away. Heading down Southwards it appears to be clear for the moment without any further sound from where he heard the smaller amount of sound before and comes across another split in the passage.

[[OOC: Part of my goal is to try balancing the exploration to go neither too fast nor too slow. (Want to avoid back-and-forth posts of "5ft forward; see nothing; 5ft forward; see nothing; 5ft forward; see nothing; etc" without going "I go South; Alright going South you then find a split in the tunnels, go Southwest, find a magic portal, wind up on a mountain, and then find a cave in the forests below.") So please let me know if the pace is alright.]]

[[Screenshot of the map below in case any further Owlbear issues.]]

Gaius waits patiently for Raker’s return.  He listens for anything to be heard.

Raker walks carefully to the intersection, then turns back west / to the right, mentally making notes of turns and direction in his mind.  He wishes to link back up to the others, but feels this may head back toward them.  He continues to creep forward, looking for the source of the sounds he heard…

As Raker turns back he comes to another intersection and is able to see the glow from the rock Relic is holding. Though he does hear noise behind him as he turns that direction.

As they're waiting, Gaius and Relic are now able to hear sounds. From directly ahead of them (due East/right) they can hear a sound like clinking chain mail. To the East&North (right&up) they can hear some shuffling that sounds like something moving over mud/dirt.

[[OOC: For my own sanity, I added some colored rings and attached them to Relic and Raker to have an on-the-map measure of their visible area. With the possibility of things being in areas that aren't in the fog of war but simultaneously aren't visible to the characters, it's to help me to keep that straight. Orange ring is dim light. Yellow ring is bright light. The area within the circle is also shaded. Handling the visibility around corners is still something I'm not entirely sure on how to decide exact measurements though.]]

Gaius whispers to Relic, "I can hear something coming.  Raker is more quiet that these sounds, be ready."  After thinking a bit he adds, "I can help with a destructive attack, but, it makes a LOT of noise.  Otherwise, I will do what I can."

"If that is the case, then perhaps it should be saved for a last resort," Relic replies in what he hopes is a whisper. "But it is good to have at the ready."