“Looks like just rats around right now,” Gaius whispers.  “Shall we head towards the trap that just went off?”

[[gonna be busy tomorrow, so gonna unveil some more of the map to give you guys more known-options]]

To the South and from where the squeal came, you can see two giant rats huddled near a third caught in a trap. The trap seems to have been off-center, pinning the trapped giant rat and wounding it. It's still alive but you can get a sense it will probably die with continued presence in the trap. The two untrapped rodents seem to stare at the party, as if expecting something.

To the east you can see another trap. And then further down a third. All three have fresh bait.

Even further to the East are some more tunnels.

To the South the tunnels give way to what appears to be a natural cave of some sort. Dim light emanates from its walls. You can see some more rats gathered there.

Relic will go ahead and poke around a bit..

Investigation: 5

[[Any particular thing you're investigating? Helps for me to formulate a result.]]

Relic starts looking at the traps, then he would like to make sure the cave isn't full of hostile creatures or traps

Gaius will move along with Relic, searching as well.

Investigation = 5

As they near the natural cave, he will use the Light rock to illuminate ahead.

Relic and Gaius investigating together are able to gather the traps here match the same kind of trap they found in the room with the sacks earlier on. Kobold construction. Relic also notices some kobold scales. Not fresh, but with hints of dried blood as if they came out in the process of a fight. The scales appear to be intertwined with some fur, as if from a rat.

With the entrance of the cave, they're not able to notice any obvious traps, though they do notice more long-term evidence for rats living there.

Moving the rock into the mouth of the cave reveals the following things.

1. In the middle of the chamber the floor goes into a bit of a pit 15ft deep. (denoted by blue lines with the gradient, 5ft down for each blue line. I also included notes on what the z-axis is on each level.)

2. There are three passageways leading out of the first chamber. One to the East, one to the West, and one to the South. 

3. Along the walls are cubbies, some smaller and others larger. The cubbies do not appear natural, but rather created. They party can see some giant rats resting within some of the cubbies. (Cubbies are denoted with pink lines.)

Gaius moves into the room and places the Light rock in the center of the room.  He keeps an wary watch on the giant rats and examines the room in more detail.  How did this pit get made?  Are there any clues how it is used?

Investigation = 2

Raker moves forward and stands beside Gaius.  “Odd.  They don’t seem to be attacking us, not aggressively protecting their warren.  Why?  Does not make sense.  Unless…. “. He trails off, musing, looking around and observing the behavior of the rats.  “The rats looked at us almost expecting us to do something….”

Perception (looking for any unobserved areas, additional routes, and keeping an eye on the rats) : 19

Insight (on the rat behavior) : 20

With his perception, Raker doesn't notice anything change in the rats' behavior. However he does notice some looseness to the cave wall at the entrance. (So the orange flanked by 2 green lines for tunnel.)

With his insight into the rats' behavior, he gets a sense it's not fully natural. They seem to be almost studying the party. It almost feels like they're under of the influence of someone or something of higher intelligence. 

“What do you think?” Gaius looks to the others.  “Not normal rat behavior.  They should be running.  And, why this pit?  It looks like a miniature quarry.”

Raker says softly “Yes, I wouldn’t approach it, let’s back away from the pit.  The rats seem… controlled by something.  Or someone.  Not natural behavior, for sure.  I wonder what the kobolds are doing to them…”. He turns and looks at the loose area of cave wall, searching for a door or hidden mechanism, “Is there a passageway here?”  

Gaius follows Raker's direction and backs away from the pit, keeping the rats in view.

[[For getting through the loose wall, I'd say either a Investigation roll for finessing a way in or athletics for a brute-force method]]

As Raker begins assessing the wall, the two giant rats within the room head out. One to the Western tunnel and one to the Southern tunnel. The party can also hear rodent-chittering to the North as some of the rats seem to group together.

Raker examines the wall, looking for a mechanism, or route of entry.  

Investigation : 19

Raker is able to find good success as he fiddles with the wall and a section of it comes collapsing down in a controlled fashion. The air beyond it smells stagnant, as if it hasn't been exposed for a good many years. Inside he finds a small bookcase with a couple books, an old painting degraded from age of a dwarvish lord, and a small decrepit desk, its draws empty and with a dry inkwell, next to an old chest.

Raker stands next to the desk, having quickly looked through the drawers and apparently coming up empty, he glances at the books on the shelves, looking for anything interesting, flipping through them.  “Why is this here…. Who set up this mini - office?”  He glances at the Dwarven Lord, trying to recognize who it might be depicting.  He bends down to the chest to see if it is locked or trapped, examining its opening mechanism.  If he finds nothing, he attempts to open it.  

History (Dwarvish Lord?  Who?) : 12

Investigation (Chest - trapped?) : 11

Gaius will examine the items in the room along with Raker.  Does the painting reveal a clue as to who the dwarf is?

History = 13

He will also investigate the books and their contents.

Investigation = 20

Neither Raker not Gaius are able to pinpoint who the dwarf depicted in the painting is, but their general knowledge of history gives them a feeling he probably would've been from at least a couple hundred years ago back when the area had more of a dwarvish presence. 

Raker isn't able to to get any sense of traps on the chest and opens it to find 27 electrum inside in addition to some odds and ends such as a rusty dagger and shards of glass. 

Gaius takes a look at the books. From the general structure of the book it seems to be a diary or log of some sort, but the writing is predominantly in Dwarvish.

There are some notes he can see written in Draconic that speak of searching for an Elvish artifact and the various rumors around it. According to the rumors, its power ranges anywhere from being a novelty to grant telepathy, give communication to large swaths of people, dominate the will of others, or even grant control over kingdoms. The writer of the diary/log seems to have some skepticism over the artifact's existence. The notes also talk about finding a way to summon a guardian of his secrets.

Gaius delivers a resolute goose "HONK" from his staff after describing the book contents to Raker and Relic.  "You think this is what is being described in the book?" he asks.  "I think we should hold on to this book.  I can read this now if you think it is worth the time.  It will take about an hour to do so.  But, that will use up almost all of my magic for the day."