Thurston stops in the entrance of the shaft and turns slowly towards Vark.

"Vark friend. " he looks directly to his eyes " Are you alright? what happened to you?" 

The rest sees that the paladin tightens the grip on his warhammer. 

( I will make a couple of rolls at Discord) 

"M-me? I'm fine.. that last fight was... a lot but I'm feeling okay now. Why?" the half-orc looks genuinely confused at Thurston's concern.

"I sense... something in you, or lingering around you... " the paladin still focus his attention to his ally, trying to see if he is beign honest or not. " You looked more or less fine until you entered that place and found the treasure. Are you sure that your had show us everything you found? "

“Oh uhm.... n-no I.... m-maybe it’s some lingering magic from that spellcaster or... something. R-really I feel fine though!” he says, tripping over his words as always but still seeming sincere.

As far as Thurston can tell, Vark is telling him the truth and his story makes sense.

Inside the tunnel, the Valaith and the rest of the group are faced with some decisions. One option is to attempt to leap the stretch of pit traps, which as far as Bründir can tell goes on for 15 feet along the length of the tunnel, although the dim light makes it hard to tell exactly. The tunnel also seems to turn right immediately after, so the jump must be made at an awkward angle. Alternatively, they could find a way to disable the pit traps, or explore the dark alcove leading right.

Valaith glances over towards Vark and Thurston as the conversation takes a strange turn and she watches their sorcerous friend carefully, taking note of his strange reaction. She furrows her brow, but says nothing... for now. She makes sure to keep him in the corner of her eye at all times... 

”Let us take the right path first then comeback this way if we must.”

The alcove to the right contains a locked iron gate. The area beyond is a dead end, but inside three rope nooses can be seen hanging from holes in the ceiling above rusty iron hooks set in the floor.

Val looks at the gates with a frustrated sigh. "Damn Archie! Runs off when we need him the most... Are any of you good with traps?"

She glances back at the locked gate behind her and sits her axe and shield aside. "You all look for someway to get around these. There has to be a way. I have an idea.. They already know we are here." She walks over to the locked gate at the alcove and with a powerful swing, obliterates the lock on the gate with a very loud crash that echoes through the narrow confines of the tunnels.

Bründir looks around Val at the three ropes, "Odd. Lemme try somethin'." He pulls the left rope down until the loop tucks under the ground-mounted hook.

Val looks back and sees/hears no change, so she removes the staff of oak from her backpack as she walks over to the trapdoor. Carefully she pushes down on the door with her staff and notices that it now holds. "Grab my pack, if I start to fall, pull me back." She says to Thurston and then slowly eases her full weight unto the door...

As Val eases onto the first trap door, Bründir rushes back and hooks the last 2 ropes to their respective holsters below, then joins the others to see the results.

Low and behold, the traps are successfully disabled, and Val leads the group onwards, deeper into the caves. The tunnels wind on through a series of tight, ever narrower passages and Val has to stoop and sidle through the narrow space to advance.

Everybody roll perception.

Thurston nods to Vark and he seems to relax. He then holds the ropes Val gives to him and gets ready to react in case is necessary. 

Once past the pitfalls, Bründir suddenly grabs Val, who immediately alerts Thurston. Just ahead, a split-second in time, are two bandits tucked in an alcove, waiting for an ambush. The dwarf immediately reaches for his blade.

Thurston takes his warhammer and a grin appears on his face in anticipation for another fight. 

Val spots the hidden figures readying an ambush and rushes up to the closest one with her axe in hand! The rapid rush barely gave the ambusher but just a moment to deflect some of the momentum of the blow into their armor, having some of the wind knocked from them as opposed to having a gaping wound slashed into their chest! 

Bründir's sword glints slightly in the corridor, but Thurston's form blocks his path. Trying to steady his nerves, the dwarf mindlessly hums a song from the mines. His people would sing the droning tune to keep spirits hopeful and the disoriented from getting lost. Amid the cramped hallway, though, the sound echoes strangely and causes the bandits' vision to narrow and blur. Before the latent magic can take hold, they shake off the effect and continue fighting.

The shadowy figures step forth from the hidden crevice in the side of the tunnel. They are dressed in black, hooded robes and both raise a hand, brandishing a flat palm towards the party and chanting in a harsh, clipped language. Valaith and Thurston feel their muscles begin to tighten up...

As the battle begins, people aren't likely paying too much attention to Dorno.  That changes, however, as a giant wolf spider the size of a human but with sprawling legs suddenly comes rapidly skittering upside down across the ceiling.  With a hissing sound and legs darting in every direction, the spider flips itself over against the far wall and with one quick, aggressive motion bites down on the neck area of the cloaked enemy.  While not taking the humanoid enemy down, his vigor is noticeably reduced as a large volume of poison is injected into his neck and torso.

7 piercing damage, 9 poison damage

Vark ducks down, terrified as the massive arachnid clambers above him. he stands up again and cranes his neck trying to get an angle on one of the enemies ahead. Looking unsure, he fires a blast of icy magic anyway, but it is intercepted by Brundir's form, clipping his shoulder and coating it with white frost. "Ah! Brundir! I'm sorry I didn't mean to-" his words are cut off and lost in the sounds of the battle.