(The rats ran back the way we came from? )

You can't be certain where they ran.

 Meep takes a moment at the edge of the channel, weighing his options as he looks in both directions of where the rats might have gone. When nothing was obvious, he'd jump down to get a closer look at the ground. The fat tieflings and orcs leaving a trail from the direction they had came, clearly the swarms would have disturbed this. "When rats invade the tunnels, you close them."

Survival?: 22

Meep bends low to the ground in the channel inspecting for signs of the creatures. You notice footprints leading to the point you were previously at (between Meep and Halhace on the map), where they end in a cluster, concentrated towards the wall of the channel opposite the fog cloud. Amidst the cluster of footprints you also notice small droplets of blood.

"I think avoiding any threat right now is worthwhile.  If they went back the way we came, I suggest we keep moving, and quickly."

She'll carefully repack the crate and the items the way they were and reseal it.  Pending Meep's confirmation of the direction the rats, we can set back out along our previous path.  Do we know or can we see anything down the other tunnels?

The tunnels bend and twist so you can’t see far along them.

Dhara - Roll STRENGTH to see how long it takes you to seal the box.

Meep puts his horn away and grabs for his box. "The rats went some where not here." The kobold offered as he started to make his way through the channel again. "The rats were running from danger. We go toward danger."

"Of course we do." Halhace mutters, not seeming like any orc that the others would probably have seen. If he had been more loke his brethren he would more then likely have ended up as food for the the rats that had scurried past.

Kamos: (to the party) "what a nice group this is, abandon people at first convenience, and extremely hostility for asking a simple question. i was not suggesting anything, just asking a question, but i know get that questions are frowned upon."

Strength: 13

 "You keep asking questions that are obvious. Pardon the fact that we are all on edge and not to happy to be in such a place. So if we do not seem the paragons of civility it should seem obvious why." Halhace says to the monk calmly.

Jaylen to the group as a whole "Please, ladies, gentlemen, um Meep. There is no need for hostility. We are all in this together"

Dhara folds the cloak and ties the box. It seems to her she did a good job making everything look the same as before.
It takes her about 3-4 minutes to hit the nails back into the wood.

While she does that, the party exchanges a few words, with everyone a bit on edge from all they’ve been through. The words exchanged sound a little harsh.

You continue along the channel and beyond the wall. Walking for about 60 ft, you pass what you suspect was another room that has completely collapsed, forcing you to hunch to continue.

Finally you emerge into a smaller space, a room with its walls and floor well preserved. As soon as you enter a smell of iron hits your noses.
The channel you’ve been following bends and ends in this room. The walls appear to have collapsed on it, and, where it ends, a tunnel is dug downwards that continues for approximately 15 ft before bending. There is one other exit to the room which leads in the opposite direction from where you came. Blood is smeared between the two exits.

Can I tell which direction the tracks are going?  IE there's blood from something/one walking or being dragged between the top entrance and the tunnel, so i want to see if I can figure out which way they were going.

Investigation: 15

Dhara can tell it was something or someone being dragged, but she can’t determine which direction they were dragged in.

To the party "That's a grizzly sight. What do you suppose could have caused that? A beast, or something worse?"

"Well, if I was a beast that dragged living things back to it's lair to eat, I would probably live in a cave.  So my vote is not the cave."

"Meep lives in cave, but Meep not live in that cave." The kobold setting his box down to rest his tired arms

Halhace glances at the blood and then back at the othere. "Perhaps it would be best to move quickly before whatever did that comes back."

"Well that would leave both a swarm of rats and some unknown beast probably behind us.  We better watch our backs.  But I agree we should keep going."