(OOC: Sorry for my hold up again...I got surprised with 12-hour shifts at work all this week due to a training class my manager put me in, so I've been either sleeping or working pretty much constantly for the last few days.  Once Saturday rolls around I should be back to my regular posting frequency.  Until then please feel free to auto-pilot Vanja if necessary.)

"Are you saying that you think snakes could come flying out of those wall holes?  That would be truly terrifying..."  Jorin says as he backs away from Hildigrim to give him some room.

Drusk nods at Jorin's statement. Drusk slaps Hildigrim on the back to give him Guidance, then joins Jorin in backing away.

Leaves these words of wisdom for Hildi: 

OOC > Spent yesterday flying back to KC, thanks for the patience.

Hildigrim takes Drusk's guiding pat on the back, and gets to work with his tools. He pries a few small metal bars from his kit under the pressure plate, and then for good measure stuffs some cloth wadding into the holes. Then he tests the plate with a careful foot, finally standing on it... nothing happens.

The group proceeds down the dirty hallway to the middle point, where the old, unlit torches hang on the wall. You have to step over old bones and around some unidentifiable filth. Vanja trails along a little behind, running her fingers along the carved figures on the wall. Jorin fiddles with his pack, then lights one of the torches, stowing one of his axes so he can hold the magically lit axe and the lit torch, both.

In the light of both, and with Drusk's darkvision description, the party makes out that the hallway opens up into a larger room ahead.

OoC - These are sweet maps, by the way

Jorin listens for any movement in the room ahead. Perception: 3

From the point where the party is currently, at the midpoint of the hallway, Jorin hears nothing. Nobody sees any movement in the open space ahead, either.

If you move forward, be sure to tell me how close you go, what checks you are making on the way, etc.

OOC > On the maps, the original art is by Jack Badashski, from the adventure. I'm just adding annotations and the fog of war layer. It's fun!

Drusk will move north 30' (6 squares), which should leave him short of the next chamber. (Hopefully no traps in this part, because he isn't looking for them.)

He will be watching the chamber ahead, for any activity. Perception + self-Guidance: 12 + 3 = 15

Hildigrim tuts if anyone tries to move ahead of him and proceeds, still watching for traps as he walks. He will walk right up the opening of the big room, 35 feet north.

Investigation: 19

Hildigrim keeps everyone behind him, even beefy Drusk, while he continues to move cautiously down the hall. As the party moves forward, the far room comes into better view. It appears to be large, roughly round, and the floor slopes to the center where there is an old rusted iron grate, about three feet in diameter. There are exits at each of the cardinal directions—they seem to be more hallways—and the floor is stained and dark with what is likely blood, given what you have seen up to now. It doesn't take much to imagine what the room was used for. Like elsewhere, the floor is covered with wet muck and filth.

As you approach the entrance to the room, Hildigrim holds up a hand, and points. There is a twin to the trap at the entrance to the hallway: a pressure plate, holes in the wall.

OOC > Hildigrim, if you intend to try to disarm this trap, for efficiency, make your Thieves' Tools roll, then also just in case, a Constitution saving throw. :)

Here is the updated map...

(More Guidance for Hildigrim by Drusk, for the disarming.)

"Curiouser and curiouser," Hildigrim says quietly, pulling his trusty thieves' tools out once again and attempting to disarm the newest trap.

Disarmming the trap: 7

Guidance (thanks, Drusk): 3

CON save if needed: 7

Jorin is visibly more and more delighted the deeper they go into the dungeon. "Drusk, when you told us of fancy drink at a nearby inn, i never imagined it would also include a chance to swing my blades.  Good times and good friends, am I right?" he says with a big smile.

Drusk smiles back at Jorin (half-orc teeth not too crooked). "All puns intended, a smashing good time."

Hildigrim (again thanks to the inspiring touch of Lliira) successfully disarms this second trap.

Your many and various Perception checks (y'all sit there listening carefully) show no signs of life in the room ahead, or the passages out of it. The creepy, filthy, blood-stained place is quiet. The flickering light of the torch lends an air of disquiet to the scene, like it needed any more.

OOC > Assuming the party proceeds, here's a new map. The blood-draining room is creepy, but quiet. Nothing jumps out at you.

As you enter the room, you discern that the hallways leading out are not as featureless (traps not withstanding) as the one you entered from. Drusk tells you that to the West and East, the hallways run a short distance and then turn. To the north, the hallway appears to branch off to the left.

You can approach the hallways with your light sources and peer down the passageways (make Perception checks if you do), or you can pick a hallway and proceed. Or, you could rest here in the dried blood and muck, I guess. :)

Here's a map:

Drusk: "Maybe proceed down the west hall? It turns south, back towards the house above."

"Agreed, when in doubt, I always go left in dungeons, makes it easy to find your way back.  My tribe calls it the Nas'kar tactic."

Hildigrim has his eyes to the floor, looking at the evidence of whatever was going on here. Proof of creatures bled, age of what's left behind, tools used, etc. — all the macabre details.

Investigation: 24 (-5 if medicine would be better)

"That's a good idea, Hildigrim."

Drusk tries to notice if there is any clues to the nature of the ritual, if ritual it was. Religion check: 16