Seldom Spring

"Jack's a nice fellow, but he's pretty mindless. He can't really do anything beyond simple tasks, and he's never relayed information to me at all. He could go make a noise to see if anything reacted. But we'd have to notice the reaction. Jack would just listen to my humble requests. Don't we want to know if there's a potentially hostile orc cook in there, rather than sneaking past them?"

"We do... we do. Just be careful." Maldorn relents.

OOC: Erric, roll stealth for me. Roll it at disadvantage since Jack's preceding you with a torch.

Ebokk whispers, "Do you want me to come with you?" He raises his shield to indicate offered protection.

Jambiya, worried, prods Ebokk, "Yes, go with him, please."

Erric stealth: 9

He'll move forward a bit at a time, not rushing, and sending Jack with the torch 30 feet ahead of him. (Unseen servant lets you move them 15 feet per round as a bonus action, so that's the pace I'm thinking.) For Erric's action, he's going to try that same odd strobe light effect he's tried before, where he casts minor illusion when the torch stops every 15 feet, to show a small gnome with their hand up gripping the torch that Jack is actually invisibly holding. The idea is to at least make any observers see a gnome move invisibly carrying a torch, stopping every 15 feet, and become visible (completely still), blinking in and out of existence.

He tells Ebokk, "thank you friend, but feel free to stay back a bit. If there is something there, we'll hopefully have a warning and Jack will be a distraction, and everyone can come running. I won't go in too far, but I'd rather flush out whatever's in there now than worry later." He looks to Maldorn, and suggests having another torch ready to go in case Jack's falls and goes out, and he suggests everyone else have ranged weapons at the ready.

Jambiya won't insist that Ebokk follow, given Erric's assurance he is not needed.

(It’s only 30 feet, right?)

Maldorn favors the bow and suggests either Ebokk or Thrakk hold a second torch.

“I’ve got it Maldorn,” Jambiya says, as four ghostly lights pop into existence around her and float out to make a perimeter around the party, casting light.

Ebokk's stealth at disadvantage: 3 ... Awesome

Jack moves down the smaller tunnel, pausing 15 feet in, and the image of a halfling holding its arm up as if it is holding the torch appears for a brief moment before disappearing, and the torch continues another 15 feet. Erric follows the unseen servant at this point, with Ebokk following behind a whole 10 feet (Erric did say "a bit"). Erric can hear the dwarf mumbling to himself the whole way, but even a pointed glare from the bard doesn't stop the noise for long. The halfling image appears again where the tunnel turns to the left for a brief moment. Jack then heads left, the torch disappearing out of the sight. Erric pokes his head around the corner to watch the torch continue forward. After only another five feet, the tunnel ends in a high-ceilinged cave. A large cooking pot stands crookedly over a central fire pit, while refuse covers much of the remaining floor, and a yellowish mold grows up the far wall. Jack moves 10 feet into the space and stops, and (I assume) the halfling appears again, standing like a flame-holding statue. As Erric is casting his eyes about, a dwarf's all-too-close loud whisper is directed at the crown of his head, "What do you see?"

Anafrey would draw her bow and ready a shot... crouching and keeping her eyes peeled for danger.

Can Erric get a read on the room beyond the description (ie should I roll perception?). I assume no other exits, no smoke or flame in the cookfire, and the refuse seems old? Peeking just inside the entrance and looking up, what does he see at the ceiling?

If that's all he sees, he will say, "just some trash, some weird mold on the wall, and an old cook pot."

Perception if needed: 19

If there's nothing else of note, he'll have Jack bring the torch up close to the wall of mold to see if it... reacts at all. He's staying far back, 40 feet, maybe at the entrance, because he does not like mold. Then he'll have Jack circle around the cave, and return. 

The new cave is 15 feet deep and 10 feet wide. Erric moves to the opening and looks up, Ebokk following on his heels. The ceiling of the cave is black. At first, he thinks it's just dark, but then he notices the blackness starts in an uneven gradient line around the wall. He deduces that the ceiling is covered in soot. Jack moves another five feet away to put the torch as close to the wall as he can (at Erric's leading). The mold is yellowish. It does not react to the torch.

Ebokk walks into the cave and peers into the pot. "Yuck," he remarks. The cooking pot shows signs of recent use, with a few unidentifiable chunks of bone and gristle left floating in a foul-smelling stew. "That's almost enough to turn my stomach."

OOC: How long has it been since Erric left?

Erric looks around, quietly listening to Ebokk's commentary. He pokes around gently at any interesting items with his rapier (but I'm assuming it's all junk, so he doesn't really poke more than once or twice). Without delay he gestures at the dwarf to the door in an "after you" flourish, wrinkling his nose at the smell of the pot . Once Ebokk moves out, Erric backs out of the cave, squinting suspiciously at the mold. Jack follows with the torch.

OOC: A minute or so.

Ebokk and Erric return to the group and Thrakk looks impatient. "Find anything?"

"You were right, friend Thrakk. Not much to see there. Thanks for humoring me. There was an odd yellow mold there, on the wall. Seen that before?" Erric says, with an easy, if small, smile to his new orc friend.

Jambiya gathers her dancing lights about her and they wink out now that Jack and the torch are back.

"Why so rushed, Trunks? Shouldn't we be careful and thorough?" Maldorn asks hoping the orc will share a bit more of his thoughts.

Thrakk looks at Erric for a second before shaking his head. "Don't know anything about any mold, but I wasn't the one fixing the chief's meals, so I never went in there." To Maldorn, he replies, "I'm trying to get us through without disturbing the orc, not trying to find it." Looking around, he asks, "Are we ready to go?"