Verim looks around the room and can’t see anything else untoward. He manages to collect about 2ft x 3ft of blue cotton from the bed as well as the pewter goblets and pitcher. With his weapons, he pushes one blade in for a small bit of leverage on the chest and uses the other to move the lock across. He hears a click and the chest becomes unlocked. He then hears another click and suddenly a poison tipped dart flies out of this chest from a similar point as the one upstairs. The dart hits and Verim takes 1 point of piercing damage and has to make a CON Saving Throw. 

Inside the chest there is:

Some of Shoor’s personal items and clothing, as well as a small purse containing 20 gp, a black velvet mask stitched with silver thread in a spiderweb pattern, a set of bone dice engraved with Elvish characters, a small black velvet bag containing a spider-shaped onyx brooch and a flask of strong, syrupy blue liquid. 

Con save for Verim 

11

After revealing the items in the chest Verim takes what he can, not noticing the dart as it flies towards him.

     Tobias easily enough talks Cyndral through the process of helping with don his armor. It's more awkward than anything trying to wrangle the suit of chain on by himself. He gives the half-drow a pat on his shoulder. 

    "You all have the strangest sense of urgency I've ever seen. After being ready to break out the cell like your hair is on fire, now you want to stop and look around... maybe uncover another sider's nest?! There is a perfectly good distraction going on for us to escape! I'm not hanging around any longer." The cleric gives his amulet, adorned with the white gauntleted hand Torm, and hangs it around his neck. Picking up his own shield and mace, he then quickly makes his way toward Gnarls to assist with securing a way to escape.

Verim once again feels slightly dizzy and unbalanced. The poison from the dart begins to slowly take effect. Verim is poisoned for 1 hour. 

Tobias leaves the tower and sees all of the commotion around. He makes his way towards Gnarls who is still preparing the climbing gear. 

Verim now feeling the poison once again coursing through his veins, the snake underneath his skin once again starts to wraith and squirm. Verim runs to climb the ladder, he fumbles slightly and tries to keep a level head. He heads up one more floor to regroup with the others. Verim runs over to Tobias.

”Tobias, I’m sorry I was not as urgent, I was hoping to find another exist, maybe a secret entrance, the chest items may prove invaluable in the coming future, I was hoping for more to aid in our escape but I did find this” (Verim pulls out the velvet mask and shows it to Cyndral) if we run into trouble with other drow maybe this might aid us in a disguise perhaps, I also found a strange blue liquid, I’ll analyse it further once we have gotten clear from this place, I don’t mind if anyone is in charge, I’m unaware of the full extent of the underdark but I know it’s tounge from years in the temples, if we hurry now then I’m happy to flee this place when they are distracted, is the fire spreading? I asked Sheerava to aid us in that, if we are heading down some meat may be needed to disband and distract the other spiders lower down if we are to climb, or can anyone make something smell nice to intice them away from us? 

Verim looks around for meat or a corpse to throw down the slope for any creatures whom may be dwelling within 

Investigation Check 15

Verim can’t see any ‘meat’ around but he is aware of the spider and the 4 other Drow that have been killed since the groups escape. 

El sends a mental message to anyone in range, "I'm keeping an eye on the fight for now, whichever group survives we'll probably want to avoid them. Keep me updated on our escape and don't leave without me yeah?"  El attempts to count the Drow guards and then tries to figure out which group is fighting which. (El will continue to watch the battle and occasionally check behind them in case of anyone sneaking up again)

Perception: 21
Insight: 8 (if needed for determining who's fighting who)

OoC: Good way to keep El busy for a while since there's so much going on.

(Tobias is near the first guard tower where we found the cache weapons and armor, with Gnarls. I think almost everyone else is still in the temple room.)

El continues to watch. It seems to be a bit of a free for all. The insects were originally chasing the winged bird like creatures but since then, the Drow have started firing at both groups which have, in turn, all decided to attack the Drow while still fighting with each other. 

(Tobias, Gnarls and Verim are all near the first guard tower. El and Cyndral are currently both watching the chaos and everyone else is within the shrine chamber. All the NPC’s are waiting to move towards the guard tower) 

OoC: Did El see how many drow there were? Also I think Cyndral went inside after talking to El.

(DM: Are there webs below where we're dropping the ropes that spiders would be a concern?)

El counts 4 normal Drow, 2 Elite Drow and thinks they may have seen a quaggoth at some point. 

(OOC - The area that Gnarls is setting up the ropes seems to be clear of the main section of webs, there are a few thinner strands but nothing that would take the weight of a giant spider)

Knowing that Gnarls should be back any time with news, Cyndral hurriedly approaches each member of the party that he can, asking the same several questions of each- "Do you have all of your gear? Are you feeling alright? We may be doing a fair bit of climbing soon, do you feel you can handle it? Could you help those who can't? Once we're down there, where do you think we should go?"

He continues making rounds this way until told otherwise, or until everyone has been addressed.

(OOC: This is sort of an open-ended cue for all the players and NPCs to voice their thoughts on where we should go)

Counting his arrows, and checking the string on his bow, Shishakli now looks towards the team and sends "We should get as many home as possible. I promised Topsy and Turvy to get them back, and Eldeth may need assistance as well. I haven't spent much time above ground actually, but I'll help guide the rest of you to the top. Once we get out of this area I should be able to gather my bearings to find the trails we'll need to follow. But first, I agree with what was said above, we need to focus on just getting away from here. Though I'm not the best climber, I'd prefer it to a straight fight with those elite drow. Though they are weakened from those beasts, we are as well..."

As Cyndral does his rounds, quickly asking everyone the same few questions, they each answer him.

Buppido

“All I need is something sharp and pointy, something I can stick in and twist” he takes out his 2 daggers, twirls the once and then places them back into the small pouches on his belt “I’m quick and fast, I can get down a rope but I’m not as strong as others are to help. I think we should go to Gracklstugh. You can get some good gear and equipment from there”

Drendil

With his sharp claws and fine looking shirt simply smiles “I feel ecstatic with what I have. I’m strong enough to help hold ropes but being this big can make climbing a bit of a bother. If we can get to the surface then I’ll be able to get back to my people in Sundabar”

Eldeth

Clutching the sword that sits in her sheath “I have everything that is important to me” she says with a determined expression “I will be able to climb unaided but won’t say no to an extra hand. I really want to get back home to Gauntlgrym”

JimJar

“I’ve got all these weapons and enough gold to make a deal or two to get me back to Blingdenstone. I’m not bad at climbing and I’m happy to go to the Neverlight Grove”

Ront

“Ront wants to go to surface. Ront hates this place. Fists and rage are all Ront needs” Cyndral notices that although he says this, Ront has also got a dagger and a shortsword tucked away “Ront will hold ropes if it helps get back to the light”

Sarith

“I have everything that I require. I’ll be able to climb down myself. I believe that Stool mentioned that the Neverlight Grove would be a safe place to stay. I don’t want to go back to Menzoberranzan and that seems like a good place to go to get away from there.

Shuushar

“Need nothing more I don’t but climbing difficult it is. The darklake and Sloobludop my home is. There I wish to go”

Stool

“I just want to get to the Neverlight Grove. I just want to be home”

Topsy

“We are fine with what we have. We both have a knife if we need to look after ourselves but we don’t really know how to use them properly. We can climb quite well and want to get back to Blingdenstone”

Gnarls finishes securing the first of the ropes and starts helping Tobias with the second. "The first rope is ready to go. Anyone whi can climbing down should start while we get another one ready. Ront: Great! Big strong arms hold rope! Drendil too. I vote for Neverlight Grove then Blingdenstone, but we have seen where my decisions have gotten us so I will follow where the group wants to go"

El takes one last glance at the battle then stalks back to check on how things are going with Gnarls and Tobias. Seeing Gnarls move on to the second rope El goes to the nearby tower to check if anyone is inside (hasn't been a map update in a while so don't know who's where) informing anyone inside, "We're about to leave, head over to Gnarls if you plan on joining us."
On the way back to the second guardhouse/tower (O17) El slows and checks on the battle again. Upon reaching it they step quickly in the door and relay their message to the group adding, "Looks like we're all clear for now, but let's not jinx it."

Cyndral carefully considers everyone's opinions, nodding and doing his best to weigh each before offering his own opinion. He, somewhat confident in his climbing skill, moves to the rope and prepares to begin helping people down, whilst thinking out loud.

"Neverlight Grove and Blingdenstone certainly sound like good destinations for the long term. Does anyone know where the nearest town is? It may be wise to stop for provisions along the way to our more permanent destinations."

      "We can discuss all this when we get to a safer distance from this place!" Tobias begins to usher everyone down the ropes. "Let's go! And be careful when you get down there. No telling if there's anything in that water down there." He tosses one of his rations over the edge to see if he can see anything going after it. (I'm sure it's too far below to see anything.)

      Once everyone is across, the former soldier goes back to the bridge (from the guardhouse to the temple) and begins to cut through the ropes holding it - just enough in the hopes that it will stay up until it begins to take on weight.

With one rope secure and you're all hopeful that it has reached the bottom and another one almost in place, everyone that was in the shrine room has now made their way across the bridge, doing as instructed by El. Ront and Drendil both grab the ropes to give them some extra strength and to stop the knots from having too much strain. Tobias goes and begins cutting into the bridge, leaving enough of the rope frayed to make it still appear in-tact but to break at the first bit of weight to make its way onto the bridge. JimJar takes Stool from Shuushar and ties him to his back before making his decent on the first rope. At the same time, Sarith, seeing that the second rope is ready, goes towards that one and starts making his way down.

Sarith says "We should do 3 tugs on the rope when we are safe at the bottom. 5 if there is trouble" 

(OOC - Rolled a D10 to see which NPC's would be going first. Rolled 4, 8 and 6)