"I'm fine with whatever you all choose, but we need to make a decision and let these guys know if we plan to stake out the place or go in head first," Nadia says lowly as the others converse. "If you want me to put in my two cents, I'm thinking there's a hag or two in there and we should get rid of them before they cause these guys more trouble. If we see whatever is in there is harmless, we talk to them."

Rollo shrugs. "I'm game to boot down a door. If it's more of the same as before then good. If it's a mistake then I apologize and hopefully make amends." 

Zack whispers back at the others concerns I've taken that into consideration, that's why I'll go in first, and if it doesn't go south immediately, we can go from there. 

Zack will proceed to the door, whether anyone stays with him or allows him to be the spearhead doesn't matter much. Regardless, Zack will angle for the door quietly (as quiet as a stealth roll 5!) as possible, and if nothing has happened before he gets to the door, he will attempt to open it without making his presence known, all while readying to Dodge should an attack be sent his way.

Claire nods to Zack, and the summons a flame to her hand, ready to attack of something hostile pops up.  She stays to the rear of the martials.

Zack opens the door first and finds that he is not immediately attacked for doing so. Sticking your head in you find the cabin to be fairly quaint, with a single bed with the sheets made, a lit sove with a pot of something cooking by it, a few wooden seats and a small dining table with a rug under it. There doesn't appear to be anyone else here.

Rollo walks in and starts slowly searching the area around, not too thoroughly, for signs that people were there. He then turns back to the lizard leader. "It's empty. You brought us to an empty house. Are you scared of an empty house?" 

Rollow turns to speak to the Lizard shaman to find he didn't follow them. You can still see him, he is hidden right where you left him just outside the cabin. He appears to be sticking his head up curious as to what's going on.

Zack  looks around inside, from the door, before poking his head out as two thoughts came to mind, either the lizardsfolk had led them to an ambush *by* the lizardfolk... with the house being a let your guard down moment, or there was something inside. Keep an eye on things out here Rollo.. just in case he said, taking a quick glance around for any obvious traps, like a rope in the doorway (passive P11) before entering. And barring anything happening...

Zack would first lift the rug, to see if there was any sort of trapdoor there, and if not, he would do the same with the bed. And if nothign had happened up to that point, he'd look on the 'other side' of the bed. If nothing was found, he'd return and tell Rollo and Co.

Zacks suspicions are well founded and upon looking under the rug he indeed does find a trap door leading down into what appears to be a dug out tunnel.

Claire waits for a short bit before entering the hut, doing so once it seems nothing has gone awry.  As she steps through the door and sees the revealed trap-door, she clicks her tongue.  "Well that's not very splendid... we don't have to go down there, do we?"

"Eyup," Nadia confirms with a frown after having joined the the group last (distance was her strong point after all). "Probably where whatever is inhabiting this hut is hiding." She steps close to the hole to inspect it a little further.

Investigation: 12

(Basically if the roll isn't dog poopoo I want to find out if the hole was recently dug or not and by what. Was it by magical means, maybe a giant mole, a shovel, etc.)

Nadia: all you're able to tell is that the hole has been here awhile.

Rollo peaks back inside. "So are we going down or moving on? I'm fine either way, just don't want to start a wild goose chase in the middle of our other wild goose chase." 

Claire huffs, and frowns, then turns her nose to the air.  "Darkness should be banished wherever it is found.  If something evil lurks here, we should deal with it."  As she speaks, though, Claire keeps glancing at the hole with a less than pleased look on her face.

Zack grunted as he continued to kneel there. Yeah, we're gonna go down. We're already here, and this may or may not be what we were looking for anyway. If they're keeping the duchess alive for whatever reason, they've kept her alive this long, I don't see why they wouldn't continue to do so. But before that... he says, as he gets up to check the areas he was going to check before, just in case there was some note, or clue as to who may be residing here, as he doubted a hag would have such 'nice' quarters. Regardless of what he found, after finding it, he would begin to descend the hole.

Zack quickly checks the rest of the hut but there is no letter or obvious clues as to what is going on here. Heading down he finds himself in a dark dirt tunnel that leads what he believes is likely west. It seems to go for a few feet before turning off. The air is cold and thin and there's a faint smell of decay.

Rollo drops down behind him. "Not exactly the smell I like when going a new place." He whispers.

Nadia's nose wrinkles at the smell when she joins the others, knowing this stench too well. "Seems like it follows us..." She says to herself lowly. "Keep your eyes peeled guys. Never know what's going to lurk down here." She shivers at the remembrance of a certain creepy crawly that got her the last time.

Claire grimaces as she follows the others down.  She takes a moment to inspect their surroundings.

Perception: 14

Claire notices that there really isn't much to actually notice in the tunnel. It appears to be a very simple tunnel dug out by hand, for what purpose she cannot tell. Of course in n noticing that there isn't much here Claire becomes reasonably certain that there are no traps in the tunnel.

As you continue down the tunnel you all hear voices talking in a language none of you understand, however you can at least make out it that it is some sort of chanting.