Badger's heart sinks as he discovers the missing cube. Looking around, he notices and inspects the tracks. Survival: 2

Badger is astonished to discover that grungs wear shoes! He shall have to tell the others of this!

From up top Grenk calls down, "Clear so far.  Any help needed down there?"  He keepsnhis eyes scanning back and forth as he waits for a response.

Mal will smile seeing the Grung's body rise to the surface. Then she will clean her scimitars and put them away and start to search the dead bodies for anything important.

Investigation: 14

Perception: 12

Mal searches the bodies thoroughly, finding only small personal  items, jewelry of sorts, but valueless, in addition to cleverly, but simplistically made spears and small bows and arrows.  She's careful not to touch their poisonous skin as she searches. 

Badger emerges, cubeless, and reveals his new found information, "The Gruungs must have taken the cube.  Also, turns out they wear shoes when no one is looking!"  The Gruung's feet are large, webbed sticky pads.  It's quite unlikely he's right about the shoes.

Mal will look at Badger a bit confused and point to the feet of the dead Grungs, "Ummm, where are these tracks you speak of?" At which point Mal will try her luck and tracking the tracks.

Survival: 17

Mal finds tracks showing 4 people with water soaked shoes and one snake creature, one of the yuan ti, have been in here.  

sickle joins the others, looking forlornly at the broken ice spider, rubbing his hand as the frigid tingling seethes up to his shoulder.  “If we can get within a thousand feet of it, I prepared a special cube-finding spell today.”

A thousand feet should cover most of this city, says Badger

Mal comments, "Well looks like we need to confront the snake people finally this should prove interesting."

(OOC: catching up on some XP awards:  everyone please go up a level.) 

Sickle sits in the dry room inside the Shrine that's surrounded by water, and begins to weave his magic. Sparkles of green energy seem to mote in the air about him as he ties the spell together.  A minute later, he opens his eyes...they are all white.  He glances around the party.  "The nearest cube...the only one I can sense, is that way."  He points southwest.  The troop of you move out of Shrine and slosh through the water in that direction. He seems he's inexorably pointing towards the center of the temple area. The palace buildings seems largely in ruins, but there is a larger section that seems fairly intact, and as you approach you see a tunnel that slants down into a sub-level, with two large double doors. The area here seems cleared of shrub and weeds and is obviously frequently used. There are strange four inch gaps every few feet carved into the bottom of the  heavy doors that you notice even from a hundred feet back in the bushes. 

Sickle, his glazed white eyes points down and to the left.  "There, perhaps 250 feet that way...."   He's pointing what is obviously underground, beneath the main palace ruins. 

Badger is always happy to be heading underground. He doesn't mind a tunnel as long as he's not the badger that has to dig it.

Having seen no other trouble, Grenk climbs down to join the others.  Being updated on the situation he says, "So we are to go down a tunnel, underground...  Sounds like a good place for a trap, but we been dealing with traps forever..."

Sickle stares a long while then says to the others, “well, we can go that way, which is surely a trap.  Or we I can dig us a tunnel.  It will take a bit, but I can get us there. Not sure what happens if I run into a wall... Also I should mention that I’m a bit winded. I’ll be alright, but I’m not sure I’ll be able to cast anything terribly powerful.”

The group finds a place where the greenery and trees have pushed their way up through the large blocks and paving stones revealing hard packed dirt. Sickle shimmers and transforms, his clothing and equipment vanishing as he turns himself into a giant furry badger.  Even as a badger, his eyes are still covered in a white film as he looks towards his quarry.  He sniffs the earth, then his long curved claws begin to rapidly eat away at the earth as he begins to dig. He squirms into the ground, earth spraying back and heaping up around the hole as he digs into the ground.  

The group, rather than crawl in a long line behind you, wait for you to return and report before embarking on a long dirty dark dangerous tunnel crawl.  

Badger, you dig along at a careful pace, cautious to pack the ground behind you as you press your body against the walls.  You still make excellent pace, digging more than 50 feet in a minute.  Occasionally you come across large boulders, and tangled roots, and have to dig around, making your path a bit windy, but with your sense of the cube you head straight for it.  Eventually your claws find a large rock, you begin digging to one side and quickly realize you've come across a stone wall.  You clear sniff around a bit, then clamber your way back down the tunnel. 

Badger returns to the group and glances about, sniffing at everyone.

What's the plan now?  He dug till he found a stone wall. 

"Is this stone wall as a natural or layered stones?" Silas questions, "If we wait until tomorrow, I could shape it into a doorway if it's wall to their lair but I wish not to waste the spell should it just an underground rock,"

"If it's a stone wall we could knock it down," Grenk offers with a shrug.  "It would save a spell but it would loud.  Or, if everyone is willing to use a little physical work, we can pull down the stones in the wall quietly.  Downside to that is, if someone is there, the surprise is up."  He pauses for a moment.  "Me, I like the door idea but the more time we have to prepare, the more time they do as well."

Mal, "Yes they will have time to prepare but do they know we are coming? I think we could all do with a nights rest before we go up against these snake people. They have proven rather formidable in the past."

The wall appears to be a large limestone brick, the size of badger himself, with concrete between the gaps.  You'd guess it might be a couple feet thick. Do you return across the river and to the far side of the city to sleep, or find someplace closer? 

They started the day hoping to find Mandra, Ham and Boris. Despite accomplishing so much, they are still no closer to finding their friends. But Badger had to admit to himself, that by this time they were either dead or captured, so there was little point in them returning to the rendezvous place. And it's only been four days since they visited the magic burrow. They could go back to the last shrine, but the grungs would probably return. The Obo'laka shrine in also nearby (the one with the sun and moon pool), which would probably be quite defensible. Badger will suggest they go there and return here after a rest.

Mal agrees with Badger.