The BFOAGWGH

Twiglet whispers Ro’s findings to Humblodt and Tallanvor, along with the recommendation to leave the large group (especially the two bugbears) till last

”we may be able to lure some out or separate them, if we are clever about it”

Humblodt wild shapes into a spider in order to scout without arousing suspicion, or drawing the attention of the undead.

Humblodt the spider ascends the stairs to the left. Via the ceiling, just because he can.

Crawling along the ceiling, Humblodt arrives at the top of the stairs. There he finds the corridor split to his left and right. Scouting along the ceiling to the left, he sees an ornate set of doors covered in religious imagery related to mining and smithing. Humblodt recognises the imagery as being that of Goibniu. The doors are open and spider-Humblodt can see a table covered in a map and notes with a tall dark figure with a staff looking over them. 

Returning back to scout the right passage, humblodt discovers a large cavern with a wide chasm filling the eastern half. A stream pours out of the west wall, then tumbles down into the rift and flows out again to the north. Several ropes are secured to iron stakes along on the western edge of the chasm, leading down to the chasm floor. 

Spider Humblodt is going to crawl along the ceiling of the room above man-with-staff to see what else he can see.

((Perception: 21))

You creep overhead along the ceiling. You can see the figure more clearly and recognise it as a black skinned elf woman. You are cannot read the letters from where you are, but you can see her map has rooms that you haven't discovered yet, as well as a series of markings on certain rooms.

She is looking at the blank north east part of the map and consulting the letters and notes that surround her.

(I have merged her map onto yours in the discord)

From your vantage point, you can see the rest of the room. It was obviously a temple when the mines before it fell. The room has been recently cleared, but there is still a large statue of Goibnui at the far end with a camp of 6 bedrolls and packs made at the foot around a firepit.

Humblodt will follow the ceiling along the corridor to the East, sneaking a peak in the room on the way past if the door is open. He’ll then try to cross the chasm  by clinging to the roof, with the intention of returning back the other way to reduce the risk of discovery. 

The door in the eastern corridor is locked tight. Crawling down to the keyhole, Humblodt can see a bound and bruised dwarf  lying on the floor. Continuing along the corridor, he returns to the cavern with the collapsed floor. As he turns to return to his friends he hear loud grunting as if someone is doing heavy lifting at the bottom of the chasm.

Seeing no pragmatic way to communicate as a spider, Humblodt reverts to dwarf on returning to the others. Quietly, he recounts what he has learned.

"Perhaps we can do a 2 pronged attack on this elf and surprise her? We must be silent, or we'll have the whole place down on us. I can sneak in as a spider again if that helps."

Ro gives a thumbs up and pulls a rope from her pack. She ties one end to herself, hands the other to Xiao Long, and then she dives into the water and swims through the tunnel.

When she comes out the other side she'll try, as stealthily as possible, to find a good spot to tie off the rope. Then she'll swim back through and tell Twiglet what she saw on the other end. With that done she'll follow Humblodt's instructions for the ambush

Stealth: 17

Twiglet follows Ro through the tunnel as quietly as he can, then, staying well clear of the chasm, he'll sneak round the corridor to the east of the temple until he can see torchlight...but not, yet (hopefully) be able to see the dark-elf

Stealth: 24

Roars's finds a stalagmite at the end of her swim which she ties her rope off on. As she returns to the cave, she spots something glittering below her before she surfaces in the pool.

((ooh shinies))

Xiaolong gets closer to the pool to look at what could be at the bottom of the pool

Perception 7

Seeing something glittering below, Ro reaches down to grab whatever it is. As soon as she climbs out she'll show it to whoever is still in the cavern while signing [I is finding treasure!]

Then she stows it in a pocket to look at during the next rest.

Roars finds an old skeleton with orc arrows stuck in it. She has claimed two rings and a necklace from the remains before returning to the party.

((Note to self: Prepare detect magic next long rest))

As the party is getting ready for the ambush Ro swims back through the tunnel in case there's any more treasure down there.

Perception: 9

After swimming back and forth and looting the orc skeleton the water is too murky to see anything.

Once she's through she veeeeery carefully peeks over the edge of the chasm to see what's going on below, then rejoins Twiglet at the stairs. She positions herself behind the halfling, facing the room with the chasm in case the bugbears try to sneak up behind them.

Initiative: 21 - maybe she should have been more focused on the ambush instead of focusing on protecting her friend.

Roars sees a bugbear and a hobgoblin clearing a pile of rubble at the bottom of the chasm. Both are focused on their task and don't notice the little goblin.

Ro decides to not distract Twiglet with that information.