Looking into the tunnel, however, Forte sees that his sword is particularly unsuited to the cramped conditions. His only other weapon being a bow, he sees that he may not have much of a role in this combat either.
Augustus peers at the smallish opening and shudders, "Ugh, the thought of crawling into that hole is far from comforting..."
"Don't worry brother, I have a small lantern which will give us some light in the tunnel," Tag says. He reaches into a saddle bag and pulls out a small lantern on a 3' wooden pole. "Just give me a minute to fill it with oil," Tag adds. "It may be nicer underground than out here in this awful weather," he looks at the gray sky shaking his head. "Is the weather nicer in this Eire of which you speak Senor Rhees?"
Tag quickly fills the lantern with oil and brings it forth.
"The way that river just petered out like that makes one wonder if it has gone underground, si? There may be an underground lake or river around here."
Tag dismounts as the others do and sees that Beatrice is suitably comfortable. He follows underground when Dakath leads us and hold the lantern in his left hand, the rapier in his right, and the crossbow (and bolts on his back and in belt pouch, still paranoid about leaving them behind again!). He listens carefully for signs of the caves inhabitants.
Entering the tunnel immediately behind Dakath, Tag holds the lantern aloft and listens intently. There is not the slightest sound either.
Hoping that no serious danger presents itself, the group makes it's way into the tunnel. Cheerfully, once inside, the tunnel broadens and raises itself up so that most of the group can walk erect and the smaller members can even double up. However, no large weapons or two-handed combat will be possible still, and most of the group must still travel in single file.
Rhees leaves the 8-foot spear with the mounts, offering the 5-foot spear to Forte, "If you wish to use it, it may prove easier to wield than your sword and, fate forbid it come to that but, deadlier than your fists." Spear in one hand, buckler in the other, Rhees offers to enter in the second row, that way, should combat occur he can stab around the front row. The volunteers to lead are warned of this tactic.
"Thank you," Forte says grimly. Then he examines the spear, hefts it to feel its weight, and tosses it between his meaty hands a few times.
Dakath doesn't appreciate being prodded into the tunnel but realizes now's not the time to argue. He moves forward quietly long sword in hand. As he moves forward he keeps the pace slow so he has a chance to check for traps.
Xania positions herself toward the middle, preferably near Ullar. Seeing that Forte has no small weapon, she taps his shoulder:
"Would you like to borrow a dagger, Forte? I realize it may not be as effective at doing massive damage, but perhaps it will provide more wieldy in these close quarters."
Forte gestures toward the large spear in his hands. Xania shrugs.
Some distance down the tunnel the party feels much drier but is not particularly pleased with the nasty odor. Ahead a large wooden door daubed with a crude painting of a bloodied sword stands slightly ajar. From the darkness beyond comes the foul odor, which smells somewhat familiar (not unwashed Forte and Ullar, I might add). Just for a moment, you hear an echoing sound like the rustle of a leather robe, and then silence.
Dakath notes the rustling of the robe and holds his arm up for silence. He moves as silently as possible towards the door. His eyes are centered on the door; if anyone bursts through incanting something or holding missile weapons, he's going to hit the deck. Otherwise if he makes it to the door he tries to peek a look through the crack where the hinges must surely be.
Unable to use her elven sight as Tag's lantern casts too much light, Rhune carefully walks along. She is strangely quiet and she cocks her head every so often as if trying to listen for something. When they get to the door, she very carefully and slowly draws her sword (she has her back pack and bow and arrows, not leaving that blue tube alone!! bow is on her back for the moment.) She puts her finger to lips and turns towards the others so that they can see.
"Ehm," Ullar asks from the second row, "we're stuck in a tunnel again...with a door...with crude paintings. I can't use my two-handed and it smells strange here. Why do I always get the impression that being underground really sucks?" the warrior mocks.
Tag stays near the back with Forte, but holds his lantern aloft, so that everyone can see. He wonders at the sign on the door and with his bard's knowledge of obscure things, wonders if he can recognize its meaning in any way.
Sniffing at the smell, he says "Surely nothing alive could be in there, maybe that mark signifies a tomb of some kind."
Augustus grimaces at the mud on his hands, wiping them on the legs of his breeches under his robe. Covering his nose with the back of his hand, he says, "My, what an interesting smell we've discovered," When the door is sighted, Augustus comments, "I don't suppose that sign means 'Welcome friend, take shelter at my hearth?' The rustling leather sound results in no comment from the priest, he just vehemently shakes his head in denial.
Both Tag and Rhees looks intently at the sigil, but it's make and meaning are entirely foreign to them. The sign means nothing that they can comprehend.
Xania remains still, but gathers her spell components, just in case.
Tapping about to detect traps, Dakath finds none. When nothing happens Dakath motions for the others to move forward. When they are next to the door, he just shakes his head before launching himself through the door, trying to get an idea of the occupants and looking for some cover.
Ullar steps into the room as second.
Rhune edges up behind him also ready to meet who ever or what ever is on the other side. She is painfully aware that in the silence the noise from her chain mail sounds like it is shouting, 'HEY, MONSTERS! WE ARE HERE!!!"
Given his current uselessness, Forte volunteers to be last in line - the easy target for any vermin following them into the tunnels.
Dakath then abruptly bowls himself into the door, rolling to the side to find some cover, rather quickly provided by Ullar, who marches in behind him, hoisting Urak-gor's hand-axe.
The leathery noise is repeated loudly as the group sees a small flock of long-beaked birds sitting in niches near the roof. Immediately upon seeing the two men enter their habitat, they come soaring down, their sharp pointed beaks making excellent penetrating weapons!
Tumbling to avoid being skewered, Dakath manages to avoid those attempting to pierce his hide. They turn about and fly back up near the ceiling to make another dive. Ullar is not so lucky, as one of the creatures attacking him manages to slam into his chest. He notes that the creature's beak remains lodged therein a couple of inches and it plants it's claws on his tunic. Swatting at the creature with his off-hand, he dislodges it easily, noting that the wound was fairly minor.
Rhune slips into the room and immediately watches out for the birds on the ceiling. She aides any that need it and attacks any of the birds that attack her. When she can she looks around the room and try to find another exit or anything else for that matter.
Rhees stays as close to the door as possible, letting any brave souls who insist on entering do so. As there is another exit from this room and there seem to be a great number of the leathery-winged buggers, he begins mumbling - at least everyone might assume it's mumbling, either that or a language which requires two tongues to speak and four ears to listen to. Though it's cadence is pleasing, the sounds seem to pile one over the other; some of them, surely, are coughs and clicks, not actual language. OOC: Ben, that would be Calm Animals.
Forte attempts to get into the room, readying his borrowed spear and moving to the front to attack the bats. Unfortunately, he is behind all the others, and his massive bulk cannot get past them without quite a bit of trouble. He watches helplessly as the bats attack Ullar and Dakath, cursing under his breath all the while.
Tag curses in frustration "Dio!", wishing he had readied the missile weapon instead, or at least had a torch with which to scare of the birds. He absent mindedly starts to hum a verse of a tune which sounds suspiciously like "The dingle dangle scarecrow", but then stops and is fascinated by Rhees' Celtic chant.
He is ready to enter the room after the warriors and defend himself with the rapier. "Maledetti uccelli (Damn birds), begonia back to the halls of Beelzebub, taste steel."
Although Ullar is filled with pain in his chest, a dim smile appears on his face. "Beelzebub," he mutters, "at least not all ancient Gods have disappeared."
Augustus attempts to peer into the room to see the cause of the commotion. He blinks in surprise at the sight of the strange birds. "Stirges!?...Those are stirges! Look out!"
Xania looks for an opportunity to color spray them as they swarm down toward the group. She tries also to avoid catching any of her party members in the spray...
Dakath glances round swiftly looking for another exit from the room. Spying that it goes to the left some distance, he dives in that direction and defends himself in that area.
Seeing new prey enter their area, the birds begin diving down again to attack. Xania, having moved in behind Ullar, and Rhune join Ullar and Dakath as potential targets. Ullar appears to have frightened the beasts off but a couple surge at him anyway, while Rhune's chain mail doesn't seem to appeal to all but one. The others split up to the more attractive targets of Xania and Dakath.
Xania does not appear to be terribly interested in being pierced by the creatures, and her signature magical colors fan out in front of her. It is quite effective, as the quartet plunging toward her drop to the ground senseless along with the single bird targeting Rhune.
Rhees begins an incantation, but the birds strike before it takes effect, unluckily for Dakath, who appears to have attracted about half the herd. Dodging wildly as he makes his way to the area to the left of the opening, he manages to just barely avoid the clutches of all but one of the creatures, another skating off his leathers as he jukes. The one that does manage to catch hold of him nabs his right shoulder and plunges it's beak at his neck. Swatting wildly at the creature, Dakath manages to dislodge it before it penetrates a vital area.
Ullar, still totally unarmored, manages to avoid the beaks of his pair of attackers as well, and swings Urak's ornate axe at them. However, the weapon is not terribly comfortable in his hand, and he does not manage to bring the cutting edge of the weapon into play, merely knocking the bird spinning away.
Before it has an opportunity to right itself, Rhees' spell comes to fruition. Casually, the remaining birds as a flock turn and flap their wings, flying into tiny holes in the ceiling that you would not have expected them to be able to fit into. The one that tasted Dakath's blood does not appear to be interested in joining his partners, though, and turns and plunges back toward Dakath. Dakath slaps at it with his sword and manages to divert it from his path.
As the others move into the room slowly, they see five of the foul creatures lying on the floor, though unwounded, and only one remaining in the room, parrying with Dakath. Ullar has moved over to help, followed quickly by Rhune. Dakath does not appear to need the assistance, though, as his next lunge cleanly skewers the bird on the end of his sword.
"Of course, the real question is, do these birds taste like chicken?" Xania mutters.
Disposing of the stunned birds, the group looks about. Seeing absolutely nothing of value in the room, which extends some thirty feet to the left, they decide to vacate before the remaining beaked monsters come back for more.
Your vision is still poor, though the interior of the tunnels appears more hospitable. Only the largest fellows (Ullar, Forte, and Augustus) have to duck to walk about, though combat is still limited by the narrow spacing.
Dakath continues in front, checking for traps. Curiously, though, he finds nothing. You all spend some hours exploring a virtual warren of caves connected by tunnels, and all you find is the remnants of cloth, some bones, and other leavings that lead you to believe that whatever resided here does so no longer. The awful smell pervades the place, and you wonder how anything could have stood it.
Walking about, Forte, still rear-guarding, suddenly hears some chittering and sees a swarm of large rats come out of holes in the wall. However, they take one look at the large man in armor holding the great prodding weapon, and they scatter down the tunnel, lightning quick. Forte thrusts his weapon at them dismissively.
Dakath occasionally puts his hand up to his neck, silently cursing the creature that gave him the annoying injury, as he makes his way through the tunnels.
Just as you all begin to feel that this was a wasted trip, you come upon a long tunnel, as small as the entryway. Dakath being the bold fellow that he is, heads down it cautiously, checking for any wards or traps. Finding none, he heads down it, followed hard by Ullar. Suddenly, a solid-looking, iron-bound oak door bars the way. The wood around the lock-plate on the right hand side has been hacked at somewhat, but with little apparent effect.
Dakath stops before the door and turns to Ullar. "Move back a little, you're blocking the light."
Dakath kneels down and rubs his hands together as he inspects the lock. "Hmmm, I wonder what's behind this door." He places his ear to the door hoping to hear a noise or two. He hears nothing once again, not the slightest whisper. Once done he checks the lock for traps before attempting to open it. He finds nothing of the trappish nature on the lock. Indeed, it is most likely that any trap upon the lock would have been triggered by those who hacked at it at some earlier time. Though the lock is rather large and primitive, Dakath fiddles with it for a time and then gives up, exasperated at his inability to perform any of the functions which he is trained in.
Dakath leans back a moment thoughtfully rubbing his chin with his hand "Must be one of those ancient eastern lock mechanisms, it's rusted as well making it difficult to open hmmm, I wish I was familiar with that type of design."
Rhune, following Ullar, slips up to the door, sword in hand. She moves over to one side as Dakath begins to work on the lock. She, too, wonders what is on the other side and just hopes that there is nothing at the moment. She waits patiently as Dakath works on the lock. She is ready for whatever takes place. She moves in behind Dakath and Ullar, moving far enough so that the rest of the party can enter the door. The only way for her to do that is to lean hard against the tunnel wall, and even then it would be very difficult for the larger party members to squeeze by.
Ullar, used to the habit that his strength is good enough to deal with doors, thrusts his body against it. Dakath manages to get out of the way as the large body comes barreling in. He rebounds hard off the ungiving door and lands on his rear.
The warrior sits up, rubbing his now rather painful shoulder, looking quite amazed. Again he mutters something about being underground, with rats and a funny smell and that it totally sucks. It's apparent that the ex-gladiator is not having his day.
Dakath can barely contain his amusement as Ullar sits on the floor. "Do you think you could ask me to get out of the way before you do that again?" he begins laughing. "Didn't the hacking marks on the door indicate to you that it's not going to budge ?"
Forte stands at the entrance to the tunnel, facing the way they came so he can guard the party's back. Hearing a soft thud after a few minutes (Ullar and the door), he calls down the tunnel in a normal volume, "Find anything?"
With Ullar and Dakath neither one able to open the door, the party's only option is to hack away at it if they wish. From the light damage inflicted upon it, Ullar can see that he could do it, but it will take some time and effort, and make enough noise that if there is anything remaining in this place, it will certainly be quite alert.
Seeing that Dakath is having trouble with the lock, "Dakath, may I try? I haven't done much with locks lately so am not sure if I can do any better. But if I can then we won't need to make so much noise hacking it down," Rhune says trying to sidle up to the door.
Dakath still chuckling at Ullar's attempt at opening the door "Sure Rhune, be my guest." He is still quietly chuckling and shaking his head as he gives Rhune access to the lock.
She pulls out her lock picks to try and open the door. Unfortunately, she has no luck either. Somewhat frustrating, as both she and Dakath can tell that the lock is quite primitive.