Turn 75 -- Investigating the Shack

As soon as the party enters the cavern, Kersath moves over to speak with Talimar, his voice in a whisper, "I should go take a look if there's anybody in there. I'll come back and report and we can continue from there."

Talimar nods silently in agreement and gestures the ranger forward. Kersath nods to Kre, signalling him to come with him. The dark elf checks his hand crossbow and without a sound, edges across the cavern floor toward the shack, moving swiftly from shadow to shadow concealing himself.

"Sounds like a plan to me, let's get going," answers Kre softly as he pulls forth a dagger in each hand and smiles to Bob before moving out to parallel the rangers movements up to the shack. Instinctively, Ras steps into the shadows himself and moves off to the north of the others, approaching the shack from the west.

Seeing the others move forward to scout, Ortho motions for Bob to sit, his eyes speaking volumes to the prisoner and his bloody axe a solid reminder of the dwarf's prowess. Stepping to the edge of the entrance, Garth checks his shield and keeps his mace at the ready. Scanning around, he checks to make sure no one is coming at the party from behind, waiting patiently. In the center of the party, standing beside Talimar, Dain clutches his staff tightly with one hand, his other in his robe pocket grasping the handle of one of his knives; his knuckles turning pale white as he prepares for anything!

Watching as the others move toward the shack, Gnore moves to the right flank of the party, five meters off and kneels on one knee not wanting to present himself as an easy target. Quietly, the dwarf reaffirms his grip on his bastard sword while scanning the chamber with his infravision for signs of trouble. Toward the back of the group, Druckner keeps the others covered with his crossbow. Once in a while, he checks back up the shaft to make sure they are not being followed. While he's waiting, he moves up to Bob and speaks to him in a whisper.

"I've got two questions fer ya. What's in the shack? And what the heck are the wee ones?"

Bob chuckles softly at the question from the fiery dwarf, "The shack be just a hideout fer us. Won't be nuthin' there. The wee ones are the two like your feller there," he answers as he points to Ras.

In the chamber proper, Kersath, Kre and Ras each slowly converge on the cabin. Looking at the outside of it, they notice that it once must have been a work shack for the miners but the bandits have apparently done some repairs to it and now use it as a hideout for them in the mines. As they close on the cabin, they hear nothing coming from inside it. There apparently is no fire within it but the windows are illuminated inside by some light source. The windows themselves are apparently nailed shut though as Kersath found out while trying to silently open one to have a sneak peek inside. There is only one entrance to the ten by twenty cabin and that is at the front, western side of it.

Back in the cavern, Druckner returns to his post after questioning Bob once again and scans the chamber and the passage behind them. Nothing stirs for several tense moments but finally, he hears movement back up the passage they came from. Not trusting his hearing at first in the strange cavern, he waits a moment longer, straining to make out any shapes coming toward the group. After another few agonizing moments, he does see what appears to be a couple of human sized heat signatures moving toward the group up the passage. There are also a number of shapes moving toward them that appear to block out the heat radiating off the bodies of the others, whatever these things may be they give off no heat whatsoever.