<strong>”Hm.  Strange bedfellows, to be sure.”</strong>Aleric seemed to ease back into his usual chipper self as he turned to the rogue.<strong>”Merrick, take the point; we’ll need to make sure the other two don’t get the drop on us.”</strong>Turning back to Otavia, he raised a finger as he added, his smirk belying the lecture-like tone he took,<strong>”After all, we’re supposed to stay between you and danger; is that not so, m'lady?”</strong><br/><br/><strong>”But why were they naked?”</strong>Merrick muttered, more to himself than anyone, as he took the lead.<br/><br/>The passages twisted several times, but at each bend, Merrick peered around and then signaled back that it was safe to continue.  After a few minutes of walking, the corridor Otavia and her mercenaries were walking in opened into a large, cavernous room.  Across the ceiling a strange fungus seemed to grow, bathing the room in an odd light with a greenish hue, while the floor seemed to be covered in a strange sand instead of the smooth stone of the passageway.  There was a small bookcase carved into the left wall and then, a little further down, a dark opening about the size of a doorway.  Along the right wall, about halfway down, there seemed to be some paintings on the wall.  At the opposite end, two tunnels split off, one heading to the left, the other to the right and seeming to slope downward.<br/><br/>At the center of the room, beneath the green light from the ceiling, stood a stone pedestal.  A pair of small stature worked from some kind of dark green stone rested upon it, although it was hard to say what the statues might depict from this distance.  Around the second tier of the pedestal were a series of small glass vials at even intervals, perhaps five or six if they continued all the way around, tinted an eerie light green in the light of the fungus.<br/><br/>Merrick stepped cautiously into the room.  There was no sound, and there did not seem to be anyone in the room.  He stepped about, watching the floor carefully, and then came back.<br/><br/><strong>”There’s a trap set by the little doorway,”</strong>he whispered to the other three.<strong>”There’s a net beneath the sand, held by thin painted ropes to mask it--it’s rigged to grab anyone who steps on it and lift them into the air.”</strong><br/><br/><strong>”Anything else?”</strong>Aleric asked.<br/><br/>Merrick shook his head.<strong>”I didn’t get close enough to examine anything, really--I was just keeping an eye for traps.”</strong>He lifted his eyes to Otavia’s.<strong>”How should we do this?  All stick together?  Check out different parts in pairs?”</strong><br/><br/>***<br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">OOC</div><div class="spoiler_body">No problem!  I enjoy the number-crunching aspect of D&amp;D as much as the roleplaying, and it will help streamline the storytelling :-)<br/><br/>So, you have some choices to make about how you want to examine this room!  Whichever place you go first, give me a spot check.  If you go to the doorway or the bookshelf first, please also give me a search check.  Otherwise, I'll fill you in on what you find as you go!</div></div>