Part 9: Plundering the Plunderers' Plunder

"Well… we’re here now. No sense in just doing half a job. But… should we hide the treasure away again before we go down? We can’t carry it. And we can’t leave it sitting in the cart."

She doesn’t look at anyone as she asks, but her thoughts turn to the mute man.

Ora felt odd at the thought of intruding on the deliberations. There was history in this place, for them at least. She wouldn’t say one way or the other.

The gnolls were ever present in her mind, but the scrolls to dispatch the gnolls may lay in this place.

"Good thinking Gilly, why don't you hide the stash while we wait and then we can all go down together. We keep our expedition short, things have changed here and we just need to know what. After we take our measure of the place we head back to town and reassess."

Eltrezar's hand strays to the empty spot in his belt, and you can almost seem a frown from underneath his beard. But he shrugs and starts moving back into formation.

Luban scurries back to the front, ready to dive in. Where they went made little difference to him, though his skills would be of more use in the ruins than in the wilderness.

Gilly spends a few moments to hide the loot. She purposely doubles back, makes excessive noise in one room and then another, before finally settling on the nest where she had almost met her end a few days precious.

Just enough to give them a moment or two to get back up here, should the group notice that the hired help has suddenly gone missing.

As no torches are needed for the dwarves, Mal and Thurig lead the party back towards the ladder that led them down into the crypt.

Luban walks with the dwarves, his own kin not needing torches either. His bow is held at the ready. As he walks, he also takes in his surroundings in case the thief has to make a quick getaway.

"This must be the ladderwell Gilly talked about. Was it really that bad, Mistress Stoneforge?" Luban (not to be confused with Lubash) looks around for the secret door that he had been told about.

A harumph can be heard from Eltrezar as he looks around at all the bodies still laying in place. He really ought to get the hired help to clean the place, perhaps the next time they rest in this gods-forsaken pit.

"Yes" is the dwarf's monosyllabic reply.

Mal and Thurig both search the door for any traps that may have been set since their last visit.

As the dwarfs begin their search of the door, Luban retrieves the potion he had acquired from the wizard. Popping the cork off, he makes the mistake of tasting it before quaffing the rest. Rookie move.