Disbelief was written on the face of the mage-cleric as the thief disappeared behind a wall of solid rock. With the departure of the sunrod, the cave was left without enough light for the human to see in. The others began to make plans to track the man down, for they could work with such minimal light. On that thought, if they were to follow the thief, the cave entrance would provide no illumination.

The magic missile incantation on Gamiates' tongue slipped away into the confines of his memory, as the light spell came forth. He touched the wooden disk about his neck and it began emitting a bright light. Drawing his club-like mace he stepped forward, "Shall we go then?"

Gamiates repainted the picture in his mind of where the theif was exactly when the secret door burst open. He would look there first for the switch that could have opened it. Of course, when he first ran into the cave, the exact position of the rogue against the cave wall was of less than secondary importance to his senses. Perhaps the door opening was magic? Even still, with as much stone in the area as there was, the mechanism would have to be fairly shallow to be penetrated by detecting magic.

(Gamiates will be searching for secret doors to find the activation device)

Gorshak smiled at Drassar's assessment of the situation, but he wasn't sure that splitting the party into two groups was a wise idea. It had backfired on them before. He kept silent on that issue. But Drassar tracking the escaped villain to the area where he had disappeared so that Gorshak could examine the rock face for evidence of a stone door, or one that was made to look like stone, was indeed a "pooling" of knowledge and resources.

He hadn't realy thought about the lack of light after his initial self-condemnation for forgetting torches. But the human mage reminded him that some did not have his gift of darkvision. And the additional light that he had provided would add depth and detail to their search. So, it was coming together nicely, albeit late.

"Thank you, Gamiates. Good lad! Opportune and helpful that light will be! So! Well now, Drassar-laddy, Let's get to it, eh? Your tracking, my detecting, and Mister Gamiates as our torch puts us off to a better start than I had imagined when our friend disappeared on us. 'Scuse us , please, Mister Red-Leather. We got a job to do."

[[ Search @ +0 -- +2 bonus for Stonecunning Crossing fingers and NOT taking 10 ... ]]

Maaht didn't like it, but searchng for hidden entrances or traps was not his particular strong point. But he did have considerable observational skills available. And he had to admit -- begrudgingly -- that Drassar was right. The cat-man and the dwarf could use their skills in tandem and maybe find something that Maaht could miss. Maaht had already proving his skill in battles and defense, but other, less visible skills often frustrated him, and much more often lately. But did the cat-man have to be so sure of himself? Sometimes that was really aggravating. But the worst part was that he was most often correct when he was sure he could do something. But I'm still gonna look, too, also, anyway, just for my own stab at it, he thought smugly.

<"Thank you, Gamiates. Good lad! Opportune and helpful that light will be! So! Well now, Drassar-laddy, Let's get to it, eh? Your tracking, my detecting, and Mister Gamiates as our torch puts us off to a better start than I had imagined when our friend disappeared on us. 'Scuse us , please, Mister Red-Leather. We got a job to do."
Oh, now that was gonna earn the dwarf some sleepless hours again for the next few nights! he thought. As if he had no skills at all to offer, eh?

Maaht had developed a subtle way (to him) of aggravating those who aggravated him. While on watch, he would lob tiny stones at the heads or bodies of those who had dared to arouse his wrath. Sometimes it would wake them up, sometimes not. And if it woke them, Maaht received a small satisfaction that they hadn't got a full night's rest. No fool he to do it only on his watch. Sometimes he would wake up and toss one from his own pallet at an offender, then roll over and go back to sleep. His particular favorite target was Grakh, for he slept lightly, as their kind was wont to do. But Maaht hadn't yet been able to get the goody-goody to lose his temper. And he hadn't earned Maaht's "punishment" lately ...

As the Gorahak, Drassar, and Gemiates approached the wall to make their attempt(s) to find the door again, Maaht stepped slightly to the right and moved with them, and the light, to look closely and find what they could not ...

[ Search +10 (hoping for a good roll), looking for footprints or drag marks, since that is more within my skill range (I hope). Specifically searching for footprints or drag marks that are not ours and/or not made by any of us. ]

After Gamiates's little favour Drassarr and Gorsh commence in their searches, looking around the area for a little while come up empty. when they are done Maaht is slightly offended at the remark 'Scuse us, please, Mister Red-Leather. We got a job to do.' and he aims to prove then wrong. Maaht scoured the ground looking for scrapes of foot prints, he found no footprints however, he did find some scrapes. Maaht also found the means to create some more scrapes.

One of the stalagmite that the thief was standing in front of was the device, Maaht noticed a hair line crack on one and grabbed the top of that stalagmite to lean in to get a closer look, at that moment his body went a little further the he hoped. the part he was holding on to had slid forward and that door swung open.

With his glowing symbol of his will, Gamaites peered over Maaht's shoulder as the large half-blood took particular insterest in a stalagmite. He returned to his own search, but quite suddenly abandoned it under dire circumstance. The door swung out, the bottom of it just scraping the cave floor. At first disbelieving, Gamiates peered into the tunnel beyond. He raised his light to the gap, "Congradulations, Maaht, you found the trigger."

The light seemed to be enough for Gorshak and Drassar to find nothing at all. However, the sharp eyes and intuition of Maaht brought him a certain amount of satisfaction when he found some scrapes that seemed odd.

Bracing on hand against the top of the up-pointing cone of rock, he leaned in to examine the scrapes he had found more closely. As his weight shifted, the entire stalagmite leaned away from Maaht, canting back toward the rock face. Then it began to open. Maaht could not keep the look of surprise off his own face, but was able to manage changing it to smug satisfaction relatively quickly.

Maaht heard Gamiates praise him, "Congradulations, Maaht, you found the trigger." He returned to Gamiates a large grin of thanks.

Maaht suddenly remembered how quickly the door had closed before, and he burst into motion, grabbing is gear as he ran toward and through the opening. He spoke as he ran, "No time! It closes quick! C'mon, C'MON!" He ran through the opening and a short distance into the new tunnel, then turned to make sure the others were following.

"No time! It closes quick! C'mon, C'MON!"
Maaht ran through the opening, stopping a short distance inside the tunnel the door had opened into, then he turned to look behind him, as if expecting company.

He needn't have worried, for his exclamation startled Gorshak into motion, as well. The dwarf grabbed his own gear and moved as quickly as he could to follow Maaht through the opening and into the tunnel beyond.

Once there, he looked up at the half-orc to see if he looked as nervous as he sounded when he shouted. He found the leather-clad Maaht's face understandably difficult to read, and shrugged. "Okay, now what, Maaht?"

As the door swings open, Maaht burst into motion and yells "No time! It closes quick! C'mon, C'MON!" Gamiates runs through followed by Gorshak and Drassarr as the door closes. The light from Gamiates's holy symbol, reveals a narrow hallway with a sharp turn to the right with a little stretch, followed by some stairs leading down to a door.

The door is opened to reveal a room that is still made stone, but this was crafted by hand, the room stretches approximately twenty feet in front of you and five feet on each side (fifteen from side to side). Maaht steps in first, from his left hand side a spider launches down landing almost on top of him. In the spider's attack it attempts to sink it's fangs in Maaht shoulder, however it in it's failed attempt it merely bounced off his shoulder feeling like a large dog fell on him.

With the close of the secret door Jevaf is left alone in the dark, left to let her plan go on to motion.

Appearing in the glow from his holy symbol for only a second before falling into the darkness behind the doorframe, Gamiates saw something he did not like. It had a large furry body and a conglomeration of hairy legs, pouncing on Maaht from above but missing it's mark and boucing harmlessly aside. Damnation, that was a big spider.

The light from his wooden disk filtered into the room around Maaht's impressive frame. Gamiates could only just see more of the monsterous arachnids further in the room. Without a word, he held his hand up to block the way of the party behind him, noting with irritation the strong-willed drow's absense. "Maaht, light your torch."

(Gamiates is trying to indicate to those behind him to delay their actions until after Maaht 'lights his torch' which would be a euphemism (sp?) for unleashing the his personal furnace of dragonfire. It is still up to Maaht as to whether he deems it necessary to use his breath weapon, and if he chooses not to, Gamiates will ask him to step aside.

Jevaf was left alone in the darkness. No, you can never assume you are alone. Trees have eyes, and stone has ears, and the very air whispers to you. Taking care, Jevaf steps as quietly as possible, returning to the entrance to the cave. In her mind, there are three paths that can be taken from here, but the question is if one of the two more risky ones could provide a benefit?

True, she could attempt to locate the other side of the tunnel, but to what point was that? If she were the one holding the painting, running away, she wouldn't be so foolish to have a single exit. No, there would be two or even more exits, and even more hidden places to hide in that cave. Traps are also a high likelihood; she gave the others, foolish enough to pursue the thief into the depths of his own territory, a small chance of survival. Even if she and the others were to be on either side of the thief, effectively cornering him, he still would hold the advantage. Putting his knife to the painting, it would be a stalemate, with him having the upper hand. There would be almost no way to get the painting in those circumstances.

Another option she has is to waylay the original buyers of the painting. In doing so, she would attain the original value of gold, which could be used to offset the thief's price, which would doubtlessly increase due to the attack. However, that course of action holds its own risks. She does not know how well protected they would be, and attempting to con them into believing her to be the in-between could easily have mixed results.

No, this is a fool's errand, with very little chance for success. Had the others listened to her in the beginning, they would not have accepted such a pathetic waste of effort.

"Tarot XII." Jevaf murmurs tonelessly, descending from the cave opening, her intent to return to the city to wait for the others, if they returned.