into thracia!

picking up right where we left off last time ...

Judge Claire: We ended last session with all the gnolls dead and the temple ruins presumably yours to explore. What do you do?
Heddy: I feel like as adventurers looking for our fortunes, we should be checking these bodies for any treasure they might be carrying. We didn't do that with the last set.
Sasha: Oh, man. I'm falling down on the job there! Well ... I guess it's my D&D character who's gold-obsessed, though.
Judge Claire: All you find are five battleaxes and one longsword. If you'd searched the others, you'd only have found their four polearms.
Heddy: How much is a battleaxe worth?
Ariel: The book says 7 gold pieces! Same for polearms. And a longsword is 10! My character doesn't even have any silver pieces, so ... dozens of gold pieces means we're rich!
MSG: We can probably only get half that selling them back to a shop, though, so not that many dozens of gold pieces.
Judge Claire: Anyone who wants a battleaxe can grab one, then. But the polearms you're out of luck on unless you want to hike back 30 minutes along the road.
Heddy: And risk another 5 or 6 encounter rolls? No thanks.
Akane: If still there when returning, we can acquire polearms in the journey home.
Elle: Let's keep up this optimism that we'll live to return.
Ariel: So what do we find in these ruins?
Judge Claire: The only thing of note is the broad staircase leading down into pitch darkness. The entryway is almost 15' wide, and inside, the stairs are close to 30' across. A bitter, astringent odor hangs faintly in the air as you approach.
Heddy: Did anyone bring a light? I may break down and cry if we have to go all the way back to town for torches or lanterns.
Ariel: I've got a lantern! But I don't have any oil for it. Or anything to light the oil with if I had oil.
Sasha: Same here. Both my dwarves have lanterns but no oil. And they're dwarves, so they can see in the dark anyway, so I'm not sure why they need lanterns to mine with.
Akane: In case they have guest miners? "But it's bring your own oil, guests. Sorry." Fortunately, the characters of Akane are prepared with a lantern, also a torch, also oil, and even flint and steel for lighting!
Heddy: I have a flask of oil too, so I guess we could have two lanterns going at once?
Hettie: With our surfeit of characters, using the torch for a third light source seems wise as well.
MSG: Maybe not, since the dwarves and halflings all have infravision. How many of this party/army need light? I've got 3 who do.
Heddy: I only have 1.
Hettie: All 3 of mine are useless in the dark.
Elle: Same here.
Ariel: 3 for me too.
Sasha: I'm down to 1.
Akane: It's 2 for me.
MSG: So that's 16 who need light and 7 who don't. Why don't we put a couple of dwarves up front, have 2 lanterns lit for the group in the middle, and the rest of the dwarves and halflings bringing up the rear. I'll volunteer Noor to be up front.
Ariel: Short can be up there too!
Heddy: I don't mind putting Ham in harm's way.
Akane: Kindly Minely prefers the back. Nanda has oil, so he loans her his lantern.
Sasha: Stubbly or Stumbly can give a lantern to Connie if you'll let her use your oil, Heddy.
Heddy: Sure. Glynette hands it over.
Hettie: I suppose then, it's in we go.
Judge Claire: The gloom closes in around you. As you march deeper and deeper, the stench you smelled before thickens until it's almost choking. Behind you, the opening to the outer world dwindles until it's a mere postage stamp of light, at least a hundred feet away. At this point, you see the stairs open up into a large chamber ahead.
Akane: Nanda aims her lantern to see.
Judge Claire: The moment you do, a wave of noise rolls up from below -- a din of flapping and squeaking sounds. The beam of your lantern reveals a swarm of bats rousing to swirl just within the entrance to the chamber.
Ariel: Super duper. I guess Short heads down that way.
MSG: Noor too.
Heddy: And Ham. But hanging back just a little.
Akane: Nanda raises lamplight and makes a gesture of, "Follow me!" to the remainder of adventurers.
Judge Claire: You descend to the level of the chamber, now storming with bats in a roiling cloud.
Sasha: Batnado!
Judge Claire: This area seems to have been a worship chamber, ages in the past. Now it lies heaped with noxious mounds of bat guano, built up over decades or centuries. The walls are streaked with befouling excrement from above, leaving only faint hints of the faded, chipped religious murals that once adorned the place. The swirling bats harrass you from all sides. Whoever has the highest luck, make a luck check.
Ariel: Vinnie's is 17! I roll a 5.
Judge Claire: For the moment, the bats are only screeching and diving around you -- no one is getting attacked. You see dark passages leading off to east and west, and some massive, iron-bound doors standing ajar to the north.
Ariel: Short would be okay scouting around, since the light seems to get the bats all antsy.
MSG: Noor will go along.
Heddy: Ham follows.
Ariel: Let's go up and check that west hallway first. Do I get there safely? What's down it?
Judge Claire: It's just a 30' run of corridor leading to a dead-end. The guano makes footing treacherous, as it's slick and clinging and ankle deep in places.
Ariel: Ewww! And ugh, I guess we've got to search for secret doors?
Judge Claire: Do all three of you head down to the end? If so, make intelligence checks.
Ariel: I get a 16, which is way over my intelligence.
MSG: Noor's roll is 1.
Judge Claire: Nice. Noor is completely certain that there are no secret doors. It looks like the end of the corridor has been bricked up and sealed with mortar.
Heddy: I rolled a 9, but I assume that's moot now.
Ariel: Okay, what's down the other hallway?
Judge Claire: It goes about 40 or 50 feet east and turns left.
Ariel: Hmm ... well, I don't wanna go down there without more people ... should we peek through these big iron doors?
Heddy: Ham says he's game. Or at least, game to have Short and Noor check it out while he's a few steps behind.
MSG: Sure, let's have a look.
Judge Claire: Poking your heads through the gap, you see a long, wide hall with columns supporting its 20' ceiling. Some of the columns are crumbling, leaving hunks of marble on the floor and places where the ceiling sags. The hall extends beyond the reach of the dwarves' infravision, and is even more heaped with bat guano than the chamber you're in. There are bats hanging from the ceiling in there too, mostly undisturbed because the light from the lanterns hasn't reached this far.
Heddy: Was that hallway to the right a big guano-fest too? Because Ham is about ready to get out of the batshit instead of marching deeper into it.
Judge Claire: It looked pretty clear of guano, except the first few feet where there's some flow out from the room they're using for a roost.
MSG: If the bats are alerted by the light, maybe we should consider having the infravision crew investigate the area beyond the gates while everyone else either hangs back or explores the eastern corridor.
Heddy: Ham says, "Did you not just hear me say I wanted to get out of the batshit?"
Ariel: Without Ham there'd only be six of us, which doesn't sound like a lot to me as far as exploring into a huge-o unknown area.
Sasha: No guts, no glory. The Stamps dwarves would be up for it if you guys make the suggestion once you're back.
MSG: Well, I definitely don't think the three of us should go any further alone, so I'm for returning to the group and letting them know what we found.
Heddy: Glynette is Lawful and has 5 hit points, so she's a little more comfortable with the infravision scouting party idea than Ham, if that's how the party wants to go.
Akane: Kindly Miner is Lawful also ... but poor of hit points, so less excited in leaving the safety of numbers.
MSG: I just checked, and Brandy has infravision too. I was thinking elves only had dim-light vision, but that's some other game, I guess. So even if Ham stays behind, we've still got 7 people in the mini-party. My characters vote for that, particularly the two who wouldn't be putting themselves at risk.
Heddy: If we're voting, Shemp's in favor of that too.
Hettie: My surviving characters all give three cheers for democracy and vote to send our see-in-the-dark companions ahead.
Elle: Same here.
Ariel: I guess it sounds like we're doing that, then? But if we get in trouble, does everybody promise to run help us?
Akane: Is running through ponds of bat waste accomplishable?
Judge Claire: Those who've walked out into the stuff know it's pretty slippery. Running or even fighting in it would require some rolls to avoid slipping.
Heddy: All right, what's our marching order for the brave voluntold seven?
MSG: I'm okay putting Noor in the front row -- she's my number 1 in marching order anyway. Brandy has a shortbow, though, so she should be in back for missile fire support.
Ariel: Short can go up front.
Sasha: I'll put Stumbly in the middle row and Stubbly in the back, if that's all right.
Akane: Kindly Minely is weak in hit points and prefers rear positioning also. And would not mind borrowing a weapon of range, in fact.
Heddy: Shemp can loan you his sling. Which I guess leaves Glynette in the middle? She feels pretty safe with that.
Judge Claire: The gap in the great iron doors is wide enough to proceed through, and you find your presence without lights doesn't excite the bats into swarming. As you get further into the column-lined hall, the sound of the flapping maelstrom quiets slightly, turning into a hum of white-noise echoes. 
Heddy: Glynette is keeping an eye out for anything lurking behind those pillars.
Ariel: If Short's up front, he wants to keep going forward until we can see the other end of the hall, so we don't get surprised by something when we start searching around.
Sasha: Aye-aye from the miners.
MSG: Sure.
Judge Claire: Ahead of you, you see the hallway narrow slightly and end in a broad alcove without columns the far end of the alcove holds a large plinth strewn with rubble. There are doors to the east and west. It looks like the east one is slightly ajar. There are bats in the area as well, somewhat agitated. But it appears the floor is much less gunky here. You can see some trails worn in the guano leading to the east door.
Heddy: Can we tell how recent the trails look?
Judge Claire: Anyone have any hunting or similar background as a skill? If so, make an intelligence check.
MSG: Noor is a rat catcher. But I roll a 1, so ...
Judge Claire: So, I've decided when I call for a "check" and not a "roll," it's like a Luck check and you're trying to roll under your ability score. Otherwise I'll say "roll" and give you a DC to beat. So you wanted to roll low in this case, and it lets you tell the tracks are pretty recent because the guano isn't, you know, crusted over.
Heddy: Ew. I didn't need that explanatory detail.
MSG: So maybe somebody is still in that room. Is the door ajar enough for Brandy to use her spyglass to see into the room?
Judge Claire: I'll say "slightly ajar" is more than "open a crack," so sure. Make an Intelligence check to see if you can peer anything out. Or maybe a Luck check for something to be at a lucky angle you can spot. Your choice. 
MSG: My Intelligence and Luck are exactly the same, 14, and I roll ... 15. Can I say that was an Intelligence check and then spend a point of Luck to make it? I'm feeling nervous about what's behind this door for some reason.
Judge Claire: I'll allow it. Through the gap, you can see motion as of multiple figures. One stands where it's visible to you -- a humanoid creature with reptilian scales and a lizard-like head. It's holding a club and looks alert.
MSG: Hmm. Okay, here's an idea I whisper to my companions. What if we string a rope between these last two columns here, a little over ankle high. Then Brandy and Kindly can stand braced against the next set of pillars so hopefully we won't slip and fall firing our weapons. The rest of the group can hide behind that plinth or behind the corners where the hall narrows, and then we make some noise to see if we can get Lizard-Face to come out. If he and his pals rush to attack us, we ambush them. If they don't, we maybe back off and come back with more support.
Heddy: I like that a lot better than just going up and knocking on the door.
Ariel: Let's do it!
MSG: Noor will also have her net ready to throw over a couple of them if we get surprise on them.
Sasha: Badass!
Akane: Kindly approves of this plan also.
Judge Claire: Okay, position your characters, then.
Sasha: Hey, Stumbly's got a bunch of rope too -- a hundred feet of it from Buspar, because he was a ropemaker. Can we lay it out around Brandy and Kindly's pillar so they have better footing?
Judge Claire: Seems like plenty of rope for that, sure. With all these preparations, though, I think I'd better ask for a Luck check from whoever has the highest Luck, to avoid accidentally making enough noise early to alert the lizardmen.
Sasha: Stubbly's got a 15. Anyone higher? Great. And I easily make it 'cause my roll's a 4.
Judge Claire: Okay. Everyone's in position, then. 
Heddy: So what noise do we make?
Ariel: I don't know ... I guess Short will make an owl call or something. "Whoo! Whoo!"
Judge Claire: Nothing happens for a moment. Then you see the door open a bit wider, and the lizardman comes out and spots you. He sends up a call of alarm in his hissing language and rushes to attack the two intruders he spots. Everyone roll initiative.
Heddy: 16 for Glynette.
Ariel: Short gets an 11.
Sasha: Stamps siblings on seventeen!
Akane: 11 for Kindly.
MSG: 21 for my two.
Judge Claire: Okay. The one Brandy saw rushes out, followed closely by another one. There attention is on you, so the lead one needs a pretty good Reflex save to avoid going prone from tripping on the rope. He fails and goes down hard right here -- faceplant into guano. Number 2 sees his companion trip and has a little better chance ... makes it. He jumps across the rope, but comes down in the guano-patch and has to save to avoid slipping. He fails and is prone too. Two more come out more cautiously and end up here. You can all take your surprise round actions now. MSG?
MSG: Noor throws her net on the two just outside the door. How do we handle that?
Judge Claire: I'm going to say your to-hit roll becomes their Reflex save roll.
MSG: Ugh. That's a 5. You know what, Noor's number 1 in my cannon fodder order, so I'm spending 3 luck points to make that an 8.
Judge Claire: Use 'em or lose 'em, right? But both of them easily save.
MSG: Damn. Okay, Brandy fires an arrow at number 1. I assume 6 is a miss. 
Judge Claire: By a fair bit. Sash?
Sasha: Miner 49'ers dogpile on number 3! Yech. 9 for Stubbs, 7 for Stumbly.
Heddy: I'm next, right? Can I move to here and strike the prone guy with my staff without sliding in guano?
Judge Claire: Yes. We're going to say the last two columns are the edge of the batshit.
Heddy: 8.
MSG: Plus 2 for striking at a prone opponent.
Judge Claire: Still a miss.
Heddy: Bah.
Ariel: Short tries the same thing with his club. Pow! Wah, 8 even with the extra bonus.
Akane: Kindly sling shoots number 1. A miss.
MSG: Well that plan was a bust.
Judge Claire: Not quite yet. That was your surprise round. Now we go back to the top of the order, which is MSG.
MSG: Noor moves in and tries to club number 3, then. Does a 12 hit?
Judge Claire: I'm afraid not.
MSG: This is starting to feel like trouble. Does Brandy get the missile fire penalty for shooting at the downed lizardmen? It seems like from point blank it would be easier to hit them, not harder.
Judge Claire: I'll give you the bonus for now, since you really seem to need it.
MSG: Still a miss.
Sasha: A miss from Stubbly. But a 19 for Stumbly! Who has shit for damage, though because of her bad luck modifier. 1 point.
Heddy: Ye-- oh, come on. That was a 17 before it tipped onto 10. That's a 13 total. Hit?
Judge Claire: No.
Heddy: Oh, Christ. I spend a point of luck and if that still misses I say we get out of here.
Judge Claire: 14 turns it into a hit.
Heddy: Thank god. And some luck for a change, max damage. 4 points.
Ariel: 19 for Short! Maybe our luck's turning around! Only 2 points, though.
Judge Claire: The lizardmen rolled badly on initiative, so you're up, Akane.
Akane: Again, a miss.
Judge Claire: Their turn, then. Number one needs an easy Reflex check to stand up from the muck ... fails. Same for number 2. I assume Noor has the worst luck of you three, after spending those 3 points?
Sasha: You'd be wrong, because Stumbly only has a 4 luck, remember?
Judge Claire: Ooh, that right. Lizardman 3 attacks her then. That's a 19, for 4 points.
Sasha: Damn. This is going so far south. She's dead.
Akane: Oh no! So sorry for your loss, Stubbly.
Judge Claire: Well, now I'm pretty sure Noor has the worst luck there. Number 4 moves to attack her. You notice that number 4 appears injured, with some bandages on his leg and chest. Does a 9 hit?
MSG: Yeah. 
Judge Claire: 2 points, then.
MSG: Not fatal, at least. My turn? I'm definitely hitting the injured guy. No, not with a 5, I'm not. Sash?
Sasha: I like the thinning the herd idea, so I'll go for number 4 too. Finally a hit! 5 damage.
Judge Claire: That takes him down.
Sasha: That's for you, sis!
Heddy: A reliable miss from Glynette.
Ariel: Short too.
Akane: Poor slinging from Kindly as well.
MSG: Oh, I forgot to shoot with Brandy. Twang! Wow, we suck with this die.
Judge Claire: Their turn again, then. Number 1 successfully rises from prone! But slips and falls again when he tries to take a swing at Kindly. Number 2 gets up as well, wasting a natural 20 on it. He stays up when he swings at Brandy, for a 14, and 4 points of damage.
MSG: Wow, this is turning into a bad idea.
Judge Claire: Number 3 strikes at Noor, since she's still up. A 12, for 2 points.
MSG: She's done and down.
Judge Claire: Rough break on these dice so far. Sorry, guys.
Sasha: Stubbly smacks number 3 with a 7, and we're toast apparently, so I'll spend 7 Luck to make that a hit. 5 points of damage.
Heddy: Glynette can no longer reach number 1 now that he moved, right? Can I step across our rope and put my back to that column so I don't have the chance of slipping?
Judge Claire: You'd have to move really slow and careful and I wouldn't let you take an attack this round.
Heddy: What if I try leaping at number 2, swinging my staff while I'm in the air, and crashing into him so we both go down?
Judge Claire: That sounds more like a Mighty Deed of Arms for a Warrior, but you guys are in such bad shape I suppose I'll let you. If you hit, you'll do damange, and both of you go prone in the guano.
Heddy: What about if I crit, like that?
Sasha: Sweet!
Judge Claire: Your choice. Either keep your feet when you land, or roll on the crit table as normal.
Heddy: Too much strategy for me, but I like the chance of extra damage more than I trust my chance of hitting next round if I'm on my feet, so I'll take the crit roll. It's a 1, -1 for my luck is 0.
Judge Claire: You hit so hard it knocks your staff from your hand. Add a d6 to your damage, but you're now unarmed.
Heddy: 7 points.
Judge Claire: He's hit but not dead -- barely.
Heddy: Can I burn Luck to make him dead?
Judge Claire: How many points?
Heddy: I'm going to hope that "barely" means he's only got 1 left, so I spend 1.
Judge Claire: Dead.
Heddy: Whew!
Ariel: Short's turn, right? I don't feel too good about my chances of rolling a crit like that, so I'm going to go help Stubbly. You guys got this, Kindly and Glynette! I move over here and club-ola this lizard guy. That's an 8, so it would take 6 luck for me to hit him. Sheesh, though, I may not get a better chance, so I'll spend it.
Judge Claire: Dead. He had only 1 hit point left.
Ariel: Woohoo!
Akane: Kindly will punch this last lizardman. Hmm. It's 10 after bonuses ... I will expend 4 Luck points with sadness, reducing to only 13 luck.
Judge Claire: That takes him out, then. He's got 2 hit points left, but I know you have a damage bonus, so the 4 survivors get 4 xp each. 
MSG: So is it time to cross the bridge of whether people get to level up when they hit 10 xp?
Judge Claire: I don't think I'm ready for there to be 4 level 1 characters and still 16 level 0's, or however many it is. If you guys want to roll off on a d20, I'll let whoever rolls highest level up.
Heddy: I'm good with that.
Ariel: Sure.
Sasha: Already rolling ... 3.
Akane: My roll is 18.
MSG: Whoa, 19! Sorry, Akane.
Heddy: Still room for a 20, MSG. Nope, not from me.
Ariel: I get 8.
Akane: Wait. Only survivors got these xp, correct? You have survivors?
MSG: Oh. Good point. I got so excited about leveling up I forgot both my characters bit it.
Judge Claire: Akane it is, then.
Akane: Reviewing the book ... hmm. I roll a d10 for hit points ... sad, only 3. I pick one weapon for permanent luck bonus ... also sad that I spent those 4 Luck points! Only +1 now, not +2. I continue to have lucky fists ... now +3. Some better ability to attack with a "Deed Die," and some improvement on Saving Throws. It's an improvement over a level 0 character, definitely. But still I feel somewhat weak-ish.
MSG: Bummer on that hit point roll.
Judge Claire: So. With the excitement leveled off for the moment, what do you do?
Heddy: I don't have high hopes for gold from people armed with clubs, but I suppose we should still search the bodies.
Judge Claire: After wiping away the guano --
Heddy: Never mind.
Akane: Kindly will investigate past guano even if Glynette does not.
Judge Claire: You find these creatures had very little on them ... except that each carries a bundle of bandages, mosses and lichens to make dressings similar to those you saw on the one injured lizardman earlier. These are basically last-ditch first aid and will return 1d3 hit points to a character who is bleeding out. Heddy, bleeding out is what happens to characters of level 1 and higher. If healed within a number of rounds equal to their level, the character loses a point of stamina instead of dying. Normally  it's permanent, but with these healing packets, the stamina damage heals as normal for ability damage.
Heddy: Still, something I'd rather not experience. Well, for now I say we let Kindly carry them, since he's the only one they'll work on.
Ariel: We should also scrounge the stuff from our own guys who died. 
Sasha: Stubbly lays claim to his sister's goods.
Akane: It's appropriate for a brother to do so.
Heddy: Glynette will loot Noor's body since Brandy died in the muck and none of MSG's other characters are there to do it.
MSG: Fine by me. We're all villager pals as far as I know; whose characters are whose is just a convenience of play. Noor has a net, one day's rations, and 34 coppers.
Heddy: When that's done, I suppose we should look into the room they were occupying.
Judge Claire: Inside, you find a small chapel that appears to have been deliberately defaced. Fragments of an unidentifiable statue lie shattered on the floor in an alcove. At the back of the alcove is a decorative panel depicting stalks of grain. There's a small pile of dead centipedes -- much larger ones than normal -- with their heads removed. Some are cracked open and the insides missing. Others still writhe and twist in spite of being headless.
Ariel: I guess the lizard guys were munching on them for a snack?
Sasha: They must have killed them pretty recently for that, right? Otherwise these no-head ones would be more dead than they are.
Akane: Hmm. Is there a mystery of, where did the centipedes come from?
MSG: Maybe they were in here when the lizardmen got here.
Heddy: Hey, wait. Claire, you said the place was thoroughly defaced, but then you said we could tell the decorative panel showed stalks of grain. Does that mean it's intact?
Judge Claire: It does seem to be, yes.
Heddy: I'm going to check it out. Maybe there's a reason for that. Can it be removed? 
Judge Claire: Maybe. Make a DC10 Intelligence roll to see if you can figure it out. 
Heddy: 12.
Judge Claire: You find a catch along one side that allows it to swing open. 
Heddy: I'm not about to swing it all the way open without anyone being ready. Can I just peek through it a crack?
Judge Claire: Yes. There appears to be a hallway beyond, about 10' wide and running north to south.
Heddy: I close the panel back into place and let everyone else know what I found.
Ariel: Do you think maybe that hall and the hall we saw in the big room connect up somehow?
MSG: If they do, then we could bring everyone else through that route and have some backup to check out that door across the way. Oh, wait. I can't suggest that because both my guys are dead.
Heddy: I would have said the same thing, I think, given the chance. Anyone opposed to heading back and seeing if the rest of the party wants to try that unexplored hallway?
Ariel: Not me.
Sasha: I'm good with it.
Akane: Kindly accepts this plan.
Judge Claire: All right. You make it back without incident and inform the rest of the group.
Hettie: While we've been waiting here, an idea has percolated up in my head.
Ariel: Like, we should have coffee while we're playing? I could go for coffee if it's got enough cream and sugar in it!
Akane: Sugar can be optional, but cream I never refuse.
Hettie: I was actually speaking "in character." Since the bats in the room beyond the iron doors didn't swarm like this while the scouting party looked around in the dark, what if we shutter or shut off our lamps and have the infravision characters shuttle us across without light?
Ariel: Short's okay with that but my other characters are maybe on the fence.
Sasha: I'm fine with the idea.
Akane: Less appealing than coffee, but I do not object to it.
MSG: Sure, why not?
Heddy: What I would say is, we've already encountered a secret door, but we haven't had any traps befall us yet. So I'm expecting one any time now; I read up on these old modules between sessions and it sounded like traps were a big thing. So my addition to the proposal would be for some of the infravision crew to go down that east hall searching for traps and for more secret doors before we cluster our army of peasants in such a confined space.
Hettie: Are you volunteering your halflings, dear?
Heddy: Sure. Glynette is a bit emboldened by having survived the morass and melee she just went through, and Ham is getting antsy to do something.
Sasha: Stubbly's not in any emotional condition to go searching for traps or doors. But he'll go along with his dagger and club to whale on anything he can take his distress out on.
Akane: Kindly will attend for searching and defense as well.
Judge Claire: All right. Give me a marching order for those four.
Ariel: It's 10' wide, right? So we can go side by side in two rows and somebody taking up the rear alone. Short's okay being up front.
Sasha: Stubbly is gloomy enough to trudge in the back.
Akane: Kindly has greater leveling than others, so can go in a front row.
Heddy: My halflings can take up the second row, then.
Judge Claire: Okay, so how slow and careful do you take the searching? 10' a round, using your move to go the 10' and your action to search? Or slower than that?
Ariel: That sounds kinda fast to me if we're being super careful. How about just 5' a round?
Sasha: Sure. Gives Stubbs more time to deal with his grief.
Akane: Agreeable.
Judge Claire: Then if the halflings don't object, it takes you 8 rounds to search up all the way to the corner where the hall turns north. 8 Intelligence checks each.
Heddy: This is so many dice. Someone else go and I'll note all mine down.
Akane: Kindly is in front and searches this way: twice successful, then a failure. Then success, failure, success, failure, success, and two failures.
Ariel: Uh ... yes, no, no, no, yes, yes, yes, no.
Heddy: All right, for Ham, on the left, it's no, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, no. For Glynette, yes, yes, no, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.
Judge Claire: You make it to the corner with no traps encountered and no secret doors discovered. 
Heddy: I'll take it.
Judge Claire: The corridor extends northward, and at the far extent of your dwarves' infravision, takes a turn left again.
Heddy: How about if we start shuttling, then, and the characters who need a light can put one on around the corner from the bat room and start searching while we finish leading everyone through the dark.
Ariel: We don't need to shuttle one at a time, do we? Like, one infravision person could hold hands with a human, and then the human could hold hands with the next human, right?
Elle: That sounds great ... until a wandering monster takes out the first human in line and leaves all the others flailing in the dark.
Ariel: Oh. Yeah, I guess one at a time is better, then.
Judge Claire: Shuttling order for the humans, then.
MSG: Can we just assume our normal 1, 2, 3, 4 order by player instead of talking that all the way through?
Judge Claire: Sure, that's a better idea. So, to avoid infinite die rolling, I'm going to give a spoiler and say there might be one thing to find in this section of hallway, or there might be nothing. So each character roll one Intelligence check to see if you find the something or don't find the nothing.
Hettie: I'm disquieted by the double-negative, but fine. Noir is in the front row, and succeeds. Antwerp succeeds, and Tandy as well.
Ariel: Granny is so dumb! She definitely fails. Short too. Then Vinnie makes it, and Ruri blows it bad.
Akane: Nanda ... success. Pestra --
Judge Claire: No need to go any further. Nanda is on the right and in front, so she finds the unusual thing 40' along the wall. Like the other chambers down here, this hallway has plastered walls, and Nanda spots an area about the size of a door where the plaster seems to be just slightly recessed.
Heddy: Ooh, promising!
Akane: Maybe. Nanda has suspicions. She will look very carefully. Is any sign see-able that this area can actually be opened, without chipping away the plaster covering?
Judge Claire: Make a DC10 Intelligence roll.
Akane: Success with a 13.
Judge Claire: It seems to just be completely plastered over.
Hettie: Noir is right next to Nanda. If it's obvious what she's looking at, I think I see her concern. If the plaster is the same age as the rest of this area's walls, it seems probable no one has come out from that direction in centuries. Which means it's possible that something beyond has prevented anyone from coming out in centuries.
Akane: Nanda considered it just so as well.
Sasha: Connie Tistra's a con artist, so she smells potential treasure. Like, whatever else is in this dungeon, other adventurers have had a shot at it all these centuries, but they haven't as far as what's behind that plaster, right?
Ariel: Hey! I just remembered Ruri is a fortune teller! Can I use my tarot cards to see if it seems like a good idea to chip away this stuff and go in there?
Judge Claire: Make a Luck check. 
Ariel: Easy, with a 2!
Judge Claire: I don't know all that much about tarot cards, but I know there's a Death card, and that one comes up in a position that indicates grave danger.
Sasha: Yeah, yeah. Wouldn't it come up that way anywhere in this place? What about treasure? Any indication of that?
Judge Claire: Yes, but overall, Ruri has a bad feeling about opening the area up.
Ariel: Plus, I didn't say I did my tarot stuff out loud, Sash. So Connie doesn't know what I'm learning yet.
Sasha: Well, even when you tell her, it's not like you're a wizard or anything, right? Seems like just mumbo jumbo to Connie.
Ariel: I tell everybody the cards say there's death behind that plaster for sure.
Hettie: That's good enough for Noir.
Akane: Nanda also.
Sasha: Connie says you guys are pussies and tries to convince everybody else we should check it out.
Akane: If all from the same village, we know the intelligence of Noir and Nanda, yes? My other character find Connie lacks convincingness.
Ariel: Granny's dumb and pretty fearless, plus she's old and maybe not that far from dying anyway. So she's good with going for it. Vinnie's on the fence. But Short and Ruri are definitely against.
Sasha: Stubbly is in a fatalistic mood and says he's fine facing down death.
Akane: Kindly points out ... how many more rooms to explore on level 1? If those don't enrich us, we can return here. This logic persuades Pestra. Nanda already expressed her dislike.
MSG: My guys would go if the whole group was going, but Chopper would rather we all stick together. Carson's thinking about it. If the party splits, he might go in with Connie's group. 
Heddy: Glynette knows there's a secret door somewhere ahead if we keep going down this hall, and there's still that one door to explore in the bat area. My group isn't into ignoring that Death card.
Elle: So that's 3 in favor, maybe 4 or 5 with Vinnie and Carson ... my most chaotic and cannon-fodder character is dead, and as far as the others, Mendi is Lawful, so no splitting the group for her. Nora's chaotic, so she's a maybe. Imlero is not the brightest, so another maybe.
Judge Claire: It sounds like Connie has a decision to make as to whether she wants to initiate a split.
Sasha: Connie's pretty set on it, but she's also only got a 6 Personality, so she knows people don't normally listen to her. I actually think it's a terrible idea, so I'm going to make a Luck check, and if I miss by a lot, she goes for what I think is a bad decision. Oof. Natural 20.
Akane: Seems like fate desires Connie to go through the plastered door.
Sasha: Time to shit or get off the pot then, people. Who's definitely with Connie?
Akane: Kindly attempts to persuade others of the foolishness of this con artist. His Personality is opposite of hers: 16.
MSG: Sounds like time for them to make a roll-off for the characters on the fence.
Judge Claire: I don't want to make anyone send their character in a questionable direction just on the roll of the dice, but let's see how well the two of them make their case. Roll d20 and add your Personality modifiers.
Sasha: Connie winds up with a total of 4.
Akane: For Kindly, 16.
MSG: That gets Carson off the fence. I'm with the smooth-talking dwarf.
Elle: Yeah, if Connie hadn't flubbed it, Imlero might have gone with her, but she got her ass handed to her in that debate, so my two on-the-fencers are off now.
Ariel: Vinnie buys into what Kindly says. Granny's dumb, but she's not crazy. If nobody else is into it, she's for going on. 
Sasha: Stubbly will listen to his fellow dwarf.
Judge Claire: That leaves Connie pretty much holding the bag, if I'm hearing right. Is she stubborn enough to try going on her own?
Sasha: Maybe, but she doesn't have a torch or a lantern, so she just gets pissed at everybody and gives up.
Judge Claire: The wandering monster die doesn't come up with an encounter while you're debating, so if the party's ready to move on, around the bend is another 35 feet of hallway and a turn to the right. This time, I want Granny and Noir to give me a d10 roll modified by Intelligence.
Heddy: Should we be nervous that it's just a d10 not a d20?
Hettie: Skill checks in this game are done with a d10 if you're not trained in the skill, so it might mean we're rolling a Find Traps roll. My roll is 10 plus 2 is 12.
Judge Claire: No need for Granny to roll, then, because Noir finds a pressure plate on the floor -- clearly some kind of trap.
Hettie: Can I determine the borders of the pressure plate?
Judge Claire: Yes. It's big enough that it would take a DC 7 Agility check to clear it.
Heddy: So statistically, somebody out of our army of characters is going to set the thing off.
MSG: That's what my math says too.
Heddy: How about a new plan, then?
Sasha: Connie immediately says, "Back to the plastered-up door!"
Heddy: No, Shemp is going to say we should go back and use our infravision shuttling strategy to get everyone to that room we found the secret door in. Glynette groans at the prospect of trudging through more guano, but agrees that makes more sense than having somebody spring the trap and die.
Hettie: I'm for it.
Elle: Me too.
Ariel: If Granny was Chaotic I bet she'd say, "Come on, you whippersnappers! How hard is it to jump across a little stretch o' floor like that?" And then just jump to show them. But since she's Neutral I don't think she would. My other guys are okay with Shemp's idea.
Sasha: Stubbly is too. Connie's just pissed off about everything, but she doesn't have much choice.
Akane: Back to the bat rooms, my characters agree.
MSG: Mine too.
Judge Claire: All right then, let's pick up there next session.
Heddy: I think I'm starting to get into this game.
Hettie: It's an acquired taste, but it has its charms.
Elle: Nice gamemastering, Claire.
Ariel: Yeah!
Sasha: Although if somebody had stepped on that pressure plate and died, we all could have gotten another 3 xp.
Judge Claire: Brutal, but true. We'll see how things go next time!