[IC] Into the Darkness

"Indeed. It seems to fear the fire." Mart agrees. "I don't know this species in particular, but I suspect we should avoid being bitten either way." He looks at the cowering creature. "It probably won't risk attacking us head on unless we're restricted." He adds with some general spider knowledge. "Yes, closing the door will surely deny it entry to the next room."

"Perhaps we can drag the body back a bit so we can inspect it safely." Mart hands the torch to Magnus and tries to pull the body towards them and away from the spider.

[ +- ] Map

Edit here

"Son of a ...!" Mart shouts suddenly, as he pulls on the corpse. "Watch out, there's another one behind us." Did we miss that one when we came in? he thinks to himself. They were very focused on the noise in the back of the corridor, so it's not unlikely that they completely failed to notice this spider.

"Let's follow Hastali's idea and get into the next room, then close the door." He proposes.
In the mean time, he checks the body to see what killed it and if there's anything noteworthy on its person.

Given Mart's words, Hastali suggests proceeding to the next room. He suggests adopting a "safety" formation. He or Magnus (but Hastali suggests himself because he doesn't have enough confidence in Magnus's physical abilities at the moment) will enter through the wooden door. Mart will stand between them with the torch, and the remaining scout (as mentioned, Hastali suggests Magnus) will stand to monitor their exit from the spider room.
This way, they should be able to defend themselves from any spider attacks without turning their backs on them, while also protecting themselves from whatever they might find in the next room.
Before proceeding, however, Hastali waits for Mart to finish searching the corpse. He also waits for Mart to strip him of anything that might be useful as loot or for the continuation of the mission.

After this, he waits to hear what his companions think of his proposal.

Checking the body while Magnus holds the sputtering torch aloft to keep the spiders at a distance, Mart finds several sets of fang marks on the body. Given the creature's facial expression, it must have died in agony.Magnus lights up a fresh torch off the dying one and hands it back to Mart as Hastali calls out new marching orders. He shifts his dagger back to his main hand and watches for movement from the waiting spiders, muttering: "I hope whatever's on the other side of that door is easier to deal with than these monsters. I'm used to stepping on spiders, not fending them off with fire!"

The creatures do indeed inch along the walls toward the party as the pool of torchlight moves toward the side of the room with the door, but the fresh torch continues to hold them at bay.

Meanwhile, Hastali's check of the door reveals no evidence of traps, but it's locked shut. Options include:

• Spending some time to pick the lock (could burn an additional torch)
• Breaking the door down (could alert whatever's on the other side; can't shut a broken door)

Mart snatches up the brass key. He'll mention it to the others in the next room.

He takes the new torch from Magnus. "Give me that old torch too. I can use it as a cudgel." He tells him, taking the sputtering torch into his good hand. Having no real weapons himself, it'll might prove useful to him.

"A locked door?" Mart asks to confirm. "Here, try this key I just found on this person. It appears he's got big fang marks. I'd conclude that these spiders are indeed not friendly! But they do already have a meal ready for them. So they may leave us alone if we leave them with the body."

He hands the key to Hastali for him to try on the door. "Otherwise, if you think you can pick the lock, we'll try to buy you some time for it."
He jabs the torch at one of the spiders that had gotten a little too close for comfort.

Hastali turns to Mart and tells him to pass him the key. He'll try to open the door. Otherwise, he prepares to open it, keeping an eye out for what he'll find on the other side.

Hastali uses his torch to check for spiders on the ceiling or walls. He also looks around carefully to determine if there are any other threats. If there are no other threats, he then proceeds to enter the room and cautiously approach the sarcophagus. He inspects it without touching it to better understand what it is by looking at it up close.

"Go on." Mart tells Magnus to let him through the door. Then he follows behind, his front facing the spiders to keep them at bay with the flames of the torch. "Stay back, you two!" He calls out to the fanged creatures.

"Is it safe in there?" He asks the others, but he doesn't wait for an answer. Slowly he backs his way into the other room before trying to close the door with his foot.

Mart closes the door, keeping the spiders on the other side. "Alright. I don't think they'll get through." He looks at the others. "Everyone ok? If you need healing, I've brought some leeches." unfortunately for the leeches, it seems that nobody got hurt.

Then Mart turns his focus to the new casket. "Perhaps this one holds the artifact we're looking for." He brings his torch closer to get a good look. He searches for any interesting looking markings.