Regular, real world crocs are scary as it is. Going up against one in a tunnel where you can't maneuver, with mostly pre-gunpowder weapons? Sod that for a game of soldiers, at Pratchett says.
Expanding on my point: Crocs can go from over 200 pounds (Mugger crocs, responsible for hundreds of attacks a year in India) to over two THOUSAND pounds (Saltwater crocs, which are intercontinental). Now you want to add 'Dire' to that?
Humans have been hunting crocs for fun and safety for thousands of years. Plus you have someone in the group who knows about chemicals and explosives and poisons. There are so VERY nasty poisons that anyone can make with just a tiny bit of knowledge of botany/chemistry/biology. Also, killing crocs is not easy but its not hard either. Just poison some chicken carcasses.
the woman has a point about the pipe thou "how do you smell anything other than shit?" it's easy, it's the fact that it smells like SOMETHING OTHER THAN SHIT is what will draw the monsters attention. a perfect example of this is in yu yu hakshou when kurama killed the first of the four saint beast by filling the room with the smell of flowers because of that the rancid smell of the enemy stood out sharply and he was easy to find, the same thing applies here
Does that make it safer or is it even harder on the lungs? I feel like the differences between an alchemist's tobacco and normal tobacco would speak a lot about the profession as a whole.
Does not look like the communication of important details in that group goes well.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqTACZSFKeQ
...she said, at the top of her lungs, without a trace of irony.