Wormsnacks: An Age of Worms story hour (updated 9/4)

[dungeon blaster]

The following journal is an account of the adventures of my Age of Worms campaign, set in Greyhawk. The campaign began in late March, with the characters starting off at 3rd level (because I heard that the AP was quite difficult).

The Players

Ehrune of Dyvers (swash 2/wiz 3) - a daring swashbuckler with a fascination for magic, and increasingly interested in necromancy. Ehrune works as Allustan's gardner, housekeeper, manservant, and hopeful apprentice. Treasured possession: wand of magic missile (CL 3rd, 50 charges)

Lindingar of the Frostfells (spirit shm 4) - halfling spirit shaman seeking adventure. Lindingar has been spending the last several months at the Bronzewood Lodge. Treasured possession: boots of the winterlands

Etherik McCarr (warl 4) - a pragmatic warlock seeking to unravel the mysterious of his eldritch powers. Etherik works at the Emporium as a 'freak'. Treasured possession: ring of protection +1

Hiro (clr 3) - a hulking half-orc cleric of Hieroneous. Treasured possession: his faith

Link to Rogues Gallery

 

[dungeon blaster]

1 Reaping, 595 CY.

The adventure began like any other. Burdened with unpaid debts, living by the sweat off one's back, wishing for a way out.

A group of adventures had been hanging around town for the last few days, spending gold as if they had an endless supply, frquenting the local pubs, and asking questions about the cairns nestled away in the hills. Nothing new about that; treasure hunters abound in this area, all thinking they will find a 'long lost cairn' filled with riches untold. Yet this group seemed different, like they were really on to something. Until the burly fighter spouted something about the 'Stirgenest Cairn' and Ehrune realized that they were just another group of addle-brained dungeon delvers. Everyone knew the Stirgenest Cairn was looted long ago. Obviously these folk didn't do their proper research, unlike Ehrune, who preferred careful planning before an expedition. 'Course he hadn't exactly planned carefully enough to avoid going to jail and being sentenced to two years hard labor in the Diamond Lake mines. He'd probably still be there now if it weren't for the local sage Allustan recognizing the young miscreant's potential and convincing the mayor to give him probation.

Ehrune couldn't help but wonder if any undiscovered cairns did exist...unlikely as that may be. If he got ahold of some old maps, perhaps he could find something overlooked by others. Hey, it had happened before, this could just be his night.

 

[dungeon blaster]

Ehrune knew he had found something special. Well, rather, the local cartogropher had found something special, but is was all on account of Ehrune pushing and prodding him to look over his oldest maps for signs of undiscovered cairns. And there it was, scrawled in a barely legible hand and marked with a small triangle, 'Whispering Cairn'.

Of course, a copy of the map was neccessary, and the old cartogropher didn't part with one easily. Said he was looking forward to retirement. He asked for a half-share, but Ehrune bargained him down to a third-share. Map in hand, Ehrune set forth to gather a posse. Even a mud-headed half-orc knew that exploring bandit-infested lands alone was apt to end poorly. 'Riches and fame await the bold. Expedition to undiscovered cairn. Only the strong of body, heart, and mind need apply. Meet at the Menhirs after dusk' he wrote on a small note and passed around. He guessed that most of the people who would show would just be there out of curiousity, but he hoped that a few would have the talents he required.

At dusk they arrived, alone or in small groups. He counted forty-three people in all, most of them miners and of no use to him. They waited for him to speak and he spoke, describing in vague terms what he had planned. Most of the people left after a few minutes, but a few lingered, and he spoke with these people one-on-one. By midnight he had found only one who was both willing to join him and possessed useful abilities. It was one of the men from the Emporium. He said his name was Etherik and that he had magical powers. 'Like a wizard?' 'No.' 'Like a sorcerer.' 'No.' 'Then what are you?' 'Don't know.'

It wasn't a good start, but it was a start.

 

[dungeon blaster]

2 Reaping, 595 CY.

The two set out the next morning for the Bronzewood Lodge. They had heard of a local guide who helped the Free City Adventurers, as they were being called, and might be willing to be their guide. Once at the Lodge, they requested a meeting with the guide. Quite unexpectedly, a halfling clothed in dirty animal hide stepped forth and greeted them. He called himself Lindingar of the Frostfells and said that he had served as guide to the last group of adventurers, and if given the map and a few gold for his efforts, could assist them in finding the Whispering Cairn.

By late afternoon they reached the area of the Cairn Hills where the Whispering Cairn was supposedly located. It took some searching, but eventually they found a weed enshrouded entrance in one of the hills, along with several wolf tracks. Ehrune asked Lindingar to join them in explorign the Cairn, even offering him a share of the treasure, but the halfling shaman refused, citing some nonsense about disturbing the dead, and how money wasn't important to him . 'But think of the spirits that might be in there?' Ehrune mused. In the end, Lindingar agreed and the three treasure hunters entered the cairn.

Their first encounter with dangerous adversaries came relatively early on while exploring the cairn entrance. After finding a tattered bedroll and a strange relic that looked like part of a mirror frame, they were set upon by a trio of ravenous wolves, the alpha wolf bearing a deep scar across its muzzle. Lindingar stepped forward, cooing softly to the ferocious beasts. 'Don't worry, I am a friend of animals!' Lindingar proudly proclaimed. Unfortunately, these wolves hadn't eaten in a week and weren't about to let a little friendship get in the way of a full belly. Ehrune moved to defend the poor halfling, stabbing somewhat wildly at the wolves with his rapier. Although they managed to slay the wolves, they were not without injuries of their own. Ehrune took a particularly nasty bite (for 12 points of damage, nearly dropping him into the negatives.) Animal friend hmm? Riiiiight.

Their first encounter a victory (well, they didn't die at least), the trio continued their exploration of the enigmatic Whispering Cairn. Sibilant voices seemed to emanate from the walls, speaking in an unknown language (doooo not seeek the treasuuuure). Well, it was treasure they sought, and treasure they would find or so help them!

Further exploration revealed a collapsed alcove (nothing there, waste of time), the wolf den (containing a colored lantern) and an alcove featuring a fresco of seven halls with seven lit lanterns of varying colors. The main passageway continued further down, but was obscured by old cobwebs, and we all know that cobwebs are impassable, right? Not for this hardy band of heroes!

Beyond the cobwebs, they discovered the seven halled chamber depicted in the fresco, in the center of which rested a large stone sarcophagus. Wisely deciding NOT to open the sarcophagus, the group instead investigated the various alcoves. A strange green light emanated from the north-most alcove, but turned out to merely be a green lantern (sans cosmic powers or cool rings) with an everburning candle inside. Turns out that several of the alcoves had lanterns of their own, of various colors and all of them unlit, but two alcoves were missing their lanterns. Careful searching revealed that the sarcophagus rested on an arrow-shaped platform that could spin...so the adventuers pushed the sarcophagus with all their brawny might. The platform slowly began to spin, clicking as the arrow pointed at each of the alcoves. Upon reaching the alcove containing the green lantern, a sudden screech and an ominous rumbling emerged from the alcove. A moment later, a strange steel cylinder arose out of the alcove floor and a door slid open.

Ehrune looked with concern at the device. 'some kind of mechanical contraption, I believe'

'yep' Lindingar answered, as if he knew a thing about mechanical contraptions.

The trio decided to test the strange device by placing a large, heavy rock inside. The door slid shut and the device sank back into the floor, screeching in protest all the while. They waited for something to happen.

Nothing.

'Let's try spinning the coffin some more', suggested Lindingar.

So, they continued to spin the platform, causing another cylinder to rise from a different alcove. Finally they had made a full rotation and landed the arrow back on the green alcove, and the screeching began anew. Only this time it sounded far, far worse.

'probably the rock'.

With a screeching crash, the elavator collapsed, plummeting to the floor below. Moments later, a swarm of beetled erupted from the shaft, causing the trio to flee in panic. These were no ordinary beetles. Each was the size of a man's hand, with a shiny greenish-black carapace, and exuded a noxious, burning stench. Acid beetles. What's worse, a strange aberration called a mad slasher (like a crab with one freakin' huge eye) emerged from the shaft and raced towards the fleeing adventurers. Proving once again that you only need to be faster than your slowest friend, the taller and unarmored Ehrune and Etherik quickly outpaced the armored halfling. Damn stubby halfling legs! I suppose it was the thought of their new companion's impending gruesome death, or perhaps it was the realization that they didn't know how to get home, but the two fleet-footed adventurers attempted to buy the halfling some time by attacking the mad slasher with eldrtich blasts and magic missiles. It worked. The slasher was near dead by the time it reached them and a couple more blasts finished it off.

'Er, how does it eat?' Ehrune wondered.

But it wasn't the time for an anatomy lesson, as a swarm of acid beetles continued to give chase. The trio high-tailed it out of the Cairn, not looking back until they had reached Diamond Lake.

 

[dungeon blaster]

Caught between a rock and a hard face

4 Reaping, 595 CY

After restocking much-needed supplies, Ehrune and Etherik returned to the Cairn with a new companion in tow. He was an oiled and muscled ex-gladiator-turned-mine merchant bodyguard named Ferros, and he looked capable of handling whatever the Cairn threw at them; or so they hoped. They were only three instead of four because Lindingar had to take care of some business back at the Bronzewood Lodge, although he promised to join them as soon as he could (the player wasn’t at the session). Ehrune remembered Ferros from that first meeting a few nights ago. Why hadn’t he offered his services then?

Once they were back at the Cairn, Ehterik made a gruesome discovery. The three wolves they had slain were now completely devoid of flesh or tissue, their skeletons gleaming as if bathed in acid (which they were). Etherik grabbed alpha wolf’s skull and tucked it into his pack. Further on they found the skeleton of the mad slasher. Ehrune overturned the slasher’s skeleton. ‘Ah, that must be where its mouth was’.

A quick deliberation turned into a solid plan. Pour oil around the edge of the shaft, call out the beetles, and burn the sh*t outta them! The plan worked. The beetle swarm exited the shaft and was immediately doused with flaming oil and alchemist’s fire. Ferros assisted with the flat part of his shovel. Once the beetle threat had been neutralized, the trio clambered down the acid-pitted shaft, trying not to gag on the acrid fumes. At the bottom of the shaft they found several rooms populated with more acid beetles. With fire in hand, the beetles were more a nuisance than a threat, but the same could not be said for the two giant bombardier beetles they encountered. In the ensuing melee, one of the bombardier beetles let loose a stream of acid directly into the warlock’s face. He screamed in pain as his attractive features marred somewhat, but managed to continue to fight until both beetles were slain. In one of the side rooms they noticed a statue holding a hammer and a smashed skeleton. ‘hmmm…now what could that be? Survey says: a trap!’ Hooking the statue’s arm with a grappling hook, they yanked the statue down and cheered in victory! Considering how much of the Cairn yet lay unexplored, they shouldn’t have declared ‘mission accomplished’ quite so soon.

Continued exploration revealed a room with a basin containing a hardened orange sludge that the beetles had evidently turned into a nest. Digging through the paper-mache-like substance, they discovered several potions of healing and a magical ring with a feather motif. Sweet! Magic items R0x0r!

Further down the main corridor, they discovered a water-filled stairway. Etherik cheerfully began to wash the acidic spray off his mangled mug, failing to notice the water beside him coalescing into a fist. KAPOW! Right in the friggin’ eye! He stumbled back as the insane water elemental readied to give him another shiner.

Deciding that they didn’t have the proper tools to defeat a creature of living water, the group backtracked to the lantern room. They hadn’t explored wherever the yellow lantern elevator went to, so that seemed like the next logical choice. It led to a series of rooms, one of which contained more orange oatmeal and a thick layer of brown mold. They noticed that the mold seemed to grow as they approached it. Interesting. It also seemed attracted to the heat of their torch. Even more interesting. Perhaps we should throw our torch on it and see what happens. Very interesting. Well, not so much interesting as a total disaster. They barely made it out of the room alive as the mold exploded outward with burst of frigid cold that drained the heat from their bones. At least one lessoned was learned: fire + beetles = good. Fire + mold = BAD.

Once again, in what would become a recurring theme, the adventurers retreated. There was only a couple possible areas to explore, until they found a way past the water elemental and the mold that is. The first was a third elevator, although they didn’t particularly want to test it since they had found a skeleton inside with a smashed skull and some dried blood on the ceiling of the elevator. Their other option was an opening near the ceiling of one of the alcoves, a good 50’ up and accessible via the lantern chain. The found a skeleton on the floor of that alcove, too. Two paths, two skeletons.

A group huddle decided in favor of the opening, so a couple of climb checks later saw them at the entrance of a long, straight corridor extending beyond the scope of their vision. Slowly and methodically, the group moved down the passageway, taking care not to set off any tripwires, pressure plates, that sort of thing. Of course, none of them being thieves or having more than a couple ranks in Search, it really didn’t mean beans. They were fubar’d from the start. They saw at the end of the corridor a large stone face, mouth agape, with fist-sized crystals for eyes.

Ehrune: ‘Judging from the position of the mouth and the location of the skeleton below, I posit that this is some sort of trap that uses a force, wind perhaps, to deposit one over the far edge of this corridor. What should we do?’

Etherik: ‘Keep going’

Keep going they did. Right up until the point when the stone face’s eyes lit up with the care-bear stare of death. Although none of them failed their Will save, one by one they began to slide towards the opening at the far end. Ehrune, having given the ring of feather fall to Ferros, was of course the first to plummet off the edge to the cold stone floor 50 feet below. It wasn’t the fall that hurt so much as the landing…and then the second landing when Etherik fell on top of him, plunging him into the negatives. Ferros, of course, fared much better and was able to resuscitate the feebly twitching swashbuckler-mage using the healing potions they had found. Realizing that once again they were unprepared to venture further, the group returned to Diamond Lake.

 

[Fiasco]

This is a very entertaining writeup. Keep it up!

 

[the Jester]

I agree, so far I really like this!

 

[dungeon blaster]

I'll get you my pretty, and your little dog too!

Back at Diamond Lake, Ehrune ran off to go see his master, Allustan, while Etherik ambled over to the Feral Dog, a local pub of some repute (but none of it good). Ferros skulked away, magical ring still on hand.

The Feral Dog was the kind of pub you visit when you just want to relax, unwind, and maybe stab someone over a game of dragon ante. Mostly miners frequented the establishment, drinking away their hard-earned coppers in a haze of self-pity and depression. Fights were common, be they dog fights in the ring or just a couple of locals going at it. All in all, the place was a complete dump, run by dishonest thieves and frequented by unwashed yokels. It was Etherik's kind of place.

He took a seat at the bar, as usual. You see, he didn't really have any friends, except for Shag the Gentleman Quaggoth back at the Emporium, and so he couldn't really take a table all to himself, nor was he going to share space with some dirty miner who would probably recognize him as one of the 'Emporium freaks'. Besides, the bar offered some good seating to watch the dog fights that occurred on the lower floor. A large hole with a short wood rail allowed tavern patrons to watch the fight without falling in. Luckily for Etherik, there would be just such a fight that night.

He was on his third drink, the dog fight had just begun, and he was starting to feel good when Lindingar appeared beside him. The little halfling clearly was uncomfortable with the concept of two animals tearing each other to bits for the enjoyment of the spectators, but there was obviously little he could do about it. Lindingar grimaced, but remained silent.

The fight didn't last long; the resident champion 'Killer' proved his namesake true. Money changed hands and more drinks were ordered. An argument between two miners over a bet escalated into a fight, and then into an all-out bar room brawl with Etherik and Lindingar caught right in the middle! Fists, chairs, and mugs flying, the two attempted to extricate themselves from the mess. However, once one of the drunks fell into the pit, Lindingar realized that his unique skills could save the man's life and he leapt into the pit. 'Killer' had already begun to savage the poor guy, who could only shield his face with his arms and cry out for help. Lindingar slowly approached the feral dog, calling out to it with soothing words....goood doggy...nice doggy. His words, assisted with the magic of a charm animal spell, did the job. After healing the wrecked man, Lindingar, along with his new animal friend, bolted up the stairs to the main floor and headed towards the front door. Unbeknownst to the halfling, bets had been placed on the dog versus the drunk, and Lindingar’s interference wasn’t looked on kindly. He realized that he had done something wrong when the large albino half-orc at the end of the bar stood up and began moving straight towards him, scowling and clenching his fists in an ‘i’m gonna pummel you into halfling paste’ kind of way. Behind the half-orc followed a couple of toughs, one a wiry looking goon with matted hair and a sickly complexion, the other a burly warrior with large, meaty arms. The half-orc’s name was Kullen and he was notoriously violent. He and the other two were local toughs in the employ of one of the mine managers, Balabar Smenk. No one messed with these guys, except maybe forces from the Garrison, and even they didn’t tangle with Smenk.

Etherik saw the impending disaster and moved to assist his companion. The two (and ‘Killer’) fled the tavern, hiding behind the church of St. Cuthbert until the coast was clear. For Etherik, hiding behind a church was the closest he had ever come to a "religious experience".

‘what should I call him?’ Lindingar asked?

‘what?’

‘my dog! What should I call him?’

‘uh…kujo?’

‘….how about Feral?’

‘sure, whatever. Just make sure you keep him in check. That charm spell won’t last forever.’
Lindingar nuzzled up to the mangy dog, its fur still matted in human and dog blood. ‘yes, you’re a good Feral, aren’t you? Yes you are!’ Feral licked him with a wet, bloody tongue.

 

[dungeon blaster]

Meanwhile, Ehrune had met with his master, Allustan, and traded some shards of a strange black stone he had found in the Cairn for the permission to copy the ray of frost spell from Allustan’s spellbook. Allustan examined the glyphs Ehrune discovered in the Cairn; he didn’t know what they meant, but guessed that they were personal glyphs.

It was about this time that Ehrune attempted to recover his magic ring and things took a turn for the weird.

The swashbuckling mage met with Ferros to discuss the terms of the ring's return to its rightful owner. Ferros demanded 500 gp as payment for his services, which seemed like an awful lot of money for an awful little amount of service. Ehrune said he’d think on it, but would like to hold the ring until the matter was settled. Ferros looked at him like he was nuts and began walking from Allustan’s back to his pad.

Etherik, who had just been walking up the path at that moment and saw that the ring was still on Ferros’s finger, decided that if Ferros was dead it would be pretty easy to get the ring back. So he hit him with an eldritch blast. At this point several jaws dropped around the game table. Wait, what just happened? Did this minor encounter suddenly turn into a Player vs. Player combat? Did it just get brought?!

Etherik and Ferros attacked each other relentlessly, eldritch blast versus one-hand-wielded bastard sword, with a few magic missiles thrown in the mix by Ehrune. It looked bad for both of them, with the next successful hit likely to drop the other, when Allustan finally appeared and declared the fight a draw with a deep slumber spell (yeah, half-elves are technically immune, but we forgot). The local sheriff and his men arrested Etherik and off to jail he and Ferros went. As they were being arrested, Ferros looked to Etherik and solemnly vowed that the next time they met, he would kill him. Etherik just wrote Ferros’s name on his list of ‘people to whom I hold a grudge and must eventually destroy’ (the list is starting to grow long, as he is much better at making enemies than destroying them).

Of course, its pretty hard to contain a warlock that can blast through metal bars (given time), create darkness at will, and climb like a spider. The point being, he escaped the jail and became an official ‘escaped criminal’. This turn of events would have lasting repercussions.

 

[dungeon blaster]

I see undead people

5 Reaping, 595 CY

Ehrune, Etherik, and Lindingar returned to the Cairn the next morning, intent on further exploring its innermost secrets. Back down the yellow elevator, Ehrune unleashed a couple ray of frost spells on the brown mold, destroying it. Past the mold they found another chamber, and inside stood a strange black stone ‘egg’ on a red metal pedestal. A gold triangular symbol was etched into the face of the egg. As Etherik moved to examine the egg, it suddenly moved, uncurling itself as a man who was sitting on his haunches would stand. It spoke in a harsh, grating tongue that sounded like stone scraping stone, but whatever the hell it said no one could understand. The halfling spirit shaman closed his eyes and concentrated, stretching out his will, feeling for the presence of spirits…he felt it! It was a spirit of the earth, an elemental! Suddenly, the creature struck out at Etherik with a stony fist, driving the wind out of him and causing him to let out a grunt of pain.

‘Two can play at that game!’ Lindingar shouted as he summoned the power to chastise the elemental. ‘I chastise you! Bad elemental!’ Blue energy crackled through the elemental, flaring in the cracks of its rocky carapace and blasting it into small shards.

‘Whoa.’ Ehrune had never seen THAT before.

‘Spirits are my specialty’, Lindingar grinned.

At the other end of the room stood a statue, and in one of its hands it held a stone rod. Etherik noticed that the rod bore six evenly space grooves, as if it were segmented like a worm. ‘not magical’ Etherik answered before Ehrune could finish asking.

A thorough examination of an adjoining room revealed an already-sprung trap, a few curious valuables, and what appeared to the be springer of said trap, clearly long dead and flat as a pancake. The three small statuettes were not magical, but the two wands, the goggles, and the mangled chainmail glowed in Etheriks magic detecting vision. Magic items. Sweeeet.

‘Dibs!’ Lindingar yelled as he grabbed the goggles and put them on. He turned to the others. ‘so, what’dya think?’

With the goggles on, the halfling looked like a miniature version of professor Trelawny, his magnified eyes the size of oranges.

‘it suits you.’ Ehrune chuckled.

The halfling took a step and stumbled, barely grabbing the goggles as they slipped off. ‘I think they’re better for looking at things up close.’

With the area fully explored, the trio decided to go back to the green lantern alcove and see if Lindingar could work some mojo on the water elemental. The halfling stared intently at the water until he could make out the vague form of the elemental lurking just under the surface. Summoning his power of spirits, he yelled, ‘I chastise you! Bad elemental! Bad, bad elemental!’ A surge of blue energy exploded outward and the elemental was no more.

Ehrune whistled. ‘God damn that is useful. Now to tackle our next problem. Who here can swim besides me?’

Lindingar and Ehterik looked at each other, then back at Ehrune.

‘Riiiight.’

After some deliberation, the group came up with a plan involving tying a rope around Ehrune and yanking him back to safety should harm befall him.

‘How will we know if harm befalls you?” Lindingar was a bit puzzled by the idea, and doubted that he would be much use if it came to hauling Ehrune with the rope.

‘Oh, you’ll know.’ Ehrune grimaced as he cast a light cantrip upon his rapier.

The water lapped gently against the stone stairs, black as night. Ehrune dipped a toe in and withdrew it suddenly, gasping.

Lindingar scanned for spirits but found nothing. ‘what is it?!’

‘it’s….cold!’

‘you’ve obviously never taken a bath at the Emporium’ Etherik responded.

Ehrune ever so slowly lowered himself into the water, gasping and squirming all the while. He took a deep breath, submerged completely, and began to swim down the underwater stairwell. The bluish-white light of his spell provided a feeble illumination and did nothing to assuage the claustrophobia and fear that stirred within his gut. In fact, it only worsened it. Ehrune soon discovered that the stairwell led to a large shower room, completely submerged of course. He had just begun investigating, and his lungers were already starting to ache, when suddenly something grabbed his ankle! He spun around, the light from his rapier revealing a bloated, rotting hand attached to an equally bloated, equally rotting body. Ehrune let out a scream of terror and with his free hand yanked on the rope as hard as he could. Just as the creature clawed at him with its other rotted hand, the rope went taught.

‘Pull!’ Etherik pulled on the rope, digging his boots into the stone floor in an attempt to gain some traction. ‘Pull damnit!’

‘I am pulling!’ the halfling wheezed as he devoted all of his 41 lbs to the effort.

‘Well pull harder!’

The rope had suddenly yanked, almost out of their hands. Ehrune was right; they WOULD know when he was in trouble. They pulled and pulled, moving back with the rope until Ehrune finally appeared, gasping and sputtering, at the water’s edge. Behind him rose a horrific, bloated humanoid, reaching with clawed hands towards the terror stricken swashbuckling mage. Etherik charged the undead horror, hoping to distract it while Ehrune recovered himself. It clawed at the warlock, drawing blood, but fortunately paralysis didn’t take hold. Etherik leapt back and released a blast of eldritch energy, burning a fist-sized hole in the ghoul’s chest. The attack was quickly followed up by two glowing white bursts of energy that slammed the creature back. It fell with a splash into the water and didn’t move again.

A second examination of the flooded level produced some loot, including a badly gnawed skeleton wearing red leather armor with the symbol of an eye upon the breast, and more importantly, a red lantern! So it was back to the lantern chamber, where all the lanterns were placed in their proper alcoves and lit. The light from the lanterns reflected off the ceiling and walls in dizzying patterns of color and grooooviness. Guessing that the stone face trap was somehow linked to these lanterns, the adventurers climbed back into the wind corridor and slowly approached the silently screaming face at the other end. Luckily for them, they were right; they had disarmed the trap by lighting all the lanterns. Furthermore, there was now an actual opening within the face’s mouth, an opening that led into darkness. Realizing that they were literally crawling into the mouth of danger, they steeled themselves for whatever lay beyond.

*Note: see previous post for some background info I forgot to add on my last posting.