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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 7190163" data-attributes="member: 143">Come on, whatever went wrong crawling into a tiny cave?* * * Chapter 68Glori had flashbacks to the tight confines of the kobold tunnels as she shimmied into the narrow opening, but she had no difficulty slipping through even with her bow and lyre.  The same could not be said for Bredan and Quellan.  Even after removing their packs and sliding their weapons in ahead of them the two had to squirm and scrape their way past the overhang.  Quellan got stuck and there was a moment where it looked like he would not be able to join them, but with some prodding from behind by Xeeta he finally popped clear to where Bredan could drag him down to the wider space below.Kosk helped Glori over the drop to the adjacent cavern where the bats had made their lair.  She was greeted by the stink of their droppings, and her boot squished in something as the dwarf steadied her before turning to help Bredan.“Eww,” she said.Quellan had spelled a piece of wire with light to help Bredan, but even without it Glori had no difficulty making out the features of the lower cave.  There wasn’t much to it, just an ovoid bubble in the rock with a low ceiling crusted with bits of bat hair and smears of guano.  The rush of falling water was close, filling the confined space with sound, and she could see that its source had to be a narrow crevice on the far side of the cavern about twenty feet away.  She started to sidle that way before Kosk cautioned her.“Better wait for the others,” the dwarf said.  Glori had to blink as Bredan appeared, the brightly glowing wire wrapped around the loose baldric that held his sword.  She couldn’t see how he would possibly be able to use the huge weapon in these close quarters, but he’d left the awkward bulk of his crossbow behind and she could understand how he would want to bring more than a knife into these underground tunnels.Bredan had crawled into the cave head-first, and he fumbled awkwardly over the transition to the lower-tier.  Kosk cursed as he helped the human warrior get straightened out, a sight that Glori might have found entertaining if not for the potential death lurking in every shadow.Finally Bredan got his feet under him and stumbled forward, almost braining himself on one of the uneven ridges of stone that protruded from the ceiling.  Glori let out an exasperated sigh and took him by the hand, pulling him over to another part of the cavern that was out of the way.“It’s times like these I envy you your body,” Bredan said.  When Glori raised an eyebrow he quickly stammered, “I mean, that you’re so small.  Not that you’re smaller than you should be.  You’re a perfect size.”“You should have quit when you were ahead,” Glori said.  “There better be something down here, or Kosk will never let me live it down.”“If there’s something bad down here, we won’t be getting out in a hurry,” Bredan noted.“That’s the spirit,” Glori replied, punching him lightly in the shoulder.With a grunt and a clatter of dirt Quellan appeared atop the ledge.  Bredan went to help him, but the half-orc was able to twist around and drop down with considerably less drama than the smith.  In his wake Xeeta popped through and slid to the floor with something almost approaching grace, reuniting their company.“I am not looking forward to exiting this place,” Quellan said.“Well, maybe we’ll run into another demon and we’ll all get killed,” Kosk said.“Cheerful thought,” Xeeta said.  “There must be a reason the structure above was built on top of this cave,” she continued.  “It seems highly unlikely that the builders would not have been aware of it.”“The water, most likely,” Quellan said, pointing to the far exit and the constant sound of splashing that filled the cavern.  “There must be a spring or other underground source with enough pressure to lift it up to this level.  Shall we investigate?”“All right, but let me go first,” Kosk said.  “That way I can help if you want to repeat your impression of a cork in a bottle of wine.”For a moment it looked like the crevice would put the dwarf’s words to the test, but again after an initial narrow stretch the opening widened into a navigable passage.  Bredan and Quellan had to turn sideways to fit, but they didn’t encounter anything as difficult as the cave mouth.  The passage extended for about twenty feet, the sound of falling water building until it culminated in a ledge that overlooked another large cavern.This one was several times the size of the cave with the bats.  The source of the sound was a low slit in the wall that poured a constant sheet of water over the lip of the ledge.  It dropped maybe ten feet into a pool in the cavern below.  The light Bredan carried showed that the pool filled most of that space, though there was a narrow shelf of land that extended for maybe a third of the way around its circumference.  They could see that there was another exit down there, a rectangular opening a step above the level of the water, too regular to be a natural feature of the cave.“Well, well,” Glori said.  “Looks like somebody was down here after all.”“I can’t tell how deep the water is,” Bredan said.  “It’ll hurt if it’s just a few inches deep.”“Or if you land on one of those rocks,” Kosk said.  The dwarf pointed out a series of low mounds that protruded from the surface of the pool, crusted white with mineral deposits.“I’ve got rope, and spikes,” Bredan said.“Look over there,” Kosk said, pointing to the far end of the ledge on the other side of the rushing stream.  “That wall looks rough enough to climb down, and it’s close enough to that dry spit that we can avoid getting our feet wet.”“Still a rough trip down if someone slips,” Quellan said.“Fine,” the dwarf said.  “You stay here and I’ll see if it’s safe.”  Without waiting for a response he trudged through the stream.  The water frothed around his feet, but he didn’t lose his footing and a moment later he was over on the edge of the drop.  “Yeah, this shouldn’t be a problem,” he said.“At least let me get the rope…” Quellan began, but the half-orc didn’t get a chance to finish.  As he started to turn around one foot slid into the water, and as the flow caught hold of his boot it slipped out from under him.  Bredan reached for him, but the half-orc’s bulk was already dragging him down, and the smith had to let go before both were pulled over.  Quellan fell face-first into the pool, striking the surface with another violent splash that actually managed to spray his companions above.  The mystery of the pool’s depth was solved as the cleric stumbled up and managed to get his feet back under him, the water rising up to the middle of his chest.“Is it cold?” Kosk asked.  “It looks cold.”Quellan shot him a look, then turned to examine his surroundings.  He’d landed roughly in the middle of the pool, about ten feet from the edge of the pool and the other exit.  He started wading in that direction, but after a moment he stopped, looking around him warily.“What’s wrong?” Glori asked.“I thought I heard something,” Quellan said.  “Bredan, I’m going to create a new light, it’ll make the one you’re holding go out.”“Okay,” the smith said.Quellan touched his holy symbol to his shield, which began to glow softly.  It’s light reflected brightly on the rippling surface of the pool, but it didn’t reveal any new threats.  Several of the nearby mineral formations glistened in the magical illumination, as though they were studded with precious jewels.Since Quellan was looking that way, he noticed when one of those formations shifted slightly.  With a soft crack, a piece of one fell free and dropped into the water.“Um, did you see that?” Glori asked.The cleric was already reaching for his mace, but even as he touched the handle of his weapon another of the formations shifted and moved, followed a moment later by a third.  Then, as if responding to some unseen common trigger, all three formations erupted, decades of encrusted minerals falling away to reveal what was underneath.The source of the disturbance was three humanoid skeletons that rose up out of the water.  Their bones, still glistening with the white encrustations of accumulation from the pool, clacked together as all three of the undead constructions leapt into the pool with bony claws extended toward the solitary cleric.</blockquote>

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