Stowing his shield on his back, Alton lights the wick to his lantern, it's warm flame flickering for a moment and then steadying. He passes it up to Eddie who is still in the opening, then with a boost from Kiylea works his way up to the entrance. The rest of the party clambers up as well, Bubbles leading the way with Alton holding his lantern behind her. Kiylea, bow strung and ready moves quietly in behind them. Eddie continues forward with Ringly, quiet as usual, behind him and Jerran taking up the rear.
The movement is slow as they slosh forward against the moving water, despite it only being a few inches high, the stone beneath their feet has been worn smooth over the years and they have to brace themselves on the walls occasionally to keep from slipping. The darkness of the passage becomes apparent as it rounds a bend putting the entrance out of sight.
Perhaps twenty minutes into the underground trek, time is hard to tell down here, as is nearly everything, the level of the water is slowly increasing and it takes a few minutes to realize that the tunnel has been slowly sloping downwards. Soon, progress is slowed even more as the water level rises as high as your knees.
Travel continues cautiously, pushing through the water is apparently hard work as beads of sweat appear on your brows. It is Ringly however, who points out that the water is indeed getting warmer, slowly but noticeably. Within a few minutes the light from Alton's lantern slips off of the walls of the passage into darkness and the echoing noise of your movement hollows. Bubbles moves ahead cautiously and is astounded to enter into a low cavern, the water bubbling up from an underground spring which extends along the left side of the cavern. To the right the "floor" slopes upward in bulbous shapes and the cave seems to continue up in that direction.
