NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 1383483" data-attributes="member: 143">Heh just checking...* * * * * Chapter 108They returned to a small cavern they’d passed on their route to Bhal-Hamatugn, about a mile distant from the city.  The place was little more than a widening of the tunnel, a small bubble in the rock, but it featured a stony overhang that could be easily defended by someone perched up above.  Exhausted from the battle and their hurried flight, the companions forced the difficult ascent with the aid of Mole’s rope, dragging the canoe up after them.  They lacked the resources for a fire, but Mole’s magical bag provided a variety of carefully packed foodstuffs, so they were at least able to enjoy a satisfying repast.  Mole turned her lamp down to where a bare flicker of flame clung to the wick, and the darkness settled around them until it was nearly total.  “How are we doing for supplies?” Zenna asked, with a nod at the pack.  “Fair,” Mole said.  “Enough for the hike back, plus a day or two extra, if we don’t splurge.”  She shot Hodge a look as she said it, and the dwarf paused in the midst of devouring a flat corn cake the size of a dinner plate.“Well, at least there’s plenty of water down here,” Zenna offered.  The five of them sat in silence in the darkness for a moment, weary to the point of collapse, but unwilling to rest until they had settled at least the outline of their intent.“We’re going to need to refine our tactics,” Zenna suggested finally.Arun turned to her.  “Just keep supporting us with your healing and spells,” the dwarf said.  “Leave the tactics to us warriors.”Zenna just looked at him in disbelief.  A mental image flashed in her mind, a composite of the dozens of times that the paladin had charged blindly into danger, often against foes that far outnumbered them.  The irony was so thick that her mouth had opened to offer a stinging retort, but then she heard a familiar voice in her mind.  Advice, once given by her stepmother, long ago.The trick to handling men, she’d told her, isn’t so much that they have to be in charge all the time.  They just have to think they’re in charge.  Give them that illusion, and it won’t matter that you are pursuing the sensible course from behind their backs...“Well, at least there be a sight fewer o’ them than there were before,” Hodge offered.  “I don’t know about that,” Dannel replied.  “That one with the shield, he had the look of a cleric, what they call ‘whips’.  I’m sure that he was able to stabilize at least some of the fallen; we may see some of them again on our next visit.”“Yer never got nothin’ good to say ‘bout nothin’, do yer?”“I believe in being realistic,” the elf said. “You do not have to come with us,” Zenna said.  “If you prefer, wait here until we return; this site is readily defensible.”Hodge shot a quick glance at Arun before responding.  “And miss my share of the treasure?  I dinna say I’d not go, but nay do I be wantin’ to throw me life away,” he growled.“Enough then,” Arun said.  “We are resolute; the decision is made.  Take your rest.  I will stand first watch.”  The paladin rose and crossed to the edge of the overhang, perched fifteen feet above the floor of the main tunnel below.  The others drew out their blankets and tried to find someplace comfortable on the hard stone.  In their current state of exhaustion, it wasn’t long before they all drifted off to sleep. * * * * * The cavern was much as she remembered it, so much so that she felt a profound sense of deja vu, even the sound of Arun dipping the oar into the water echoing off of her memories of the earlier trip.  The mists were as thick and cloying, and seemed even more malicious this time, hiding what might be empty space ahead, or a score of kuo-toa warriors waiting for them.  They would find out, soon enough...“It’s quiet,” Dannel’s voice drifted back to her, from the bow of the canoe.  “Too quiet.”Arun lifted the oar, and a pure silence descended upon them.  Zenna felt a vague uneasiness suffuse her, edged by a growing fear.  Dark shapes flashed by them in the water beneath the canoe.  Zenna’s eyes widened in alarm...The water around them erupted in noise and spray, as rubbery hands grasped onto the sides of the canoe.  Zenna heard a scream—Mole’s voice—as the canoe tilted dangerously, and she fought to retain her balance as more hands clasped onto the sides and pulled or pushed.  She saw Arun bring his hammer down onto the head of one of the kuo-toa, but even as it sank beneath the surface of the lake, the boat lurched deeper and both dwarves went tumbling over the side, hitting the water with a loud splash.  Zenna reached out for Hodge, who was the closest to her, but even as she tried to grab his outstretched hand, a pair of rubbery hands closed over his face, and he vanished beneath the water.  Then the canoe went over, and she found herself in the water.  The weight of her pouches and clothing weighed her down, threatening to drag her under, but by flailing out violently with her hands and feet, she found that she could just keep her head above water.  She wasn’t a strong swimmer, even in the best of circumstances, and as she cast around desperately for the canoe, having gotten all turned around in the chaos, she knew that she would never be able to reach either shore.Then she saw a dark head crest the surface of the water, coming toward her.  There was nothing she could do, as the kuo-toa came closer, closer...“Zenna!”</blockquote>

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