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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 3180562" data-attributes="member: 143">Chapter 43A DIFFICULT DECISION“We have to go after Shay,” Talen said.  “She may still be alive.”“I do not say this to hurt you,” Varo said, “but that is very unlikely.  I do not know how carefully you looked at the dead troll’s hands and feet, but they were webbed.  These creatures were scrags.”“What are they?” Allera asked, shivering slightly as she pressed her arms close against her body for warmth.  The fire that had burned the troll had used up all of their consumables, and it hadn’t lasted long enough for them to dry out their waterlogged clothes.  The air in the cavern wasn’t quite cold enough for them to see their breath, but it wasn’t much warmer than that, either. “Scrags are marine varieties of trolls,” Varo explained.  “They can breathe underwater, and swim with great alacrity.”“We don’t leave anyone behind,” Talen said.Allera put her hand on the captain’s shoulder.  “I’m sorry, Talen,” she said.  “But we need to focus on the living, right now.”“She’s right,” Varo said.  “We need to find a place to rest, and dry ourselves, or we won’t have to worry about trolls, or anything else.”“Once we rest, I can implore the Shining Father for guidance,” Aelos said.  With his damp clothes clinging to his body, he looked thinner and frailer than he had before.  “He can give us an indication if we should follow after Shaylara, or seek another escape from this dungeon.”Dar came back across the submerged bridge, carrying Argus’s bow and a pack that was obviously heavily laden.  Despite the added weight, he leapt easily across the hidden stones to join them on the near bank. “Damn, if I don’t feel as strong as two men, with this belt,” he said, indicating the troll’s belt, which was wrapped twice around his waist.  “No wonder the damned thing hit so hard.”  “What’s in the pack?” Varo asked. “The bastards had a fortune in gold ore stashed over there,” Dar said.  “Hundreds of pounds of it.  It’s too much to carry, but if each of us takes as much as they can manage...”“We’re not here for gold,” Talen said sharply.  “Our goal is to get out of here.”Dar shrugged.  “Might as well get rich in the process.  But suit yourself.”“What about the key?” Varo asked. “I didn’t see anything, but there was a chain that was wrapped around one of the stone columns.  End was broken off... could be the trolls took whatever was attached to it when they fled.”Talen still hadn’t moved, staring out across the underground river, toward the narrow opening where it vanished back underground on the far side of the cavern.  “Talen... we have to go,” Allera said.  The captain didn’t say anything for a long minute, while the others gathered.  Then, finally, he turned and joined them.  The area where the trolls had laired had turned out to be an island, with the main branch of the stream wrapping around it to the south.  There was more dry land on the far side, but their probings with Aelos’s light hadn’t revealed any exits in that direction.  So they turned their attention to the only other apparent way out, a narrow passage deep within a cleft to the northeast.  Without anything to build another pyre, they wrapped Argus in his cloak and left him under a shallow cairn of loose stones.  Dar had suggested dumping his body in the river, but Talen had vetoed that idea, insisting that he would not have his loyal friend serve as food for the river trolls. “They’ll probably just come back and eat him when we’re gone,” Dar had muttered, but he didn’t stop Talen from building the cairn, or Aelos from saying a blessing over the grave. The companions moved single-file into the narrow corridor.  Talen was in the lead, holding the dead troll’s shield.  For him it was a tower shield, and while it offered excellent protection, it was cumbersome and difficult to handle.  Dar had taken Argus’s chain shirt to replace his ruined armor, but it made sense to have the best-protected member of the group in the lead.  Aelos came behind Dar, his staff held up to provide light, while Allera and Varo brought up the rear.  Allera had lost her shortspear in the river, leaving her without a weapon, but Dar handed her the magical light mace he’d taken before from the dead orc cleric in the dungeons above.“In this place, none of us can afford to be unarmed,” he told her.  “Remember, we’re looking for a quiet place to rest,” Varo said softly.  “Nothing too fancy, just a defensible place where we can recover spells.”The passage turned and quickly opened onto another large cavern, this one possibly even larger than the first.  Huge rock formations occupied much of the floor space, leaving only narrow paths to navigate around the perimeter of the room.  Wisps of white hung in the air, like strands of lace.  “Spiderwebs,” Talen said.  “Watch out for...”He didn’t get a chance to finish his warning, as a fine mesh of webbing settled over his upper body, quickly tightening and jerking him up off his feet.</blockquote>

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