Move 210: Welcome to the Underdark
Tunnels--Late, Day 4Arachne turned herself into her ghost-like form and walked through the double doors. A few minutes later, the portal that was their signal to follow her in appeared at the appointed place. Everyone stepped through quickly, immediately finding themselves standing on the other side of the doors, momentarily disoriented.
There was no ambush waiting for them in the orc caverns. In actuality, things were much as they had been left, aside from the sickening smell of decay from the thirty odd dead orcs. The bodies showed some signs of having been eaten on by some small carrion creatures, but whatever those might have been were hiding now, probably scared into the recesses of the cave by the noise and the light.
With only a brief stop in the back cavern to refill waterskins for those who needed to do so, the group moved on to the tunnel leading out of this system of caverns. The passage sloped downward throughout most of the day's walk, gently in some places and much steeper in others. The tunnel seemed to be part of a natural limestone cavern system, with branches, alcoves, and small caves leading off of it. The temperature here was a fairly constant 45°F, cooler than the tunnels leading to the orc caverns had been. The only light
other than what they had brought with them was from the rare patch of phosphorescent moss. They could hear, rather than see, small creatures scurrying out of the range of the invasive lights. Various fungi and mosses grew on the cool rock of the walls, floor, and ceiling.Once the group reached the tunnel leading away from the orc nest, Aloysius suggested that Echo recommence with her advance scouting. "Don't get too far ahead,"The warned. "Out of the reach of the light, but near enough that we can come and help you if need be."
"Oh," Echo said. "I didn't know I was going to be scouting the whole time. I thought..." she left her thoughts unfinished and pulled her cowl over her head.
As the group walked by some of the phosphorescent moss, Aloysius plucked some from a stone and placed it in a glass vial. "This might be useful later on," he offered, without providing more explanation. He added a tiny amount of water to the vial to keep the moss moist.
For most of the day, none of the branches leading off the main passage seemed to go anywhere. As they continued onward, the cavern network began to grow more complex, making the decisions of which way to continue increasingly more difficult. The group had paused at one of these junctions when a couple of small, bald, gray figures moved close enough to be visible in their light. They wore leather sewn with rings of a steel alloy over chainmail shirts, carried well-stocked packs, and were armed with short swords. Both deep gnomes squinted against the light and one of them spoke hesitantly, "Carmeneren wait you. We take."
Aloysius considered the deep gnomes carefully for a moment, and then addressed his companions. "We could wander around in these tunnels for quite a long time without finding where we need to go. Perhaps Carmeneren can offer us more information than she did afore."
"Carmeneren said she'd talk to us again if we came back," Echo reminded Aloysius. She still had her cowl up and didn't look in his direction.
"Indeed?" replied Aloysius. "Hmmph . . . Stargazer was in a humor most foul when we saw her. Mayhap his attentions were lacking as well."
Olaf said, "We should certainly speak with the deep gnomes. It is their land we are invading, their foes we will fight, their help we should seek."
"Our foes as well." Blacky reminded Olaf. "Lead on." He said to the gnomes.
"You're assuming they're offering you a free choice," Arachne told Aloysius. She pushed to the front of the group so that the other gnomes might perhaps have some chance of seeing who was talking. "That's not the only interpretation of what they said. Come on. We knew we would want to see her first if we came back down here." She turned to the gnomes. "You lead," she said. "We come." Then, looking over her shoulder at the others, she added, "And if there's any way you all can keep from pointing your lights at them, I believe our hosts would appreciate it."
Jana had been quiet, even for her, during the trip down. She merely nodded at the deep gnomes, quite obviously prepared to follow them.
When the group seemed ready to follow, the two deep gnomes, named Pruc and Ciekor according to the one who spoke rudimentary common, started back down the tunnel the way they had come. They insisted on staying well out of the light and occasionally disappeared from sight, but the group did not to lose them. The Svirneblin continued on well past what seemed like time to camp. Eventually, they noticed that their charges were tired and found a side cavern for them to make camp in.
Aloysius removed his pack and pulled out the blanket he used for sleeping. "How much farther?" he asked the gnomes.
After awaiting a reply, he went back a ways in the direction the group had come from and once again invoked his spell involving the small bell and the strand of silver wire. He then sat down next to his pack and worked for a short while, writing in his spellbook before retiring to sleep.
Jana all but collapsed when they made camp. She leaned against the cavern wall for a few moments before shrugging out of her chain and into her lighter, flexible leather. She sat slumped against the wall, eating trail rations with determination if not enthusiasm. She offered some to the deep gnomes. "Excuse me, but have either of you ever heard of a long sword with a set of scales etched on the blade?" she asked.
Echo sat down by Jana while she ate, giving her a concerned smile. When Jana started talking to the deep gnomes, she took out the spellbook she was copying from and started working on that again.
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