"Get that away from me," said Tank. With one arm he supported Fyris as he swatted away the glowing ball with his other.

The ball darted away from the big warrior's hand, before bobbing around him and floated behind Fyris. The ball's light increased briefly, bathing the injured swordswoman with a soft white light. The bruises around her mouth vanished as she straightened up with renew strength.

"Thank you for the healing," she said to Petrus. Tank noted a slight lisp to her words, and guessed while the little floating bugger soothed some of her wounds it didn't regrow her recently missing tooth.

"I rather have Adria at my side, but a Lantern Archon has its uses besides the obvious," Petrus said while motioning towards the illuminated sewer walls. "Without my Eidolon however, I'm limited to more mundane summons."

"They proved worthy," said Fyris. "The salamander you summoned bought us some needed time while battling the Cambion."

Petrus bowed slightly with his boots clicking together, in that annoying military manner that always bothered Tank. "I would offer you some potions fair lady, but regrettably my stock has long been depleted," he sighed. "If you would permit me, I was trained as a military medic in the Chelaxian forces, and I can properly attend to your wounds in a more mundane fashion."

"It's fine. The worst is over it seems. " smiled Fyris as she tentatively flexed her limbs. Tank noted that she subtly took a few steps back out of the summoner's reach and was again at his side.

Tank sniffed at Petrus. The old soldier was being so obvious he thought he was well within his rights to pick him up and snap him across his knee. He almost gagged listening to the man try to smooth talk his girl, though he did admit he was handy in the battle. Besides the summoning, he did transmute his weapons to cold iron. The big warrior was tempted to pound the thin man in the face, but gave him a pass simply for that spell. Besides, they were still in the sewers of an underground city, with who knows what else awaiting them. It would be wiser to punch Petrus' lights out after they got out.

"We should get outta here," noted Tank. The sooner they were out of the sewer the faster he could beat up the summoner. "Doesn't your little light buddy vanish in a few seconds."

Petrus shook his head. "I am not a mere wizard, my summons last ten times than those of a lesser caster."

Tank slapped both his hands against his cheeks as he opened his mouth in a mockery of being surprised. "Well goody for you. Though having a so called real caster prolly would have made things easier. A proper finger waggler coulda blasted those demons into cinders, or exercised …"

"Exorcise…" corrected Fyris with a giggle.

"…yeah that's what I said. Exercised them from this world," smirked Tank. He lied though, he doubt a wizard could of handled those demons as well as Petrus. From his experience, besides Agni and his sister Surry, most would panic at such close quarters fighting and would be quickly rendered useless. Tank grudgingly admitted that Petrus handled himself pretty well, but he wasn't about to say it out loud, especially when he was trying to move into his territory.

"..and if we had a proper warrior that could actually fit into normal sized armor, perhaps the demons would have been dispatched sooner," replied the Petrus.

Tank scowled as Petrus' sharp features hardened. Tank could see motes come out of the summoner's hands and wondered if he pushed him a bit too far. He held his morning star tightly and mentally plotted its trajectory to Petrus' face, but released the grip when Fyris stepped between the pair.

"Calm down boys," she said with a crossed look. "You two can fight all you want after we get out of here. The last thing I want is to die in an interparty combat stuck in a sewer.

Petrus bowed with his annoying boot clicking again. "Of course m'lady," he said as he turned his back to Tank and began marching through the tunnels with the lantern archon close behind. Fyris gathered a few dropped weapons before following.

"M'lady? Really?" snorted Tank as he reluctantly trailed behind them. "Like who talks like that?"

Admittedly Tank wasn't the best cartographer or 'mapper'. Though he was a veteran of over a dozen dungeons, he often let Sasha, Svikki, or even Agni do the mundane task of tracking where they've been and where they out to be. After all it was a pretty important duty, one could discover many secret passages or chambers with just a good map, let alone finding the best escape route if one needed to retreat. The mapper on many instances would suggest a path for the party to follow, using logic, common sense, or even divination magic to guide them. On those rare occasions that Tank was forced to navigate a dungeon by himself, he didn't do any mapping and went by the often followed but rarely successful left hand rule.

Supposedly, it was said that one could escape any maze by simply following the wall on your left. Eventually one would get to the other side, though you would probably have to back track numerous times. Of course, Agni laughed at this tactic, claiming that his methodology would not hold up against shifting walls, teleporters, and most importantly entrances and exits that were situated in the middle of the dungeon. To demonstrate, the smart ass magus would draw simple mazes on parchment for the warrior to solve with his 'technique' and laughed to no end when Tank ended up going in circles. All of this of course made Tank more wary when traversing through dungeons. Though he feared no beast, demon, or dragon, he was more concerned about getting lost in them. He would rather be torn to shreds by ravenous claws and teeth, than getting separated from the party, become lost, and forced to eat rats and mushrooms till he was a grey beard hermit. After all, those hermits you find in dungeons that told nonsensical riddles had to come somewhere right?

So, with this in mind, Tank was fairly impressed when Petrus guided their small group out of the sewer in a relatively short time. It was so fast, that his Lantern Archon didn't even wink out before they traced their way to the exit. He really didn't like the guy and just wanted to pound his face in, but gave him another pass for his rat like maze running skills.

"This isn't the crater we jumped in from," said Fyris as she easily slipped past the narrow barred grate, as if it wasn't there."

Petrus stared blankly at her impossible move, but Tank wasn't as impressed. He's been around her long enough to have seen stranger and weirder. "Who cares, at least we're out of that stinky place."

"For a sewer, it wasn't that smelly actually," shrugged Fyris as she slipped from sight. "Clear," she said a few seconds later.

Tank took a few steps back, and rammed the heavy metal grate with his shoulder. The entire structure shuddered as bits of dust fell from the roof. Tank noted where the bars rattled the most, took another step back and rammed it again, this time in a more directed and forceful manner. The grate groaned as a few bars were knocked from the ceiling and sent scattering.

Tank motioned for Petrus to proceed, but the summoner was still stunned at Fyris' seemingly impossible maneuver. The big warrior waited a bit, before slipping through the newly widened grate. Though he had lost a fair bit of weight recently, Tank was dismayed when he found his gut jammed between the bars, and squirmed helplessly as he was caught halfway in between them.

Fyris grinned widely, as she watched him struggle for a bit before grabbing his hand in an attempt to yank him through. "C'mon, push harder..harder," she said as she braced her foot against the bar and pulled.

"Aww, honey, this hole is too tight," Tank said with a wide grin. He couldn't resist such an easy lead up. "I don't want to break anything ya know."

Fyris paused for a few seconds and blinked at him in shock, before releasing her grip and burst out laughing. She staggered back a few steps and fell on her rump, but seemed in good humor as she shook her head at Tank. "There's a time and a place you know," she teased with a smile.

"Hey, I'm a knight of the Crab. Our motto is 'We never stop!' ", he said from his trapped position. "Hey Petrus, wake up and give me a push. The sooner we're outta here, the quicker we can regroup and see if there's any more demons around."

"Yes…of course," stammered Petrus.

Tank couldn't see Petrus, but guessed the Summoner was still confused from Fyris slipping straight through the bars. He didn't blame him. It would have been impressive enough with magic, but it was more confounding since she somehow it did it without. When Tank first saw her do stuff like that he admitted he was a bit bewildered, but he found it easier to simply forget it and accept it rather than try to rationalize what he saw.

With Petrus pushing, and Fyris pulling, Tank finally managed to squeeze through the gap between the bars.

*Clap clap*

Tank wheeled with his morning star at the sound, but relaxed when he saw Agni with a few of his Zug folk boys. The half elf was still sporting a bandaged stump, but seemed in good humor.

"How long were you watching?" asked Tank as he nodded towards his old comrade.

"Long enough to get a good laugh," said Agni.

"Demons are gone I take it?" asked Tank.

Agni shrugged. "There's a few Dretches, but most of them are gone or dead. The Glabrezu and the Cambion seemed to follow you into the sewer. I'm guessing that since you're alive and they're not, that you took care of them."

Fyris shook her head. "The Glabrezu was slain, but the Cambion vanished. "

"Recalled it appears, since teleportation is out of the question so deep in the underdark," added Petrus. "Perhaps I overestimated our opponent's abilities. It seems sending Adria away for help was a bit too hasty. Due to the underdark's intrinsic nature, I won't be able to recall her to my side until she returns from her errands."

Agni nodded. "Well, when dealing with a demon horde it is wise to err on the side of caution. Still, I would prefer loose ends to be tied up, but I suppose we should be lucky that we won. That was one of the worst invasions that we've suffered since moving down here."

"One of the worst?" asked Tank with a raised eyebrow.

"Aye. Besides that seemingly random demon horde, we've fought an army of Duegar, a Cloaker plague, and even purple worm migrations. Though I must admit, these demons made it the furthest into the city," explained Agni.

"That's insane! Why live down here, when you and your folk can be safer on the surface?" asked Tank in surprise.

Agni shrugged. "Nothing that's worth having is easy to get. This is our city, and we'll defend it. My people take it as a challenge. In the words of our 'messiah' the mighty Zug. We like to play on hard mode."

Tank laughed out loud.

"Is Isah safe? The girl that was with us? " asked Fyris.

Agni nodded. "I sent Mindy to take care of her. She's one of my most trusted henchmen."

Fyris paused, and a look of shock crossed her face. "The mindflayer woman?"

"What mindflayer?" asked both Tank and Petrus simultaneously.

Agni ignored the pair and turned to Fyris. "So you saw through her guise as well? Aye, she's a mindflayer, but I trust her. She was one of the first 'Zug folk' that gathered under our city's banner, but I suspected she had been here for awhile. I kept a close eye on her at first, more out of curiosity I suppose. Not only is her knowledge of the underdark unparalleled but she knows this city intrinsically. I gave her many 'opportunities' to betray me but she instead has only proven her loyalty and use to me. Incidentally she still thinks that I think that she's a regular half elf. It's amusing really. Sasha thinks she might be the last of her people in these parts, and is simply lonely and needs a place to belong. "

"I was unsure of your exact relationship with her, but I did not act since I detected no evil from her," said Fyris. "Which is odd, since their race is notorious for their dark deeds."

"Wait…what mindflayer are we talking about?" asked Tank again. "We're talking about one of those squid heads right?"

Agni ignored the comment. "Aye, but as a half elf living amongst a city of half drow, I've learned that its foolish to judge one based solely on their race. Though I'm not rash enough to not keep my guard up. However, having said that, I'm confident that Mindy has hidden little Isah somewhere safe."

Tank scratched his head. He still didn't know what mindflayer they were talking about, but apparently there was one since both Fyris and Agni seemed to be agreement that one existed. From what he could understand, one of those squid heads took Isah. Isah. Tank hoped she was safe. He didn't recall anyone grabbing the little brat except a chubby half elf chick, and he was pretty sure she didn't have tentacles sprouting from her head. Tank's brain began to hurt from the thinking and he attempted to shake his head to settle his thoughts. The vigorous shaking however simple made him dizzy.

When Tank recovered from his self-inflicted disorientation, he pointed at his friend's stump. "Err, I see your arm hasn't regrown yet. I don't suppose you have a healer in town that can do that."

Agni shook his head. "Unfortunately no, but fear not. Sasha will return soon, and her skill at channeling has grown by leaps and bounds since you last met. She can regenerate it, though I'm sure I'll be nagged at."

Tank nodded, but Petrus seemed to be surprised. "You know a cleric of the thirteenth circle? This worls is amazing!"

Agni chuckled. "Aye it is, but don't say that when she's around, it might inflate her already bloated ego."

Tank and Fyris grinned at Agni's jest. Though Sasha was arguably the most powerful of their old adventuring troupe, she definitely was the most level headed and humble. She would be the last person to brag about her powers.

"Anyways, my people will see to your wounds. They aren't as skilled as Sasha, but they make up their lack of talent with plenty of healing wands and potions. I'll send some scouts to make sure the city is secured and then…."

Agni stopped as the whole city began to shake violently. Petrus pitched forward and smashed his face against a wall, while Tank barely caught himself in time.

"Cough, hack, cough…..was that an earthquake?" asked Tank as he brushed off the dust from his face.

Agni struggled to stand, but managed to prop himself up with his sword. "No…it was more akin to a building collapsing. Wait…did you knock any of the supports out while you were romping through the sewer?"

Tank wasn't sure. He didn't see any supports, but perhaps the demons found some and knocked them down. Or maybe it was the work of the Cambion, he was still unaccounted for.

Before Tank could come up with an answer, an extremely stocky half elf waddled to their group. "Sir, come quick. It's a sink hole or something near the western hall."

"A sink hole?" asked Agni. "Well, that's not too bad. We'll send some engineers to fix that right away.

The stocky half elf shook his head. "No, it's not just that. Well, sort of, but not quite. We thought so at first but…."

"Settle down," ordered Tank. "Take a deep breath and explain it."

Stocky took a deep breath as directed and slowly released it before attempting to explain again. "After the earthquake we noticed a large section of street had collapsed near the western hall. We weren't sure if it was the work of the demon's so the mages established some wards there while we wait for you to arrive. Fortunately just as they were finished…."

"Great more demons?" asked Tank.

Stocky shook his head. "No….snakemen…."