13th Day of Goodmonth, 565 CY
Drachensgrab Hills, The Pomarj
"Save some of that for later," Talass admonished. "There's only so much of it, you know."
Zantac turned to look at the scowling cleric. Without saying a word, the wizard slowly and deliberately chewed the last of the biscuit he was currently working on and swallowed. Only after he was satisfied that his reaction was annoying her still further did Zantac reply.
"I'm hungry, Talass."
"I can only create so much food and water each day," Talass snapped back. "None of us knew this trip would take so long," she elaborated, finishing up by turning to eye the party's other wizard.
Cygnus raised an eyebrow at the priestess. His voice was cold when he spoke.
"I told you that map was crude. It was little more than a jumble of lines. Nowhere did it indicate that the entire passage to Suderham was underground."
"We're still heading southeast, and from the signs we've found, we know this is the right direction," Nesco piped up. "At this rate, we should be there by tomorrow."
Zantac stood up from where he had been sitting, propped up against the tunnel wall. "I can hardly wait," he muttered, brushing the dust off his cloak. "May as well move on, then. No point in catering to us slackers, is there, Talass?"
The priestess of Forseti, visibly trying to control her temper, said nothing as she too rose to her feet. One glance from her, and her husband nodded to the rest of the group.
"Let's go then, people."
Aslan frowned.
"I don't see any exits."
The paladin peered ahead again into the roughly circular cavern that he and Elrohir stood at the entrance to. Cygnus, currently standing right behind Aslan, held his continual light stone as far forward as he could to help.
The dim edge of their radiance was just sufficient to reveal that the width of this chamber was about forty feet. A lone stalagmite about five feet high stood in the approximate center of the cavern, while smaller stalagtites populated the ceiling overhead.
Elrohir was about to motion the group forward when Aslan preempted him. "Slowly, now," the paladin cautioned. "Keep a sharp eye out."
Rather superfluous, thought Elrohir with a twinge of annoyance. Like we're incautious fools under my guidance?
Still, nothing seemed amiss as the party entered. Elrohir, eager to re-seize the reins, ordered the others, "Check out the walls first. See if you can spot a door outline, tap for hollow spots, anything. Then we'll all take a closer look at that stalagmite together."
Aslan glanced at the stone cone, then back at Elrohir. "You're expecting trouble from it?" he queried with what Elrohir took as a skeptical tone.
"Or from what it means," the ranger replied without elaboration, then turned his attention to the section of wall nearest him.
Nesco sighed and grimaced as she rose from her current squatting position. What she had at first took to be the possible outline of a secret door had turned out to be nothing more than a crack in the stone. "I sure hope we find something," she said to Cygnus, currently on her left. "There haven't been any side passages since we started, and if the entrance to the correct way was also hidden, it'd take us weeks to backtrack and find it."
Cygnus seemed unperturbed. "If that was the case, there'd be some evidence of recent use by a secret door," he commented. "You'd have noticed, Nesco; and if there's one in this chamber, you'll find it- you did at the stockade, remember?" he finished, flashing an unexpected smile at her.
Taken aback somewhat, Nesco smiled back but took a moment to find her voice. "I was just lucky, Cygnus, and besides you were with me, remember?"
"I remember, Nesco," the wizard replied quietly, the aftermath of his smile still visible on his face. He returned his examination to the wall face in front of him without further comment.
Nesco flushed, her comment about still being a virgin unexpectedly popping back into her mind.
She glanced reflexively over at Aslan.
The paladin was currently following Elrohir's outstretched finger.
"Cave fisher," the ranger said.
On an inch-wide projection on the stone wall in front of them, a small, bone-white insect sat. Six segmented legs jutted from its thorax, seemingly cementing the bug's position on its ledge. The creature's snout reminded Aslan of an anteater- a similarity enforced by the nearly-invisible foot-long filament currently extending from inside its snout and ending stuck to an unfortunate nearby black beetle that had been climbing up the wall.
As the two men, watched, the filament was swiftly reeled in. One of the fisher's two front lobster-like claws caught the beetle and came together, cutting the smaller bug in two.
"Charming," the paladin noted, turning his attention back to Elrohir.
"Survival of the fittest," Elrohir shrugged, moving two steps to the right to check out a new section of wall.
"That include us?"
The party leader glanced back at Aslan, but there was no smile on his friend's face. Elrohir clasped his gauntleted fingers together as best he could before replying. "I certainly hope so. Do you think something could be better- our leadership, perhaps?"
Aslan's eyebrows rose, but then his light blue eyes turned back to the feasting cave fisher so he wouldn't have to meet his companion's gaze. "I'm sorry, Elrohir. I don't mean to step on your toes. I- I've just been feeling nervous lately."
"More so than usual?'
"As a matter of fact, yes," the paladin admitted, but did not elaborate.
Elrohir waited a moment.
"You've had a lot on your mind lately, Aslan," he eventually offered.
The paladin seemed to turn this thought over in his head, as if that obvious generality had never occurred to him. But then it seemed to Elrohir that Aslan latched onto this as a diversion rather than an invitation to explore.
"You're right," Aslan agreed with a weak smile, and then stepped behind and around Elrohir to examine his own new section of wall.
Tojo scowled as his violet eyes finished going over the same section of wall for the third time. Although infamous amongst his friends for his aversion to small talk, the samurai nonetheless turned to the mage on his right, apparently from sheer frustration. "Ester no ronger with us. He examine this ho chamber quickry."
Zantac chewed his lip. "I've heard the name one or twice," he commented cautiously.
Tojo nodded and complied with the magic-user's unspoken request for clarification. "He erf- friend to Errohir, Cygnus and Asran-san back on our homeword. He scout out danger ahead for us many times."
It took Zantac a few moments to get his next words out. "What happened to him?"
Tojo returned his gaze to the rock. The samurai's response was equally slow in returning.
"First time Ester get caught- aweso rast time."
"This reminds me of that statue of Markessa."
Elrohir turned around. His wife, apparently bored of examining the cave walls, had walked over to the stalagmite. Elrohir gave her a disapproving glare as he walked over to join her, but she ignored it as she pointed to a circular hole midway up the stony projection. "See? That looks like the same kind of mouth the cavelings made."
"You're thinking there could be cavelings about, good lady?" asked Argo Bigfellow as he also began walking forward, a thin smile on his face.
Argos' expression didn't escape Talass. "And why not?" she replied curtly. "I'm sure she had them to spare. Why not send a few this way to guard the passage?"
Bigfellow's smile deepened. "I'm not attributing much to them as artists, Talass, but I think even cavelings were aware that their Creator had more than one eye." He pointed.
Talass looked again, bending over to look closely. Just above the circular maw, one bulging eye had been carved into the stone. It seemed to the cleric, now that she looked at it further, that the eye seemed a bit more realistic than-
The eye's pupil suddenly turned to stare directly at Talass.
The cleric took a step back in reflex, but before she could shout out a warning, two thin tentacles shot out from small holes in the stalagmite. Neither was aimed at her, however.
Cygnus and Zantac both cried out in surprise and then pain as the small needle-like projection at the tip of each tentacle pierced their clothing and stabbed them directly in the chest.
The tentacles pulled back. Both mages staggered back, their eyes rolling back in their sockets, then crumpled down to the floor and lay still.