(G75 15/01/10 OR - GF(GM), AP, ON, SS)
DAY 148 cont..
The Wyvern continued down the west coast of the island until in the afternoon
Urol, with tremendous excitement noticed a sea cave at the base of the islands
imposing cliffs.
From the cave were issuing dozens of strange red feathered puffins.
The captain agreed to stop for a short while, on the condition that some were
brought back to eat.
So, Crispy, Nobby, Veddic, Riz, Shlump and Urol set off in the jolly boat to investigate
the caves.
Once they boat was inside they could see that this was a large cavern with a large
ledge along one side where the birds nested. As the others climbed up a scree slope
Veddic bagged a few puffins with his chain and tossed them into the boat.
When Urol discovered a side tunnel and impressed upon the others to investigate it
they all went into it. Next Urol saw something glinting in a cleft in the rock and
had Shlump lift him up to it.
What it was that he had seen remained a mystery though, as moving the stones within
it triggered a cave in. Although they wisely began to run immediately, a ton of rocks
and sand suddenly wanted to share the same space as them.
When Crispy and Veddic came to their senses they lit the lantern and saw Nobby's feet
sticking out of a pile of rocks. They dragged her out and dusted her down and then
assessed the situation.
The cave in had sealed them into a small chamber, which had been made by a large slab
of rock as it had crashed down into the fissure from above.
Nobby thought she could hear Urol's voice shouting from one side of the sealed off
tunnel, but when the others discovered a lava tube that lead down into another fissure
eventually they all went down there and followed it.
The tunnel lead on slowly upwards for about a kilometre and by around the start of the
second Dog Watch, it had opened up into a cavern they could not judge the size of.
They heard shrieking up ahead so they decided to follow the left hand side of the
cavern wall round.
After about half an hour they encountered a few curious giant ant scouts, but managed
to make their way past them by Veddic throwing a few dead puffins as peace offerings.
Further in and they encountered something more deadly. More giant insects, wasps this
time. At first it was just a couple, and then a third and a forth, but the sound of
buzzing and scent of blood brought more and more to the fight.
Veddic managed to kill them quite efficiently with his chain, swooping it around his
head to bring them down. Crispy lost his crossbow in the fight, but managed to injure
a few and dispatch one. Nobby was able to fend them off with a fire spell and after they
had killed nearly a dozen, the other wasps became busy fighting over the corpses giving our
spelunking heroes a chance to make a run for it.
They had to pause to check the venom that had been injected into them by the wasps though.
Crispy in particular had been stung four times and was in a very bad way. After the incident
with the snakes the unfortunate ex-pirate captain was earning a reputation as being a
poison magnet!
By the First Watch they had made their way around the cavern long enough to spot a way
out! Although it was one hundred metres above them, they could see the stars through
the rent in the cave roof.
They could also see a small waterfall turning into vapour by the time it hit the
cavern floor, making everything around them wet with warm water. There was also a huge
mass of tangled vines hanging down one side and anchored to the cave wall by thousands of
roots. It descended about fifty metres. The roots and vines looked climbable, but
the cliff wall was sheer and slick with water and would be very hard going.
Also in this area of the cave were several large stalagmites, the largest of which was
well over fifty metres tall and with trunks of up to ten metres across. There were a
few collapsed stalagmites lying on the rocky cavern floor as well at the remains of
a number of trees that have fallen down from the rift above.
The searched around the area below the fissure and by the waterfall. The found many bones,
including massive bird skulls. Crispy found the skeletal remains of a small lizardman as
well as a rusty scimitar and a darkwood shield.
They settled down for the night it a hopefully safe area of the cavern and made camp.
Around about four bells, they were treated to an amazing, although rather slow moving
sight. Hundreds of giant snails, in a slimy procession, made their way down to the waterfall
to drink, a most eerie sight in the silence of the gloomy star light.
