General disclaimer: I own nothing, even Maiyn generally decides her own path.

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Battles Underground

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It hadn't been hard to find. The foreman had been unwilling to let more 'meddlesome adventurers' traipse about in the tunnels, but since the mayor had sent them there was little he could do about it, except express his annoyance and impatience at their invasion of his mine.

They managed to go down a level without meeting anyone except frightened looking miners. Several of them pleaded with group to find the cause of their friends' deaths, and Maiyn had found it hard to listen to their tales. One had approached them timidly, and asked if they could take a dagger to one on the lower levels.

"This is Kylee's dagger," he croaked. "He forgot to take it with him this morning, but he's down on the next level, and I'm worried about him being down there without it."

Maiyn had assured the man she would deliver the dagger to his friend, and he'd thanked her profusely before returning to his work. They reached the lower levels without incident, and strode into a large cavern. Maiyn was pretty sure they'd find Kylee there too; and they did. He was thankful to have his dagger, but he wasn't convinced it would do him much good. He told them briefly of the creatures he had seen skulking around in the shadows, and the yapping noises they heard coming from the abandoned shafts. Jaheira nodded knowingly to Khalid, and Maiyn desperately wanted to ask what it was that they suspected, but her pride stopped her from making any conversation with the druid that wasn't absolutely necessary.

The party didn't linger for long as none of them were enjoying the darkness and dampness of the mine, and they wished their task to be done as soon as possible. Every tunnel looked the same to Maiyn, and she failed to understand what it was about life underground that appealed so much to dwarven folk. As they headed down another slope they heard a faint yapping noise.

Kobolds, thought Maiyn, as she prepared her bow, getting into a defensive position with the others. Sure enough, three kobolds came bouncing up the passage towards them, spotting them almost instantly and taking fire with their own shortbows. The group took them out quickly, their confidence growing by the weak foes the faced. Another set of stairs led down further into the darkness, and Maiyn hesitated. Something didn't feel right, but she wasn't sure what.

"Let me go ahead," she whispered to the others. "I'll see what is down there and return." Before Jaheira could object, she moved off ahead, and soundlessly crept down the stairs. Her elven infravision helped her to detect life around the bend ahead of her when she'd reached the bottom. Cautiously she moved towards the corner, and slowly peered round. A few kobolds were sitting there, obviously guarding the corridor. One had noticed a movement and was aiming straight towards her, and she withdrew as the arrow shot past. She could hear them yapping, moving closer to see what had found their way to them.

She ran back to the foot of the stairs, readying her bow. As they bounced around the bend she let off shot after shot, taking several down before they could react. More followed, advancing towards her with amazing speed, and Maiyn considered her options carefully. Then she ran upstairs.

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Jaheira muttered something savage as Maiyn disappeared, and not even Khalid's words could soothe her bad mood. Imoen couldn't understand what she was saying, because it seemed to be in some elvish dialect, but she was sure she could hazard a guess. Khalid gave up trying to calm his wife, and instead reminded the younger ones to stay wary, noting that kobolds could see in the dark just as well as Maiyn could; if she saw anything downstairs, it would likely also see her.

Xzar was moved safely to the back of the group, where he swayed unsteadily on his feet as he entered a trance. Montaron, Jaheira and Khalid all readied their melee weapons, and crouched low, listening for any signs of approach. Imoen had an arrow ready at her bow, but her hands were shaking, and even Garrick's presence couldn't calm her nerves. The young bard had been instructed to not sing until battle began, as to not draw attention to their position.

Within minutes they heard someone running up the steps. Maiyn flew past the three fighters, and took up position beside Imoen, not even bothering to inform her companions about the fleet of kobolds chasing her. Their yapping soon filled the tunnel, and as they began to appear at the top of the stairs the fight began. The group had a strong position, and the kobolds fell swiftly to the three experienced fighters. Imoen and Maiyn had no real chance to use their archery for fear of hitting one of their own by accident, but their backup wasn't needed. When all was done, and valuables were collected, the group ventured down the stairway as a whole, and further into the mine.

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"What do we do now?" asked Maiyn, feeling quite hopeless.

They'd travelled along the corridor, taking out a few stray kobolds as they went. Before long the tunnel had widened, they'd paused, allowing Maiyn to scout ahead to check for enemies. She returned with the news; a vast cavern lay ahead of them, the corridor continuing at the far side. Between them and it were dozens of kobolds, all alert and sitting almost regimented in the cave. Another larger figure was standing at the other side, but Maiyn hadn't been able to work out what or who it was. They were vastly outnumbered, and they knew it.

"We runs at 'em!" said Montaron, a bit too loudly for Maiyn's liking.

"I think that would be borderin' suicidal," remarked Imoen. The others tended to agree.

"We could try drawing some out," suggested Garrick thoughtfully, "make some sort of commotion, and let some of them come up here to investigate. That way we could perhaps take them on in manageable numbers."

The others stared at him. Even Xzar seemed to be surprised.

"What?" he asked, indignantly. "Don't look at me like it's the first suggestion I've made... even if it is. I mean, have you never heard of the tale of Ameda the Swift-"

"The bard has made a wise suggestion," said Jaheira, interrupting before Garrick could get into the flow of his tale. "We can make a sound here and pull back slightly; that way the sounds of any battle will be prevented from reaching the main cave. Hopefully this will let us lessen their numbers at least."

Jaheira clanged her shield off the wall a few times, and the party waited silently. Sure enough, a yapping noise made its way up the corridor towards them, and the group turned and retreated a little way back, taking up positions for a fight. They picked off the kobolds easily; their orderly form quickly breaking as they bounced up the corridor to investigate the noise. As the last one fell, Maiyn noted with dismay that only a small number of the total had actually ventured out of the cavern. She bent down and picked up a few arrows from one of the fallen kobold's quivers.

"Xzar, could you identify this for me?" she asked, handing the missile to the necromancer.

"Why certainly," he crooned, quickly muttering a few arcane words with a beaming smile. "These are arrows of fire, my dear mummy."

Maiyn smiled. "The cave... some of the kobolds had lanterns," she said thoughtfully. "How flammable would these arrows be if they hit an oil lantern?"

Khalid grinned at her suddenly realising what she was thinking. "They'd be quite likely to explode I g-guess. The enchantment on them is quite strong, b-but Xzar might know b-better."

Maiyn looked back to Xzar. For once his expression was totally serious, and he was carefully examining the arrow. "They have been potently enchanted," he said, "and as such they act like they are on fire without needing to be lit - when they hit their target, they will spark and explode on a minor scale, so I think the answer you're looking for is... stilts."

Maiyn blinked at him, but he had provided enough information. "If I could get close enough to get a few shots off at some lanterns..." she mused.

"Wait," said Jaheira suddenly. "How many of them are there exactly?"

Maiyn shrugged. "I'm not sure. A lot."

"I shall go with you and use an entangle spell - that way we can cause enough disruption to hopefully distract them from shooting, and the magical vines may be able to withstand the explosions. If so, this could prevent them from fleeing while you make your targets."

Maiyn thought about this for a few seconds, but there seemed to be little else in the way of options. Finally she nodded. She instructed the others to stay just slightly further back; ready to enter into a battle if the plan failed, equally as ready to flee if they needed to. When everyone was ready the two women moved back down towards the cave.

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Jaheira began to mumble her incantation as they stood at the corner before the cavern. Maiyn had a normal arrow equipped, ready to try and fell the nearest archers who might target Jaheira and disrupt her spell. As the druid turned around the corner, she raised her shield to protect her as much as she could, hastily murmuring the remaining few words.

Maiyn leapt past her, bringing down the nearest kobolds with her shots before they had managed to ready their own arrows. Jaheira's spare hand moved upwards as she finished her conjuration, and the ranger's hand hovered over the fire arrows in her quiver; if Jaheira's spell worked she'd need one quickly to aim for a lantern, but if it failed for whatever reason, she was more comfortable with the more familiar arrows to take down the creatures individually.

Time seemed to slow to a crawl, and Maiyn instinctively grabbed a fire arrow, deciding to go for the shot regardless. As her hand clasped the unfamiliar fletching, she saw several yellow tendrils erupt from the ground, winding their way around most of the kobolds, trapping them in their grip. Suddenly the elf realised she was shaking, and she desperately tried to get her aim true on one of the lanterns. Jaheira had slipped back around the corridor when her spell had taken effect, and it was now up to Maiyn to finish the plan. She took aim at the farthest light source, and let her arrow fly.

Her world stayed in slow motion as the missile glided through the air, and she watched it strike a kobold firmly in the torso. She cried out in frustration, lining up another shot almost instantly, her nerves being replaced by determination - her shaking expelled. This time her aim was true; as her arrow hit home the lantern exploded, and a magical fire rippled out, reaching across the cavern as it detonated, incinerating those nearest it. Arrows were raining down on Maiyn as she ducked around the corner to avoid the detonation, and one flew into her unprotected right leg causing her to flinch.

"You have been hit," noted Jaheira. "Stay still a while..."

But Maiyn paid her no heed, limping back to the cavern entrance when she was sure the flames had quenched. She readied another arrow, and aimed for a lantern significantly closer to her than the first. Just as she took aim her eyes caught sight of the tall figure fleeing up the corridor at the far side of the cave. Maiyn let her missile fly, and moved to retreat back around the corridor, but her injured leg failed her. She stumbled as she tried to turn, and the force of the explosion pushed her back against the wall, the blinding light of the fire being the last thing she saw before everything went dark.