-1Haldis slid down the tunnel, trying to keep her arms close to her body. As she hurtled down the passageway into the darkness, a sudden fear started to creep into the back of her mind. It seemed as if the tunnel was getting smaller! While she was not quite as big as Wil or Strom, she was carrying a large shield strapped to her back. She closed her eyes and tried to will herself to shrink as a slight glow appeared below her. With a crash, she burst forth from the chute. She rolled twice and started to come to her feet when she slammed into a wall. With a grunt, she fell back onto her rear, looking up at the ceiling.
"Yer alright lass?" Came a voice from her left.
Haldis turned her head to see Wil, in a similar position, only upside down. She smirked. "Better'n you, apparently. Where's Strom?"
A shuffle called their attention to a tunnel to the left of the chute. A dirty head appeared, followed by a dirty dwarf. "I'm here." Strom said, brushing the dirt from his beard.
He walked over and helped the two to their feet. They looked around the small circular room. A solitary torch burned in a sconce on the opposite side of the chute's exit. The ceiling was low, but not so low that the dwarves could not stand upright. Cobwebs lined the ceiling and walls, and the floor was dirt. Wil kicked at a small rock.
"Well, this ain't good." She grumbled, then blinked, looking down at the rock.
"What?" Strom inquired.
Wil knelt down on one knee and pulled at the rock. A foot long white stick slipped free from the dirt. She stood up, holding the object.
Haldis blinked. "That's a bone!"
Wil nodded, tossing the bone back to the ground. She scraped the dirt around a bit, revealing more stark white bones.
"Burial chamber?" Strom offered.
Haldis shook her head. "Nah...bettin a garbage chute, er somethin'."
Wil looked at Strom, pointing down the tunnel he recently emerged from. "What's down that way?
Strom sniffed. "Dirt. And a lot of it." He shook his braided mane, sending a dirt cloud into the air. "Rough carved tunnel. Old and partially collapsed. We can git through though, its just gonna take some time, and be messy."
Wil shrugged with a grin. "If ye dinna get messy, it ain't worth doin', eh?"
The other two nodded in agreement, and the three began to crawl and dig their way through the tunnel.
Toren and Armin walked down the passageway far above Haldis, Wil and Strom. More green fire torches lined the walls. After a few dozen feet, the passage widened to allow the two to walk side by side. Armin cradled his crossbow and Toren rested his maul across his left shoulder. They moved quickly, not bothering to be quiet. Suddenly Armin stopped, putting an arm out to stop Toren. He tilted his head.
"What?" Asked Toren.
"Dunno...thought I heard...giggling." Armin replied.
"Th' loons?"
"Mebbe..." Armin's reply was cut off as a loud crash reverberated down the hallway.
The two dwarfs took one look at each other, then took off at a run towards the sound. Their armored boots defeaning as they pounded the stone in a rush. They ran down the hall and came out into a square room. The two skidded to a halt and looked around. There were doors on three of the four walls and the floor was littered with shards of wood and dirt, cobwebs and bones. The door on the left was partially buried by a collapsed wall. Large boulders and stone barred access to the room. The door in front of them was closed, and the room on the right had its door hanging by a single hinge. A shuffling sound could be heard from within the room. Armin returned his crossbow and called forth another weapon from his bracers.
"Hammer." He said and a hand hammer appeared in his left hand. He looked to his right hand and spoke again. "Flail." And the world went white as he and Toren were buried under a giant square of white fabric.
Cursing followed cursing as the two struggled under the weight of the fabric. Moments passed before the two freed themselves. Wild eyed, Armin snarled and kicked at the pile of white material. Strom looked at the fabric, kneeling down and studying it closer. He fingered a few rivets in the edge of the material. He looked up at Armin, trying to keep a smile from forming.
"A sail." He chuckled at last. "Seems yer magical bracers need ta work on their listenin'"
Armin growled and raised his right bracer. "FLAIL" He was rewarded with a flail appearing in his hand. With a snarl, he spun the spiked ball on the chain and started towards the partially opened door. He lashed out with his foot, destroying the door, then looked back at Strom.
"No need ta knock." and with a smirk, walked into the room.
The room looked as if a tornado had been summoned in the center. Shredded wooden was scattered in a somewhat circular pattern in the floor. Ancient tapestries, at least parts that were still attached to the walls were shredded, as if a giant cat had sharpened its claws on them. Books lay spread haphazardly amid the debris. The two dwarves moved in carefully, weapons ready. Armin knelt and picked up a small object.
"It was th' loons." He stated.
"How're ye figgerin?" Asked Toren.
Armin held up a white feather. "Who do ye know what has a thing fer chickens?"
Toren just groaned. Armin shrugged, and the two walked out of the room and opened the other door, revealing a set of stairs leading up. Like the hallways and other rooms, this too was lined with bone torches burning green.
"What is it with th' green fire?" Asked Toren.
Armin had no response. He shrugged again, and started up the stairs, Toren following behind. The stairs were rough cut into stone, and after thirty steps they reached another door. The door was wooden, and not quite closed. Armin carefully pushed the door open enough to look into the room. Seeing nothing, he pushed the door open all the way. The resulting screech of the rusty hinges. The two dwarves cringed, and Armin shot Toren an apologetic look.
Toren stepped around Armin, and moved into the room, maul readied. He moved to the right as Armin moved to the left. No sooner had they moved a few feet from the stairway, a stone wall slammed down, closing off access to the stairs. They spun around, looking at the wall, then to each other.
"Why am I gettin a bad feelin' about this?" Toren asked.
Armin opened his mouth to respond, but was cut off as a loud thunk reverberated through the room. A moment later, the grating sound of stone moving across stone pierced the air. The two dwarves looked up to see the ceiling beginning to move downwards, towards them.
"Stones." Cursed Armin.
After an hour of crawling and digging through the dirt filled tunnel, Strom finally dug his way free, followed a few moments later by Haldis and Wil. They came out of the collapsed tunnel into a devastated room. The three dwarves climbed to their feet and looked around as they brushed the dirt from their faces. The room was strewn with rubble from a cave in. The ceiling had collapsed. Strom ran his hands over the rocks.
"Cut rock." He analyzed the debris. "Earthquake mebbe, er somethin similar. Shook the hell outta this place.
Wil looked up into the darkness above them. "Any idea how far up that goes?"
Haldis looked up, then cast a quick spell. A ball of light leapt from her fingertips and travelled up. The light revealed the extent of the disaster. The opened cavern extended up many stories. The three looked up and sighed.
Haldis looked around, then to her two companions. "Only one way t' go. Up"
"First we dig, now we climb." Strom shook his head. "Bet the others ain't havin this much fun."
The three shouldered their weapons, unslung ropes and began the climb upwards.