Path of Doom
As the group walked along the dirt path, Devona noticed that they were heading back to Ascalon. "Why are we going here?"
"We're going behind the academy," Rurik explained. "The nest is off a little ways back there. Right under our noses too…" The group silently went on, hanging their heads in sorrow. All this time, and no one knew about the Charr base just outside the town. As the gang walked past the town entrance, Mhenlo looked up and saw Gwen waving him. He showed a small smile, and waved back. She disappeared on the other side of the wall, and Mhenlo morosely turned his head back to the front.
When the troupe finally got to the supposed lair of the Charr, Devona looked around. "I don't see anything… are you sure we're in the right place?"
"Obviously, you're not looking hard enough," Rurik said. He pointed towards a small crack in a rock wall. "That's the secret entrance." Rurik slowly walked towards the crevice, and the others followed him to it. He tried to pry open the wall, but it didn't move at all. "Charr make this look easy. Can someone give me some help?" Aidan and Devona quickly rushed to his side, and started to help pry the wall open. It budged a little before the three collapsed to the ground.
"Stand aside," Cynn said. She walked forward, focused her energy, and shot a great ball of fire at the crack. A brilliant red beam of light appeared and disappeared just as fast. When everyone opened their eyes after the flash, it appeared that nothing had happened. "Well, aren't we stubborn?" She focused her energy again, but this time instead of aiming her hands at the wall in a striking position, she put them in a way as if she was pulling the wall. At first glance it appeared that nothing was happening, but after looking closer, the others noticed the wall was slowly opening. Slowly, but surely. Mhenlo gave a cry of joy, and Cynn almost lost her focus. Aidan and Devona noticed this, and rushed over to the wall to help. Once the wall opened fully, Rurik walked into the cave and started investigating.
The others walked inside too, and the group congratulated Cynn. Eve slowly walked a little away from the group, peering around a corner that was nearby. She noticed a charr, and almost yelped, but caught herself and quickly went back around the corner. She peered back around the corner and upon closer looking, noticed that the charr was asleep. She sighed, and tiptoed her way to the charr. She investigated him closely, trying to find something of value on him. She noticed a medallion around his neck, and she leaned in closer to study it. As she got closer, she lost her balance and fell onto the charr. The charr quickly sat up, and started snarling. Eve quickly thought of what to do, and suddenly a swarm of flies came from her sleeves, and entered the charr's growling mouth. A few seconds later, the charr's eyes went blank, and it fell to the ground. The flies exited from the mouth and went back to her sleeves.
"What happened?" Aidan asked as he ran around the corner. He looked down at the charr and sighed. "We gotta find a spot for this thing. If a patrol or something comes over here and sees it…" Before Aidan could finish his sentence, two charr talking to each other came down the cavern passage. Aidan and Eve quickly ran to a pile of crates next to a wall. Aidan was thinking of what to do when he noticed what was in the box. "These are soldier's armor and weapons. They've been stealing this stuff from the academy. But how?"
The charr came closer, and when they came into range of the body, they kicked it a little first to see if it was still alive. Upon noticing it was dead, the two charr quickly ran back to where they first entered. Eve sighed heavily and started to walk back into plain sight, when Aidan quickly pulled her back. He told her to be quiet and pointed to the cavern entrance. A squadron of Charr was running to the body, and after seeing it, started investigating the surround area. "Hey guys? Where are you?" Mhenlo walked around the corner and saw the charr, then quickly ran back around the corner. The charr followed him and Aidan heard a few cries of pain and the sound of a gust of wind. Aidan and Eve quickly went to see what was going on, but when they got there the charr were already on the ground.
"We've got to leave immediately," Rurik said. "I bet they're already sending in more charr this very minute."
"Why? We're already here. We can take the charr, and destroy them once and for all!" Devona shouted. After seeing Rurik shake his head no, she quickly bolted around the corner and into the cavern where the charr had come from.