[ We find Our Heroes in the forests of the southern region of the canyon that houses Brighthome. They're within a few miles of the small cave they seek; of this, Vall is certain. The trick is finding a crack just large enough for a very young elf to squeeze through amongst miles and miles of densely forested cliff wall. ] [ And so, it's likely they'll be looking for a while. Session Start! ] * Tia is skipping laps around the group, all the while grinning widely. * HKenji rides along on his beautiful horse, calmly observing the wilderness around, whenever Tia isn't blocking his view. I'm so excited! * Ariake is walking along near the rear of the group, keeping an eye out for anything interesting. * Patrick keeps running, easily keeping pace with the horse. He looks out for anything interesting as well. * Seylin flies above the group, always on the lookout for interesting things. * Vall follows the canyon wall, constantly scanning for the entrance. * Will is walking and panting. Full plate mail is sooo heavy. Um, what are we supposed to be doing right now again? * Tia grins. * Patrick isn't walking in full plate! Go light armor! Don't you remember? Around here is where I first saw the light of day, and our passage into the underdark. Don't be so impatient with her, Vall. Oh. Oh, yeah! * Tia doesn't seem in the least bit offended. * Patrick keeps walking, mentally making a map for when they need to return. * Istvan walks along as well. You almost don't notice him, despite the fact that he's big, wearing banded mail armor (blue plates over grey chain/leather) under a black cloak, and carrying the biggest damn heavy pick you've ever seen. He also has a falchion hanging at his side, and a shortbow attached to his pack. Wow! So many trees! * HKenji smiles. "Yes, Tia. Try not to knock too many of them over." Okay! Sorry. I'm headed for a part of my past I'd rather... Now that tree looks familiar, a bit bigger after nearly a hundred years of growth, but familiar. We're close. * Tia grins yet again. * Patrick is wearing his typical grunge gettup, but has a chain shirt over his normal shirt, and leather padding for his jeans to protect his legs. On his hands are a pair of simple leather gloves. * Istvan just kinda walks along, not saying much. * Tia hums as she pads along, her humongous greataxe gripped in her gloved hands and her heavy tail swishing behind her. * Patrick also has a simple backpack over his back as well as a quiver. Go me. * Vall is dressed in his mithril platemail over a simple traveling outfit. He wears a brown cloak over the armor, and has his bow in one hand at the ready. A quiver of arrows, a sword, and a club are strapped to his belt. * Seylin does a lazy loop in midair. She has a mail shirt on under her overtunic and is actually carrying her halberd, but it doesn't seem to be affecting her balance any. Also, she's wearing her haversack. * HKenji is dressed in his customary immaculately clean kimono, in spite of having been on the road for days or weeks, underneath a sturdy brown cloak. * Vall ICly is also carrying his haversack on his back (and OOCly forgot about that item) * Ariake is keeping quiet, as she's keeping an alert eye out. She's wearing a cloak over a forest-green travelling outfit, and has a haversack slung over her shoulder. * Tia is wearing her usual adamantine breastplate, bracers, and winged helm, but they look like they might have recently been polished for the purpose of the trip. Right behind her wings, her back (the dragon part) is laden with her Extra Large Heward's Handy Haversack. * Will concentrates on walking without falling. He appears a bit top heavy clad in two inches of solid steel. * Istvan eyes Will. "... problem?" * Ariake looks over. "...yeah, that's a lot of armor." Is there really a warrior under all that armor? I don't think the makers of this thing took into account uneven forest grounds. I doubt it. If there is, it's a dorf. What's a dorf? * Seylin giggles. "Do you need some help, Will?" * Tia grins. "I can carry ya if you need help!" * Istvan shakes his head. "No self-respecting dwarven smith would let someone walk out with that armor who wasn't strong enough to easily handle it." * Vall continues searching for that hole, seemingly oblivious to the banter. "A dorf is a blue-skinned critter from another world." * Tia flexes a sinewy arm. There's other worlds? Sure there are! Why wouldn't there be? * Patrick grins. I guess I never thought about it. I wonder what they're like! Well, there's the material plane... our world. Then the astral plane, and the etherial plane, which are connected to ours and accessible via magic or psionics. Can barely see the ground in front of me with this helmet! You forgot the Realm of Ancestors, and Hell. Then there are the elemental planes, where the elementals come from. * Patrick tries to dismiss the subject with the words: "If you can think of it, there's a plane of it. And then some." ... that could be an problem in a fight, you know. What about the plane of talking furniture? That would be amusing. I bet there's one. And one of flying sofas. ^_^ My dad comes from another plane! * Tia grins proudly. Yeah, so did mine. And there are the planes of law, order, good, evil, and neutrality. And some other planes that are just like ours that have their own astral and ethereal planes. The dorfs come from one of those other material planes. * Tia grins at Seylin. * Seylin smiles back at Tia. And of *course* there are flying couches! How else would our house have gotten its name? ... s'worry about this plane for the moment. * Patrick grins. Okay! Worry about the other realms when you get to them. * Ariake nods. So, we getting closer Vall? * Vall turns his concentration back to the search (oocly taking 20 still, for a check result of 25) [ Soon, Vall and Patrick spot something that might be a clue! Maybe. Well, it could be a signal, sure. ] (Clue? CLUE! Dum dum dum dummm....) [ Anyway, what they see is a line of smoke rising from the forest very close to the canyon wall, about two hundered yards in their present direction. Probably a campfire, but who'd be camping out here? ] (*prepares to get beat for that Scooby Dum ref) * Patrick looks. "We got a camp down there. Let's check it out!" ^_^ Okay! * Istvan tilts his head at Patrick. "Subtle, aintcha?" Right. * Tia follows closely behind Patrick. You got it! * HKenji nods. "Someone signal to Seylin to scout it before we get there." Hm, interesting. * Vall nocks an arrow, just in case. I'm on my way! * Tia waves to Seylin. * Patrick shrugs. "Nobody's listening right now." ^_^ I'm listening! * Istvan idly spins his war pick with both hands for a moment, before the blunt end of it rest on his shoulder again. * Seylin heads off to scout it out. * HKenji urges his mount in that direction at a sedate pace. * Patrick stays watching, only moving when he has to. * Will takes a short breather. ^_^ * Istvan nonchalantly works his way towards the front of the group, peeking back to make sure no archer is planning to fire without looking at what's in front of him. * Tia walks alongside Kenji instead, peering down at the horse and grinning. "Hi!" * Ariake stays with the group, going a bit further forward to see what's ahead. * Vall is still scanning the canyon wall. "I don't remember it being very far up the wall, however." * HKenji works hard to keep control of his horse. Luckily, it's a well trained horse. * Will catches up to the rest of the group. * Tia grins and pats the horse gently (as she can) on the neck. * Seylin flies back to the group. Hi, Seylin! See anything neat? * Seylin holds up a hand for quiet. * Tia shuts up immediately. * Ariake looks over to Seylin, and nods. * HKenji nods and gestures for Seylin to go ahead. * Vall turns his attention to Seylin, and arches an eyebrow expectantly What'cha find, Seylin? ^_^ * Will stops moving to prevent clanking sounds. * Seylin speaks loud enough for the group to hear, but not much lounder than that. "Four kobolds ahead. That's who made that fire. Also, there's a small hole behind them. That might just be what we're looking for!" ^_^ "A small hole? How large?" Oh, I like kobolds. * Tia grins. * Ariake nods. * Patrick snerks. Well, we probably should pay our scaled friends a visit. ^_^ Give them a chance to surrender or flee before you kill them. Of course. * Tia nods. "I don't want to kill them," she agrees. Or we could just incapacitate them from a distance. Well, there's two ways to play this: We go in and have a talk with them, or we rush them. I say we approach quietly and non-threateningly, and see what they do. * Ariake nods. "Not as if they're Drow." ... they're kobolds. One arrow and they'd probably be crippled for life. * Tia nods again. "Maybe they're friendly." * HKenji nods and rides forward at a moderate pace. * Patrick shrugs. "I bet a simple sleep spell would take them out without any problem whatsoever." We give them a chance to talk, flee, or surrender. One thing I know is that no race is inherently evil. It can't hurt to talk to them! And Vall, the hole's just about big enough for a young elf to fit through. That sounds like what we're looking for to me! That's likely our hole. * Patrick nods. "We're not doing anything just standing here. Let's go." ^_^ ... big enough for a small elf. *eyes Tia; eyes himself; mutters* Okay! * Tia trots along merrily. I don't think armed men + dracotaur will give much favorable response from their part. Hey, Istvan. Ariake and I have already taken care of it. * Ariake nods. * Patrick smirks evily. "It'll be big enough." ... if not, I can deal with it. *twirls pick* * Seylin flies above the group again. I can help too! * Vall sends his hawk to scout the area, keeping an eye on things with his empathic link * HKenji rides quickly, moving to the front of the group, so that the first thing they see isn't heavily armed and armored men and dragons. * Tia follows Kenji's horse. * Patrick makes his way behind Kenji, keeping pace. * Patrick isn't heavily armed either. They shouldn't be scared. ^_^ * Istvan looks up at Kenji as he passes him, shrugs, and falls into pace behind the horse. * Vall follows behind eveyone, just in case. * Will walks next to Vall. * Seylin lands next to Patrick. * Patrick whispers to Seylin. * Seylin whispers back. * Vall listens in, if possible. ;) * Patrick smiles. [ One sec, folks. ] (Yup.) (17 when taking 10 on that listen check) (gotta love elven hearing ;) (Meh, it's not that great.) * Vall smiles slightly. * Patrick winks at Seylin. * HKenji definitely does not eavesdrop. * Seylin giggles softly. * Istvan is uninterested. * Tia doesn't notice anything, really, in her excitement. * Ariake is paying more attention to things ahead. * Vall distracts himself by looking at the canyon wall * Will can't hear anything wearing the helmet. * Patrick smirks and nudges Seylin. Are we there yet? I want to see the kobolds! Almost, Tia, almost. Okay! * Tia grins at Seylin, looking very cheerful. * Seylin smiles back. ^_^ * Istvan eyes Tia, then mutters a quick prayer to any god who'll listen. * Seylin notices Vall suddenly distracting himself, and giggles softly. * Tia turns and giggles at Istvan. * Patrick smiles. ^_^ * Ariake looks over at the group, and shakes her head in amusement. * HKenji sighs a little, but otherwise does not react. [ Soon, Henji sees the Kobolds! And the Kobolds see him! And his horse!] Patience, Tia. I'm sure we'll see them soon enough. * HKenji stops Stillness and dismounts quickly. * Istvan smiles back at Tia, but it seems a bit forced. * Tia notices Kenji's movement and straightens to attention. Is that them? Is it? [ There are eight kobolds. Six of them have swords and look like they might be able to swing them around. The other two don't, so they're probably harmless. ] * Seylin stops whispering to Patrick and smiles at Tia. "Yep!" * Ariake looks up ahead, and moves forward quietly. Hey, hey. Don't scare them. Yet. Wow, they even have cute little swords. I love them! * HKenji walks slowly forward, placing his hands on his obi, tucking his thumbs inside so he appears VERY non-threatening. * Tia looks enthused. Careful, Tia. * Will stands still and opens the visor on his helmet. [ The kobolds seem more interested in the horse. Maybe they've never seen one before. One of the unarmed ones eyes Kenji, tho, and yaps at him. ] * Tia grins at Vall. "Okay." What's he saying? * Istvan attempts to seem as unthreatening as a huge pick-wielding fighter can be. * Tia tosses Vall a questioning look. * HKenji smiles a little and calls out "Do any of you speak the common tongue?" * Tia perks her pointed ears. Allow me... What did they say? * Istvan stifles a chuckle. "You don't wanna know." * Patrick rolls his eyes, but smiles. They want Kenji to leave his horse as a gift to let them go easy on us... They've apparently claimed this land for their family. [ The kobolds seem confused after Kenji's question, which probably answers it. ] * Tia blinks. "That's mean." * Ariake raises an eyebrow. "How welcoming." Tell them we'll give them the horse for safe passage through their lands. Ohh, the horse. * Vall translates that for them. * Tia looks sad. [ The kobolds don't seem to have spotted the rest of you. ] [ Well, except Vall. Good ol' Vall. ] * Vall steps forward, and talks to them in Undercommon. [ The kobolds, upon hearing this, turn as one to eye the tiny opening they came through to get here, and then go into a huddle. ] * Tia looks to Kenji. "You aren't going to give him to them are you?" [ The kobold that's apparently the leader speaks up again. ] Why wouldn't I? But, don't you like him? As much as one can like a horse, yes. Won't you miss him? Why would I? They'll most likely eat it. I would... * Tia pats the horse again. He has served me well, and in death will gain whatever reward a loyal horse normally recieves. * Tia blinks, confused. "He gets a reward when he dies?" They want some assurances that this isn't a trick.. and they want to know how we're getting through the cave mouth... I can bluff them, but... not that good. Tell them that we'll be enlarging the cave mouth. * Vall translates that part, and waits for Kenji to explain the assurances. [ The leader looks back at the cavelet and nods as if that makes sense. He looks thoughtful. ...for a Kobold. ] (Kobolds rock!) As for assurances... they can have the horse while we enlarge the mouth. There will be plenty of time. * Vall translates this as well. * Vall also shows them his signet ring, and says something else. [ The kobold leader says something to his buddies and then hops forward, eyeing Kenji... and then the rest of the group, when they come into his view. He taps his chin, which makes a clicking noise, and then speaks to Vall again. ] It seems our kobold buddies here have had some run-ins with Duergar that are in these tunnels. They can't let us widen the passage to Tia-size without the Duergar getting through * Tia nods. What are Duergar? Duergar? Those are like drow, but dwarven, right? Yup. * Seylin nods. Something like that. Tell him we'll eliminate the threat for him. But we keep the horse. Oh. Are they slavers too? Bad people? Most likely. * Istvan scowls. "Duregar." * Vall translates this last part. They're not fun, Tia. * Patrick nods. "Very much like Drow, only stockier, shorter, and more bent on wenches and ale." * Tia grins happily at Kenji. "Mr. Horse is staying with us?" (or rather, the last aprt from Kenji) [ The kobold thinks, the nods and yaps some more. ] Hey may well be, yes. * Tia cheers and gleefully jumps up and down. "I'm so glad!" She tries to give Kenji a hug. Thanks, Kenji! * HKenji is hugged. He appears nonplussed. They agree... Duregar were a major pain in the ass down in Moradin's Deep. * Patrick smiles. Well, one evil race is as good as another. Ready to get to work? ^_^ Good! I'm ready! I'm ready to go! Lead the way, Seylin. ^_^ Yup. Wait for me! * Ariake nods. * HKenji smiles and rides forward. Ready! [ The Kobold unfolds two pieces of rough parchment; one looks like a map. He makes a quick, rough copy of the map and hands it to Vall, explaining what the two things he marked on it are. ] * Ariake steps forward and takes a look at the wall. * Seylin smiles pleasantly at the Kobolds, and watches Vall take the map. * Istvan nods quickly at the kobalds as he passes. [ One, he points out, is a small cave on the exterior of the cliff wall. This is where they will hide from the duergar, just in case you guys don't win. The other, a ways into the tunnels, is the old dwarven outpost that the Duergar moved into.] * Ariake bows politely to the kobolds. * Tia grins at them. "Kobolds are cute!" [ The kobold answers in the negative, although he thinks drow have something to do with the duergar's reason for being where they are. ] [ Meanwhile, the cavelet is about sixty feet past the Kobold encampment. ] * Tia turns to Seylin. "Do you think I can take one home with me?" I don't think so, Tia. Where would you keep it? * Tia giggles. "Under my bed? Or...in my closet. I think he'd fit." You'd forget to feed it. But I don't think he'd be very happy there. * Istvan stares at Tia, then chuckles despite himself. * Patrick smirks. * Tia nods. "Mm. Maybe he can sleep on my bed, then. I can move over a little." He can have some of my food! I don't think they'd want you to take one of them, Tia. ^_^ I think he'd miss his family, though, and miss beng outside. They wouldn't. But! I'd take him outside every day! And feed him! I'd buy him toys! [ You reach the cavelet. Yes, it's still small. Reeeally small. ] No, Tia. His family would miss him, Tia. * Tia looks sorely disappointed. "Aww. I guess you're right." * HKenji eyes the cavelet. "Go about the enlargement, boys." * Seylin nods and smiles sympathetically. * HKenji backs WELL off from the cavelet. * Tia perks up. "Okay!" * Vall shows the map to Kenji and Seylin. "We've got an old dwarven outpost with Duergar there." *indicates spot*. * Seylin pays attention! * Tia flexes her forepaws and gets straight to work at digging. * HKenji looks down at the map while the other go about enlarging this cave. * Patrick cracks his knuckles. "Tell me whatcha need Ariake, I'll get it." I love digging holes! * Will closes his visor. * Ariake looks at it. "Hmm, I wonder how far this goes..." Never know until we vaporise it. ^_^ Anything else we should be looking out for? * Tia is kicking out dirt behind her at a quick pace. How many of these dark dwarves? [ Tia scrapes away three inches of sod before hitting solid rock. ] * Vall moves to where Tia's backspray isn't hitting them. * Tia scrapes the rock with her claws and stops. (did the kobold ever say how many?) Hey, I can't dig anymore. * Tia 's ears droop. Yeah. It's why we're using explosives. Oh! oh! Right! We're blowing it up! ... ah, good. So we're preserving the element of surprise. * Tia skips over to where the others are standing. ( We've got explosives! KABOOM! ( Har. ^^ ) * Ariake looks at it. "Think a Fireball would do the trick?" You have a dimensional door handy that we can use?" * Istvan hefts his pick. "I have seven years working with dwarven mining teams." Hmmm... I don't think so. Anything I can do to help? Hmm, unfortunately not. You *did* bring what we'd need to get this gap open, right? Oh, okay. Let me know if you need help! * Istvan eyes the rock... * Tia sits down and waits as patiently as she can. * Ariake nods. "I have some traditional explosives with me, in case we couldn't solve this in one shot." * Patrick nods. Well, I suppose Istvan can put his mining expertise to the test. And if that don't work we pull out the explosives... Tia can help him, I bet. She looks strong enough. ^_^ * Tia gets restless, stands up, and pokes her head into the cave opening. She sniffs the air a bit. Hellloooooo? (Tia gets stuck!) * Ariake smiles. "Sounds fair. If it gets to be troublesome, I can always use these." * Seylin is still looking over the map with Vall and Kenji, but then she looks up. "Tia! Be quiet!" (just waht we need) (Haha! That'd suck. XD) * Tia pulls her head back out. "Oh, sorry!" [ Tia... well, almost gets stuck. Her helmet does, certainly. ] It's okay. But we don't want them knowing we're here until we're ready. Too late, probably. * Tia quickly catches her fallen helmet and tugs it out. "Whew. Almost lost you!" She grins at it and puts it back on. * Istvan looks up at Tia, shakes his head, and goes back to staring at the rock. * Seylin sighs briefly. "Yeah, maybe. Anyhow. What else are we looking for, Vall?" Can I go back and play with the kobolds? No, Tia, the kobolds are going away. * Istvan takes off one glove, and runs his hands along the stone wall. Oh...did they go already? Yep. Well, there's apparently some sort of expansion going on down there. The kobolds are here on the surface because the Duergar have pushed outwards, and I think its because the drow are pushing *them* outwards. We also have to keep an eye out for any driders that are in the tunnels. [ The kobolds have indeed packed up camp and left. Probably fearful of Tia. ] * Tia sighs. "Aww. I miss them already." [ Also, some of you note that there's a line of green running vertically from the cavelet; could be water somewhere on the other side, further up. ] * Tia trots over to Kenji's horse and tries to play with him instead. * Istvan sighs. "Never did figure out how the dwarves always knew where ta start... ah well. Gimme some room, folks. Gonna see if I can widen this for us." * Seylin giggles at Tia, then continues paying attention to Vall. "That's... not good. Well, better that we find out now than later..." * Ariake moves back. "Thanks, Istvan." * Istvan unhooks his cloak and pack, and puts them off to the side. He takes a deep breathe, and twirls his pick idly until everyone is clear. * Tia looks toward Istvan, still hugging the horse affectionately. "Do you need help? Dunno. I'll see once I get started. * Seylin is out of the way, along with Vall and Kenji. Okay! * Patrick backs up. * Tia grins and stays out of the way. * Will follows behind Seylin. * Istvan takes another deep breath, then rears back and starts pounding away at the rock right around the edge of the gap with his pick. * Tia watches, smiling, as she braids the horse's mane. Look, Kenji! [ The horse feels pretty. Oh so pretty. ] (HEHE.) * HKenji looks over and sighs a little. (LOL!) * Seylin looks up and giggles. (Heh.) * Will smiles. * Patrick grins. * Ariake smiles. * Istvan is kind of busy at the moment, so he doesn't look or giggle. * Vall looks up, and gives a knowing smile. Hey, Kenji, does Mr. Horse have a name? [ Istvan, meanwhile, is making swift progress with his enchanted greatpick. ] His name is Stillness. Stillness? Okay! * Vall looks at the map again. (DM: any other notes on the map itself, or apparent tunnels that branch off?) * Istvan exhales sharply with each blow, but is otherwise relatively quiet as he works at widening the gap. "... should be through in about ten minutes, I think." Will Tia be able to make it through? * Tia seems to be mouthing the name to herself a few times, and she frowns. "Um, can I call him Mr. Horse?" Yes, Tia. * Tia grins. [ It appears that the tunnel continues inward on the other side of the Duergar outpost. ] (No branching tunnels?) * Istvan speaks in between blows. "In..." *THWAK* "... ten minutes..." *THWAK* "... she will." *THWAK* [ Not that are shown on the map. ] Can I help you, Istvan? I don't like this... that dwarven outpost has to be less than a hundred years old, as I don't remember it being there when I escaped the driders. Wow, Vall. Are you a hundred years old already? One hundred fourteen. He's an elf. They do that. * Seylin nods. I was *very* young when I passed this way last. * Tia looks amazed. "Wow! I want to be a hundred fourteen!" [ I should note, mind, that you don't have to go through the outpost to go past it. ] * Istvan doesn't notice Tia speaking, so caught up is he in what he's doing. A couple of beads of sweat slide down his temples, past his spiky black hair, but he shows no signs of fatigue yet. * Tia watches Istvan. "Istvan digs even better than me!" * Tia grins. * Seylin looks down at the map, then back up at Vall. "So, the dwarves build an outpost, and then they either abandon it or it gets taken from them... neither one's a good sign." * Ariake nods. * Tia glances over at the others. "Why's that bad? Isn't it good if bad people are gone?" Well, it was probably good dwarves that built it in the first place. And now it's bad ones that are in there. Not if they're replaced by even worse people. * Patrick nods. Oh. Pretty much, we gotta kick their asses. Yeah! Dwarves don't give up fortresses easily. * Ariake nods. "Especially evil ones." I can do that! * Patrick nods. * Tia wags her tail. I want to help! * Seylin laughs. "You will, Tia. You will." But, I doubt they'll have a chance against *points his thumb at the happy Dracotour* That. If they couldn't get out here, and there's nothing on the map indicating any branches, they were probably slaughtered. * Ariake grins. "This may be fun." * Tia grins widely. Her tail seems to be wreaking havoc behind her. * Seylin nods to Vall, then looks back at Tia. "Uh, Tia... watch your tail." Oh. Right! Yeah. No point in causing destruction and mayhem right now. ^_^ * Tia tries to sit still. * Istvan scowls at the mention of slaughtered dwarves, and starts working even faster. * Tia pets Kenji's horse and coos at it. Tia, turn slightly so that your tail hits the cliff... Istvan, let Tia's tail do some damage, p'raps? Save the destruction and mayhem for when we find the duergar! (she's too damn BIG, or I'd've used Mage Hand to turn her around. :) Okay! * Istvan doesn't hear Vall, either. He's *really* concentrating on breaking through this wall. * Seylin wanders over to Patrick. "Sorry you didn't get to blow stuff up this time. Guess you'll just have to save it for later." ^_^ * Tia grins at Seylin and Patrick. "Well, digging is fun too!" I'm not really built for digging, though. * Tia nods. "Oh. Oh, yeah." She grins sheepishly. * Patrick smiles. I could swing a pick and do okay, but nothing like what Istvan's doing. I wish I could dig like Istvan too! [ Istvan is making pretty good headway, now. Go, istvan! ] Maybe he can teach me later! (Rah rah rah!) If you ask really nicely, maybe. * HKenji steps up next to Seylin to watch the show. "We all have our own talents." * Tia nods emphatically. "I will!" I'm fairly certain that Istvan cannot fly. * Patrick whistles. ( I could make 'im! ) (XDDD) Nor can he cast spells, I don't think. Not with that kind of armor. * Tia is still clinging to the horse. "Mr. Horse is the best!" * Seylin looks at Tia briefly, considering something, then giggles. * Patrick smirks and whispers to Seylin. * Seylin whispers back. Careful with the horse, Tia... don't forget your strength. * Tia nods to Vall. "I will." She grins. * Tia has already made the horse's mane into six different plaits. * Tia has even started sticking random flowers into its hair. (poor horse.) * Patrick keeps whispering. * Seylin does, too. [ Istvan has now widened the opening considerably, although what lies within is hard to see with the sunlight shining in on all the dust he's kicked up. Tia can probably fit through it, now, if she ducks her head and keeps her wings close to her side. ] ( :D ) [ She will no doubt think of it as a game of limbo. As opposed to the Plane of Limbo, which is entirely less pleasant. ] * Istvan lands one final blow, knocking aside a chunk of rock, then steps back to admire his handiwork as he pulls a canteen of water out of his haversack. "... that good enough?" *pours some water over his head, then drinks some* * Tia finally stands up, after giving the horse one final (light) affectionate squeeze. "There, Mr. Horse. You're pretty now!" (Heh!) * Ariake grins. "Thanks, Istvan!" * HKenji smiles a little. Yeah, thanks, Istvan! Can you teach me how to dig later? You're really good at digging! * Seylin looks over. "Yeah, looks great, Istvan! Thank you!" She smiles at him. It's a nice smile. ^_^ * Patrick gives Istvan a thumbs up, and grins. "Let's get to work, then." ^_^ * Vall pulls a sunrod out of his haversack, and puts the map in his scrollcase for safe keeping. Wow, what's that, Vall? * Tia points to the sunrod. * Istvan puts his cloak back on, and uses it to wipe his face as he hefts his pack up. Nodding at the others, he hefts his war pick and heads slowly through the crack. * Patrick pulls out a small electric lamp, and turns it on. [ The passage widens on the other side, winding it's way into the rock of the cliff. ] * Tia pads toward the opening as well. * Ariake follows after Tia. * HKenji lets others provide light as he strides into the cave entrance after Ariake. * Vall lighs the sunrod. "A device I bought from the local alchemist. I bought a dozen, for light." * Seylin heads in after Kenji. She doesn't pull out any light source. This is so exciting! I can't wait! * Seylin grins at Tia. * Patrick turns the lamp up all the way. "Got mine at Ace Hardware. Same thing with the endless battery." ^_^ * Ariake grins. (Haha X3) * Will follows Seylin in. * Patrick hops down, as well. * Tia hums cheerfully. [ And so, Our Heroes descend into the endless depths of the Underworld! What adventures await them? What glories? What zany antics and spectacular drama? Hell if I know. But it'll be good! ] [ Session end. ^_^ ]