Chapter 10: Final Battle Below!
The Ninth of Greentide, D.Y. 500
-----In a low voice, Romney suddenly says, "I can't leave her, Sol. The search of this wretched place should continue, but I feel it is my duty to watch over her until I can carry her out."
-----Lovan walks over to the lumpy mass of the horrid monster Sarah had blasted. After examining the dull dead eyes, he backs up from it holding his nose. "This place is beginning to stink," he says to no one in particular.
-----"Hold a moment," Garrison says as he limps over to the double doors. The woodsman then carefully opens one of the portals and listens closely into the long dark hallway they had traveled. After a moment, he shrugs and says, "I don't hear of a sign of anymore trouble and I would think the sound of the fight we had would roust any more orcs or ogres in the place."
-----Sol grimaces slightly as he looks over the edge at the others and explains, "Sarah an' I have found some loose stuff which we'll collect up, a'fore scouting a couple more passageways. Th' rest o' ye stay an' keep vigil. Romney, we'll be as quick as possible." Sol then moves to inspect the Eye Tyrant's hoard. Anything delicate will be handed over to Sarah to mind, the rest will be swept up into Sol's backpack.
-----The Gorian then gathers up the pirate's rope and heads, with Sarah, down a left hollowed out passageway.
-----Long silent moments pass in the main chamber before Sol's and Sarah's voices are heard from the upper balcony. Down below them, the young warrior and the beautiful mage see Romney standing solemnly over the covered body of Mirian; his head bowed in grief.
-----Garrison sits on the floor a few feet away; the woodsman staring into the shadows with a contained expression of anger on his face.
-----Lovan paces slowly among the dead humanoids as if searching for something.
-----Raven and Rinda are seen with weapons drawn maintaining some sort of watch though the two stay within an arm's reach of each other.
-----At Sol's call, Raven quickly responds while the hunters seem to be the only ones fully paying attention to what the Gorian has found. The two hunters agree to go with Sol and Sarah as Lovan is oddly the one who speaks for the others.
-----"Carry on," the storm priest says calmly to those on the balcony, "Bring the Fury home if you can. The rest of us will wait here." Romney and Garrison barely register a reply.
-----When the two hunters gain the upper balcony and light torches, Sarah and Sol lead them off to the left through a dark passage. The passage seems to extend about sixty feet before them. A side passage from the right opens onto this corridor at the end of this distance. Crossing in front of the side passage with no unwanted interruptions, a large chamber is found before them!
-----Within a few steps, a large oval room with high windows covered with thick curtains is revealed. Here the torchlight is practically consumed by the enveloping shadows.
-----In the center of the large room there is what appears to be a large stone tile pool submerged into the floor. The pool looks to be filled with a blackish water. On the far wall, is a banister with steps that lead down to a lower level.
-----As Sol leads everyone to the descending stairs, Raven whispers, "So a cry for help was heard from here?" Peering into the forbidding dark below, he then asks, "How do we want to do this?"
-----"Quickly." Sol replies shortly as he begins to head down the stairs. "Just be ready for anything. Who knows what else this place holds . . . "
-----Sarah nods, "I agree. We need to finish our job here so we can pay proper respects to Mirian. Let's go." Sarah follows Sol and the hunters down the passage.
-----Raven holds a torch aloft in one hand while gripping one of his short swords in the other. Rinda follows behind Sarah in the back of the small party carrying her own torch.
-----Quickly the four adventurers move down the stairs, which at first seems like a never-ending descent into an abysmal darkness. The torchlight sends quivering shadows along the stone walls as they move ever downwards. All the while a damp chill seems to hold in the air and steadily grows with each declining step. Cautiously they move and all the while no sound comes up to greet them either benign or malevolent.
-----Suddenly as Sol picks up his speed, something seems to spill down on Raven just behind him. The hunter pauses momentarily shaking his head and then he stops. The heavy smell of the substance sends a startled tremor through the ranger although the reaction proves to be too late. In the next instant, a flaming cinder falls through a small opening over him and suddenly Raven's head and shoulders are engulfed in flame.