A few minutes passed and Gaigin recovered his eyesight slowly but surely and the whole group slowly approached the entrance. The entrance went straight down at a steep angle amidst sharp rocks, The tunnels were made of hard packed earth and looked dismal to behold. It seemed that the scrabs dug their way in and held them up with some sort of saliva for the walls looked shinny and without any sort of spilled sand. The place was dark and smelled of rotten food or worst. The place was also silent; too silent for everyone's taste. Oddly, the tunnels were large enough for a full-grown man to walk unhindered.

It was Liron that broke the ominous silence, "Well. I guess is this what we came for…" The elf had stopped his blood flow and was pretty much ready to go in. He addresses the rest of the group, "We go in, get Aitaa and we get out. If you want to get back and plunder, I will like to help but after we rescue my kin, is that understood?"

Elric recovers from his astonishment, "Odd that you would say that now Liron, when but a few short moments ago you dedicated you would follow Gaigin in this endeavor. Now it would seem you are attempting to give the orders." With an innocent smile, reminding the group how young the warlock is, Elric continues "As far as the actions the Pak are that is for Gaigin to decide. I however would council that we go now and don't stop till all scrabs have been destroyed. We will find it hard going, but not nearly as tough as it would be if we give them time to prepare for our coming."

"We rescue this friend of yours," Koreth adds in response to Liron, as he dons his helm "then we kill every last one of these bloody bugs, so we can get out of this dirt and scrab spit maze." He looks over at Gaigin, hoping for some words of council from the pack's leader. Koreth did not like being enclosed in the scrab tunnel, too much advantage given to the scrabs. He tried not to touch the walls; the thought of scrab spit made him shudder.

The shinny walls of the scrab lair briefly reminded Koreth of the halfling ruins the pack had explored only a

few days before, but the fetid odor that hung in the air of this place quickly made him change his thoughts. Pulling out a shred of cloth, Koreth tied it about his face. <Blood and ashes!> he thought angrily <Bloody bug lair smells worse than a Nibanese slave latrine!> It would only grow worse as the pack went farther in.

Swinging the mirrored blade of Tempest into the hard dirt wall, Elric notes the solid thud of impact. "These walls are pretty hard and given time I am sure the scrabs could form a solid defense against our attacks. Now that they know our numbers and attack methods from the injured one that got away. How would like to come back and face a group of these scrabs through small murder holes in a wall of this stuff. The strength of their mindbenders is well known. We would be hard pressed to even assault the wall much less stand long enough to demolish it and get to the scrabs behind."

Gaigin blinked and shook his head, glad his sight was finally returning to full. Shrugging slightly, the big warrior trotted out, retrieving his spear and sliding his club back into its hemp loop by his side. Glancing briefly at his robes, now shredded and slicked with blood and ichor, dried and fresh, the garment was of little use. Shrugging and returning to the hole, Gaigin peered down the entrance thoughtfully.

While Gaigin had been slowly recovering his sight, Mendi had been looking for his quarrels and Aryus' arrows. Nearly half of the five quarrels were either broken or too warped to be fired again, at least without some repair. Mendi sighed, for only a scarce dozen quarrels remained in his quiver. He put the three he thought he might salvage in his bag, and then went to Aryus. "You are luckier than me, all of your arrows survived the fight, except this one which broke when I retrieved it. Where did you find the iron, by the way? In Tyr?"

Ayrus nods, "Aye I was able to buy them from the money given to us by the Tyrians." Mendi admires the tip of the deadly arrows, "I'd like to know the place where you bought them, once we go back to Tyr. A quarrel is supposed to be sturdier than an arrow, but if the head is not tough enough, they break... I could use some iron-tipped quarrels!"

Mendi then went to Gaigin, and asked him "Are you sure this is reasonable? Shouldn't we recover first? My mental strength is nearly depleted, and I didn't even attack once! You and Tak are wounded, and so are most of us, to a lesser extent. I say we rest until our mental energy is restored, this way Tak and Aryus can do some healing first, and we will be much fitter to face whatever is inside this nest. We don't have the advantage of surprise any more, so four hours more will not change much." Mendi then fell silent, waiting for Gaigin's answer.

Gaigin turned and regarded Mendi, shrugging slightly. "I wish we had time for a rest, and if it weren't fer yer kin," Gaigin gestures towards the two elves, "I'd say we heal up and go down full strength. Fact is, these bastards know we're here, and they know that there are elves of the same tribe as their prisoner, among us. Liron yelled the name of his Tribe out in battle, and Elric's Phantoms wore the same clothes as Liron and Migdalia, and their friend, lest I miss my guess. Unless we already killed all the smart ones, these Gith-spawned

dung-beetles know what we're up to, and unless we git goin', there might not be nothin' left to rescued Liron smiles his thanks to the ex-caravan guard, "You and the whole group will be well received among my tribe for everyone will know what you have risked for the Bird Runner tribe." The elf lowered his bow and quiver with arrows and solemnly saluted the weapons. "These will do little good inside and will only hinder me." He addresses the elven sorcerer, "You still have spells left but I understand if you want to wait outside…." The young girl seems shaken up by the mere look and smell of the scrab hole, "Aitaa is my sister and I will go back to our tribe with her or not at all. With that the girl checked her spell components and seemed not to listen to anything that went on with the rest of the conversation.

The companions had escaped death once more, but as always, not unscathed. Aryus went around his companions, and saw that Gaigin and Tak were obviously the most wounded. "I will call for the wind lords' power, because whatever we do now, we would be decimated by a fight in our current condition!" Aryus then prays the wind lords, calling for a cool breeze that runs over Gaigin and Tak's wounds, lifting part of the pain and healing part of the torn or cut flesh. "You will not be fully healed, but at least you will be better off so," says the wind cleric, as the spell began to take effect. "I think that there is some wisdom in what Mendi said about the danger of jumping head first into this nest... Aryus pondered the situation, and then continued, "on the other hand, the scrabs will have time to prepare themselves. I don't know what we should do." Aryus shrugged, and looked around with a questioning look. The windmage then went on to provide some healing to the halfling hunter.

Rayne was silently thinking while Gaigin's sight was returning - staring down the hole they needed to enter. Hearing Mendi's concern, the mul turns, "One wounded got back inside, they know we're coming. We have been more injured than this before and made it out well. Some healing will be welcome, though I cannot assist anyone since me powers 'r gone. I have no inner strength left, but we can't turn back now." With that the mul strengthens her grip on her sword and looks back to the hole.

"Okay, I am proposing that Koreth and I take the lead with Gaigin and Elric right behind. Then Mendi and Ayrus and Tak and the elves take up the rear. What do you think? If not, I'd like to be near the front."

Gaigin listened intently to plans and ideas, still eyeing the hole warily. Turning back to the pack, Gaigin gestures towards the hole with his spear, grimacing slightly.

"I ain't got much experience with this kind of thing, I'm a guard by trade, and this ain't my area. But seems to me we should split up. Three groups of three could cover ground faster, and in them tunnels, three could fight as efficiently as nine could, if not more so. I don't like dividing our strength, but we'd have more maneuverability in any case, not to mention a better chance of finding the elf-girl quicker." Gaigin stands waiting for a response.

Gaigin nods slightly and gestures towards the hole. "Koreth. You, Tak, and Migdalia take the first side-tunnel. Rayne, Liron, and Aryus take the second. Elric and Mendi come with me. That makes one spell-caster and one mindbender per group. If ye get yourselves into something ye can't handle, give a whistle. If ye meet up with Her Imperial Bloated Ugliness, give two whistles. If ye find the elf-girl, get her out quick as possible, then give three whistles once she's safely in hand. Everyone, move fast, kill everything with more than two legs, and take everything of value that isn't nailed to the damned floor. We might actually get some loot from this one." So saying, Gaigin turns and moves for the hole, spear gripped tightly in hand.

Liron listens and waits for Migdalia to voice her opinion but seeing that the elven girl is preoccupied with her magic decides to do so himself. "As far as I know the scrab nest is fairly new and I do not expect this to be anything more than a few rooms given the numbers of scrabs supposed to be. Still, if we do split up, the chances for finding Aitaa is a lot better but I would want to exchange places with Koreth and go with Tak and Migdalia." The elf is sincere and not a hint a mockery is heard. The elf warrior looks towards the noble from Tyr. "Nothing personal but I want to be near my kin in such a dismal place." Liron checks his two bone daggers making sure that they are within easy reach, "We have to go in as a group and we can then revisit the idea of splitting up depending on what we see."

Gaigin shrugs and nods his head. "Aye, maybe yer right. Best to move in strength, even at the cost of some speed. I'll stand in the second row. This spear's bloody useless up close, but it's the perfect weapon to attack with from cover. Well, enough standing around, lets get moving."

As the group approaches the hole, Rayne gives Koreth a wink and her usual smirk. "Never thought I'd be havin' to kill me so many bugs!" As she sees the layout of the hole, Rayne puts away her sword and tortoise blade, and darns her wrist razors. "Now I'm ready." She says with another wink. Moving cautiously, she enters the bug hole, ready for whatever may await them there.

Koreth gives her a boyish grin, "Looks like we'd be best for the front line." he says softly "but we'll need two warriors to take up the rear as well, I feel we will get attacked from both sides eventually down in this scrab spit maze...." Knowing that Liron would argue, the noble warrior descended into his nexus and drew on the energy that pulsed inside. Strands of bluish energy began to come out of his solar plexus, crackling and writhing about his body. The tendrils engulfed his entire form, pulsed and then slowly sank into his form in the mindscape.

Koreth quickly sheaths his sword, and tightens the straps of his wrist razors. Flexing his hands he nods to Rayne, "Let's teach these kank faced bastards not to play with their food."

His piece said, Elric takes up position behind Koreth, looking at the wicked wrist razors. "Oh good choice, with those you will be in close. I should be able to pass a thrust in on the up side when you attack low. If you go high 'ware you left side, I'll cover you there or strike past with a thrust."

With enough talking done, it was time for some action and the group descended into the dark tunnel. The place was without any light, smelled of rotten flesh but was amazingly clean and the floor looked and felt as if had been just swept. The scrab spit seemed to do a very good job at holding the sand in place but it was also the source of the awful smell, at least in part. The further into the tunnel they went, the darker it got. Rayne loosens the drawstrings on her pouch, and reaches in to sooth the worm inside and turned it on "low". The soft light emanating from her pouch adds an eerie glow to their surroundings.

Once inside the eerie tunnel, the mul feels uncomfortable once again. <least the damn walls are still . . >

The party slowly made it down the narrow hall. The ones in the back really could not see anything above the others but where led by the light of Rayne's glow-worm. The tunnel descended sharply and leveled out after 50 feet or so. There had not been any forks on the tunnel so far so the group remained together and were being led by Koreth and Rayne who surprisingly both had chosen the same type of weapon. Both warriors wanted to try their bone wrist razors against the famous scrab armor. About hundred feet more down the tunnel and those in the back were slowly being engulfed by the darkness which seemed to part only to let the party pass and then descend again. The air had become fouler if such could be the case and the party soon came to their first decision. A fork in the road…

The main tunnel continued but there were two smaller tunnels that split off from the main one, one on each side. These smaller tunnels only allowed for one person to walk in front at a time. Liron spoke from the back, "Maybe it is time we split up now, Gaigin." Before the warrior could answer, two distinct sounds reverberated through the underground compound. A great explosion was heard loud enough for a couple of the group to instinctively cover their ears. A great raft of hot air washed over the heroes but did nothing more than scare them. Then another noise was heard, this time it started slowly at first but soon gathered momentum. It sounded like the famous sand/clocks in Nibenay where sand would spill on to two glass spheres and time was kept but much more magnified. It was hard to tell but the noise seemed to come from where the hot air had come from, ahead of the party. Still the faces on some bespoke of the common thought of the nest cave in on them. It was definitely the sound of rocks and sand falling somewhere within the nest…

Your actions…

OUT OF CHARACTER

HEALTH STATUS

Remember the scale:

Healthy (H) 100% hitpoints remaining

Slightly Wounded (SiW) 75% to 100% hitpoints remaining

Wounded (W) 50% to 75% hitpoints remaining

Seriously Wounded (SeW) 25% to 50% hitpoints remaining

Mortally Wounded (MW) 0% to 25% hitpoints remaining

Gaigin (SiW), (W)

Elric (SiW), (W)

Rayne (SiW), (MW)

Ayrus (H), (W)

Mendi (SiW), (MW)

Koreth (SiW), (SiW)

Female elf (H)

Tak (SiW), (SiW)

Male elf (SiW)

GENERAL

We have the main tunnel (where the noise seemed to come from) large enough for two abreast and two side tunnels (left and right) that are about half as narrow.

Let me know what you want to do and if you split up, who goes where. Don't forget that it is dark and not everyone is able to see.

Questions, comments, and suggestions please.

L8r,

Fabian