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 caving in on them. It was definitely the sound of rocks and sand falling somewhere within the nest…

The interior of the nest was dark - but not dry and cool as the ruins of his ancestors. Instead, a damp humidity hung in the air - as if the passage they walked down was inside some living thing. Not benevolent, or at least ambivalent, as the living building were, but ominous. The heat was foul, the rotting of dead plant-life, not the breath of the living. The walls seemed to be sealed by some sort of secretion - but secreted from what?

Tightening his grip on his two daggers, Tak' worked his mind exercises, letting his mind calm. His thoughts would need to be clear and focused if he was to triumph this day. Tak' thought back to his childhood - spent climbing over and through trees...

...Where the sun shone brightly, danger was always kept at bay - beyond the boundaries of the village... Where the rain fell in a damp spray, never seeming to take the time to fall, merely forming magically out of the air, cool and refreshing.... Where his kin sang and toiled, working for each other.... Where his family lived and continued to live. Where he must return...

The crash ahead of the party broke Tak' out of his memories, back to the dark present. Instantly alert, he knelt to the ground, his palms and ear pressed against the earth, feeling for the tell-tale vibrations of an earthen tremor - avalanche, quake or cave-in. There was rumbling around them - not severe - but enough to be a worry. No one knew where it came from or what caused it.

"The earth speaks to me," the halfling says with all seriousness, rising from the ground, "and says she worries and grows weak. We must move quickly, or else we may loose all we seek to gain - and more."

"We must do as the Fire Ants of my forest homelands do," Tak' says, readying his daggers at his belt, making sure they are both secure and within reach. "We must swarm our enemies quickly and hope to use our impact and speed to overcome them. I would prefer to hunt them one by one, but Gaea may not give us that much time."

"The passage straight ahead looks to be the most likely to yield reward - but we cannot afford to leave any place unchecked, Aitaa could be anywhere. With luck all three passages wind further into the nest, and we will meet later on.

"It would be best if Koreth, Rayne and Aryus were to travel on ahead," Tak' says, speaking in his sage-like tone of voice - always adopted when he speaks of matters involving decisions and reason. "Rayne is unlikely to further drain her Will - and Nobleman Koreth and herself with their bladed forearms will be able to fight abreast - hopefully enough of a sight and force to keep their mindbenders busy."

"As for who goes down which side passage, it comes down to whether the leaf falls greenside up or down. There is no difference. But we should be off quickly, for Gaea may not have granted us much time..."

Tak' nods to Liron and Migdalia, before pulling his shortbow from his back - the black wood of the bow contrasting with the white string - made from what material Tak' only knew. Loosening the arrows in the quiver across his back, Tak' shakes his hair, holds his bow at his side and waits for the assault to begin.

Mendi recovered his footing he had lost it as they were washed by the hot air. "Tak, I think this is a bad idea." Tak recognizes the air on Mendi's face: this is going to be a speech in the convincing-a-reluctant-client mode. "We are not in numbers, Rayne and I are weak if some of those scrabs attack us with the Way, we don't know the place, we don't know how many scrabs are in there... this is not the time to split! Now we don't even know what this sound means. Split, we will only find ourselves weaker and easier targets to pick! What do you think will happen if we meet some scrabs that have the good idea of pounding on our weakened mental defenses and then to try to dominate some of us? Those dirty dung-worms have already soiled my soul once, and even now my mind is weak and I'm not sure I would be able to sustain another onslaught! Since they have been able to break my defenses and Rayne's brittle, I don't see how those of us with lesser mastery of the Way will be able to resist them! Safety lies in numbers! There is no point in running to your death! Besides, we don't even know what this noise is. I hope they didn't make the tunnel cave in..."

Mendi is really upset, and tries to use his fast-talk to convince the party not to split, "I personally think splitting is a bad idea, from a tactical point of view: we are probably inferior in numbers, so our chance relies in trying to obtain local superiority. For that, we must remain in one group. We must keep in mind that the scrabs are at home here, so they will certainly have nasty little tricks ready for invaders. This world is not a happy kid world, after all! Let's strike strongly as a united group rather than weakening ourselves in depleted sub-groups!"

The elf nervously fidgets his crossbow, then speaks again: "At least, if we split, we shouldn't split in more than two groups." Then he remains silent, his face closed, obviously disapproving whoever speaks of splitting the group.

"Tak and I can try to move as advanced scouts, because we can move quietly, and I can try to look for pits and other traps. This way, with a little luck, we will avoid a stupid ambush!"

Rayne pulls her worm from the pouch and turn the light brighter so her and Koreth can see further up the tunnel.

After hearing Tak speak, the mul begins to move forward. "I'm in no mood to stand around debatin', let's get movin', else we get ourselves buried where we stand. They've already had too much time to prepare for us. Splitting is the only option, no matter how little we all want to." Placing the worm back in its pouch, the mul continues forward in the eerie glow. Pausing briefly to look back at her group. "Ye are me good friends, take care, be quick, and we will see ye on the surface. Koreth, Ayrus, let's be off." With a moist light in her eyes, the mul give the group a smirk and a warrior's solute, the she turns, nodding to Ayrus and Koreth she is ready, and starts to head off once again.

Gaigin grimaced again, nose wrinkled from the smell. Mendi had a point, but Rayne was right. Not much choice in the matter, if they were to get this done quickly. Nine in one tunnel was just too many, half the pack wouldn't be able to so much as maneuver, let alone attack, and one good trap or spell could wipe out the entire group. "We'll split. No choice, we gotta find and rescue the elf, and there's no guarantee she's down the center tunnel."

Mendi looked at Gaigin with a resigned face. "Let's hope fate will smile on us..." but from the tone of Mendi, there was little doubt the elf didn't count on fate, or luck.

The ex-caravan guard continued, "Rayne, Koreth, Aryus go center. Find out what's down there, and keep your heads up. Mendi," Gaigin grins, "Ye get to babysit the younglings there. Make sure Liron doesn't bite off more than he can chew through."

The young elf was on the verge of barking an angry answer when Mendi placated him in elven, "Don't! Gaigin has seen more battles than you, and he advises against the recklessness of the young. Your courage is not under scrutiny, but if you want to get out of here alive, you'd better listen to him... and therefore to me, since we are splitting, against my better judgement." Mendi then turned towards Gaigin, and, still speaking his native language, added: "Fare well, and let's hope we will find this elven maiden before the scrab fry our brains!"

"Elric, Tak, yer with me. Elric, we'll need a light if ye can make one, but try not to bloody blind me this time." Gaigin paused, frowning, then shrugged. "We're weakened, and we're outnumbered, but that seems to be the normal case with us. We've not failed yet, so lets not start now." Gaigin paused only long enough to spit and mutter about the scent, and then motioned for Elric and Tak to join him down the left side-passage.

Elric moves to the side of the tunnel near Gaigin. With a moment's concentration a soft white glow flows from Tempest. Smiling to Gaigin "A bit better hmm, but you realize this is the trap we have been looking for. They collapse the main tunnel forcing us to split down the smaller side tunnels. I agree we have little choice in going down them but we should be ready to move quick and strike hard"

Aryus listened silently to what Gaigin, Rayne and Mendi say. The windmage has little tactical knowledge, so he didn't say anything though he felt that safety lay in numbers, he also understood that splitting allowed to cover more ground. Except that they would end even more outnumbered that they already were... the muffled conversation soon ended with Gaigin's decision to split, and Rayne's brusque remark about the need for speed reminded him of the task at hand.

The half-elf made sure his quiver was well fixed, and then notched a new arrow to his great bow. He realized that he would not have much room to maneuver, but he didn't feel quite at ease with the prospect of a melee... He nodded to Rayne anyway, and prepared to follow the big mul and the nobleman.

Nodding at Gaigin's orders, Koreth gives the others a quick smile before turning his attention to the tunnel where he, Rayne, and Ayrus would soon be traveling down. <Bloody bugs will be stirred up worse than a nest of ants if they didn't cause that cave-in.> he thought somberly to himself <But if they did not collapse the tunnel, what did?>

The noble warrior contemplated the question he had given himself as he moved down the cramped tunnel with Rayne and Ayrus. Knowing that at any moment a whole caravan load of the bloody scrabs could come rushing down the tunnel, Koreth kept himself ready for the inevitable attack. He hoped that his wrist razors would prove effective against scrab chitin, but he would find out soon enough and let such thoughts drift out of his mind. Flexing his hands, he stalked down the tunnel and into the unknown....

NOW ON TO INDIVIDUAL TURNS

A) MENDI AND TWO ELVES

On this optimistic touch, Mendi motions the two other elves to follow him, and speaks again: "Listen, those scrabs are surely able to smell our kin at a distance, so I'm sure we will quickly meet some of them. I suppose that I could scout some yards away from you two that would certainly give you some more time to react in case of ambush. I'll also look for trap..."

Liron was quick to answer, "No, you are not dealing with blundering humans that make more noise than a blind mekillot." The elf boy smiles at his own joke thinking of what Koreth would say if he heard that remark twice. "No, we are just as silent as you are if not more and I can scout just as better as you. Besides, you didn't want to split the party in small groups, why would you want to go by yourself…unless you are thinking of going up before we find Aitaa…"

Migdalia stepped in as Mendi turned an angry face on the elven boy, "Stop it Liron, we already have enemies aplenty. No need to anger anyone else. Mendi, we will remain together and I agree with Liron, we can be just as silent as you are."

The group took the left passage and walked single file. Both Bird Runners reluctantly let Mendi lead and the elven trader took out his crossbow and cocked it ready for anything. The walls looked very much like the main tunnel except for the piles of sand and rocks that lay strewn about as if this part of the nest has not been finished. The walls were not as smooth and the smell was even worst as if the scrab spit had not yet dried. They walked a few hundred feet before reaching the apparent dead end. The tunnel ended abruptly and all three elves took their time to search for traps or secret doors. Finding nothing of interest, they decided to turn back slowly double-checking for anything that they may have missed.

Nothing, just tunnel and sand and rocks and scrab spit…nothing. All of the sudden a shrill whistle was heard followed by another explosion. No hot air washed down their faces but soon enough the noise of another cave-in was distinctly heard. This time there was no doubt that it came from the main tunnel. The three started running towards the noise hoping they were not too late and almost crashed into another group. Gaigin, Elric and Tak were also running towards the noise. No words were exchanged as their looks told the whole story…Koreth, Rayne and Ayrus were in trouble somewhere ahead.

They reached a small fork in the main tunnel and Elric brought tempest around to see what was down the cave. A few feet ahead of them, the sand still fell from the top. The sand and rocks blocked the narrow hallway completely and nothing was seen or heard from the other side.

Your actions…

B) ELRIC, GAIGIN AND TAK

Elric led the way of the small group with the metal sword held before him. Tempest's soft glow was enough for them to see many feet in front of them but their eyes still played tricks on them as scrabs seemed to appear from the walls themselves. The narrow tunnel was not unlike the main tunnel. Its walls were smooth and no rests of rubbish were seen. The tunnel ended in a large room a few hundred feet from the entrance. The room was oval shaped and held rests of food from large unidentified animals to suspiciously large femurs like only the elven kin had. The smell in the place was terrible and Elric had to grab his stomach to keep from vomiting. The three followed the warlock closely to try and take advantage of the light looking for any traps or hidden doors.

There was nothing of particular interest in the room other than the rotting food when Gaigin saw something that struck him as odd. "Look here and tell me if me cursed eyes is playing tricks on me." The warrior pointed to the entrance of the room right before the narrow hallway disappeared. A large spot seemed to be a different color than the walls and rest of the ceiling. It was almost as if it was clear and the scrab spit layer seemed weaker. Large rocks could be seen through the thin layer of what appeared to be glass. Tak spoke first, "I bet that is how they provoke the cave-ins. That 'panel' looks like it could be broken with very little force."

Elric brought Tempest slowly up to touch the spot, "Aye, I think you are right. We have best get out of here since we found nothing of interest. I sure hope that was not part of Aitaa in here. We have best not tell Liron and Migdalia before this is over."

They made their way back slowly re-checking every inch of the long hallway. All of the sudden a shrill whistle was heard followed by another explosion. No hot air washed down their faces but soon enough the noise of another cave-in was distinctly heard. This time there was no doubt that it came from the main tunnel. The three started running towards the noise hoping they were not too late and almost crashed into another group. Mendi and the two other elves were also running towards the noise. No words were exchanged as their looks told the whole story…Koreth, Rayne and Ayrus were in trouble somewhere ahead.

They reached a small fork in the main tunnel and Elric brought Tempest around to see what was down the cave. A few feet ahead of them, the sand still fell from the top. The sand and rocks blocked the narrow hallway completely and nothing was seen or heard from the other side.

Your actions…

C) AYRUS, KORETH AND RAYNE

The mul was anxious to get this thing over with and started off almost by herself. She was soon joined by Koreth and Ayrus trailed them both. Rayne kept a steady cautious pace, alert for danger of both scrabs and any signs of cave-ins. Nothing in particular called their attention as the light from the glow-worm danced keeping rhythm with the mul's steps. Koreth seemed alert as always and Ayrus had an arrow knocked in his bow ready to fire at anything that moved. They were the ones that were further ahead and anything that they may encounter was likely to be an enemy.

They walked down a few hundred feet without noticing or hearing anything in particular. The walls seemed sturdy enough and it was hard to think of a cave-in in this type of solid structure. Nevertheless, they had heard it and could not be too careful. Few things terrified them more than being trapped in an underground nest with hungry insectmen. The main tunnel continued on ahead but a smaller tunnel beckoned their attention. Rayne kneeled down and then kicked something on the ground; it was scrab gore. "Looks like the wounded scrab came 'is way. We may as well finish 'im off before retaking the main tunnel." Ayrus replied, "Aye, we may as well if we have to search the whole damned nest."

The narrow tunnel ended in a large oval room roughly 70 feet across. The place was littered with rotting food and Rayne's light did not reach the further wall. The smell of the place was horrible making it harder to breathe. They slowly made their way to the center of the room to try and see the furthest corner with the glow-worm but the room was just too big and they would have to circle around to search every nook and cranny.

As they circled the place, they heard soft scuttling noises going towards the exit. Koreth was the quickest to act and run towards the entrance trying to block off any attempt to leave the room. Koreth quickly formed up to impede the path of the oncoming scrab, holding his arms out before him like he had learned from Crel. "Quick, we need to block off its path." Koreth growled, giving a brief glance at his two companions. He positioned himself to best stop the scrab and waited for it to come within his range.

Rayne quickly followed and the glow-worm shone on the wounded scrab. The beast was mortally wounded and did not stand a chance against the group. The insectman sensed this as well and yelled in a high-pitched elven, "You will all die with me and I will still feast upon your souls." The appendages drew arcane symbols in the air and the mandibles clacked incoherently once more. But the smell of ozone told them of an imminent spell coming their way. The three dove to the side but strangely enough, the blue ray of crackling energy was not thrown their way. Instead it hit the roof at the entrance with a loud crack. Suddenly the room was filled with dust and sand as large rocks fell blocking the entrance.

The noble warrior would worry about the cave-in later; right now his mortal enemy stood wounded within reach. As the scrab came within razor and pincer range, Koreth lashed out with both his fists in a brash and deadly first attack. Two fists, looking more like the tails of some horrid desert creature than the noble warrior's arms slashed towards a scrab's chest chitin plate.

The pair of fists smashed into the scrab, the bone blades of Koreth's wrist razors punching into the softer insides of the scrab. It screeched in pain, ichor beginning to seep from the holes in its chest. Koreth drew his forearms up to guard himself, a counter attack from the scrab seemed inevitable but the beast merely slumped down not to move anymore.

Rayne and Ayrus coughed and gagged at the dust raised. When the dust settled, the scene was heart wrenching, the only exit from the room was blocked by large rocks and sand; so thick was the blockage that no light shone through the other side. Rayne's glow-worm flickered a couple times and the mul realized that dust must also be getting to it. She puts him inside the bag and the lighting provided is diminished but still usable. The three heroes finish searching the room trying to look for an exit but none are found. The so many times cursed sunlight would be a welcome sight compared to having to die from lack of air in this smelly hole…

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

Questions, comments, and suggestions please.

L8r,

Fabian