Still looking very woozy after Mazra's healing, Nel glances back at Tamiro. "Watashi wa shinji rarenai hodo orokana nanika o shiyou to omoimasu. Go ryōshō kudasai." Stepping in between the two troglodytes, Nel brings down her bastard sword on the caster in a powerful sweeping motion, unwilling to allow it to have a free chance to summon something.
Her weapon digs deep into the scaly hide as it cuts a nasty looking wound from its collarbone to sternum. "Well at least this gamble turned out for the best!" she shouts to no one in particular as she watches the spellcaster handle its injury.
Seeing that the remaining troglodyte is likely not long for this world, Ianez holds his fire and watches for reinforcements.
Seeing Nel spring between the enemies to plunge her blade into the chest of the disgusting creature trying to cast a spell, he laughs. "Well done Sword Maiden! Always risk! Always win!"
Stepping up, Tamiro lays his blade across the creatures throat as they plead, "Now you seek to use words. Despicable creatures."
Looking up, he glances over to Nel, "Anata wa sorera o ikimono ni s+@@sumon, matawa jikkō s!~@aideshita ka? Watashi wa, korera no opushon no soto de sonzoku no nani no meritto o mimasen."
Ianez casts a spell, then listens to the troglodyte's pleas with magically-enhanced comprehension.
"It's talking about contracting with the Azrinaes. Does that mean anything to any of you?"
Glancing back towards Pluck, Nel shrugs. "I'm unsure. We were just informed that drow may exists and that one could possibly be working for Vancaskerkin." Flicking the remaining blood of her blade, Nel strains her eyes as she attempts to see further down the tunnel.
As the troglodyte jumps back, Tamiro will press forward, making sure to dig his blade a bit into the creatures skin, "I suggest you move less. Accidents happen."
"What should we do with this creature?" He asks towards Nel.
Ianez points back the way that the troglodytes came from and asks, "Azrinae?"
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The troglodyte's face drains of what color it had, turning an even stonier grey as he realizes that Ianez can understand him.
"It seems to be regretting the decision to work for the drow, and expressing a desire not to be killed by someone (presumably a drow) named Depora."
Nodding at Ianez, Nel ponders Tamiro's question. "I'm inclined to let him go. He is not our enemy, he was just protecting his home. I cannot fault him for that. However, I am afraid that if we let him loose, he will just run off to this Azrinae group and warn them of our approach." Making a tsking sound, Nel cracks her fingers as she mulls over their options.
"Ianez, can you try and ask him if he would be willing to lead us to his village or this Depora? If not, we'll just have to let him go." Turning her torch back towards the group, Nel waits to hear the others opinion.
Tamiro scowls a bit, "This creature would turn around and stab us in the back for such a mercy. I suggest we at least lock it away until our business down here is concluded."
Nel lets out a frustrated sigh as someone pitches the idea for locking the lizard-man up in the animal pens. "Alright, then who's going to lead him all the way back, up to the surface? We don't have the time; the bell has been rung with no way to untoll it." Shining her fastly dwindling torch farther down the cave, Nel looks at Mazra and Tamiro. "Tie him up if you wish, but be quick about it." she states with a tone of finality.
Nel plants her sword in the ground as she fishes her winter blanket out of her pack to lay it over the fallen spellcaster. Grabbing her weapon, Nel turns to the others ensuring that they were ready to follow. "Be careful. With the sentinels warning, they know we are coming."
Tamiro nods, and says to Mazra, "Tie up all of his limbs, if he cannot move it is as good as a prison."
After finishing their task, he will return to Nel's side, his blades ready as they venture deeper.
Leading the group down the tunnel, Nel tries to look out for anything else that could cause noise or trip her up. "Let's hope that there isn't going to be a full army of these guys to deal with." she mumbles to herself as she strains her ears to hear anything.
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In the room beyond, the shadowy corners of the room remain in darkness. The stale air carries with it a smell of mold and general decay, as well as a strong reptillian scent. The ceiling dips down to brush the top of Nel's head, and the cavern is narrow enough that she could raise her arms to both sides at the same time. A few pieces of bone and quartz litter the floor.
The passageway continues to the north.
"Be careful of the narrowing tunnels. We do not want to get trapped down here." Tamiro says, looking through the darkness, trying to keep his senses keen enough to detect anything coming up on them.
Wrinkling his nose up at the smell he continues forward, seeing nothing of interest.
The Ustalavan scholar shrugs. "Let's keep going north."
"Ianez, can you try and ask him if he would be willing to lead us to his village or this Depora? If not, we'll just have to let him go." Turning her torch back towards the group, Nel waits to hear the others opinion.
Bending down to examine the bits of quartz and bones, Nel furrows her brow. "Huh. It kinda looks like a game." Picking up a piece of quartz, Nel turns the stone over examining it before replacing it. "Well, I guess we should move on." Holding her torch aloft, she does a quick head count to ensure that everyone is still with the group before continuing down the path.
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Looking at the quartz, Nel sees that they are small miniature figures set out on a gird. The bits of bone seem to be dice of many different sizes and colors.
To the north, the hallway splits into two passages. Both still lead northward, but one splits to the left, while the other splits to the right.
Pocking the figurines and dice, Nel continues down the right path, wanting to explore the more narrow opening, intending on swinging around to the larger opening when given the opportunity. "Let's hope that our enemy is nearby. I would hate to have to fight through an army in order to apprehend her." Wiping the sweat from her brow with the back of her sword hand, Nel continues forward, attempting to be stealthy.
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Down the passage to the right is a room filled with discarded waste. A foul fishy odor intermingled with the sickly sweet smell of rot fills this small cramped chamber. The floor here is uneven and ankle deep in fish scales, bloated clumps of pallid fungus, and a mixture of sludge and gristly bits of bone.
As they enter the room, Tamiro covers his face with his left arm as he gags.
"Ah! This is disgusting. We should kill these creatures, simply on principle I think."
Ianez grimaces at the smell, but doesn't otherwise react to it. "Back the other way? I don't see anything here that we can use."
Flustered, Nel makes a face as she steps in something that squishes and smells horrid. "Sorry guys. I just don't want to leave any stone unturned." Backing out of trash pit, Nel follows to the road to the left, prepared for an ambush. "Okay, maybe this way?" straining her ears to hear anything unusual in the dark, Nel licks her lips in a nervous gesture.
Ianez gives the half-elf a quick smile. "Middens can be interesting, from a professional point of view, but this time I think we can pass."
"I fail to see why Maidens would be interesting in this context. We are deep under ground in a trash pit."
Backing quickly out of the trash pit as well, and shaking some refuse from his boots, he says several curses in Tien.
Finally composing himself and nodding to Nel, he continues, "Hai, lead the way. We will follow."
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In the room brancing to the other side, the rough floor of the cave has been overspread with several strange, pebbly hides to form bedding of a sort. The general detritus of habitation covers the floor as well as a number of heavy (and quite empty) glass wine bottles. The same musty stench that pervades the tunnels fills this area as well.
"Are any of you skilled at following trails?"
From the tunnel behind you, you hear a drawn-out moan. "Oooooh...what in the nine hells was that stench?" As you examine the tracks ahead, the missing half-elf stumbles through the narrow gap in the stone walls, a hand on the smooth stone barely holding him up. "I don't know what happened. That smell hit me and I just fell over. I don't know if I fainted or what. When I finally came to, I tried to follow you all. There was a lot of blood back there. Is everyone all right?"
Turning around tensely, Nel relaxes as Pluck comes into view. "Yo. We had a brief scuffle with some troglodytes but it wasn't anything we couldn't handle. Most of the blood was mine. Actually all of the human blood was, but Mazra patched me up." Clearing her throat, Nel seems to be slightly more at ease.
"Is everyone ready to move on?" Nel whispers out as she glances at the living chambers, expecting more creatures to slip out to cause a ruckus. Awaiting everyone's positive mumbling, Nel continues forward following the footpath that Mazra found as she tries to keep an eye out for trouble.