Safier informs Furio on these questions.
As the newcomers all lay down and prepare for sleep, Safier herself attempts to find a quiet spot away. She stays curled up, awake for as long as able until sleep overtakes her, watching these people, see what they may do.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The next morning as the others prepare to continue deeper, she makes clear her desires to go with them. "If you're going to go down, I'm coming with. I want to help free the others."
"I think we could use the help....what can you do, Miss Safier?"
He also wants to ask her if she's seen others, how many, what abilities they displayed.
"Any foreknowledge about these bastards might help us. I learned it in the pits....always study the opponent if you get a chance."
"Oh,.....and.....I'm asking you, not interrogating you.
You're free now."
"There isn't much that I know about them. I do have some small psionic ability, I may be able to help with. And if any of you by chance have an extra knife, I may be able to help there as well. And thank you." She smiles at the mul.
Arakan sighs heavily and shakes his head as the others seem to have so much to offer complete strangers. "If she comes with us, she stays where I can see her, and if you guys want to give this stranger a weapon so that she's armed, you get to do it from your own gear."
Th'Kal purposely stands next to Arakan and turns his large eyes on Saifer. Were any of you able to detect his chemical scents, you'd catch the challenge markers directed at Safier... what help can ker offer? Too weak to hunt... no skill at healing... and even larva have "small psionic abilities"... ker is of no use.
"<Zzzst> No help. New-clutchmate-arakan is right" A shudder/twitch rocks Th'Kal's body (like a bird ruffling its feathers or more like a cricket vibrating to produce noise). It's a dismissive gesture.
"Thurio and I lead again." Th'Kal makes to the front of the line, figuring the rest of the party can sort out who watches whom.
Arakan looks oddly at the Kreen standing beside him, finding it weird how much the big bug seems to support him. He just may be the one worth keeping around the most. "Yes Th'Kal. We should go in the same way as usual. You and Furio first, Gart and the Princess here can be in the middle, and Jareen and I will follow. If we need to narrow to single file, it should be Furio, Th'Kal, Gart, Princess, Jareen, then myself to cover the rear."
The path down is steep and rocky, but ropes tied at the top and secured at intervals with fire-hardened wooden pitons should make it pretty simple to get down. At the bottom it seems to open out again into another wider passage.
"Woah. Those wooden pitons there, they are worth some serious serious ceramic. Hey, Th'kal, when we bug out of here, I need you to dig them out with your mandibles."
"<bzzzk> Th'Kal is NOT A BUG - " Th'Kal snaps back the cultural knee-jerk reaction to hearing "bug" referenced near him... but then calms when he figures Furio would not insult him so... More calmly,"... I will collect them on the way out." He tests one by pulling a bit on it with one of his stronger arms, just to see how easy they would be to remove.
"errp, sorry; I didn't mean to bu bother you, friend."
I'm such a dick
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It's funny all the little sayings; I have to be careful not to slur insects around Th'kal
"As a way of showing thanks, perhaps I could negotiate their sell for you, and anything else you wish, after we rescue the others and get back to town. Though that would be difficult with a bolt in my back." Safier keeps her most diplomatic face on as she speaks, even attempting to make the last sound like a joke.
"Let them think I'm desperate, attempting to prove my worth, that I'm helpless. It's what they expect me to be." She thinks to herself.
"A donut would be nice," thinks Furio to himself....
Arakan looks curiously at Saifer, "The day I can't negotiate for myself is the day I give up my profession. Which, you may be surprised to know, is not as a slaver. I don't know what you think we're here for, but it's not for slaves to sell." He smirks at her attempt, "Besides, you'll only have a bolt in your back if you try something stupid, like leading us into a trap." He proffers a faux bow and sweeps his arm toward the gap before them, 'inviting' her to move into the tunnel ahead of him.
Safier says little else, moving down when it's her turn to go.
The group climb down with relative ease, minus Ruscer who is guarding their mounts. The chamber above seems to have subsided into the one below, judging by the pile of rubble that they have to negotiate at the bottom. The air here is cool, almost chilly. A few bits of detritus from the defiler camp above are scattered about - a half-eaten doughnut, a broken lamp. The tunnel walls are smooth and the surfaces fluted, undulating and irregular - quite unlike the workman-like stonework above. The passageway leads on into darkness.
"This room is weird. What would cause it to be like this?"
Arakan looks over the odd appearance of the walls, thinking exactly what Gart had asked. He looks them over briefly, before indicating they should keep moving forward as he examines them while walking.
Arcana
Dungeoneering
History
Nature
Religion
The passages heads downwards. The going is quite treacherous, with narrow choke-points, precipitous drops to climb or jump down, and sudden drops in the ceiling.
Gart has no problem maneuvering down the slope, almost as if he were recalling some ancestral habit of moving through subterranean passages.
Jareen uses his basic knowledge of tunneling learnt from a book a long time ago to pick out his route.
Both Gart and Jareen make their way ably underground.
Safier attempts to nimbly climb down the passageway, trying hard to not show any signs of weakness or exertion, using a lamp from the above passageway for sight.
Th'Kal uses his natural skill to climb down the twisting passages.
Arakan doesn't climb down per se, as much as he rappels down in a sense. He uses the rope as a guide, while making short hops to the safer looking steps. Sometimes just sliding down when it's a little slippery with scree.
As he inspects the walls, a thought comes to him, "These rocks almost look as if waves of water had an influence over their pattern. I've heard before that sometimes even the cisterns of the sorcerer-kings can begin to wear with the long enough movement of water within them. Maybe this was a old cistern at one time."
He redraws his widow's knife and hand crossbow now that they are at the bottom.
I'll climb down when it's my turn.
Athletics
The temperature continues to fall, and the breath of the adventurers begins to fog in the dark tunnel. By one wall a strange carved idol, less than a hand high, stands on a larger boulder. It is roughly humanoid but otherwise the features are bizarre, the face and body deformed and twisted.
"Hmm, this is a boundary marker of territory of some sort."
Safier glances at the drawing, unsure what Gart sees in it. Either way, she chooses to remain silent on the subject, having nothing to offer on the topic.
Arakan looks at the idol thing that has caught Gart's attention. "Um, okay, thanks a ton. Now we know we have gone from deep dark tunnel one to the neighboring deep dark tunnel two." Arakan brushes off Gart's information, mostly out of frustration for not having recognized it as anything himself. "Will this help us keep walking forward, the only one way we can go besides out. If so, then let's do that can we?"
Dugeoneering
"Woah. I had this one merchant's wife pay my owner 2 of those to get Furiated one night. They're worth some coin."
"Yeah! Noblewomen would throw good money for.....heh heh.... They like us muls especially. We can't knockem up!"
"I see, that is a good life, i suppose. How did you go from there to traipsing through a dank cave full of half-giant $h!T?"
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"freedom, man."
"I'd take a warm bed over a dark tunnel any day."