"I would tend to agree. If that doesn't pan out, we can always venture out further."
As they make their way through the tunnels and further from the duergar stronghold, Illiana attempts to gain her bearings. If only she were better at navigating the darklands. These tunnels seem familiar, but are they really the ones she was searching when she was captured? Damn! A frustrated sigh escapes her lips.
"Yes, I suppose that will have to do..." she says dismissively.
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At first, Urf was doing fine during the long walk, staying relatively quiet compared to his normal self. It even seemed like he was trying to keep an eye out for trouble, looking this way and that, his lance always within his grasp. Even Itchy Butt seemed on guard, his gait poised for the potential to spring into action. Perhaps he truly was a knight of some kind with experience in the line of work set before the party.
That lasted about an hour into the first day, where the goblin visibly and audibly announced that he was getting bored. He would shift in the saddle almost nonstop, groaning and grumbling to himself in Goblin. When they came upon the few duergar patrols, it seemed like he was getting ready to challenge them with increasing intensity each time. Thankfully, he always thought better of it or was talked down from it just in time, each and every time.
After a few days, having no doubt annoyed every other member in the party, when Xaraan suggested finding the last ambush site, Urf groaned loudly. "Urf tired of walking!" he said, rolling his eyes. "Itchy Butt not gonna be able to run if he have to walk so much all day! You not want hurt Urf's Itchy Butt, right?!"
It wasn't like the goblin had any other ideas, though, so after some more grumbling, he sighed out, "Fiiiine, we walk more, but Itchy Butt need rest!"
While most of the party would probably assume that meant taking a break for a couple of hours, Urf instead got off the saddle, gave a small whistle, and within seconds, Itchy Butt was draped across Urf's shoulders, the little goblin motioning to keep moving forward.
The group continues along the wide path. The ground has long since been worn flat by the many caravans and travelers moving through these tunnels and they have little trouble following the Walk. Given how long it's been since the last ambush, finding a fresh site is going to be difficult at best, but Xerann's skills make finding likely ambush sites easy. The Walk begins to turn north a bit when Xarenn calls a halt. He recalls traveling through this region before and remembers a major crossroads where an ambush would be easy to plan and difficult to catch before it was too late.
Rissi draws her rapier. "Well, let's get going to the scene, then!" she says excitedly. "If there's anything leftover I should be able to figure something out...we'll just have to keep an eye out in case the ambushers are still lurking around."
Xarann draws his own blade, making his way down towards the crossroads after motioning for the group to follow. "It should be... right, this way." He walks a bit farther, the location being just over the next hill of the Darklands's sprawling subterranean landscape. "There's no way of knowing if there'll be anything here to even find, but keep an eye out." When Rissi mentions the ambushers, he nods. "Right, try not to die if that happens," he comments, before heading down towards the crossroads himself.
"Thinblood!" Illiana hisses in elven with a hint of contempt, "wait here. Your steps are clumsy and clamorous to me." Eyeing Rissi, she adds in undercommon, "The rat should go first, she is... less obtrusive."
"Sound thinking. Just don't do too good a job at getting us ambushed, Rissi," Mika adds.
Thinking it over, Mika continues "And better to get this out of the way now, I suppose, casting a Mage Armor on himself.
Rissi blinks, looking surprised, then slightly angry. "Hey! It's ratfolk," she snaps at Illiana. "But uh...I guess I can do that. Yeah." Cupping her hands around her eyes to shield them from the light, Rissi draws her rapier, makes sure her taill blade is secure, and sets off into the deepest darkness.
As she scurries down the passageway toward the ambush site, Rissi stays pressed to the walls (or the floor, if it's a large open cavern), darting between obvious points of cover wherever possible.
Rissi scampers forward ahead of the party, heading down the tunnel toward the crossroads. The passage spreads wider as it opens in to a large cavern. The cave is too large to see all the way to the other side without help, but Rissi can make an educated guess fairly easily. Nothing moves in the darkness, either because they haven't seen her, or perhaps she's truly alone in the cave.
"Pardon me for not skulking through the Darklands like some sort of... miscreant," Xarann retorts. "I shine with the light of truth, and I will not cover the flame purely because moths might be drawn to it. To do so would be to flinch from my faith, and I will not surrender to the darkness purely because I walk amongst it. I will walk as a lone lantern in a see of shadows, if that is what I must do." He snorts, then mutters a phrase in Elven and waves his free hand as he casts Mage Armor as well, having noted Mika cast it himself. "I wouldn't expect you to understand," Xarann says to Illiana. "Her light is so dim beneath the earth, so many below are ignorant to Her teachings. I will redeem you, all of you, someday if I live to have the chance."
Still, Xarann remains behind as Rissi wanders down towards the crossroads, only taking his first steps down towards them once she is well away from the group. He heads in another direction, away from her, and opts to do some investigating of his own.
When it got pointed out that they possibly were close to the potential ambush site, Urf let Itchy Butt off his shoulders and quickly hopped on the saddle, prodding the goblin dog to be ready to charge at a moment's notice. Lance in hand, he started to follow where Rissi was slinking off to, but was able to gather that she was just scouting ahead. The impatient goblin was able to understand that it was a sound enough decision to obey it, especially since he wasn't very good at hiding.
While he waited, it appeared that the others were getting ready. The fetchling and half-drow were obviously doing something magical, though Urf kept a close eye on Mika to make sure he wasn't using a book. He got distracted by Xarann and Illiana going at each other. Whether or not he could understand them , he got a little irritated by it.
The few minutes Rissi was away elapsed, and Urf's short, nearly nonexistent patience wore out. Without warning and without hesitation, he spurred Itchy Butt to charge in the direction Rissi had slunk off in, lance raised above his head.
"Someone come out and fight Urf!" he yelled, obviously trying to draw attention to himself. "Urf bored! Urf need glory so Urf get ship! Who brave enough to fight glorious Urf?! Show self!"
Rissi startles and almost panics when Urf starts shouting behind her, but makes her way back to the group. "What are you doing, you damn fool?!" she hisses at him. "What if I'd seen something and was coming back to tell you where it was?!" she sighs. "Regardless, I didn't see anything out there...the cavern's too big for me to see across, though."
Mika shakes his head at Urf and watches silently as Rissi scolds him, choosing to not get involved. He planned to scribe the scroll Share Language he'd bought into his spellbook tonight - out of sight of the goblin, of course - and hopefully tomorrow they'd have an easier time of things and fewer surprises without a language barrier to work around.
"How big's the cavern exactly?" he says, glad the argument was short-lived. "Maybe this will help a bit?"
With a gesture, he sends the Dancing Lights out on a swinging path around the cavern, illuminating the unseen out to the furthest he control the spell.
No one responds to Urf's shouted challenges. As Mika's lights spread out across the cavern, providing a little light to allow the group to get a better look at things. The cavern is about 100 feet across, with the other passage in to the Walk opening on the far side. Two more large passages open up almost perpendicular to the Walk on either side of the cavern.