Steve's consultation of the wizard brings wide smile to his lips, and he gladly ponders for a moment.
"They're just common vermin, strike them down, captain."
Leander didn't really need to hear anything to know that the filthy vermin in front of him needed to be put down. Without much more thought he looses an arrow at the closest maggot.
Ah, they were only maggots. I've never seen vermin so big, tough.
Menedemus will move closer to the creatures and slash at one of them with his greatsword.
Curses!
Leander's arrow manages to embed itself in one of the maggots, halting its advance for only half a second before its squirming continued.
Looking over towards the massive maggots, Lisandra recoils in disgust "This is what lives beneath our city? Foul creatures." The sound of a steel blade being drawn from its sheath is heard as Lisandra moves forward to engage.
Aleister lifts his hand to one of the Maggots, and conjures an orb of acid that flys through the air.
The combined efforts manage to kill one of the maggots, finished off by bubbling acid hurled at it that fills the cavern with another layer of unpleasant smells.
Horgus makes a loud noise of dissatisfaction as it assails his nose, and combined with the sight of the wriggling, slimy white creatures, he decides to just back away. Anevia does the same, guiding Aravashniel back a few paces. She moves too slow for it to be an effective retreat, but they move at a third the speed of a normal human, and she can meet that just fine.
The other two maggots continue their advance, one of them coming upon Steave, who waited with his shield for precisely this moment. As its mouth opens to bite the half-elf, his shield bash sends it tumbling back a few feet and knocking it dead.
The other remains a few feet behind its fallen ally, unable to bite anybody, but still trying to get to.
Menedemus didn't have much actual battle experience: not being able to even hit a maggot, tough, was very frustrating.
Moving near the remaining vermin, he will drop a hit on it with a grunt.
Aleister stands back as the other survivors slay the giant vermin. He holds a hand over his mouth to block the smell of decay.
Aeryx's arrow strikes the maggot right in the mouth, the steel head shredding its insides as it falls limply to the floor. The way forward should now be peril-less.
Due to the injured with you, the group's collective movement speed is only 15 feet.
"Well done."
Once the last maggot drops Leander puts away his bow and moves back to Horgus. See sir, I promised we would get you out of her without any further injury. We are more than capable of removing any threats ahead." He offered the man a smile without showing too much teethe as the elongated canines tend to put people off, "Now if you'd please excuse me sir, I'll go and move ahead to see what's coming next."
Menedemus will look in amazement at Aeryx's precise shot "That was incredible!". He will then add with a sigh, biting his lip "Surely better than my contribution..."
Dammit, why am I so useless? If I can't even hit a crawling maggot, maybe it's really better if I just off myself to stop the next attack...
Interrupting his thoughts with a lash of his tail, he will take his place in the marching order, keepnig both his natural and supernatural sight sharp. )
"Good shot, Aeryx." Steave offers. He keeps wearing his shield.
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"Takes practice, son. Courage is the most important skill when fighting." Steave replies to Menedemus.
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"Mulberry, you're a scout? Excellent." Steave replies to Leander when he offers to sneak. "I served with a Hagar Mulberry in the first crusade. Good crusader. Any relation?"
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After he starts leading the troop, Steave asks, "Aravashniel, can you make light? We've a limited amount of torches and could use a second source of illumination."
The elf shakes his head. "I know no light spells, perhaps by good fortune now."
Horgus nods understandingly toward the Tiefling. "Very well. Perhaps somebody else will learn how to address a man of my station in your absence."
Leander scouts ahead a short distance, and after a few minutes he comes across a ruined campsite. A torn bedroll lies next to the cold remains of a fire. A pile of bones, broken equipment, and rubble lies there, as does a pair of giant cockraches who have been caved in on. One of them has been struck with a rock shaken from the cieling by the commotion of the earth being torn asunder, while the other has been struck with a backpack that fell through the sky, and appears to still be twitching.
Addressing everyone (especially Aleister), "If no one can make magical light, then we'll have to inventory our supplies of torches at the next stop. I have nine more."
Leander was surprised by Steave, "Well yes, he was my great grandfather, never knew him. He died before my father was born. He was a chirurgeon, like my father. Grandfather said my father looked like him." A broad smile appeared on Leander's face before he started moving ahead. It was odd though, how could this man know his grandfather?
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Leander quickly returned to his fellows, "There are two more giants insects there, cockroaches the size of dogs. At least one of them is still alive, better put some arrows in them. The living one is the one with the backpack on it's back." He grinned, "It's less idiotic than it sounds."
"That's Hagar. He stitched me more than a few times. Good crusader." Steave replies with a smile.
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"Good work." Steave nods to Leander. "Why don't you and Aeryx start shooting it with arrows at the distance of your vision. If it survives to get to you, we'll close ranks around you."
Steave asks Aleister, "Can you carry my torch? I'm better fighting with two hands, and it would be better to put our light such those in the back can see, too."
Menedemus will nod at Steave, slightly relieved: fretting over his failures wouldn't have helped in this situation, and the fact that Steave and Aravashniel were battle veterans was reassuring.
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"Ma'am, is your leg doing better? I can imagine that it's difficult to walk in your condition, but I'm positive that we'll get you to safety in no time. You have experienced soldiers and skilled fighters with you, so there isn't any danger." he will say to Anevia.
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"Giant Maggots and Cockroaches? I had no idea there were such creatures under Kenabres." he will say, and then glance at the ceiling and the walls "Speaking of which: where are we, anyway?"
"I'm afraid it's not," she says through gritted teeth, leading Aravashniel slowly through the cavern. She limps, moving slowly not only for his benefit, but because of the pain on her leg. Between her crutch and his quarterstaff, she's able to keep from applying too much pressure to it, but it's not improving with distance. " But I appreciate the concern."
Leander seems to completely ignore Steave and his commands. Commanders were nice, until they got on your nerves and if anything this man seemed to be good at that. Sweet talking about his great grand dad, as if he hadn't heard a hundred times how great a crusader that man was.
No, instead of firing at the cockroach he drew a blade and slunk of to the side. If the cockroach went after bird man he'd have a chance to see what was behind there.
Aleister accepts the torch keeping the burning thing held high. "I'm curious as to why a cockroach would have a backpack. I suggest we leave the creature be less it shows hostility."
Aeryx's arrow misses its mark, knocking the heavy backpack off of it and allowing it to skitter freely, naturally right toward the person who fired an arrow at it.
After the bow shot, Steave steps in front of Aeryx but off to the side, such that the roach must enter melee with him first staying out of Aeryx's firing line. He wonders where the little Mulberry devil is.
Running up alongside Anevia and Aravashniel, Lisandra takes a knee to speak to the injured duo and kindly adds "When the immediate danger has passed, I'll have a closer look at your injuries, see if I can't help."
Her blade still drawn, Lisandra quickly heads off and pulls near to Steave and takes a defensive position "Far too many fowl creatures down here."
Your combined efforts put the vermin down quickly. It goes still collapses. The one crushed behind the rock is still immobile, and Menedemus's Deathwatch can confirm that it is indeed dead. The camp site and backpack are before you.
Menedemus' morale will be even more dampened by his inability to even act, this time, but he will try to stay focused for the sake of his duty.
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To keep his head occupied, he will examine the camp.
"Hmm, I wonder what a campsite id doing here, under the city." he will point to the pile of bones and ruined equipment "And if those were who used this camp before, I think we can at least say that this has been here for some time."
He will ponder for some time, his tail gently going right and left, and then cordially ask to Horgus.
"Lord Gwerm, I'm sure a nobleman such as yourself must have a great deal of knowledge about the city and its history. Have you ever heard of the existence of this tunnels under Kenabres, or their function?
"Mulberry? Are you alright?" Steave calls into the cavern with genuine concern.
He leads the group to the camp and asks, "Aeryx, what did you find?"
Aeryx's read of the campsite tells him that it has been a little more recently lived in than the pile of bones would imply. Meanwhile, Menedemus can spot several things amidst the rubble and garbage. Three candle stubs that could each provide thirty minutes of light, ten feet of salvageable rope amidst a frayed roll, and a copper brooch depicting a bad perched on a mushroom, the bat's eyes both tiny amethysts.
The backpack is, upon closer inspection, a Masterwork Backpack. Inside of it are ten days of trail rations, a flint and steel, a set of caltrops, two flasks of oil, a bundle of twelve arrows, a potion of Cure Light Wounds, and a potion of Lesser Restoration. Its contents were in an iron strong box, both shielding it from breakign during the fall, and why it was heavy enough to nearly kill the vermin.
Horgus thinks for a moment, and the way Menedemus spekas to him cordially makes his answer less curt than it would otherwise be. "I've never heard of extensive tunnels beneath the city before. This is all news to me."
While the others were examining the camp Leander quietly moved further. He didn't want to alarm anything so he stuck to the darkness and away from anything that betray him with sound.
"Alright, who needs a backpack? If no one wants it, I can carry it. Aeryx, why don't you take the arrow? Let's do an inventory of our light and food, now. We don't know how long it will take to get out of here." Steave starts inventorying backpacks, sources of light and food while including the blind wizard as much as possible. "Aravashniel, we found a copper brooch depicting a bat perched on a mushroom, the bat's eyes both tiny amethysts. Does that symbol mean anything to you? Can you tell if anything is magical?"
After the quick inventories and enough time for the cleric to potentially heal the NPCs, Steave says, "Ready? Let's go."
"Ready but I wasn't exactly planning for this kind of thing so I don't have much on me. Let's hope we can navigate our way out sooner rather than later" Aleister says.
After traveling a winding route for almost 2,000 feet, you reach the tunnel's end at a junction. To the north, a 5-foot-wide opening in the wall leads into a cave whose soft but nasty-looking green light peeks through the hole, while to the south the tunnel proper continues.
Menedemus readies his greatsword as Aeryx moves to scout the ominous lit cave, vigilant to any danger that may arise.
Aeryx discovers nothing as he listens to the hole. A peek inside reveals more cave. A single sizable 20-foot-tall building remains in the center of this 30-foot-high cave, a bunkerlike structure with no windows and walls of worked stone blocks. A 10-foot-long carving of a hammer decorates the building's facade. The ruins of collapsed outbuildings stand to either side.
Aleister moves forward and takes in the sight of the building. "Underground structure with a hammer on it. Anyone else thinking Dwarven? There may be survivors or supplies we should check it out." He suggests.
It may be all thats left of our city.
Leander moved into the tunnel before realising the rest had turned for the cave. "Aleister, can you send that bird of yours to check? I mean, he's smaller than me and he flies, I bet he can be sneakier than I can." A bird underground would be kind of odd but if there was something there they must have heard the collapse, that could have trapped a bird down here.
With a little effort Aleister grabs the attention on the small bird resting on his horn. "Hey. I need you to fly around and tell me what you can find, ok?" With that the feathered creature darts off.
As the bird approaches, a low buzzing sound begins, growing louder rather quickly, until two giant flies of the same species as the maggots you fought earlier emerge from the collapsed buildings.