Clara shoots fire at the swarm and then flies screaming back to the cave where they came from.
The swarm goes up in flames and the few remaining spiders disperse in all directions.
Jewel echoes Clara's scream until she realizes that the fire broke up the swarm. The few surviving spiders are no more than what they saw frequently with the chickens. She runs after Clara, "Clara, come back! Your fire broke up the swarm. Now let's get the king and the septer and get back home!"
As Clara notices, that no one follows her she starts feeling lonely in the dark of the cave. And the others have it even darker with Clara gone. When Jewel call for her to return, she stops and breathres her fears away to the point that she slowly goes back checking what's going on.
Jewel is very happy to see Clara, and her light magic, returning. "You had me worried Clara. I don't have any light magic ready and this cave is dark without you!. The bug is dead but kingy ran off. If we move fast we might be able to catch him and get that septer. I can't use my sleep hex on him again today but I can still target any other baby gobbers."
The kids go after the mite king in hopes of catching him. Gertrud curses as she squeezes through the small tunnel almost getting stuck.
As Clara's light shines into the cave colorful shimmering spiderwebs criss-cross the cave. Three spiders the size of dogs sit on the walls, but don't come down.
The mite king stands with his back at the back wall with nowhere to go. The other mites try to hide here and there in the shadows. The king has had enough and throws the scepter through the cave at the kids. All while cursing in his unintelligible language. It lands in front of Jewel's feet.
"Yes, run!" Gertrud orders and waits for the kids to be gone before she squeezes into the tunnel again.
Back in the large cave with the many holes, the question arises which one was leading upstairs. And which one upstairs is the one that leads out.
Jewel grabs the septer and runs. When they all get back to the room with all the tunnels she looks around confused. "Crap! Ah, everybody stop. Look on the floor for our tracks coming in from the tunnel. Tobar is good at tracking."
Tobar tries to see which tunnel they came in by
Pointing at a tunnel more or less at random
"I'm pretty sure we came down that one!"
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"Can't let them see that I have NO idea."
"Not totally, but pretty sure, yeah"
Jewel scans the floor for any of their tracks, in or out but can't be sure. "OK. But let's mark it just in case."
Jewel doesn't lead but stays close to whoever does.
"Meh. Stupid tunnels."
The tunnel leads down and after a while you get wet feet.
Jewel grumbles about not thinking about marking the entrances/exits of the tunnels, but otherwise stays silent. She hopes that Mrs. Johnson isn't bumping her head too much on the low ceilings, but also keeps that to herself.
Jewel shrugs as they head back to the big cavern. "Just means we have to try another. Tobar, Maybe if you check the first ten feet or so in each tunnel for any sign of our footprints? Not the tunnel to kingy or the other stuff we fought, but these others?"
"Ok, I'll try again. THIS time I'm sure I'll get it"
Once again, Tobar confidently points at a particular tunnel.
This time Tobar clearly sees where Gertrud scratched the sof tstone with her equipment. You find the way up and from there on to the river. A short dive later you are out in the open again, breathing fresh air.
Jewel looks up to the open sky with a broad smile. "I didn't realize how much I was missing the sky. This kind of stuff definitely isn't fun! Okay, now we still need to climb and then follow the trail back to the ghost. Who's best at climbing? Then you can help those of us that aren't good to make it safely."
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Glad to finally get some fresh air, Tarjun stretches like a cat.
"Well, hop'fully we whacked 'em real good, and we ain't gonna hear from those gobboes again! And those giant ants..."
He shivers at the thought.
"Anyway, I bet the ghost's gonna be glad to get his magic stick back. Ye think we're gonna get a reward?"
"What reward can a ghost give?" Clara wonders.
"Reward? He said the stick was his badge of office or something. I think he'll probably just take it back to his bed and just leave everyone alone. I just hope there won't be more gobbers break in and steal it again. Maybe once the door's locked again we should bury it under a hill of dirt!"
"Who cares about a reward? We didn't do it for a reward. I wouldn't take a reward even if it was offered!! We got the magic stick. And nobody got killed. That was the most fun EVER!!!!"
"Man, I hope we get a reward"
"Maybe he can play with us at our playcastle?" Clara suggests.
Jewel looks at the others in disbelief. "Play with us? He's dead! Once he gets his septer back he should lay back down in his sarcoff.... sar... whatever, ah box, and stay in it. And we'll have to figure out some new games that don't include getting hurt or killing anything except maybe some weeds or bugs!"
"Come on Tarjun! You can't ask him to haunt anybody. How would you like it if he haunted Mom and Dad? Or us? Would you want him waking you up in the middle of night by spooky noises!?! You might wet the bed before you recognized him!"
"Let's get back and over with this." Gertrud suggests. She looks exhausted and tired.
Jewel nods at Mrs. Johnson's suggestion. It had been a long day and the boring daily chores were looking pleasant. She checked the scepter again to see if the marble held in place on the base of it. While the thing looked interesting she didn't think she'd ever want to see it again. "Yeah. Let's just get this thing back to the ghost and get home!"
After a short climb and a long walk you are back in the familiar part of the woods. The ruin of the Erastil Shrine. Entering the crypt you find the ghost, floating at the same place you left him. "I see you are back."
"That's cool." the ghost replies, imitating the silly coolness that Tarjun puts out.
Jewel carefully moves around the ghost, pulling the scepter out to place it back in the sarcophagus where the marble had been. She glances over to the ghost, "Back where it belongs, and we'll be sure to lock the door again so you can stay safe and not bothered by any more stupid gobbers!"
She steps around the ghost again trying to exit and not accidentally pass through the ghost....
"Nah, you can keep it. As long as it's not with the - how are you calling them? Gobbers? - then I'm fine. Also less likely it gets stolen again."
"Would make you the new guardian of the shrine and the woods around though." the ghost tells.
"You're the last living people who have touched the scepter. That makes you the guardians. You don't want to anger the spirits of the former guardians, do you?" the ghost inquires.
"Looks like you brought that on yourself. If you had stayed out of the crypt like we told you..." Gertrud chimes in.
"There is no follower of Erastil, who teaches you these things?" the ghost asks, now with a really serious face.
"Don't look at us. We pray to Desna at our meals. Your parents are the ones with Erastil's bow over the door!" Clara tries to point the attention of the no longer funny ghost back to the Branston kids.
Jewel holds the scepter up. She had seen the glance between the ghost and Mrs. Johnson but stayed serious. "I'm not sure about Erastil, but we learn about lots of stuff, and I like reading stuff a lot! I'm okay with being a guardian of the shrine, and we play lots in these woods anyway. But we're just kids. Our parents would have to say that we can do it. You know, we can't keep sneaking off like that! Mrs. Johnson was really nice helping us when the little gobber things, mites.... got too dangerous for just us. But this sounds like something that we better tell to all of our parents."