Emilo, who was farther up trail, turned and ran back to the two humans. 'The path leads to another cave,' he said excitedly. 'A really big one-big enough to hold a dragon, or even a couple of dragons.' From overhead, there came a horrible screech. One of the vulture creatures was diving straight toward them.
Joel grabbed Jas's hand and shouted, 'Run for it!'
The three pelted down the trail.
The cave loomed up ahead. Its entrance was quite large, and Joel realized there was nothing to prevent the vulture creatures from following them inside. Darkness would be their only cover.
As they dashed into the opening, Jas yanked her hand away from Joel and turned to face the creature should it decide to enter.
Up ahead, in the darkness of the cave, Joel spotted two glowing red spots moving toward him. The bard grabbed Jas about the waist and dragged her off to the side of the entrance to hide in the shadows.
The vulture creature landed at the cave entrance and stood silhouetted in the light. The giant bird was a full two feet taller than Joel. A few moments later the vulture was flanked by two more of its kind.
The glowing red spots inside the cave grew larger. The vulture creatures, apparently having spotted what Joel assumed were the eyes of some far larger monster, backed away from the cave entrance. The glowing spots flashed past Joel, and he saw in the cave entrance a hideously misshapen spider at least ten feet long. From its spinneret, the spider shot a strand of webbing at the vultures.
There was a horrible shrieking sound outside the cave, but Joel turned his attention to the kender tugging on his vest.
There's a way through the cave,' Emilo whispered. 'Hurry.'
Joel and Jas followed the kender deeper into the cave. Great webs filled the passage, but Emilo had discovered a sinkhole four feet wide and nearly as deep that was free of webbing. Emilo scurried through the sinkhole as the humans, dragging their packs behind them, crawled on their hands and knees to avoid the webbing overhead. Joel speculated that the hole had been caused by the earth tremors they'd experienced the day before. Had it been formed less recently than that, the great spider surely would have detected it and filled it with webbing.
When they emerged from the sinkhole on the opposite side of the webbing, Joel pulled out the finder's stone once again. The stone shone down the passageway. The light seemed brighter underground, as if the stone sensed it was safer from detection in this dark place. The passageway twisted and turned and finally led them to a steep staircase that led upward.
Jas counted two hundred steps before they reached the first landing. The next flight of steps was set ninety degrees to the first flight. It was another two hundred steps to the second landing.
'Are we there yet?' Jas half joked, half whined.
'Beshaba's supposed to have her court somewhere near the pinnacle,' Joel reminded Jas. 'It could be a thousand, two thousand steps, maybe more.'
Jas groaned and rummaged about in a backpack for the water bottle.
'Hello,' Emilo murmured. He'd been tapping on the stones of the wall. 'I think I've found something.'
Joel turned to see what the kender had discovered. Emilo was pushing at a stone on the wall of the landing. A hidden doorway, some five feet high and two feet wide, popped open a crack.
'Shall we have a look?' the kender asked.
'It would be a nice break from all the stairs,' Jas said, taking a gulp of water.
Joel stared uncertainly at the door. 'We're more likely to discover what we need to know at the top of the stairs,' he said.
'But perhaps we can learn something useful here,' Emilo argued. 'Maybe Beshaba keeps her secrets down here instead of up there,' the kender suggested.
'Just a quick look,' Joel agreed with a sigh.
They slipped through the door. The finder's stone light stubbornly shone back toward the stairs.
From his pack, the kender pulled out a torch and tinderbox. By the light of the torch, they proceeded down the narrow corridor.
The corridor opened into a larger hallway. To his left, Joel could hear the murmur of low, indistinct voices.
The bard led his companions in the direction of the voices. The hallway emptied into a great room with rows of benches facing an altar covered with a red cloth and a rack of horns-an underground temple to Beshaba. The benches were packed with people praying, some silently and others mumbling their prayers with considerable fervor. Occasionally a worshiper approached one of the braziers that surrounded the altar and set fire to an offering.
A pretty young woman dressed in black from head to toe came up from behind them. 'Beshaba provides,' she whispered. 'Bad things always happen. Only offerings and prayer to Lady Doom can save us.'
'Mmmm,' Joel responded noncommittally.
'Our goals are meaningless. Lady Doom can undermine them with but a thought,' the woman insisted.
'Oh, yeah?' Jas replied with irritation. She didn't doubt Beshaba's power, but the other woman's fear of the goddess annoyed her.
The woman clutched Jas's arm. 'Appease her so her wrath turns elsewhere-' the woman's eye's lit up-'perhaps even on your enemies,' she concluded. Then she turned away from them to approach the altar.
'I feel a sudden urge to climb another few thousand stairs,' Jas muttered to Joel.
'Me, too,' Emilo agreed.
'Let's go,' Joel said.
They hurried down the hallway, scurried down the narrow corridor, squeezed back through the secret door, and pushed it closed behind them. The finder's stone shone upward.
In unison, the adventurers sighed, then resumed their ascent. Every two hundred steps there was a landing, a secret door, which they ignored, and another flight of steps that turned ninety degrees.
On step 3, Joel slipped on the stairs, slid down twenty steps, and twisted his ankle. He had already used his healing spell on the wounds Jas suffered at the hand of the fetch. In order to continue the climb, the bard was forced to cast a healing spell from one of Winnie's scrolls. They rested at the next landing, ate some more food, and finished off the water.
'We don't really have to go any farther,' Joel said. 'We could just sit here while Finder and Selune sense what's going on above.'
'I don't want to just sit here in the dark while Finder and Selune are the only ones who get to see what's going on,' Jas argued. 'What do you think, Emilo?'
'It would be a shame to come all this way and not see what's at the top,' the kender said.
'Two to one. You're outvoted, Joel,' Jas announced.
'So much for trying to break away from my image as a reckless fool,' the bard muttered.
After Joel cast a spell to fill their empty water flasks, the adventurers continued on their way.
The landing at step 0 appeared to be a dead end, but Emilo had no trouble detecting the stone to push to open the landing's secret door.
They blinked in the sudden light that assaulted their eyes. In actuality, it wasn't particularly bright, but it was far brighter than they were used to. The light, coming from lanterns hanging from the ceiling, revealed a vast chamber or gathering hall. The floor was littered with human bodies, some moaning, some lying deathly still. A portion of the chamber's ceiling appeared to have collapsed recently. Some of the bodies lay beneath boulders and piles of rubble.
Other people stood around talking, apparently oblivious to the suffering and pain around them. One group of people squatted in a corner rolling dice and cursing loudly. Joel weaved a path through the fallen bodies. Jas and Emilo followed. They passed a group of men playing a bizarre game with a basket. As each man reached into the basket, the others chanted, 'Beshaba, take him,' over and over again. Each man drew out a snake, usually something harmless like a garter snake, but one man reached in, gave a hideous screech, and fell back, clutching his hand. A few moments later the man's body was wracked with a violent seizure. Joel forced himself to avert his eyes.
'Here's another player,' a large bully of a man said, blocking Joel's path. 'Have you done enough to appease the Maid of Misfortune, chum?' the man asked the bard. Jas stepped forward with her sword drawn, pointing the
