itself, and fixed a beady eye upon Escalla above. The creature seemed to be a tall, thin mollusk with a shell shaped like a razor-sharp stalactite. It began to make its way slowly across the cavern floor toward a wall, traveling with the glacial, bubbling pace of a gastropod.
There were other stalactites near Escalla. The girl eyed them with clear suspicion, readying her wand. “The ceiling’s alive with thesethings.”
“Don’t get under them!”
“Thanks, Jus. I don’t know
“I think one of these shell-critters killed a captive. Thetrogs must have eaten the shell creature.” Escalla hastily backed away. “Eeew!And ate most of the dead human, too. Damn!” Appalled and angered, Escallacircled the body.
She had found the main exit from the cave-another huge tunnelthat led due north. Moving to join her, Jus thumped down to the floor, sliding down the rock slope in a pool of light. He caught Private Henry and helped the boy to the ground, steadying his crossbow with one big hand.
“Son, do you really know how to shoot that thing?”
“Sir yes sir!” The teenager blinked. “Well, kinda. I scoredthirty out of fifty on the target range.”
“At what distance?”
“Um, thirty yards.”
“Wonderful.” Jus set the boy to watching the rear, thencaught Polk as the teamster came sliding noisily down the limestone slope. Still annoyed with the man, Jus dragged him onto his feet. “Don’t fall behind. Keepbetween me and the boy, and keep your eyes open!”
“Sure, son! They’re open!” Polk still reeked of fermentedkelp. “I jus’ stayed back to watch the lights-real pretty! Now that’s whatadventure should be all about. Pretty things and the unexpected! Surprising vistas, boy! A fitting backdrop to heroics!”
Jus fixed the man with a suspicious glare, while Cinders leaked a wisp of smoke and flames.
“Are you still drunk?”
“No, son! Jus’ look behind us! See! The whole place is realdamned pretty!”
Jus knelt and waved a hand. Private Henry, Escalla and even Polk all settled down in silence. Jus covered his light and waved the others to do the same.
With the light gone, the eyes were shocked into blindness, but it was a blindness that slowly filled out with little points of light.
Bands of minerals on the walls slowly began to glow in blues and greens. Lichens on the ceiling gave off a weird yellow light. Piece by piece, as their eyes forgot the brightness of day, the underworld began to come alive with light.
The air felt dank and cold, moving with slow breaths from tunnels and caverns in the far off dark. The only sounds were subtle, far off twitterings-bats, rats, or worse. The drip and echo of distant water filled thehuge tunnels with a quiet stir of sound. Dung made a foul stench along the tunnels. Some of it seemed to be human, some reptilian, and some came from creatures best left unidentified. Toadstools grew in the compost, their caps shining with a sickly green and yellow luminescence. Clinging to high tunnel roofs, other lights shifted and moved in the gloom-luminous beetles, slugs, andworms going about their daily grind.
Jus hid his magic light inside a pouch and shoved it through his belt. Escalla followed suit. The light spells were brilliant enough to blind creatures used to this pale phosphorescence. It seemed best to keep them as weapons, moving through the tunnels with more stealth.
Over at the new tunnel, Jus looked carefully at the dim, dark shadows and touched a troglodyte footprint still fresh in the mud. He thoughtfully dried his fingertips.
Escalla inspected her friend’s work and asked, “Recent?”
“About half a day’s lead.”
“Know what we’re going to do when we find ’em?”
“Play it by ear.” The Justicar arose. “Locator?”
Escalla produced the magic pointer. The little compass swung to point straight north down the tunnel. The pointer no longer quivered; the quarry had gained many miles of lead. With a curse, Escalla put the thing away and unslung her battle wand. The Justicar nodded. Escalla turned invisible and took the lead position, scouting far ahead of her friends. The Justicar settled Cinders on his helm and felt the hell hound lift his ears and begin carefully scanning the gloom. Moving with a stealth that was perfection to behold, the big man paced down the wide tunnel on Escalla’s trail, his hand poised on his swordhilt for a lightning draw.
Polk watched his companions, reached for his whiskey bottle, and then remembered that his drink had been confiscated. With a concerned look at the tunnel, the man ran to catch up with the Justicar.
“Son, this is no lair! This ain’t a dungeon!” Polk’s voicecarried shockingly far in the gloom. “Are you sure we’re on the right track?”
Jus never spoke a word. He turned, glared, lifted a finger to his lips, then swung about to keep up his silent march.
Polk went into a huff With his hands jammed into his pockets, he stomped along ten feet behind his friends, kicking at any toadstools that came in his way. Behind him, Private Henry kept a nervous rear guard, chain mail jingling with every step and his pace slowed as he turned constantly to point his crossbow at empty shadows far behind.
The party walked cautiously onward into a tunnel that never seemed to end.
Long hours of walking went by. The massive passageways were a squalor of life and violent death. Great phosphorescent beetles preyed upon the slugs. Slugs chewed into glowing fungi, which in turn grew on compost left from dead beetles, old bones and dung.
Other things lived and ate here as well. The gnawed bones of humanoid creatures had been left here and there on the passage floors-sometimeself bones, sometimes human, always gnawed clean with skulls left grinning in the dark.
There were frequent alcoves, side caves, and sink holes all along the way. The party sat down in one such alcove as they shared hard bread and rested their feet. Polk’s magic bottle was produced, and much to his pain,all the travelers were served a measure of good whiskey carefully monitored by Jus before the bottle was sealed away again.
Sipping prime aged whiskey from a tin mug, Escalla kept a watch upon the corridor. Escalla had long since given up her invisibility on the march, coming to hover close to Cinders and the Justicar. After half an hour, invisibility wreaked havoc with her hair.
Swigging back her whiskey, Escalla turned to the task of gnawing upon a rock hard piece of bread. Daunted by the task, she finally used the bread chunk as an elbow rest.
“Jus, how far do you reckon this tunnel runs?”
“Honestly?”
“Yeah.”
“It’s a road.” The Justicar was repairing one of his bootlaces, working with big, efficient hands. “The trogs must have a nest down here.Probably a drow settlement, too. The thing must run for miles.”
Escalla gave a sigh and idly dangled the locator needle on its string. It pointed north, straight down the tunnel, and gave not a quaver of life. The opposition must have zoomed at least ten miles ahead.
“Bugger!” The girl sighed. “How much food do we have again?”
“Not much.” The Justicar finished fixing his boot. “Fancyslug stew?”
“Pass.” The girl took a long look down the tunnels. “Theremust be something big enough to make a meal of down here.”
Rising to his feet, the Justicar looked into the gloom with a growl. “That’s what I’m afraid of.”
The tunnels had been eerily empty so far, but it couldn’tlast. The Takers would hardly leave their gates unguarded. Somewhere farther along the tunnels, there would be a guard post. Beyond that lay the horrific kingdom of the underdark. Jus pondered the trouble they were sinking deeper and deeper into and looked about the dripping cavern walls.
“Any ideas who the murderer might be?” Jus asked.
