*Well, this was less than enlightening*
*Yeah,* Athios agreed. *Maybe whatever we’re supposed to do is beneath the canopy.*
They flew for another few minutes, scanning the landscape. Obawon and Jebawon came to the same conclusion though, and the scout teams agreed to meet back where they had started.
Disappointed, Garath and Athios made a wide u-turn and headed back.
*Hey,* Garath projected the thought on the sub-channel to Athios. *Let’s fly back between the trees,* he suggested. *They aren’t so close together that it’ll be difficult. And maybe we’ll catch a glimpse of something other than… well, more trees.*
Athios agreed and they dropped altitude to weave between the evergreens. Garath delighted in the feeling of high-speed aerial maneuvering. He felt the wind whoosh through his feathers as he banked left and right to avoid the towering trees. Athios appeared to enjoy it as well. Appearing out of nowhere directly ahead of him, she spread her wings against her forward momentum, slowing dramatically. Garath had to dive hard to avoid making a beak-sized hole in her back. He felt carefree, happy even, as the two of them danced through the air, teasing each other with some aerial flirting.
Just after Athios had cut him off like a bad driver, Garath pulled his wings in tight to his body, then turned before spreading them back out, hanging a tight turn around a particularly thick tree. Briefly out of Athios’ line of sight, he then perched on a branch and waited for her to notice that he’d disappeared.
While waiting, he looked down. There was a large rock formation. No… a cave. I swear that wasn’t there a second ago.
It wasn’t natural, that much was for sure. Stalagmites, each the size of a grown man, rose from the soft dirt in a semicircle, with similarly large and pointy stalactites jutting down from the top of the opening like a gigantic mouth. Garath knew stalagmites and stalactites grew over time from dripping water carrying trace minerals - not randomly on the ground in the middle of a never-ending forest. His eyes traced the tooth-lined cave and moved beyond it. There. Two moss-covered holes exactly where eyes should be.
Garath called over the Raid’s main channel to let the party know what he found.
He opened his World Map to give them directions but, where the panel that typically showed a perfectly detailed topographical map of his surroundings usually appeared, he only saw what looked like a square of blank parchment. It did have a compass icon in the bottom right corner though, and he could still see the nine green dots denoting the locations of his Raid group not far to the east. Without any landmarks, he worried he would lose the location of the strange rock formation if he flew off to meet up with his group.
*Athios, meet up with the main group then bring everyone back here to my location. Can you see me on your map?* he asked.
*Sure can,* she confirmed, saddened that their game of aerial tag had to come to an end. . She’d been winning. *Try not to die before we get back to you.*
Garath laughed humorlessly on their shared channel, then turned his attention back to the strange, skull-shaped rock formation below. It wasn’t in the shape of a human skull, he noticed, but more like that of a monkey, or perhaps. . .
An enormous bear trudged out of the mouth over a broken stalagmite. As he watched the animal, Garath noticed that its form wasn’t entirely solid. It wasn’t like any bear he’d ever seen, at the very least. A few minutes later he heard the Party approaching and glided down from his perch to meet them before they got too close.
“Interesting,” Alice said, eyeing the not-quite-solid bear as it sniffed the air.
*What is?* Garath asked.
“That rock formation,” she replied. “It looks like a bear’s cranium, but. . .” she trailed off, watching the bear as it sniffed the air again. It looked pointedly in their direction, then hurried back into the mouth of the skull-shaped rock.
Garath didn’t really need her to finish her thought, he’d already come to the same conclusion. The semi-transparent bear he’d thought was so large from the tree above fit easily in between the upper and lower jaw of the huge rock formation on the ground. He imagined a full body connected to the head—it would be even larger than Aldrasyl. Maybe even four or five times the size of the mythic reptile.
“So… let’s go investigate the ominous cave?” Auto suggested.
Garath hesitantly agreed.
*Warrion, Stealth in first. Have a look around but don’t go too far. Let us know what you see.*
Warrion slumped. “Yeah, alright.”
The gangly Assassin equipped his daggers and moved silently toward the cave opening. Even as Garath watched, Warrion vanished. A few minutes later his old neighbor’s voice came into Garath’s mind.
*Nothing in the first room but old bones. There’s only one tunnel leading out of this first spot, I’m going to check it out.*
*Keep us posted,* Garath said. *We’re heading in.* He turned away from the cave to look at his Raid group. *Let’s go. Obawon, stay at the rear and be ready to go sword and board if necessary. Auto lead the way. Daisy, stay close to Athios.*
They approached the cave, weapons equipped and eyes alert. Garath stayed in Crow form to save a shapeshift and willed his demons into existence, then took a moment to cast Summon Golem: Dreadreaver. The towering, black form of his demonic golem emerged from the ground before him. With a flap of his black wings, Garath flew to perch on the Dreadreaver’s shoulder. Auto shimmered and swelled into his Unibear form, then charged into the cave on all fours.
Garath’s enhanced senses picked up hints that Warrion had missed as they entered the cave. For example, not all of the bones in the mouth of the cave were old. The air was thick with the distinct tang of fresh blood. Tasty looking earthworms squirming beneath a pile of bones
