Ch. 9 The Cave

It seemed that no sooner had Detric closed his eyes after his turn on watch that it was time to wake up and prepare.
Once all were satisfied that their gear was ready to go, they headed for the cave.
Crimthann went first, checking the area for any traps; his approach was covered by Jaci and Alsandair, who approached the cave entrance in such a way that anything emerging from the cave would be caught in a crossfire from Jaci's crossbow and Alsandair's greatbow. Jasmine was at Jaci's side, though made uneasy by the cave, she trusted Jaci, and covered her flank and back, lest anything take the group by surprise, Cahan doing the same for Alsandair. Detric and Conall came a few paces behind Crimthann, close enough that should any attackers appear, Cornall could take the front. Only Jaci and Alsandair had weapons out and ready, Crimthann was busy looking for traps, and had any weapons he might own sheathed and hidden. Detric wondered once more what had become of Conall's greatsword, it wasn't exactly a small blade that could be concealed, yet Detric did not see it anywhere in sight.
As they entered the cave, Jaci shifted her position to protect the group from any ambush from behind, and Detric, being at the center of the group, held the torches, every now and then, when Crimthann would motion, he would move to the front to brighten a suspicious looking area for the rougue.
After they had moved along in the cave for some time, it opened up into a small cavern, which split off into three different tunnels, all three going deeper, into the earth. Crimthann examined all three entrances, and did not see any traps. Either Emil was extremely confident, or these were a long system of caverns. All hoped the first was the case, only Cornall and Crimthann seemed at all comfortable in these caves, none of the rest had ever been deep underground before, and decided it to be an entirely unpleasant experience.
After scouting all three tunnels for a bit, they found the first led into an underground river, they ruled that path out for now, as there was no safe way to continue on without a boat, and none liked the idea of possibly being ambushed from some unseen ledge while stuck in a boat anyways. If need be, they would return later to check this one further, but for now, they went back to the other two tunnels.
The middle tunnel led to a stone wall built across the passage, a thick iron door set in the center of the wall. Crimthann examined the door, decided it was free of traps, and looked at Conall.
“Open it or check the next tunnel?”
“Seems like a normal door to me, I sense nothing unusual about it, Detric?”
“Open it, this path seems right to me”
Crimthann managed to pull the door open, and winced as it made a heavy creaking sound on it's rusty hinges. All that stood behind was a small ledge, barely enough space for all of them to stand, a deep pit, perhaps 20 feet wide, and the tunnel continuing on the other side. They could hear, but not see water rushing below in the pit, perhaps part of the river that they had seen in the first tunnel
“Well then, either we figure out the trick to crossing this pit, or we check the third tunnel”
Crimthann examined the ledge for any clues as to crossing the pit, and decided that somehow, a ledge came across from the other side of the pit, creating a walkway to cross. How this occurred, he couldn't tell
“To the third tunnel then”
Detric hesitated, this path seemed right to him, but the others had already began heading back towards the third tunnel, and he reluctantly turned and followed them.
The far left tunnel led to a large, open cavern, a subteranian lake in the center, and passageways on each side of it. A river was flowing into and out of the lake, and there were bridges on either side of the lake crossing the river. It was a likely guess that this was the same river that the first tunnel had led to. The chamber was lit by an erie subterranean glow from the lake and what light their torch provided
They crossed the closest of the bridges, and continued on down the tunnel without incident, yet Detric could not shake the feeling that they should have attempted to investigate the middle tunnel further.

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They had been traveling through the caverns for what seemed forever, Detric had lost sense of time without the sun and stars, but he estimated nearly a week, and found nothing but tunnel after endless tunnel. Then he saw Crimthann stop short at a turn up ahead, move back, and motioned for them to look around the corner, he did not speak, not even a whisper, and motioned franticly for them to remain silent as well.
Peering around the corner, Detric saw an elflike figure, though much darker than any elf he had ever seen, with silver hair and pale pinkish, nearly white eyes, riding on what looked like a giant lizard, riding away from them down the tunnel, on the ceiling. He had never seen a drow before, he had not even heard of them, but he felt suddenly uneasy. After the rider was well out of sight, Jaci whispered
“Was that-”
“Yes, a drow sentry” Conall responded quietly. “This tunnel must lead to a drow settlement, it would seem your unease about this route was well placed master Detric”
“What now?” Detric asked “Shall we double back and recheck for a way across the pit, or go on?”
“Go on? who knows how many drow lay in the tunnel ahead” Crimthann spoke “and I have no desire of becoming a drow slave, or worse....”
“Yes, but we are near our target, I can sense Emil's presence, it has been growing stronger as we travelled, he is near” Detric spoke
“I have sensed it as well, but are we prepared to take on a settlement of an unknown number of drow to get to him? He may very well be working with them, I wouldn't put it past his kind” Conall spoke
“We should at least venture a little further, perhaps we can get some idea of their numbers.”
The rest of the party agreed, not really wanting to travel all the way back to check what may only be an impassible pit. They ventured cautiously forward, Alsandair keeping a steady eye for any other sentries appraoching, his bow ready for use, Jaci had her crossbow out, ready to support him in an instant. Conall motioned for Detric to draw his rapier, ready in case combat should surprise them. A small crossbow had appeared in Crimthann's hands, Detric was no longer surprised when random weapons and objects appeared from the halfling's pack, he seemed prepared for nearly every event. He still puzzled over Conall's sword, or lack thereof, and silently hoped he would not yet find out how the warrior-cleric would draw it from it's hiding place...though how one could hide a sword that size....
As they moved down the tunnel, they arrived at a piont where it opened up into a massive cavern. The cavern was reasonably well lit, faery fire lanterns here and there, a subterranean river flowing through, reflecting the light in an odd, underground way. Conall had doused the torch lest it give them away to any drow sentries. In the center of the river, on an island of sorts, sat the drow settlement. It was not large, perhaps only 30 or 40 drow and their slaves, but that was a larger number than any of the group felt like combatting, especially Conall and Crimthann, who had fought drow before.
The only bridges to cross the river led directly past or through the settlement. Now what? Emil was close, Detric and Conall could both strongly sense this, but how to get to him? Had they come all this way to have to decide between giving up or starting a suicidal battle with the drow?
The decision was suddenly made for them as an arrow flew at Conall's head, and with surprising speed for a man his size, he deftly knocked it aside with his shield. Suddenly, at a snap of his fingers, his sword appeared in his hand, and Conall was ready for war. Alsandair had seen the movement behind the launched arrow, and unleashed a shot of his own, gratified to see a burst of flame and hear shriek from the sentry who had seen them. His bow shot true indeed, the flame revealed an arrow directly between the eyes of the drow sentry, who fell from his mount and plunged into the ground below.
Several other Drow were now alerted to their presence, and the battle was underway, like it or not