We rejoin the Explorers at the mouth of a cave northeast of Munqo, fresh off a cat chase and hungry for real treasure. What follows is a wild descent through subterranean tunnels, a boulder ambush, and a very tense diplomatic meeting with the Armourdillo enclave known as the Roll. When negotiations fall apart, the party is split—Idhas trapped on one side, the others diving deeper into the dark.
Noteworthy events include the activation of Yaios’s Bone Wand to conjure light, heat, and a truly enormous version of themself; Cartuq’s use of the Ghost Wand in coordinated casting; Idhas’s high-speed escape via Holy Greaves and clever map-hacking; and the eventual battle with the enraged Gururu.
Location: The Deep Cave, northeast of Munqo
It had taken the Explorers just two days to leave Munqo and make their way to the location marked on the scorched corner of the map. They had travelled mostly through flatlands; by leaving from the north, there was not much vegetation left from the city’s reapers.
Even a day’s worth of walking hadn’t put them past the fields used to feed the city’s many inhabitants. But by evening the following day, they had arrived at the mouth of the cave.
Idhas stooped to inspect the calcite pillars that rose from the floor and descended from the ceiling like teeth. They were smooth to the touch and there was something strange about the way the stalactites and stalagmites sparkled. Even in the low light of the day, they shined. When she removed her hand, there was a hint of stickiness, as if the rimstone was clinging to her Gauntlets.
Idhas didn’t notice.
“That’s a deep cave,” Cartuq said as the party stood in front of its gaping maw. He cupped his hands to amplify his voice and shouted deep into the dark tunnel, “HellooOOOOOOOO!”
“Well, so much for the element of surprise,” Idhas grumbled, standing up. She shouldered her rope, picked up her torch, and began marching.
“Whooo do we need tooo surprise?” Lellun wondered aloud, grinning as he tried to make his voice echo as well.
Qenoz ducked on her way in and just barely missed knocking her head on the stalactites hanging like teeth. Cartuq, with his hulking size, was not as lucky and bonked his noggin right into one. His Crown slipped off the back and clattered to the floor, but Yaios was quick to pick it up and hand it back.
Yaios rubbed Cartuq’s head with a few herbs meant to reduce swelling. “Maybe you should follow behind us so we can gauge how low you need to hunch to fit.”
“If this cave is tiny, I might just meet you on the other side.” Cartuq was no longer in such wonder of the cave.
“What’s taking you all so long?” Idhas called back to the party, her voice small from the distance she had already covered. Goblins were natural cave raiders, after all, and Idhas had not forgotten the tricks her grandapadre had taught her. Step here, watch out for that . . . even her darkvision returned as her eyes adjusted.
Inch by inch, the rimstone mouth of the cave closed behind them, sealing the Explorers inside.
Qenoz followed Idhas into the welcoming dark, comforted as if it were an old friend. This cave didn’t frighten her at all; she was familiar with being underground. There was a lot of darkness in the Decaying Years, and it was something she remembered. Also, there wasn’t much else to do after waking up six feet under besides counting the seconds and making up songs.
Other than the clothes she’d been wearing—which had decomposed into rags—Qenoz had been cosy enough, biding her time until, one night, during a heavy rain, she emerged from her grave.
Lellun had his arms firmly on Qenoz’s shoulders; his trembling shook her as he walked. He wished his Cap offered more protection than it did from the hanging rock. “I can’t really see much, Qen. Can you slow down? I don’t want to lose you.”
Yaios took a deep breath and held it for thirteen seconds. Slowly, an aura of turquoise light began to radiate from where they stood. At first, it was just a flicker as dull as a matchstick, but—through intense concentration—Yaios managed to light their way as if they held a burning torch. The teal light shed by a Blue Flames emitted no heat, and in the cool, deep cave, it gave the perception of being underwater.
Before long, the party arrived at a cavern.
Cartuq was grateful the ceiling had pitched upward as they descended and was even more appreciative of Yaios’ light. He stared into the vast underground space in wonder. “You know . . . us Golems don’t interact with water much. Erosion and all that.” He put his hands on the back of his hips and stretched. “So, this is all new to me.”
Yaios’s light cast aquamarine ripples in the larger space and the shadows moved like waves.
Despite his fear, the watery effects were helping Lellun feel right at home. “It’s beautiful.”
Three of the Explorers were mesmerised, gawking at the natural beauty. One held their breath for as long as spectrally possible (which was a long time), and the other was nearly all the way across the cavern when the rumbling began.
“What’s—happ—happ—happening—” Qenoz rattled.
Lellun tried to remain standing through the tremor but toppled over, bowling into Yaios and significantly diminishing their light. Cartuq grabbed hold of a nearby stalagmite and fortified himself against the quaking. Along the circumference of the cavern, pockets began opening and boulders rolled in.
“Huthuthuthuthuthuthuthuthuthuthuthuthuthut”
“Idhas!” Qenoz yelled over the din. “Come over here!”
Idhas rushed to her side and tapped Qenoz on the shoulder. “I’m on your six.” The two of them went back-to-back.
More rocks fell, rattling the earth, as if trying to break the cave apart from the inside out.
“Huthuthuthuthuthuthuthuthuthuthuthuthuthut”
Cartuq lifted Lellun off Yaios and righted them both. They formed battle positions, as the boulders started to roll into a formation and encircle the party. The Explorers stood shoulder-to-shoulder in a ring, weapons and wands drawn.
Now that they were closer, it was easier to tell that part of the rumbling noise was the word, “Hut,” being chanted over and over. The rumbling stopped abruptly and the boulders sat in a ring around the Explorers.
One boulder rolled further than the rest. “Mfmfmmfmmfmf, mmmmmfmm!” the muffled, unidentifiable voice came from deep within the central boulder.
“What?” Qenoz blurted out. “What’d you say?”
Slowly and creakily, the boulder disassembled itself and revealed an Armourdillo. It was four feet tall and slightly hunched. Although Armourdillo skin was naturally grey, it was red from clay they had used to lubricate their joints to reduce chafing. Their husk was formed by plates of natural stone, and as they shifted they scraped against each other, hence the clay.
“I said, who dares disturb us, we who tunnel and dig?” The Armourdillo spat the question, squinting at the Explorers.
“We’re Explo—” Cartuq started.
Idhas clamped her hand over Cartuq’s mouth. “We’re just passing through,” she finished for him.
“A Goblin, eh? Just passing through a tunnel? Seems unlikely! What are you really looking for?” The Armourdillo leaned forward incredulously, and the rest of the surrounding “boulders” began to click, clack, and scrape their way into standing positions. Although none bore weapons, their claws were sharp as any steel.
“She tells the truth.” Qenoz lowered her Long Sword but did not return it to its sheath. “We are following someone actually. A Flames.”
“There’s one right there,” an Armourdillo in the ring called out, pointing at Yaios.
“Yes, a different Flames. They have something of ours,” Qenoz finished.
“Was it the map?” the leader Armourdillo said flatly.
“How do you know about the map?!” Cartuq blurted out before Idhas had a chance to stop him.
“Oy, that stinkin’ map!” The Armourdillo turned to the other menacing creatures. “Lower your claws. They’re just Explorers after the Hidden Treasjah That No Has Ever Found.” There was a deep accent on his words.
Most of the ring tucked in and rolled off, grumbling about boredom, but others stuck around. “Let’s start ovah. I’m Gururu, the leadah of the Roll. . .”
The Explorers didn’t react.
“Armourdillo live in ‘rolls,’” Gururu explained to their blank faces. “It’s what we call ourselves.” With a clap, torches sprang to life around the cavern, revealing pockmarked walls with stairs and tunnels leading off every which way. He gestured to a table carved straight from rock.
Gururu walked on his hind legs with ease, Qenoz noted, and surveyed the cavern for possible escape routes.
“What’s going on?” Cartuq whispered to Lellun as they followed Gururu and left the rest of the ‘roll’ of Armourdillos behind.
“So, the short ansah is—” Gururu now stood on one length of the table as if it were his desk. “—We don’t got no treasjah.”
He waved his hand again and the topography of the tabletop began to change. Rock rose from the surface as if it was both a solid and a fluid. A branching tunnel system formed across the tabletop, with lines leading every which way from what appeared to be an amphitheatre-like bowl. On the main stage, a tiny table carved from rock rose straight from the floor with six figures standing around it and a half-ring of five other figures off to the side.
Idhas was the first to notice that they were looking at a map of the cavern—but something wasn’t quite right about it . . .
“It’s us!” Yaios cried and crouched down to the table to examine closer. As they did so, one figure on the table mimicked their actions. “This is wonderful magic.”
“It ain’t magic. It’s magnets.” Gururu puffed his chest out, clearly proud of the Armourdillo technologies.
Yaios’ eyes sparkled and they began investigating the underside of the table. “I don’t see any magnets,” they called from underneath.
“The magnets are in the rock itself,” Gururu explained. “The stone from this cavern has unique mineral deposits and structure. By using magnetic forces, this tabletop can recreate a map for hundreds of miles before the quality decreases. It’s actually a part of the bedrock of the whole world . . .”
Gururu continued speaking, his tone taking on a rehearsed quality. His retelling of the history of the Armourdillo ancestral home left Yaios, Lellun, and Cartuq mystified.
Qenoz leaned over to Idhas. “It looks a lot like magic.”
“Yeah!” Idhas called out, answering Qenoz before turning to Gururu. “You make miniature versions of us using magnets?”
“Are we here for science class or do yous want to know about the Hidden Treasjah That No Has Ever Found?” Gururu shrugged and splayed his arms.
Idhas shut up and crossed her arms. Yaios shuffled out from under the table. Lellun cleared his throat to fill the extended silence.
“As I was saying,” Gururu continued, “we don’t have it, but we understand why you thought we did. Travellers are coming all the time looking for it—always claiming that dis time, they have the map.” He shook his head in defeat. “We had the treasjah once, but it was taken from us by the Sea Witch of the Lake.” Gururu started to snarl, the sound warping his words. “We know where she lives, but us Armourdillo can’t live outside the caves, and if we tried to tunnel there, the flooding would be catastrophic.”
Qenoz tapped Idhas’s shoulder and motioned toward where the rest of the roll had been standing. Idhas returned the nod with her chin pointed along the walls. In every alcove another Armourdillo stood bearing their claws. The Explorers were surrounded by enemies on their home turf.
Gururu noticed. “The truth is that we’ve never had the treasure. . .” He turned his back on the table, facing the cavern wide. Gururu spread his arms out again and shrugged. “But I know that pond hag sure does.” He sneered. “And you know who else has special treasjah? Explorers.”
Qenoz’s hand twitched for her sword.
With a swiftness far faster than she had imagined, Gururu shot across the table with sharp teeth and claws out.
But Qenoz was quicker, and she managed to parry the charge. Gururu glanced off and hit the ground rolling, picking up speed as he did so.
Soon, the whole cavern was trembling.
“We need to get out of here!” Qenoz shouted, swishing her Great Sword.
“There! A cave!” Lellun pointed behind them to a dark tunnel leading down.
Cartuq grabbed Yaios—who had started to inspect the table once more—by the collar and pulled them towards the entrance. Idhas and Qenoz walked backwards, primed to defend their friends, with Lellun leading the retreat to the cave.
Idhas had just turned to sprint when she stopped abruptly. “Wait! It’s a trap!” she shouted.
But the rumbling had grown too loud. The rest of the party could not hear her objection. So, she followed them, even though she knew it was too late. As soon as Qenoz crossed the threshold, stone bars clamped down with a bite.
The Explorers were trapped, with Idhas on the other side. The rumbling continued and the “Hut hutting” chant added to the din.
“Idhas, you need to hide! There is only one place for us to go and that’s deeper through this cave, but they’re after our Loot. Don’t let them get you,” Qenoz hissed through the bars.
Yaios hurried Qenoz along. “Everyone, follow me!” they cried with a wave of their arm. The rest of the party retreated into the dark cave with Yaios acting once more as a guiding light.
Idhas
Idhas was alone, save for the imminent convergence of the Armourdillo Roll. She doubled back to the table the party had gathered around and inspected the surface for a switch. She found it running along the edge of the table where Gururu had stood.
“Humph. Magic, my butt.” Idhas flicked the switch and the table began to shift.
With it, more buttons and dials rose to create a control panel. They glimmered with different metals and crystal formations. Not knowing what else to do, Idhas began to play around with the dials. She rotated a dull quartz crystal until it began to glow crimson. The table shifted once more to depict the cavern and tunnels, but again it didn’t look right to her.
She had spent years plundering tunnels and had a pretty good sense of where she was going by retracing her steps, but this map showed an entirely different path than the one they’d taken. She glanced down at the panel and noticed a tab of soft clay beside the quartz dial.
Up = Fake
Left = Real
Idhas turned the quartz once more and the glow shifted from red to blue. The table shifted once more revealing a map that was much more familiar to Idhas.
“Ah-ha!” Sure enough, off to the left of the cavern, a tunnel descended far further than one could imagine, and making their way along the path were four figures—all of whom showed a much sharper likeness than Gururu had revealed to the Explorers earlier. Along the way, Idhas saw there were vertical vents leading into the tunnel her party had recently plunged into.
Idhas studied the maze of tunnels the way only a Goblin can to determine the best way to meet up with and extract the rest of her party.
But before she could implement her plan, a large paw grabbed her by the shoulders and spun her around. It was Gururu and what looked like every Armourdillo in the roll.
Idhas swung her Scimitar. The butt connected with Gururu’s cheek with a satisfying crunch, and bits of shrapnel from his armour chipped off from the force of the contact.
Using him as a step, she vaulted over Gururu and landed firmly on her Holy Greaves; they began to hum, imbuing her with a celestial presence. Wasting no time at all, she took off in a full sprint towards the nearest cave.
I can’t lead the roll to the rest of the party. I’ll have to lose them first in the maze. This would be an impossible task if she weren’t a Goblin.
Gururu wobbled where he stood and removed his hand from his face to reveal raw, grey skin. “Don’t just stand there! Aftah her!” he cried.
At once, the rumbling resumed as the horde of Armourdillo took after Idhas, whose godly speed had put a good amount of distance between her and her pursuers.
Gururu turned to the table and fidgeted with the controls. He chuckled to himself. “That fool thought she was looking at the real map,” he said, referencing the clay slab. “Up means real, left is fake”
He flicked the quartz crystal and the map shifted to what Gururu thought to be true.
Idhas did her best to remember which way she needed to go as the tunnel forked in five directions and. If she took the left-most tunnel, it would lead her back to the cavern, but there might be a vent along the way. The other directions were murky, so Idhas went with her gut.
She recited a short prayer and sent the oncoming Roll the gift of “False Confidence.” Her Holy Greaves shimmered as astral projections of her shoes left faint footprints in each direction except the one furthest left.
“That should take care of most of them.” Idhas did not stick around to find out. She took off again, sprinting hard and trying to ignore the pain from her burning lungs.
Lellun, Yaios, Cartuq, Qenoz
Yaios stopped and held a finger to their lips. “Shhh.”
The rest of the party listened carefully. There was more rumbling now than they had heard and dust and loose rocks snowed upon them from the roof of the cave. They did not seem to be in immediate danger, so they continued. It had started getting cold the further they descended.
Lellun was shivering. “Couldn’t you produce some heat, Yaios?” he chattered through his tentacles.
“If I did, you’d be dead,” Yaios replied grimly.
Cartuq led the way with his lumbering body. Thankfully, the cave was wide enough for him to stand abreast twice; his back was sore from hunching over. His Snowcap began to sweat and a red-tinged glow began to dance in his eyes. “I don’t think you’ll need to worry about the cold anymore, Lell.”
Qenoz, Lellun, and Yaios caught up to him and saw the lava veins he was referring to. High above them, holes opened in the ceiling to funnel away heat. And it appeared there was something, or someone, falling from a vent in a straight dive toward the lava pool.
Idhas
Idhas exited the tunnel and came face to face with Gururu and his guards. Her momentum was too great to slow down, so she sheathed her Scimitar and tucked into a dive directly at the Armourdillo leader’s chest, connecting with him at the exact angle required to topple the rocky foe.
Idhas held tight as he toppled over, tripping on the tail of one of his guardsmen and into a sizeable hole in the ground—one of the vents that she’d noticed earlier. Based on her calculations, it would be a straight shot down and she would meet up with the rest of the party when she hit the ground. Something she wished to avoid.
Gururu yelled all the way down and it was amplified against Idhas’ silent resolve. “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH.” The rushing wind caught the scream and sent it up the vent.
“aaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.” Four Armourdillo Guardsmen stood around the hole in the floor, looking down as a faint whisper wafted up from where their leader had recently disappeared.
“We should put up a barrier…this is getting dangerous,” one of them said.
“Third time this month,” another responded.
The four of them continued to stare into the yelling void of darkness.
Idhas couldn’t see the light at the end of the pit, but after exiting the vent, illumination exploded as her darkvision adjusted accordingly.
She wished it hadn’t.
Along with the visibility came the heat, the realisation that she was still a long way from the rapidly approaching ground, and that the floor was indeed lava.
Idhas and Gururu were in freefall with nothing to slow them down. Gururu managed to get a hold of himself and curled into a tight ball; he fell even faster towards the lava pool. Idhas spread her arms and legs, hoping her Minty Silk Robe could catch a current and slow her descent.
Lellun, Yaios, Cartuq, Qenoz
“That’s Idhas!” Lellun cried.
The Explorers jumped into action. Yaios activated their Bone Wand, coaxing a steadier updraft from the radiating lava. They had to be careful not to burn Idhas while simultaneously casting a spell to reduce the heat of the rising winds.
Cartuq waved his Ghost Wand in the same motions as Yaios, contributing to the strength of the spells being cast; it was one of the only lessons he’d retained from Yaios’s magical manipulation recitations. Despite Cartuq’s lack of experience, Yaios was grateful for the added effort.
Qenoz dashed forward with Lellun in tow, both rushing towards the estimated landing site of Idhas, whose descent had barely slowed.
Qenoz and Lellun weren’t going to make it in time. Yaios and Cartuq were struggling to keep Idhas afloat.
Gururu plopped right into the lava with barely a splash.
The lava burped.
Cartuq’s attention slipped as the movement below caught his eye.
The lava belched.
Magma bubbled like melting cheese and popped. An updraft caused by the ruptured lava caught Idhas in the folds of her Mint Robe, ballooned the fabric and lifted her at accelerated speeds. Cartuq and Yaios stood dumbfounded by their efforts but it was the near-mute concussive blast, just a pbbbbbt sound as air flapped from the folded slag, that sent Idhas skyrocketing.
Qenoz and Lellun did not break stride. They pivoted mid-sprint, repositioning to Idhas’s new expected landing pad. Yaios did the maths quicker and instead of attempting to slow her fall, Yaios created a cushion of wind to catch Idhas.
Noticing the shift in movement, Cartuq repositioned himself and resumed mimicking the experienced druid.
It worked like a charm.
Idhas landed dead centre in the magically created pillow, but falling in an arc was not as speedy as a straight plunge. She hit the wind wall as if it were silk and gently fluttered to the ground, the party reunited on the bank of the lava lake.
Lellun, Yaios, Cartuq, Qenoz, Idhas
Only the sound of sputtering and exasperated breathing could be heard, as the spot Gururu had entered the lava pit continued to spurt, flap, and gurgle.
“hellooOOOOOOOO…”
Lellun sat up, panting. “That sounded like Cartuq!”
Cartuq shot upright. “But I’m right here…I didn’t say anything!”
“It’s his echo!” Idhas cried. “From before! That means there is a way out of here. We just need to follow his hello.”
As if on cue, the lava spouted like a geyser as a boulder three times the size of Gururu’s launched out of the pool. It sailed through the air like a comet, trailing magma with a cry.
“MMMMHMMMHMMM!”
Lellun just pointed and yelled. Qenoz grabbed his wrist and pulled him into a run, following the echo to the other side of the lava pool.
The boulder struck where they had been moments ago, its surface smooth chrome. No longer the rough stone of an Armourdillo’s natural exterior, the intense heat from the lava had smelted the natural ore from within Gururu’s shell and his spin had brought these alloys to the surface. There was a smooth snicking sound of metal on metal as Gururu unfolded and roared, now much larger than when they had last seen him. His skin was charred and cracked, his teeth and talons glinted as proper steel and his eyes glowed deep in their sockets.
He dove. Now back in his boulder form, Gururu began to spin at a great velocity and took off after the Explorers. He cut right across the surface of the lava pool as the gang was hopping from land mass to land mass.
“He’s gaining on us!” Yaios drew their wand and fired off everything they had to slow Gururu.
Cartuq picked them up over his shoulder and continued the charge, freeing Yaios to focus exclusively on casting diversions. The pair trailed Lellun, who was following closely behind Qenoz.
Idhas had reached the other end and was studying the facets on the wall. “It doesn’t make sense! There should be a door here.”
Qenoz and Lellun caught up to her just as Gururu shot past Cartuq and Yaios and skid into a wide turnaround. Cartuq put Yaios down and the duo met back-to-back. Cut off from the rest of the party, they stood on a floating slab of stone in the middle of the lava lake. As Gururu circled them, his path became progressively tighter with each rotation.
“Well, I wanted to see the snow again before I went,” Cartuq said, determined to stand his ground.
“What kind of negative energy is that?” Yaios was taken aback. “Just lift your wand. We’re getting out of this.” Cartuq did as Yaios said. “Now, follow my lead.” Yaios began to stir their Bone Wand, tip down, in wide circles that neutralised the force Gururu’s spin exerted on the lava. Cartuq followed suit with his Ghost Wand.
When the circumference of the motion exceeded their arm length, Yaios lifted it above their head while keeping the wand tip down, creating larger sweeping rotations. The lava around them began to churn and twist in the direction of Gururu’s circling.
No longer displacing enough surface tension on the lava pool, Gururu descended beneath it.
Yaios closed their eyes and continued spinning invisible forces to their will with Cartuq aiding the effort, ignoring Idhas’s rising frustrations behind them.
Lellun placed a hand on Idhas’s shoulder, and she almost snapped his fingers. “We’re adventurers. This is an adventure.” Lellun tried smiling, although his tentacles trembled from fear.
Idhas allowed Lellun’s words to melt away the pressure she was feeling, she had unknowingly carried the guilt of leading the party into the deep cave and getting them into this mess in the first place. She took a deep breath and held it. Silently, she thought hard.
Gururu resurfaced, now much closer. Having figured out the Explorer’s trick, he began to spin in the opposite direction of their whirlpool. But disrupting the flow of lava was not all Yaios had intended. Through repeated motion, they managed to channel enough natural volcanic energy into a complex spell.
Yaios opened their eyes, and with a flick of their Bone Wand, began to grow. The intense heat of the cavern was drawn away from Qenoz, Lellun, and Idhas, surging toward the vortex of energy Yaios and Cartuq had conjured.
Yaios doubled in size and continued to grow as the heat drawn toward them interacted with their Flames nature. Yaios expanded until they towered over Cartuq.
With an oversized mitt, Yaios caught Gururu mid-revolution—only to flinch when the Armourdillo punched right through their hand. The hole sealed itself as Cartuq was still spinning his Ghost Wand, drawing more energy from the lava pool.
“Cartuq!” Yaios’ voice boomed as they held their wounded hand. “Cast the cushion spell again!”
Immediately, Cartuq ceased his spinning and resumed the spell they had used to catch Idhas. This time, he conjured the cushion in the palms of Yaios’s enormous hands.
The next time Gururu turned his attention to Qenoz, Lellun, and a meditating Idhas.
“He’s getting closer!” Lellun cried.
Idhas’s eyes snapped open. “I got it!” She scooped a handful of rocks and threw them at the wall. A few fell away, but several stuck in place as if by . . . “Magnets!” She cheered. “Who said magic and science don’t mix?”
She began to move swiftly, dragging the stones across the surface of the wall, using their magnets to pick the internal lock mechanism.
Gururu cut across the surface of the lava at a great speed, but the enlarged Yaios was faster. When Gururu jumped to strike the three Explorers pinned by the wall, Yaios positioned themselves to intercept the hit.
Gururu spun violently in mid-air within the pocket of wind Cartuq had cast, and—guided by Yaios’s hands—they created a cage from which Gururu could not escape.
Idhas slid a few more rocks in place and the latch clicked, revealing an entrance.
Lellun cheered. “I never doubted you could do it!”
Idhas smiled with relief. Qenoz was looking up Yaios, noting that they were shrinking in size.
Yaios knew they didn’t have much time left with the spell. They drew their arms back, winding up before launching Gururu upwards. With the whirlwind Cartuq casted propelling the armourdillo, Gururu shot directly into one of the thermal vents.
As he ascended, the cavern began to tremble and large rocks fell into the lava pool. The magma reacted by boiling and exploding.
Almost immediately, Yaios began to lose form and fell a few feet to the ground. Cartuq hustled to catch them and hurried the unconscious druid into the stairway Idhas had revealed.
The lava was overflowing and filling the passage as quickly as they climbed. The Explorers escaped up the staircase and Idhas sealed the passage behind them with magnets in the nick of time.
The danger now behind them, the group took a moment to breathe. They were outside, above ground, on the other side of the mountains and covered in soot. Cartuq’s Snowtop was bare, having dried out from heat, but they were all alive, and that’s what mattered.
Cartuq sat with Yaios laying in his lap. The Flame remained asleep, clearly having spent all their energy on the enlarging spell. He noticed the hole through Yaios’s hand was slowly sealing, along with the Silk Glove as well.
“Loot really is a treasure.”
The gang laughed, more from relief than humour. But it was a hearty one and necessary to shake off the residual fear from their adventure.
“So, where to next?” Qenoz asked.
Idhas smirked. “Well, I did manage to grab this.” She held up a smooth tablet.
“You stole a brick?” Cartuq asked.
With a wave of her hand, the surface of the tablet shifted and revealed five figures sitting with their backs to a steep mountain. With a pinch, the image zoomed out, and—just a half day’s journey away—the forest cleared to show a vast lake that stretched until the edge of the map.
“Oh, thank goodness!” Lellun rolled onto his back with arms and legs spread. He closed his eyes. “A water level.”
The party laughed, humour in their bellies.