Tania had rolled her eyes, fire? In a cave? Men… She'd returned not even two minutes after Zane's party, and unlike the Adar groups, she'd killed all the goblins with ease. Tania flexed her claws, "We'll take lead on tunnels, we've already been down three." Between her and Rowena, they didn't even have to send all three.
Noelle glanced over her shoulder, "Don't get cocky, stay in groups in case of other surprises." Had Tania taken more than a minute to return Noelle would have stopped to box her ears personally.
Rowena gave a nod of understanding, while goblins weren't a threat by themselves, they were a quantity problem. Though hearing the explosions was a surprise… there had to be a higher-class goblin hiding somewhere.
Tania sighed but nodded as she returned the daggers Noelle had been using to point out the hidden side tunnels. This time, Tania announced her breaking off from the group, "Echo Tania left tunnel 180 feet." The rest of the group would be waiting at the 200 ft mark to go together.
Tania kicked the wall down as she snatched up the small blade. Before the goblins could react she pounced. Claws easily cut through bones decapitating goblins as she leapt from wall to wall. Tania didn't even have to pause as she zigzagged between the dozen or so green-skinned little monsters.
Rowena checked for cores while Lia remained on guard at the entrance. "I have to say, being the same size make killing them much easier, rather than bending down and swinging low." Three cores, not too bad.
Tania grinned as she flicked her hands so the blood flew off, not a drop of sap spilled. "Makes for good exercise, should we do anything about the bombs?" Tania added belatedly as they were about to leave.
Rowena hesitated, "Grab them, they might be useful. "Echo, going back to collect the bombs. Night"
Noelle stopped at the 200ft mark, "Echo, we'll wait here for you. Double check for any tunnels we may have missed on the way in." Noelle added keeping the communication open in case something changed on their end. So far… she didn't notice anything, except that Lord Rahm was once again sitting like he'd been at the cave entrance.
"Understood, we'll announce each time we enter a tunnel and if we find any that were missed." Tania stated as her communication remained open. They made quick work of stripping off the tree bark and pulling out the bombs. Lia opened an empty sac, after rubbing each bomb in sand so they wouldn't stick at an inopportune time, placed them in the bag.
Out of the seven tunnels, there were over 60 bombs, almost every goblin had at least one bomb, while the rest were real rocks. Tricky bastards. Since Zane's group had set off all their bomb, none were able to be recovered. Tania also didn't notice any other hidden tunnels… Noelle's attention to detail had always been impressive.
"We're heading back, we have 61 bombs so no fireworks yeah?" Tania added just a bit nervously, until she reached Noelle and Lamont who both had spacial bags… carrying bombs around didn't seem like the best idea. Very crude bombs…
"Only mage light teams, if there's a trap, we're about to walk into it." Noelle added as Tania came jogging back up, sac in hand. Even when Tania rejoined the group the tunnel was eerily silent.
Rahm watched the humans, still as a Kitsune statue, they were so nervous! As well they should be… with this much death in the air, it was a wonder how the goblins had kept themselves so organized, but more importantly, hidden. The humans made their plans and decided to send a mana scout out first.
"Lord Rahm?" Noelle asked under her breath as Lucera prepared a mouse scout. She was desperately trying to remember where she'd such a pose… it meant something… but she wasn't familiar with Lord Caius or the other foxes since they rarely visited Kake.
Rahm only shifted his gaze from looking forward, to quickly glance at her, then back up. This was the only hint he would give.
Noelle took a deep breath, "Everyone prepare for battle, mages stay behind, frontlines move slowly. Watch each other's backs." Noelle extended her claws pulling her leather hood up to cover her hair. Suicide bombers were unheard of… so they should prepare for anything.
Noelle slowly stepped past the 200 ft, then continued until 210 ft. Noelle didn't feel a difference but the toothy smile on Rahm's fox face did not soothe her anxiousness. "Did anyone feel a spell or enchantment? How is the scout?" Noelle called back as the mouse kept pace with her, Zane, Rommel, Rowena, Tania, and four guards.
"Scout is fine, not sensing any mana or goblins." Lucera called from the backlines, contrary to finding some kind of trap, this put her more on edge… Lucera took a deep breath, then ordered the scout forward alone.
Noelle forced herself to relax as the small blue mouse continued forward 10ft, 20ft, 30ft… they couldn't see any farther because of a slight curve of the tunnel. If the scout continued, they wouldn't be able to see if anything happened. "I want one mage to join us… prepare for an attack." Noelle flexed her claws. The others doing the same.
Lucera started to step forward, the mouse holding steady just before the curve. Lucera's heart was pounding so hard she could count each beat. Lucera gripped an enchanted gem that could deploy a wind and water shield the moment she deliberately crushed it. Even as Lucera approached Noelle, nothing happened.
"Everyone else move as a group, we're continuing down." Noelle called as she examined every inch of cave. The moment the last guard passed the 200 ft mark, Rahm trotted forward, that toothy smile giving Noelle a foreboding feeling.
With so many bodies all so close together, if anything happened to one, it would most likely happen to several. Noelle kept waiting to trigger a trap or find another secret passage… but even as they went the 35 ft, nothing…
Lucera ordered the scout to go around the bend… but it was… a dead end. "It's a dead end…" Lucera announced before any of them took the turn. Everyone paused as Rahm sat down still smiling, but not once did he step past Noelle.
Noelle made the turn to examine the wall… something… something wasn't right. "BACK! NOW!" She roared making an abrupt turn… a breath too late. Lucera activated her shield, but that didn't keep the floor from falling out from beneath them.
While almost everyone was caught off guard, they all quickly assessed their situation. Tania and Rowena kicked off each other to move to either side of the pit and dug their claws into the walls as anchors. "HERE!" Both shouted tossing out ropes, already most of the guards had used life saving enchantments to either float or anchor themselves like geckos to the walls. Noelle had Lamont under one arm as she used one claw to keep them from falling.
"Up!" Zane roared as the floor started to rise, how had they missed a crack going down the center of the passageway? The floor had split in the middle, dropping them all straight down. Fortunately, it wasn't a spiked pit… the ground dropped shortly, clearly a slide that would take them who knows where.
Rommel looked up, the floor was starting to close, "Move!!!" Rommel ordered grabbing the closet guard and throwing him straight up. Rommel had used his sword to anchor himself to the wall, while all the guards were using their feather fall boots to slowly get to a wall.
"We won't all make it! Stay together!" Noelle shouted seeing Rahm nonchalantly floating down, the thrown guard was now kicking to get beneath the rapidly closing floor. Soon the only light was from Lucera's mage light.
Zane watched as everyone managed to anchor themselves somewhere, Waters of the Sea… that stone floor had to be three feet thick… no way they were blasting it open without bringing it down entirely. Zane took a deep breath… now wasn't the time to cast blame.
Rahm grinned as he half floated, half pranced down the tunnel, what silly humans. This would be faster anyway.
Noelle gritted her teeth, "Monty, on my back."
Monty didn't hesitate to crawl up Noelle's side, attaching himself to her back, wrap his legs around her waist, and did his best not to choke her. While he could use claws… better to listen than try proving a point.
Noelle leapt off the wall landing on all fours on the slide, for lack of a better word. Using her claws she caught them, then started to slowly walk them down the slide, "Monty, barrier." A moment later Monty crushed a small gem and a wind barrier enveloped him.
Tania leapt down to follow after Noelle, she didn't trust the feather fall boots… as soon as someone disrupted the mana flow they would stop working. The tiger guards followed after as Rowena took up the rear, the Adarians and their guards used their boots to walk down.
Rahm jauntily proceeded down the tunnel for a good half a mile before stopping. A few more steps and it was a drop off. Rahm sat down but dug his claws into he stone for added perch.
"Monty, hang out with Tania." Noelle encouraged, when Monty had a good hold on the slide, Noelle stood up, slowly walking to the edge. The smell… was like nothing she'd ever experienced. She had smelled death before… this… was so much worse.
Tania wrinkled her nose, "How did we not smell that until just now?" The smell… she could taste it, like rancid meat… mold, and there were not enough words. Tania's stomach started to lurch… and she had walked through dead bodies before… been covered in viscera… what in the Beast God's name was down there?
Noelle held her breath as she looked over the drop… there had to be well over a thousand dead bodies lay out in various states of decay… goblin, kobold, human, beast bodies all just… tossed around. There should have been… flies, maggots, rats… but nothing… Noelle was disgusted, but kept her calm as she analyzed everything she could see.
Some of the bodies looked as if they had rotted to the bone in some places… but were fresh in others… poison? Noelle even noticed a partially melted skeleton closer to the edge. The more she looked, the more she realized the freshest or most intact bodies were on the far side of the cliff near a small cave opening. The closer the bodies were to the slide she was standing on the more decayed, rotted, and melted the bodies were.
These bodies couldn't be fresh… there had to be some kind of preservation mana going on… "Lucera, Lia, come take a look… what do you see?" Noelle pushed past her discomfort to see just how bad the situation could be.
Lucera cast a small smell dispersal spell around her face, she'd been expecting bodies… "The decay isn't natural, can you smell any kind of poison from here?" It would be a longshot to smell anything over the meat. The worst were the beast and kobolds, some were only slops of mush melted around skeletons. The goblin bodies were the most intact, followed by the human bodies.
Lia glanced over the bodies, she was older than both princesses but even for her this was a sight she wouldn't soon forget, "We should do our best not to touch the bodies, let us take a few samples."
Noelle tried to separate the smells… how could it smell this awful without… worse decay? "I'm not sure if the smell is covering the poison or toxin… or if the poison is the contributing smell…" As horrific as the sight of bloody, torn, melted bodies was… they weren't actually rotting.
Lucera wanted to groan, "How are we getting to the other side without… stepping on them? There isn't a single spot free of blood, viscera, or bodies… and there was no telling what traps might lay ahead.
Noelle glanced around, it had to be 400 feet from one side to the other, and at least 100 wide. Noelle turned to Zane, "Can you shoot an arrow with a rope attached to the other side?" Noelle could, but her aim was far from true.
Zane walked closer to the edge, finally seeing all the carcasses. Then looked to the far side, "I'm not sure it would hold, the caves aren't made of all stone… I might have the raw power… but my aim… maybe…" Zane glanced over his guards, he'd prioritized close combat over rangers since they were underground.
Lucera glanced from side to side, "I can use a stone arrow, then use the feather fall boots to walk along the rope to make sure it's secure." Lucera offered… but she'd be exposed the entire time. Ideally, a tanker like Rommel or Tania would take the lead to secure the other side since Lucera's armor wasn't meant to tank an attack head on. She also didn't have the physical prowess to defend the anchor point if there were several enemies.
"Use the stone arrow, and I'll go. I should be able to hold on long enough for someone to make it. Then even if the rope is cut we can reassess." Rommel offered still standing back. The real problem was their feather fall boots wouldn't last much longer. Rommel glanced around, even if they had the mana to recharge them, that would still take time.
Tania didn't miss Lucera's hesitant glance, "I'll take lead, I'm faster, and better in close combat. Can you cast a feather fall spell on me long enough for me to get to the other side?" Theoretically, her and the other tigers could just rock climb to the other side, but it could take over an hour. They would also be exposed the entire time… haste was their best option.
"I can do that, it will last about five minutes." Lia offered as she half sat on the slide, the slow descent had been harder since she had to slow herself to everyone's pace. The sooner they reached flat ground, the happier she would be.
Everyone nodded, then Lucera started chanting. She had to make the arrow first, hold the spell so they could attach the rope, aim, then fire the spell. Noelle quickly attached a silk rope as Lucera held the spell. The moment Noelle removed her hands, Lucera fired the arrow.
Noelle watched as the silk rope traversed the cavern. Regular ropes were too heavy, not to mention each person only brought about ten ft of rope. Even if they could stretch the anchor perfectly, 450 ft had to take into account tying the ends together securely, and the angle. Noelle had brought the silk rope made from a red eyed tunnel spider. The beasts themselves weren't very large, only about seven feet from leg tip to leg tip, but their silk wasn't sticky and could easily be collected as they moved burrows.
Even better, when woven together, the silk was only the thickness of a child's finger, but stronger than your average steel, could withstand fire of the second tier, and less than a hundredth of the weight of traditional rope. If the spiders weren't so rare and hard to find, Noelle would want to make the silk an export of Kake. Regrettably when in captivity like the lizards, the spiders refused to be tamed, often just starving themselves to death, or when charmed they still wouldn't spin any silk.
With an echoing thuwang the arrow landed, then embedded itself within the wall ten feet above the tunnel entrance. This gave them a little wiggle room on where to land about fifteen feet around the entrance was clear. Rommel gave a gentle tug on the silk rope just as Lucera started to buckle.
Lucera almost collapsed when her stone arrow landed, her mana disruption earlier had been more draining than she thought. "I need a moment to recover…" Lucera announced as Rommel caught her, then gently sat her on the slide.
Lia immediately cast feather fall on Tania as Rommel pulled the rope tight and secured the end to a spike. When the last person crossed over, they would set the deactivation so the spike would sink back into the surrounding stone earth after a set time. This way, they could recover the silk rope. Lia glanced at the corpse… they might not want it if it was dragged through the mush of bodies though.
"I'm ready big guy." Tania announced after she'd stretched a bit, this would be a mad dash across since there was no telling who had heard them.
Rommel grinned, "Well then little Lady, they do say ladies first." This little adventure had helped relax a bit of the tension and formalities between them personally. If this continued, their respective countries may also grow closer. Rommel wouldn't mind getting his hand on this kind of rope either…