"There aren't enough of us to move them all… they're all full sized, injured, and barely clinging to life. Just moving them could send them into shock." Lucera explained with a quick glance to Zane. It had only been about fifteen minutes… but it felt like she'd been down here for a lifetime already.
Noelle glanced to Lord Rahm who was looking over the women, but not participating otherwise… it was almost as if he were looking for someone… or something. "We should only be a hundred feet from the surface, our safest option is to fortify our position and dig our way out." Noelle reiterated now that Zane had joined them.
"There's no telling what wards they have in place to keep their mountain safe, and they have to have it warded otherwise there's no way they could have gone so long without being found." Rommel contested glancing at the stone and earth walls. Three feet would have been a near impossible task safely… now 100?
Lucera hesitated, "I can also use earth removal spells to speed up our progress, then use it to block the entrance." Traveling with the women… just wasn't possible in the state they were in. Only the children and a third of the women had all their extremities intact. But with almost half in various states of pregnancy, and only a quarter able to move… going through the tunnels was suicide.
Rommel cursed… "Damnit, half the mages have to be keeping watch in case the mountain comes down on us or there are more secret chambers. We don't have time to waste." Not only would goblins be raining down on them at any moment, but two of the more intact women had already tried to kill themselves. There were also a few women who looked like they might die any second.
As horrific the plight of the women was, they just didn't have time to comfort or do anything but get them out of here… not if the Adar delegation wanted to avoid punishment. Zane shoved down his pity and sympathy to start fortifying the only entrance they were aware of.
Tania, Rowena, Noelle, Lamont and four of the stronger guards all grouped up with a mage. One royal and one guard would dig for their lives while a mage destroyed larger rocks. The other two groups would be in charge of moving the debris. Three large tarps were set up to catch most of the debris but it was far from a perfect solution.
Noelle took first shift with her personal knight Leroy Walwrath, if there were wards, better the two strongest test them first. Noelle tensed as they started digging, she could feel a ward just a few inches in.
Leroy pulled out a dagger and stabbed it into the earth, as a second-tier mage he sighed in relief. "Keeps water out, keep going." They abandoned caution as echoing chatter could already be heard from the tunnel. With each claw he was able to dig about two to three inches away, the problem was getting around the rocks. Leroy could just muscle through them, but that would eat away at his stamina and jar his muscles from the repeated impacts.
Noelle did her best to claw around the rocks as well. Striking at rocks was like swinging a metal sword at a metal tree. First few times were uncomfortable but manageable, after that it would start to hurt. Noelle glanced at the small tunnel… if they could shave away just enough for them all to crawl through… it only had to be about four feet wide. At their current pace they could clear about a foot every 10 minutes.
Leroy was pushing himself, but not straining… they would be at this for a while. After they had reached about two feet they swapped out. Lamont and his personal knight went in to continue. "If we can swap every two or so feet, that should be a good enough break between. At least for the first few rounds." Leroy stated as he flexed his hands.
Lucera glanced at the tarp with a small mound of dirt and rocks, "Between each circuit we can pull some of the earth away and check for underground waterways." This could take several hours and flooding the cavern with water would not be ideal. It might take more time but going around larger obstacles would be their safest option.
Noelle rolled her wrists while flexing her hands, "Good idea. We should also see if you can harden the walls between circuits, just to make sure it doesn't collapse on us." At this rate… it would take them at least a day to escape… if they could hold out that long. The guards were feeding the captives bland water with soggy biscuits… the troths had contained rotten vegetables, rancid water… even human remains.
It was almost as if the goblins had thrown everything in a pot, boiled it to mush, then fed the left over to the captives. While it was disgusting… goblins tended to eat their meat raw or just eat whatever they could scrounge for immediately… for them to be cooking, awful as it was, could be considered caring for their captives.
In rare, rare cases, goblin kings and shaman elites might cook their food to help preserve it. With the numbers they had seen… it wouldn't be a stretch to assume there was a king or elite shamans, the problem was that meant time was not on their side. If these were what had been left behind, the king had to be out with the main army.
Rommel had thrown the bodies in the passage about thirty feet up as they prepared to collapse the tunnel to buy more time. The sounds of digging and goblin cursing were still muffled, but if goblins dug these tunnels, no reason tigers couldn't dig another.
Zane glanced around the tunnel, "I want ice traps along the ceiling and floor. Also wards to let us know if they try going around!" Zane ordered as they stood in the tunnel… it was too late to try leaving this way now. Better to pray to their gods for a miracle as they prepared to defend this place to the death.
Seven guards started placing gems in the ceiling and floors. For now, all the traps excluded any kind of fire element… but fire spells weren't deactivated or dispelled… they would be their final hope. 200 bombs going off… no way the mountain let alone the tunnel would endure such a blast. As soon as all forty gems were placed, mages prepared crossbows that would shoot stone arrows. These were the only traps they could really use. Their prepared water might compromise the integrity of the tunnel, and lighting might set off the bombs in a chain reaction.
Rommel sighed as they started setting up stone walls every ten feet until the chamber entrance. They should be able to hold off for a few hours but their supply of mana crystals was hardly enough for a full day of battles.
The stone walls were left with just enough clearance to bring the tarps of dirt and rock to start filling the tunnel behind the bodies and between the door. It wouldn't buy much time, but any second gained meant they were that much closer to escaping.
After filling the tunnel with dirt and rocks they prepared to hold their position. Now… they waited for the first of the goblins to show up.
Noelle focused on recovering. Judging from their progress, that was the best way she could help right now. In the first hour they had managed a little over seven feet deep, but the tunnel wasn't fully rounded. They could focus on rounding later, depth was their main concern.
Tania was resting off to the side, this would be the end of the first circuit. If Lucera could just widen the tunnel and check for water that would ideally leave the rest of them to continue forward without worry.
Just as Rowena and her personal knight hit the eight-foot mark widening the hole to about two and half feet around they stepped out. Rowena washed her hands in a prepared bucket of water, then used a damp towel in a second bucket to wipe her face.
Lucera stepped in already chanting. It took a little over two minutes but the tunnel walls expanded into a five-foot arch as the walls smoothed out. Lucera then started chanting a water search spell, ironically she had only used this twice when they needed water to drink.
Lucera closed her eyes to concentrate, but it was a struggle. Eventually she concluded at least the next fifteen feet didn't have any major water sources in their direct path… but they were digging at an upward angle. "We should be fine for the next circuit. Even if the hole is only a foot wide that will be enough for me to smooth out the arch." Lucera added as she stumbled back.
Noelle caught Lucera easing her into a sitting position, "Then maybe we can have you widen the arch every other swap, here are a few mana stones." Noelle offered reassessing their progress… they could work much faster this way. Hopefully another mage would be able to swap with Lucera.
Lucera gave a quick nod as she removed her water pouch taking a quick sip. Then she started to refill her reservoir of mana with the second-tier mana stone. She glanced back as two guards came to carry the tarp away… for the goblins to have not made an appearance yet was a little concerning.
Zane came to check on the progress and get an update, "We can hear them, but no sightings yet. We were thinking about sending a mana scout," Zane added. Unfortunately, most of the mages were trying to recover their mana for a sudden attack. Rahm was also just sitting off to the side watching with clear amusement.