The Underbelly (Usque)

How long had they been in the caves? She didn't know, she didn't ask. It had to have been several hours by that point. By the hunger she felt, she knew it was at least around the noon hour, if not later than that. She found a place to pop a squat for a little while and pulled out something to eat, a few nuts and berries, and threw them into her mouth. It wasn't much, but she didn't want to carry too much with her. The ide was to get in and get out as quickly as possible, which required her to keep alert... If she ate a heavy meal, that would only slow her and in turn, him down.

She took the allotted time to make sure everything was in order and then didn't argue with him when he said it was time to go. They made their way through the darkness again, broken every now and then by a cluster of the fungi. They were well passed the worms at that point, but there was other danger lurking and she knew that. And then they finally made it into the cavern where the body of the beast mistress had been when she died. The sound of rapid clicking could be heard echoing from one end of the cave. It too glowed with the dim light of hundreds of clusters of the mushrooms, and they could make out the shape of the skeleton that was Feruzia.

She did as he told her, wrapping the foul cloth around her face to avoid inhaling the spores of the pretty looking mushrooms. More clicking could be heard in the distance, she knew it was the spiders that resided within the caverns. She then moved to climb down to where Feruzia lay in a scattering of bones. Varia knelt by her predecessor and bowed her head. Her fingers ran over the cheek bone of the dead woman and she whispered a little prayer. Then she moved to gently pull the amulet free, flicking the dirt away. She put the amulet on and felt the rush of enchantment filling her, a blinding light filling the area as the energy absorbed into the girl. The bones turned into dust and whirled around her in a dervish, confusion filled her. "Runnnnnn," said a voice. Shit. Varia stood and scrambled out of the ditch just as the cave began to tremble violently. "We have to go. Now." she said to the dwarf. 

She tied the knot as quickly as she could even as she was moving. She made the mistake of looking behind her and saw spiders crawling down from the ceiling, some falling. She cursed and ran as quickly as her feet would take her, trying her best to keep up with her companion. They made it out of the cavern just barely, into a part of the cave that was completely dark, and the mouth soon filled with debris as the cavern caved in. Behind the rock, one could hear the muffled squeals of the spiders getting slammed by the cave in. The tremors continued for a good five or so minutes before the end. Then it was silent. They would find there was no way out but up at this point. First, she had to take in some air, yanking the cloth from her mouth long enough to gather great gulps of it, legs shaking and heart pounding. "You alright?" she asked him.

She took a moment to recover and then pulled out the grappling hook and rope she had. "Well, it looks as though we need to climb to get out of this cavern," she said and offered the rope objects to him since he could see better in the dark than she could. "I am glad I am not afraid of heights. I can't tell how far up we're going but I have a feeling it is going to be a climb." She wasn't even going to be surprised anymore by what the cave held. She heard the flapping of bats in the distance and blinked when a command to use the amulet was whispered in her ear by a disembodied voice. She wrapped her fingers around it and suddenly found herself looking down at them and bouncing sound off the walls of the cavern. "Oh," she said... "It's a way up. There is a mouth to another passage on the cliff above. To the left of you. About 30 feet."

"There are bats," she explained softly. She took hold of the rope. "The amulet allowed me to tap into the senses of one." She started to hoist herself up from that point, taking him seriously when he said not to dawdle. The girl was exhausted about halfway up, but she didn't make a complaint about the rope burns she would probably have. It took her a good five or ten minutes to make it to the top, and she would wait for him to reach the top before getting to her feet and starting to pull the rope up.

"I don't know how much further I can go, but I agree about finding a safe place," she said tiredly. Her hands hurt as it was from the scrapes she had received before, and now they ached from having handled the rope for as long as she had. She sighed tiredly and hungrily, knowing she would need to eat a bigger meal and sleep soon. The amount of food she had eaten hadn't been enough to keep up with the energy expended from having to run away from a cave in. Despite her answer and her tiredness, she was ready to move on.

She also found a place to lean back, ate as much as she dared to at the moment. She did not bother to unroll her bedroll, not wanting to be caught between a rock and a hard place. It didn't matter, the cave was unusually warm and she was able to doze off and get as much rest as she could get in the time allowed. Varia then woke with a start and sat up. There were too many sounds for her liking. She got to her feet and looked around through the darkness. Her hand went to the amulet but there wasn't a response. It was only a dream, she thought. Right?

"No," she muttered sleepily. "Too much noise. Or maybe I was having a dream. Whatever it was, I don't want to be here much longer." She sighed and took the time to break her fast. She was not going back to sleep any time soon and it would be hard to get full rest until they were out of the underbelly. It seemed to be more dangerous than the forest, which was a bad place to be if one didn't know where they were. At least you could see in front of you in the forest, at least there was fresh air and the help of the trees if they were on your side. But down in the depths of the underbelly, it was like being in the depths of despair.