The Cave of Dangers

Our adventurers finally make it to their destination

“It’s dark.” Altair was quick to point out as they entered the cave. Phoenix rolled her eyes at his brilliant statement before throwing out her hand to cast the spell ‘fairy lights’. Slowly, delicate lights began to bloom down the tunnel, leading them deeper and deeper underground. The five adventurers delved into the cave wearily, weapons clutched tightly in their hands. Damian kept his bow notched and ready in his hand, prepared to shoot at whatever dared move. Lord Bamf drew a spear and kept his bright blue eyes trained on the space in front of them. Phoenix took the lead next to Dovahkiin, a dagger in hand as she moved forward.

“It’s been too peaceful for my tastes.” Dovahkiin grumbled, blue scales turning a ghastly grey under the light of the fairy lights. Phoenix gave him an exasperated look at his bloodlust, as she was grateful for the lack of fighting. It might be good practice, but it was more appealing to simply accomplish the mission without any hitches. All she wanted was to get the item, get out, and have enough gold to have a roof to sleep under for at least a week. Dovahkiin’s glowing yellow eyes met hers in the darkness as a scowl formed on his lips. “All I am saying is that I-”

He was cut off by something dark and furry dropping down from the ceiling in front of them. Phoenix gave an earsplitting shriek as the creature stepped into the glow of her fairy lights. A giant spider, its fangs dripping with venom, hissed before lunging at her petrified form. She wasn’t normally afraid of arachnids, but amplify any sort of creature with more than four furry legs, and it was likely to frighten anyone. Dovahkiin gave a roar of happiness before swinging down his banana-shaped sword and slicing the creature in half.

“Get in the spirit, Phoenix!” He shouted merrily swinging his sword at another spider. She made a noise of discomfort before she sliced at a nearby spider. It raised one furry leg in defense, causing her to cringe in repulsion and miss her target. The spider made a growling noise before springing at her. She grimaced and held out her dagger to block it, but found an arrow impaling it before it reached her.

“Did someone call for a knight in shining armor?” Damian called, moving to her side with an arrow pulled taunt. He shot her a charming smile, striking to what she supposed was a heroic pose. Unamused and unimpressed, she turned away from him.

“Don’t talk to me.” She replied before lunging for another spider, as fighting them seemed more appealing than continuing speaking with the man. Damian’s face fell at the blatant rejection, as it was not the reaction he typically got, as he let an arrow fly, it completely missing its target and bouncing harmlessly off of the cave walls. His brother moved in front of him to spear an attacking spider as it seemed that the emotional damage that Damian took rattled him.

“I know see why you were drinking alone last night.” Altair muttered as he held his own against a group of two spiders. Phoenix sneered at the red-eyed teifling in response, as she knew and accepted the fact that she was not someone who made friends as easily as she once did. It took only a few minutes for the group to dispatch the attacking spiders before they were left in an empty cavern with only their enemies’ corpses. Dovahkiin looked around for a moment at the empty cavern for a moment, deciding that it was safe to move on. Phoenix carefully stepped over the oozing corpses on the floor with a look of disgust on her face, following Dovahkiin as he continued through the underground path. She once against cast fairy lights, guiding them further into the cave.

        The deeper they went, the more inky the darkness around them became. The temperature seemed to drop with every step they took, causing a few of them to begin to wrap their cloaks closer around them. As Damian and Bamf took out torches to use, as the fairy lights were becoming dim, Phoenix took the opportunity to take a long drink from her water canteen. A musty scent had filled her nose, consequently giving her an odd taste on her tongue. This cavern had clearly been deserted for some time, judging by the dry and dusty state along with the giant cobwebs that they continued to run into. She was curious as to what exactly they would find at the end of this seemingly unending tunnel. As a kind of reassurance, she reached up to fiddle with the necklace she wore. The constant comforted her, as it had been something that she had always kept with her. They walked in complete silence, for how long Phoenix couldn’t say. It seemed like hours upon hours. Perhaps it would be the next day already when they exited the cave.

        “Perhaps I could hold your hand, Phoenix.”

        “Only if you want to lose it, Damian.”

        “I see light!” Lord Bamf suddenly shouted, pointing ahead to a speck of light. The adventurous began to hurry forward at the prospect of getting out of this cave. Phoenix pursed her lips as they made their way toward the light, trying to remember if the tunnel had sloped up at all during their journey. Although she found herself not minding, as long as they got to breath in some fresh air soon.

        As they got closer, the group realized that no fresh air was blowing from the light-source. Cautiously, the slowed their pace and paused at the entrance, allowing their eyes to adjust to the light. Once they were all able to see once more, due to the numerous torches that lined the circular chamber in front of them, they all came to a sudden halt.

        “Are those…” Phoenix began to whisper, trailing off as she gripped her dagger tightly.

        “Orcs.” Altair finished her sentence as seven blood-red eyes locked on the five of them. A chorus of excited rumbles arose from the orcs as they all drew wicked-looking swords off of their backs. Phoenix looked behind them in bewilderment, wondering how the tunnels had looked as though this place was abandoned whilst there were orcs waiting for them here. It was as if the orcs had been expecting them…before she could think about this theory any further, one of the orcs lunged forward at Dovahkiin, apparently taking him to be the greatest threat out of their group.

        Dovahkiin gave a booming laugh before responding by parrying with one of his mighty battle axes. Shoving the orc back into his companions, Dovahkiin reeled his head back, inhaling deeply before throwing his head forward and releasing a stream of lightning into the group of orcs. The creatures began to shriek as the lightning coursed through their body, knocking a few of them off of their feet. The blue dragonborn’s companions stood with expressions of both awe and surprise for a moment, taking away their attack of opportunity on the disoriented orcs. Bamf lunged forward after shaking his head to clear it, jabbing his spear into the shoulder of one orc. The creature yelled in outrage before responding by slashing at Bamf’s face. The tan man threw himself backwards, the blade only nicking the end of his long nose.

        Phoenix was the next to join the battle, leaving Damian and Altair to provide them with support with their respective ranged weapons. She rushed forward with her dagger aiming for the nearest orc’s abdomen. As it was still dazed from the lightning strike, she managed to hit her mark. Its blackish blood sprayed over her face, blinding her for a few seconds as she yanked her dagger out and stepped backwards to wipe the vile smelling substance off of her face..

        Altair turned to aim his arrow at the orc she had been fighting, shooting a bolt into its shoulder. One of its companions came to its aid, aiming to stab Phoenix just as she reopened her eyes. With a huff, she managed to redirect the shot to her heart to graze off of her shoulder. Nothing a simple healing spell wouldn’t fix. Damain began to fire arrow after arrow at the orcs, missing his target more often than hitting it. Frowning, he drew back another arrow, taking note of his dwindling supply. His took a deep breath, closing his eyes and concentrating all magical energy on the tip of his arrow. As he reopened his eyes, he sharply exhaled and released the arrow.

        As if in slow motion the arrow gave a flash of deep purple, transforming itself into three magic missiles, two of which drilled into the orc that Phoenix and Altair had injured while the other smashed into one of the cave walls. The orc was blasted backwards, landing against the opposite wall with a thud, and did not get up again. There was a moment of deep pride in Damian, as he smirked at the fallen orc…and then chunks of the ceiling began to rain from above them.

        Phoenix began to say every vile curse that she had learned during her travels as she rolled out of the way of one of the falling rocks, knocking into Dovahkiin as he began to lose his balance. The large dragonborn fell to the ground with a resounding crash, bashing his head against the unyielding stone floor. Bamf used his shield to keep from being injured, grunting as large rocks dented the metal and pressed down upon him. Once the cave had stopped falling apart, both groups were left disoriented and confused as they looked around the partially destroyed cavern. The orcs, to the adventurer’s misfortune, recovered before they did. One took the opportunity to drive its blade into Dovahkiin’s leg while another orc bashed the blunt side of his sword into Phoenix’s skull. Vision blurred and head pounding, she rolled out of the way of another attack. Damian aimed another arrow at one of the remaining six orcs, his panicked aim managing to catch one in the arm.

        Bamf, apparently used to his brother’s misfortune, sprung to action and began to stab at the orcs with his spear once more. Although he was large in stature, unlike his lean brother, he moved with a sort of grace through the ranks of the orcs. Phoenix, forcing herself out of her daze put a hand to her head and winced as it came back stained with red. She didn’t have many takes on her healing spell left, so she had to use it sparingly. Scooping up her fallen dagger, she managed to sloppily dance her way around the orcs to get to the fallen Dovahkiin.

        “I’m going to heal your leg, but it may sting a bit.” She warned, eyeing the giant gash that marred his leg. Her ears still rang from the blow she took minutes ago, but she figured that shouldn’t alter her from healing him. He looked over at her with an expression that suggested that he had endured far worse as she leaned over his leg. Damian moved to cover them while Altair remained by the exit. Leaning over the wound, Phoenix observed the gouge for a moment. Bone could be seen, although it didn’t look like the bone itself had been marred. This made her job all the more easier. Holding a hand over the wound, she cast the last healing spell she would be able to muster that day, effectively sealing the wound. “You’ll want to get further assist-”

        She was cut off by Dovahkiin raising his ax and blocking an attack aimed for the back of her head. Gratefully Phoenix sent him a grin before driving her dagger between the chinks in the creature’s armor and into its chest. It crumpled in front of them as she yanked her weapon back. The duo stood up and began to engage in the fight once more with the remaining five orcs.

        One, dressed in finer armor than the others, stepped forward towards her and Dovahkiin, swiftly attacking with his fine sword. Phoenix ducked to the side as Dovahiin swung with his large ax, missing and hitting only the empty air over the orc’s head. The orc smirked and drove his blade forward, aiming for Dovahkiin’s exposed stomach. On pure instinct, Phoenix moved to counter the attack with her dagger, not realizing how much force was behind the attack until she watched as her dagger shattered into fragments.

        “Damn.” She muttered as she jumped back from another attack from the finely dressed orc. Tossing aside her broken dagger and instead grabbing her crossbow, she moved back near Damian to begin assisting from the back. Bamf and Dovahkiin took positions in front of the three providing ranged support, but they all found the fear that at least one of them would not be walking out of here.

        “I knew it was a good idea to follow them.”

        The five adventurers jumped as two shadows rushed past them, one large and hulking while the other was small and stocky. Darius and Tabul, looking exhilarated to be back in the heat of battle, jumped into the group of five orcs. Darius kneeled down and put up his great silver shield, which Tabul promptly planted a foot on and launched himself into the air. While most of the orcs became concerned with the flying dwarf, Darius took the opportunity to begin hacking at the nearest orc. Tabul came down on the finely dressed orc, swinging his ax down to embed it in its head. Within a matter of seconds, Darius and Tabul managed to do what the new adventurers  had spent nearly three quarters of an hour trying to do. Once the cavern was clear of any more enemies, Darius and Tabul turned around with broad grins on their faces.

        “We could have handled that on our own.” Dovahkiin mumbled with a suddenly downtrodden look on his face. The two old adventurous began laughing at that comment, causing his blue-scaled cheeks to flush a dark navy. Phoenix simply sighed in relief that they no longer had to face what was beginning to look like certain death. She probed the throbbing wound on the side of her head, finding only a small cut being the source of all of the blood on her hand.

        “We just came to make sure that you all didn’t die on your first quest.” Tabul chuckled throatily, reaching into his bag and extracting a crystalline orb.  “We’ve brought a portal with us as well so you won’t have to walk all of the way back. We figured that you lot would have used enough energy fighting whatever waited in here.”

        “Thank you.” Phoenix said, a grateful smile now adorning her lips. First saving them and then giving them an alternative to enduring a long walk back to the bar…Darius and Tabul were proving to be more valuable allies than she could have imagined. Her eyes drifted over to the chest against the far wall. “Let’s grab the chest and go. We’ll sort out the things inside once we get back.”

        Nobody could argue with the prospect of being back at the bar sooner rather than later, and quickly snapped into action. Tabul smashed the orb against the floor, creating a swirling blue portal that gave a watery image of the bar. Dovahkiin carrying the chest, they all stepped through the portal and breathed better as the smell of oak and alcohol filled their noses.