Please... " Lero says as he sits upon a boulder, "None of us are as good as you are. I just want you to be more careful." He reaches into his satchel and pulls something out wrapped in cloth. As he unwraps it, it's a stale cinnamon roll. "The bakers gave me a few of these before we left." He offers one to everyone as they prepare camp for the night. When he offers one to Namura he says, "I didn't know that the word meant Swine-kisser. Arial told me it was the quickest way to get an elf in bed..." He chuckles, "I'm gunna kill her when we get back." 

"Thank you," Namura gladly took a cinnamon roll, realizing for the first time that she hadn't eaten since the pork that morning. "I do not understand you, Lero." The elf gave a small laugh as she shook her head, taking a large bite of the cinnamon roll.

"I didn't realize when I signed up for this how much pressure there would be," she said softly, in another uncharacteristically open moment. "I thought it would just be a chance to come home, be free away from the city. I am trying, though. I don't go looking for holes in the ground to fall down."

Illuminated by the faint glow of the aether geodes, the party makes camp in the farthest cave. The cavern system the party is in consists of four caves, which are all briefly connected by short tunnels. The caves seem to average at about 20x20 feet, meaning any cave would be suitable for resting and recovering from the long journey. *rolls the DM dice*

The night passes by uneventfully, save for the occasional rumblings of wurms tunneling off in the distance. The party awakes to the stench of sweat of other body odors, a smell they are certainly well-accustomed to. Breaking out their rations, they eat enough to have their fill, and then begin to devise a plan on how to get out of these tunnels. Perhaps they could follow the chalk lines they drew? That would at least lead them back to the bioluminescent cavern they originally fell into. Perhaps they just missed a tunnel which leads upwards into the fresh air? The air was particularly stale in the cavern, as there wasn't much airflow. During the discussion, they note an extremely violent rumbling coming from the east wall, and the bottom portion of a wurm breaks through as it tunnels upwards. A rush of air blasts into the cave, carrying the stench of decay and feces, and yet... Does it taste fresh? A continuous breeze seems to continue, flowing through the cavern. A minute or so passes as the wurm continues with its travels, until he rumbling has all but disappeared as it continue travelling to an unknown location. Peering through the opening created by the wurm, you are greeted by that same stench of decay and feces coming from the cavern it burrowed out of. Peering through the small opening, you see a massive, dimly lit cavern, covered in glowing eggs and sticky residue as some white, stringy substance lines the cavern walls.

Lero gestures for everyone to stay and nods to Namura. As she nods back he takes it she gets the hint. "We'll be back," he whispers. As silently as possible Lero makes his way into the cave opening, careful not to bump an egg or fall through a silk-covered hole. 

"Why is it that we are always the two to scout ahead into perilous situations?" Namura mused, jumping into the wurm's nursery. She scanned the room, looking for any dangers that might befall them, including holes in the ground. 

Namura and Lero, peering through the opening, note that the wurm seemed to have tunneled form below, as it descends into darkness. Quick to notice it, they do not fall down, but instead borrow a ladder from Buama to stretch over the fresh wurm tunnel and into the wurm nursery. Moving across the ladder, they enter the cavern. the glowing eggs, gathered in large clusters, are bundled throughout the cave. A few are on the floor, though most seem to be tethered to the wall by some sticky residue. Counting them, you can see ten clusters of eggs, each cluster holding around six eggs. You can only see up to sixty feet, as the ceiling is higher than your darkvision will permit. Two of the four resin strands anchoring the network
of egg clusters to the cavern walls feature stray threads that drop all the way down to the cave floor. You think the resin strands could be climbed up to reach some higher altitude, and the eggs dangling above. Testing the resin strand, you note that it is sticky, and the ascent would be slowed down significantly. You see a faint light emanating from a tunnel, south of your position. It's difficult to judge how far away it is however, due to the size of the cavern. You think it to be about 100 to 120 feet in both width and length. Making your way over, Namura hears what sounds like the twanging of string from up above...

Buama stayed behind, but did help them have a way across a hole that they did NOT fall down this time. After all, she had more than one ladder in her interesting new tunic. Much like the last one she had ripped what looked like a patch off the sleeve as if it wasn't sewed on very well at all and suddenly another 24 foot ladder appeared.

"Maybe we should take this one along if you deem it necessary after scouting." She whispers this before hanging back with the rest of the party as the duo goes on exploring.

Namura's pointed ears perked up at the sound of a twang. The ranger was on edge, and the sound caused her to panic a little. "Duck!" she cried out, grabbing Lero and half-tackling him to the floor. She was afraid a twang meant something was going to come crashing down upon them, so she found herself sort of shielding his body with her own. 

Lero was completely caught by surprise as Namura half-tackled him to the floor. He found himself in a pile of the sticky gooey threads that coated the bulk of the cave system. "What," he whispered, "What is it?"

Namura held her breath for a moment, waiting for whatever caused the sound to drop and fall on them. And then nothing happened.

And then nothing continued to happen.

The ranger quickly shot to her feet, a bit of a blush coming to her cheeks. "I, uhh, thought I heard something," Namura stuttered, clearing her throats and brushing some of the dust off of her. "Sorry, I guess it was nothing."

Lero stands and wipes some of the gooey strands off, "It's ok." He looks around, "Which tunnel did that fresh air come from?" Lero and Namura continue scouting the area. 

The breeze no longer is apparent, as you realize that the pressures must have equalized between this cavern and the one your party slept in. The light however, still emanates from beyond the southern tunnel. Moving towards it, you round the corner and see four glowing orbs of light, floating in the center of the tunnel. Confused, Namura clearly hears the sound again: the twang of string, coming from the roof of the ceiling, but this time it is accompanied by sound of skittering... like fingernails being tapped on a hard surface, and a sound Namura has heard over a thousand times... the tightening of a bowstring.

Duncan stayed back with the group making sure to stay alert for any thing that would come at them.

"Traako!" Namura dove and tackled Lero to the ground again, her heart beginning to race as the adrenaline of battle kicked in. This time, she did not remain on top of him for long, rolling off and drawing her bow in one motion. The ranger remained low to the ground, her eyes searching the darkness of the cavern ceiling. "Maybe I was not so paranoid..."

Taking her queue, Lero searches quickly for cover. Before taking the cover he hastily pulls his goggles off and hands them to Namura. The darkness takes a bit for him to get used to, but the glow nearby allows him to see enough to navigate. 

Waiting for its companions to return, Kraithee begins to feel anxious. Turning to Flux and Buama in a low tone of voice: Flux and Buama, I think we need some way to communicate with party members on long distances. Do you guys think it is possible and doable? I am getting sick of not knowing what happens when we get separated.

Lero already feels they lost any type of advantage they may have had so he calls out into the cavern, his voice echoing off the walls for his companions near the end of the tunnel to hear, "We mean you no harm. We are merely passing through in an attempt to reach the surface. Allow us this and we can all continue our lives in peace!"  

"We mean you no harm. We are merely passing through in an attempt to reach the surface. Allow us this and we can all continue our lives in peace!" There is silence in the cavern for a brief few seconds, before an outpouring of cackling laughter fills the cavern. Namura, peering around the corner, sees two grotesque fiends, with the lower body of a spider and the torso and face of a hideous elf. She counts four arms in total, two of the arms carrying bows and the other two with an arrow, no longer knocked due to the absurdity of Lero's request.

They laugh for a good twenty seconds, oblivious to their surroundings, before calming down and discussing something amongst themselves in whispers. The language itself is unknown. Eventually, they speak up, addressing Lero in Common, "Oh, young fleshling. Your request... That was something. You and your bodyguard... When she dropped on top of you, we almost lost it." Another voice replaces his, cackling. "Hahaha! Yes! It took all of our strength not to kill you two right there. The effort was so noble, we just didn't have the heart. Or we wanted to play with you." The original voice returns. "Yes, it's rare enough that we get visitors that aren't purified by our lord Cyth K'nahr, so when prey wanders in... we just get so excited to get to know you... inside and out." The duo cackle once again. "And we will get to know you oh so well! You see, the exit you seek lies on the opposite side of this cavern from your current position!" The other begins to laugh once again. "Yes! You fell for our tricky spell!" He says something to the other, which only Flux would understand as, "Yes, brother, that was quite a brilliant plan you thought of." You hear the skittering of their legs as they reposition themselves, and one last voice. "So... the question is, foolish adventurers..." "Just what do you plan to do?"

"Well, I keep meaning to send my servo with them Krai, but it wouldn't see much in the dark at the present point in time."

Suddenly, the strange voices echo throughout the caverns.

"Oh dear. Those are more demons the others have encountered. Best we go and help them."

Lero spends this time lighting his hooded lantern and turns it on full blast to illuminate the sixty feet surrounding them. (30' Bright, 30' Dim)