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-----Raven gets off his horse and examines the front of the hole.
-----Sarah glances around the horizon while Raven checks the hole. She had become more and more aware of how these ambushes worked and although she was still mostly clueless in the field, it wasn't for lack of trying to learn.
-----Raven looks at the tracks carefully. He seems to freeze in time for a moment. Raven then lets out a low growl and hisses one word..."Orcs". The ranger draws both swords and quietly enters the hole.
-----"As long as we're quick." Sol says to no one in particular. He dismounts and follows Raven into the hole, slowly drawing his longsword as he does so.
-----Raven hunkers down and moves into the tunnel. As he loses the light from the opening, he pauses long enough to light a torch. Raven feels the wet nose of the wolf nudge his arm. Suddenly Sol is there also with his sword drawn.
-----Once Raven gets the torch going, he pats the wolf’s head and crawls further on holding the torch ahead of him. They move forward for about ten feet and then the tunnel seems to widen out. The passage appears to end in a small cavern almost five feet in height. As Raven holds the torch out to let it illuminate the small cave, a piercing shriek alarmingly begins. It is so loud Raven almost drops the torch trying to shield his ears. The wolf backs up shaking its head and yipping.
-----Suddenly from across the small cave at a distance of about ten feet, Raven and Sol see small dark forms emerge from openings in the opposite wall. Over a dozen rats file along the wall curiously staring at them. Oddly the rats do not look as though they will attack immediately.
-----The loud shrieking continues and Raven tears his eyes away from the rats long enough to determine that the sound is coming from a cluster of fungus that stands about four feet tall to one side.
-----Wincing from the din, Sol eyes the rats with some sort of curious detachment similar to the creatures’ own, seemingly content to wait for any further reaction from the rodents.
-----Raven attacks the fungus, his swords catching the light from his torch on the small cavern floor. Within a few moments, the ranger has hacked into most of the shrieking growths and their noise comes to an end.
-----Behind him, Sol can hear Sarah’s voice by the entrance ask, "Where are you?"
-----As if on cue, the swarm of rats angrily squeals and the mass starts moving on the two men. The rodents look particularly odd with exposed sores amid their torn hair and some of the rats bite into their fellow rodents as they move forward.
-----Three rats apiece snap at Sol and Raven failing to bite through their boots. The wolf suddenly lunges in grabbing a rat in its jaws and snapping its neck. Meanwhile the torchlight dims somewhat being on the rough floor.
-----"Just in here." Sol calls in response to Sarah as he raises the blade to strike down at the rodent mass. As he swings in his wide arcs, the Gorian remarks sourly to Raven, "Don't tell me. Th' little sods are diseased or some such...perfect."
-----Raven snarls at Sol, "Looks that way..." Raven continues to slash away at the rats.
-----With one sweep from each of the two sword bearers, a half dozen rats are nearly sliced in two as the rest of the swarm continues to move forward squealing. The wolf leaps forward again killing another rodent in its jaws.
-----Teeth snap viciously at Sol and Raven. The two quickly mow into the rats leaving six more of their number dead. Four rats remain and they quickly scurry off and disappear into the holes in the far wall.
-----Silence now dominates the small cave save for the growling of the wolf. Sol senses Sarah behind him with Rinda following in after the mage.
-----Suddenly their attention is diverted to the middle of the cavern floor where three small wooden coffers are located.
-----Raven looks around the room and then says, "Could be trapped, but that's never stopped me before." Raven slowly moves forward towards the coffers to get a better look at them.
-----Sol grins at Raven's comment, as he moves to stand next to the opening of the small cave that the rats left through. He divides his attention between the coffers and the cave.
-----Sarah stares suspiciously at Sol’s body trying to see if he was bitten by the rats or not. She says nothing.
-----Rinda holds the wolf back while moving some of the rats’ bodies aside with the tip of her club.
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