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-----Gimplefwick glances over at Kazel and winks, "Aye, she does seem like a tolerant lass, now doesn't she? Full o' compassion and warmth that one. A true spirit of bonhomie, so to speak." The Dread Pirate grins at his own elocution and then glares, frustrated, at the shield. "Ah well, couldn't use it anyway." He then wanders over to the hole in the ground and gazes suspiciously into it.
-----Suddenly he says, "Nothing ventured, nothing gained, eh?" With that said, he suddenly draws his cutlass and storms into the tunnel.
-----"Then the sooner we move the happier we all are, right?" Kazel jerks back just in time to avoid the rash pirate as he runs into the tunnel. Dumping her bow and long sword on the ground, she takes out her dagger and gives Raven and Sol a wink. "We'll fit and see better in there anyway. Just you wait." Holding the blade with her mouth, she proceeds to crawl into the tunnel after Gimplefwick.
-----"You're all absolutely crazy." Sol exclaims with amusement. "Fine...let's get dirty." He then follows Kazel's lead, and begins to crawl down the tunnel. At the entrance he makes sure the hilt of his longsword doesn't catch, before continuing.
-----Seth dismounts again and collects the lonely horses and ties them to one of the branches by their leads. He makes no move to go down the 'hole'. He collects Kazel’s bow and hangs it off her horse's saddle and cleans her long sword. He leans this against a branch. "Well is anyone else going down the hole? If you do, don't light a torch or you will ruin Kazel and Gimplefwick’s night vision."
-----Meanwhile, in the tunnel, The Dread Pirate charges through a narrow passage. He runs hunched over with his cutlass out in front of him. All the while he faces the dark tunnel that reeks of damp dog. Still everything here below remains quiet.
-----Quickly, he comes upon a side passage leading to his left, just as small as the entrance tunnel. He takes the new passage and sees dim light filtering down from above. He passes three spots in this tunnel where holes have been dug upward in the passage to the top of the ground. As he examines these, he sees they are the places where the small humanoids came up into the clearing.
-----On ahead he sees that the passage turns to the right and at the corner, he sees some kind of alcove. At the alcove a rope hangs down from above. All around the walls at this point are massive roots that stick out from the soil. Looking up, Gimplefwick can see that the rope leads up into the hollow of one of the trees.
-----Gimplefwick continues on his way through the tunnel and soon passes three other ‘alcoves’ with ropes that lead upward into other trees. As he makes his way around, he finds that the tunnel seems to lead back around to join to the original tunnel he used. At this point, the tunnel comes to a ‘T’ where to the right would be the tunnel entrance. To the left, the tunnel seems to lead on into the dark unknown.
-----Following the passage to the left, Gimplefwick finds it to be a fairly straight tunnel with no side passages or intersections. Soon in the gloom, he sees the pale light of the outdoors filtering down once again. As he continues the light grows brighter. Finally he emerges from the tunnel and comes out into a clearing between two high bushes. Everything in the clearing seems very quiet and there appears to be no sign of the small ones. Turning, Gimplefwick sees Kazel and Sol begin to emerge behind him.
-----The Dread Pirate glances about the empty clearing and sighs, somewhat forlornly. He does however, seem to brighten at the sight of Kazel and Sol crawling out of the tunnel on their hands and knees, fairly covered in dirt. Putting his cutlass back in its sheath, he quickly represses a chuckle and states, "Well, I don't see anything here. I'm willin to bet that they still be runnin as though their feet were on fire and their arses were catchin. I guess we'd best head back and join the others in goin to Olv. The patrol can come along and collapse these tunnels after we notify 'em."
-----Before the Dread Pirate can exit back through the tunnel again, he, Kazel and Sol can see Raven and his wolf begin to emerge from the tunnel.
-----Sol was about to slow Gimplefwick when Raven appears, "I don't particularly want to crawl back empty handed. They must've gone somewhere...Let's finds them. Raven, now that yer here, are you able to follow any tracks? Or maybe wolf here can sniff 'em out."
-----As Sol even begins to speak, Raven is checking for any signs of the little demons.
-----Momentarily deterred from reentering the tunnel, Gimplefwick stands by and watches Raven search for tracks. He then turns and looks at Kazel, "Arrr, let’s see if he can track as well as I did with that ogre."
-----"Weren't we just wandering aimlessly around that time?" Kazel brushes the dirt off herself, then looks up at the trees.
-----The Dread Pirate looks momentarily astounded at the idea and then expostulates, "Certainly not! I had a very definitive method to me tracking that ogre. Look how it all turned out. Unfortunately, his lair was empty, but you did have a miraculous vision. All thanks to me. I'm hurt that you even question me abilities in that regard. Wandering aimlessly, indeed!"
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