The group made their way through the woods back to the edge of the clearing surrounding the keep. It was only a short walk. The keep still looked exactly as it had the day before when they left it.
Rennirolas saw Rumer acquire a few flasks of lamp oil and did the same. He picked up four more flasks and placed them in his pack with the rest of his gear.
"I think we should head straight for the tunnel, right now. We can check out any other rooms in the lower level if we have time on the return trip. Let's stop by the store room and make sure we have enough oil and torches." Blacky said as they approached. " Renn and I should go first, Rumer and Arachne in the middle and Lasiar and falgout guarding the rear. That way we have the ones with night vision evenly dispursed should the lights go out. Agreed?"
Lasiar nodded. "Sounds like a good plan, and it also gives us a spellcaster in each area."
"Uh huh," Arachne said thoughtfully. "And being in the middle will help keep me from running away if we pick another fight. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but -- "First, are we looking to pick a fight? I mean, we might find folks down that tunnel who were less than thrilled to have an evil priest of -- um, whoever -- for an upstairs neighbor. If we don't go in bristling with armament, we _might_ find someone to talk to instead of hack and slash.
"Second, you're assuming that we'll be able to creep down that tunnel two abreast. That's a lot of tunneling effort someone else went to for us. I suspect that we'll need to go single file --perhaps just some of the time, but those will probably be the times you'd rather not.
"Anyway, I'm thinking maybe we should try putting me in front. I'm less threatening than any of the rest of you. And if we do find ourselves fighting, I'd scarcely be in the way of whomever was immediately behind me.
"Just a thought."
The group easily made their way back to the storeroom. Blacky grabbed some additional torches, but there wasn't a crossbow to be found.
After grabbing a few last minute supplies, they made their way down to the lower level. Nothing jumped out at them when they re-opened the secret door. The tunnel, at least here at its mouth, looked wide enough to allow them to walk two abreast.
"OK, let's keep our eyes and ears open, there could be anything down here." Blacky warned as he drew a hand axe and started forward. "Anyone have any ideas what to do if we meet another one of those bugs? Other than squash it of course."
"Run?" replied Rumer, grinning mischievously at Arachne.
"'Run' is good," Arachne said obliviously. "I like 'run'. Or 'hide'," she added.
"We noticed," said Lasiar with a grin. "Although running is not a bad option. Our intent here is to find where Ranchefus went, at least I -think- that is our intent. If we get into a situation that we can get out of, even by running, we should do so. The less hurt we get, the more we can explore."
"I'm ok at hiding. If there's shadows. Though I like the word, backstab too." Rumer added.
"So you are going to jump on the bug's back without it noticing, so you can stab it?" Lasiar's eyebrows raised slightly. "-That-, I'd like to see."
Rumer giggled. "I could climb the wall and drop on it."
"And we shalt dub thee Rumer Bugbane." Lasiar shook his head, laughing slightly.
Rumer sighed in relief, "Better than Rumer Bugbutt by far."
"What about sticking beeswax in our ears?" Lasiar asked. "Maybe it wouldn't stun us that way. Anyone got any wax?"
"Oh, I was more worried about the stuff that melted my boots and those bracers," nodded Rumer.
With his lantern in hand, Rennirolas stood patiently. "An we get into a fight, I should warn you, the lantern will get placed on the flooring quite quickly. I fight much more confidently with my shield firmly strapped to my arm for some reason," Renn smiled.
"But the bugs, I'd prefer to not make them angry. I mislike losing clothing and weapons," Rennirolas chuckled. "If I do happen to notice any unusual sections of the walls, I shall alert you all at once," Renn said evenly.
