Brave Kaileer crept up to the cave entrance while Jana watched him from several feet behind. Maisar and Azrun watched from a little farther behind her. Gala stood back with the horses, and Aloysius, dagger drawn, watched the surrounding area. Pug and Arachne stood very close together near Azrun and Maisar. Kaileer snuck up to the mouth of the cave, closer, closer, until he was right up on it...and nothing happened. A tunnel about fifteen feet in width stretched before him into the darkness. The cave floor was wet and muddy, like everything else here, but even his elven sight, as he peered into the darkness, gave little clue as to what might be inside. The evening continued to darken to night. Selune's half face brightened high in the western sky, lending a little light to those standing outside in the mud.
Pug moved to join Kaileer at the mouth of the cave with Arachne in tow. "Kaileer, What do you make of those tracks?" Pug said, pointing where Arachnehad shown him. "Can you identify them?"
Arachne stayed very close to Pug. If he moved, she moved with him -- or tried to, since he's so agile that he could put some space between himself and her if he wanted to.
Turning abruptly, Kaileer scowls at the gnomes for speaking too loudly. He then sighs and goes to examine the tracks.
Arachne was definitely in tow, except that she allowed a minimum of distance between herself and Pug while they slogged over to Kaileer. She said nothing while Pug apprised the ranger and managed to forget to say what she knew about the cave interior -- (Oops. Hopefully, it wasn't important...) Instead, her attention was (given the circumstances) perversely focused on the gnome that she was clinging to. If he stood still, she stood still...right beside him. RIGHT beside him.
After Kaileer and Jana approached the outside of the cave without incident, Aloysius crept up next to Kaileer as best he could. He made a half-turn and waved at the other members of the group to advance. Then, he turned back to Kaileer and muttered something to him the others either couldn't hear, or couldn't understand.
Seeing as how the cavern mouth was now the place to meet and chat, Jana walked up to join the others. "Hmmm," she commented helpfully. She left the exploring of cavern mouths to those who weren't tall and in armor. As they debated and stared at tracks, she began to check the immediate area for a safe place to leave the horses, just in case entering the dark, doubtless cramped little hole in the ground became the new plan.
Jana looked around for a place to leave the horses. There was nowhere nearby that was sheltered and secure, but there were places to tie them, old trees, some dying, some already dead.
The ranger took a deep breath to dispel the butterflies in his stomach and stepped forward into the cave, bow in front of him, trying to appear brave but fearing he'd appear foolish. "Face thy fears, only then will you conquer them..." he whispered to himself...
After looking around with Pug and Arachne, Kaileer slipped quietly into the mouth of the cave. He moved slowly, bow in hand, and soon disappeared into the darkness.
Azrun watched as the elf slipped into the cave. He looked quite concerned and was watching all around him for any sign of danger. "Well, I think we've found the outlet of our trouble source." He muttered quietly.
Pug, moving as quietly as possible, inspects the stone around the cave mouth while Kaileer moves inside to search.
The demihumans watching the mouth of the cave could see Kaileer creeping along for a couple of minutes until he got out of the range of their night vision. No sounds came from the cave; the evening air was still and silent. After ten minutes, Kaileer had not returned.
Arachne, though untrained at it and not nearly as agile as the wizard (no, the OTHER wizard -- the one she likes), tried to match him in silence. She continued to post herself so close to Pug that she kept pressing against him. But ten minutes was an awfully long time to be waiting for an absent elf. "I did mention, didn't I," she whispered, as close to Pug's ear as she could get, "that there's clearly _something_ alive in that cave? He knew that, going in, right?"
Aloysius, still gripping his daggers, appeared to be getting more and more anxious as Kaileer's time inside the cave grew. Finally, he couldn't stand the suspense any longer. Turning, he whispered to the others. "Either nothing is immediately inside yon cave, or something foul hath befallen brave Kaileer. He may be in need of aid." With that, Aloysius carefully stepped towards the cave entrance, not terribly excited about the gloomy blackness looming before him.
Maisar watches Kaileer enter the cave, and stands there waiting. When he sees Jana looking for a place to tie the horse he motions to her and quietly says that he will hold on to them so she will not have to if something happens.
"Okay," Jana said, handing the reins to Maisar. Just to be on the safe side, she pulled her shield off her back and put it on her arm. And, just to be on the even safer side, she pulled out her mace.
