Redwall Abbey

   Ara woke up in a sparsely furnished room, quite unlike his surroundings when he slept. He paused to let his mind catch up...That squirrel! Him! Ara remembered the concoction he'd prepared for them, talking all the while. "This will take you to the labyrinth. But will you really drink? Nyehe! None have escaped who have entered! Nyehehe!! Drink if you will, but consign yourself to you fate!"......Then, further back in his mind, he remembered the old mouse, living in his own little cave...."the labyrinth? Yeah, I know about it." he rasped, "No one else does, or ya wouldn't ha' come to me. Now what do you want? The map? Of course ya do. But how much will you give for it?".....The weasel he had held at knife-point. "The ole mouse by the river? Why d'you wanna know where he lives?"...And finally, the bones The skeleton, seated, in that ruined outpost. Fallen brick surrounded the chair in that stucture, as it was bound to collapse at any moment. And yet, lying on the floor underneath the skeleton's paw, was the parchments. With all the other spoils it came as no surprise Ara was the only one that noticed. And yet, it was all he could notice. Whoever the beast was, he was waiting. Waiting to die. Waiting to tell about the labyrinth. Waiting to surrender the last documents acknowledging its existence. Ara shook himself from the revery, and surveyed the room. On the side nearest him, was presumably the door out. And on the far side, another door, leading deeper into the labyrinth. It opened effortlessly, and Ara strode out.

The shrew who some knew as the Wanderer, as few knew her real name, woke up in a room, sparsely furnished yet still far better than what she was used to. There was a door on the side nearest her, that presumably led to the way out. But, however much she might want to, she would not desert Ara and the others, not when her reputation was at stake. On the far side of the room was another door, leading deeper into the labyrinth. She opened it, and instantly saw Ara not far away down the corridor.

Brink Ironspike watched his employer with hooded eyes. The hedgehog shifted his club from one paw to the other ot of habit. "Well, what do we do next, Ara?"

The hare glanced back. "Down this corridor, first. Then we'll take the left passage at the end."
They don't know, and they mustn't.
Ara strolled to the end of the hallway, and glanced both ways, looking for a landmark.

OOC: Ara has a partial map of the labyrinth, but it doesn't show the entrance. He isn't going to let the others know that though.

Dantin bolted upright from his prone position spluttering, coughing up a bitter concoction upon the floor.  As he gratefully sucked in air, he looked about and realized that something was amiss. 

Wandering had been his life, and he'd done so alone for as long as he could remember, skirting the edges of civilization, preferring to stick to the forests, meadows and mountains of the wilds.  Last night had been no different as he'd bedded down under the dark foliage of midnight woods.  Now however, he was surrounded on all sides by oppressive, cut-stone walls: a large, poorly lit room containing a single torch, flickering in the darkness. 

Despite the size of the room, Dantin had an immediate sense of claustrophobia and panic swelled in his chest as the walls seemed to loom over him.  His breath caught in his throat and there was fire in his lungs as he wasn't able to get quite enough air to them.  He didn't know where he was, or how he'd gotten here, but he was sure of one thing: he needed to get out.  Concentrating, he closed his eyes and attempted to steady his breathing, telling himself that a room is simply a room and that there's nothing about it that could harm him. 

Dantin wasn't sure how much time passed, but eventually he opened his eyes and, while there was still discomfort in looking at his surroundings, the crippling fear was gone.  His mind more at ease, memories started drifting in from the previous night.  Things had been normal enough as he'd prepared to sleep, but once or twice he thought he'd sensed movement in the forest about him.  He'd cautiously investigated the area, but couldn't find signs of anybeast nearby.  Convincing himself that it had been nothing, he'd bedded down for the night.  His sleep had been fitful, however; in the back of his mind he kept feeling that he could hear somebeast chattering quietly to themselves nearby.

Slowly, certain things became clear and Dantin chided himself for being caught so unawares; there had definitely been somebeast lurking about that night.  Based on the foul liquid he'd coughed up upon waking, he must have been drugged and brought here.  As to where 'here' was, though, he had no idea.  He rose on unsteady footpaws and looked about the room once more, but it was hard to make anything out in the darkness.  After a few experimental steps, he headed over to the torch and worked it loose from the rusty brackets holding it in place.  Torch in paw, he inspected his environment more closely.  It appeared empty, devoid of any sort of items or furniture.  The walls were much the same, save for the brackets that had held the torch.  Indeed, the only interesting thing about the room was a thick, wooden door inset into one of the walls.  Dantin, of course, attempted to open it, but it wouldn't budge.  There wasn't a lock crafted into the door, as far as he could tell, so he could only assume it had been barred from the other side.  He banged on it half-heartedly and called out in a nervous voice.

"Um, hello?  Is... is somebeast there?"

Waiata came down the tunnel, studying the walls curiously. There were strange runes at the bottom of the corridors, slightly different than the ones she was used to seeing but still slightly decipherable.
Kia Tupato!
She knew what that meant. 'Beware!' Obviously, something less than friendly lay beyond.
Te tiaho
She also knew what that meant but the sentence was unfinished. It looked like somebeast had tried to destroy the ancient text. There were only a few more words, at the end, that were still in tact.
mate. Kia tupato!

Frowning thoughtfully, Waiata flitted back to the ceiling, studying it for any other messages. It was blank and she shrugged, carrying on down the passage, turning right down another corridor as she repeated the words to herself, puzzling over the missing pieces.
Beware! The light up... dead. Beware!

Waiata looked up, her sharp ears picking up a distant sound as it echoed off the walls. Times like this, she thought to herself, speeding down the corridor in the direction of the sound, it's very useful having wings.
Coming round a corner, Waiata came to an abrupt halt, seeing a light up ahead. She approached cautiously, staying within the shadows.

A brown mouse was struggling to open a wooden door with one paw, holding a torch in the other.
Looking around the rest of the room, Waiata recognised it, having visited a couple of times, always from different entrances. The door was a new addition but the long tailed bat still knew where she was.

"Do you need help, need help? I know the way out, way out."

Brink nodded. "Alright then. Let's get this party started, shall we?" Lighting a torch, the hedgehog led the way down the dark tunnel. "So, Ara, how do you plan to haul up all these...items back to the surface? An' who's in charge of dividing it all? I'd like to volunteer for that particular task." He winked and smiled, though his eyes showed no humor.

Ara humoured him for a moment. "You can bally well be in charge! Get the lions' share, ha!" but then he grew serious again. "I shall let you two be in charge of divvying out the spoils, but there are certain objects I shall take charge of."
Ara strode further down the corridor, and shook off the thought that he heard beasts speaking in the distance. "None of the landmarks yet...."He glanced down at his map before hiding it again, "...but these turns seem familiar....".

Hmm... I wonder what kind of 'certain objects' this hare fellow wants so badly. It might be worth looking into... Brink thought. At a later date perhaps. First, we need to reach our destination. He began to follow Ara's lead, but then the hedgehog suddenly stopped mid-stride. He thought he heard something, or more correctly, somebeast. "Uh, Do you hear that? Sounds like voices. I thought we were supposed to be alone down here."

Dantin squeaked in fright at the sudden voice behind him; he had been too occupied with trying to get the door open to notice anybeast approaching.  Whipping around, he held the torch in front of him defensively and tried to stay calm as he scanned the room for signs of whoever it was that had talked to him.  Unfortunately, he couldn't see anything beyond the light of the torch; the room was pitch black. 

His paw absentmindedly moved slowly towards the back of his belt as he cautiously called out, "H- hello?  Who's there?"

Waiata sighed as she realised she'd have to move into the light in order for the mouse to see her. Maybe I should just... No, this beast needs help and I'll give it. Pushing aside any further procrastination, Waiata flew into the light of the torch, squeezing her eyes shut and using her ears to navigate a suitable perch.

"Hello, hello. My name's Waiata, Waiata. Can I help you, help you?"

Ara stopped cold when he heard Brink. "So I am not simply hearing things" Turning back to the hedgehog, he replied, "You apparently have better ears than I, mister hedgehog. Lead on, if you can hear them still." He glanced at the walls, and read the runes. "Danger. A sentry to guard...." the rest had worn away...

Dantin jerked as Waiata seemed to appear from the darkness.  He was quite confused as to where she had come from; there hadn't been any other ways into the room as far as he could tell.  She seemed friendly at least, but for all he knew she could have had something to do with how he got here in the first place.  His free paw dropped away from whatever it had been reaching for and he pressed his back up against the door, sub-consciously trying to put distance between them.  He wasn't used to being around other beasts.

"Um, uh, hi... I'm Dantin."  As he talked, he noticed that Waiata had her eyes firmly closed and, after a moment, he realized that it must be because she wasn't used to the light.  "Oh, uh, sorry, sorry, um..."  He mumbled as he moved the torch from paw to paw, trying to figure out how to hide it.  As he tried to find some way to cover it beneath his cloak without catching anything on fire, he fumbled with the torch and dropped it rather dramatically, sending it a few feet away.  The flame became dim, then went out completely, leaving them in the dark.  "Hahaha... haaaa... I can't see now."  Smooth, he thought to himself, That definitely wasn't weird.  Not at all.  He cringed inwardly; this is why he hated talking.

The shrew had followed Ara and Brink so silently they almost forgot she was there. As they continued down the corridor, past the runes, she looked closer at the runes on the wall. There was something about them that seemed... off. She shook her head. No. It was probably just the bad lighting. She hurried after them, wondering still if there was something she'd missed.

"Of course," Brink replied, nodding his head to Ara. Hefting his club in one paw, and his torch in the other, the hedgehog began to walk towards the sounds, ready for danger. "Let's keep quiet until we figure out who it is. They could be enemies."

Algirdas lifted his torch higher. The adventurer has came here, alone, after he had failed to recruit anyone to join him in this blasted maze. He only hoped that Chycer won't get the credit for coming here - that would be downright humiliating.

The walls was without directions - in fact, no words were on it. Sighing, the squirrel took a turn right, hoping for some sort of guidance.

Waiata heard the clatter as the torch fell to the ground and opened her eyes gratefully, studying the wary beast in front of her.
"Thank you, thank you. It's much easier to see when there isn't a piece of fire blinding the eyes, the eyes. Now, now, would you like me to show you the way out, way out?"
Waiata smiled reassuringly at the mouse, seeing that he was still back up against the heavy, wooden door. He obviously wasn't used to the dark, or the underground either, by the look of it.
Waiata drew breath to ask the mouse how he'd gotten into the labyrinth but stopped, her sharp ears picking up another sound, coming from a corridor to her left.
"Somebeast is coming, coming. There's only one, only one. I can handle it if it needs to be handled, handled."

Dantin was not fond of being in pitch-black darkness, but he was at least happy that Waiata seemed to be friendly, and she apparently knew how to get out.  He quickly decided that he would trust her.  Soon the sounds of somebeast approaching reached his ears as well, which confused him.  He could have sworn there were no other ways out of the room, but apparently he'd missed something.  As he thought this, Waiata's voice drifted out of the dark, startling him slightly, and he replied in a hushed tone.  "H-handle?  I don't think we need to 'handle' anything, do we?  It could be some goodbeast for all we know!"

Even though he said this, as a tiny amount of torchlight worked it's way into the room from this new passageway, he instinctively dropped into a crouch and melted into the darkness.  Hiding was something he did out of habit and, in his opinion, was something he'd gotten rather good at.  He whispered to his new companion nervously.  "I think... we should hide.  Until we, uh, we can tell what manner of beast is coming, at least."

Algirdas was irritated, to say the least.

So far, sticking to the left of the labyrinth was a massive exercise in futility. But throwing a temper tantrum here would not a a good idea - for reasons that can be proven obvious.

He heard a beast speak, and fearing the worst, had went to investigate, dagger by chest. Whatever they were should have been scared away by the torch he had borne, though a look probably will not hurt.

"Show yourselves!"

Waiata readied her claws, her ears following the progress of the creature as her eyes closed to block the torch's light and she whispered to the mouse.
"It could be a goodbeast, goodbeast. Still, there's no harm in being ready, ready. As for hiding, hiding, bats are very good at that, at that. He won't see me until I want him to, him to."

Moving further into the shadows to preserve her eyesight, Waiata studied the creature that had stepped into the huge room. They grey furred squirrel looked confident but Waiata could sense he felt a small amount of trepidation as his command echoed in the cavern, his voice coming back at him several times until it faded into stillness again.

Deciding she had gathered all she could by simply looking at the beast, Waiata issued an order of her own, reminding him of the current situation first.
"You're surrounded; I should be the one issuing commands, not you. Put your weapons down and state your name and business."

The squirrel managed a nervous chuckle. Surrounded? He had been a the exact same solution about two seasons before, with the Juska, and he has managed to talk his way out of it.

"It would be better for you to come into the light - all of you. I promise no blood shall be shed today if we have nothing to hide."

Dantin looked over at Waiata, unsure of what to do.  He didn't much like this sort of trickery and use of threats; for some reason it just didn't sit well with him.  Then again, though, he didn't have much experience with handling things like this in the first place, so he didn't really know what else to do either.  At the very least, her tactic seemed to be working quite well.  He decided he'd leave things up to his new bat friend, trusting in her expertise and experience.

As Ara followed Brink down the hall, he heard the voices rise in volume. And he soon heard another voice join in. A familiar voice.....
"Brink, they are nearby, chap. 'Round a corner, I think."

OOC: We'll probably break down the door if it doesn't open on the other end.

"Fine!" Algirdas grumbled. So the voices were quite obstinate. Tracing the torchlight to a door, he tried to push it open, but to no avail. Pulling did nothing as well, so the squirrel went for the third option and pushed it again, but to the side.

The door slid open, and the face of the one and only Ara Chycer showed itself through a corner. The squirrel grumbled again.

Waiata flew down and pulled Dantin into the shadows, out of harm's way, then stayed silent, watching proceedings with interest. Neither of the new arrivals looked pleased to see each other.
Waiata checked her position, making sure she'd still be able to use the sound changing technique if she needed it. She somehow doubted the beasts would cause trouble but she was ready, just in case.

The shrew was some way behind Ara and Brink, so all she saw was the door open, not whatever beast could have opened it. Perhaps it was whoever had been speaking earlier, an oddly familiar voice, yet one that didn't belong to either of her companions. She stayed in the shadows, her bow and arrows not far from paw, in case whoever it was was an enemy. The little she could see of Ara suggested that it might be.

Ara grimaced when he saw the squirrel. "How did he even find this place?" he thought. "Nevertheless, I look foolish standing here agape. He isn't the type to talk to himself; I wonder who he brought down here." Ara advanced and extended his paw to the squirrel. "Hello there, Algirdas. How're you holding up, old chap?"
He glanced into the room, barely lit by Algirdas' torch.
"And who are you talking with?" he muttered.

Chycer. The hare that consistently snubbed him. The hare that can't get the slightest grip on his own finances. The hare that uses a first-name basis.

Hiding a scowl, the squirrel shrugged. "I could have sworn that I heard a voice or two on this side of the door."

With that statement, Ara's ears perked up. "He did not bring them down here." he realized. "Just who are they, then?"
"You aren't the only one at that." Ara muttered to the the squirrel. To the pitch-dark room beyond, he said," 'Ello! We aren't here to hurt anyone, and we don't want anyone hurt! Nevertheless, would you mind coming out where we can see you? I don't want you distressing my..." He glanced toward Algirdas "...companions!"
Turning back to Torunis, he spoke again. "By the by, you migh' want to meet my newest hires. That hedgehog over there is Brinks, and the shrew, she doesn't go by a name, but she's employed all the same." With that Ara motioned to his colleagues to come to him.

OOC:Gotta go, but I'll edit this later. Should be enough to work with though.

Waiata nudged Dantin and gestured for him to stay in the shadows, flying just into the outer edge of the beasts' torch light.
"My name is Waiata, Waiata. I am friend to the honest, honest, but hostile to those that mean harm, mean harm. I assume your intentions are peaceful, peaceful."
Waiata found a perch and clung to it, her eyes still closed to block the light from them as she listened to the movement around her.

The shrew heard the conversation, yet was still wary. But she judged that it would be safer to reveal herself. So she stepped out of the shadows, and walked forward, her paw still close to her bow. "It is true that I go by no name, though I've heard some interesting nicknames in my time. Good to meet you, Waiata, Algirdas." Her gaze lingered on the squirrel, still having that odd feeling that she knew him. But she'd met many squirrels on her travels, and known none long enough to have a truly good memory of them.

"It is nice to meet you." Algirdas forced a smile. A bat. A shrew with no name. Chycer. All three in the same room as himself. All that could have went wrong did indeed go wrong. "Why would you happen to be here?"

Waiata smiled and withdrew back into the shadows, judging that the other beasts had long enough to look at her.
"It is nice for me to meet you, meet you, but I think you would rather not have met me, met me. In answer to your question, question, I have lived here all my life, my life. Why are you here, you here?"
Waiata flew back to Dantin and whispered in his ear.
"Perhaps you should introduce yourself, yourself. They seem to be peaceful creatures, creatures."

Dantin looked incredulously in the direction Waiata seemed to be.  Introduce himself?  He didn't want to introduce himself!  He wanted to curl up in a ball and hide until everybeast was gone.  Still... he knew that he wanted to overcome his fear of talking to creatures, and the only way to do that was to, well, do it.  Trying to work up his courage, he attempted to move forward into the light, but his legs wouldn't budge; his body stood rigid and refused to go forward even an inch.  In the end, he was only able to talk, and so his small voice drifted out of the darkness, cracking with nervousness. 

"He- he- hello.  I'm, uh... I'm here too.  Name's D- Dantin...." 

His utterance faltered and came to a stop.  If he'd had anywhere he could have escaped to in that moment, he would have out of embarrassment.   

Brink let out a sigh as he rolled his eyes. Great! Just great! More creatures that'll probably want a share of my gold... Setting the tip of his club on the stony ground, the hedgehog gave a brief nod. "The name is Brink Ironspikes. And just what are you all doing down here?" He said, raising a suspicious eyebrow at the strange beasts.

Ara had remained silent, watching the reactions of his employees to his old colleague. The mouse and the..... bat were not brought here by him. That was obvious. He turned toward the room Waiata flew into and replied, "We would rather have met you, Waiata! Rather you than an enemy! And you Dantin," he said to the dark room," You seem to enjoy that room, but you will be better served coming out where we can see you....." Ara grimaced here. "We know the way out, and this labyrinth isn't much for mice."
Ara turned to his followers.
"This squirrel here is an old...friend..of mine, named Algirdas Torunis."Here he turned back to Algirdas . "I know exactly why you are here; our reasons are the same, aren't they? You don't have a map do you, so you must have gotten to the deranged squirrel before I did. Ha! No matter. We'll need to stick together anyway. Dantin? Why don't you join us? There will be treasure at the end for you! And I won't leave you out, Waiata! Some treasures to bring to your family."
He grimaced once more before leaning in close to Algirdas. "Call me unfair any other time. But if you help me reach this treasure, you'll get your own share. If I were you, I'd accept before your employer changes his mind."

OOC: Ara is going to be less subtle with Algirdas

"I come on my own accord." Algirdas scowled. "But I accept your offer." The squirrel rolled his eyes. This enterprise was going to prove to be as interesting as anything related to Chycer can get.

Dantin wasn't sure if he believed the hare.  He constantly hesitated when referring to those with him as 'companions' or 'friends', and he had an air of subdued haughtiness about him.  Also, though he'd originally said that he knew the way out, he'd then tried to lure Dantin and Waiata in with promises of treasure.  Treasure was the least of concerns for the scared mouse.  Still, he couldn't be sure that the hare was lying either.  Unsure of himself, he whispered to Waiata in a voice low enough only she could hear. 

"What do you think?  He seems to be searching for treasure, but I... I just want to get out of here...."

Suddenly the dark walls seemed to begin pressing in on him again; just the thought of being able to leave had made him lower his mental defenses.  Trembling, he closed his eyes, trying to will his fear away.

Waiata listened to the conversation in the torchlight with a small frown. The hedgehog sounded a little bit grumpy and the hare leaned a little bit too much on bribery for her tastes. Still, they were unfamiliar with the territory and dangers to come so Waiata would help them.
"I have no wish for treasure, treasure, but I will come with you, with you. I was born down here, down here, and know it well, it well."
Waiata rested a wing on Dantin's shoulder, sensing his fear.
"Do not worry, worry, my friend, my friend. You will get used to the labyrinth in time, in time."
Turning her attention back to the other beasts, Waiata pursed her lips.
"I advise you extinguish your torches, torches. You will be safer if you let your eyes adjust to the dark, the dark."

Waiata pricked her ears up, or rather, down, as she heard a familiar echo coming from the tunnel she'd entered the cavern by. Grinning wryly at herself, Waiata turned back to her new found comrades.
"Please excuse me for a moment, moment. I just need to go sort something out. I'll be back soon, back soon."
Not waiting for a reply, Waiata flitted away silently, following her ears until she caught sight of the silver line in the dark.
Finding a solid rock to cling to, Waiata hung upside down in the smaller bat's path, paws on hips as she confronted her sister.
"What in the name of underground are you doing down here, Pekepeke, Pekepeke?"

Pekepeke hovered in front of Waiata, her wings beating rapidly.
"Looking for you, sister, sister. Because mother said to tell you that you need to, need to. And I heard voices, voices, over here and I thought it was you, was you. I was right so now you must come, must come."
Pekepeke paused for breath and fastened her claws to the tunnel roof and swung upside down before her sister, waiting for a reply.

Waiata smiled, giving her sister a pat on the head as she looked over her shoulder.
"That might be difficult, difficult. I met some beasts in the cavern and I've volunteered to help them on whatever mission they're doing, they're doing. I suppose you'll have to come too now, right, right?"
Knowing her sister and, therefore, guessing her answer, Waiata turned and led the way back into the cavern.
"Come, I'll introduce you."
Skirting the torchlight, Waiata landed just above Dantin, waiting for her younger sister to join her.

Pekepeke squeaked in delight and followed, landing beside her sister and swaying slightly. She blinked in the light and covered her face with one wing, shielding her eyes.
"What are these creatures, creatures?" she asked Waiata. "I have never seen beasts like them before, like them before."

Ara smiled at the other bat.
"Hello there. I presume you're related to Waiata? I'm Ara Chycer, the philosopher leading this merry little band."
The thought of beasts living in the labyrinth raised his spirits; they would know the labyrinth even better than he did. However, he entertained the nagging thought that they weren't as hospitable as they first appeared. "Only one way to deal with it, I suppose." Ara decided. "I had asked your sister to join us on your trip; do you want to come along?" he asked.

OOC: How about we try to speed this up? We've spent a couple pages just talkin' here.... :-\

Waiata smiled at her sister, chuckling at her excitement as she introduced her to the labyrinth's newest inhabitants.
"This is my little sister, Pekepeke. I think you'll need to resign yourself to the fact that she's coming with us because it'll be difficult to convince her not to."
Waiata's eyes sparkled with amusement at the other bat's enthusiasm.
"We had best get going. It's always better to keep moving in the labyrinth."

The shrew forced a smile. This chatting was even worse than a shrew 'debate'. "Good to meet you, Pekepeke. Which way first?"

Dantin was still unsure about the whole deal, but he also didn't want to be left alone in the dark.  Timidly he stepped forward, letting himself be seen.  He shifted his weight from one paw to the other nervously and looked about, not meeting anybeast's eyes; he really wasn't sure how to carry himself around others.  Even so, he was, reluctantly, more or less prepared to follow along.

Pekepeke practically bounced through the air with excitement. Finally, something interesting was happening in the labyrinth; other than trailing Waiata through the dark passages.

Ara waited until everyone was looking elsewhere before he checked his map. Although he was only worried about Algirdas seeing it, the others might tell him.

"Right then," Chycer said after concealing the map, "let us resume! I do believe the route to take is.....this one!"
With that Chycer flourished grandly with his paw and strode down an intersecting passageway, ignoring the doors on the sides. "The others will follow," he thought, "This is their only escape, and the bats will surely explore; they'll even help navigate this place."

OOC: Chycer isn't worried about Torunis knowing he has the map, but rather that he know where it is.

Waiata touched a wing to Dantin's shoulder on the way past, giving him a reassuring smile as she flew backwards a few metres, waiting for Pekepeke to catch up.
Waiata gave her sister an enthusiastic grin, then sped up so she was flying just behind Chycer.
"Do you have specific destination in mind or are you just generally exploring, exploring?"

Ara glanced behind his shoulder before replying, "I'd love to learn every bally thing about this maze if I could, but I-- and Algirdas, if you ask him-- do have a goal. Blasted if I told you just now, but that's the way things are."

Ara turned a corner, and noticed a doorway at the far end of the corridor. He strode to it, analysing it as he approached.

OOC:The doorway is right in front of the PCs, not in the walls.

The shrew followed Ara, noticing that he didn't even look at some smaller passages that he passed. Walking quickly, she managed to catch up with him just as he reached the door. From a distance, it looked ordinary - plain and wooden - yet as she got close she saw, although she couldn't see much when Ara was in the way, that it had strange runes on, unlike any she had seen before. Ara studied it for a while, giving time for the others to catch up.

Studying the runes have no results. Algirdas turned to his erstwhile rival turned colleague. "I trust you too are stumped, are you not?"

Waiata hung upside down in front of the door, studying the runes casually while she listened to the other beasts and waited for everyone to catch up. There was no point in reading them out more than once.

Ara was startled out of his concentration when Torunis spoke. Glancing at the squirrel, he chuckled and replied, "Perhaps, but I have solved puzzles before."
After scrutinizing the door and it's runes for a moment, Ara realized: there was a nearly indiscernible seam in the middle of the door, circling two runes. He pressed it, heard a faint click, and stepped back. The door opened slightly toward them. Ara opened the door fully and whispered to Algirdas, "This first was hardly a puzzle. In lieu of puzzles, what will they have in store for us, eh?" Aloud, he said to the others, "Walk along the sides of the hall until I say otherwise. Obviously, Waiata and Pekpep--- her sister, will not have to worry about this, but all the same."  With that, Ara  stepped through the doorway and held to the right of the passageway ahead.

Dantin followed cautiously at the tail end of the group, melting into the surrounding darkness.  Like every other beast, he noticed the runes on the door as he passed through it, but as they had no meaning to him, he ignored them.  Listening to the hare leader, he assumed the hare had more experience than himself in places such as this and so followed along, hugging the right side of the passageway.  He thought about trying to strike up a conversation with some beast, but his nerves got the better of him and instead he huddled deeper into his cloak, trying to literally disappear.

Pekepeke jumped in alarm as the door opened, then followed the others eagerly. She didn't mind that the hare couldn't remember her name; she couldn't remember his. She flew just behind Waiata, whispering to her sister. "What did the runes say, runes say?"

Waiata was surprised by Pekepeke's startled reaction, having to remind herself that her younger sister hadn't spent as much time roaming the mysterious halls and corridors of the labyrinth as she had, much to their parents' relief.
"Just some instructions on how to open the door, the door. Apparently, the long eared one didn't need them, need them."
Waiata fell into wing beat with Pekepeke, giving her a reassuring grin to let her know that she would keep an eye on her.

OOC: A little bit of powerplaying here to move things along.
BIC:
Ara checked behind him to see the shrew and Brink enter the doorway and step to the sides. After a few paces Ara noticed his footstep changed tone, to a deeper pitch. He let the party go forward several paces more before telling them it was safe to walk in the middle of the hall. Ara peered down the hall.
"Well, Waiata," Chycer spoke, gesturing to the end of the hallway, "do you know what is beyond that corner?"

Waiata hung onto the stone ceiling, studying the corner the hare had indicated, recalling the runes on the door and what they'd said.
"No, no. I wouldn't be surprised if it was some sort of trap but I could go take a look, a look. The ability to fly can be handy sometimes, sometimes."

Chycer nodded. "We will follow you closely. Wanderer, Brink. Stay close, chaps. Algirdas, stay up with me. Dantin, stay close behind us with Peke, er, Pekepeke."
With that Ara followed the bat down the hallway, glancing at the walls. There was a suspicious lack of runes marking the walls...and then the floor gave way.

OOC:Chycer and Algirdas fell in; they're up in front.

Waiata gave a echoing call of distress and launched down the hole after the two creatures, ready to put the breaks on at a moment's notice, or less.
She could see the rough stones clearly and winced in sympathy. If the creatures were still alive, which was only a possibility, they would definitely have injury, probably serious.
The bat shrugged the matter aside. Right now, the important thing was to find them. She silently thanked the seasons for Pekepeke. The younger pekapeka was excitable but she had a good head on her small shoulders and Waiata knew she'd keep a watchful eye on the others.

Fortunately For Chycer and Torunis, the wooden stakes they fell upon were horribly rotten, and crumbled underneath their fall. He rose and dusted himself off, and gazed at the floor, now twice his height, above him. "We're safe... mostly. Shocked at the most. We will need some help getting up though, ha!" Looking at the pit once more, Ara called up to the others.
"There's a way to disarm this, probably on the other side. Give us a moment, eh?"

The shrew winced as the floor gave way beneath Chycer and Algirdas. She inches forward carefully, aware that there might be more traps, although partially reassured by the fact that they hadn't triggered any until the pit. Testing the floor with her paw before stepping, she reached the edge of the pit and looked down, judging the depth. It was twice the height of the hare, and compared to herself, staggeringly large.
"Anybody got a rope?" Her voice echoed as she called to the creatures behind her.

Pekepeke nodded and moved forward. "It is strong enough for them, for them." she said, giving a long, plaited rope to the shrew. "Don't go too close the edge, the edge, or you might fall in, fall in." she cautioned the others.

Waiata gave Pekepeke a surprised look. The rope weighed twice as much as the little bat and looked fairly new.
"Where did you get that from, that from?"
Gesturing over the gap, Waiata grinned at her sister, flying from her perch on the ceiling to hover over the pit.
"Should we go find the disarm lever thing, lever thing?"
Not waiting for a reply, Waiata flew through the corridor, studying the blank walls for anything out of the ordinary that might indicate what she was looking for. Finally, she spotted some runes and paused to read them, committing them to memory so she could tell the others and looking at the opposite wall. It was blank so she kept going, aware of the sound of her sister's wings as the smaller bat tried to keep up.
Waiata rounded a corner and found a convenient perch to wait for her sister, looking down at the heavy, steel lever close to the ground. She'd need her sister's help to put it to use anyway.

The shrew lowered the rope, hoping she wouldn't set off any more traps.
"You two, grab hold of the rope. I can't pull them up on my own, especially not that hare."

Dantin was shocked when the floor gave way ahead of him and two members of their group fell.  Luckily they seemed to be ok, but it made him wonder: what kind of place was this?  He'd never seen or heard of traps such as this; who would take the time to build a structure like this, and why?  Pushing unnecessary thoughts from his head, he quickly moved forward and grabbed the rope.

"O- ok, I've got it!"  He said as he dug his paws in and braced himself, preparing for the trapped creatures to take hold.

Brink glanced nervously around him. How many of us are going to get out of here alive? he wondered. Setting down his club, he spat on his paws and rubbed them together, then he took a step forward and clasped the rope with Dantin. 

"Alright!" He called down to the creatures in the pit. "Grab it, mates! We need to get out of this place afore anything else happens!"

Algirdas never liked falling. After all, isn't falling for idiots, and idiots only? Curse this moment of stupidity! At least Chycer had fallen down with him, it seemed.

Staring at each other for about five seconds isn't even to solve a problem, the squirrel supposed. "Can anyone get us out of here?"

Chycer smiled at Torunis. "The bally rope is right there, o'course! Let's not keep 'em waiting, eh?"
At the end of this remark Ara grabbed the cord and started to pull himself up. "The beasts on up had better not let go", he thought, almost chuckling.

Pekepeke reached her sister and landed beside her. Her eyes widened at the sight of the lever. "Do we have to move that, move that?" she asked apprehensively. "It appears very heavy, very heavy."

Waiata nodded and sat ready beside her sister.
"Yes, we need to move it, move it, though perhaps it would be better to wait till the long eared and the bush tailed are out first, out first."
Calling back down the corridor, Waiata voiced her thoughts to the rest of the group.
"Tell me when everybeast is out of the hole, the hole. Then we'll disarm the trap, the trap."

Ara reached the ledge and climbed out of the pit. "Thanks, m'chaps," he said to the Wanderer, Brink, and Dantin. Turning to Torunis, he reached down and offered his paw.

Taking Chycer's paw reluctantly, Algirdas hoisted himself up. Being immediately taken out by a trap was not one of his best moments.

"So... what now?"

Chycer nodded. "Fair enough question, chap. Waiata!" He called over to the bat, "we're all out of the trap. D'ye have a way around this little predicament of ours?"
He made one last check, making sure nobeast was near the pit.

Waiata heard the call and heaved on the lever, beating her wings to add extra force to her thrust. Beside her, she felt Pekepeke doing the same. Slowly, the lever moved, the metal making a horrible, shrieking sound that set the hairs on the back of her neck up straight. Waiata heaved again and heard a clunk as the lever locked into its new place.
"Ok, we've done thing with the lever, lever. What happens now, happens now?"

Ara heard weights begin to move, and watched as the few intact spikes pivoted downward and locked into place on the floor. Lastly, the trapdoors hinged back up to meet the rest of the passageway floor. One last weight moved, and Ara heard a lock slide into position. Gingerly, he tested the floor with his footpaw. Slowly,he moved to the middle of the deactivated trap, smiling at the rest of the group when he reached the centre. "C'mon, mates! The show isn't over yet!" Passing by Waiata and Pekepeke, he said, "Thanks, chappesses! Couldn't have done it without you." Ara sauntered down the path, turned a corner to the left, and checked his map. "Yes, we're on the right way," he thought, checking the walls. "The mapmarks are obvious now." Chycer hid his map and continued down the hall.

OOC: we'll be walking for a while. Feel free to have your characters talk to one another, and even take corners down the hallway. Just make sure you say which direction though.

Dantin dug his footpaws into the ground and held on tightly to the rope as Ara and Algirdas climbed up.  He was stronger than he looked, but he was still more built for cardio based endeavors rather than strength based ones.  He relaxed his clenched jaws with a sigh as the two found their way back onto solid stone, and pulled up the rope before the trap door was able to shut on it.  Pekepeke had pulled it out from somewhere, but it looked much too heavy for the bat to carry on her own, and so Dantin decided to do so in her stead.  He lifted part of his cloak and hung the rope underneath it, over one shoulder, and across his chest.  As he did so, he thought the hilts of a few of the daggers he had hidden at his back may have become visible, but he'd done the action quickly enough that he didn't think anybeast had noticed.  As the group moved down the passageway, he noted the strange symbols on the walls and, even more so, noted how intently Ara seemed to look at them.  Dantin quietly made his way up to where the hare was walking and forced himself to speak. 

"D- do you know where we're going... sir?"

Ara started at Dantin's remark. "My, that beast is quiet!" Aloud Ara replied, "O'course, m'chap! Never did undertake anything I couldn't get through. Good show, there, with the rope. You're stronger than I would've made ye out t'be. Anyways, let's keep going."
Ara checked the floor for trapdoors, and satisfied that there were none, continued down the passageway.

Ara started at Dantin's remark. "My, that beast is quiet!" Aloud Ara replied, "O'course, m'chap! Never did undertake anything I couldn't get through. Good show, there, with the rope. You're stronger than I would've made ye out t'be. Anyways, let's keep going."
Ara checked the floor for trapdoors, and satisfied that there were none, continued down the passageway.

OOC: Sorry for the double post. Let's keep going.

"Ah, o- ok...."  Dantin nodded timidly and fell back to his position at the tail of the group.  He would have preferred to question the hare further, but his nerves had given out, causing his retreat.  Talking to other beasts was indeed a rather nerve-racking endeavor. 

Dantin tilted his head in thought; the way Ara had only given him the very specific answer to his question without elaboration before quickly changing the subject had come across as somewhat suspicious.  It seemed to the mouse that their 'leader' had information that, for whatever reason, he did not want the rest of the group to be aware of.  He shrugged to himself, not feeling the need to worry overly much; as soon as he got out of this so called Labyrinth, he likely wouldn't ever see the hare again. 

Thinking about that, he glanced up at Waiata as she chatted away with Pekepeke.  If an exit was found, would those two even want to leave?  This was their home, after all.  He rather liked the pair and felt that, given enough time, he might eventually be able to get along with them.  He dared not even think to use the word 'friend' though, as that seemed some far off fairy tale thing liable to vanish as a wispy strand of smoke on the breeze.  If the two stayed down here, however, whatever bond he might be able to form with them would be gone.  Feeling his mood dip, he shook his head and glanced at the others in the party.  He didn't really know what to think of them; they seemed a taciturn bunch.

If nobeast is going to say anything..., I will. Algirdas thought, annoyed at the silence. Silence was golden, yes, but in an underground maze it just seemed creepy.

The squirrel turned to the /otter/ mouse. "First time exploring, huh?

Brink glanced over to the mouse, eager to hear his answer. It would be handy to know which beasts here had experience or not...
"Yes. Do tell."

OOC:

@MathLuk  @Sebias of Redwall

Come on you two, there is no otter -_-

OOC: I have edited my post. Sorry for the confusion.

OOC:  You're good  ^-^

BIC:

Dantin nearly jumped from fright as the grey squirrel turned and began conversing with him, doubly so when the large hedgehog showed interest as well.  He wasn't sure what had suddenly made him the center of attention, but he knew that he had to say something.  With effort, he forced out a reply, glancing between the two nervously. 

"Um... w-well, depends on what you define as exploring, I suppose.  I've, uh, I've always wandered about on my own, but I'm not used to being... enclosed, like this.  I think I much prefer the... the open air with the sky above.  Personally." 

He shrank into his cloak, feeling somewhat silly over talking about himself, before continuing. 

"W-what about you two?  You both seem, uh, seem rather calm."

OOC: Oops. To tell you the truth, I was a little confused about that too. :-P

BIC:

Brink twitched his nose in amusement. "Well I don't know 'bout being calm. I'm just pretty good at appearances. You have to be in my line of work."
The hedgehog looked around, the humor in his face fading.
"I don't think anybeast in the right mind would be completely comfortable in here - maybe aside from those two bats. They live here after all. Too dark and gloomy for my taste." He shrugged. "I'm only here for the treasure. What about you?"

"Treasure does seem nice." Algirdas smirked. "But I'm here for studying what's in here. No more, no less." The squirrel winked. "Oh, and perhaps to prove to Chycer that there is more to ruins than treasure."

"Though I'd prefer ruins without traps in. Treasure's nice enough, but there's no point dying in an attempt to get some treasure that might not even be real. I've been in every corner of Mossflower, and further afield too, but until Ara approached me I'd never heard of any treasure in a labyrinth." The shrew paused, hoping the hare hadn't heard. Even voicing her displeasure could be taken as mutiny or worse, although arguing was simply the trademark characteristic of a shrew. But the hare didn't strike her as someone to cross. He had, after all, orchestrated this expedition, and was certainly perilous, even for a hare. And he had been right about the labyrinth, after all. The shrew shrugged, although she doubted the others could see. "Well, we'll just have to see, I suppose."

The appeal of treasure was lost on Dantin; what was the use of it?  To him it seemed ridiculous to put oneself in danger over something like that.  He did understand where Algirdas was coming from though, to a degree, and looked at the squirrel in a new light.  The drive to explore simply for the sake of exploring, to be able to see things few others had: it was something that he could appreciate.  Still...

"I just... I just hope we're able to leave soon."

As the group walked, the path turned sharply to the left.  There were more symbols on the walls here, but once again Dantin couldn't make them out.  It really made him curious, despite himself.  Who had made this place, and who had left these symbols?  Where they the same person?  Why build something like this in the first place, and what kind of 'treasure' could possibly be waiting at the end?  It all seemed rather confusing, and somewhat absurd.  He just wished that he were back on the surface once more, able to feel the warmth of the sun and the wind in his fur.  He hugged his cloak closer to himself, a sudden chill running through his body.

Waiata studied the walls, reading the words and committing them to memory with practiced ease as she listened to the other beasts' conversation. She decided that, out of all of them, Dantin and Algirdas were the ones she could relate to the most. She had no interest in treasure and enjoyed being alone with her thoughts, and loved exploring.

Seeing some relevant instructions on the walls, Waiata addressed the group at large.
"We need to turn left, turn left." she told them before leading the way down a branching tunnel, grinning back at Pekepeke as she slowed to let her little sister catch up.
"What do you think of our new friends, new friends?"

Pekepeke gave a hop-skip to reach her sister and frowned. "I'm not entirely sure, really, really. Dan..Dantin seems very timid, timid. I don't think he likes company very much, very much. The one with long ears doesn't seem all too friendly either, either. He makes me a little nervous, actually, actually." She fell silent, thinking over her own words.

Waiata nodded, her own thoughts running along similar lines to her sister's as she put a protective wing around the younger bat.
"I know what you mean. I don't think he's a threat to us but he seems to be hiding something, and in doing so he comes off as slightly... abrupt, abrupt." Waiata paused, then added a small defense in the longeared one's favour. "Then again, he is in charge of keeping everyone safe in here and it's not an easy task. Leadership can be a very heavy burden, burden."
Waiata looked back, waiting for the land bound creatures to catch up.
"They're taking a while. I hope they followed us, followed us."

As the group caught up to the bats, Dantin became curious as to how the two sisters knew what what the symbols meant; the patterns seemed utterly foreign to him.  It likely had something to do with the fact that they called this place home, but if their writing was of a different language, why wasn't their speech?  The number of questions in his mind kept growing and he would have liked to talk to them about it, among other things, but couldn't find a good time to do so.  With the way they zipped about, he would have to call out to them to get them to come over, and there was no way he was going to do that.  He disliked attention, and doing such a thing would only draw it towards him.  He settled himself with walking at the back of the group, occasionally looking over his shoulder into the inky blackness.  He kept feeling like something was gazing upon him, but it was likely nothing.  He knew the mind could do strange things when on edge.

Waiata smiled at her little sister, her sharp ears picking up the sounds of the group approaching.
"Looks like we're on the move again. I'll just go back to make sure everybeast is here, is here. You can start now, if you want. I'll catch up, catch up."
Waiata let go of her perch and flew back down the tunnel, making a quick headcount of the explorers as she went. She stopped at Dantin, who was at the back of the line. The mouse seemed lost in his thoughts as he walked with a curious expression on his face.
Waiata flew behind him, content to let him have his thoughts and think over the runes she'd seen. This area of the labyrinth wasn't familiar to her and the messages on the walls weren't exactly friendly. It wasn't a problem to her so much. Most of the messages were cautioning 'ground crawlers' and she wasn't one of them. Strangely though, this fact didn't bring her much comfort. Her friends were certainly in danger and Waiata didn't like it any better than they seemed to.
"At least we're together, together."

Dantin had been aware of Waiata's presence behind him; though soft, her wing beats were a bit of a give away.  An internal debate had been raging about whether he should try and make conversation or not, when he heard her say something he couldn't quite make out.  He inadvertently slowed down his pace as he turned his head and looked to the friendly bat.

"I-I'm sorry, what was that?  My, uh... my mind was somewhere else."

Waiata shook her head to clear it and smiled at the mouse.
"Don't worry about it, about it; I was just talking to myself, myself. What do you think of the labyrinth, labyrinth? Do you find it slightly disconcerting or absolutely terrifying, terrifying?"

Chycer undid another puzzle door, and tested the ground beyond. Bracing himself,  he leaned his weight between his footpaw and the wall. Feeling the floor shift, he tested the middle of the corridor, finding it solid.
"Stick tah the middle, chaps!" He called back, and over the muted conversations of the party.

Dantin was about to reply to Waiata when Chycer called back.  Making sure to stay to the middle as the group moved forward, he said, "Ah, um... both, I suppose?  I've wandered forests, valleys, trails, meadows, and a few mountains, but I've always been under the open sky.  Being enclosed like this is... well, I don't much care for it honestly."

He shook his head, trying not to think about where he was or how far underground he might be, but then realized that what he'd just said made it sound like he was talking poorly of Waiata's home.  He continued hastily, "Not that there's anything, uh... anything wrong with this place, of course.  It just doesn't... doesn't suit me, I suppose."

He looked over at the bat, trying to tell whether he'd upset her or not, as he continued.  "So... how did your folks end up here?  Where they also born here?"

Algirdas wanted to question Chycer's decision. The hare had been wrong before. But this was his group, and others trusted his wisdom.

"The middle. Good." Algirdas wanted to blot our Chycer from his mind for the rest of his life, but survival was clearly more important.

Waiata smiled at Dantin's apologetic rephrase, shrugging the matter off as unimportant.
"Don't worry, I understand that not everybeast is comfortable underground, underground. There's a reason I didn't ask if you found it relaxing, relaxing. My family have been in the labyrinth for many generations and probably know it better than anybeast, anybeast. The story is that an old dragon accidentally destroyed my great, great, great grandfather's cave and, when he found himself face to face with more than a hundred indignant bats, he apologised and directed us to this place, saying that it would provide a comfortable home for us, which it did, it did. Back at the settlement we've even got gardens growing, growing. It's surprising what can be grown down here, down here."
Waiata flew under a low hanging rock and grinned.
"This place looks a lot less developed than the rest of the labyrinth, labyrinth. Keep an eye out for various different tools and such, and such."

OOC: Well, okay. Let's just... toss a dragon in the mix.

BIC:
    Chycer tested the floor again and paced forward before moving off to the side. The bat and the mouse were on speaking terms, at least. He hadn't heard a peep fron his own two employees. At least Algirdas wasn't being troublesome.

The shrew had been listening to the conversation between the two creatures. It wasn't in her nature to be talkative and friendly, but at least it might provide a distraction from the sameness of the dark, and the grey walls, torchlight casting weird shadows over them. "Fascinating tale, but nothing more. Never seen a dragon and never plan to either."

Waiata gave the shrew a smile, mentally searching for her name, then remembering that nobeast knew what it was, if she had one.
"Yeah, I'm not sure how much truth there is in the tale, the tale. If it was true, it was ages ago so chances are good the dragon isn't even alive anymore, anymore. It would be pretty cool if it was, it was."
Waiata grinned at the thought, turning to the wall in such a way that it would echo and be amplified.
"Who goes there, goes there? This is my territory and I have not given you permission to enter onto it, onto it!"

"That's a fascinating tale to be sure." Brink remarked. He had been silently following along with the group, watching and listening as his companions conversed. Life as a mercenary had taught him that everybeast was always out to get something. A creature would have to choose his friends wisely in a place like this.
"Ow!"
The hedgehog mumbled an oath as his foot suddenly banged into an object. He hopped around on one leg for a moment then glanced down.
"What... what is that?"

Waiata winced at the exclamation of pain and subsequent cursing. If there was anything that annoyed the cheerful bat, it was cursing.
"Don't swear, don't swear. It's just an old mining tool; nothing to ruffle your spikes over, spikes over. You should pick it up, it up. It could come in handy later on our journey, journey."
Waiata realised that she'd snapped at the hedgehog a little more than she'd intended to. Still, he had sworn and she wouldn't apologise to him until he apologised to her.

Ara stopped and looked back at the group, focusing on Brink and Waiata. It didn't seem like a fight would break out, but he could never be fully sure. He took a few paces down the corridor and peered round the corridor to the right before coming back to the group, hoping to discourage infighting.

Seeing Waiata's temper flare up, Algirdas sighed. "Can everyone keep a cool head for a few minutes?" Discord between partners in an adventuring party was common during Algirdas's earlier days, and the squirrel supposed it still is.

After all, the last time he and Chycer worked together the exact thing happened. The hare was one of the beasts who could out-pretentious him, and tensions simmered under the surface. The little wage disagreement was the last straw.

Waiata looked apologetically at Algirdas, more than a little ashamed of herself.
"Sorry, sorry. I'll try and keep a positive attitude, attitude."
The bat bit her lip in frustration as she looked at Brink's still unrepentant features and fell back beside Pekepeke. Swearing really annoyed her.

Chycer rubbed his eyes with a paw. "Brink, me braw beastie," he said, eyeing the hedgehog, "Where've most o' the traps been? Ah figure, that anybeast comin' down the hall we could easily see. We're passing fah-- far fewer doors along these halls."
With that Ara strode down the corridor and turned the corner.

Pekepeke moved quietly to her sister's side and whispered to her. "Are you alright?" She had seen the brief clash of tempers between Waiata and Brink. She hoped her sister wasn't too upset.

Waiata grinned at her sister to show she wasn't bothered by what had just taken place between her and the big hedgehog.
"It was nothing to worry your pretty ears about, Peke, Peke. I'm fine; more annoyed at myself for letting it get under my fur, really, really."

Despite himself, Dantin had been laughing at Waiata's echoing imitation of an angry dragon when Brink had whacked his footpaw, and thus missed whatever it was the hedgehog said that had upset the bat.  He was glad that Algirdas had stepped in before the disagreement managed to go anywhere; interpersonal confrontations wasn't something Dantin really knew how to deal with.  As the group continued on, Dantin picked up the item that Brink had accidentally kicked.  It was an old, but sturdy pickaxe, somehow in decent condition.  He really wasn't sure that it would be of any use, but took Waiata's advice and decided in the end to carry it along.  He could always drop it later if need be.

The mouse moved over to bat sisters, wanting to continue his conversation from earlier.  "If, if you all have been down here long enough to form such a, uh... such a well developed community, then surely somebeast has found a way out as well... right?"

Algirdas decided that this was quite a good question. After all, should there not be a way out if there happened to be a way in?

"There must be a way out of here," said the squirrel. "But where?"

"I wouldn't know," Pekepeke huffed. "Because I'm not allowed to go anywhere." She glared at the older bat. "Well, Waiata? Is there a way out?"

Waiata sighed apologetically, though she couldn't help but smile at her sister's glare. The younger bat would be very intimidating if she was a bit bigger.
"I don't know, don't know. I'm sure there is a way out but I haven't managed to find it and my however many great grandparents weren't very good at keeping records of their history, history. I've searched for an exit but, until now, I've had to go home every morning so I never really got very far, very far."

"If there's a way in, there should be a way out." The shrew said, with optimism rare for her. "Or there might not." She added under her breath.

As the group chattered behind him, Ara found ample time to check the map and verify it with the landmarks and runes. He rounded the corner first, into a large hall, adorned with columns on the sides, engravings on the walls, and more decorative tiling on the floor, culminating with a door at the far end. "According to the map, we are alongside the hall leading to the center," Ara mused. "Why is such a grandly decorated hall right here, if it isn't the main one?" The door itself was a rich red, boasting concentric rings in its center. Ara, after some moments spent analysing, rotated the rings back and forth. Fortunately, age was on his side, and the party could clearly hear the tumblers coming loose. Ara shifted the innermost knob, until it locked into place. Looking back at the other beasts, he gave a slight smirk and pressed in.

Instead of the door opening, a mechanism on the ceiling came screeched into action, and a wall fell, sealing off their part of the corridor. Ara hardly had time to think as the ceiling, walls, and floor of the chamber fell.

The fall took long enough that Ara almost asked when they would land. He got out the words, "Well, cha--" when they hit the lower level. The ground vibrated, the sound of the impact deafening, reaching into the farthest corners of the Labyrinth, and their momentum knocked the party to the floor. Ara rose to his knees, scanning the torchlit corridor as far as he could see. Something was very, deeply, wrong.

Waiata groaned aloud and picked herself up from the floor, shaking herself thoroughly before settling back on the ceiling, looking down curiously at their new surroundings. It was too bright. Why had somebeast lit more torches? Her companions' torches had been snuffed in the fall and now they had new torches. There wasn't any point to going through that entire process if she was still being blinded by the light of fire.
Sighing, Waiata looked at her companions, most of which were still groaning on the ground.
"I didn't know there were so many traps in the labyrinth, labyrinth. I suppose whoever built this place didn't like ground huggers, huggers. At least we're still alive, right?"
Waiata smiled brightly, trying to stay positive despite the sounds she could hear and sense. This place felt dangerous. Very dangerous. Still, there was no point in making the other beasts nervous. There was always a bright side.

  Deep in the darkest recesses of the Labyrinth, the tremors from the floor falling could still be felt. Rocks and dirt fell from the ceiling, and a low rumble was heard.
  But that rumble did not stop as the collapse eventually did, for it was continued in the throat of a now-awakened creature. Its eyes opened, eyes like two droplets of blood glowing dimly in the pitch black void. The rumble subsided, and the creature listened. Though it was silent, there was no doubt: Something was in its lair.
  The creature came to its feet, its squat head nearly touching the top of the chamber. There was a crunching, grinding creak as it took a step, and the ground shook slightly under the weight. It would find this perpetrator, and it would take them.
  It had been so long since anything new had come down into the Labyrinth. . . So long. The offerings had stopped coming even longer before that. Then there were the doomed souls who were driven there by desperation or by force, but they, too, eventually stopped. And so, it had waited. For time unknown, it had waited, and slept.
  But now, the Stoneater was awake. . . and it hungered.

OOC:  PLOT TWIST  :laugh:

IC:
Groggy from the fall, Dantin carefully rose to his footpaws but stumbled heavily against the stone wall.  There was a twinge of pain in his right leg, but it didn't seem like anything was broken or sprained at least.  Steadying himself, the mouse looked about the corridor they had been dropped in to; he was grateful for the torchlight, but felt bad for Waiata as he could tell that she didn't feel much the same.  Out of habit, he felt at his back, making sure his daggers were still in place, and was about to reply to the bat when he noticed... something.  It was like a low rumbling in the back of his mind.  After a second, he realized that it wasn't in his head, it was a sound.  He froze, fear gripping him.

"Wh- what is that?"

The shrew pushed herself to her footpaws, wincing as she stepped on a particularly large stone she hadn't noticed in her shock. She'd known there'd be traps, but she hadn't expected something on this large a scale. Pitfalls and spikes, those she'd expected, but a whole room falling was beyond anything she'd seen before. Whoever had hidden this rumoured treasure really did not want anybeast to get hold of it. How they'd managed to rig it so turning those rings in that way caused the floor to fall without being too unstable she didn't know.

She was so wrapped up in her thoughts she hadn't noticed the low rumbling noise until Dantin asked his question. In a way it reminded her of the roar of a river, although it was very different. Ominous.

"No idea. Nothing good, I'd wager." She spoke softly, for a reason she couldn't explain.

"The torches are lit from oil fumes," Ara noticed. Some mechanism must have lit them when we fell. My, these Labyrinth architects were quite ingenious. Pity their traps rotted away. He believed the room would normally have slowly descended, but it had aged to the point of failure.

Ara was about to light his torch when he noticed the bats on the ceiling squinting down at the others. With a sigh he refrained. After a moment's thought and looking down one end of the corridor, Ara switched the torch to his off-paw and drew his sword.
"All right, mechaps and chappesses," he said, mustering more than his typical bravado, "Ah don't much fancy these locks and doors naow. Get to the sides, and stay there, unless Ah say so," he spoke to Brink, Wanderer, Dantin, and Torunis. Looking at the bat sisters, he added, "Ye too; just stay on the ceiling. Follow me; right then!" he finished as he strode down the hall, peering into the inkiness.
"I deserve anything coming to me now..." he thought grimly. This was on him.

Waiata followed silently, her senses taught as she stayed to the side and flew close to the ceiling, uncomfortable for more than one reason. The sounds echoing and bouncing off the walls were more than what her party were making and much more menacing. The walls were mostly devoid of runes and the few warnings shown were very dire, and vague. It also appeared that there had been more, but it had been brushed away, leaving faint traces and shapes that served in making the young bat even more nervous.
Waiata checked her sister was behind her and close enough that anything trying to harm her would first have to go through the larger pekapeka. Nothing would hurt Pekepeke while Waiata was alive to prevent it.
She touched the hilt of her small dagger, reassuring herself that she was armed. She'd never felt the need to use the small knife until now, but she was grateful she had it. Pekepeke wasn't the only beast that would potentially need her protection.

Brink followed Ara in silence. His initial reaction to deep, forbidding rumbling was to grip his club handle. He gulped slowly. Blood's Gates! I wonder what that was. He glanced at Ara.

"Hey, Boss," he whispered, "Any idea where we are, or how much closer we are to our destination?"

Ara kept his voice low. "...I thought our destination was up there. Mah only  plan now is to get out. But something doesn't seem right. Stay off to the sides now; wouldn't want ya tah get hurt." He waited for the hedgehog to move to the walls so he could check his map. "I doubt it'll help much, but it's at least some idea of direction." he thought.

"Oh. Aye." The hedgehog shot a glance at the others. "So, uh," he continued in the same, low tone, "about our... new companions. Do you think they'll be a liability? What do you plan to do with 'em once we get to the end of our search?" This question had been bothering Brink for a while.

Chycer gave a slight chuckle. "I'm rather sure the bats have seen more of the labyrinth than they ever wanted to. I plan to get them back home. Their family must be worried by now. As for Dantin and Algirdas," he whispered, glancing back at the two, "I doon't know. I might have them come with us. Torunis is not the same squirrel as when he left, and Dantin might want a group he can trust." Ara shrugged. "It's their choice, really."

Algirdas should not be so surprised by random traps, but he always managed to land his footpaws into every single one of them. Every single time...

"If all of you could be so kind to not whisper, the world would be a better place." The squirrel moaned at Chycer, who was still deep in conversation with a hedgehog whose name was yet unknown to him. "Now, should we proceed?"

OOC: I figured we were still walking forward.

The hedgehog shrugged at the squirrel, and grinned. "Well, some things are best not spoken aloud. But fine, whatever floats your boat, mate." He winked.

His eyes caught sight of an object fixed against the tunnel wall. Whatever it was, it looked like it had been there for a long time. "Say... What's that?" Brink took a few steps closer to it, reaching out slowly with his paw. "It kinda looks like... like metal slab or somethin'."

  Stoneater could smell them now. Its eyes flickered slightly, but did not blink. The caves and tunnels turned and split, but it knew every path. All it needed was the direction of the scent.
  It let out another earth-shaking grumble, turning down one path with intense purpose.

The sudden rumbling underpaw caused Brink to freeze. His stomach felt like a cold stone had been dropped into it. "T-that didn't sound louder to you all, did it?" he stammered.

Ara would have halted the party, but they weren't moving forward anymore. "Waiata," he said, keeping his voice just loud enough to reach the bat, "Go back the other way, ahead of the rest of us. Tell me if you come across anything out of the ordinary. Pekepeke, stay in between her and us. You four," he addressed the others, "Follow the bats. I'll be keeping watch this way."
With that, Chycer lit his torch from the oil lamps and held back, waiting for the otherbeasts to leave before he did.

Waiata flew in the direction she'd been directed, her senses alert and her wings quiet as she flew on, careful to keep herself under control. Better to fly steadily and quietly that to whizz about stirring the dust, or whatever else there was to stir.
Judging she was a sufficient distance from the rest of the party, she slowed to their pace, maintaining the gap as she scanned the walls, floor, ceiling and darkness ahead of her. The walls were covered in scratches, as if something had brushed past with sharp edges, and the runes were mostly obliterated, enough remaining to prove their previous existence but too worn to read. The floor and ceiling had the same scratched wear and tear and, up ahead, it was all basically the same.
At least I'm not being blinded anymore. Waiata thought, forcing a smile as she moved her ears backwards and forwards, constantly searching for further sign of danger. She knew Pekepeke would be doing the same and the older bat was glad her sister had been placed behind her.
Out of harm's way. She thought, then had to correct herself. Well, out of immediate harm's way. Anything that could hurt Pekepeke could probably deal with me quite efficiently.
Waiata touched the hilt of her dagger, reassuring herself. I'm armed and ready for anything.

Dantin didn't like that the two bat sisters were being put up front and in danger.  He understood the reasoning behind it, as they were quick and would have the easiest time escaping from anything that might be ahead.  Even so, he didn't like it.  Pawing at one of his daggers nervously, he unconsciously moved ahead of the group and kept close to Pekepeke, making sure to stick to the sides of the passage.  Whatever they ran into, he wanted to be in a position where he could do... well, he wasn't sure what he actually could do, but he wanted to be able to do something, at least.  It grew darker and darker as they moved down the corridor, and the mouse wrapped his cloak about himself and blended with the darkness, trying to move as silently as he could.  This happened to be one of the few things he was good at, after all.

Chycer turned back to watch the other beasts move down the hallway, giving them as much room as he could before leaving himself. Whatever it was that caused all this noise was better left alone. Now that the other beasts were sufficiently far away, Ara calmly stepped back, keeping his eyes on the darkened hallway in front of him. Realizing a missing piece of his plan, Chycer dared raising his voice and called back, "Torunis; test for traps ahead of the others. Brink; If he falls into any pits, get him --" Chycer stopped when he noticed a soft thudding amidst the rumbling. "Get him out, Brink."
Ara felt his heart pounding and his paws shivering as he slowly retreated down the hall.

  Pekepeke flew beside Waiata, jerking in fright whenever a new rumble shook the air. She tried to speak, found she couldn't and swallowed hard. Whatever it was making the noise, it was big and angry.
  "Wh-what do you think it is, it is?" she asked in a whisper, her voice trembling.

Waiata gave Pekepeke a reassuring squeeze, heard another loud rumble and shoved her behind, out of the way of danger.
"I don't know, don't know. I can't even tell where it's coming from, coming from. Stay behind me, behind me."
Waiata winced as she felt another deep growl, touching the hilt of her knife.
"Keep a lookout for traps, for traps. We don't want the other beasts to fall into any pits in the midst of this."

Every sound the shrew heard, whether it was a falling rock or just the footsteps of her companions set her teeth on edge. The rumbles were getting louder and closer, as well as more common. Even the bow in her hands did nothing to reassure her, as the rumbles seemed to suggest it was something big, angry, and not a beast she'd come across, from what she could tell. She wished they could move quicker, but the lighting from the torches was poor at best, and the possibility of traps too high for that to be safe, although there probably wasn't much 'safe' around here. Best stick to above ground in future, she thought to herself. If there was a future. For possibly the first time in her life, the shrew who some knew as The Wanderer, was actually feeling some fear.

Waiata tensed as she heard and felt another rumble, its sinister echoes bouncing of the labyrinth walls. This was not what she was used to. It felt like a completely different place to where she'd lived all her life. Her home had been dark and comforting, its walls telling a beast where she was, if she didn't know already, which was a rare occasion. This place was very different. The darkness seemed to be a physical force, no less clear and still easier to see by than if there was daylight but somehow holding a sense of foreboding. The walls were blank, bare of any runes or markings, and the noises... they need further description. The very fact that there was noise was unusual. Home was silent, apart from the occasional wing beat and the gentle, soothing hum of quiet discussion.
Waiata shuddered as another rumble shook the air. This adventure was not as fun as she'd thought it would be.

  As the Intruders continued down the tunnel, Stoneater found them at last. As it heard their footsteps and their hushed voices, it let out another vocalization, much different than any it had made before. This sound was a long, grinding hum, ending in a loud, hollow exhalation of air and something akin to the cracking of a tree as it fell down in a violent storm.
  Stoneater climbed through a tunnel that ran perpendicular to the explorers', into the dim light. It did not matter; it could see them in the dark if it needed to. But they could see it.
  The creature would have towered over the tallest badger, broad shoulders like the peak of a mountain broken off and set on its body. A squat head sat low on the shoulders, red eyes glowing with a hunger from generations of starvation and set above a dark opening that was its mouth, slightly agape to expose a set of black teeth, sparkling like splinters of obsidian.
  The ground trembled as it took a step with its giant feet, moving the bulk of its body with unkept strength. The skin, or scales, that covered Stoneater's body was shown in what light their was,  an unbroken layer of plates and angles and bulges as if it had been fashioned from the very guts of the earth itself.
  A mighty arm stretched out toward the travellers, and Stoneater came at them.

As the gargantuan...thing... emerged from the darkness, Ara felt his resolve evaporate. Nothing could stop this creature; it was a veritable force of nature. Ara's voice rose to a shriek as he shouted
"RUUNN!!!"
  He turned toward the rest of the group and took a few steps, before, spinning around and flinging his torch at the thing's face. Light or darkness, trap or door, hallway or room; nothing mattered now. They had to escape.

The shrew's feet seemed almost glued to the floor in fear, but somehow she managed to turn and run. Where, it didn't matter. Away from the ginormous beast, with scales of a material impossible to recognise in the dim light but nonetheless clearly strong enough to withstand any weapon the group had, and the blood-red eyes that looked like a dancing flame. The ground was shaking, though it was hard to tell how much of the shaking was from her own fear and how much was caused by the steps of the monster. Any cautiousness to avoid possible traps was gone now as she sprinted down the corridor of rumbling stone. She had no idea whether the other beasts were safe or not, and their shouts couldn't even be heard over the pounding steps of the monster and the crashes as rock broke from the roof, coming down hard onto the floor. Her only thought was for escape.

Waiata froze for half a second as she heard the creature break through behind the group, then she came to life again, her heart pounding as she made sure she was between her sister and the monster and they joined every other beast in the group to retreat with as much haste as possible. No attempt at stealth or caution was made as the group charged heedlessly on.

  With a roar, Stoneater charged them as they ran away. It reached out and tried to catch the straggler, barely missing them by a fraction of an inch. This caused it to stumble slightly, giving its prey a chance to gain ground, but it was quickly after them again.

  Pekepeke was more terrified than she had ever been in her entire life. This...thingwas far worse than anything she had ever imagined could live in the network of caves and tunnels around her home. She gave an almost silent squeak of fear as she felt Waiata push her ahead, then she flew. Her wings were a blur as she sped down the tunnel and overtook the rest of the group, not knowing or caring where she was going.   

Bounding down the hall, Ara pushed forward anyone who started to slow. The beast rumbled after them, getting louder, every step sounding like a death knell. Dantin and Pekepeke were just ahead of him.
"Weel," he thought wildly, " at least we're moving."

It was strange, Dantin was afraid, but instead of panicking he'd entered into some sort of cold calmness.  Time seemed to be moving at the correct speed, but everything felt... slow.  The mouse was hyper aware of all the sounds and sights around him as he ran: the frantic wing beats above him, the desperate footsteps behind him, and the ever present rumbling of whatever that creature was giving chase.  The tunnel stretched into the dark distance in ahead of him, and he felt as if he could see every minute detail of the rocky passage, every crack and scratch in the walls.  He realized, there were indeed scratches along the tunnels, as if countless claw marks had been left by some horrible creature, and he was sure that same creature now followed them.  As they ran, his hyper aware senses noticed a deep shadow in the side of the tunnel, not to far away from where they were running.  It looked to be some sort of small entrance, and based on the size he figured that it would be just big enough for them to enter without that creature being able to follow.

"To the left, ahead!"  He called out, pointing at the pathway.

Waiata looked up as Dantin called out, her sharp eyes picking out the narrow entrance. She sped up and flew alongside Pekepeke, gesturing to the dark gap in the stone wall. Not waiting to see if Pekepeke had got her message, she grabbed the younger bat's paw and pulled her into the crevice, not slowing her pace till they were well into what she could now see was a narrow tunnel. There needed to be enough room for every other beast to get in.

  Pekepeke was too scared to feel any pain when Waiata dragged her into the tunnel. She looked back briefly and was relived to see how small the passage entrance was. From what she had seen of the monster chasing them, it would not be able to fit through.

Seeing that the friendly bats had found the entrance, he dashed into the passage right after them, his heart pounding in his chest.

"In here!"  He called to the rest behind him, trying to make sure that they would follow.

Waiata finally let go of her sister, finding a perch on the ceiling, breath hard as she struggled to control her racing heartbeat. She'd barely caught a glimpse of the monstrous creature but she'd definitely gotten enough to haunt her nightmares. She did a combination of a yawn and a shudder at the thought. They'd been on the move for at least three days with barely a pause and it had been late afternoon when she'd come across the beasts in the first place. The entire group needed rest, especially after that escapade.

Breathing heavily, the shrew followed Dantin into the small tunnel. She was exhausted from all that running, but still wanted to get as far in as possible. The monster might not need food, given it would have been in the tunnel for countless seasons, and she doubted there were plants, but they certainly would. They might be safe from it in the tunnel, but their supplies of food would eventually run out.

  Stoneater saw them disappear into a tunnel in the wall, and it grabbed at the last creature to step through. The monster reached its arm in as far as it would go, feeling around for the soft flesh of the topdwellers with a frustrated moan.

Brink and Algirdas were pushed several feet forward and onto the ground of the "room" by Ara. Grabbing them by the paws, he dragged them out of the beast's reach. Looking around the dark crevice, he half-smiled and said "That bally creature must'a been blind! Can't he see I'm not bally scoff, wot?" Hesitating for a moment, he continued, in his lower, clipped tone, "Speaking of scoff, we don't have much, do we. Torunis here likely brought his own, and Brink, the Wanderer and I brought ours, but you three," he said, looking at Dantin, Wiata, and Peke, "don't have any such thing... here." With that he took off his pack and held it out to them, gazing at it longingly. "There's plenty o' vittles in there. Help yourself."

Waiata hesitated, biting her lip as she shifted uncomfortably. Now that he mentioned it, she was rather hungry but it was undoubtedly the only food he had and she'd rather go hungry herself than see other beasts under-nourished. She knew there were several types of mushrooms that grew in the labyrinth before her family arrived there, so it was likely they'd be somewhere around this place too, though finding them in this silent, blank walled maze would be another problem. Close to her home, if there was an underground stream or other water source nearby, the walls would be babbling on about water and drowning and all sorts of things to indicate such. Here it was eerily peaceful, without any dire threats or gruesome descriptions of torture techniques carved into the ancient stone.
Waiata shrugged the matter off, turning her attention back to the offered provision pack as her stomach grumbled, prompting her to accept the generous invitation. She shifted on her perch, winced as her lip biting went too far and drew breath to accept, then hesitated.
"You haven't eaten anything either."

Ara shrugged l managed a half-smile. "There isn't enough food in this Labyrinth ta feed me, dearie. Without Dantin there we wouldn't be here, and without you and your bonny sister, Algirdas and I would still be in that pit." He pushed the pack forward. "Go on; take some. I'll eat what's left, if it'll put your mind at ease."


OOC:Employee appreciation day here at the maze corp.

Waiata gave Ara a grateful smile and took the ration pack.
"Well, I you put it like that... thank you. Pekepeke and Dantin, you have something to eat first."

Having made it to a safe spot, Dantin's nerves started calming down, which had the opposite effect on his demeanor.  He lost the cold calmness that the panic had brought on and returned to his usual self.  As Ara, and then Waiata, offered him food, he shook his head and sat down with a thump, his unsteady paws giving out midway.

"N- no, that's ok.  I've, uh... got a b- bit of food on me."

He pulled a small pouch from the back of his belt, hidden under his cloak, and retrieved a dried damson from it.  He held it out to show the group, but his shaking paw was unable to properly hold the wrinkled fruit and it fell to the ground.  Dantin looked at the damson, and then at himself, only now noticing the fact that he was trembling.  Grabbing the edges of his cloak, he pulled it tightly about himself and huddled against the wall as the fear from their predicament finally set in.  There was no way he would be able to eat at the moment.

  Like the mouse, Pekepeke's stomach constricted at the thought of food; she was simply too scared to eat. But she knew that Waiata would not even taste anything until she did. In procrastination she picked up the strange shriveled ball on the ground and held it out to Dantin.
  "Excuse me, but you dropped this, dropped this."

Waiata dug in the pack and pulled out a chunk of what looked to be a type of flat bread, well hardened by time. She held it out to her sister, her eyes determined and reflecting the stubborn light of strong, filial love.
"Here, eat this, Pek."

Dantin nervously shook his head at Pekepeke.  "N- n- no, you, uh... you can have it...." 

His gut churned as he huddled inside his cloak.  Once more the walls seemed to draw closer, intent on crushing him, and the mouse closed his eyes, trying to hid his terror.  He knew he needed to calm down, but his quickly beating heart wouldn't let him.  He'd never been so close to death, able to see it literally chasing him, and his mind was having a hard time coping.

Ara clapped his paw on the mouse's shoulder and hauled him up to his feet. "Here me chap; eat. You can't outrun anything if you're dyin' o' starvation, wot?"

  Pekepeke took the bread Waita offered and held it in her teeth while she inspected the thing Dantin had given her. She removed the bread from her mouth and nibbled it cautiously. It was quite tasty, she thought, and tested the bread as well. It was also good. She pocketed the bread and continued eating the dried damson.

The shrew took some of the offered food, as well as some from her own pack, and nibbled it gratefully. All that walking and running from the monster, whatever it was, had made her hungry. The food was nowhere near as good as Redwall Abbey fare, from her experience of the time she'd visited there, or the shrewbread she'd been used to before she left the tribe, but it was far better than some of the food she'd had in her time.

  Algirdas slumped against the wall, breathing heavily. He couldn't think of eating anything; not at this time. He felt sick. "How can you all be so calm?" he snapped at the others. "We barely made it in here with the fur on our hides! That monster is still out there. Big help your map was, Chycer. Did it say anything about that. . . that thing? No, it wouldn't have. You probably got it from that crazy old man. He knew all along, and that anybeast coming down here would die." He pressed his palms into the sockets of his eyes.

OOC: Figured I might develop Algirdas since he's mine now.

OOC:Oooh, tensions flaring.

BIC:
Chycer released Dantin and turned to Algirdas. And sighed.
"Aye, that monster is still oot there. And it's mah fault we'er here. If I hadn't taken you all along on this nasty liddle venture, Waiata and Peke would be back at home right naow, Brink and the Wanderer would be free of the labyrinth, and you and Dantin here could have a chance of making it out." he glanced down the passageway, and mentally cursed. He shouldn't have admitted it. Taking blame put him one step closer to losing control of the group. He glared at Torunis and effected his typical, clipped tones.
"I haven't heard you making any suggestions, for what counts. You were quite bally content to let me lead from the front, but now that we're all at equal peril, you start to complain!" He glared down the tunnel, and finished, "If you really want to prove you're as good as I am, figure out a way to the next safe passage. There must be more-- " Ara cut himself off, still pondering their next movements.

Waiata chewed the piece of dried something methodically, observing everybeast to make sure they were all in one piece. They were all quite clearly exhausted and tempers were short. The bat shifted uncomfortably as she watched Algirdas and Chycer argue and, at the same time, noticed Dantin's discomfort. The poor mouse wasn't used to being underground and the frantic run from the monster had obviously brought it out. At the same time, she hated it when beasts argued and she wanted to smooth things out, especially since Chycer was blaming himself for the trouble they were in.
The cheerful beast sighed, nudging her sister and pointing at the young mouse, whispering in her ear.
"Can you go look after Dantin? I think he's scared."

Giving another sigh, Waiata left her perch and flitted closer to the argument, waiting for a break in the conversation before she came in.
"It's not your fault, your fault. We all came of our own free will, free will. Just because you had a better idea of where to go than most of us doesn't mean it's your fault the monster tried to eat us, eat us. Now, stop blaming each other and yourselves and have something to eat. I think we could all do with a bit of sleep too, sleep too."
Waiata shoved the pack back into Chycer's paws, giving him a pleading look. It really wouldn't do to have fights at the moment. Everybeast needed to be united and keep a level head if they were going to get out of this trouble by any route other than Dark Forest.

OOC: I'm not really sure if the bats would know about Dark Forest, having lived in the Labyrinth all their lives, but i don't know what they would call it, or even if they'd believe in any sort of afterlife, so I'll just use the term Dark Forest anyway.

  Algirdas returned Chycer's glare. *Prove it? Maybe that's what I'll do."
  Waiata was insisting that they eat and sleep, and stop arguing. The squirrel knew it was doing no good to argue, but his temper made him not care. He settled back and got as comfortable as he could, sulking as he waited for his heartbeat to slow down. There was no way he was going to be able to sleep, he thought. Eventually, however, weariness took him, and he managed to doze off into a light sleep.

Dantin shied away from the pushy hare as soon as he was released, and flinched at the raised voices.  The mouse was trying desperately to remain calm, but the yelling creatures weren't helping.  Backing away from the group, he nearly squeaked in fright as he collided with the wall behind him.  He could feel his limbs shaking, and so he sat down once more, wrapping the cloak he wore about himself.  Suddenly, all his energy seemed to fade away and he felt a cold fatigue settle over him; it felt so long since he'd last slept.  He was grateful when Waiata had calmly intervened between the angry creatures; their raised voices had grated on his weary mind.

Waiata stayed glaring at the argumentative beasts until she was certain they'd taken her advice, then she turned to Dantin, smiling sympathetically at the mouse and touching a wing to his shoulder reassuringly.
"It's alright, Dantin, Dantin. You're safe now, safe now."

  Pekepeke shook her head uncertainly. "I think none of us are safe, are safe. Aia, we must find a way back to our home, and bring these beasts with us, with us."

Waiata smiled as her little sister used her nickname, giving her a reassuring hug.
"I know, Peke, Peke. I just don't know if we can get home, get home. When we fell, there didn't seem to be any way back up, back up. I think we may be committed to completing this adventure, whatever completion may involve, involve."

OOC: I'm going to powerplay everyone for a bit. Sorry.

Ara nibbled on some died fruits, keeping a lookout while the others ate and fell asleep.

  Waking with a jerk, Chycer surveyed his surroundings, rose to his footpaws, and nudged the others, trying to bring them out of their slumber. "C'mon, come on. We need to keep going. If no one volunteers, I'll look for other rest spots myself, but we'll die down here if we don't move."

Waiata shifted, her eyes staying closed as she placed her paws over her ears to keep Chycer's call to waken away. She muttered something unintelligible and turned to the wall. It didn't help. Reluctantly, the bat let go of the rock she was holding onto and dropped to the ground, spreading her wings at the last minute and coming up again to hover in front of the hare's face, still blinking sleep away.
"What are you talking about, about?"

  Pekepeke jumped awake as her sister moved and she swooped down after her, not want to be separated by more than a few paces. Her paw crept into the other bat's and squeezed it nervously.

Waiata squeezed Pekepeke's paw in return, giving her a tired smile before turning her attention back to the group's long-eared leader.
"I don't sense any increased danger, danger. That stone monster is still out there but he can't get in, get in. Still, if it would make you feel better, we can move further down the tunnel, tunnel."
The bat gestured further into the darkness where the tunnel led away. She realised that most of the beasts probably couldn't tell that there was a tunnel. It was very dark, a fact that put her and Pekepeke at ease but most likely contributed to quite a bit of discomfort on the part of the other beasts. They had made it apparent that they weren't accustomed to being underground and didn't particularly enjoy it.
Now that she stopped to consider her surroundings, there was a quiet trickling sound, almost indistinguishable even to her ears. It could well be Waiata's imagination but a small tremor of anticipation ran up her spine. That sound meant flowing water.
"Let's head of, shall we, shall we?"

(OOC: It feels like a while since anything was posted here, so hopefully this might get it moving again. We cannot let this RP die.

OOC: I have a feeling Stoneater's going to "intercept" us.

Chycer rested his chin in his paw, glaring down the tunnel. He'd gone a little of the way into the tunnel, but hated to go in complete darkness. He faced toward the entrance and turned back to Waiata. "Back through there's the surest way to meet that monster"
He grabbed an unlit torch from Brink's pack and nodded at the bat. "If you're sure, then we'll follow. Up chaps!"

Waiata sighed as she sensed the torch but shrugged her personal feelings aside. If unnatural light made the other beasts more comfortable, she'd put up with it.
"I'm not really sure about anything right now, but we might as well get moving, moving."
The bat winged her way to the tunnel and paused just inside it, turning back to wait for everbeast else.

  Algirdas has awoken and sat staring at the opposite wall for some time, listening to Waiata and Chycer. He got to his feet, hating that he did so only after the hare had told them all to get up. It didn't seem to matter much which way they were to go, since they had no directions nor clue of where they were going. He could only hope they would find their way out. Besides, they had a better chance of surviving if they stayed together.
  A sudden thought came to Algirdas' mind, though it chilled him to know that he had thought it. They more of them there were, the less likely it would be him that the monster would eat. Perhaps, even, it would take Chycer.

OOC: Double post, I know, but this might get people to post.

BIC: Stoneater had stood still as a stone outside the crevice into which the small intruders had fled. It waited like that, a statue oozing malevolence, for the duration the group had rested. With its senses it could tell they were still in there. It could hear their breath, smell their sweat, and feel their fear. Stoneater could wait. They had nowhere to go.
  After some time, it became aware of their voices, and though it did not know the words, it could sense the intentions behind them. The slight vibrations from their movements alerted the monster that they were moving, but. . . away from it.
  It stooped low to peer into the dark hole, seeing his prey escaping into the small tunnel it had never been able to fit into, and down a path it did not know. With a bellow of rage, Stoneater smote the entrance with its mighty fist, and the stone collapsed behind them. It lurched off, hoping to hunt them down by some other path. Stoneater could wait. They had nowhere to go.

Waiata didn't need to turn around to know what had just happened behind them. The sound of cracking stone followed by the huge crash as said stone caved in and mingled with the Stoneater's heavy breathing was more than enough to make her heart beat faster. All sound of the huge monster had ceased and even Waiata's sharp hearing hadn't picked up any trace of movement outside the cave, so she'd assumed he'd gone away. Apparently not.
The bat grabbed Pekepeke and zoomed into the small tunnel, nudging the other members of the group to get going as she passed them. All thoughts not conducive to survival were banished from the young beast's mind as she flew full speed, holding onto her little sister with a strong footpaw.
As she got further away from the rest of the group, Waiata slowed her pace to wait for them. She still felt responsible for looking after the other beasts and a little bit of guilt niggled away at her for leaving them like that. Stopping, she found a perch and hung from it on one paw, listening back for her friends. No more leaving them behind.

The massive crash put a spring in the step of the others, but Chycer, in fear that the cave would collapse, lifted Dantin to his footpaws and pushed him forward. "Ah think our fates're settled naow!" he cried above the din. Fortunately, terror was a great motivator, and they reached where Waiata and Pekepeke were perched. "Why'er ye settled there!?" he shouted at the bat. "Th' only way's forward!" As he pushed the others on, Chycer's own fear began to subside when he heard running water.

Waiata gently but urgently pushed Pekepeke in front of her and flew with the rest of the group, her ears clearly picking up the sounds of water now. The blessed chuckle echoed off the tunnel walls and bounced around, calming the young bat's racing heart. Water was such a happy sound, she reflected as she sped down the tunnel, keeping pace with the other members of their group.

Pekepeke gasped in fear and beat her wings faster than she ever had before in an effort to keep up with Waiata. She has no wish to be dragged along the tunnel. Her sister pushed her ahead and she flew toward the sounds of running water.

Still half-asleep, the shrew ran after the others. Concentrating more on running than anything else, it took her a few seconds to recognise the sound of running water, familiar from her time with the tribe. Not her favourite sound ever, though it was the actual water she was afraid of. She hesitated for a moment, then continued running. What was behind them was worse than what was ahead, most likely.

Water! Brink's throat was still dry from fear, though he had drank some not too long ago from his canteen. He prayed that the water up ahead would be fit to drink. At least the monster was gone. Hopefully for good, yet a grim feeling in the hedgehog's gut doubted it. 

Running alongside Ara, Brink held his weapon at ready. If this Labyrinth had taught him anything, it was that the Labyrinth was a very unpredictable place.

Though Dantin had been roughly awakened by the crashing of stone upon stone as Chycer shoved him away from danger, the mouse felt refreshed by the sleep he'd gotten.  He was no longer shaking, and though the dark tunnel felt oppressive, it didn't freeze his heart as it had before.  He patted the hare on the shoulder awkwardly.  "Th- thanks for pulling me out of the way back there."

All of the party could clearly hear the sound of the small underground stream, and stopped accordingly, when Dantin spoke to Ara. Glancing back at the mouse, he nodded.  "You're welcome," he replied in clipped tones. "I'd hate to see anyone fall to that thing, and I shan't leave you behind."  Chycer turned his attention to his employees as he fumbled in the dark for the flint and steel to light his torch.  "Waiata and Pekepeke, I'd avert my eyes if I were you two. Brink, Wanderer, search for other exits when I get this torch lit and see if any if any of the are large enough for that monster to enter. If so, find a way to seal them off."

A small flame started as the lighting cloth caught, and the small cavern was soon filled with light, revealing a stream, small enough that it didn't reach Chycer's knees, and small cracks in the walls all around.

Pekepeke landed beside Waiata and covered her eyes with her wings. She didn't really understand the need for constant light, but the strange creatures from outside the labyrinth seemed to have exceptionally poor night vision. She shuffled closer to her sister and tried to slow her breathing and heart rate.

Waiata sighed as Chycer fiddled with the torch, turning her back on the light that filled the cavern. It was painfully bright at first but the bat's eyes got used to the discomfort and Waiata closed them, using her ears to 'see' what the surroundings were like. A shallow stream trickled through the bed it had dug for itself over countless seasons, the sound of its chuckling waters offering comfort to the bat, reminding her how dry her throat felt. The bat landed on the ground close to the stream and cupped her paws, scooping some of the clear, fresh water out and drinking, repeating the action until her thirst was abated.
"Mmm, that's nice water, nice water. It tastes very sweet, very sweet."

  Algirdas held his chest as if to hold his heart from bursting out. The sudden violent action of the Stoneater and the resulting collapse after such a long period of silence was enough to set his every hair on end, even if he were the mightiest badger to walk the earth. But as the tunnel fell back into silence aside from the movements and voices of regular creatures, the squirrel calmed down, and with the promise of water, he eagerly pushed forward to find it.
  But his excitement was short-lived, as he found himself thinking. For a time he was quiet, and kept his thoughts to himself.
  As Chycer lit the torch (to Algirdas's annoyance of the hare's apparent resourcefulness), he decided to explore the surroundings. The flickering light revealed little, and cast shadows all around. Amid the twisted silhouettes of the others in the company, he saw small cracks in the walls, and places where the light could not reach. He proceeded toward one such dark hole cautiously, but disappointingly, it appeared to be nothing but a concavity in the wall. That was, until, he pushed his paw into the shadow, and it went back further than he expected. Much further.
  Glancing back to see if anyone was looking, and waiting until he was unnoticed, Algirdas slipped into the dark hole to see how far back it went.

Brink nodded his head at Ara. Swinging his club to rest on his shoulder, he looked over at Wanderer. "Care to lead, friend?"

What makes you think we're friends? the shrew thought, but refrained from saying that aloud - just. Antagonising the other beasts unduly would not necessarily be a good idea, if they were forced to work together to get the rumoured treasure. But that didn't mean she'd go out of her way to be friendly. Once this was all over, she'd go back to wandering alone, the way she liked it. "You can, if you like. I don't mind either way." It came out sharper than she'd intended.

Brink raised his eyebrow. Shrews, he scoffed inwardly. Such bristly beasts. Dipping his head in a bow, he led the way to one of the walls a ways from the rest of the group. The hedgehog peered at the deep, massive cracks in the wall, moving the torch in his paw closer to inspect one. As he did, he said aloud, "So... Wanderer, eh? Any reason why you don't have a proper name?" He inwardly winced. He was a blunt beast, straight to the point, but he might've overdid it.

This time, she was unable to refrain from sarcastic comments. "What makes you think I'd share said reason, if there was one? My name is not your business, nor will it ever be. So stop interfering in it."

"Relax, friend. If you don't want to tell me, then there is no need to. However, you must remember, we must all trust each other if we wish to survive down here." Brink's eyes narrowed. "But it's hard to trust a beast when you know so little about them. Especially one who won't even give us her real name."

"And again you call me friend, when we are clearly not. Associates, at most. Perhaps you could stretch it to travelling companions, if you had to insist. But not friends." She paused, for a fleeting moment wondering whether it would be easier just to say her name and be done with it, and escape as soon as she could, but dismissed it instantly. She'd had her reasons for not telling them, however much the interfering hedgehog and the others might resent it. "Few have had the privilege of knowing me well enough to call me 'friend'."

Brink sighed and shrugged. This wasn't worth it. "Fine," he said. "Keep your secrets." He tried pushing his way through one of the cracks, to see if it would widen out into a passage, when he found that he couldn't. He was too big. Stepping back, he looked at the shrew. "Care to go first, ...Wanderer?"

If he wasn't going to continue the argument, she saw no reason to argue, or debate, further. At least not at that moment in time. "Perhaps it would be better if we waited for the others?" She phrased it as a question, though it was obviously not one.

Brink grunted. "Fine." He scratched his ear. "Might as well go back anyway. Come on." As the two creatures walked back toward the group, the hedgehog blinked a few times, glancing around. "Are we missing somebeast?"

Ara rolled his eyes as his help argued, but when Brink brought attention to somebeast missing, he frowned and marhed a circuit around the small cavern. He noticed a few large cracks in the walls, including that they could fit through. However, as Ara peered into it, he determined it was too short to lead anywhere. Marching further, he followed the stream to the tunnel it took. There were visible tool marks opening it wide enough for single-file marching, and too low for the bats to fly.
Algirdas was missing, Chycer realized. With no other route, he would have taken the stream tunnel. Turning back to the group, he asked, "Does anybeast know where Algirdas went? Dantin? Waiata? Pekepeke?"

OOC: his patrol took like twenty steps. It's a small cavern.

  "I'm right here," said Algirdas, stepping into view. He folded his arms. "What's your plan, Chycer?"

  Waiata put her paws to her ears to block the sound of the two arguing beasts. They weren't overly loud, but the cavern was small and shaped so that sound carried, plus she had typically sharp hearing. The bat gave a sigh of relief when the argument ended, smiling wryly at Pekepeke.
  "See, Pek, daylight isn't good for a beast, a beast. It makes them grumpy and irritable, irritable."
  The bat turned her attention to the rest of the group, quickly picking out who was missing and drawing breath to ask where he was. Chycer bet her to it and the bat closed her mouth, studying Algirdas' challenging posture warily, anticipating another argument between the two.
  Daylight definitely isn't good for a beast. the young bat thought with another long sigh.

"The plan is to get to the treasure room," Ara replied. "From there, we'll just have to take down that monster. After we do that, we'll be free to find an exit, and I think I know where it will be. Follow me, chaps."
So saying, Chycer turned and walked downd the tunnel, lowering his torch to keep it from the low ceiling. his frame blotted out most of the light, casting the cavern into afterglow.

  "'Take down that monster,' at you crazy?" Algirdas said with a scowl. "You saw that thing. There's not a snowflake's chance in hellsgates we can 'take it down'. If that's your plan, you're a deadbeast, and I won't have any part of it." The squirrel looked at the others. "If any of you wanna go with this mad hare, fine, but if you want to breathe free air again and live to a ripe old age, let him go off on his fool's errand alone and come with me."

Chycer sighed. "And how do you propose we leave, Torunis? Skulking around corners, waiting for it to lunge at you, and hoping for more relief caves? Your "method" is suicidal. Perhaps you would do well to learn of my plan before dismissing it as mad. Come on, follow me."

Brink readied his club and stood behind Chycer. If his employer was threatened, the hedgehog would be prepared to defend him. "Yeah, what's your brilliant plan?" he scoffed, narrowing his eyes at Algirdas.

  Pekepeke tried to return to her sister's wry smile, but it was a shaky attempt. The bat could still feel her heart pounding so hard it hurt, as if it wanted to break through her rib cage. She gripped Waiata's paw and whispered softly to her.
  "I want to go home, Waiata, Waiata. I want to see our family again."

(OOC: Sorry all my posts are so short.  :-\)

  Waiata squeezed Pekepeke's paw gently, giving her a reassuring smile.
  "I do too, Peke, peke. I'll get you home alive, alive."
  Disentangling herself from Pekepeke's grasp, the older bat gave a frustrated sigh and flew into the middle of the room, glaring at Chycer, Brink and Algirdas like a stern mother addressing her naughty children.
  "No bickering please, everybeast, everbeast. If any of us want to get out of here alive, we need to stick together, together. If that involves finding some imagined treasure first, so be it, be it. We'll need to get passed that monster somehow and the best way to ensure he doesn't sneak up on us while we're looking for the way out is to take him down, him down. So, so, enough of the fighting and let's put our heads together to think of a way out of this mess, this mess."
  Waiata studied each creature, waiting for a response and hoping fervently that it would be a positive one. The constant light, combined with the almost equally constant arguing, was beginning to wear at her patience.

Ara shook his head, more to himself than anybeast elsee. "We can think about it when we get to the treasure room. Arguing here won't do any good. Now this hall runs for a way, and I'm following it, whether or not you follow me. If you want a chance to rid ourselves of that monster and leave this trap, you'll follow."
So saying, Chycer strode down the hall.

  Waiata watched the long eared creature uncertainly for a while, not sure who to follow. Both beasts seemed sure of themselves and equally sure that the other was wrong. Chycer had a map, though he'd tried to hide the fact. Algirdas didn't have any means of navigation, to her knowledge. On the other paw, the hare's map was leading them further away from her home, so maybe that wasn't such an advantage. Ara seemed set on finding some mysterious treasure that, although she'd lived in the labyrinth her entire life, Waiata had never heard about, while Algirdas' alleged goal was simply to get out alive, though why he wanted daylight, she had no idea.
  The young bat shifted uncomfortably, her thoughts on the matter still leaving her undecided. Chycer knew where he was going but was searching for some sort of valuable item, Algirdas had no way of navigation but was looking for the right thing, in her mind.
  Wait, no way of navigation? Waiata frowned, searching her mind for confirmation and finding it. She couldn't let a beast wander in dangerous territory without any idea of where to go.
  "Pekepeke, pekepeke, I'm going with Algirdas, Algirdas. He needs somebeast to show him the way, the way. Are you coming with me or going with the hare, the hare?"
  Normally, the older sister would make sure Pekepeke stayed with her, but she suspected that this was the more dangerous course to take and she decided to let Pekepeke make the decision herself. If she chose to go with Chycer, this could be the the last time they see each other outside of Dark Forest.

  Algirdas nodded in satisfaction as Waiata made her decision. This would be good. The bat could certainly help him navigate the dark corridors. She was the only smart one.

Brink stared at the bat with disbelief. He couldn't believe it. Why were they all encouraging the rabble-rouser? The hedgehog trusted Chycer wouldn't have come down here if there had been no chance of ever getting out - his boss was smarter then that ...Right? He shooks his head to clear it from the doubts. Then again, maybe splitting up was the best choice. Some of them would at least have a chance at getting away from the monster.

"I'm going with Chycer," he said finally.

  Ara hid his surprise when Waiata chose to follow Torunis. "Doesn't she realize she couldget killed? That Torunis has no plan to get out of here?" Reassurance came when Brink stayed true, but that wasn't the end of it. The Wanderer, Dantin, and Pekepeke still had to choose. "The bat will prbably follow her sister. The shrew must be reveling in all this dissension, but she has to pick a side, for good or ill. Dantin's the one I'm worried about. He'd be useless when we face that thing, but maybe he won't... Desire of life is a strong thing, after all."
That's what they were deciding. How much they wanted to live; what seemed safest. Three more choices had to be made, and they were using precious time.

  Pekepeke bit her lip in anguish. Every part of her wanted to stay with Waiata, but she had been given a task and she would not forsake it. She took a deep breath and tried to steady her voice, knowing it would try to shake and tremble when she spoke. "You told me to watch after Dantin, Dantin, so I'll go with whoever he chooses to follow, follow."
  There, she had done it. Pekepeke sighed and crouched down, covering her head with her wings.

Dantin really didn't like all this pointless in-fighting, but it looked like there wasn't anything he'd be able to do to stop it.  If the groups were splitting up, he had to make a decision.  Ara had won himself a few points when he'd pulled the mouse to safety earlier, so Dantin knew he wasn't bad, per se.  On the other paw, though, the hare also seemed rather intent on finding treasure first before escaping.  But the young mouse cared little for treasure and simply wanted to leave.

As for Algirdas, Dantin wasn't fond of his rather gruff attitude, but the squirrels goals aligned with his own.  Plus, Waiata had decided to travel with him, and the bat sisters were the only beasts down here that the mouse really trusted.  He'd pretty much already made his choice when Pekepeke spoke up.  With a look of slight bewilderment, he gazed at the bat who was obviously torn regarding her own decision to follow him.  He wasn't sure what had driven her to make that choice, but he knew he couldn't possibly separate the sisters now. 

He hesitantly reached out and patted Pekepeke's wing, "Thanks, uh... thank you, but you don't have to worry.  I'm going with Waiata and Algirdas."  The mouse lowered his head apologetically to Ara, *I- I'm sorry, but I don't really... care about treasure.... I just want to leave."

  Waiata was surprised when she heard Pekepeke's decision to follow Dantin. It was a dangerous and difficult thing to put your life in the paws of another. The older sister's chest swelled with pride and she impulsively hugged Pekepeke.
  For perhaps the last time, last time. she realised with a chill as an icy paw gripped her heart.
  Then Dantin said he was going with Algirdas and the paw loosened as Waiata breathed a sigh of relief.
  "Now the only beast left to decide is the Wanderer, Wanderer. What will it be, it be?"

Now it was all settled. Brink chose to follow Chycer, and the bats and Dantin chose to follow Torunis. This wasn't how it was to end. Ara sighed, and motioned for Brink to follow him down the rough passage. "We have to get to the treasure room. That's the only any of us-- let alone all-- make it out of here." The fission of the group had one benefit: Chycer knew whom he could trust. Brink could know why Ara placed utmost importance on the treasure room; but it was best to be out of earshot before telling him.

Brink took a long glance at the other band of creatures before he turned and plodded off after his employer. He mumbled out of the side of his mouth to Chycer. "So... What now, Boss?"

  Waiata gave a tired sigh as Chycer and Brink marched away. All this fighting and light was taking a lot out of her. Looking at Dantin and Algirdas, she forced a smile.
  "I suppose we should be off too, off too. We won't get any closer to home by standing around here and letting the monster catch up, catch up."

Chycer let a few moments pass before he answered Brink, speaking in a hushed tone.
"Brink, my fellow, you get to hear my plan to get out of this deathtrap. The others?..." He wasn't going to leave them alone, but he had to get to the treasure room before long. Torunis was just as much of a danger as that beast was. Shaking the thought from his head, Ara spun on his heel and clapped Brink on the shoulder, ignoring the spines digging into his paw.
"I'm the only sane beast that knows why the treasure room is so brutally guarded. You'll soon be the second. Mere jewels don't merit such a sentry, though it has those in spades."

After a pause to ensure he had the hedgehog's full attention, he finished in a forceful whisper.

"Weapons. Weaponry that was son dangerous, in fact, that it's designers sealed it away in a labyrinth, lest it fall into the wrong paws. Weaponry that could shake Salamandastron to it's very core. I didn't want to reveal this to the others; I didn't know if I could trust them, or if they would trust me. Especially not since Algirdas has garnered so much loyalty."
"However, that squirrel was right about one thing: I brought everybeast down here. But I intend to bring them up again. Whatever's in that room must be enough to destroy the monster; and you and I are going to destroy it, make no mistake."
He hadn't known about the Stoneater, but it made his goal a necessity, not a luxury.

Brink took a few moments to let this new information sink in. His mind was in a whirl. "Those sound like powerful weapons indeed! I... Are you sure they're down here, though? What if that... thing moved 'em? He wasn't mentioned in the map was he?" The hedgehog sighed. "I'm guess that's the chance we all took. You hired me for this job and I'll do it. Just... just in case I don't... If something happens to me..." Brink slowly fumbled with his jacket pocket, pulling out a thick envelope.  "Could you deliver this?"

Hiding his reluctance, Chycer took the envelope and stowed it away. "Tell them yourself, once this is all over, wot? Now's not the time to give in to death's plans yet."
He forced a smirk and turned back down the passage. He hated the solemnity of these things.

The end of the passageway led to the main corridors, back into danger. Extiguishing his torch, Chycer leaned out and surveyed teh hall, before pulling back and checking his map. Things were finally starting to line up. This time his grin came naturally as Ara folded the map and replaced it. He knew where the treasure room was.

   Algirdas allowed himself a moment of smug satisfaction when the others joined him, but hid it as soon as he turned his thoughts back to the situation at paw. The others were looking to him as a leader now: Him! And he wasn't going to let them down.
  "First thing first," he said. "Waiata, fly ahead down this tunnel and see where it leads. The rest of us will see about getting some light before you come back."

  Waiata nodded agreeably, rolling her eyes at the mention of light. Why did these beasts always have to blind themselves? They would survive much better if they used their ears, but no, they had to make things uncomfortable.
  Giving her sister a hug and forcing a bright smile, the bat took to the air and disappeared down the tunnel, her wings flapping silently and her ears attuned for any sign of danger, eyes scanning the walls carefully. There hadn't been any visible runes for a while, but they may come back with important information that could help their entire group survive.

The hallways beyond branched out a few times, but were otherwise blank-faced. Watching for Stoneater to make an appearance, Ara scuttled over to an intersecting hall on the right. Small rooms, hardly large enough for three beasts, dotted both walls all the way to the next passage. Apparently they weren't the first to have trouble with the monster; but if the walls could stop it was another question entirely.

Warily, Ara hasted back to Brink to relay his findings.
"We can't stop the beastly thing, but we can harass it. If you get into one of those rooms, I'll get it to focus on me. Once I do, move to the next closest room and try to distract it. It won't be able to reach you in there unless you let it."
Ara winked and extended his paw. "What say you, old sport? Not the safest chore in the world, but I'll be with you every step o' the way."

  Waiata flapped silently back to her group and threw Algirdas a salute, landing in front of him to make her report. They hadn't made a huge amount of progress along the tunnel, but they'd managed to make fire and the bat kept her wing up to shield her eyes.
  "There are a few intersections ahead, ahead, each branching off in different directions, directions. The first one goes off to the right and up, and up. That would likely be the best route to take, to take. Plenty of little rooms to hide in from the monster, monster. No writing on the walls, the walls. Don't know about traps, about traps."
  Waiata stopped, her report finished but for the snatches of conversation she'd overheard from the other group. She wasn't sure if she should tell them what they said. Maybe Dantin and Pekepeke, but she was still a little unsure of Algirdas.
  "What are our moves now, moves now?"

  "Up is where we want to go, so that's the route we'll take," Algirdas said, masking his own unsureness. They could be lost down here forever, but moving toward the surface was better than nothing. He held up a little oil lamp he had kept in his pack, lit and giving off a little illumination. "Everybeast get a light. If we get separated somehow you don't wanna be left in the dark. Come on." With that, he headed the group off down the tunnel.