After the funeral, they gathered at the M1 Abrams, Rudina checked to see a few details, the first thing she noticed was it had a red kangaroo painted on one side. ‘Not American, good to know’ she thought. On her quick inspection, she found why they had abandoned it there, it was not only empty of fuel, but it looked like it was set up for training. It had none of the extra armor or other accessories needed in a combat zone. The crew had not stripped the tank either as she checked inside, and found plenty of gear inside, she even found a few personal items that the crew must have not needed. When everyone was gathered, she explained the combat maneuvers they were going to use to Garth. then in silence, they headed out to the massive cavern entrance.
When they left, the party was silent, Fred led the way with Helga right behind him, Rudina, Garth, Asher made up the center with Brenner following to the rear. Rudina had them in a spaced and staggered formation and would move a pace that everyone could see at least two other party members if they were in tight or especially dark spaces. They also moved at a slow pace, constantly checking for ambushes and traps.
Since Rudina was the only one without Darkvision naturally, she had to use a spell to allow herself to see. The group decided it was safest since the Dark Elves were at home in places where there was no light. Even then, occasionally they had to stop and cast the spell again, unfortunately, the spell wasn’t permanent, and only lasted a few hours. It was still more reliable than night vision goggles which she did have, but she felt magic was better when she didn’t have replacement parts or enough battery life for long term operations. Part of why she had decided on a service pistol and one rifle, was because magic would make it possible to have enough ammunition for the two.
The trail of goo that the Monstrous Randell left behind was easy to follow for the party, it even glowed at times. After a half-day of following the trail of goo, they came across a vast underground lake, with a castle in the center of the lake. Unlike the Medieval style Keep, this castle was all sharp spires and pointed edges. To Rudina it looked like a sandcastle made from stalactites. The castle had a few ice blue lights, which gave it an eerie cold feel. The cavern roof, however, was just as scary as it was clearly a spider’s nest, that spanned the entire cavern ceiling. Although she couldn’t see the spiders, she could see the movement on the web.
Fred Silently indicated that there was a small boat tied to a dock right next to the cave entrance. However, on closer inspection, they saw that it was a trap, that there were a couple of fine delicate lines that went up to the ceiling and web. Rudina instead silently asked for Garth to make a spot that would stifle all sound, as she had a couple of small inflatable boats for fishing, which would be perfect to use right now. The only problem being inflating them made a lot of noise.
