Cave Diving
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Alex and Persephone were crouched by the outskirts of the village, waiting for a kobold to leave. Alex wished her sister was here. She was good at tracking and could find their lair without waiting for kobolds to follow. A few hours had passed when they saw a group of kobolds come from the direction of the mountain and walk into the empty village.

 

The second group conversed with the first and then sat by the camp. The first group then packed up and left. Alex motioned for Persephone to follow. She had tied her dress up earlier to avoid tripping over or dragging it. She looked nervous as she held the sword out in front of her.

 

The two women followed the three kobolds through the swamp near the mountain’s base. The discomfort was apparent on both women’s faces. The kobold seemed more at home in the swamp than the two.

 

Thanks to her elven ancestry, Alex kept them a reasonable distance away as she could see further than an average human. Persephone breathed a sigh of relief once the waist-high water started to drop, and the ground became a bit harder.

 

The kobolds eventually came to a large cave opening, where two other kobolds stood guard outside. The kobolds went inside after some brief chatter amongst themselves. Knowing the kobolds’ base location, Alex wanted to get away and set up a small camp to plan their following actions.

 

“I don’t mean to complain, but I am soaked and very uncomfortable,” Persephone said.

 

“Don’t worry. I will have a solution to that soon.” Alex said.

 

Alex wanted to create a fire to dry themselves off, but she knew she couldn’t do it in the open. The kobolds would see the smoke and investigate it. Luckily, she had a tent in her inventory. Tents that the players could purchase were generally bigger on the inside and allowed one to make a smokeless fire inside.

 

Alex set up the tent and camouflaged it using the nearby foliage. The two women entered the tent and sealed it up behind them. Persephone was in shock as she looked around the tent and saw its size. Alex chuckled at her expression and quickly got a fire going for the two.

 

Once the fire was going, Alex removed her armor and clothing, placing them near the fire to dry. Persephone looked embarrassed but quickly followed suit as her discomfort had overridden her embarrassment.

 

Alex noticed something was moving near Persephone’s butt. Upon further investigation, she realized it was a few leeches. Alex thought she would also need to check herself for any of the critters.

 

“Turn around for a moment. You got some leeches on your butt. I am going to remove them.” Alex said as she pulled out a small knife.

 

Persephone was once again embarrassed, but she let Alex eliminate her unwanted passengers. For the next several minutes, Alex removed leeches from both of them. Alex then adjusted her clothes so they could dry evenly. She then noticed that Persephone’s dress wasn’t best for combat or infiltration. She opened her inventory to see if she had any spare clothing better suited for the situation.

 

Alex eventually found what she was looking for buried in her inventory. It was some basic adventuring gear. She pulled it out of her inventory and gave it to Persephone.

 

“Here. Use this. It should work better than your dress for what we’re doing.” Alex said. Persephone took the clothes and quickly dressed.

 

“We need a plan on getting in that cave. The only option I can see right now is to lure the two guards away and slip inside. Since you have never used a sword before, I’ll give you a crash course on how to use it. Hopefully, it should suffice while we’re in the cave.” Alex explained.

 

Alex checked on her clothes again and found they were dry. The women exited the tent, and Alex returned it to her inventory. They then snuck back to the cave entrance to formulate how to lure the sentries away.

 

“I will knock over a nearby tree hoping that one or both come to check out the noise. If it is just one, I will kill it and try to get the second one to investigate. You can fight the second one. It will help you practice,” Alex said as she backed away to some trees.

 

Alex got some distance from the cave. Close enough that only the two kobolds would hear anything. Looking around, she found a tree that would work for her purposes. Using her large axe, Alex swung it and knocked over a tree with a single swing.

 

It made a loud crashing noise as it fell, causing some birds to fly away. The two girls quickly fled to their ambush points to see if their bait worked. Several minutes later, both kobolds walked into the small clearing. Alex was glad it worked but hoped it was just one at a time. It would have been easier to train Persephone.

 

“I will take the one on the left. You take the other one. Don’t worry too much about getting hurt. I can help you if you do. Just remember what I showed you; you should be able to fight the kobold.” Alex whispered to Persephone.

 

Persephone nodded, and Alex jumped from her hiding spot and rushed to the kobold. The kobolds were caught by surprise resulting in Alex quickly killing her target. She looked at the other kobold and saw that Persephone was fighting it.

 

The kobold had a large wound on its side. Persephone’s attack lacked the proper skill to kill the creature instantly. The fight lasted for a few moments, but Persephone was able to win eventually, although she was wounded herself.

 

Alex pulled a small bottle from her inventory and gave it to the girl. She took the bottle and drank it, healing her wounds almost instantly.

 

“This potion seems stronger than the ones I used before,” Persephone exclaimed.

 

“That’s because it was crafted by another player,” Alex responded.

 

“Player?” Persephone had questioned Alex.

 

Alex smacked her forehead and quickly corrected herself. “I meant it was crafted by an Ascended One.”

 

Understanding blossomed on Persephone’s face as she heard Alex’s explanation. “Come on, let’s get in that cave and find your village.

 

The two women snuck into the cave and searched around for clues. Any kobolds they came across were quickly dealt with between them. They eventually found a room that looked like a holding cell. The only evidence for this was a locket that Persephone claimed was her mother’s.

 

The cave was eerily empty in most places, and it wasn’t until they came upon a large ornate stone double door. They could hear chanting from the other side even with the doors closed.

 

“Looks like we will have a hard battle on our hands. You still with me?” Alex asked her companion.

 

Persephone nodded her head. “I came this far. I won’t back down now. I need to save my family.”

 

After confirming Persephone’s resolve, Alex then pushed open the large doors.

 

Gonna be some side chapters about Alex for a moment. Got to delve into her story a bit.

 

For those who are interested, I do have early chapters on patreon and subscribe star. Links to those are in my profile.

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