Best laid plans… pt3.

[Tannas]

Tannas refilled his water and rations before going back underground, with haste. In hindsight, he should have asked more questions. He should have taken more time to think things out. He should have gotten help.

It took less than a day for him to get back to the camp. To his surprise, no one was there. A tangible quiet filled the air, like something was present yet unseen. Tannas put his hand to the ground and reached out with his will, searching for a difference in the environment, something to point him in a direction of action… there was nothing. He was alone.

When he had gone up, he wasn’t looking for anything new because they had cleared everything on the way down. When he came back down, he wasn’t looking for anything new because he felt he had to get back to camp to see what’s really going on and ask questions. Now it all seems a moot point. Now he had to start from where he is. Tannas started his search from where he last left Curtis. There was nothing but a blood stain from where Samara had been laying. There was enough foot traffic to disguise any distinguishable pattern or direction.

Tannas went back to the chamber where all of their camp had been set up. Nothing had been rifled through. Bedrolls were still out. Boxes and bags of goods still lay undisturbed. The only things missing were the people. Tannas was good at a few things. One of which is finding people. This isn’t what he signed up for, but he also wanted his token back. Curtis still had it on him last he knew, and Tannas was going to get it back. He didn’t want to be down there alone and out numbered by whatever else was down here. The smart play would be to leave and bring others back to help. The wise decision would be to call it a loss and leave. But he really wanted that token back.

The choice was made. Tannas loaded a day pack and threw it over his shoulder. He could stretch the contents to three to five days, depending on what goes on in between. His search began with unlocked or broken down doors in the chamber. On the third floor, there was luck. Something he hadn’t seen previously. Tracks of bare, human feet. Any intelligent subterranean delver knows to keep your feet covered. Something, or someone, went this way. It was uncomfortably dark and smelled of damp, musty earth. Tannas sparked a torch just as two ghouls jumped him from the walls ahead.

They fell to the ground in a heap, one of the ghouls headbutting Tannas on the way down. It stung. Tannas had dropped the torch, instinctively reaching for his sword The ghouls hands raked frantically at him. Their gnashing jaws worked harder to get through to him, trying to get a taste. The ghouls mouths held an unforgettable foul stench. Their eyes held a foggy glazed over look from being in the dark for far to long. Tannas blamed himself for becoming complacent. Now wasn’t the time to dwell on it, though. There were more pressing issues at hand.

His sword fell too far away so Tannas reached out and grabbed the fading torch from the ground next to him. One quick swing to a ghouls head reduced his immediate problems by half. Fear set into the other ghoul, as it was now one on one. Instead of trying get closer to Tannas, it was now scrambling to get away. It kicked and clawed out of desperation, finally getting loose and out of sight of the flickering torch light. It thought it had escaped. It thought it was safe. Little did they know they’ve just started a game of hide and seek with high stakes.

Tannas stood and brushed himself off. After a deep breath to try and clear the stench from his nose, he calmed himself. He then readied his sword in one hand, torch in the other, and in a quiet voice said, “Ready or not, here I come!”

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