Chapter 18

Vennoa marched on ahead, and the rest of the party followed along, hoping that they would somehow stumble upon the Dwarven Fort.

“Hey!” Fender called out.

Everyone stopped for a second and looked at her. She had a few sheets of paper in her hands, and a few hastily stuffed sheets were sticking halfway out of her pack.

“There’s a map of the area here,” Fender continued. “And there are three marked entrances.”

Fender laid a paper on the ground, and everyone gathered around. Pua looked at the paper, looked around, and then reoriented the paper.

“Looks like there are two entrances from where we are, and one back where we came,” Agate commented. “We must have walked past one of them without realizing it.” Agate looked at Vennoa, but she didn’t seem to notice.

“The next entrance is marked with a big X,” Fender said. “That probably means it’s not the Dwarven Fort, or we shouldn’t go there. I think we should skip it.”

“Make sense,” Agate said. “Should we keep moving upwards, or trek downwards then?”

“I didn’t notice any entrance while we walked,” Pua said. “We should keep moving upwards.”

Agate and Fender concurred with Pua since he had been the best at pathfinding so far, even if he hadn’t been doing so great in this region. Vennoa just nodded and kept on walking.

After some time, they came upon a cave entrance. The party stopped around fifty feet from it and starting discussing their plan.

“That’s the second entrance, right?” Fender asked. “We should skip it then, it had the big cross over it.”

“What if this is the first entrance, and we miscount later?” Agate questioned.

“Let me look at that map again,” Pua said. Fender handed him the paper, and Pua spent some time looking at the map, then the surroundings, then back and forth again for a few times.

Finally, Pua said, “No, I’m sure, this is the second entrance.”

“Alright then, let’s not go inside it,” Fender said earnestly.

“There are no ways to hide as we walk past it, so be prepared for the worst,” Pua said. “In any case, let’s go past it as quickly as we can. I’ll go first.”

Pua drew his swords and walked swiftly to the cave entrance. He peered inside briefly, and then darted across the entrance. He signaled the party to join him. They also drew their weapons and made their way across the entrance. There didn’t seem to be anything inside the cave, and no activity or sounds could be heard coming from within. From the looks of it, they were safe.

“Ok, let’s keep moving,” Pua said, taking the lead this time.

They came upon the next entrance after more trekking up the mountain. By this time, the sun was high in the sky. The entrance was set on an outcropping, leading into a dark cave.

“I hope this is the third entrance, and not the second,” commented Agate.

“I’m sure,” Pua said sharply. The heat and dryness seemed to have gotten to Pua, as he visibly appeared more tired, and his mood had correspondingly worsened.

“Alright, I’ll go first this time,” Agate volunteered.

Pua nodded, and Agate went on ahead of the party. He walked to the edge of the entrance, and then quickly peered inside. Agate then waved to the rest of the party go come forward to join him.

“There are multiple footprints at the entrance,” Pua said softly as he arrived beside Agate. “We must be at the right place.”