"Don't think it's a real dragon?" Fiene comments, shining the light to the west.  "But let's find out."  He starts down the natural caves, letting the lantern light flit from wall to floor to ceiling and back.

To the west the worked stone corridor ended this was a natural cave. The walls, floor and ceiling were uneven flowstone. Fiene and Ermangard entered a larger cave with exits north and south. To the north they heard the chittering of bats and then from the same direction came a band of seven small hairless humanoids with scaly, rust coloured skin. Each of the kobolds carried a bucket. They were as surprised to see Fiene and Ermangard as they were to see them.



OOC Both sides were surprised. What's your actions?

Fiene takes a step back, and adjust his lantern to shine over their heads.  "Is this the dragon's den?" he says in slow spoken common.  They were outnumbered, and even a half dozen kobolds could be trouble for the pair.

The scaly-skinned little ones held their ground but looked around with some uncertainty as Fiene addressed them.

They barked and yapped amongst themselves briefly before one of them spoke in broken common "da dragon da way" they pointed to the other exit and waited for Fiene to go that way as they tried to shuffle toward the east exit with their buckets.

"Is it a real dragon?" he asks, stepping a bit to the side to let them pass.  "We are looking for gold."

With a bit more room the kobolds hurried to leave. At Fiene's question the kobold nodded "da dragon" and pointed for them to follow the cave westward. At the mention of gold the kobold smiled their sharp teeth showing "come spend da gold at Korners" and pointed south east before they rushed out of the cave.

"Korners?" Fiene says to Ermangard, looking at the buckets the kobolds were carrying.  "A shop or inn down here?"  He shines the light into the northern cavern.

She did not know what the kobolds were talking about so Ermangard shrugged her shoulders at Fiene's enquiry. A peek at the northern exit revealed a cave of stalactites and stalagmites accompanied by the chittering of bats.

Fiene continued searching to the southwest passage, first with the lantern, then walking a bit.

The exit in the southwest forked into two tunnels, one west and one south. From the south tunnel Fiene heard a whistling sound.

"Do dragons whistle?" He ponders aloud.  "Let's follow the right wall, so we don't get lost." he explains, venturing slowing and cautiously into the western corridor.  He keeps shining the lantern light all around, not sure where a dragon might be hiding.

The tunnel led the pair west for thirty foot before it turned sharply north before opening into a cave. The cave was roughly circular about thirty foot wide with a pool of water in the north west.

Around the pool was the glitter of shiny things some recognisable as coins. Nearby to the coins was a five foot long wingless reptile. The eyes of the reptile watched the approach of Fiene and Ermangard with curiosity.

"That doesn't look like I thought dragons looked.". Fiene says to Ermangard.  He doesn't make any aggressive moves, since it hasn't attacked them yet.  "I don't think it's a real dragon. But my spell won't work on animals in any case." he confessed.

He scans the dragons horde for gold or jewels that might make taking on such a beast worth the risks.  "Do you think you can kill it?" he asks.

Whatever it was it was fairly large, big enough that it's bite we could be fatal. Ermangard shook her head "it took a lot more of us to defeat a beetle half the size of that" she answered dejectedly, defeating a dragon would be proof of her courage as a warrior but could as easily get her killed.

Da dragon was unperturbed by being examined but kept it's eyes on the pair of adventurers. It was hard to distinguish much of its hoard from this distance but a longer look did reveal it as rather meagre, it was tens of coins not hundreds. Fiene did spot a circlet amongst the coins.

"That crown may be gold." he says "But I am no warrior.  We can say we've seen Da Dragon, perhaps will come back better armed.  For now let's see what whistles.". Fiene backs out of the cavern and starts south.

Da Dragon watched them as they exited the cave and left it in darkness. Fiene led them toward the whistling sound. In the middle of the cave was a stone well. The whistling sound came from the well. The ceiling was wet and dripping.



OOC

Day: 3. Time: 11:10am. Turn: 13. Weather: Cloudy. Vision: Daylight. Movement: 20'

Lantern oil used
Fiene: 10 Turns - lit

Fiene approaches the well's edge, staring down into the depths.  He pulls two silver coins.  Offering one to Ermangard, he drops the other into the well. "Make a wish." he says excitedly.

Willingly Ermangard accepted the offer of a silver penny and dropped it into the well. Both coins dropped downward but no splash of water or clink of metal on stone was heard, rather a hushed thud of hitting something soft below. Measuring the fall the thud was heard on the count of two after letting the coin drop.

"Maybe it's not a well after all." Fiene speculates.  "Surely there are lower levels to stonehell.  Perhaps this is a shaft to allow fresh air below. It might explain the whistling."  Having no intention to go deeper yet, he leaves the mystery for now, and heads to the western passage.

The tunnel led to a larger cave. The cave was forty foot by thirty foot. The ceiling dripped with water. Phosphorescent mosses grew on the walls. There was an exit in the south that returned to the worked limestone blocks and flagstones of Stonehell dungeon.

OOC Day: 3. Time: 11:20am. Turn: 13. Weather: Cloudy. Vision: Daylight. Movement: 40'

Lantern oil used
Fiene: 11 Turns - lit

"Curious." Fiene intones.  "When we were kids. we used to smash lightning bugs on our face to make it glow.  I wonder if this is similar.". Leaning his pole against the wall, he uses a dagger and tries to scrape a bit of the moss into a small sack for later study.

A sampling of the greenish glowing moss was successfully taken by Fiene scraping the walls with his dagger.

"Back to stonehell it seems.". Fiene directs, tapping the floor ahead of them in case there is another pit.  They exit the cave to the south.

Out of the cave the passageway led to a cross roads. To the west was a thirty foot by thirty foot room with cracked walls and ceilings. To the east the corridor ended in a door thirty foot away. Ten foot to the south was stone double doors with worn out inscriptions.

"Unless I'm completely turned around from the cave," Fiene explains, "East may lead us back towards the stairs.  it would be good to know a second route out. "

He moves towards the eastern door, checking the floor for hollow taps as he goes.  He will stop and listen and if quiet, opens the door.