Search for a passage.

Joint post between Winteroak, Wim, and Blackwolf.

Wim and Boyce get up early the next day and make ready to set out and explore the lower levels of the fort.

The two of them eat a small cold breakfast and gather the tools you think you might need.

As they descend the staircase deeper into the lower levels of the fort, the same smell appeared again.

The going is not easy. Broken masonry, piles of loose earth, and boulders fill the way. As they walk into the darkness your light reveals very little of use. There is almost nothing left in the room they find themselves in apart from detritus, gravel, and silt. The floors are caked with dust and guano.

Walking further into the room, looking for what they might believe to be an access to the caves systems below the sound of slithering and pattering is heard from something else moving in the dark.

They realize that they are not alone down here.

Wim walked gently in the space with measured footsteps trying to remain as quiet as he could. The bats above him and the smell of guano did little for his sense of comfort. Adding in the slithering and pattering sounds did not help.

In a vain attempt, Wim called out, “Hello? Is someone there? We mean no harm to you.”
By which Wim meant, I hope whatever you are, you mean us no harm.
Wim’s voice echoes around the large room you are in but nothing answers back.

Wim looked at Wolf to see his reaction but Master Wolf was studying details that had some importance to this place. Wim hoped it was not a warning not to go down the ramp.

A few heartbeats passed where only silence and the fizzing of the lantern and torch were heard before more patting and slithering.

Moving again, Wim crept towards the sound hoping to catch a glimpse of what was making the sounds. He was hoping it was something small or at least not threatening. He moved a bit further down the ramp letting his torchlight the way.

Bats squawked from the heat of the torch and flew to roost somewhere else.
The walls of the ramp were smooth and cool to his touch. In vain, Wim moved quietly knowing the torch would give his position away.

In the darkness, Wim's keen eyes quickly see the shape and forms of large rats. Larger than any he has ever seen, running from hiding place to hiding place, trying to stay away from his light.

Up ahead Wim sees what looks like an archway with strange writing on its pillars. A ramp leads further down into what you believe most be some sort of mine or cave system.

Slowly Wim worked his way down to the arch letting the rats run down deeper into the tunnel or their hiding places.

“Better than snakes,” he said till a small rat ran across his foot.

Jumping, the torchlight flared and then dimmed a bit.
His exposure to rodents was the mice that infested his home in the early days, curious little things but rats were a bit different. Wim looked at the strange writing and used the torch to burn away small cobwebs and spider webs.

Wim called for Master Wolf to come to look at the archway. His voice scared even more rats.

Mostly talking to himself, “Okay, Fosia. You have my attention, I don’t understand what this says..”
He looked for any of the symbols from Fosia’s altar in the archway. This was not his area of expertise. He found it exciting, in a strange sort of way.