Deep in a dark hole and not in the good way

INSIDE THE CAVE:

The party make their way inside of the Darkcross hideout, creeping down the path ahead of them as Lani, Kyuala and John's eyes try to adjust to the darkness.

Meanwhile Amilia is immediately scanning for any sign of potential threats, traps and the like but thankfully, there's none so far.

They continue to make their way down the cave, trying to keep quiet as best they can as they traverse the wildly twisting and turning system.

A few gut wrenching moments pass filled with an eerie silence that John compares to the classic silence trope before the jumpscare in any horror game/movie which doesn't help with his uneasy stomach.

They continue walking with Amilia's keen ears picking up on the almost moist sound on the cold stone beneath them, like water had recently flown through but that's when she takes a deep breath.

She tries to get some sort of scent to help them fond their way or even alert them of a nearby presence and after a few short seconds, she gets a scent, a very familiar scent.

The scent of blood.

Amilia then stops before whispering to the others, "Guys, there's blood on the ground".

"Blood? What kind of blood?" Kyuala asks.

"The usually-in-the-body kind of blood, what'd you think?!" Amilia sharply replies, showing a side that John has yet to see within the cat, fear.

Kyuala then takes a breath before saying, "Alright, let's keep going and keep our guard up, if there's blood, that means we're close".

"Hopefully not too close" John whispers as they continue forward.

DEEP IN THE CAVE:

The four head down another path in the cave and that's when they see a light at the end of the tunnel.

Amilia halts before pointing out some shadows casted onto the far wall by said light.

Kyuala puts her hand on Amilia's shoulder and the two share a knowing look which John and Lani are completely clued out of, that's when Kyuala whispers to John,

"Wait here, Amilia and I are gonna take them out quietly".

John simply nods, remaining silent but in agreement with Kyuala's plan, just then, the old friends begin to creep forward to enact their plan.

The duo share one more nod as Amilia suddenly vanishes into the darkness while Kyuala moves forward, she gets to the corner of the path and peeks around.

That's when she sees two guards standing there, a somewhat short dark half-ling and a large lumbering dark orc, they're talking to one another but doesn't sound like anything Important, just mutterings of lowly guards.

Kyuala sees movement in the darkened corner closest to the half-ling and that's when she sees Amilia at the ready so she decides to move forward.

Kyuala takes a few crouching strides before getting behind the dark orc, she spots Amilia readying her blade so Kyuala stands up before grabbing the dark orc's neck and twists it with ****, a loud snap emanating from her now dropping guard.

The half-ling is shocked and quickly scrambles to grab it's weapon but that's when Amilia swiftly covers it's mouth before sending her sword through its chest, ending the second guards life.

Amilia then pulls the blade from the half-lings body and cleans it with the half-lings armour.

Just as she sheathes the sword, she spots the half-lings weapons which bring a twinkle to her eye.

Amilia kneels down and picks up the dual weapons, two fancy looking daggers with dark grips, immediately she grabs the small sheathes on the half-lings belt and attaches them to hers.

Meanwhile John and Lani walk into the area, regrouping with the other two as Kyuala asks, "Amilia, what are you doing?".

"Uhh, looting, what does it look like?" Amilia says with a snarky tone as she continues searching the half-ling.

Kyuala sighs, "We don't have time for that right now! They could be close by!".

"So keep your voice down and maybe they won't come searching" Amilia simply replies with only a care for loot.

Kyuala grunts angrily as she grabs Amilia, picking her off of the dead guard before saying, "We can loot later when we aren't in the belly of the beast! Come on! Be smart about it!".

Amilia huffs in disappointment but she ultimately understands Kyuala's point so she simply says, "Fine".

Kyuala's expression then changes into one of appreciation as she smiles before saying, "Alright, we might have made too much noise here so let's hide the bodies and get going quickly".

John and Amilia nod as they begin to drags the half-ling away in the dark corner as Kyuala grabs the dark orc to shroud him in the shadow across the room.

As they finish up, they get to the next opening and get back into their formation as they continue into the dark.