They do and they pick up another companion on the way.

As the small group of people made their way down the stairs, Fay noticed a young man hiding behind some boxes. He had a scared yet somewhat defiant look in his eyes and was holding a broom as one would a sword. He must have been one of the innkeeper’s servants, Fay thought to herself, giving how he was still dressed in an apron and was covered head to foot in dust. He was clearly not a treat to any of them, judging by the scared look in his eyes and the fact that he was about to ambush Ceit, the largest person in the room.

Once Ceit cleared the stair way, the young man tried to change her from behind. Ceit caught his broom mid swing, and effortlessly tossed it to the side. She then grabbed the young man by his caller of his shirt and lifted him up into the air with little effort. “You are a feisty one!” said the amazon with a wide grin, “For a runt!”

The young man had a slender body with only a few hint of mussel on his otherwise unremarkable body. He had curly red hair, green eyes, reddish skin, and a freckled face. “Put me down you brut!” he cried while trying to squirm out of Ceit’s fingers.

Lizzy stepped forward and lightly placed a slender hand on Ceit’s large arm. The amazon’s bicep dwarfed the smaller elf’s fingers. “Ceit, put Owein down. He’s harmless.”

“Harmless!” growled Owein, “I’ll show you harmless you knife eared-“

Ceit tossed the poor boy back into the crates before he could finish his insult. She then turned to Lizzy, and gently scooped her up in her arms, placing one arm behind her back and hooking the other under her knees. The golden haired elf blushed heavily as the strong woman picked her up, then gave her a loving smile, placing one hand on her shoulder and kissing her cheek.

As Owein climbed out of the rubble, brushing off his clothes, Fay motioned for the innkeeper to show them the way out. “If you are quite finished,” said Fay dryly, “We must make our escape. I can already smell the smoke.”

The innkeeper nodded before leading the group over to a cupboard filled with empty bottles and boxes. “Owein!” he called out to the boy, waving him over, “Help me move this.”

Owein grumbled a few curse words under his breath before grabbing the cabinet and heaving it away from the wall. Behind the shelf was a large wooden door with clear signs of heavy use. The doorknob was starting to corrode from the large amount of body ash coating the bronze and the wood at the base of the door was withering away.

The door opened with a low creek revealing a tunnel leading deep under ground. Fay cocked her brow as she looked into the cavern. “This wasn’t made by smugglers.”

“You have a good eye,” said the innkeeper with a grumble in his voice, “It came with the build.”

“With the build you say,” said Fay with the first hint of emotion she expressed all day. The walls of the tunnel were made of stone. Ornate carvings littered the walls and a few armored skeletons could be seen in the lower caverns. “The inn must have been built on top of it. Some kind of temple or fortress.”

“Fay,” Ceit called out motioning towards the way they came in, “The fire?”

By now the fire was starting to eat its way trough the wooden door, streaming thin wisps of black smoke through the ash white cracks. “Right, no time to gawk.” Fay then took out her staff and lit a small orb on the tip, providing the group with some light, then led them into the tunnel.