They enter into the cavern.

The menhirs stand silent as they quietly enter the dark cavern. Domic takes out the box lantern he had grabbed from the armory. Lighting it, they follow its knife beam through the blackness, although the pungent stench of rotting meat, sick air, and other odors assaulting them almost immediately has them wondering if they’re in some foul cloud. The cavern is at first wide enough for them to walk abreast, but then it starts to narrow, and they’re **** to walk singly. Liquid periodically drips from the ceiling, but otherwise they only hear the sound of their breathing, and their soft footsteps. Domic leads for a few minutes, holding the lantern, until he suddenly closes it and they quickly press themselves against the walls.

Two loud and animalistic laughs echo down the passage, followed by the quieter sounds of a conversation in some unknown tongue. Hearts pounding, Domic and Cerni draw their swords silently, and creep down the passage, towards a soft blue glow. They round a corner into a long hallway with blue glowing moss spreading across the walls and ceiling, reflecting in the pool of water on the floor, which leads to the soft flicker of a fire at the end of the hall.

“Must be a water trap,” Domic whispers to Cerni. “Animal wanders in, falls in, thrashes about – guards get a free meal,” he motions.

“Or skewer an intruder,” she replies.

“Yes, but what about the moss then? Surely they’d remove it?”

Cerni shrugs. “Are gatekeepers known for their intelligence?”

Domic can't help but chuckle softly as the guttural conversation continues in the distance. “Welp, we uh, know they’re here, time to go,” Domic says, once he's finished chuckling. He frowns as Cerni grabs him.

“How many, Domic, how many?” she says, before pushing past him.

“Wait!” he hisses.

“What?”

“Let me go first, we don’t know how deep it is,” he says, sliding past her. He takes off his pack, and holds it above his head with his musket, and slowly, ever so slowly, wades into the frigid water. The orcs continue their conversation, as Cerni follows him in, the water coming up to just about his chest, but up to her neck. They move, making nary a ripple, as the orcs laugh and chat in their incomprehensible tongue. Finally, the pool rises, and they come out, jaws clenched to stop them from chattering.

“Now what?” she asks.

Suddenly the sound of wood crashing and heavy footfalls running towards them reaches their ears. Domic fumbles with his sword, but Cerni is already dragging him towards a cleft in the rock wall. They squeeze in, pressed against each other, hearts hammering in their chests, their backs scrapping painfully against the walls. They bite their tongues and dare not to breath as the footfalls reach them, splash a few steps into the water, stop… and then the vomiting starts. Hysterical laughs echo down the hallway as the orc vomits, again and again, retch after retch, finally stopping. Domic and Cerni slowly release their breaths and cautiously take them as the footfalls start to slowly stumble back.

"Oh, uhh, wow. She's so warm, and...pretty," Domic thinks, as they relax into each other. She stares up at him with her big brown eyes, looking to him for reassurance - or maybe she's reassuring him. Her breasts push in and out against him as she breathes. Her midriff feels firm against his slowly hardening cock. "That's what she'd look like, naked. Everything tight," he can't help but think.

There is a flicker of recognition in her eyes. Her lips curl into a small smirk, and she whispers: "That's what you think of me Domic? I thought you had honor. And at a time like this? Unbelievable."

“I’m sorry, it’s just-“

“That you’re an honor less rogue?”

“No, no, no, shut up, the orc,” he hisses, as the footfalls recede.

“It’s gone,” she whispers. “You’re cute when you’re flustered,” she smiles, as she slides past him. He awkwardly shuffles after her back into the hallway. They hear the orcs continue to talk, slower this time, then the clack of wood and metal. Domic goes first again, creeping to the edge of an opening, two large shadows cast by a fire on the opposite wall. He gets to the ground, and slowly peeks one eye around the opening. The two orcs sit with their backs to the opening, arms around each other, tankards in the other hands, babbling away. He lightly hops to the other side and Cerni does the same, and they continue to creep down the tunnel.

They walk for several more minutes, the sounds of the boozing guards receding in the background, until they reach a fork in the tunnels.

“Which way?” Cerni asks.