Traverse the tunnel.

Once gain, you all mount your lizards in the same formation as when you first exited the sewers. Hours pass. But finally, after all of this time, a weight is lifted from your heart as the magical light shining ahead illuminates something that isn't yet another buttress. It comes farther into view, and as it does, you realize it's a room! You don't know if this is the end, but it doesn't matter. You've spent so much time here seeing nothing else that even running into a sack of potatoes would have excited you. The two lizards keep up their pace until nearing the entrance, to where they come to a gradual halt right as it opens up.

You hop off and peer inside.

The tunnel expands into a large, stone brick room, like somebody's basement. It's filled with supplies--crates of food, waterskins, materials. There are many empty containers as well. While mining would normally create a lot of waste, you imagine it wouldn't take much time or effort for those ants to carry massive crates of rocks, ores, etc, elsewhere. Ahead, you can see that the tunnel continues into darkness, which doesn't fill you with excitement, but there's also an opened passage to the left. Instead of continuing on, this one enters into a spiral staircase going up.

"I wonder where it is we are," ponders Mela. It seems she's finished hiding away in a pack, as she's continued to be out ever since last night. "Would you like me to check where the stairs lead into?"

"That's a great idea. Thanks, Mela," you reply.

She smiles bright, and instead of heading towards them, she floats straight upwards and through the ceiling.

After that, Rose crosses her arms and breaks the silence. "It's pretty useful having a ghost in your party, even if she has to hide."

"Yeah, though I reckon she'd rather not be," you reply. "If she could have a body again, I doubt she'd hesitate."

"Mm. I see. Not to mention how dangerous it is for them to be around clerics and the like. She's a banshee, correct? That's a powerful spirit, but she could still be destroyed by enough holy magic."

Maybe I shouldn't have let her go ahead like that. You tap your toe impatiently, but your worries were for naught. Mela swims back down through the ceiling to greet the party only a couple minutes after leaving.

"It is another basement," she says. "But one more proper. I do not see the staircase there, which leads me to believe this is a hidden room beneath the downstairs of an actual home. Think about where we must be."

"Oh yeah. This could be Avana right now, or at least the outskirts," you say.

Lynx steps her foot on the first stair up. "Let's go then. C'mon!"

You nod and follow behind.

The group proceeds up the spiral until they reach a flat stone wall. "Hey, give me some space," Lynx says, wedged up against it--her butt nearly right in your face. She fidgets around for a moment until she finds a loose brick on the wall to her left. It isn't all that hidden, which makes sense given the side you're on. When she pushes it, the wall in front of the group sinks into the ground.

You step into the basement. After a moment, the wall closes back up again.

A chill goes up your spine. Something is bothering you. At first, you're not exactly sure what, even if the sensation is strong. You step forward--a familiar feeling. While the others are chatting amongst each other, you tune them out. Everything is quiet, at least to you, as you walk towards the staircase leading out from the basement. Clearly, this is just the downstairs of a home, as Mela said, and as you ascend the staircase, you hear your companions ask where you're going so quickly.

You turn the knob slowly and cautiously. After pushing open the door, your eyes are nearly blinded by the sun shining through the windows. It's a hallway. One you've been through many times.

"But why are we..." you mumble under your breath. As your party makes its way up behind, you remain in place. "Dragonhide Manor?"