Feral grinned as the last of the enemy fell to his
blades.

"Now that," he said, "was invigorating." A glint in his eye suggested what? Battle lust yes, madness? Almost. Definitely a desire for blood.

"Come let us move to the crossroads. Perhaps the recipient of the bells ringing can be found there."

Tieger wiped the gore off his halberd onto one of the dead bodies. "Might it be worth ringing the bell, and dispatching whatever arrives from ambush?"

"As much as I'd like to agree with you" Merlothrien said, "I very much doubt that the recipients of that bell’s peel will be anything like what we've just fought" He continued "it's more than likely to be the same things that were coming up on the top of that cage back there, in which case I don't think that we'd want them ready for a fight at all, I think getting the drop on them would be the best course of action" He paused for a moment, looked about and said "I could be wrong though, it's just a thought but Horace would you be able to send Sally on ahead, I would imagine
creatures of her size are commonplace down here and if you can communicate with her then we may have a bit of an early warning system..... but I have to agree Feral" he said with a wry smile "That was quite, umm, stimulating!"

"Aye, lets find out what is waiting ahead and how many there may be," said Hammrin. "Ringing the bell may be part of a plan we deploy after we know a little more. I haven’t seen any signs saying beware of cave troll yet but we may just be thanking our lucky stars that we waited." Hammrin seemed interested in the glowing substance on the walls where the undead were standing. "Perhaps this could be bottled up and used in a dark
space later?”

Horace looked around, his eyes brimming with tears. "That was not stimulating Mister Merly, that was awful. They were once alive and these horrible people made them dead and then used them against us!" a single tear ran down his ruddy cheeks, then his eyes cleared and strength seemed to flow back into his body, "Yes Mister Merly, I will send Sally forward but I will back her up, following 50 feet or so behind, I will keep my mind thingie open....." He turned pulling the small Shrew from his pocket, he seemed to squeak and whisper to the little rodent as he stepped through and around the carnage, he then placed the shrew on the floor. She ran forward quickly and quietly. He followed as he had said, 50 feet behind moving as silently as the shrew.

Hammrin was able to take a sample of the green fungus from the wall. It still glowed dimly but for how long was anyone's guess.

Horace's mind window winked up. On the opposite side of the cross roads the passage still led down. It carried on down as far as he could see (300 feet).

The passage to the right and left was level but hit the junction at an angle. To the right it stretched out ahead for about 200 feet before the angle of the
walls blocked any further view. To the left, the passageway opened out a bit to a pile of white bleached objects, bones most likely, after 150 feet.
This cavern looked to be quite large and only part of it was discernable.

Horace thought, "If no one has any objections, I will go to the left to make sure this cavern of bones doesn't hold something we don't want behind us."
Feral nodded at Horace. "Seems as good a choice as any. Lead on little one."

Horace and Sally headed down to the bone cavern moving as quietly and being as invisible as they could. The passage was quiet and still, the sound of battle now a memory. Horace was able to follow the shrew into the bone cavern where the corridor opened out on one side. The opening looked man made and formed a large alcove in the passage. A pile of bones some 10 foot high filled the alcove. The bones were so numerous that they had spilled out into the passage. The bones were all short and Hammrin was able to comment that they looked dwarven. A number of the bones looked twisted
or bent but not broken. There were quite a few bones from infants or babies.

As Horace followed the passage he spotted a single wide metal rail in the ground on the far side of the bone pile. It looked like it had been used recently as the, possibly grey, metal still glowed in the pale green light. It continued down the passage where another opening presented itself, this time on the other side of the hallway. This hewn alcove was filled with bones too, though the proportion of mishappen bones looked to be higher here. There were still a fair number of bones from immature dwarves.

The hobbit moved further along until he came across a third alcove with a mound of bones. Most of these were deformed with a very high percentage of immature dismembered skeletons. As he looked up the passage the rhythmic squeal of a wheel echoed down the stone walls. The Halfling took shelter in amongst the bones, the shrew not too far ahead of him.

Four misshapen dwarves shuffled down the passage towards Horace. The two at the front were pushing a large four foot high cart that was the source of the noise as its wide wheel rolled along the single rail. Behind them one of the other two pushed an empty wheelbarrow. The front pair carried similar deformities; bulging lumps on their bodies and some spinal ailment that bent them over. The rear pair were different. Both had a twisted leg with their foot pointing the wrong way but looked reasonably free of lumps and stood straight.

The cart came to a stop before it reached Horace. The front pair pulled themselves along the cart until they were able to sit down against the front of it, facing towards the hidden hobbit. The rear dwarves, dragging their twisted foot behind them, wheeled the barrow to a much smaller fourth pile of bones. The patterns in the layer of dust around it bore evidence to recent shovel work.

The sudden silence was broken by the misshapen dwarf limping beside the other pushing the barrow, he was talking in Khuzdul.

"If I sees another bone then I'll become one, Broghul. I wish we's be down in the garden with the others. At least we’s can eat as we’s work." He barked a short laugh that echoed briefly about the tunnels.

Broghul, the dwarf beside him with the barrow, shot a glance back up the way they’d came. "Shh yer Slign! There’s worse places than the Catacombs. Imagine being one of them priests and having to tend to his holiness. One minute yer praying, the next minute yer grown another hand. At least here yer get back home with the same enhancements yer had at Gongtime."

"Ah! His holiness wouldn't do that! His days of random mutation are over. I hear the new batches of them babies have come out strong and nicely enhanced. Nearly three score little beauties with only twice as much stillborn. Now breeder, there’s a job for we!" The mishappen dwarf looked down at his bulgeless crotch and wide hips, “I wish he'd given me the right apparatus though, ain't right this for a male!"

"Dullring yer fool! Nilli and Kojahak got the cart. I got the barrow so where's the shovels yer bringing? Yer never has the right apparatus does yer?"

Dullring screwed up his face at Broghul, turned and started to shamble off back up the passage. Horace couldn’t see where that led without risking being seen by the two sitting at the cart.

As Horace’s mind window showed the twisted and deformed bones Hammrin looked on with pity for those who had suffered such torture. It seemed like many dwarves were being exterminated by the dark power that ruled under this mountain. Hammrin began to get angry, which the others were beginning to expect from him. Dwarves were being mutilated and abused and he would not stand for that.

After hearing the conversation of the deformed dwarves things became more clear. Dwarves were being bred here. Who knows what kind of experiments were taking place in this secret underworld of evil. Hammrin could not understand why these dwarves appeared to be ok with what was going on. Apparently they were a willing part of it.

"Friends, these creatures may look like dwarves and speak like dwarves, but I've never seen anything like 'em. They appear to be servants of the evil force that resides in this underworld. That makes them my enemy," said Hammrin a little saddened that another dwarf would actually be his enemy. "We have got to make sure Horace is ok. At the same time I don’t believe those deformed dwarves were the hidden guardians that were supposed to hear the alarm bell. Lets move in closer in case Horace needs us and keep a watch to our backs as well."

Feral nodded at Hammrin’s words. Silently, he slipped out his twin blades of death and nonchalantly began to stroll down the passageway making no attempts to be overtly quiet.

Horace, from his vantage point, heard the approach of the party and 'mindthought' "Be quiet please Mr Feral, the rest of you. If we make noise and kill these 'dwarves' we will alert the whole 'anthill'! We cannot afford to fight our way through everyone to find our target! Despite how excellent you are at killing! Come closer yes but be as quiet as you can and let me observe these 'dwarves' perhaps we can follow them later."

Horace then mind linked with Sally, "Be quiet girl, hawks are about!"

Tawl considered the halfling's mind window for a sec then decided his course of action. He drew his sword " I think we need to deal with the main threat first rather than those miserable wretches, I'm going to move along and see if the bell ringer's friend appears" he then moved quietly down the main passage a little way peering into the gloom and standing ready off to the east side of the passage.

Horace replied mentally, "That is a good idea Mr Tawl, perhaps Mr Elenugeth can accompany you. I will keep watch from here and alert you should the misshapen dwarves hear you or move your way. Perhaps someone can standby to be my saviour should I be discovered. Mr Ondoher perhaps? As My Mum always told me, Horace she said, better be on watch than asleep in your porridge!"

Ondoher agreed via the mind link. As the High Dunadan stalked further towards the hobbit with Hammrin and Feral trying their best to follow silently behind, Dullring walked back the way he had come.

Whether it was luck, or maybe the Corsair had picked up some tips, but he moved quite silently to the bone pile behind the one where Horace was secreted. Ondoher was quiet too, taking up position crouched beside Feral. They waited. Hammrin wasn't so lucky. He was forced to hide in the first pile of bones after Horace asked him to wait as his clumsy approach caused the two sitting misshapen dwarves to look in his direction. They paused for a while before resting again.

Tawl and Elenugeth moved over the cross roads and further down the passage that led downwards still. Elenugeth noticed a single set of dwarf sized
footprints that led the way they were scouting. The passage went on for another 500 feet before the warm air became much cooler. The passage bent sharply left before opening out into a huge cavern. The walls were slick with dark slime and the smell of mould permeated the air. The cavern's roof was somewhere up in the darkness but out of range of the Arkhand's sight. The roughly rectangular cavern housed a bitterly cold dark lake that was 200 feet across by 300 feet wide. The passage led straight onto the shores of the foreboding lake, the single set of footprints leading right up to
the edge.

Moving down and waiting at the cross roads were Merlothrien, Ishtar, Rav, Tieger, Urthgar and Karl.

Rav and Tieger decided to scout the remaining passage. After 700 feet the hallway offered a corridor to the left. Peering down it revealed a rubble strewn room with the remains of the pulley system in it. Looking up, the roof of this small square room could not be discerned. On one wall were small piton sized holes that ran up the wall as far as the eye could see. To confirm this indeed was the shaft that led up to the cradle room a hollow crunch heralded Ox's arrival from above followed rapidly by a squelching noise as the boulder that had trapped him followed the dead dwarf down and landed on his upper torso. Finally Hammrin's brother stopped moving. Leaving this room, Rav and Tieger carried on another 100 feet before the end of the passageway was in sight. A large wide chasm, too huge to judge its dimensions, barred any further progress.

Around 20 minutes had passed since Dullring had left. As the chasm was revealed he returned with his forgotten tools. "'Ere Broghul, something's up. I seen them Minions all enter his temple. Looks like they'll be some large raid outside, wish we could pass the wards. I'd like to see the Sun one day," He heaved a sigh as he tossed Broghul a shovel. The latter caught it and smiled at his companion, "If his Holiness's plans go right then we'll be able to break them evil wards soon Dullring. Then it'll be time for revenge." He shovelled a pile of bones into the barrow with an angry fling.

"Aye, then we's be showing the surfacers why they don't imprison dwarves!" Dullring agreed.

Rav and Tieger headed back to join the others at the crossroads. Rav snuck forward to the first bone pile and examined them closely. Looking through he confirmed the absence of any other race amongst the remains. The bones also had no remains of flesh on them, possibly they had been processed in some way.

As Rav looked through the bones, Feral glanced at the Halfling then moved close to whisper "I think a swift execution might be in order at this point."

Horace looked at Feral with horror and then gulping replied, "I do not like killing Mr Feral, even in the best of situations. I would always catch the poisonous spider and release it outside and I wouldn't eat after my Mum had made chicken stew and one of our chickens was missing! But I suppose your right. At least lets make the deaths as painless and quick as possible!"

Crouching amongst the bones, the High Dunadan tried keeping himself as low as possible but smiled to himself when he glanced over at the large Corsair beside him having even more difficulty. "Well if we must slay these dwarves, might I suggest we keep one alive for questioning at least?"

Drawing his longsword slowly he awaited any response from the rest of the group.

Horace replied to the Dunadain he had grown so fond of, "I’d like to leave them all alive, Mr Ondoher but one is better than none!"

He turned to Sally, and thought "To me girl and quietly now!"

"My friends" The low voice of Urthgar had not been heard for some time

"This lake has importance far beyond the life giving water. I know it. I feel it. We should explore it, if possible even unto its depths. Trust me on this my friends."

Before anyone could reply Feral was up with a snarl and rushing the closest dwarf. Ondoher sprinted after him, followed by Hammrin and Rav who had finished his examination of the pile.

Sighing, Horace let loose an arrow that went through Broghul’s thigh.

The two closest dwarves, sitting against the cart, did not have time to get to their feet before being chopped down to the floor again by the Corsair’s twin blades. Ondoher rushed past all the dwarves to block off the passageway lest one of the other dwarves make a run for it. Dullring and Broghul just froze in momentary fear at the charge of the two huge warriors. Hammrin was next on the scene, moving quickly past Feral and engaging Dullring. The misshapen dwarf brought up his shovel to ward off Hammrin’s fierce blow but the shaft splintered as the spiked ball of his morning star struck it. The pale dwarf staggered back and cried out in alarm.

Darting past the hobbit, Rav fell upon the injured Broghul. He rose in the air with a upwards kick that wrenched the shovel the dwarf was holding out of his hands and clattering into the ceiling with a clang that echoed about the tunnels.

Horace fired again striking Broghul’s other leg just above the backwards facing knee. As he fell to the ground Rav’s foot smashed into the dwarf’s jaw, knocking him senseless.

Seeing the demise of his companion, Dullring screamed at Hammrin, “For my Brother!” and came at the dwarf with the remains of his weapon. Hammrin brought up his shield and warded off the flurry of blows before clinically tripping Dullring and smashing his weapon into the back of his head. Dullring began his twitching death throws.

Feral finished off the sitting dwarves, bloodlust in his eyes. He looked genuinely disappointed that no more foes were standing.

Ondoher checked the fallen dwarves, as he knelt beside Broghul, he said, “This one yet lives.”