The entrance was dark as expected. They gave their eyes a minute to adjust to the new light setting.

The kobold they saw enter the cave wasn't in this first section of the cave. Matthew in front sword and shield at the ready moved around the large stone in the back of the cave. It wasn't there either so it had to have gone down the dark tunnel he was now facing.

They lit one of their torches, even with their adjusted eyes the lack of any natural light made it impossible for them to see what lay ahead. The tunnel had jagged edges, and they could only fit inside it single file. With Matthew being the front liner, Jared was going to hold the torch in the middle of the formation. This gave Nalia the rear position, if anything would pop out behind them in the darkness Jared wouldn't be instantly overwhelmed with the two frontline fighters stuck ahead of him.

They followed the straight tunnel ahead. Which was weird because natural tunnels aren't straight. They have holes, other paths, drip stones and rocks for small creatures to make their home around. But this tunnel was straight with almost no deviation. This wasn't a natural cave tunnel, someone or something has carved it into the bedrock.

Who and why? But maybe more important what would the find at the end of it? This quest to slay a lone kobold suddenly became a lot more intruding.

After shuffling through the tunnel for a few minutes they found a larger space more open space at the end of the tunnel. This part seemed to actually look like a natural cave. Boulders dotted the landscape and there were plenty of drip stone formation to be seen. They stood on a plateau with a dark steep cliff to their left and the cave wall on their right. The plateau seemed to continue on ahead of them.

A few bats that made their home nearby flew of when the light of the torch revealed their location, after that the cave was silent ones more. The only sound they could hear was their own breathing, the crackling of the torch and sound of dripping water the echoed somewhere from deeper inside the cave.

~HIsssss~

The sudden sound startled our adventurers. Jared frantically spun around using the torch he held to try to illuminate as much of the plateau as possible to determine where the ominous hissing sound came from.

~Rwaaar~

The little creature was standing on a rock next to the band and jumped of launching himself towards Jared. He was too slow to dodge as the creature pounced upon him and knocked him over. He flailed around the torch at the creature on his chest trying to knock it of. It tried to claw and scratch him, but he wasn't getting close enough as it was actively avoiding the hot end of the torch.

"SHIIIIELD BAAASSHHHH" Matthew cried out as he struck the creature hard in its side with his huge shield. The force of the impact send the creature flying across the cave as it landed 15 feet away and rolled a few feet more along the cave floor.

"Are you oke?"he asked his friend while Nalia took the vanguard position between them and the creature.

"Yea i'm oke, just startled when it suddenly jumped me". Matthew held out his hand for his friend, who eagerly grasped it and was promptly pulled on his feet ready to continue their fight.

Nalia had no problem keeping the lone creature at bay, the long reach of her spear and sweeping attack pattern gave the creature no chance to close the gap between them. A few futile attempts rewarded it with a few cuts and gashes from the spear's tip.

The little kobold let out an angry scream and the spear maiden, infuriated at the reach of her weapon. Its little ears twitched and a crude smile appeared on its ugly face. Nalia was slightly taken aback by it and tried to find the reason her opponent was suddenly smiling. And then she noticed the sound of footsteps coming closer. "Guys, we have a problem!", as at the edge of her vision 2 more of the little bugger showed up.

A tad smaller and scrawny one was holding a crude spear of its own while the other one was slightly bigger than her current target and was wielding a bone club. And not just a small bone but a BIG bone, almost the same size of the creature that was holding it. The way it was holding it made it look more like a two handed war hammer than an actual bone.