In the end the giantess decided to leave the giant diamond tooth behind. It was just too large to bring it along for any length of time. It would have gotten in the way sooner or later. Probably sooner, as the wide tunnel the ancient Wyrm had been chewing through the rock ended soon after. The thing probably had no practical uses anyway. Well, none that I could think of, no matter how hard I tried. Putting it in a museum or on display at your workshop might just be the best and only uses for it. Unless you were willing to break it down into much smaller pieces which sounded like a bit of a waste.

As we left the large tunnel behind we started moving through a much more narrow one. At some point Gash'zur stopped, tapping a thick band of quartz in one of the walls. “The big lug might have been following this when he met his untimely end.”

I raised an eyebrow and examined the band of irregular quartz crystals. “Are you sure? Was this their diet? Or was quartz some kind of tasty treat to these giant creatures?”

The giantess shrugged. “No one knows for sure since they have been extinct for ages. Its not the quarts itself either. Probably. Quartz bands like that often contain considerable amounts of gold though and wherever the remains of these giant creatures have been found there also was a rather rich ore vein of one kind or another they apparently have been following. Gold, silver, copper or some other metal. I wouldn't be too surprised if the rest of its remains were somehow rich in metals as well. Or maybe the metal could be found in the sand it left in its wake.” She shrugged and started walking and climbing again.

Es we climbed and squeezed through another narrow spot the air changed considerably. It had been pretty warm and moist for a while. All of a sudden though, as we passed a spot that apparently served as a heat trap it became really hot and steamy. It was enough to take away my breath for a moment. Both our gazes went to the lantern Gash'zur carried right away but the flame turned low kept burning without interruption, flickering no more than it always did. It was not a pocket of bad air after all. We sighed in relief in union and started giggling as we noticed.

The path widened gradually as we continued and only a little while later the source of the increased heat and humidity became clear. Well, it became as clear as the air could be in a large chamber with some steaming hot springs. The plant life along the walls certainly seemed to prosper in this environment. Mushrooms and moss grew thick on the outcropping we were standing on and there was thick growth along much of the rest of the walls as well. Even the lichen grew thick enough to provide a decent amount of light.

Most of the light in the chamber came from the crystals that were growing along and in between the hot wells though. I touched the thin circlet mostly hidden among my hair and covered in entirely too much sweat and grime. The glow emitted by the crystals certainly reminded me of it. Didn't Illuminium only exist where lightning struck that special kind of river silt? Could it exist down here and could it somehow grow into crystals? I couldn't tell but the wildly interweaving crystals certainly made for an enchanting sight.

The actual hot springs and the crystals growing from them took up much of the center of the cavern. Steam rose from them only to collect high up under the ceiling, where more crystals were growing, only they grew downwards from there. Some water condensed along the walls, providing ample nutrients for the plant life growing there. Most of the hot water welling up from the rock poured forth into the slightly cooler basins surrounding the actual wells. The process repeated several times until the cooled down water disappeared again in cracks in the floor and the walls.

Some of the cooler basins seemed to extend further out from the actual cavern as well, possibly connecting it to various underground rivers or lakes. It was hard to tell from up here though. What I could tell for sure though was, that there was life down there in some of these basins. Strange, pale fish and prawn as Gash'zur had mentioned. As if on cue my stomach rumbled.

Before I could even ask the giantess put a hand on my shoulder to hold me back. “Let's observe the place and especially the wells for a while before heading down. Some of these wells can spew forth great spouts of boiling hot water and even hotter steam at regular intervals, much like the geysers that can be found near the hot springs on the surface in some places. If that's the case here we wouldn't want to be caught down there when it happens.”

I gave the wells at the cavern's center another look. I was almost certain that we didn't have to fear the phenomenon she had described. The crystals were growing too well to allow for any steam explosions and there were no shattered remains of shattered crystals anywhere in sight either. The fish and prawn seemed to calm and set in their ways as well. I doubted that any floods of boiling hot water had disturbed them recently or would any time soon. I didn't protest though. Even if I was almost certain, almost left room for error and I wasn't an expert for this environment to begin with.

And Gash'zur had been right, we wouldn't want to be caught down there if it were to happen. Thus we began to carefully observe the wells and the dance of fish and prawn, as they apparently darted into hotter water to gather some kind of food, only to quickly retreat into the cooler water at the edge of the cavern again. It was a most curious dance the little creatures performed.

I took some time to look around for a good spot for a camp as well. The way I saw it we would spend at least a little time here before heading elsewhere after all. I had trouble finding any spot that seemed right though. It wasn't just due to the steam rising from the wells either. There could be a dozen nooks or other exits hiding behind the plants growing on the walls and I wouldn't have been able to see any of them from up here. In the end I turned towards Gash'zur to pose the question. “Where are we going to make camp? I don't see any suitable place.”

She patted the ground in between us. “We will rest up here. The place is reasonably hard to reach, and not without a climb at all, from the direction we have come. And anyone or anything trying to get at us from the other direction would have to climb as well.”

I nodded. “What is the plan? Well, beyond resting up here.”

The giantess pondered this question for a moment before she finally answered. “I'll catch us a fish, or better two. We could either grill them on a hot rock like the mushrooms or we could boil them in one of the pools close to the center. I'd rather go for the first option though. After wards we can go and have an actual bath. We just need to figure out which pool has the right temperature for us. We might even be able to wash our clothes, to some degree at least, since we didn't bring any soap.”

We chuckled for a moment. Then I started undoing the buckles and straps of my armor. “Actually we can boil our clothes in one of the hotter pools. That should be almost as good as washing them with soap.” As I said that I slipped out of my clothes as well, wrinkling my nose as I did so. “Yes, we definitely should wash them. Anyway, you take care of the fish. I'll go looking for a nice place to bath. Lets meet up there afterwards and deal with the clothes once we feel like people instead of primordial cave dwellers again.”

The giantess stripped out of her gear as well, taking only knife as she climbed down to catch us some fish. I grabbed my knife as well, just in case and started searching the various pools for one that was just right. Hot but not too hot. As I found one that had room for both of us I prepared a stone slab a little to the side where we could roast the fish. I gathered Mana and cast the spell to heat it up before scrubbing myself off with water from another nearby pool the best I could. Then I finally slipped into the hot water of the pool I had chosen. A long drawn out sigh came over my lips as muscles that had been tense for some time finally relaxed.

I wanted to close my eyes but I didn't dare. Falling asleep like that could be dangerous after all. A little later Gash'zur approached with two pale, already gutted and cleaned fish dangling from the fingers of one hand.

I pointed at the prepared stone slab and reheated it once more. “Wash up a little before you come in, yes?”

She chuckled and did just that while the fish started sizzling on the hot stone slab. I in turn let myself sink into the water further, until it reached all the way up to my lower lip, to soak up some more of its warmth.