Gii'da stilled her emotions, things were going well in this raid of the Goblin food stores.

  The group passed quietly by the corpse of the bridge sentry.

  The cavern in front of them was smaller than the one the cavern cut through. Small caves dotted all the walls, surrounded with a fungal carpet that swayed and kept beating like the cavern they just left. A single hut with overgrown totems lay in the center.

  Every wall, Gii'da kept searching for movement, for life.

  It was silent.

  “Where are the goblins?” Lucius asked.

  “Perhaps they are sleeping in the smaller caves.” Delvin whispered back.

  Gii'da put her finger to her lips and glared at him.

  Did these fools know nothing of stealth?

  Gii'da had expected better from one who knew the hunters hand signs.

  Light flickered in the hut in the center, shadows cast from the door showed the silhouette of a goblin moving and swaying.

  Why was it so quiet?

  Marcus pointed behind the hut and the rest of them nodded.

  They moved behind and Marcus peered through the door.

  Cool water dripped down and hit the back of Gii’da's neck.

  Where did that. . .

  Gii'da wiped her neck and looked up. On the ceiling were twining and pulsing tendrils, and feet?

  She looked down at her hand. The water looked green in the dim light. That wasn't water! “goblin blood!” She hissed pointing at the ceiling.

  “The weave feels sick here.” Lucius whispered as Marcus came back.

  “I hate these caverns.” Marcus muttered before turning to them. “The Hut is empty other than the Shaman. Let's move. I don't know what hellish ritual this is supposed to be and I don't want to find out. We'll have to search the side tunnels.”

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  He moved to one of the wall caverns that was slightly bigger than the others.

  “We’ll start here” he whispered.

  They entered, noticing up ahead a slight blue glow was emanating from something. The fungus seemed to retreat away from this tunnel as if it were afraid.

  Lucius gasped “The mana here is higher than ambient, almost like it is being drawn down this tunnel. . . That's why the weave is slippery! Something is draining the cavern's mana this way!”

  “Quiet!” Gii'da hissed as they turned the last corner.

  It was too late.

  A lone goblin with a knife was staring at them, it's eyes bulging, arms outstretched, its back against a metal door glowing with blue sigils down its length..

  “No kill Geeb! Geeb not fuzzy! You not fuzzy! No kill!” It squeaked.

  The party stopped.

  “Since when did Gobbos know Dothian?” Gii'da asked.

  Delvin shrugged.

  “It's an older, broken, dialect. Fascinating.” Lucius said.

  “Put the knife down, we can talk.” Marcus said softly, with a smile, he held his hands up palms out.

  “No, no step! No kill Geeb! No let Fuzzy eat Geeb!”

  “Who is fuzzy?” Marcus asked, stopping away from the goblin.

  Now that Gii'da looked closer, she noticed that this goblin was different from the sentry. No fungus grew on it, it seemed to have healthy proportions, and no strange growths. Even if it was a bit scrawny.

  “Fuzzy no who! You not fuzzy, no let fuzzy eat Geeb!”

  Gii'da sighed and pulled out her curved hunting knife, it'd be best to put this one out of its misery. Delvin held her back then stepped forward.

  “Geeb, you will not be killed if you help. We won't let the fuzzy eat you. Where is the tribe? Do you know where the tribe kept their food?”

  Geeb tilted its head. “Tribe gone, Fuzzy took them, they now fuzzy. Geeb no fuzzy. Food? Take from upside! Keep not far!’ it moved past behind them to a fork they had passed.

  Delvin looked at Marcus and shrugged.

  “I guess we follow it?”

  They followed Geeb through the winding tunnels, every step Gii'da had more and more misgivings, how did they know this wasn't a trap? This creature could betray them at any point. The others were far too trusting, and what was this ‘fuzzy’ anyway?

  They passed tunnels, the fungus on it pulsing.

  It just felt wrong.

  Then they made a final turn.

  Inside was a store room with all sorts of packages.

  “Foods!” Geeb said, pointing proudly around it.

  They couldn't help themselves, they rushed in.

  Gii'da felt her stomach growling at the bounty in front of her.

  “I'm surprised, they even have Rivaini cheeses here. Kat would kill to get some of this.” Marcus said softly as he put a few things into a sack.

  “I call dibs on the Tanerian Dark loaves!” Lucius said, eagerly grabbing some more.

  “Some poor travelers or traders must have been robbed by this tribe for them to have foods like this.” Delvin said softly.

  Gii'da was hungry. It'd been too long since they had eaten. She picked up one of the packages labeled goat cheese and opened it.

  She dropped it with a yelp.

  It was disgusting, mold was weaving as if to a beat all over the cheese.

  Marcus rushed over. “Gii'da, are you alright?” He asked before his eyes rested on the dropped cheese.

  He sighed. “Everyone, check the foods for mold.”

  Geeb started chittering “No no! The Fuzzy got here? Bad! Rotten, bad fuzzy!” It looked around with wide eyes.

  Lucius scowled. “Damn it, it's all spoiled! Now what?”

  Marcus turned to him, “Now we-” he was interrupted by the sound of a horn echoing through the tunnels. “Now we run!” He yelled.