Compared to the thunderous clamour the horde of orcs made as they stumbled around in the dark underground, the imps Koruk found as his new companions were as silent as ghosts. Their feet seemed to barely touch the ground as they stepped, almost dancing around stalagmites and pits that dropped off into oblivion. Koruk forged forward with a steady rhythm of footfalls, feeling a little jealous of the nimble creatures surrounding him.

  In addition to himself and Kiwai, twelve imps out of the larger band of 90 had set out to find a way to the surface. They were guided by three Rock Crusher miners, who apparently had experience in surveying underground. The imps had been resistant to the idea of accepting help, but after one of them had been rescued from the first sinkhole, the miners quickly found themselves taking point.

  The imps spoke little, instead communicating via a series of peculiar hand gestures. Kiwai helpfully translated them, and soon Koruk had picked up on a few of them. Privately, he wondered what the point was. The flickering light from their torches would announce their presence before the echoes of their voices ever would.

  Every now and then Koruk thought he saw something moving in the darkness, but when he stopped and thrust his torch out, he found nothing but the odd drip of water, slowly sliding down from the roughly hewn ceiling. Two corroded metal rails seemed to run the length of the meandering passageway they followed, and their Rock Crusher guides pointed out evidence of ancient mining and habitation down the countless branching tunnels and rooms that they passed.

  There was a commotion ahead. Koruk rushed to the front of the column to see what was the matter, and skidded to a halt just in time. A wide chasm split the ground open in front of them, swallowing up the rail and the path along with it. A few rocks clattered down into the abyss, and Koruk let out a deep breath. Beyond the tunnel seemed to continue, but there seemed no easy way across.

  “I thought you said your scouts found a way to the surface.” Koruk said, heart still thrumming in his chest.

  “They did. This was not here yesterday.” Kiwai replied.

  “Must be those earthshakers the ‘umans are using to close up the tunnels.” One of the orcish miners added. “Makes the stone unstable.”

  Koruk tried not to think too hard about the implications of that. He tore his eyes away from the ceiling and suppressed a shudder.

  “Can we get around it?” He asked. The miner shrugged.

  “Hard to say.”

  “Look this way! A path!” A light voice called out. One of the imps was pointing towards something in the darkness. As Koruk moved closer with his torch, he saw what it was. Along the edge of the ravine, leading off into the split in the rock, was a narrow lip of stone, perhaps one handbreadth wide. Further along, the chasm narrowed, and it looked possible to step across it.

  “No way.” Koruk said flatly. “That’s suicide.”

  “It wouldn’t hold weight.” The miner nodded in agreement. “Best we find another way around.”

  “I can feel air on my face. The way is still open ahead! The surface beckons!”

  A few of the imps had already begun to traverse the narrow ledge, hunched down with their backs to the narrow wall. Their footing was sure, and one by one they hopped to the other side.

  “Nothing to worry about it seems.” Kiwai said, taking a step towards the path. As he did so one of the other imps landed on the opposite side, and the ledge crumbled under his small feet. He cried out and scrambled to grab onto something, but there was nothing to grab. He fell into the darkness below, his dying scream echoing through the cavern.

  Five had already reached the opposite side, but there was no way no for Koruk and the rest to join them.

  “We’ll continue on ahead. If there’s something we can use as a bridge we’ll come back for you.” One of the imps opposite the chasm said, after a moment of silence.

  “No. Go! Get to the sandskimmers. We’ll find our own way.” Kiwai said. They exchanged a few parting hand gestures, and the imps departed.

  “What do we do now?” Koruk asked.

  “Pick a passage, see where it leads.” The miner shrugged. With a parting mournful look toward the unreachable exit beyond the chasm, they turned back toward the darkness and slogged onward.

  Hours later, the tunnel branch they had decided to follow broke into a wide chamber, and they opted to take a rest. All but one torch were extinguished to save fuel, and the party variously laid or sat down on the rough floor, nibbling their scant rations. The imps in the party were much subdued after the loss of their comrade, and the liveliness had left their steps, replaced by a deliberate wariness. They looked into the darkness beyond the torchlight as if it were an enemy of its own right, and that by glaring at it hard enough maybe they could drive it back a few more inches.

  Koruk sighed and tried to close his eyes, but the constant drip of water nearby annoyed him. The tunnel seemed to be getting damper, and his skin felt uncomfortably cold and clammy. Giving up on sleep, he lit a spare torch and decided to take a look around the chamber they found themselves in.

  It was wide, with a low ceiling just barely tall enough to avoid having to crouch, and as Koruk ventured further from his companions, he found that it was not entirely empty. Ancient debris was strewn about, weathered by centuries of erosion in the damp air into nearly unrecognizable lumps. It took Koruk awhile to realize that this had been some some sort of living chamber once, the rough outlines of rows of beds and personal effects appearing out of the debris, the strange white material of their construction looking like melted wax in the light of the torch.

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  “Look to your feet.” A soft voice said behind him. Koruk glanced down, and saw the bones. He recoiled slightly, taking a few steps backwards. Kiwai crouched down, and picked up a moldering skull in his hands.

  “An orc.” He said quietly. Koruk nodded grimly. Two long tusks jutted from the predatory jaw of the grinning face of death the imp held in his small hands. Something seemed wrong with it though.

  “If it was an orc, it must have been a giant.” Koruk said. “One of Orcus’s lost tribe?”

  “You would know better than I. I am not familiar with orcish legends.”

  “More than a legend I’d say. Well, if Orcus came through here, this must be the right way.”

  “Or it isn’t, which is why this man lays dead at our feet.” Kiwai retorted. Koruk couldn’t argue with his logic, but he did wonder what on earth could have slain the huge man. He hoped that was one mystery that would go unsolved.

  After a short rest, they continued onward. The sounds of water intensified, and the air grew more humid. The miners began to speculate that they might be nearing the underground source of a river, and the idea seemed validated when they broke through a wall of fallen debris and were hit by a spray of water. Beyond was a massive cavern, carved out of the earth by eons of erosion. Cold water splashed out of an underground spring near the centre of the chamber, flowing into a network of wide pools and running off into parts unknown. A soft blue light filled the room, emanating from a veritable forest of mushrooms and plants that grew around the rims of the shimmering pools.

  “Remarkable.” One of the miners whispered, as he took a step into the chamber. “Never seen anything like this.”

  “Do you know where we could be?” Kiwai asked. The miner shook his head.

  “Not a clue.” He answered honestly.

  The party stepped cautiously around the lips of the glimmering pools, and Koruk caught sight of iridescent salamanders and fish swimming in the water below him. He stopped for a moment to look around, and take in the beautiful scenery surrounding him. There was a peace here he felt, a tranquillity, and he couldn’t help but sense that they were violating that peace with their presence.

  The party decided to take another break to rest. The miners didn’t trust the spring, but the rest of the party refilled their waterskins and drank deep of the crisp clear water. The mood rapidly improved, and a few of the imps even dove into the pools, washing away weeks of sweat and filth from their bodies.

  “Is something wrong?” Kiwai asked, having washed his face. He was smiling for the first time in what seemed like days, and looked years younger. Koruk made eye contact with him, and quickly broke it, frowning.

  “We shouldn’t delay here. Something about this place feels…”

  “Dangerous?” The imp guessed. Koruk nodded. A vision of the strange mutant with the strangling fingers came to his mind.

  “I doubt we are the only creatures drawn to this place.”

  “You’re right. We are being foolish. It’s just…”

  “I know how you feel. This place is… magical.” Koruk said. His fingers closed around the Heart of Stone in his pocket, finding it curiously warm to the touch. “Still, we’d best be away.”

  Kiwai began to organize the imps, who begrudgingly began to get dressed again, as Koruk paced around the pools. He felt uneasy, as though he was being watched, and he rekindled his torch despite being able to see fine in the soft light of the mushroom forest. Something about the naked flame felt comforting, familiar.

  As he peered into the tangled underground jungle, he caught a familiar sliver of movement at the edge of his vision. Curious, he withdrew the Heart of Stone from his pouch, finding it radiating warmth, and seeming to soak in the light of his surroundings only to cast it out again in a range of different hues. The flicker of movement materialized into a pair of wisps, which circled around him in the air, attracted to the stone.

  “Hello my small friends.” Koruk said. “Is this your home?”

  The wisps didn’t respond, content to buzz around him like dragonflies hovering above the surface of a pond. Koruk cupped his hands as Semthak had taught him, and knelt down, trying to lure them closer. All of a sudden the spirits vibrated alarmingly and fled, disappearing into the forest.

  Koruk’s hackles raised in alarm at the sudden departure of the spirits. He glanced around, holding his torch behind his head to preserve his night vision better. Another flicker to his right. This was different though. He felt a sinking feeling in his stomach as he quickly turned to face this new threat. Suddenly there was a rush of movement amongst the foliage, and a massive form burst out, a mouthful of white teeth glistening in the firelight. Koruk dove aside, his instincts honed by battle after battle, and he rolled, quickly returning to his feet.

  A massive monster uncoiled itself in front of him. It writhed as it pulled its snakelike body along the ground with spindly arms, its slimy skin glistening in the light of his torch. The creature was some sort of salamander, reminding Koruk of the small ones he had seen swimming about in the pools around the spring, but grown to colossal proportions.

  The monster hissed, its gills flaring, and a pair of leaf-like fins that ran the length of its snakelike body undulated. It opened a wide froglike mouth bristling with dagger teeth, and lunged again. Koruk ducked quickly behind a thick mushroom trunk as the giant salamander leapt past him.

  “Monster! Monster!” He yelled, hoping someone would hear him. He pulled his copper axe loose from he belt and quickly ran back out into the open, judging that he’d have a better chance if he could actually see his opponent.

  “Koruk, look out!” A voice called. Koruk looked up at the last second to see the monster jumping from the crown of a mushroom the size of a tree. He threw himself forwards as it landed with a crash in the spot he was just standing, getting a mouthful of muck for its trouble. Koruk lashed at it with his axe, scoring its slimy flesh and drawing blood, but it didn’t even seem to slow the creature down, and he narrowly avoided being killed as it twisted itself around to bite at him.

  “The torch! It’s attracted to the light!” Kiwai called. He hurled a stone at the salamander, which bounced off its featureless face where its eyes should be. It hissed in rage at him.

  Koruk waved the torch from side to side, and sure enough the eyeless monster seemed drawn to it, snapping its jaws at the flame. Koruk braced himself.

  “Go get it!” He yelled, hurling the torch into the jungle. The monster coiled itself, and leapt into the thicket after it. “Everyone! Run for it!”

  The rest of the party needed no convincing. They quickly scooped up their packs, and fled from the beautiful, deadly place as quickly as their legs would carry them.