One hand held the feather while the other held hands with the mage, Calista watched the cave floor get closer and closer until they landed softly in cold, waist deep water. She waded through the soft running stream to the shore and then stopped and surveyed her surroundings.

Along the water’s edge were glowing fungi that formed a small pocket of light. There was just enough illumination that she could see they were in a cave of some kind, though it was big enough that she could hardly see its walls.

“Hey,” Lefty’s voice whispered, “where are you?”

“Over here,” she whispered back.

“Okay, hold still.”

A hand touched her shoulder and in a blink, she gained night vision. She could see now the cavern was roughly the size of an arena but was slanted like a great, jagged ramp. Rocky spears hung from the ceiling and uneven stones dominated the floor while the stream itself ran from an opening at the top, down through the cavern’s center, to a dark hole at the bottom.

Near the mouth of the stream, at the top of the cavern, a shadow crawled out of the dark. Calista watched as the wiry form descended, moving nimbly between the rocks and the water until it passed near a patch of the glowing fungus gifting her a glimpse of a head with tiny horns and an elongated snout. A kobold, she realized as her eyes picked up one and then another of the tiny forms. Frozen, she watched. Soon there were a dozen kobold shaped shadows descending from the top of the cavern.

Behind her, she heard Lefty begin to mutter something magical, so she spun around and grabbed him by the arm. “Don’t you dare cast anything!”

His eyes opened with a start. “What? One fireball and they’ll all go running.”

She turned and pointed. “Look!”

A towering form had emerged near the mouth of the stream. A gigantic club over its shoulder, it lumbered down the slope behind the kobold like a tank lurking behind its infantry.

Lefty clutched her arm, “Is that what I think it is?”

“If you’re thinking it’s a troll juggernaut, you would be correct,” she said. “Are you still thinking of announcing our position with that fireball?”

“Yes,” he replied.

She spun to face him, “What?”

But the spell was already cast.

A tiny red bead of fire shot out from the mage’s finger, a red line flowing behind it as it flew up the cavern, struck the Troll Juggernaut in the face, and exploded. Gouts of fire, body

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parts, weapons, and flaming bits of shrapnel flew in every direction and Calista ducked behind a rock just as a sword, complete with hand, went flying over her head.

Then Lefty appeared next to her and touched her shoulder as he whispered an incantation. A second later and they both turned invisible.

“Okay genius, what now?” she snapped.

She could practically hear him grinning, “Now they scatter and panic like kobolds are want to do and we walk out of here while they wait for backup.”

“And what about the troll?”

“Unless he can see invisibility, we walk right past him.”

She peered out from behind the rock to see the troll juggernaut - his hair, half his face, and part of his back covered in fire – jump into the stream where it rolled in the water to put

out the flames. I suppose this isn’t a terrible idea.

She went first. With Lefty close behind her, they climbed out from behind the rock, picked their way through a garden of stalagmites, and hurried across a stretch of open rock to the cave’s outer wall. Embers of fire and burning body parts still littered the cave floor as then the massive form of the troll rose out of the water. Calista could see its head and back were badly burned, but it then picked up its club and its eyes glared against the firelight as took one deep breath and let out a bellowing howl.

Holding very still, she felt Lefty’s invisible hand touch her shoulder.

Club in hand, the juggernaut scanned the rocks for the source of the offending fireball. His huge, hairy feet sent tremors through the rock floor as he walked and here and there he would smash his club against a rock or a shadow as he searched.

However, they were past him. Sticking to the wall, they climbed quickly up the slope until a worried squeak stopped them. Kobolds, three of them huddled behind a rock. Sticking to the wall, Calista listened to the frenetic meeps, squeaks, and clicks of the tiny guards as they argued. Accessing her H.U.D, she tried activating her [listen] skill, but to no avail. She didn’t know enough to translate Kobold without her [languages] skill on active. However, as she watched, she could see the closest kobold, alone behind a flat-topped rock, as it pointed and whispered harshly to the other two who were pointing and meeping back. They’re arguing and probably hoping the troll kills us. They know there’s a spell cast of some sort and none of them want to get blasted.

Then a clamor of footsteps came echoed from the mouth of the stream as a column of heavily armed trolls marched into the cave. A tall troll, perhaps seven feet in height, with a wart-infested nose and sergeant’s rank, scowled at the cowering kobolds.

“Who’s in command here?” the sergeant bellowed.

“Meep-me!” a kobold squeaked from behind a rock.

The sergeant rolled his shoulders as he surveyed the scene. “Just what’s your status report corporal?”

The kobold meeped and squeaked for a minute before the troll answered. “So you have a magic user and a rogue? And you’re all huddled here near the door to cut off their escape?” The sergeant grunted his disapproval. “I’ll be taking it from here corporal.”

The sergeant bellowed a series of orders as his men fanned about the top of the cavern. To Calista’s dismay, two of his most intimidating warriors were placed near where the trolls had entered while another four stood ready behind a nearby rock.

The sergeant then turned to the kobold corporal, “Take your men and have them search along the walls. Each side, you tiny miscreant. And spread out, I won’t have any more mass casualties if I can help it.”

A few loud meeps and squeaks from the corporal saw the kobolds cautiously rise up and form into two single-file lines. As a group of the little warriors marched toward them, Calista whispered to Lefty, “I don’t know what the plan is now, but we’re about to run out of places to hide.”

However, she again heard Lefty whisper a spell as a hand touched her shoulder as slowly her feet began to rise off the ground.

“When did you learn the fly spell?” she asked.

“I leveled up in the hallway,” he answered.

With a thought, she was ten feet off the ground and rising. Soon, her head was inches from the cave’s ceiling and the trolls and kobolds below her looked the size of dolls.

There was still the odd smash or thud here and there as the troll juggernaut lashed out at shadows. Strong as a dragon, but not half as bright. Avoiding the juggernaut was easy, but how would they get through the door? That was the real question. She looked down at the six trolls who stood sentry at the entrance. There’s almost no way we can sneak past them, even if we’re invisible, and we certainly can’t kill them before the others can react. So what do we do?

Then she looked up. There, a few feet away was the portable hole. I guess it’s worth a shot. She tapped Lefty on the shoulder and pointed. A moment later, she floated through the opening and back into the tiny room.