Ullar, after finishing tying up the gnomes with rope and gagging them with cloths of their fallen comrades, stands up and speaks to the group:

"Look, only Jacobus and I are injured right now. We will stay here and guard the gnomes and that big fellow who is immune to healing. You can drag on about spirits and gods and stuff, but that really doesn't help Sam and Silus right now, nor Asif. So.. I suggest you start moving, while I will stay here. Jacobus can stay here if he wants, but can join the group as well. I think I can manage on my own, certainly now I have this axe of Urak"

The warrior taps impatiently with the blade of the handaxe on his hand, giving you all a critical look as if to say 'move it!'.

"You are right! We should go right now. Maybe our friends gets into troubles there. Every second we are staying here may cost lives for them. Jacobus, show us the way..." said Krige and quickly moves toward the place where Silus disappeared.

Jacobus looks at Ullar "I would like to stay here, I truely would, but the rest will only get lost through these tunnels if I don't guide them."

He turns to the others, "I'll try and not slow you down too much but you'll need me to guide you to the last known location of the guards, I think I can probably track down the others."

Matteo grimaced as the group discussed their next moves. "As much as I agree that we need to find out what has happened to the others I dislike splitting ourselves up even thinner. And I refuse to leave one person behind alone. I will wait with Ullar. The rest of you can move quickly to try to find our missing friends."

Matteo moved to stand near the collapsed body of Kenshiro. "Perhaps, Ullar, you could help me in moving the foreign one to a sitting position. I would like to take a look at his wounds again." Matteo cleaned and sheathed his longsword, keeping his stiletto near at hand as he bent to look over the prone form.

Ullar nods, moving over to Matteo to get that big body of Keneshiro in a upright position. "Jeez.." Ullar whispers to Matteo, "I think this big guy should let the porkchops for what they are.. he is more than my weight.. which is, of course, way too heavy".

To be honest, Ullar is glad someone is staying behind with him, although he doesn't show that much to the rest of the group. However, Matteo hears him whisper "I think we can manage with the two of us.. I've got the muscles, you got the spells", with, again, some sort of a smile on his face.

Matteo smiles at Ullar's statement. "You've definitely got the muscle category covered... It's a shame I used my last spell on Krige there. But maybe if we don't tell the anyone else that we'll be fine!", Matteo replies, his grin never wavering. "I'm afraid that, if it comes down to combat, I'll be relying on my wits and skills as well, my big friend. Matteo's grin becomes even wider, as it's not often that the 6'2" squire has to look up to meet the eyes of another individual.

Ullar responds to the bold talk of Matteo: "Well..as long as you have the will to keep on fighting, you've got the right ally in me".

It's not that often that the warrior has seen a Squire who was 6 foot 2!

Facing reality again, Ullar says to Matteo: "We need to cover some exits here, just to make sure that we're not being attacked from two sides, or more! We could move the Gnomes towards one exit, but then we can't see if someone is untying them from the other end", Ullar says with a sigh.

Marika nods. "We'll be back as soon as we can," she promises. "You might want to wait in the tunnel mouth, not in this chamber. It's easier to defend, and you can take a closer look at the site of Silus's disappearance. My guess is that he was spirited away down another secret passage...by friendly hands, I hope. Maybe that circular indentation had something to do with it."

She moves to follow Jacobus's lead toward the surface, then pauses, looking over her shoulder. "Just in case something happens...There's a little village five miles up the north road from Florence. I don't recall the name...but if we get split up, let's have one person from each group meet at the tavern there two hours after sunset tomorrow."

Frowning pensively, Urak considers the situation, his ears straining for any sound of their small assailants. After a momnent's thought, he speaks.

"Is there no way that we could take Kenshiro with us? Perhaps on a makeshift litter or something? If these cave-dwellers found this place once, I fear that they could do so again. With only the two of you left behind, another attack would prove devestating. Even if we move slower, it would be best if we moved together."

"Moving together will also help minimize the time we spend down here, as we will not have to venture back and forth through the caves more than once. Eventually, we will have to move Kenshiro. I would prefer to do so now, rather than later."

Ullar shakes his head. "Sorry Urak, but that doesn't sound like a good plan. What if we encounter any other hostilities? Fighting with one while carrying someone badly injured doesn't improve our chances to survive in here. I think Matteo and I are able to defend this position, or else we'll find a suitable place which we can defend. That place won't be far from this place" he adds quickly, not wanting the rest of the party to become nervous about it.

"I think you'll have to chase that priest, and chasing is not really easy with Kenishiro around, so I would say, move on without Matteo and me and grab that bastard gnome!".

Jacobus looked at Urak and listened to his plan, he thought for a moment "We could use one of the small mining carts that we carry the rocks in. However, it would take me some time to locate one, maybe it would be better to wait until we've recovered the rest of your friends ?" At that Jacobus looks down the tunnel that the others had ran down.

"You make good points, Urak," says Marika, "but we'll almost certainly have to return this way anyway to find Sam and Silus, or to contact the grey folk--and speed may be of the essence, if Asif and Rhune are in trouble. I think we have no choice but to split up briefly. The sooner we retrieve those two, the sooner we can reunite back here."

She glances again toward the tunnel down which Rhune and Asif vanished, visibly anxious to start moving.

"Well shall we go ?" Jacobus starts to move through the tunnel system, followed by the others, he scans the dusty floor for the signs of recent human footprints and follows them.

Just as the group is decided, one small, bloody member returns to it. You hear huffing and puffing, and some dragging about, and Sam emerges triumphantly from the small hole that you all saw the gnome priest head down in the first place. It becomes apparent what the little fellow was doing, as he drags the priests body into the clearing. The fellow appears dead, and the broken shaft of an arrow sticking out of the back of his head shows how. Sam himself is quite bloody, with blood on his face and he appears to be nearly out of strength, though obviously quite pleased with himself. A brief reunion takes place, which I would not dream of stealing from Jonathan.

Afterwards, the group goes along with it's original plan. The gnomes have now roused themselves, but you could hardly tell, as they sit without speaking, not mourning thier deceased comrades or speaking to each other at all. They merely sit with blank expressions on their faces. Ullar hoists his new handaxe, a finely crafted beauty of a weapon, and Matteo sits comfortably with him, weapons on his lap.

The others in the group head down the tunnel after Asif and Rhune. Taking Silus' lantern, which was left in the tunnel as he disappeared, they leave Ullar with his. Even in the lamplight, Krige can easily make out the pair of footprints, both very light on their feet, though Rhune's obviously smaller. However, it takes no tracking skill to move after them, as there appears to only be one tunnel dug to human height, which Jacobus is well aware of. Several smaller tunnels intersect the main one, but only Sam among you is small enough to travel down them. The group is anxious about another ambush, but Jacobus assures you that the gnomes down in the open area were all that were working in the mine...that he knew about, at least.

The trip is fairly brief, and the party is able to make out the opening to the tunnel after some ten minutes of walking. Laying at the floor of the opening you see a human whose chest has been ripped into savagely by some weapon. The stroke must have been vicious indeed to penetrate so deeply, and the fellow is well and truly dead. You notice also that he bears no weapon or shield, only a suit of bloody torn chain mail. You also see a rather large pool of blood in front of the man, and judge that one of the pursuers took it rather badly here. From what Krige can tell, it was almost certainly Rhune, and the blood looks fairly deep. The wound must have been near the heart to leave such a pool, but there is no blood trace away from here, and the lass is certainly not present.

Checking about, Krige is able to see that apparently Asif fled the scene some time ago, probably while Rhune lay here. Then it appears some human-sized creature approached from the left side of the tunnel and walked up close enough that his nearest footprint actually is in the blood pool. Then it appears Rhune miraculously rose and she and the stranger walked off after Asif, leaving not a trace of blood. You are all most impressed with Krige's tracking ability under only the moonlight.

Curious as to what has gone on up here, you all move off after the prints, which quickly fade in the rocky ground ahead. Sam, who has gone ahead as usual, motions for you to be quiet as he can see a human-sized person ahead shambling along with the aid of a staff. Rhune and Asif are not with the fellow. Briefly thinking about pickpocketing the man, Sam decides to follow him instead, and is not terribly surprised to see him meet up with Rhune and Asif, who have stopped at a mound of boulders and Asif is perched on top of one, staring down over it's side.