>>5948075>>5948111>>5948136You decided to follow the advice of these miners, a part of you wanted to see the underworld and, even if it was full of dangerous creatures that could kill you you supposed that they would not be a great threat to an experienced knight. Of course, with bad luck you could die, but you could be killed on the open by a lucky peasant with a crossbow too, like Richard the Lionheart after all. And if it is as dark as they say it is in the underworld, you were certain that lucky peasants would not be able to aim their crossbows properly, or even reload them, hah ! So, if all depended on your skill with the blade you were certain that you would manage to kill anything that tries to endanger you, especially with the help of Brother Louis and Father François. Plus you had to know about these Pillars of Agartha where your ancient court mage found some wonders left behind by the Lord.
After a small ride you began to enter the deep, in caverns full of sharp rocks and small paths. You had to dismount and lead your horses by their reins to continue. Some glowing mushrooms produced a small quantity of light besides your torches and you were absolutely impressed. The walls, the caverns, they were in some places three hundred feet high, and more. You did the sign of the cross, were they the gates of hell. You could see that even Godefroi stopped his brooding to see it. It was as if there was an entire world under the surface, a world full of wonders and beauty. You crossed rivers of water and saw strays of burning water falling into the deep dark. The miners told that it was called Lava and Brother Louis added that it was common near volcans. You felt like Siegfried entering the cavern of the dragon, you wondered if these places were full of treasure.
You asked to the miners who ruled these lands and they answered that if the lords of the surface who owned entries there therorically had them in their demesne they were poorly controlled.
Excluding some outposts and small mines these dark lands were those of many tribes of savages, pigratmen slavers (that they called Koboldes here) and Dark Guelphs. Of course, the italians, even the pointy eared version, had to be there, it was said that their merchants traveled as far away as the black sea to establish trading posts there. And then you learned that all kinds of bandits were there. You were in the middle of such conversation when you heard something to your left and had only time to dodge before something pointy passed over you. Arrows ? It did not sound like it.
