Chapter 29 - I’ll have a fried warg, with just a side of blood
Leaving the forest behind and making her way through the bush and down the small tunnel hidden in it was both awkward and uncomfortable for her, but Scarlett managed it without taking too much time and soon found herself crawling into a small cave of dirt with roots jutting out from the walls. Kat stood in the middle of it, holding the lantern up as she looked towards a part of the cave that narrowed down and led further in. To Scarlett's eyes, it almost looked like that passage had been widened by human hands.
As she stood up, taking out a cloth from her [Pouch of Holding] to wipe off some of the dirt, Kat turned to her and nodded towards the passage. "Looks like it'll get pretty tight. We don't really know how many of those wargs we'll encounter at once on the other side either. But I'm guessing that I can't convince you to stay here?"
Scarlett paused, looking between the passageway and the Shielder. This time there wasn't anything particularly dangerous that Kat couldn't handle, and as far as Scarlett remembered there weren't any traps in this dungeon. As such, she didn't actually have to come with. She'd probably be more in the way than anything else, and she wasn't sure how effective her own magic would be against these wargs. They weren't the highest level, so she could probably handle a couple of them, but there were a lot of them. Although Kat would be able to handle them all on her own, so she could just tell Kat what they were looking for and have the Shielder get it.
...But that didn't sit well with Scarlett. She didn't like the idea of just leaving the whole matter—which was directly connected to her current needs—in someone else's hands while she just waited for the results. She wasn't sure if that was something from her, from Amy, or if it was a consequence of her traits. Nevertheless, she didn't want to do it like that.
"Hello? You hearing me?" Kat's voice returned Scarlett's mind to the present and she met the woman's gaze. The Shielder had found a piece of white cloth from somewhere in the village which she was now using as a headband to keep her golden hair locks away from her eyes.
"What you said is true," Scarlett said. "But you are also correct in assuming that you will not be able to persuade me into staying here. If necessary, I trust in your capabilities to keep me safe in any unforeseen situation." A snap of her fingers conjured three small spheres of fire in the air above them. "And I believe I can be of some help, at the very least by relieving you of some of your encumbrances." It wasn't quite as bright as the lantern, but it did leave Kat free to worry about other things.
Kat just gave a small smile as she shrugged and put the lantern out. "You won't hear me complaining," she said, handing Scarlett the lantern to put in the pouch of holding. "Just be careful, as usual. If I tell you to get back it's probably a wise idea to get back."
With that Kat began moving towards the small passage and squeezed into it. Scarlett followed closely behind, keeping the fires slightly in front of them as they moved. Before long they reached a point where the passageway opened up into the side of a stone corridor. It almost looked like the passageway had originally formed from a crack in the wall, and later been widened artificially — probably by animals at first, but then by humans. If Scarlett were to guess it was the villagers of Whistlecreek, back when they first discovered this place. It was never mentioned in the game specifically how they found this place though.
The floor of the corridor they now found themselves in was covered with dirt. Scarlett scrunched her nose at what she was pretty certain was animal droppings. Too small to be from the wargs, but it wasn't too unusual for bats to be found in places like this in the game.
The rather decrepit appearance of the corridor brought attention away from the walls, which were covered with different murals and depictions of several large wolf heads with fangs around them like wreaths. Kat let out a low whistle at the sight. "I keep on running into the most interesting places when I'm with you," she whispered and leaned close to Scarlett.
This was barely anything compared to some of the other places one visited later in the game, but Scarlett had to admit that some of these illustrations were impressive. She wouldn't say they were quite on the level of some of what they'd seen in the Zuverian ruins, but the wolves did have a flair to them that old statues of a mostly extinct race didn't.
Scarlett glanced to the right, where there seemed to have been a cave-in of sorts that blocked most of the passage, and to the left where the corridor continued on into the darkness outside her fire sphere's range. Kat had already started moving further down that path and Scarlett followed. Soon they reached a set of stairs that went down. Scarlett touched Kat on the shoulder, gesturing down the steps. Kat seemed to understand what she meant as she gave her a nod and cautiously began moving down. Scarlett waited for a moment before following.