"Perhaps there is still a little power left in the shrine." Adym suggested.

"Perhaps a fraction of the guardian's true influence remains." he said further.

"There is only one way to find out." he went on, before he led her to the side of the shrine, where she saw a large stone slab laying in the overgrown grass.

"The entrance is underneath this stone." he told her, before pausing.

"But before we go in... perhaps we should ready ourselves." he then suggested.

"Make sure the weapons we took from town are at hand." he clarified, taking his backpack off and fishing through it.

"Both." Adym responded.

"The guardian's lair is a large room." he told her. "But there's a small labyrinth beforehand." he warned her further.

"It's to stop intruders." he said.

"However, if one knows where to go, then it's deceptively simple." he then assured her, taking out his bow and quiver of arrows, as well as a small dagger to put into his belt.

"Warning, it can be... overgrown in there." he then said.

"And there's probably a LOT of poisonous moss on the walls."

"Hmmm..." Adym mumbled.

"Yes." he said.

"Watch out for the teal moss." he told her, as he got ready to shift the slab.

"I'm serious. Watch out for it." he repeated. "It is extremely toxic. It will knock you out as SOON as you touch it." he warned her further.

"Beyond that, just try not to touch anything that isn't a dark green." he continued.

"If it's dark green, chances are it's safe." he said further.

"And yes, that's coincidental."

"That's about it." Adym confirmed.

He then used his strength, as well as some conjured roots, to shift the slab so that it was open, revealing a stairwell that led deep underground.

"Oh, one more thing." he said.

"There should be plenty of light down there from all the poisonous moss." he informed her. "They're bioluminescent. So they'll give off enough light to see." he continued.

"Just... don't touch." he muttered.

"And be careful, it's probably slippery down there. Our steps will need to be slow and calculated at times."

As she looked around, the saw that their surroundings were indeed illuminated from the moss... and there was a soft blue light all around them. It was almost serene, in an odd way.

There was moss on the floor as well, which was what made it all so slippery, but because of their shoes, they were safe from the poison.

She DID notice that her footing was unstable, though.

She also noticed that the corners of the walls and ceiling had... webs.

A LOT of webs. Old cobwebs, and fresher webs as well.

"Careful." Adym whispered.

"We don't want to alert any of the sentries down here."

They continued to walk, before Adym stopped suddenly, and threw his arm out to the side, signalling Callie to stop.

When she did, she saw his ears twitching... and after a few seconds, she heard it.

Skittering.

A LOT of skittering in the distance.

"...stay... absolutely... still." Adym whispered.

"If you stay still... they won't notice you..." he finished, as she saw very distinct 8-legged shadows at the end of the corridor they were in, and around the corner.

And they seemed... big. Odds are the creatures that were throwing the shadows had to be at least as big as her head.

Adym didn't seem to notice that she had to sneeze... he was too focused on what was before them.

Sure enough, some large spiders, a little smaller than their heads, started to skitter by, paying no need to the two of them.

It looked like they were on patrol... and it seemed like they were, indeed, motion-based.

Some appeared to look down towards the two of them, but then continued on.

The problem was... there seemed to be a fair number of them.

And they were certainly taking their time on their patrol.

Adym's eyes widened as the arachnids stopped and all seemed to look down the hallway.

'No, no, no, no, NO!' he panicked mentally.

He then paused for a moment, as they started to slowly walk towards them... and caused his energy to create some roots down the hallway that they were headed. He jarred some rocks loose from the wall and caused them to tumble.

This caused the sentries to suddenly turn their attention to the sound of THAT, and they continued on their original path... until none were left.

Adym then whirled his head around and looked at Callie with an expression of 'that was close'.

"That was something I wasn't even sure would work." he whispered.

"But we managed it." he said.

"That would not have been good if they'd approached us." he went on. "...to understate it." he said further.

"....but we're close." he then said.

"Sentries tend to stay close to the guardian in large droves." he informed her.

"...so we're close to the guardian's chamber."

Adym was silent, and just sighed.

"I'd love to say that this place is a lot nicer without the corruption and such... but..." he started to say before pausing and letting out a heavy breath. "...it really isn't." he admitted.

"This place is meant to keep the guardian safe from any real threats, so of course it's going to be creepy and uninviting and dangerous and all that." he reasoned.

"I mean... there IS another way directly into the guardian's chamber... but... well... it's the path the guardian takes to get topside, in case of an emergency." he informed Callie further.

"And that's just a tunnel straight down." he explained.

"...I don't think I need to go into detail about why going THAT route would be... less than optimal." he then finished, as they started to take VERY cautious and light steps forward once more.