James thought for a split second, and dropped the Green Iron War Hammer in his hand to the ground as he set his footing and readied his shield. The monster continued charging at its shuffling pace and James reached his hand into the magic bag saying "Earth War Hammer."

His hand closed on the handle and withdrew it from the bag, flat striking face at the ready, and was just shy of being fully in position for a [Hammer Strike] when the mole monster lunged and tackled his shield. Slightly off balance, James didn't manage to thrust the shield at the monster, but before it could start scrabbling with its razor sharp claws, James swung.

[Heavy Blow]

With a mighty overhand strike, James crushed the monster's head and a small amount of the stone and earth floor beneath it. He pulled back the hammer to strike again when he heard another outraged squeal.

James looked back at the passage he had been approaching and saw another mole monster charging. Mindful of his footwork, he sidestepped to the left, both to avoid tripping over his dropped war hammer and also to open up more space between him and the wall. Getting too close would hinder his right arm and hammer.

The mole monster charged past its fallen brethren and lunged at James. James, this time, caught the charge with a shield thrust and countered with another [Heavy Blow] empowered [Hammer Strike].

Splat

With both mole monsters downed and showing no signs of life other than twitching and spasming, James hastily scanned around with his helmet-restricted narrow field of vision. Looking up, he saw no bats. Looking down, he scanned the floor for spiders and rocks that might trip him. Looking forward, at the passage, there was yet another mole monster.

But this one was smaller, a juvenile of the monster specie. Its claws, especially, were much shorter than its larger counterparts. With a higher pitched squeak of outrage promising vengeance, it loped towards James, lighter on its feet than the others.

It lunged, and James caught it with a shield thrust as usual, and it bounced back nearly a full yard before crouching down, stunned. James wasted no time, stepping forward with shield raised, and finished off the monster.

At this point, James expected more mole monsters to come pouring out of the passageway so he quickly retrieved his Green Iron War Hammer and stowed it back in his bag, then backed up to a clear section of cavern floor and prepared himself.

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But nothing happened.

He waited for as long as it took to catch is breath again, then resumed his advance toward the passage entrance. He crept forward, mindful of his advance and any boulders he might trip over in a retreat, and soon he was near the wall a couple yards from the passage. Now he crept wide, keeping his distance but now able to see down the passage…

It was a somewhat natural tunnel, but clearly had been expanded by the mole monsters and their claws that cut through stone and earth like warm butter. The result was somewhat triangular shaped, with the bottom wider than the top which was the most natural looking. The top was also the only part with glowshrooms growing, providing meager light. This light revealed a short passage, maybe 5 yards, at the end of which was the largest mole monster James had seen thus far, possibly two or three times the size of the regular mole monsters and nearly as tall as James himself.

It caught sight of James and snarled viciously, growls and hisses following in such rapid succession it sounded almost like it was sputtering. Its claws deceptively looked shorter than the regular mole monsters, but that was a matter of proportion: they were actually slightly larger. With its bulk, it could just barely squeeze through the passage and charge at James. He readied his shield, but-

It stayed in the tunnel, furiously hissing and spitting at James.

Slowly, keeping his eyes on the monster for any signs of a sudden dash, James retreated back the way he came, to the side. The last thing he saw in the dim light was the reflection of the monsters hate filled eyes glaring at him.

James continued his retreat with his focus on the mole monster tunnel until about the midpoint of the cavern, at which point he turned to face his goal, the ward, and moved expeditiously keeping an eye out for spiders. Only once he was safely back in the wards did he start to relax, but only slightly. He kept his armor on, only sitting on a knee high boulder and taking stock.

His armor was in good condition. Although he did take a strike flat on his shield, the cushioning he had installed had minimized the damage to his pauldron, and the iron spikes on his boots had kept him firmly anchored to resist the momentum of the tackle.

Other than the uncomfortable proximity of the spider passage, the biggest problem was that James was getting hungry and thirsty. Especially after having fought three mole monsters in a row. It wasn't critical, but this felt like a good stopping point.

Leaving the ward where it was, he trekked back to his camp and made himself a lunch of porridge and drank some of the Pure Water (he double checked with his skill, now leery of the cavern's water sources). While he ate, he decided it was perhaps time to try to fashion himself some kind of canteen or water jug that the magic bag would accept. And on top of that, he should make himself some kind of oven to bake bread in. He did have plenty of flour and even some yeast, and if he could make bread he could have something to eat away from camp other than his dwindling supply of dried meat.

Ate and drank, James put his helmet back on and made his way back to the ward in the other large cavern. He checked for monsters and was pleasantly surprised to find that none were to be found. He had expected at least a bat monster or two to show up and investigate his ward.

Satisfied that it was safe, James left the ward and approached the first of the passages on the left-hand side. The path he was taking now put his shield more on the side facing the wall, but James was fine with that after his encounter with the mole monster passage. At least he had some familiarity with the side of the cavern he was putting his back to now.

He cautiously advanced on the passage, and peeked in, then did a double take, blinking.

Was this a path to the outside?

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