[Trade] How did we get here?

So where is this cave?" asked Aki, impatience clear in his voice. The reosean leading in the front shot a glance over his shoulder twin tails dragging behind him, his pickaxe safely stashed on a belt around his waist. He considered how he would respond for a moment, but then a much more amusing thought formed in his head as he looked ahead again.

The darkcoated Runner stopped in his tracks and scanned his surroundings, getting a bit more frantic with each time that his eyes did not meet with the imaginary landmark he was looking for.

"Oh no-" he cried, his voice shaking with worry. "I think we took a wrong turn, I don't recognize the surroundings!" Aki blinked in surprise, then also glanced around the surrounding forest to see if he could help them figure out where exactly they were. The trees grew especially dense in this section and the lakes that were peppered throughout this forest meant this forest was dark and damp. Each tree trunk looked unremarkable to the small chaser- nothing catching his eye. He too didn't know where they were.

"We can backtrack-" offered Aki anxiety creeping up in the back of his mind. which netted him a shake of the head from Tony. "I don't think that will do..." he leaned in closer to Aki.

"I think the only thing helping our predicament... is for you to stop asking where the cave is and to just follow me." a grin formed on the runners face, enjoying that the chaser fell for the tale he cooked up.

Aki rolled his eyes in mild annoyance, but then laughed, he understood that having someone tag along who constantly asked if they were there yet, was quite annoying. "Alright noted. Lead the way." Tarok smiled warmly at their exchange and followed along. He didn't talk much, enjoying to soak in the atmosphere of a place he was walking through more than anything.

He hadn't been to this part of Warrenfall before and whilst others might have called the surrounding forest gloomy and eerie, he felt excited to be able to explore it, he took in a deep breath enjoying the scent of the forest before he noticed that he was lacking behind, bursting into a quick sprint to catch up to Aki and Tony.

Tony took out the pickaxe from his belt and leaned on it as he waited for a moment on Tarok. The two of them had come across the cave opening that was talked about in rumors.

"We're here." said Tarok once he had finally caught up, his fox tail swishing behind him in excitement. The soft glow of bioluminescent mushrooms growing inside of the cave made for an inviting atmosphere in the pullers eyes. He stepped into the cave without even a shred of hesitation.

Tony followed right after, holstering his pickaxe with a swift motion, leaving Aki behind. The small chaser glanced around, feeling unease growing in his stomach he cursed under his breath and rushed into the cave after the two.

"You know we could have brought some light along." he said, complaining in a futile attempt to call upon his self confidence again and make it come back to him.

He bumped snout first into Taroks side who had to take a step or two to not fall over in response. "Sorry!" the small chaser was quick to apologize, now finally able to make out the faint silouhettes of his travelling companions amongst the glow of bioluminescent mushrooms.

Tony chuckled at Akis plea for light then shook his head. "We dont need light. Not for this expedition." Tarok nodded, but Aki was just confused.

"What do you mean?" he asked, feeling like he missed the two of them discussing something he hadnt been part of.

"The rumors said to allow yourself to be guided. And theres glowing mushrooms here. And if you look..." Tony pointed into the darkness, Akis eyes trailed off and squinted ahead, now finally noticing that these mushrooms were showing them a path, scattered throughout the cave as they were, it was as if someone had purposefully grown them.

His eyes widened in wonder, even if it was only barely visible to the others in these dim light conditions.

"Light would ruin our waypoints." Tarok reiterated for Aki who now understood why these two had willingly wandered into a dark cave such as this.

"So what do we do then- regarding the treasure, how do we find it? What about Stalagmites? We should be careful as to not injure ourselves." many questions came from the small chaser yet tony had an idea to quell his anxiety.

"Here." he plucked one of the glowing mushrooms from the wall of the cave and handed it to Aki. Its gentle glow reminded of a candle in terms of strength, helping to just barely illuminate the ground in front of it. "Hold it. And use it as a light source. We cant light a torch here."

Aki nodded, the mushroom bobbing up and down with the motion as he held it with his maw.

The trio wandered deeper into the cave, their pace slowed to a cautious crawl in which Aki lead the two along the path the glowing mushrooms indicated.

Tony was the first to notice a faint glow of light at the end of a tunnel once they had been walking for a while and the frequency in which the glowing mushrooms appeared had died down.

"Over there. I think we found what we are looking for." said Tony with a content smile on his face. The group quickened their pace, much to Akis protest who put safety first. But when that glow turned out to be the treasure they had been looking for, that upset was quickly forgotten.

"Gems like the ones that grow in Vitalus." spoke Tarok, wonder in his voice, his eyes wide with disbelief.

"This shouldn't be here." concluded Tony, puzzled by how a gem from the magic laden continent of Vitalus was suddenly in a cave in Warrenfall. Yet when Tony looked back the tunnels they had walked through looked different to when they first walked through them. Magic was at work here. They had been transported somewhere. Perhaps this treasure was not actually of monetary value, but rather something the person who created this placed high emotional value on. One thing was sure. Tony and the others would need to figure out if they were actually in Vitalus now and if said teleportation magic was one way, because if it was then... boy, would they have a long trek home in front of them.