The prince's advising mage and head guard upon exiting gave ordered for six of their finest knight and two mages to return and collapse the water exit to make sure no beast followed behind them. Then they organised their ranks and headed towards safety behind the wall.
Meanwhile Theif had followed the last ones to the exit and heard it all so he race back to Crow. After a short conversation they decided it would be best to set a few surprises for the returning solders and mages after all they had promised to protect the exit best they could. They raced back towards the exit to set something up.
Slower then Goldy wanted the final non- combatants that could leave were on their way down the tunnel. Only the strongest, the hopeless, and the broken remained. Goldy moved towards the fighters with a small jar that could save them from these relentless attacks or at least buy them more time. She gave the snake one last pat and told it to get to safty as fast as it could.
Eric found that he was to big to fit through the switchback so he had to send some other solders through to protect their escape route. Otherwise he feared they would lose their last chance to see family's and friends ever again. His thoughts turn back to Goldy and he started back down the tunnel. Along the way he found roughly seven more who would not fit and had them join him as well.
The first strange encounter the knights came across was some strange stones that they did not remember from before. They had the mages cast spells to see if they were traped but it came up negative. Strangely the first to attempt to cross them found out that they were perfectly balanced until weigh was applied then quickly twisted an slipped to the sides. One of the guards was injured badly enought to require healing all of this wasted time.
Next they were continuing on and several long vines reached out and started to choke the two leading the way. The first knight received a nasty choke burn on his neck while the second who was also grabbed by his arm and neck received a dislocated shoulder as well as the neck burn. The mages once again had to use time and gem power to heal them.
As they were once again on their way at a much slower rate to avoid traps they found that the tunnel was soon filled with smoke of some kind. The mages cast protective shields and urged the knight forward into the smoke. Soon several were screaming in pain as arrows shot from the smoke filled cave and pierce deep into their bodies.
The mage retaliated by casting fireballs and ice lances into the cavern tunnel hoping to kill whoever was preventing them from doing their tasks. Finally the smoke cleared to only show a large bomfire scattered and blasted into the natural curve of the cave. No bodies were present but whoever was doing this was smart and clever. They had already lost over a half hour and had not even covered half the distance back to the water cavern.
Theif was setting a few more random traps but his supplies were low and Crow who was already drained from previously could hardly see straight from the headache. Magic burn is what some called it and this was only the second time that it was happening to him. Please let their help arrive soon he set a quick prayer to the gods and forced himself to continue down the tunnel thanking the walls for their support.
Luck was finally turning their way as at that moment the first person popped their head out of the water finally making it safely through. Rock was never so glad to breath air. Melissa quickly followed his exiting form and assisted the next one out as Rock stood guard. Soon their group consisted of ten warriors and two mages and just in time they heard fighting in the tunnel ahead. Rock and the rest formed up a group and went to investigate while leaving two behind to help others as well as guard the rope.
Rock met up with Theif and Crow just after less then 200 feet from their water cavern and barely caught the two as Crow passed out from exhaustion. Theif said their last trap would be triggered soon and Crows gems were spent as well as his strength. This last trap would help a little because it would cause hallucinations and fear. He figured if they hurried back they might be able to drive them back and even give up their mischief.
Meanwhile once again Theifs small traps had played off better then he would have assumed as most the knights passed by unharmed up until the mage hit a snare trap. It did a great job causing him to trip hitting the guard in front right at knee level causing a domino effect. When everyone untangled they found that one guard had pierce his companion straight into his lung with his sword while two others received concussions from amassing head first into the cavern walls.
By the time they were about to hit the last trap most just wanted to give up once and for all, but their superior pushed them onward. Bam a swirl of red smoke hit them head on causing fear and concussion. The dead called out to them, things seemed to be grabbing, touching, pushing from all directions. Then the arrows hit and battle crys rose and they saw a group of monsters rush towards them. They turned tail and ran as fast as they could, slamming into the wall as they came to turns.
By the time they exited the tunnels bloods and pain fought the fear that still affected them and after about another few minutes they were able to cast dispell and calm down enough to stop running. Due to their loud exit they became worried about beast coming upon them and even were unsure where they currently rested. The head mage called off their mission and they started heading toward their kingdom with the help of a source spell. No one looked back.