Caves... Of course Katrina hated them. It was not as if she suffered from claustrophobia. Was there anything to like about caves? They were dark, cramped, uncomfortable, and often inhabited by dangerous monsters or enemies. There was no other choice but to endure it all and venture inside. She declined the torch offered by the vrykul. Instead, the paladin chose to illuminate her path by gathering a small and concentrated amount of magical holy light within her fist. Her hand radiated a powerful and golden luminance around her, effectively chasing the darkness away. Despite the intensity of the light, it was not uncomfortable for the party members' eyes to look at it. It was on the contrary quite relaxing, like staring into a flickering campfire during the night. Even with her holy light and the burning torches, many shadows still lured in the distance. Katrina worried more about what she could not see rather than the opposite. Once again her demoniacally enhanced senses came to good use. She could see vague contours and shapes of the rocky passage ahead even where the light did not reach. Occasionally, while descending the tunnel, she turned her head around to look back the way they came, to make sure no one or nothing was following them, using the shadows as cover. She had to make sure whatever noise she heard was either the wind or some harmless animal.<br/><br/>It was fortunate she was wearing relative soft leather boots rather than plated ones. The latter would surely be too clunky to find proper foothold and cause too much noise against the rocky surface.<br/>They did not know what exactly would be waiting for them, but there was something at least, or else they would not be here in the first place. They had to stick together and keep their wits and senses about to make sure this cave would not become their tomb. Would they walk into a trap? Be ambushed by mortals or monsters? A gloved hand rested around the familiar grip of her sword, ready to pull it out in an instant, whenever the situation would require it.<br/>She sensed a powerful evil within the cave. Each step they took brought them closer to the source. The evil presence assaulted her senses with wicked disgust. Her nose wrinkled from the acrid odor it in the very air. The most peculiar attribute of the presence was the fact the presence felt...familiar to her. Perhaps she was just imagining it, but Katrina believed she had felt it before, and it was not from the ship crash earlier.<div class="messageTextEndMarker"> </div>