A moment after Otavia strode ahead, Merrick scampered up to her side, keeping careful watch for any traps.  Aleric and Kent followed after, doing their best to move quietly, although their training had privileged strength over nimbleness.<br/><br/>After sloping up and down a couple times, the cavern narrowed back into something of a natural corridor, about wide enough for three to walk abreast.  By this point the voices were closer, clearer, and it became obvious their chant was not in a language Otavia understood, or even a language that she casually recognized based on the combinations of sounds.  Soon the quartet of adventurers came to another bend in the cavern.  It now sounded like they were very close to the source of the chanting.<br/><br/>As she looked ahead for danger, the young mage failed to notice a patch of loose rocks in her path; her foot struck them and sent several of them noisily tumbling forward, aided by the gentle downward slope towards the bend ahead.  As the sounds of several stones clattering along the floor echoed about the cavern, the deep chanting voices came to an abrupt stop.  Merrick visibly cringed, while from behind, Otavia heard a cross<strong>"Hm"</strong>escape Kent's throat.<br/><br/>In the quiet that followed after the stones rolled to a stop, Otavia could make out the sound of whispering from around the bend (although not what was being said), followed by the sound of footsteps--two sets, she thought, one much heavier than the other--moving closer to the bend in the hallway...