The two came to an unremarkable rock wall. Its rough, cracked surface looked no different from any other part of the cavern.
Balin heaved a loose rock aside, revealing a pitch-black passage behind it.
Renato had no idea how the dwarf remembered his way around. The cavern was full of similar rocks, all looking almost identical.
The opening was narrow, barely wide enough for one person to crawl through.
Renato took a deep breath, suppressed his aversion to confined spaces, and crawled in after the dwarf.
Their destination was called "New" Rolling Stone City, currently ruled by Madra Deepforge, son of the missing Deepforge warlord.
But judging by Balin's tone, the man seemed quite young, both arrogant and ambitious.
From what Renato vaguely remembered, duergar and surface dwarves had an age-old blood feud. He had no idea how Balin had managed to fit into duergar society.
As he crawled through the passage, mud gradually coated Renato's arms.
Why was there water here?
While he was puzzling over that, Balin suddenly spoke up ahead.
"Turn around, Renato. Then take the first branch on your left."
"What's wrong? Did we take a wrong turn?"
"No, there's a cave-in ahead." Balin sounded calm. "Good thing it collapsed yesterday, or we'd have been buried alive in there."
"We can't go straight to New Rolling Stone City anymore. We'll need another route."
Another brush with death. Renato struggled to turn around. The passage was so narrow that he had to twist sideways and inch his body around.
"How far a detour?"
"Be ready for a fight in a bit."
The clink of a pickaxe striking rock came from behind him. Turning around was even harder for the burly Balin, who was using his pick to widen the space.
Renato kept asking questions.
"What kind of