The owlbears' fur was dull gray and filthy, caked with hardened mud and dried blood.
A rank stench clung to the corpses, and festering lumps covered the flesh beneath their hides. Apparently, the Underdark had no shortage of parasites either.
Neither Renato nor Balin could be bothered to skin them. Putting the hides in a Bag of Holding would contaminate everything else, and they were worth little while taking up carrying capacity.
"I didn't expect underground owlbears to be able to cast psionic spells." Renato pried apart the organs with his sword tip but found no spellcasting organ. "The owlbears in the surface forests can't do that, though they aren't this scrawny either."
"The organ for psionics is the brain. Stop wasting your time and see if there are any new openings nearby."
The dwarf searched along the rock wall, muttering to himself:
"We only just dug through this passage. There shouldn't be any monsters living here. Those owlbears must have crawled out of somewhere..."
After making a circuit, Balin finally discovered a fissure in the rock wall beside the opening they had just returned through.
The narrow crack extended inward, barely wide enough for someone to squeeze through sideways. Fresh scrape marks lined its edges, along with a few tufts of black fur.
The stench of rotting corpses drifted out, making Balin frown.
He raised the Warhammer, and a bolt of lightning leaped from its head into the depths of the fissure.
Despite the dazzling glare, Renato caught a clear glimpse of the interior in that flash of light.
It was a small, enclosed, half-collapsed cavern. He saw no other creatures inside.
"Looks like there's nothing alive in there." The old dwarf lowered the Warhammer and took out a pickaxe. "Give me a hand widening this opening. Let's see