>Scene: In the cave near Lake Isle

>He heard a scraping noise from one of the passages.  J'rrid brought his
>sword up and held it ready.  Katrina came around a corner, and sighed
>deeply at the sight of a familiar face.  J'rrid lowered his sword.
>
>"Thank the gods," Katrina said.  "We're going to need all the help we
>can get searching for Lenna."
>
>"It's bad?" he asked.

 Katrina sighed and said,"Well it doesn't look like it will be easy."

 Katrina then told J'rrid and the rest of the wing assembled about
the tunnel she had just come from. About 10 feet in it branched off into
two directions, one to the left and one to the right. She hadn't got any
farther then that because Azure had informed her of the Alpha teams arrival
and she turned back.

 Katrina looked at the other two tunnels in front of the group and
said,"As to where they lead I don't know, since I didn't get a chance to
check them out. Lenna could have been taken down any of them as well."

 J'rrid had the group split up into three teams-one for each cave. They
were to keep track of their movements either by writing it down, commiting
it to memory, or both. Katrina suggested that each team also choose a rider
to report their status to his/her dragon at regular intervals, and that that
dragon inturn report it to another team's dragon/rider, and thus everyone
would know what was happening within each group. J'rrid told Katrina that
that was a good idea and then the teams went about deciding who would do
the reporting.

 As the teams made their final preperations there was a commotion nearby.
Katrina looked up from adjusting her daggers and saw B'rand enter the
group of riders. The rather carefree redhead now had a look of concern
and determination on his face. After confering with J'rrid, B'rand joined
as the leader of team two to investigate the central tunnel.

(NRPG: Allen you can add here if you wish.)

 The teams headed down each of their tunnels. Katrina went with J'rrid
down the tunnel that she had started to explore earlier. They made their
way to the fork in the tunnel where Katrina had stopped before, and
headed down the right passage, leaving the left one for later. The
passage was narrow, so they all walked in single file. The cave was cool
with a hint of dampness, possibly from and underground stream or lake.

 As they continued down the tunnel the passed a few smaller passages
going off to the right or left. They stopped by each of them and sent
a couple riders in a short ways to report what they saw-none looked
promising. The team continued down the main tunnel for what seemed
like ages to Katrina. When they reached the end, all they found was
a dead end.

 "Ah no, not after all that distance," said one rider as he leaned back
 heavly against the tunnel wall and sighed.

 "That was nothing L'cas," said J'rrid,"We've only just started."

 J'rrid then tried to build up everybodys spirits. Katrina was checking
around the area hoping to find something. *Like maybe a secret passage
would be nice*, she thought sarcastically to herself. Her thoughts were
interrupted by J'rrid saying;

 "Hold very still L'cas, it is right near your head!"

 "What", replied L'cas as he turned his head slightly.

 Katrina looked and saw there was a spider only inches from L'cas'
head and moving closer. It wasn't an ordinary spider either-it was
slightly smaller then her fist and she knew it's bite was toxic.
Everyone was telling L'cas to move away, but the poor rider obviously
recognizing the spiders close proximity to him, and it's toxic
nature was scared. A couple riders wanted to bash the thing
with their swords. Katrina said she wanted to try something.

 She then told L'cas to look away from the spider, close his eyes and
hold very still.  Katrina then removed one of her daggers with a small
blade tip and brushed it briefly against the silver patch in her hair
for a little extra luck, and aimed.

 Katrina heard,"Are you nuts, look at that things size-it's only
inches and it's so close to L'cas?"

 Katrina had no idea who made that comment, she just grinned. She knew it
hadn't been J'rrid, because as the team leader, if he didn't want her to try
it he would have said something. The spider was an inch from L'cas' head.

 The last thing Katrina heard was a rider say,"I can't watch this."

 Swish, thunk, she hit the spider dead on. L'cas gasped but hadn't a
scratch on him, but such was not the case with the spider-there wasn't
much left of it. After many of the riders had complimented Katrina on
her throwing the group headed back to the fork in the tunnel.

 Here the group rested a bit, ate something, and checked with the other
teams via communication with the dragons, before they would start to explore
the left passage of the fork.

 Katrina heard,<You are not having much luck huh my rider?>.

 <I haven't got the final reports from everyone yet, so I am not sure.
How is Blanchie?>.

<She is calmed down a bit now, but is still distressed. I do hope you find
her rider soon, before it gets late>.

 Katrina replied,<I hope so to. Gotta go now-the last of the reports
are in).

NRPG
-------
(tag: Allen to add what happened with your group in the cave.
           or
      Barb I added you here because isn't Dan'yar a member of the Alpha
      wing. If so then he might have been in one of the other search groups.
      I didn't specify him so you needn't add him to the search unless you
      wish to.

All: Hope this fits in alright. Didn't think I should conclude the search,
just start it. I also gave a bit more on Katrina-I know it might have been
a bit extreme with the dagger thing, but in Katrina's bio I mentioned she
is very acurate at dagger throwing. I also think in another post I mentioned
something about her winning awards in throwing.

Respectfully submitted,
Kris Berg
Katrina/Azure
Cleft warren