You grab the rock you noticed earlier almost immediately, then go back to blocking your opponents attacks.  The enemy is attacking fast and furious and it takes all your concentration to block.  Even so, you only manage to block most of its attacks and take a few slashes.  Nothing major, but you are losing blood.  Eventually you see your opening and you ram the rock into the creature's skull with the full force of your adrenaline infused arm.  You hear a satisfying crack as the front of the skull crumbles and the creature stumbles back.  Realizing how brittle this thing must be, you grab its wrist before it can regain composure and bring the rock down again, taking off its sword arm at the elbow.  Another crack at the spine for good measure and you are confident the creature is dead.  The other four look on angrily and scream but the bars prevent them from doing anything about it, so you decide to move on deeper into the cave in hopes of finding another way out of here.

 
The cave only gets darker and darker as you go in deeper and you find it odd that there are no other inhabitants in this region... until you see a pair of large white eyes staring back at you from the darkness in the next cavern.  It doesn't appear willing to leave the chamber in pursuit of you, but you cannot return the way you came as the skeletons are still banging on the bars you left behind.  Studying the creatures behavior a little more, you begin to suspect it is a grue.

 

 
You've heard stories of grues from nearly every adventurer you've ever met.  These things are the leading cause of death amongst those in the adventuring profession.  Even higher than dragons, vampires, and Lindsay Lohan.  In fact, while grues are believed to be organic and corporeal, no adventurer has ever actually killed one before.  You struggle to remember what the adventurers told you when dealing with a grue.  It has a certain weakness, but for the life of you you simply cannot remember what that is...  You're going to have to guess.

A Grue's Weakness Is Light, you Make A Fire With Some Wood And Tinder

Grues are afraid of light!  This is why it won't leave its pitch black chamber to pursue me.  Fortunately, you still have some flint and tinder.  You originally brought it with the intention of building a campfire along the journey but things change I guess.  You light a piece of wood and wrap a piece of torn clothing (soaked in cave water) around the middle to help prevent the flames from going to far down near your hands.  You need to move fast as this is not going to last for long and you don't want to be stuck down there without light. 

 
As anticipated, the grue backs away in a feverish effort to avoid the light your flame is generating.  You are pleased to see that the passageway at the end of this chamber has a faint light source at the end (although it is very far away).  Hauling ass as fast as you can, you head down the tunnel towards the light source as your makeshift torch is already beginning to burn itself to completion.  By the time it does, you've already made it close enough to the nearby light source that the grue wouldn't dare follow. 

 

It seems the light is being generated by a series of torches that line a set of tracks.  It is then that you realize this cave is not really a cave at all but a mine occupied by numerous kobolds.  You were always raised to believe that kobolds had beards and wore candles on their heads, but seeing them now you realize how ridiculous that claim actually is.  Who came up with that anyway?  In reality, they are like miniture lizard folk and very scrawny too (even by your scrawny standards).  Staying at the edge of the light source, you decide to observe these creatures for a little while before planning a move.  You are reasonably certain you could handle one or possibly even two in a fight but you most certainly can't charge in or you will be overwhelmed in an instant. 

 
 
 
 

 
Of particular notice is the kobold on the high ledge that is sporting a purple overcoat and barking orders at the laboring kobolds in whatever the hell language these things are speaking.  It occurs to you that these kobolds may very well be working for the Craxil, in which case you would very much like to get your hands on that one in the purple & green coat.  You tire of wandering the mountainside aimlessly, narrowly evading one death after another all the while having no idea where this Craxil actually is.  Perhaps you could find some way of getting to him quietly and making him talk. 

 
There are a few problems with this plan.  For starters, the torches provide plenty of illumination in this region and there are countless kobold laborers that would detect your presence and tear you to shreds if you just went in as things are now.  You entertain the idea of making them chase you back to the grue, but you don't really have enough wood for another makeshift torch.  Even if you were to sneak along the wall on either side, there is still enough light in there to give away your location.  This is going to be tough.

 
You observe them more and try to formulate some kind of cogent strategy when you notice a kobold has to emerge from a nearby storage chamber to bring wood to the torches.  The storage chamber isn't illuminated and you didn't even notice it was there in the beginning.  That gives you a couple of ideas.  For one, you could hide in the storage chamber until the next kobold comes in to keep the torches going, then kill him quickly.  Once the torches go out, you can head to the head kobold in charge.  Alternatively, you can set the entire room on fire, which would undoubtedly create a diversion.  This plan is risky given that the fire would undoubtedly light the place up quite a bit, but it would also eliminate the tinder they need to light any torches later.

You hide In The Storage Room And Kill The Kobold

You sneak into the storage room and wait for almost 2 hours before the next kobold comes in.  As soon as he does you plunge your sword into his back and try to silence him by holding his mouth shut with your arm.  He let's out several whining and whimpering noises but nothing that seems to attact alarm.  A few minutes later another kobold walks in, obviously waiting for that tinder and you manage to surprise attack that one as well. 

 
Unfortunately this plan isn't working out as well as you had planned.  The torches are still going strong and now a group of three kobolds is heading towards the stock room.  You hide behind the door and manage to kill the first one but the other two draw their weapons and start shouting.  Soon, all the kobolds in the mine are aware of your presence and it isn't long after that that you begin to find yourself overwhelmed.  You have the unique displeasure of being killed an eaten by a large number of creatures that are even weaker than you are.

 
THE END