"The mine!? That's where they live!" He cried, but ran that way regardless, helping the lady Marguerite up the hill in her dress as the battle raged behind them. Keeping her steady, they made it up in good time and found the opening of the mine. Neil held his nose and told her to do the same as they rushed in, light becoming impenetrable darkness suddenly as they charged in recklessly. Neil could reload his pistol in the dark, having perfected the technique many times, but anything else short of pissing he would be useless, even with his good night vision. 

Still, for a time they stumbled and ran. Neil nearly fell over when his foot bumping into something vaguely corpse-like. Thanks to her dress, the lady would have fell head first had Neil not caught her and scooped her up. The pillars of the mine were merely silhouettes now, the floor a sea of night. In the distance, another WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH was heard, hopefully not in victory or they would have to truly travel far within the depths of the mine. Luckily there was some good news and bad news. The good news was that they could keep going, regardless. Neil was so glad he had looked at the old map in preparation for this little trip.

"I have a confession to make," He told her once they were around fifty paces in and catching their breath, realizing he was still holding her. He set her down on her feet politely, making sure she was steady before he began. As she dusted herself, he resumed his thought. "The mine has another way out, but...it's not stable from what I can tell. So we might want to keep moving. The problem is we can't see."

He began to reload his pistol, hoping beyond hope he wasn't going to need to use it again. As he poured the gunpowder and took out the pin, he realized just how right Master Gunter's fears had been when he had spoken of the mine the past night. Neil hadn't paid attention, and truthfully Gunter didn't think much of the rumors. But the scoundrel should have known, rumors always have specks of warning in them.