Naza landed at the bottom of the shaft, hard, knocking the wind from her lungs. She coughed in the dust of the ruin as she reflexively curled into the fetal position, feeling nothing but pain and the desperate need for air. At least the ground here was dirt and sand- had she landed on bare stone, it might have left her shattered, or worse.
As the demihuman recovered, something in the ruin watched from the darkness. The girl was a half-demon, marked by her purplish skin and the pair of stubby horns growing from her forehead. Her body was slender and lithe, with small handfuls of breast and a pleasant, girlish curve to her silhouette. She worse a pair of leather shorts and a top that barely covered her chest, and shod in knee-high boots, wearing little in order to account for the heat of the jungle ruin. Her hair, a pale pink only a shade off from pure silver, was in a short bob, and her eyes, if she hadn't had them shut tight against the dust and pain, were a deep crimson. She was an archer, but temporarily disarmed, as her bow had shattered beneath her after she had fallen.
The half-demon finally regained her senses after a few gasping, desperate breaths. She pushed herself up onto her knees, first reaching for her bow, and cursing under her breath when she found it was a wreck. Her arrows, too, were scattered all about her. Reaching to her belt, Naza found she had one blessing- her short sword was still securely belted in place. Drawing a half-foot of steel was enough to make her feel better, and more prepared to deal with this place. She then eased the blade back into it's sheath.
Looking around, she began to take the measure of her surroundings. She had been exploring the ruins with her party, doing her job as a ranger as best she could, exploring ahead of them all, seeking the best path forward. That was, until a hidden pitfall sent her tumbling into the dark, falling down one of the many natural caves that delved beneath the ruin. Why anyone would erect a temple on such an uncertain foundation, Naza had no idea- the whole place was built on soft stone, and rainwater had bored down through the earth with more persistence than an entire nation of ants.
The girl didn't hear her companions shouting down after her. She shouldn't have been completely out of sight, so it must be the sheer length of the fall that kept her from hearing them. "Hello? Eodore? Taeler? Zandra?" she called up the shaft, but only the echoes answered her.
Cursing again, Naza looked to the cave she was in. It smelled of moist earth, and all around her she could hear the faint dripping of water. Among the gifts she had received from her infernal heritage was the ability to see clearly even in complete darkness, and this gift now let her see the outlines of the cave system, drawn in black and grey. The ground here was holed through like a sponge, and she had no lack of options for carrying on her explorations.
Her first priority was finding some way up, to escape this place, she decided. Once she was back on the surface, it should be relatively easy to locate her party, but she had to tread carefully lest she fall further. None of her footing in this place could be trusted.
Picking up half of her shattered bow, she picked a tunnel at random and started down it, carefully feeling out the way, prodding the ground as she went. Her whole body ached, still, from the fall, but she was forced to grit her teeth and make her way onward.
The tunnels seemed to go on forever, and the echoes of falling water were disorienting. Twice, she found soft spots in the ground, that crumbled away beneath her makeshift walking stick, and had to change direction. Increasingly, she felt hopeless, unsure if she'd ever find a way up.
That was when she noticed the light.
Ahead of her, down a side tunnel, was the unmistakable glow of a cool white light. Not as good, perhaps, as the yellow of sunlight, but more than welcome given her situation. She headed towards the soft glow, carefully testing the ground in front of her, to make sure she didn't miss what in the dark was an obvious hazard, but the way was safe.
Soon, she emerged into a winding gallery, one wall of which was coated in some kind of crystal that was the source of the light. The crystal hung in great sheets down the walls, as if they were cascades of water from above, frozen solid and given their unearthly glow. The rest of the cavern was a winding cylinder, the ground mostly free of stalagmites except for very near the walls, making a natural pathway.
