To and through the heart

They moved together at first, and then in a line - with Kerosene in front - until they came to a stop. It did not take long. After some befuddlement and awkward positioning, the pair managed to make their way back out of the corridor, and Salamander watched the male's antics. She bowed her head to inspect the rock he had dropped, and then took a careful step over it, towards another route. Perhaps they could find someone small and strong to dig out the dead-end, but that would be a future endeavor.

"This one?" She mumbled, and shoved her face in to the dark recess of an adjacent hole. After a few inhalations, Salamander thought she could smell water - but the entire cavern was slick and shining with some kind of wetness, so the discovery was useless. Without warning, she began to stride down the corridor - and found that it was uneven.

She was too big to make it very far, as there were some kinks in the route (a partial collapse may have severed this section from the rest, she had no way to know); there was some light from further along, but Salamander could not reach it. She did not want to give up so soon, though - and began to cut away at the blockage with her dulled claws. From over her shoulder, she called down the path to Kerosene - "Dig. This may be the exit." But there was still one more corridor to explore, and the structure in this one was clearly unsafe.