We fought some stuff, then set the mine on fire (but only a little)
We debated over whether or not to enter the cave, with entering the cave becoming the choice. Before that the settlers needed to be prepped for our temporary absence by assigning a few additional guards, some not so eagerly. Before that began Zarn put down an alarm spell towards the start of the cave and stood guard over the entrance. During the hour of preparation, Zarn also had his familiar scout around the encampment to within a half mile of camp. The owl returned to report one location with several wooden buildings and a wooden wall, and a second location alongside some Forest that appeared to be a Whistler village. Zarn relayed this information to Dorian who suggested the wooden buildings were inhabited by Foresters and we can look into it later. Gerrie provided us useful spelunking survival tips as we moved into the cave. Soon we ran across a large group of Bloomed Bats. We approached them, set up an ambush, and dispatched them. Lucretia, her homunculi and Spud formed our front line. They dispatched several with the help of Tim who provided fire support along with occasionally manipulating space time. Xander and Zarn formed a rear reserve and were able to create a second line against a flank that came from more of the beasts. Xander managed to get revenge for one of the Bats getting first strike of the battle on Boinayel. Dorian stood sentinel in the middle and supported both lines, while Gerrie observed everything with a bemused look on her face.During the battle one of the Bloomed Bats let out a piercing death cry that modulated in frequencies likely heard by things that were not humanoid. At that moment Zarn, not knowing what else was in the cave, decided more enemies may come bearing down on them. He sent his familiar to check the cave for additional threats. Unfortunately it did not make it far and got stuck in some kind of web. Irritated, Zarn pushed forward into the cave to retrieve the familiar, setting fire to some of the brown, fungus-like web along the way. The burnt fungi-web released mind control spores into the air, but fortunately everyone was prepared. The fire ended up spreading rapidly into the chamber beyond so zarn pushed forward as far as he could, then used his Test Strike to punch a hole through the web to free the familiar. While doing so he noticed a large arachnid clinging to the ceiling off to his right. How inconvenient.