Uh huh... tactical deployment wins. Very well.
The head of the militia, supported by his men, quickly took charge of the expedition. He left half of his fighting contingent in front of the largest cave entrance, hiding in the nearby brush. It was then time to go in. Torches were lit, prayers were said and instructions were left with the men outside: 'Guard the cave. If anyone or anything attempts to enter after us, kill them. If we're not back within a day, send someone back to camp and report to the council.' Then the fifteen men strong group plunged into the darkness.
The cave cut straight into the flank of the mountain, the ceiling high and dry. Soon forks started appearing in the main path, heading left and right. One of the scouts, soon realizing the danger of getting lost, used a trick he had learned while ranging: using a sharp piece of obsidian, he cut straight marks in the walls of the cave 'So we know where we've been already' he said.
The party moved in the tunnels for a few hours, exploring dead ends, apparently walking through endless corridor of stone after corridor of stone. The danger of getting lost was indeed very real, but the scout's marks always brought them further, and deeper.
After a few uneventful hours, the main passage finally ended in a three-way fork.
A. The leftmost passage, narrow and steep, apparently led upwards. Its walls were strangely smooth. The keeper of fire moved there, went in and said:
'The fire from our torches seem to gain vigor in here. I say we focus our further exploration in there.'
B. The rightmost passage nondescriptly plunged onwards without changing inclination. One of the scouts went in for several steps, then gasped:
'The walls here... they seem to sparkle and reflect the light from my torch. We should look here.'
C. The middle passage plunged down, very narrow but still walkable. One hunter walked in, crouched and picked up something from the floor. It was a carved wooden figurine of the fire spirit, its craftmanship clearly belonging to our tribe:
'It seems the previous group came through here. We came here to find out what happened with them, this is where we should go.... yet, I feel uneasy in this passage...'