After making sure there were no traps, the group stepped into the room, weapons ready. A smell like wet dog’s fur and stangnater water reached their nostrils. Standing just over two feet tall, two creatures were standing not too far from them. From Britt’s description earlier Bard knew that these creatures were Kobolds.They had scaley skin, heads and tails. While they resembeled lizards, the tails look like those of rats. However, their heads somewhat resembeled that of a dog.
“Are they related to dragons?” Bard asked.
“No, Kobolds are cold-blooded, where dragons are warm-blooded.”
The two creatures in front of them had hides that were a rust-brown in color.
It looked like they were planning on doing something.
“The one thing about Kobolds is that theare skillful planners. When you see one of these around, make sure to look for traps. They are very handy in these and setting up ambushes.”
When the intruders entered the room, they turned and looked at them with glowing red eyes.
“It is not good to come across a hungry Kobold,” Brit had said. “They eat anything and do not care about who or what they are eating. They have been know to start feasting on a fallen hero before he draws his last breath. They even eat their own comrades.”
“Will we run into these in the caverns?” Bard asked.
“The odds are possible. This is a perfect environment for them. Even though they can be found in all different sorts of climate, they would rather live in dark and damp places. So the most likely places you will fiund them are overgrown forests and caverns such as we are venturing into.”
“The worst thing about Kobolds is that they reproduce swiftly. When you find one or two, you most likely will find offspring and eggs as well.”
“Eggs?”
“Yes. Kobolds are egg layers. Since they hide when there are intruders, you will be surprised to know that the Kobold population is twice the size as the human population.
The Kobolds spoke in a voice that sounded like a dog yipping,
Tqo Kobolds were standing not too far from them.
“Please, we wish you no harm. We have been living here without our master for years. This is our only source of enjoyment. You can have it if you let us go in peace.” They stepped aside.
“Wow!” said George astounded. “I think we are going to be rich!” At the south end of the room, two large, jewel studded, wooden chests, were opened. Gold pieces overflowed both trunks and layed scattered over the floor.
As the group looked at this marvel, the two kobolds quickly ran out of the room.
“No, Bard,” said Britt. “They are just cowardly. They may lead us into a trap. Now that we are encountering monsters, we must be careful.”
“Careful, George,” said Balon, as the thief bent down to pick up some of the treasure. “It may be a trap.”
“I will say it is,” George said. As soon as he touched the first coin, the treasure disappeared in front of their eyes. “Those Kobolds tricked us.”
“An illusion,” huffed Britt.
Johanna looked around the triangular shaped room. “This is probably where Joban meditated, studied and practiced his spells.”
Balon ran his hand over the discolored floor near the south wall. His hand came up black as soot. “It is a good thing these rooms are made of stone. His spells must have thrown off such an intense heat that a wooded structure would have been burnt to cinders.
Bard bent down and picked up a piece of paper. “The kobolds must have dropped this.”
Britt opened it up and saw it was a crude map. “It shows two rooms just north of the kitchen. I rembember passing by it and thinking it was just a wall.”
“Do you think that the kobolds are trying to lure us there?” Massacharamar asked.
“It is possible, however, I feel that the kobolds just had the map for themselves. They are not the smartest creatures and probably would forget how to get in this room.”
“Shall we check it out?” said George.
“Yes, however, we still must be on the guard.”
For once Britt looked happy. “Up to know, I thought this was just a wasted trip. However, the future seems brighter.
He hummed, off key, to himself as they walked down the corridor.

“I could have sworn this was a room,” George said. “It shows right here on the map!”
Sure enough a room was shown jus a bit from the wizard’s chamber. They had reached a wall and followed it, thinking they would find a door. However, after turning one corner and the next, they ended up where they started at.
“Maybe it was a room that never was completed,” Britt said.
“Or maybe,” said Bard, “there is a secret door.”
Johanna started laughing, “I never even thought of that. Are you sure, your parents were not magic users?”
Balon took out his magic wand and pointed it at the wall. “Detect secret door,” he spoke to the wand. He looked at the wand and moved a short distance away. Then he gave the same order. Still, nothing happened.
“Maybe it is just a wall and no room,” Britt suggested.
“You may be right,” Balon answered. “However, this spell is only good for eight square feet. So we shoul check all possibilities before gibing up.”
They had rounded the corner and got halfway through the second wall, before Balon stopped.
The tip of the wand lit up. “The door is within this area,” Balon said. “We have to start looking for it.” He went up to the wall and started tapping on it. The other went up and started doing the same.
“Look,” Britt said, walking up to the wall and putting one hand on it, “I think this is just a waste of time. “I do not see how that wand can show us a hidden doooooor.”
The wall had given away and Britt fell into a room.
“Hey! You found the hidden door,” George exclaimed.
Stepping over Britt, they found themselves in a room that was obviously designed for various purposes related to the study and practice of magic.
“The Wizard’s Workroom,” said Balon. “No wonder he had a secret door. He probably even kept it hidden from Stephan.”
Several large wooden tables were in the room. The largest one, in the center of the room, was made out of stone. The top was made of smooth black slate. There were papers scattered throughout the room. A dressing gown was draped over a chair at one end of the room.
“This is still in good shape,” Balon said, holding it up. “Joban must have been very tall. This is too long for me.” He handed the gown to Johanna. “I believe that this can get at least five gold pieces.”
Bored, George kicked at a pile of papers. His foot hit something hard, like several stones. Bending down he moved the papers and his eyes widened in surprise. Whistling loudly, he appeared to be nonchalant as he put what he found in his pocket. However, he was making sure that everybody was watching him.
“Hand it over, George,” Britt said, holding out his hand.
“Who me?” asked the thief, innocently.
Britt said nothing, but kept his hand out.
“Party pooper,” he said as he handed what he found to the dwarf.
“Wow!” Britt said. “These must be worth two-hundred and fifty gold pieces!”
Bard looked at the silver stones in Britt’s hand. “What are those?”
“Rune stones,” Balon answered for Britt.
“What are they used for?”
“May I take one of these?” he asked Britt. The dwarf gave him one.
Balon turned the stone over in his hand until he found an inscription carved in the stone. He showed it to Bard.
“Each of these stone have a symbol carved into it. Each symbol is different from the other. Magic users use rune stones as guidance. I would not say that they are effective in predicting the future, since one individual has a totally different interpretation than the other.”
“How do you use them? Bard asked.
“Where did you find these, George?”
“Right over here.”
“There should be a bag or small sack. Oh I think this is it,” he bent down and picked up a small cloth sack, that had holes in it.
“Like I said, I do not use rune stones to predict the future. However, if I am forced with several different choices I use them. Let’s, for example, I am deciding whether to turn left or right and am not sure what to do, I have to clear my mind and focus. While focusing, I put the rune stones in the bag and mix them up.
“I then ask the question out loud or in my mind.
“Then I take a stone from the bag. By reading the symbol, I can know whether to take a left or a right. If I am not sure, then I take another stone and keep doing this until I get a clear answer.”
“So there is no magic in runestones?
“None. Even when I use them to make predictions, they do not always come true.”
Massacharamar came over with a piece of paper. “I found this in the wastebasket. It looks like a spell of some sort.”
“Let me see,” Johanna said. “This is a Spider Climb Spell.”
“How does that spell work?” asked the elf.
“When it is cast,” we can clim up walls without using ropes. “We can even move across ceilings just like a spider does.”
“That definitely would come in handy,” Britt said.
“Unfortunately,” said Balon, “neither Johanna not I are experienced enough to use this spell yet. To cast this spell, I must be a conjurer or Johanna a priestess. Still we can keep this spell for future use.”
The north wall had shelves containing glass and earthern jars. Each of the forty jars were approximately the same size, about a quart. However there was one glass jar that was considerable larger. It looked like it was about a gallon.
“They are probably still are full with different items that Balon may have used over the years.”
Britt looked around the clutter of the room, “George, do those jars have any traps?”
“No,” he said after examining several lids. “They are just used to storing things. Should we investigate the contents.”
“We each can look at two. Most likely, they probably just hold what Joban used for his art. Yet, you can never tell.”
He walked up and picked out two jars and opened them. “Mine have wood chips and metal fillings.”
“Maybe he was just a pack rat,” George said. “He probably was one of those people who did not like to throw anything away. Let’s see if I have better luck. Mine have salt and herbs. Maybe he was just a great cook and not a magician at all.”
“You are probably right,” Bard said laughing. His two jars contained tea and vinegar.
“This one contains sand,” said Johanna. “However, I am not sure what this one has. It has a weird smell.”
Bard came over and sniffed the jar. “I think that is sulfer.”
Massacharamar opened the one jar and ran her fingers through the substance. “I think this is stone. She caught the glitter through the fragments. This might be quartz. Bud did Balon crush the stone or did it just deterioriate with age?”
Balon answered, “Magic users use many substances with their spells. Crushed stone is one of them. What is in the other jar?”
“Let’s find out,” elf said removing the lid. “Oh boy that smells!” she exclaimed holding her nose. “I can’t believe it! This jar has dung in it!” She quickly put the lid back on.
Balon was the final one to pick up two jars.
“Is that what I think it is?” George asked.
“Yes, it is blood,” Balon answered.
“You mean to tell me that he killed something or somebody to get that blood?”
“From the looks of it, this appears to be orc blood. This does not mean that he killed this creature. It may have been already slain, before Joban got the blood.” He opened the second jar and saw that it contained body parts of bees, flies, beetles, and ants.
George stared transfixed at the large clear glass jar. “Hey guys,” he said, “oops and ladies,” he quickly added. “There is a cat in there!” The others gathered around the cabinet. Sure enough, the body of a black cat was floating in a clear, colorless liquid.
“I think I just saw it move!” Massacharamar said.
“You are seeing things,” Britt said. “How can that cat be alive after all these years?”
“He did move!” Johanna said. “Look at its paws!” The cats paws was slowly retracting its claws.

 

I had this written yesterday and forgot to post. Daughter sick with flu

“I wonder how many bedrooms are in here. I bet people would want to stay here for a vacation.”
George peered through the door at the south end of the dinging room. “Apparentl Stephan and Joban liked to drink.
“This must be the loung,” Britt said, looking at the earthernware tankard mugs hanging from the wall and a dry ale keg standing int eh corner.
“It still smells like a brewery,” said Bart.
At the center of the lounge stood a carved statue of a full-sixed, nude woman. It was as if she was beckoning with arms out front in an inviting pose.
“A little vulgar,” said Balon, running his hand over the white marble. “However, it is a beautiful work or artistry.”
“Wow,” said George. “Too bad I can not pick pocket this. It has to be worth over 5,000 gold pieces.
“Too bad you were not stronger, George,” said Bard. “Even I can not budge this.”
“Look at the walls,” said Johanna. They looked. Each wall had a long wooden bench. Those sitting in the bench would face toward the center of the room and the statue.
“I wonder what the purpose is?” said Balon.
“Maybe it was the statue was of some type of goddess,” Johanna suggested. “They probably made sacrifices to it. Yet I do not see anything that would suggest such a thing,” she added looking around the room.
Britt sat down on one of the benches. “With the exception of the rats, I have seen no the sign of life. I wonder if we actually did get here to late.”
“I do not think so,” said George. The rooms are full of dust. There were only signs of the rats, no other footprints.”
“True,” said Britt. “I think we should go back outside and set up camp. We have not eaten since breakfast. Maybe we can discuss things on a full stomache.

Chapter Six
The Wizard’s Wing

“What I did was very careless,” said Britt. “Maybe I was not expecting something to jump out at me. What I should have done was have you covering my back, Bard.”
“I think we were all taken by surprise. We forgot that we are in a place that has traps set up to either kill us or send us away.”
“I do not think the rats were a trap,” Johanna said. “I believe that they took over these ruins as their own stronghold.”
“We will have to find how they are coming into the caverns and take care of it.
“George, you barely ate anything,” Johanna said.
George looked down at his plate. “I guess I am not too hungry,” he said.
“Are you okay, George?” Britt asked. “You are not upset by that incident.”
George looked at Britt and smiled sadly. “I am fine, Britt. I am just thinking.”
“Son, you are thinking about her again, aren’t you?”
George said nothing but stood up and walked to a log away from the others. He sat down and stared at the darkening sky. It was another beautiful night, with the stars making their appearance one by one. Yet he ignored the beauty, too self-absorbed in his thoughts was he.
Bard got up and walked over to where the thief was sitting. “I am willing to listen, if you want to talk,” sitting down next to George.
“When I left the Thieving Guild-when Britt rescued me from the angry mob-I had to leave everything behind. I do not miss the Guild. I was able to replace my tools. Yet, there was one thing I can never replace.”
“What is that?”
“Not what but who. Shyla, even though she was not my girlfriend, she was a very good friend of mine.”
“I take it that she was a thief also.” Bard found it had that George would be able to trust a thief enough to consider one a friend.
George laughed. “She was not a very good thief. She did what she did to get by. However, she was not interested in building her skill. Mostly she was good at stealing food from vendor stalls. Well, the vendors would allow her to steal from them. They pitied her and would turn their heads when she wanted to steal a piece of fruit.”
“I considered her to be a good friend. We could laugh and tell each other secrets and trusted each other not to tell anybody else.”
“When you return to your town, you can try to find her at the guild.”
“It is too late. A few weeks after Britt rescued me, I returned to take her from the Guild. I knew that she did not want to belong to it; she felt uncomfortable staying there. It was too late; she had already left the guild for a more promising career.” He sighed, “The problem is, even though I consider her as a friend, I also am deeply in love with her. I never got the chance to tell her. I regret it to this day. Have you ever been in love, Bard?”
“I do not think so. However, there is always the possibility,” he added glancing over to Johanna. “Still, you never know George, you may run into Shyla when you least expect it.”
“Thanks Bard, I sometimes get discouraged. You may be right so I have to keep my hopes up. I better eat, before the Britt eats my share.”
They returned to the others.
“Thanks Bard,” said the dwarf. “Sometimes it takes George a few days to get out of his gloom.”
“Do you think we can use the kitchen to cook in?” asked Johanna. “We just have to clean it up and make sure the rats do not return.”
“I did think of the same thing,” Britt said. “We just have to make sure the chimney is not blocked. Plus we can use that area as a staging area. I do not see any reason why we need to carry our supplies everywhere with us. We can just take what we need and we can even use our standard rations there. Since the kitchen is above ground, they will not spoil. George have you marked those areas we have explored on the map?”
“Yes Sir, I am already on top of that.”
“Good we will explore the area near the lounge.”
George groaned and put his head in his hands. “Does this mean we will have to listen to those two mouths issuing their warning again?”

The next morning, after a quick breakfast, the adventurers set foot once again into the Caverns of Kildun Aalda. There were no signs of the rats in the kitchen. However, there signs of their presence; several holes in the walls where they gnawed with their teeth and droppings on the floor.
“Phew!” George-back to his normal joking self-said, holding his nose.
Balon appeared with a face black with soot. The chimney is not blocked anymore, it was just filled with soot.
“We can burn the food from the kitchen,” said Massacharamar. “It is too spoiled. Maybe that will take care of the rat problem. We killed eight of them yesterday; but the rest disappeared.”
“If we find some wood somewhere, we can nail the holes up,” said George.
Within an hour the kitchen was cleaned; the dust was all gone due to Johanna’s spell.
****************
“This place looks like it is brand new,” Britt admitted. “The problem is where do we put our food where the rats will not get it.”
“I think in that large iron kettle,” George said. “Do you remember the one you almost hit your head on?”
Britt looked at the kettle suspended from the chain hanging fron the ceiling.
“Rats are not good at climbing. This will be the perfect place.”
“If you give me a few minutes, I can clean the dust out of the dining room and the lounge,” said Johanna.
“Let’s check this corridor,” said Bard after the dining room and lounge were just as clean as the kitchen. They walked north and came to what looked like a rather austere abode.
“This must be Joban’s personal chamber,” Balon said looking at the north wall. Over seventy feet long a very detail carving was there. It showed a mighty wizard on a hilltop casting a spell in the air over a valley below, with an entire army fleeing in a confused panic. “Maybe it is telling the story of the Barbarian Invasion.”
The east and west walls did not have any artwork. However, there were several wall pegs on each, apparently for hanging garments.
The room was bare of furniture except far a bed, located in the southeast corner of the chamber and three chairs scattered about the room.
“No George,” said Britt, “you can not pickpocket this.” They looked at the ornately carved rosewood.
“Yes,” I would imagine this is Joban’s chamber.” The headboard showed Joban’s name highlighted in gold leaf.”
“This bed has to be worth money,” Johanna said. “It is of fine workmanship and construction.”
“True, we can try to sell it,” Britt said. “However, it is too heavy and we would have to dismantle it. It is possible that we can damage the pieces. Still, I am guessing the baseboard and the sides have to be worth 100 gold pieces each and the headboard can probably get us at least 500 gold pieces. George, mark this down in your book.” George pulled his book from his bag and began taking notes. “We will let the elders know. We will leave it up to them to try to sell it. They even may just decide to keep it here.”
“Ouch!” yelled George grasping his hand. “Oh I am so stupid!” He was standing by the nightstand, also made of rosewood, by the bed. “I should ave known to look for a trap first.”
“Are you okay?” Johanna asked.
“It will be fine. I am just stupid. The drawer on the nightstand was locked and I grasped the handle. There was a pin trap. Do not worry, I have dealt with these traps before. They inject an oily substance. Luckily it is not poison and the pain will go away in time. Do not touch that handle!” he warned to Balon as the magic-user went to examine the handle. “The only way to dismantle that trap is to find the key that unlocks the drawer.”
“Here, George,” said Britt, “I have some things you may like.” He handed him a pitcher and three mugs, all made of pewter. (30 Gold pieces)*********************
Balon walked to a door on the south wall of Joban’s chamber. “George!” he yelled. “Are you up to checkin this one for traps.”
“I am fine,” he said. “My hand is getting better.” He looked at the door. “This one is clear!” he said.
“For a closet, this is fairly big,” Britt said.
They walked to the corner of the room and inspected several bolts of material that were stacked upon each other. Heavily covered with dust, moth-eaten and deteriorating, the material was useless.
“That is a shame,” said Balon. “At one time this was fine material.” He walked over to a wall where several coats and cloaks hung. They too were dusty, dirty and smelled of must.
“This one may be worth fifteen gold pieces,” he said, handing Britt a cloak that was studded with pewter.
They walked to a wooden table farthest corner of the room. Four large books were lying on top.
Bard picked up the first book. Written in the common language, he was able to read it. “This seems to be a history book. It outlines different times in the civilized areas around here. There is a big section on Antares.”
Britt looked quickly through it. “I wonder how this ties in with Stephan’s and Joban’s stronghold. Maybe they researched the histories of different lands before deciding where to build their home.”
“Here you will be able to read this better,” Balon said, handing the second book to Massacharamar. “I can speak and understand the elvin tongue. However, I can not read it well. I believe that it deals mostly with plants.”
The elf looked through several pages of drawings of different types of plants. “From what I am reading, it appears that Joban used plants for different types of spells. He even wrote down precautionary notes on how some plants will not interact well with others. Apparently, he also used the plants for healing purposes.”
“I can not make any sense of this at all,” George said. He kept looking at the book first right side up, then up side down and finally sideways. He was holding a book with many handwritten entries of undecopherable runes and markings.
“It looks like some sort of diary kept by Joban. Maybe it details one of his adventures from the distant past.” She continued looking at the book. “He wrote this for his eyes only and the only way we can read it is to cast a read languages spell.”
“This is a weather book,” Britt said. “If this is Joban’s work, I must say that he is an excellent artist. He was looking at a drawing of a tornado causing havoc in a village. “There are only pictures in this book,” he said, flipping through several pages. “This must have been a hobby he did in his spare time.”
In another corner was a small table with a stack of papers upon it. These were very dusty, and were held in place by a stone slab paperweight. A fancy Letter J was monogrammed on it.
“There is nothing too interesting here,” Massacharamar said. “They contain things such inventory of foodstuffs, a financial accounting of expenses, notes on constructive work for the complex, a couple of routine messages received by Joban, and other things like that.”
The group left the closet. Making sure nobody saw him, George quickly put the diary he found in his backpack.
Bard pointed to another corner in Joban’s chamber. “There is another door.”