I will be editing my nano throughout December.


“Now that is what I call teamwork!” Britt yelled, patting George on his back.
“I will say it was,” Massacharamar said, cleaning off the hobgoblin blood from Her sword and George’s knife. “If it wasn’t for George, I am sure I would have defeated him.”
“I did not know you could protect yourself with a shield,” Bard said to Balon.
“That is one of the first spells I perfected,” the magic-user said.
“That is something I have not been able to do yet,” said Johanna.
The group, after making sure that there were no more goblins, searched the dead creatures and found several silver pieces.
“A little something for our efforts,” Britt said. “Still this attack went well. I do not think we made any mistakes.”
“True,” said Bard. “We were not taken by surprise. We were prepared when they went to attack us.”
“You showed excellent leadership,” Balon told Bard. “That is a sign that you will make an excellent warrior.”

“This must be worth something,” Bard said looking at a silk banner handing on the wall.
“It is still in excellent shape,” Massacharamar said, running her hand over it. “I would say this has to be worth at least 250 gold pieces.”
“For that?” Britt said coming over. “All it is is a banner.” While it was on a black background, the word ‘Victor’ has stitched in yellow.
“One would assume that it would not be worth much,” the elf replied. “However,” she said as she ran her fingers over the letters, “this is not ordinary embroidery thread; this is pure gold.”
“I found this,” George said coming over with a small pewter statue. It was one of a stallion that was rearing up on his hind legs.
Britt looked at it carefully. “Yes, I think we can get at least fifty gold pieces for this.”
“Stephan apparently fought while riding,” Bard said. In one hand he carried a heavy lance that was experetly carved with many runes and symbols.
“I also found this,” Johanna said. She was carrying a weapon similar to her mace. However, this one had an extra head on it the was suspended from a chain.
“Stephan must have been a strong person to carry either of these,” Britt said. “They both are still in excellent condition. When he went out to battle, he was not playing games. He took all of this stuff seriously.”


George held the moonstone in his hand. He knew that he now had his Shyla back, his nightmares about her would go away. He never minded the bad dreams that haunted him as long as they did not involve the woman who would be his future wife. He could handle any dreams that came his way. Therefore, he did not need the moonstone any longer.
He ran to catch up to Balon.
“I do not need this,” he said handing the dream stone to the magic-user. “I believe that you have more need of it than me.”
“Thank you, George,” Balon said, patting him on the back. The darkness that he saw in his future faded.

 

The elf faced the hobgoblin and pulled her sword.
The four goblins, obeying their leader, advanced on the others. “Joban, help Britt out!” Bard yelled. Johanna stay with me! George, protect Massacharamar!”
“Shield!” Balon yelled. Suddenly a transparent barrier formed around his entire body. He moved to Britt and faced two of the goblins.
Johanna joined Bard, grasping her mace tightly in both hands,
George stood five feet away from the hobgoblin and Massacharamar. The monster concentrating on the elf, ignored the thief.
Balon held up his wand and yelled, “Light!” A ball of light formed on the end of the wand. Flicking the tip of the wand, the ball of light flew into the face of one of the goblins.
“I cannot see!” yelled the creature.
Balon threw a second ball of light at the second goblin. However, it deflected the light with its shield.
“I have this one!” Britt yelled, indicating the one who avoided the light. “Take care of the other one!” He rushed in to strike the goblin. Even though it was not unaffected by the light spell, the goblin was concentrating on the magic user. He did not notice the dwarf rushing towards him with the swinging sword. Screaming in pain, it feel to the ground with his decapitated arm from the shoulder. It feebly tried to rise. However, Britt stabbed down into its black heart.
Meanwhile, Balon held out his hands and light came from them. Two balls of light appeared and they formed into golden arrows. He threw his hands towards the blinded goblin. Finding their mark, the goblin fell dead to the ground with two arrows protruding from its neck.
“Take the one of the left!” Bard yelled. “I will get the other one!” They approached slowly towards their goblins.
The creatures laughed. “This will be easy prey! They are too slow!”
“Now!” Bard yelled. Both he and Johanna suddenly rushed the creatures. The one Johanna attacked had a look of surprise on its face before its skull was crushed from her mace. Barde just as quickly decapitated the head of his goblin.
The battle between Massacharamar and the hobgoblin was not as easy. This creature was bigger and stronger. Skillfully he swung his battleaxe. Just as skillyfully, she swung her sword. Blocking each others blows, neither was gaining the advantage.
George, stood back and watched. He ached to help, however, he could not find an opening. With the swinging weapons, he would only get hit by one of them.
“Look out!” yelled Massacharamar, as the battleaxe came flying towards him. He quickly leaped out of the way. The elf had hit the axe with such a forch that the hobgoblin lost his grip on the weapon. However, her weapon also went flying harmlessly away. There was nothing to do except either to fight with her hands or use a spell.
The hobgoblin saw his chance. If he got to her before she could conjure up a spell, he would over power and kill her. He quickly leapt towards her and started punching her in the face, his hands reaching for her throat.
Even though she tried to fight him off, he was too strong.
“This is your chance, George!” she yelled. George, seeing Massacharamar plight, was already on the move.. The hobgoblin had totally ignored him. Running from behind, with his knife in his hand, he jumped on the creature’s back and stabbed him.
Screaming in pain, the hobgoblin loosed its hold on Massacharamar and turned to face George. Massacharamar wan and retrieved her sword.
“It is not he you want!” the elf yelled. “It is me!”
The hobgoblin turned and faced the elf once again. Snarling, he rushed at her once again. She swung and the sword sunk into his chest. He fell screaming to the ground. Massacharamar stood over him, ready to finish the creature off.

 

This is from an earlier entry where I fixed up. I am still working on that chapter.

“We better be careful,” Britt said, looking around the large room and sniffing the air. “I think there was some type of creature in here recently.”
“What was this room used for?” asked George. “There is nothing but black soot.” He looked at his hands, which were already blackened. “I am so in need of a bath right now.”
“I think we all will be,” said Bard. “I bet my face is as black as your hands.”
George walked up to Bard and ran his finger along his face. Holding it up, he said, “This is definite proof that you are not clean anymore. Wait, this is my dirt.”
Johanna walked up to a hole that was drilled into the wall. She looked through it and was able to see into the corridor. It was angled so that a person could either see twenty feet up or twenty feet down the corridor. “I think this is a spy-hole,” she said.
Britt said, “If something did spy us, it probably ran to hide or get reinforcements. Let’s play it safe and be prepared for battle.”
“There is a room across the hall,” Balon said.
While this room was empty of any creatures, Britt still was able to smell something in the air. “The scent is familiar, but I cannot place what it is,” he said.
“I think this was used as a blacksmith shop,” Bard said. It reminded him of Joe Smith’s shop in Antares. It contained an anvil, bellows, black smith tools and irons. “The only thing there are no chimneys.How were the fumes vented from this room?”
Johanna pointed to the ceiling. There were holes in the walls and a wind whistled through them. “That is how the fumes were vented,” she said.
“Quiet,” Britt said, holding up his hand. “I hear voices.”
A second room was in the corner of the blacksmith. Shadows were seen through the light from their lanterns.
“Shutter the lanterns,” Britt said. He peered through the darkness and was able to see the creatures. He recognized the four disfigured humanode goblinswith gray skin.
“Attack!” a voice commanded the goblins.
The four creatures rushed out. When Bard saw the evil, drooling creatures, he remembered the goblins he fought in the catacombs. They would not be a problem, especially when he killed three by himself. Then he saw a fifth creature walking out of the room. It was not human-like and taller than the goblins.
While the goblins wore tattered clothing, this one wore midnight blue pants and shirt. It wore a red cloak and hood. The boots were also red.
“You have your orders!” it yelled. “Attack and kill them!”
Massacharamar recognized the military skill of the creature. The goblins looked upon it as a leader. “That is a hobgoblin!” she yelled.
The hobgoblin turned to face the elf. “Attack the others! The elf is mine!”
The hobgoblin looked up as Massacharamar was ready to deliver the fatal blow. “Please, do not kill me,” it pleaded. “I would rather do it myself.”
The elf stood back, understanding what the hobgoblin was intending to do. While some individuals thought it was a sign of glory and honor to die during a battle, hobgoblins saw it as a sign of weakness. He pulled George’s knife from his shoulder. Holding it in both hands, he yelled, “I sacrifice myself to Glumbor, God of Hobgoblins!” He pitched forward onto the knife, the blade going directly through his heart.

 

“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 are signs of their presence; there are 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.
“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 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 from 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 saw two creatures guarding a door.
“Get around the corner!” whispered Britt harshly.
They quickly went back around the corner and peeked at the two creatures. They did not seem to notice the intruders.
“What are they?” asked Bard.
“They are Kobolds. Do you remember when we talked about them?”
Bard looked back at them. He remembered Britt describing them while they made their plans for the caverns. It was rumored that these creatures were used as slaves to carry out the labor when the fortress was built. They had scaly skin, heads and tail that were rust-brown in color. While they resembled lizards, the tails look like those of rats and their heads resembled that of a dog.
“Are they related to dragons?” Bard had asked.
“No, Kobolds are cold-blooded, where dragons are warm-blooded. However, they love dragons. Even though I doubt it with the fortress, they usually reside near dragons. They think dragons are gods and usually bring sacrifices to them.”
“There are only two of them. We should be able to attack and defeat them easily.”
“Do not be too sure about that,” Britt warned. “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.
“If these Kobolds are hungry, we may have a problem. They eat anything and do not care about who or what they are eating. They have been known to start feasting on a fallen hero before he draws his last breath. They even eat their own comrades.”
Even before they entered the caverns, Bard knew there was always the possibility of running into them. This was the 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. The most likely places they would be found were overgrown forests and caverns such as they were venturing into.
Massacharamar said, “They do not like light. If we use some type of light source, we can take them by surprise.”
“They are cowardly,” Johanna said, “and will most likely flee if they do not think they can win a fight. However, like Britt said, there may be more. So if we attack, we must be prepared if more come out of that room.”
Balon held up his hand. “Johanna, Massacharamar and I can lead the attack. We have spells that can help. Britt, you, Bard and George stand back and help out if more Kobolds arrive. Is that fine with you?”
“Yes it does sound like a plan,” the dwarf said pulling out his sword. Bard also drew his sword and George held his knife in his hand.
“Careful, George,” Bard said. “These creatures also have tales. If you stab one in the back, get out of the tail’s way immediately.”
“Hopefully, I learned my lesson from the last time,” the thief answered.
“It appears that they do not know that we are there,” said Britt looking again. “They may even run when they see us. Usually when they attack, they usually try to sneak up until they get close enough and attack in a sudden ambush.”
“We will go first,” said Balon. “You three, take up the rear. Do you know what attacks you are going to use?” he asked the cleric and the elf.
“I do,” said Johanna. “I am going to use my light spell.”
“That is what I am going to do also,” said Balon.
“I have my arrows. I can use ventriloquism to confuse them.”
“Let’s go,” said Balon.
They slowly walked around the corner and slunk towards the two unsuspecting Kobolds. One creature turned its head slightly and saw them approaching. It turned quickly and rapped on the door. Three more Kobolds rushed out of the room.
“Britt! We need help!” Balon called.
“Light!” both Johanna and Balon called at the same time. Two balls of light formed, one from Balon’s wand and the other from Johanna staff. They threw the balls into the faces of the two guards. They were blinded and could not attack.
“Over hear,” yelled Massacharamar. However, the voice did not come from the elf. It came from the opposite end of the corridor. The Kobolds turned in confusion towards the thrown voice. She quickly shot two arrows and struck dead the same number of Kobolds.
Johanna ran towards one of the blinded creatures and crushed its skull with her mace.
Bard and Britt quickly rushed in with their swords and killed the remaining kobolds.
Shrugging, George put his knife back in his holder, disappointed that he did not get a chance in the action. Still, this went smoothly. At least no one was taken by surprise.
“Hey George,” Massacharamar said, “help me check this door for traps.”

“This must be Joban’s personal chamber,” Balon said, when they finally were in a room that looked like a rather astute abode. On the north wall was a very detail carving that was at least seventy feet long. 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 have 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.
Balon walked to a door on the south wall of Joban’s chamber. “George!” he yelled. “Are you up to checking 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 up 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 undecipherable 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. George made sure nobody saw him; then he quickly put the diary he found in his backpack.
Bard pointed to another corner in Joban’s chamber. “There is another door.”
After making sure there were no traps, the group stepped into the room, weapons ready. A smell like wet dog’s fur and stagnate water reached their nostrils. Standing just over two feet tall, two more kobolds were standing not too far from them.
When thy entered the room, they turned and looked at them with glowing red eyes.
The Kobolds spoke in a voice that sounded like a dog yipping,
“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 lay scattered over the floor.
As the group looked at this marvel, the two kobolds quickly ran out of the room.
“No, Bard,” said Britt. “While they are just cowardly, they are also skillful planners. They may lead us into an ambush with others. 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 remember 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 should 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 has 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 rune stones?
“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 climb 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 earthen jars. Each of the forty jars was 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 sulfur.”
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 deteriorate 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 cat’s paws were slowly retracting its claws.
“How can humans be so cruel?” Britt said picking up the jar. “How is it possible that it is still alive?”
“The fluid is a preservative,” Balon said. “It leaves something in suspended animation until it is released. Even if over a hundred years had passed, the cat would be the same age as when it was put in the jar.”
“Why would Joban do this?”
“Maybe he needed the cat alive to study. I have known wizards who would remove parts from an animal and then would keep them alive in the fluid. The poor creatures would writhe in agony, welcoming for death to come. However, it never would until the wizard was completed with his studies.”
“I even respect Joban less than I did before,” Bard said. “One can only go so far.”
Balon carefully examined the jar. “This cat looks unharmed; in fact it looks satisfied and comfortable. Most likely this was a pet. He probably put it in this fluid to protect it while he was gone.”
“Joban is not coming back,” said George. “Can we just free the cat?”
“Help me with the lid,” Britt said. “It is on tight.”
George and Britt unstopped the cork lid. The liquid instantly evaporated. As soon as Britt set the jar on the ground, the cat opened its eyes and looked around. Stretching its body, it jumped out of the jar. It looked at the group of people and meowed at them. Then it turned and ran out of the door.
By the time the reached the hallway, the cat had vanished from view.
They went out into the hallway to continue on. However, Balon was not with him.
“Where did he get to?” Britt asked. They entered into the Wizard’s Chamber. Still there was no sight of Balon.
“There is a door over there?” Johanna said.
“I do not remember seeing that before,” George said.
“It probably was another secret door.” They walked through the door and found Balon looking around in amazement.
“This is Joban’s laboratory,” the magic user exclaimed. “Who would have imagined it was this big. “They were standing in a room that was fifty feet long and thirty feet wide.
“I do not think the stories about the barbarian invasion were false,” Bard said. Hanging from the ceiling was a skeleton of a barbarian.
This room was like the workroom, with three wooden tables and a heavy stone table. A smell of incense still hung in the air.
“George! Watch what you are doing!” Britt yelled as he thief picked up a glass bottle filled with a smoky substance from the floor and trying to remove the cork.
The warning came too late as the cork popped out and there was a swooshing noise as the substance poured out of the bottle.
Bard all of a sudden had the urge to laugh, even though he found nothing funny about a thief getting into a trouble.
Starting to giggle, he thought the entire situation was funny. Soon he was bellowing with laughter, clutching his sides. He could not stop.
“George! I am going to kill you,” Britt yelled as he rolled on the floor laughing his head off. Soon the others were joining in.
“I do not even know what we are laughing at,” Johanna said.
“It is laughing gas!” Massacharamar yelled.
Drawing deep breaths, Balon managed, between bouts of laughter, yelled, “Dispel!”
Within a minute the laughter died down.
George grinned, sheepishly and put the bottle down.
“Do not play innocent with me, George!” Britt yelled, wiping his tears. “How many times have you played that stunt? Is it three times now?”
“No,” George replied. “Just four.”
“When are you going to learn? There may be monsters lurking around! What if they heard us?”
Bard walked over to George. “Did you know that was laughing gas?”
“Yes. I am a bit of a prankster. Yet, Britt is right; if monsters had attacked us, I do not think we would have been able to fight them. I guess this will be the last time with this prank. I will have to think of something different, something safer.”
“No you are thinking, son.” Britt said. “Well, there is no harm done. Just if you find another bottle, bring it back to Antares for a gift for those foolish warriors,” he said, thinking of the ones who taunted him.
“Now that is an idea,” George said.
Now that they were composed, they looked around the room. Balon walked to a shelf that contained empty vials and bottles, which some of them were broken. “This one still has something in it.” He peered at the thick silvery liquid. It appeared to be glowing. “This is a potion of Sanctuary.”
“How does it work?” Britt asked.
“You drink it and it protects you against attacks. For example, if you are struck by a sword, you will be unharmed.”
“You should keep that, Balon,” George said. “You are the least protect person here. You, most likely will need that the most.”
“Well, I was going to give it to you, George. Maybe it will make you immune to playing practical jokes.”
A glitter by the stone table caught Bard’s eye. He bent down and picked up a silver figurine. It was in the form of barbarian wearing armor.
Britt looked at it. “I wonder if Joban made this. It is finely crafted and has to be worth two and fifty gold pieces.
Johanna looked at a pile of logs stacked in the corner of the room. “This might be worth something,” she said returning with a gold ring.
Britt looked at it and noticed gold paint was chipping of, revealing nothing more than ordinary metal. “This is worthless. However,” he added, handing the ring to Balon, “it may have magical properties.”
“No it just an ordinary ring, cheaply made,” he said handing the ring back to the dwarf.
Massacharamar walked over to the wall and looked at a rack. “I believe that Joban tortured people who intruded on his privacy.” They walked over and saw the rack had chains and there were still signs of blood on the front of the rack.
George noticed a leather skin stretched against the other wall. He walked over and saw there was writing on it. However, he could not understand the symbols. “Balon, I need your help.”
Balon waved his wand at the skin. The writing became readable to everyone:

“What mysteries lie within the caverns of Kilda Aalda?
Only the bravest or foolish will know!”

“We are either brave or foolish,” Bard said.
“Which one, we do not know,” Britt agreed.

 

I edited the last chapter of my nano novel and have an extra 500 words.

Chapter Fifteen
Farewell to the Caverns of kildun Aalda

Before leaving the cavern that had the pool of water, everybody filled their flasks of the icy cold drink.
“It is not pleasant to swim in,” Shyla said “but it is delicious water.”
“I wonder if this is the same water that is in the pool room,” Johanna wondered.
“Maybe that was not a trap on the upper level,” Britt said. “Maybe the servants lowered buckets to the water and carried them to that pool. It certainly is easier that having to go all the way to the lower lever just to get the water.”
George walked to the southeast corner of the cavern. Here, the ceiling sloped down so low that he had to duck his head. Balon would have to walk bent almost in half to avoid hitting his head.

“There is a large cavern to the north of us,” Shyla said. Now that she was with the man she loved and new friends, she no longer was scared. As a matter of fact, she was very confident.
“Large is not the word for it,” said Britt. “It is majestic.”
They had walked north along the corridor and noticed that as they drew closer, it sloped downwards.
“This must be one of the biggest rooms in the lower level,” said Bard. He looked upwards. The ceiling was at least sixty feet over his head. Halfway up the north wall, he noticed a small hole.
“I think I can see outside; I am sure I am looking at the blue sky.”
“Yes.” said Britt. “That is the sky. I could have sworn that it was still night.”
“I hope they know that it is not night yet,” George said pointing. All along the ceiling, small creatures were hanging upside down.
“I hope they are sleeping,” said Britt.
Shyla looked up, “Bats are nocturnal are nocturnal. Still, since they are underground, they may not know when it is day or night.”
“Maybe we should leave this place,” Balon said.
“And do it quietly,” finished Johanna.
They started to leave on quiet toe treads, and then Britt noticed that George had not moved.
“What is wrong, George?” he asked, when the thief’s faced was contorting.
“I am afraid that I am going to…”
“No!” whispered Britt, desperately.
“Achoo! Sneeze,” finished George.
The ceiling above their heads was quiet for a second, and then the squeaking began. It first started with a squeak here and there, then more and more bats joined in. Soon the ceiling was a chorus of squeaking and squawking. The bats started dropping from their perches from the ceiling and began flying madly about.
“Run!” yelled Britt. “You picked a fine time to sneeze!” he said to George.
All around the fleeing adventurers, the bats flew. They brushed against their cheeks and landed in their hands. Some flew all the way to the top of the cavern and dived at then, zooming pass them.
“Fall to the ground!” yelled Balon. The light that was coming from his body disappeared.
Everybody dropped to the ground and kept still. The bats eventually stopped swarming and returned to their resting places upon the ceiling.
“George, was this one of your practical jokes?” Shyla asked.
“No. I made a promise to give them up if I ever found you,” the thief answered. “I just had to sneeze.”
“It is good you did not sneeze on purpose,” Shyla said. “However, do not give up your jokes because of me. I still like to pull a prank once in a while.”
“It is my promise,” said George.
“Did anybody get bitten?” Johanna asked.
“They are harmless,” said Shyla.
“We have to use lanterns now,” said Balon. “I will not be able to draw my light source for a while.”

“It seems to be telling us to go in one direction or another,” said Britt.
They were staring at a statue carved in black rock. It was a human standing five feet tall. His arms were outstretched and seemed to be pointing with his hands. “Which way do we go,” asked George. “Shyla, did you say there was a room that had treasure in it?”
“It is this way,” she said.
“Be careful,” said Johanna. “There is a hole over there.”
The hole was just to the north of them. It was twelve feet wide and deep. At the bottom were spikes. The skeletal remains of a beast was down there, apparently fallen victim to the spikes.
“This was another trap,” said Britt. “At least we saw it before we fell into it.”

“Maybe, this mission finally paid off,” George said, looking around the small room. Gold pieces were scattered around the floor along with several chests that were closed. “I will check this one,” he said walking over to a chest that was near two wax human statues.
“Look out!” Shyla yelled, as he knelt down to check out the lock. The statue closest to him immediately sprung to life and rushed at him, with his sword drawn.
Britt rushed towards the statue and protected George from the cutting blow.
Shyla rushed the statue from behind and stabbed it in the back.
The other statue came to life and rushed at Bard.
“Look out!” yelled Johanna.
A berserker appeared magically out of thin air. Wearing its bear fur, it howled savagely and rushed at the remaining three.
“I can handle this on my own!” yelled Bard, swinging at the human-like statue.
The berserker focused on Balon, Johanna and Massacharamar
“I can read its thought,” Balon said. “It intends to fight us to the death.”
Johanna held out her mace and a ball of light appeared at the end of it. She threw the ball into the face of the berserker. It bellowed with rage as it was blinded by the light. Since it could not see, it did not attack.
“Stand aside!” bellowed Balon. Startled by this outburst, the others stopped in what they were doing. The two human-like statues had already been defeated and were dead. They were human who were petrified and were used as guards for the treasures.
Balon held out his hands and two glowing lights formed into balls of fire. The balls then formed into arrows. He threw them at the blind and raging berserker. They sunk into his chest. Injured, but not dead, it continued to rage. Bard and Britt ran up behind it and sunk his sword into its back. The creature fell to the ground howling. Laying there it gave several snarls, and then it died.
“We need to get out of here fast,” said Balon, gasping for breath. “Gather whatever treasure you can find and get back outside.” He looked pale, the way he did when he communicated with the orcs.
George quickly looked for traps on the chests and unlocked them. “It is good that we bought extra bags,” he said. “There must be over three thousand gold pieces! Hopefully, our bags will not be too heavy.”
“We can leave this way,” said Shyla, “If somebody has some rope.”
“I have a coil in my bag,” said Bard.
She led them to a small cavern. Turning the corner they were suddenly blinded by daylight. After a few seconds of getting their eyes adjusted to the light, they saw that the ground was forty feet below them.
Britt and George hammered spikes into the rock wall and tied the end of the rope to them. One at a time each person was lowered to the ground. When everybody was safely on the ground, they headed a distance away and set up camp.

Balon, once he was in fresh air had resumed his normal and quiet demeanor. They had a fire going and everybody was sitting around, eating and having a good time. Missions like this one they had just completed are dangerous. While several of the members came close to losing their lives at least once in the caverns, it is good that did not happen. He had grown to know and love each member.
He envied the ones such as George, Britt and Bard. Both the fighter and the warrior relied mostly on strength. Then George relied on his cunningness. He wished that he could be like one of those three. If he was, he would not be in the predicament he was in now. Very sure that his lawfulness was violated by the evil from the dead magic-user, Balon wished that he had never learned his first magic spell. He wished that there were never any magic-users in this world.
Then if his powers did not exist, Bard would not be out here looking up at the stars. He would have been killed by the ochre jelly. George would also be dead. Without magic-users in this world, he would have been dead from a crushed windpipe. It was magic-users like he who provided healing potions, just like the one Bard used on George to heal him. Yes, magic-users were needed in this world. Maybe, he did have a purpose and he would remain lawful for his remaining days in this world.
Britt sat on a log with Massacharamar.
“How do you think this mission went?” he asked her.
“It went well. From the missions we went on previously, this one was the most productive. At first I thought the place was picked clean from others who entered before us. However, as we got deeper and deeper into the fortress, we found many valuable items. I am sure the elders will be pleased.”
“Still, we were not always careful. We each almost got killed while in there.”
“True. That is why we needed to travel as a group. If just one person went into the caverns of Kildun Aalda, he would have been killed shortly after entering. When we get back to Antares, while we await word from the elders, we should sit down and review everything that went wrong and right in there. That way we can learn from our mistakes.”
“We will do that,” Britt said. “However, there is something missing. I am not sure what it is, but something is missing."
Bard sat and looked at the stars. It had seemed like it had been days since he had looked up at a starlit night. He glanced over at George and Shyla; it was not too long ago when the thief had told him how he had lost Shyla. Now the two were together, discussing wedding plans. He glanced over at Johanna, who was sitting by herself. Maybe wedding plans were not in the works yet, but an icebreaker would do. He stood up and walked over to her. They held hands, while they looked up in to the sky.

The next morning, the group gathered all that belonged to them, preparing to head back to Antares.
“Which way did you take to get up here?” Shyla asked.
George pulled his map out of his bag and showed it to her.
“This is the long way,” she said. “If we head back this way, it will be easier. Not only is it less hilly, the distance is about half as long.”
“That is the best news I have heard in a long time,” Britt said. “I am looking forward to a cooked meal and a warm bed.”
One by one they started walking, making the distance between them and the caverns greater. Once in a while somebody would turn and wave a farewell to the fortress of Stephan and Joban. Balon turned and looked towards the Caverns sadly, hoping to hear a voice of encouragement. However, it did not come. Then he faced forward and followed the rest back to Antares. He knew that when he got back to town, he had a major decision to make.

 

I have to get this posted today since I may not be around a computer much for the rest of the week. I finished my nano and am in the process of editing.

The thief mumbled, “Leave us alone, we are trying to sleep.” There was silence that a small snore. Then all of a sudden George sat straight up. “Was I dreaming or did you say Britt is here?”
“What am I going to do with you, George?” Britt asked. “You are always getting into trouble.”
George ran to the dwarf and embraced him. “I though that I would never see you again.”
“Please,” the dwarf said. “Do not scare us again like that. You had us all worried. It is a good thing Bard was with you.”
“Thanks to George, I was almost eaten by a spider.”
Britt looked over to George’s blanket and saw that it was trying to move. “Okay George, what are you hiding? I thought I told you that you can have no more pets.”
George ran over to the blanket and gently shook Shyla. “Shyla, wake up. We found our friends.”
A young woman, slightly smaller than George sat up and began rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.
Britt was thunderstruck, “Is that...? It cannot be.”
“Yes this is Shyla. Those were her footprints we found upstairs.”
By now Shyla was standing and looking around.
“This is Shyla and these are my friends. You already met Bard and this is Britt, who is a father to me.”
Shyla smiled shyly at the dwarf and then her eyes fell on the familiar robes that magic users wore. She stared an Balon an began to back slowly away in fear.
George did not notice and continued to introduce the others. This is Johanna; she is a cleric and this…Shyla, what is wrong?”
She continued to stare at Balon. “It is you!” she hissed. “Stay away from me!” She ran and cowered in the corner of the cavern.
“Shyla!” George ran over to her. “Balon is my friend. He will not hurt you.” He looked to Balon and saw that he had lowered his head and slumped to the ground in despair.
“He…he…he…killed the others.” Shyla started sobbing hysterically and allGeorge could do was hold her and comfort her. He looked at the others. Even though he did not say anything, his eyes said, “Help me.”
Johanna approached and said. “Balon is kind and gentle. He will not hurt you.”
Balon stood and approached the others. He stopped a respectful distance away. Shyla saw in the light that he had tears running down his cheeks.
“Please,” said the magic-user dejectedly. “If I have done you any wrong, let me know. If I killed someone, it was an accident. I only kill what is evil.”
“He has a blue aura,” said Massacharamar. “That means he is good and lawful. We witnessed this ourselves. He he was anything but good, his aura would have been yellow.”
Shyla licked her dry lips. “A magic-user was the main cause of their deaths.” She quickly told the others of how she got involved with the unfortunate fighter and dwarf.
“The magic-user that was with them told the berserkers to attack. He spoke in some sort of language that sounded like souls burning in hell. It was horrid; I had to cover my ears.”
“But we found the magic user impaled with a sword. It had gone rigt through his body and into the wall,” Bard said.
Shyla, not taking her eyes off Balon, said, “He impaled himself. He took the sword in his hands and thrust it right through his own heart. He was laughing when he did it.”
Balon wailed and put his head in his hands. Sobbing, he fell to the ground.
“Balon!” George and Johanna yelled at the same time and ran to him. Shyla, seeing George’s gentleness as he tried to soothe the magic-user, helped get het composed. She know knew Balon was not like the evil magic-user. She walked over to him and knelt by his side and gently rubbed his back.
Britt helped the magic-user sit up. “Have some of my wine,” he said handing him his flask.
“I promise that I will never hurt you or anybody else in this chamber. I will die first before I do!”
Shyla sat next to him and held his hand. “I know now that you are good. I am sorry that I was too harsh.” Just as George had held her, she held Balon and comforted him.
Soon Balon had composed himself. However, his face was very pale. “I promise that I will die first before I hurt any of you.”
Johanna said, “Balon, I have known you all my life. You have been a father figure and a very good friend. In all these years, you have been nothing but gentle. You have never killed or hurt anything, unless if you found it necessary.”
Balon took a deep breath. “It may explain why I was able to communicate with the orcs.. I never was able to do that before.”
“I thought you new how to speak, in the orcish tongue.”
“I can speak to orcs in the common language and they can hear me in their tounge. I spoke to the orcs in their own tounge, orcish. That is one language I do not want to learn.”
“How did you communicate, then,” Johanna asked, dreading the answer.
“I have been affected by the dead magic user’s spirit. I am afraid that his evil has entered my body. There is only one thing I can do, but leave.”
“You cannot leave us,” Johanna said. “You are our friend; you have to stay.”
“If I stay, I may bring harm to the ones close to me.”
“Your aura is blue.”
“True,” he said. “I will stay. If I leave, if the evil overtakes my goodness, I might be protecting you. However, I may be bringing harm to others. There is a way, I can protect you.” Balon, once again became the calm and gentle magic-user his friends grew acquainted with. “George, can I speak to you for a few minutes.”
The thief went to Balon and they stood to the side.
Balon reached into his robes and pulled out a dagger with jewels and carving etched on the handle. “I am giving you this. If you never have to use it, that will be good. It will be yours to keep.”
George stared at the beautiful knife. Alone, it was worth more in gold pieces than any of the other gems they had already found. “Why are you giving this to me? I do not deserve something like this.”
“Even though you are nothing but a thief, you have more courage than any other person I see. You are always alert and jump into action immediately. If you see me, or even expect me, trying to harm others in the group, you must stab this through my heart. Not only will it set me free, it will also kill the evil spirit. The blade is long enough where you can stab me right through the back.”
“I cannot do that,” George said.
“I hope you never have to do that,” the magic-user returned. “You may wonder why I am carrying this knife.”
“Yes, I thought magic-users were not to carry any types of weapons.”
“We can carry them. However, we cannot use them. That is why I need someone to carry out the task. If I used the knife myself, I would be sending the spirit on to another unlucky person.” Balon looked over to Shyla. “She needs the most protection.” He reached into his bag and gave George the protection ring. “Give this to Shyla. It will keep her protected. There is still magic in it. Still once the power is gone, it still is a beautiful and valuable ring. Think of it as her engagement ring, I foresee that she will be your wife some day.” The magic-user winked at George.
George, even though the mission Balon gave him was disturbing, was enjoyed. He looked over at Shyla and beemed.
“George,” Shyla smiled, “I would love to be your wife!” She threw her arms around him and embraced him.

Britt looked over at George and Shyla, sitting and chatting together. Now that she was back in his life, George was going to be a different person. He loved to play practical jokes and basically annoy everybody in sight, she would keep him in line. He was only doing that anyway to cover up his own personal pain. Now she was back and the thief was the happiest that the drawf had ever seen it. Still, if they continued with the mission, Britt felt that Shyla would only hamper it.
George looked up and saw Britt looking at him. “I need to speak to Britt for a second,” he said kissing Shyla.
He walked over to Britt and sat next to him. Before the dwarf even had the chance to say anything, George said, “I know what you are thinking.”
“You do?” asked Britt skeptically.
“I told you that Shyla was nog a good thief. That is true. However, she is a very good lookout. I always took her with me to watch my back while I was climbing walls and picking locks. She was even with me, the day I was set up.”
“I did not know that.”
“She warned me when the guards started their arrows. I could have scaped quickly but I wanted to make sure that she was safe.”
“Then I jumped from the wall, I told her where to run. Then I made sure that she was safe, that no one was chasing her, before I ran.”
“Do you mean to tell me, that if you were alone, we may never have met?”
“I am pretty sure. The thing is, while Shyla may not be a good thief, she is brave. She is not afraid to save somebody’s back if he is in danger.”
“I was wondering if we should just leave the caverns.”
“There is no need to. I mean, we have covered a majority of the fortress. I even think that there are only a few more caverns left on the lower lever. I believe we should at least check into these before leaving. Even Shyla agrees. She even knows which ones we have not explored yet, according to what you and Bard told her.
“Still, I do not think it is a good idea,” said Britt.
“Britt, Shyla says there is a room that have chests in it. She believes that they contail gems and gold pieces. Don’t you remember why we are here in the first place?”
“I think that settles it,” said Britt, with his eyes glowing. “We have a treasure to find.”


Chapter ?
Farewell to the Caverns of Kildun Alda
Before leaving the cavern that had the pool of water, everybody filled their flasks of the icy cold drink.
“It is not pleasant to swim in,” Shyla said “but it is delicious water.”
“I wonder if this is the same water that is in the pool room,” Johanna wondered.
“Maybe that was not a trap on the upper level,” Britt said. “Maybe the servants lowered buckets to the water and carried them to that pool. It certainly is easier that having to go all the way to the lower lever just to get the water.”
George walked to the southeast corner of the cavern. Here, the ceiling sloped down so low that he had to duck his head. Balon would have to walk bent almost in half to avoid hitting his head.

“There is a large cavern to the north of us,” Shyla said. Now that she was with the man she loved and new friends, she no longer was scared. As a matter of fact, she was very confident.
“Large is not the word for it,” said Britt. “It is majestic.”
They had wlaked north along the corridor and noticed that as they drew clower, it sloped downwards.
“This must be one of the biggest rooms in the lower level,” said Bard. He looked upwards. The ceiling was at least sixty feet over his head. Halfway up the north wall, he noticed a small hole.
“I think I can see outside; I am sure I am looking at the blue sky.”
“Yes.” said Britt. “That is the sky. I could have sworn that it was still night.”
“I hope they know that it is not night yet,” George said pointing. All along the ceiling, small creatures were hanging upside down.
“I hope they are sleeping,” said Britt.
Shyla looked up, “Bats are nocturnal are nocturnal. Still, since they are underground, they may not know when it is day or night.”
“Maybe we should leave this place,” Balon said.
“And do it quietly,” finished Johanna.
They started to leave on quiet toe treads, then Britt noticed that George had not moved.
“What is wrong, George?” he asked, when the thief’s faced was cortoring.
“I am afraid that I am going to…”
“No!” whipered Britt, desparately.
“Achoo! Sneeze,” finished George.
The ceiling above their heads were quiet for a second, then the squeaking began. It first started with a squeak here and there, then more and more bats joined in. Soon the ceiling was a chorus of squeaking and squawking. The bats started dropping from their perches from the ceiling and began flying madly about.
“Run!” yelled Britt. “You picked a fine time to sneeze!” he said to George.
All around the fleeing adventurers, the bats flew. They brushed against their cheeks and landed in their hands. Some flew all the way to the top of the cavern and dived at then, zooming pass them.
“Fall to the ground!” yelled Balon. The light that was coming from his body disappeared.
Everybody dropped to the ground and kept still. The bats eventually stopped swarming and returned to their resting places upon the ceiling.
“George, was this one of your practical jokes?” Shyla asked.
“No. I made a promise to give them up if I ever found you,” the thief answered. “I just had to sneeze.”
“It is good you did not sneeze on purpose,” Shyla said. “However, do not give up your jokes because of me. I still like to pull a prank once in a while.”
“It is my promise,” said George.
“Did anybody get bitten?” Johanna asked.
“They are harmless,” said Shyla.
“We have to use lanterns now,” said Balon. “I will not be able to draw my lightsource for a while.”

“It seems to be telling us to go in one direction or another,” said Britt.
They were staring at a statue carved in black rock. It was a human standing five feet tall. His arms were outstretched and seemed to be pointing with his hands. “Which way do we go,” asked George. “Shyla, did you say they was a room that had treasure in it?”
“It is this way,” she said.
“Be careful,” said Johanna. “There is a hole over there.”
The hole was just to the north of them. It was twelve feet wide and deep. At the bottom were spikes. The skeletal remains of a beast was down there, appently fallen victim to the spikes.
“This was another trap,” said Britt. “At least we saw it before we fell into it.”

“Maybe, this mission finally paid off,” George said, looking around the small room. Gold pieces were scattered around the floor along with several chests that were closed. “I wil check this one,” he said walking over to a chest that were near two wax human statues.
“Look out!” Shyla yelled, as he knelt down to check out the lock. The statue closest to him immediately sprung to life and rushed at him, with his sword drawn.
Britt rushed towards the statue and protected George from the cutting blow.
Shyla rushed the statue from behind and stabbed it in the back.
The other statue came to life and rushed at Bard.
“Look out!” yelled Johanna.
A beserker appeared magically out of thin air. Wearing its bear fur, it howled savagely and rushed at the remaining three.
“I can handle this on my own!” yelled Bard, swinging at the human-like statue.
The beserker focused on Balon, Johanna and Massacharamar
“I can read its thought,” Balon said. “It intends to fight us to the death.”
Johanna held out her mace and a ball of light appeared at the end of it. She threw the ball into the face of the berserker. It bellowed with rage as it was blinded by the light. Since it could not see, it did not attack.
“Stand aside!” bellowed Balon. Startled by this outburst, the others stopped in what they were doing. The two human-like statues had already been defeated and were dead. They were human who were petrified and were used as guards for the treasures.
Balon held out his hands and two glowing lights formed into balls of fire. The balls then formed into arrows. He threw them at the blind and raging berserker. They sunk into his chest. Injured, but not dead, it continued to rage. Bard and Britt ran up behind it and sunk his sword into its back. The creature fell to the ground howling. Lying there it gave several snarls, then it died.
“We need to get out of here fast,” said Balon, gasping for breath. “Gather whatever treasure you can find and get back outside.” He looked pale, the way he did when he communicated with the orcs.
George quickly looked for traps on the chests and unlocked them. “It is good that we bought extra bags,” he said. “There must be over three thousand gold pieces! Hopefully, our bags will not be too heavy.”
“We can leave this way,” said Shyla, “If somebody has some rope.”
“I have a coil in my bag,” said Bard.
She led the to a small cavern. Turning the corner they were suddenly blinded by daylight. After a few seconds of getting their eyes adjusted to the light, they saw that the ground was forty feet below them.
Britt and George hammered spikes into the rock wall and tied the end of the rope to them. One at a time each person was lowered to the ground. When everybodywas safely on the ground, they headed a distance away and set up camp.

Balon, once he was in fresh air had resumed his normal and quiet demeanor. They had a fire going and everybody was sitting around, eating and having a good time. Missions like this one they had just completed are dangerous. While several of the members came close to losing their lives at least once in the caverns, it is good that did not happen. He had grown to know and love each member.
Bard sat and looked at the stars. It had seemed like it had been days since he had looked up at a startlit night. He glanced over at George and Shyla; it was not too long ago when the thief had told him how he had lost Shyla. Now the two were together, discussing wedding plans. He glanced over at Johanna, who was sitting by herself. Maybe wedding plans were not in the works yet, but an icebreaker would do. He stood up and walked over to her. They held hands, while they looked up in to the sky.

The next morning, the group gathered all that belonged to them, preparing to head back to Antares.
“Which way did you take to get up here?” Shyla asked.
George pulled his map out of his bag and showed it to her.
“This is the long way,” she said. “If we head back this way, it will be easier. Not only is it less hilly, the distance is about half as long.”
“That is the best news I have heard in a long time,” Britt said. “I am looking forward to a cooked meal and a warm bed.”
One by one they started walking, making the distance between them and the caverns greater. Once in a while somebody would turn and wave a farewell to the fortress of Stephan and Joban. Balon turned and looked towards the Caverns sadly. Then he faced forward and followed the rest back to Antares. He knew that he had a major decision to make.


 

dangerous.”
“This one is harmless,” said the elf. “We have this in my homeland. I just cannot remember its name.”
After making sure the room was secure, Britt said, “While I want to continue on and look for George and Bard, and believe me I would if I was alone, I think we will do better if we eat and rest for a while. I think we will do better if we have a clear and fresh start.”


After they left the hidden cavern where they found the skeletal remains of the thief, Bard and Geroge traveled up the northern passageway.
“They can be anywhere,” said George. “Who will take care of Britt, if we can not find him!”
“The others are with him,” said Bard. “Do not worry, we will find them.”
George halted. “What’s wrong?” asked Bard.
The thief held up his hand and waved for Bard to be quiet. Tilting his head, he listened.
“I hear running water, like a stream. It is just ahead. Come on! What are you waiting for?”
Keeping his sword ready, Bard followed George. Just ahead of them was a large pull of water. It was twenty feet across and approximately eight feet wide. A nearby stream was feeding it.
“I wonder if this was the pool that Johanna almost feel into,” Bard said, remembering the trap she had stumbled across on the upper level.
George looked up towards the ceiling but could not see anything through the darkness above their heads. “I can not tell…” All of a sudden he saw a figure sneak out from the shadows. “Bard! Look out!”
Even as George yelled his warning, he felt something leap onto his back. Whatever, it was, it was small and light. It was striking at his back with a weapon like a rock or a small knife. However, whatever weapon it was using, it was not doing any harm.
Reaching back with his arm, he tried to grab at the creature. However, he could not grab it effectively. Hopefully, George would not try to use the crossbow on the creature. With his luck, he would miss his target and impale him instead.
However, George only stared at the attacker in shock. Why was he not doing anything to help him?
All of a sudden, George yelled, “Shyla! Get off him!”
The creature dropped from Bard’s back and ran and cowered in a corner of the cavern.
“Shyla, it is me, George. There is nothing to be afraid of. Nobody is going to hurt you.”
“George?” a scared female voice answered. “It cannot be, George is dead.”
“No it is me. You had heard wrong. I got away. Please come out and we can talk.”
A female, smaller than George, timidly approached the two. She looked at him. She started weeping. “I cannot believe it! It is you. I was told that you jumped in a river and drowned.”
“My friend only said that to protect me.”
The girl stepped closer. Bard saw that despite her disheveled hair and haggard face, that she was very pretty. No wonder why George was in love with her.
“Is he your friend?” Shyla looked at Bard.
“I hope so,” George said.
“He actually is more like a little brother,” Bard replied.
“Shyla, what happened to you. I returned to the thieving guild and you were gone. How did you end up in the caverns? How have you been surviving?”
“When I though you were dead, I could not stay there. I decided to make it out on my own. You know how I was as a thief. Well, I decided to join a group coming this way and not tell them how bad I was.”
“We saw bodies when we first entered.”
“Yes, it is a shame that I never got to know them. I did not even know their names. I, more or less kept to my self. Well, it seemed that they knew less about their skills than I did about thieving. We were attacked as soon as we entered the caverns. I was the only one who got away alive.”
“Why are you still here?” Bard asked.
“I did not pay attention when we were traveling. The forest is so boi, I knew I would get lost as soon as I got one hundred yards away.My mind was always on you George and filled with bitterness for how that thief set you up.”
“I do want to find him some day and get even with him.”
“Oh, you do not have to worry about that,” Shyla said. “You may not realize this but you had many friends at the thieving guild. Joseph was caught with important confidential government papers. Now he is in prison and will nto see the sun for a long time.”
“Who set him up?”
Shyla grinned.
“You were not a good thief. However, you always did an excellent job in getting even with people.”
“Yes, I remember those pranks you played on me. Then I would always come up with something better.”
“How long have you been in the caverns?” Bard asked.
“Three months.”
“How have you been surviving? What have you been eating?” George shuddered as he picture her eating spider eggs.
“I have been getting food, mostly wheat and flour from the storeroom.”
“That must have been your footprint we saw.”
“Why are you in the lower level. It seems toi be dangerous. I even want to get out of here,” Bard said.
“How did you ever get down here?” George asked. “Bard was almost melted by the ochre jelly.”
“I fell through a trapdoor on the upper level,” Shyla said. “I landed in the pool of water.”
George embraced Shyla. “I am never going to let you go again,” he said sobbing, not ashamed that Bard saw him like this. “I love you Shyla. I wished I had told you this before.”
Shyla reached up with her hand and gently caressed his tear-wet cheek. “George, I love you also. I never told you because I did not think that you had the same feelings. I thought you just saw us as friends and nothing else.”
“Shyla, you are shivering.” He took a blanket out of his bag. He was thankful that Britt had suggested this before going to the lower level. He had known it would be cold and damp.”
Bard reached into his bag and pulled out several cans of C-Rations. “Before we move on, we should rest and get something to eat. I am sure shyla would want something better than stale food.”
They sat eating the food quietly. George kept his arm around Shyla’s shoulder, determined to protect her in what ever way he could. His fear of being in the lower level was gone now that he had his Shyla back. Bard stood watch while George and Shyla slept. While he knew the protection blankets would protect them from wandering mosters and other unpleasant things, he wanted to watch for Britt and the others. Still, it was getting colder down here by the second. Putting his own blanket on him, he sat down next to George. The warmth of the blanket chased away the chills.

“Wake up, Bard!” Bard slowly opened his eyes as a boot nudged him gently in the legs.
Britt was grinning down at him. The others were here with his im the chamber.
Bard rubbed the sleep from his eyes. He had not meant to fll asleep. “How did you find us?” he asked.
“Boy, your snoring is loud enough to wake the dead!” Britt laughed.
Bard reached over to the two snuggled up next to him. Gently shaking the thief, he said, “George, wake up. Britt found us.”
The thief mumbled, “Leave us alone, we are trying to sleep.” There was silence that a small snore. Then all of a sudden George sat straight up. “Was I dreaming or did you say Britt is here?”
“What am I going to do with you, George?” Britt asked. “You are always getting into trouble.”
George ran to the dwarf and embraced him. “I though that I would never see you again.”
“Please,” the dwarf said. “Do not scare us again like that. You had us all worried. It is a good thing Bard was with you.”
“Thanks to George, I was almost eaten by a spider.”
Britt looked over to George’s blanket and saw that it was trying to move. “Okay George, what are you hiding? I thought I told you that you can have no more pets.”
George ran over to the blanket and gently shook Shyla. “Shyla, wake up. We found our friends.”
A young woman, slightly smaller than George sat up and began rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.
Britt was thunderstruck, “Is that...? It cannot be.”
“Yes this is Shyla. Those were her footprints we found upstairs.”
By now Shyla was standing and looking around.
“This is Shyla and these are my friends. You already met Bard and this is Britt, who is a father to me.”
Shyla smiled shyly at the dwarf and then her eyes fell on the familiar robes that magic users wore. She stared an Balon an began to back slowly away in fear.
George did not notice and continued to introduce the others. This is Johanna; she is a cleric and this…Shyla, what is wrong?”
She continued to stare at Balon. “It is you!” she hissed. “Stay away from me!” She ran and cowered in the corner of the cavern.
“Shyla!” George ran over to her. “Balon is my friend. He will not hurt you.” He looked to Balon and saw that he had lowered his head and slumped to the ground in despair.
“He…he…he…killed the others.” Shyla started sobbing hysterically and allGeorge could do was hold her and comfort her. He looked at the others. Even though he did not say anything, his eyes said, “Help me.”
Johanna approached and said. “Balon is kind and gentle. He will not hurt you.”
Balon stood and approached the others. He stopped a respectful distance away. Shyla saw in the light that he had tears running down his cheeks.
“Please,” said the magic-user dejectedly. “If I have done you any wrong, let me know. If I killed someone, it was an accident. I only kill what is evil.”
“He has a blue aura,” said Massacharamar. “That means he is good and lawful. We witnessed this ourselves. He he was anything but good, his aura would have been yellow.”
Shyla licked her dry lips. “A magic-user was the main cause of their deaths.” She quickly told the others of how she got involved with the unfortunate fighter and dwarf.
“The magic-user that was with them told the berserkers to attack. He spoke in some sort of language that sounded like souls burning in hell. It was horrid; I had to cover my ears.”
“But we found the magic user impaled with a sword. It had gone rigt through his body and into the wall,” Bard said.
Shyla, not taking her eyes off Balon, said, “He impaled himself. He took the sword in his hands and thrust it right through his own heart. He was laughing when he did it.”
Balon wailed and put his head in his hands. Sobbing, he fell to the ground.
“Balon!” George and Johanna yelled at the same time and ran to him. Shyla, seeing George’s gentleness as he tried to soothe the magic-user, helped get het composed. She know knew Balon was not like the evil magic-user. She walked over to him and knelt by his side and gently rubbed his back.
Britt helped the magic-user sit up. “Have some of my wine,” he said handing him his flask.
“I promise that I will never hurt you or anybody else in this chamber. I will die first before I do!”
Shyla sat next to him and held his hand. “I know now that you are good. I am sorry that I was too harsh.” Just as George had held her, she held Balon and comforted him.
Soon Balon had composed himself. However, his face was very pale. “I promise that I will die first before I hurt any of you.”
Johanna said, “Balon, I have known you all my life. You have been a father figure and a very good friend. In all these years, you have been nothing but gentle. You have never killed or hurt anything, unless if you found it necessary.”
Balon took a deep breath. “It may explain why I was able to communicate with the orcs.. I never was able to do that before.”
“I thought you new how to speak, in the orcish tongue.”
“I can speak to orcs in the common language and they can hear me in their tounge. I spoke to the orcs in their own tounge, orcish. That is one language I do not want to learn.”
“How did you communicate, then,” Johanna asked, dreading the answer.
“I have been affected by the dead magic user’s spirit. I am afraid that his evil has entered my body. There is only one thing I can do, but leave.”
“You cannot leave us,” Johanna said. “You are our friend; you have to stay.”
“If I stay, I may bring harm to the ones close to me.”
“Your aura is blue.”
“True,” he said. “I will stay. If I leave, if the evil overtakes my goodness, I might be protecting you. However, I may be bringing harm to others. There is a way, I can protect you.” Balon, once again became the calm and gentle magic-user his friends grew acquainted with. “George, can I speak to you for a few minutes.”
The thief went to Balon and they stood to the side.
Balon reached into his robes and pulled out a dagger with jewels and carving etched on the handle. “I am giving you this. If you never have to use it, that will be good. It will be yours to keep.”
George stared at the beautiful knife. Alone, it was worth more in gold pieces than any of the other gems they had already found. “Why are you giving this to me? I do not deserve something like this.”
“Even though you are nothing but a thief, you have more courage than any other person I see. You are always alert and jump into action immediately. If you see me, or even expect me, trying to harm others in the group, you must stab this through my heart. Not only will it set me free, it will also kill the evil spirit. The blade is long enough where you can stab me right through the back.”
“I cannot do that,” George said.
“I hope you never have to do that,” the magic-user returned. “You may wonder why I am carrying this knife.”
“Yes, I thought magic-users were not to carry any types of weapons.”
“We can carry them. However, we cannot use them. That is why I need someone to carry out the task. If I used the knife myself, I would be sending the spirit on to another unlucky person.” Balon looked over to Shyla. “She needs the most protection.” He reached into his bag and gave George the protection ring. “Give this to Shyla. It will keep her protected. There is still magic in it. Still once the power is gone, it still is a beautiful and valuable ring. Think of it as her engagement ring, I foresee that she will be your wife some day.” The magic-user winked at George.
George, even though the mission Balon gave him was disturbing, was enjoyed. He looked over at Shyla and beemed.
“George,” Shyla smiled, “I would love to be your wife!” She threw her arms around him and embraced him.

Britt looked over at George and Shyla, sitting and chatting together. Now that she was back in his life, George was going to be a different person. He loved to play practical jokes and basically annoy everybody in sight, she would keep him in line. He was only doing that anyway to cover up his own personal pain. Now she was back and the thief was the happiest that the drawf had ever seen it. Still, if they continued with the mission, Britt felt that Shyla would only hamper it.
George looked up and saw Britt looking at him. “I need to speak to Britt for a second,” he said kissing Shyla.
He walked over to Britt and sat next to him. Before the dwarf even had the chance to say anything, George said, “I know what you are thinking.”
“You do?” asked Britt skeptically.
“I told you that Shyla was nog a good thief. That is true. However, she is a very good lookout. I always took her with me to watch my back while I was climbing walls and picking locks. She was even with me, the day I was set up.”
“I did not know that.”
“She warned me when the guards started their arrows. I could have scaped quickly but I wanted to make sure that she was safe.”
“Then I jumped from the wall, I told her where to run. Then I made sure that she was safe, that no one was chasing her, before I ran.”
“Do you mean to tell me, that if you were alone, we may never have met?”
“I am pretty sure. The thing is, while Shyla may not be a good thief, she is brave. She is not afraid to save somebody’s back if he is in danger.”
“I was wondering if we should just leave the caverns.”
“There is no need to. I mean, we have covered a majority of the fortress. I even think that there are only a few more caverns left on the lower lever. I believe we should at least check into these before leaving. Even Shyla agrees. She even knows which ones we have not explored yet, according to what you and Bard told her.
“Still, I do not think it is a good idea,” said Britt.
“Britt, Shyla says there is a room that have chests in it. She believes that they contail gems and gold pieces. Don’t you remember why we are here in the first place?”
“I think that settles it,” said Britt, with his eyes glowing. “We have a treasure to find.”

 

All of a sudden, George yelled, “Shyla! Get off him!”
The creature dropped from Bard’s back and ran and cowered in a corner of the cavern.
“Shyla, it is me, George. There is nothing to be afraid of. Nobody is going to hurt you.”
“George?” a scared female voice answered. “It cannot be, George is dead.”
“No it is me. You had heard wrong. I got away. Please come out and we can talk.”
A female, smaller than George, timidly approached the two. She looked at him. She started weeping. “I cannot believe it! It is you. I was told that you jumped in a river and drowned.”
“My friend only said that to protect me.”
The girl stepped closer. Bard saw that despite her disheveled hair and haggard face, that she was very pretty. No wonder why George was in love with her.
“Is he your friend?” Shyla looked at Bard.
“I hope so,” George said.
“He actually is more like a little brother,” Bard replied.
“Shyla, what happened to you. I returned to the thieving guild and you were gone. How did you end up in the caverns? How have you been surviving?”
“When I though you were dead, I could not stay there. I decided to make it out on my own. You know how I was as a thief. Well, I decided to join a group coming this way and not tell them how bad I was.”
“We saw bodies when we first entered.”
“Yes, it is a shame that I never got to know them. I did not even know their names. I, more or less kept to my self. Well, it seemed that they knew less about their skills than I did about thieving. We were attacked as soon as we entered the caverns. I was the only one who got away alive.”
“Why are you still here?” Bard asked.
“I did not pay attention when we were traveling. The forest is so boi, I knew I would get lost as soon as I got one hundred yards away.My mind was always on you George and filled with bitterness for how that thief set you up.”
“I do want to find him some day and get even with him.”
“Oh, you do not have to worry about that,” Shyla said. “You may not realize this but you had many friends at the thieving guild. Joseph was caught with important confidential government papers. Now he is in prison and will nto see the sun for a long time.”
“Who set him up?”
Shyla grinned.
“You were not a good thief. However, you always did an excellent job in getting even with people.”
“Yes, I remember those pranks you played on me. Then I would always come up with something better.”
“How long have you been in the caverns?” Bard asked.
“Three months.”
“How have you been surviving? What have you been eating?” George shuddered as he picture her eating spider eggs.
“I have been getting food, mostly wheat and flour from the storeroom.”
“That must have been your footprint we saw.”
“Why are you in the lower level. It seems toi be dangerous. I even want to get out of here,” Bard said.
“How did you ever get down here?” George asked. “Bard was almost melted by the ochre jelly.”
“I fell through a trapdoor on the upper level,” Shyla said. “I landed in the pool of water.”
George embraced Shyla. “I am never going to let you go again,” he said sobbing, not ashamed that Bard saw him like this. “I love you Shyla. I wished I had told you this before.”
Shyla reached up with her hand and gently caressed his tear-wet cheek. “George, I love you also. I never told you because I did not think that you had the same feelings. I thought you just saw us as friends and nothing else.”
“Shyla, you are shivering.” He took a blanket out of his bag. He was thankful that Britt had suggested this before going to the lower level. He had known it would be cold and damp.”
Bard reached into his bag and pulled out several cans of C-Rations. “Before we move on, we should rest and get something to eat. I am sure shyla would want something better than stale food.”
They sat eating the food quietly. George kept his arm around Shyla’s shoulder, determined to protect her in what ever way he could. His fear of being in the lower level was gone now that he had his Shyla back. Bard stood watch while George and Shyla slept. While he knew the protection blankets would protect them from wandering mosters and other unpleasant things, he wanted to watch for Britt and the others. Still, it was getting colder down here by the second. Putting his own blanket on him, he sat down next to George. The warmth of the blanket chased away the chills.

“Wake up, Bard!” Bard slowly opened his eyes as a boot nudged him gently in the legs.
Britt was grinning down at him. The others were here with his im the chamber.
Bard rubbed the sleep from his eyes. He had not meant to fll asleep. “How did you find us?” he asked.
“Boy, your snoring is loud enough to wake the dead!” Britt laughed.
Bard reached over to the two snuggled up next to him. Gently shaking the thief, he said, “George, wake up. Britt found us.”
The thief mumbled, “Leave us alone, we are trying to sleep.” There was silence that a small snore. Then all of a sudden George sat straight up. “Was I dreaming or did you say Britt is here?”
“What am I going to do with you, George?” Britt asked. “You are always getting into trouble.”
George ran to the dwarf and embraced him. “I though that I would never see you again.”
“Please,” the dwarf said. “Do not scare us again like that. You had us all worried. It is a good thing Bard was with you.”
“Thanks to George, I was almost eaten by a spider.”
Britt looked over to George’s blanket and saw that it was trying to move. “Okay George, what are you hiding? I thought I told you that you can have no more pets.”
George ran over to the blanket and gently shook Shyla. “Shyla, wake up. We found our friends.”
A young woman, slightly smaller than George sat up and began rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.
Britt was thunderstruck, “Is that...? It cannot be.”
“Yes this is Shyla. Those were her footprints we found upstairs.”
By now Shyla was standing and looking around.
“This is Shyla and these are my friends. You already met Bard and this is Britt, who is a father to me.”
Shyla smiled shyly at the dwarf and then her eyes fell on the familiar robes that magic users wore. She stared an Balon an began to back slowly away in fear.
George did not notice and continued to introduce the others. This is Johanna; she is a cleric and this…Shyla, what is wrong?”
She continued to stare at Balon. “It is you!” she hissed. “Stay away from me!” She ran and cowered in the corner of the cavern.
“Shyla!” George ran over to her. “Balon is my friend. He will not hurt you.” He looked to Balon and saw that he had lowered his head and slumped to the ground in despair.
“He…he…he…killed the others.” Shyla started sobbing hysterically and allGeorge could do was hold her and comfort her. He looked at the others. Even though he did not say anything, his eyes said, “Help me.”
Johanna approached and said. “Balon is kind and gentle. He will not hurt you.”
Balon stood and approached the others. He stopped a respectful distance away. Shyla saw in the light that he had tears running down his cheeks.
“Please,” said the magic-user dejectedly. “If I have done you any wrong, let me know. If I killed someone, it was an accident. I only kill what is evil.”
“He has a blue aura,” said Massacharamar. “That means he is good and lawful. We witnessed this ourselves. He he was anything but good, his aura would have been yellow.”
Shyla licked her dry lips. “A magic-user was the main cause of their deaths.” She quickly told the others of how she got involved with the unfortunate fighter and dwarf.
“The magic-user that was with them told the berserkers to attack. He spoke in some sort of language that sounded like souls burning in hell. It was horrid; I had to cover my ears.”
“But we found the magic user impaled with a sword. It had gone rigt through his body and into the wall,” Bard said.
Shyla, not taking her eyes off Balon, said, “He impaled himself. He took the sword in his hands and thrust it right through his own heart. He was laughing when he did it.”
Balon wailed and put his head in his hands. Sobbing, he fell to the ground.
“Balon!” George and Johanna yelled at the same time and ran to him. Shyla, seeing George’s gentleness as he tried to soothe the magic-user, helped get het composed. She know knew Balon was not like the evil magic-user. She walked over to him and knelt by his side and gently rubbed his back.
Britt helped the magic-user sit up. “Have some of my wine,” he said handing him his flask.
“I promise that I will never hurt you or anybody else in this chamber. I will die first before I do!”
Shyla sat next to him and held his hand. “I know now that you are good. I am sorry that I was too harsh.” Just as George had held her, she held Balon and comforted him.
Soon Balon had composed himself. However, his face was very pale. “I promise that I will die first before I hurt any of you.”
Johanna said, “Balon, I have known you all my life. You have been a father figure and a very good friend. In all these years, you have been nothing but gentle. You have never killed or hurt anything, unless if you found it necessary.”
Balon took a deep breath. “It may explain why I was able to communicate with the orcs.. I never was able to do that before.”
“I thought you new how to speak, in the orcish tongue.”
“I can speak to orcs in the common language and they can hear me in their tounge. I spoke to the orcs in their own tounge, orcish. That is one language I do not want to learn.”
“How did you communicate, then,” Johanna asked, dreading the answer.
“I have been affected by the dead magic user’s spirit. I am afraid that his evil has entered my body. There is only one thing I can do, but leave.”
“You cannot leave us,” Johanna said. “You are our friend; you have to stay.”
“If I stay, I may bring harm to the ones close to me.”
“Your aura is blue.”
“True,” he said. “I will stay. If I leave, if the evil overtakes my goodness, I might be protecting you. However, I may be bringing harm to others. There is a way, I can protect you.” Balon, once again became the calm and gentle magic-user his friends grew acquainted with. “George, can I speak to you for a few minutes.”
The thief went to Balon and they stood to the side.
Balon reached into his robes and pulled out a dagger with jewels and carving etched on the handle. “I am giving you this. If you never have to use it, that will be good. It will be yours to keep.”
George stared at the beautiful knife. Alone, it was worth more in gold pieces than any of the other gems they had already found. “Why are you giving this to me? I do not deserve something like this.”
“Even though you are nothing but a thief, you have more courage than any other person I see. You are always alert and jump into action immediately. If you see me, or even expect me, trying to harm others in the group, you must stab this through my heart. Not only will it set me free, it will also kill the evil spirit. The blade is long enough where you can stab me right through the back.”
“I cannot do that,” George said.
“I hope you never have to do that,” the magic-user returned. “You may wonder why I am carrying this knife.”

 

I worked on a previous chapter and edited it. Even though the word count is higher, I am going with 2,000 extra words I added

Johanna looked around. “It is so dark, our lanterns are not casting enough light for us to walk easily in.”
“That is why we did not notice the ochre jelly lurking over our heads,” Britt said.
“I think I may be able to help,” Balon said. “Give me a minute.”
He closed his eyes and his body became rigid.
“What is happening to him?” Bard whispered to Johanna, startled.
“He is meditating, trying to bring one of his spells to the surface.”
Balon breathed deeply, slowly exhaling and inhaling with each breath. A flicker, just for a moment expelled from his body. Then it was gone. However, he continued with his breathing rhymth. The flicker came again and this time it did not disappear. His entire body soon had a faint yellow line outlining his body. Once the outline was completed, the line expanded from his body until the magic-user was consumed by a globe of light that expanded sixty feet across.
“Wow,” whispered Bard, surprised. The light emitted from Balon’s body, bounced off the walls around them. They were not finished and smooth like the rooms in the upper level; they were unfinished and irregular. From where they were standing, the passageways were about ten feet wide.
“No wonder it is had to read the map for the lower level,” George said. He looked to the ground, whch was covered by rock and debris. “We would have tripped on something, if we only relied on our lanterns for a source of light.”
“Remember,” said Britt, “there probably are not any doors down here. IF we are looking for a cavern, we may have to look for areas where rock has fallen and blocked a passage.”
Soon Balon started breathing normally and he opened his eyes. He looked around.
“It worked,” he said smiling.
“You are a seer,” said Johanna.
“I thought you were a medium,” said Balon.
“As I use more magic, I build my experience. It is like you Bard, you build your experience by fighting. Even though you are just a veteran fighter, I see in the near future that you will become a swordmaster.”
“How do you know when you can use a spell?”
“My own self tells me when I am ready. I meditate and learn all spells. If I try to perform a spell and I do not have the experience to do it yet, my self warns me.”
“What happens if you still try to perform a spell after you have been warned.”
“The spell could possible work. However, my body may not be ready to perform the spell and I can die doing it.”
With the steady globe of light coming from the magic-users, the group were able to walk down the passageway without stumbling into each other. They keft the chamber where Bard almost met his end and followed a passageway that winded first to the south then went to the northwest.
“We can either go down this one,” George said, “or continue up the one we are on.” They had reached an area of the passage way where it continued to go north. It also branched back to the east.
“Let’s go down this one,” Britt said, indicating the one that branched to the east. “If there is nothing down there, we will come back to the main one.”
They traveled a short distance and an open cavern stood to their left. “I would not be surprised if we are close to the entrance back to the upper level,” Balon said.
George glanced down at his map. “You are right, Balon. All we would have to do is dig through the wall and we will be back right where we started. Since we found a room, we can explore.”

They were standing in an ante-chamber that was empty except for a large piece of green rock that was glowing.
“Be careful,” Balon warned, as Britt reached out to touch it.
“It is only mica,” the dwarf replied. “Still I wonder what is making it glow.”
“Let me see,” George said and picked up a piece that had peel off from the main foundation.
“From what you taught me, I think you are right, Britt. Yet, there is one way to find out.” He put the piece in his mouth and bit down.
“George! What do you think you are…”
Bard reached out and grabbed George’s arm.
The two disappeared into thin air.
“doing!” finished Britt.
“What happened?” Johanna asked.
“They teleported to another part of the Caverns,” Balon said.
“George is alone!” Britt yelled. “He will not be able to defend himself! We have to find him!”
“Bard went with him,” Massacharamar said. “He will protect him.”

George looked around. “This definitely mica,” he said. “Mica with magical properties.” He bit down on the stone again. However, nothing happened.
“Where are we,” George said drawing his sword.
Bard held his lantern up and looked around. “This look like a cave. What is this stuff?” Bard asked pulling sticky stuff from his hair.
“It looks like web.”
“How do we get out of here?”
“It looks like an entrance over there. It is all covered with web. We have to cut our way out…”
A scurrying noise cut off George’s sentence.
“Be quiet,” Bard whispered. “I think there might be sp…”
In the next instance Bard was covered with a web.
“I cannot move!” he yelled. “Get out of here, now!”
A large spider approached Bard, unaware of George standing a few feet awaw.
George, with his knife in his hand, sprung on its back and sank it into the spider’s back. The creature fell to the ground, dead.
He ran over to Bard and started cutting the robe like-web from the warrior. “At least he did not have a tail to grab me.” Finally, Bard was freed. George looked at him and shaked his head. “How do you get yourself into these situations.”
Bard did not say anything but drew his sword. “We have to cut through this web to get out of here. There may be more spiders, so be careful.”
“Bard, we may be expecting parents.” George pointed to a section of the cave. Ten giant eggs, laying in the web, looked like they were starting to crack.
“Help me over here. Then we will take care of those.”
They finally cleared an entrance to get them back into the corridor.
“Hold my lantern,” Bard said. He started to feel around in his backpack
“What are you doing?”
“I am looking for my tinderbox. If those eggs hatch, we are going to have problems.”
“No. Please do not do that,” George pleaded. “They will not hurt us. Once they are hatched, they will go outdoors. The one spider was just looking for food.”
“You call me just food?” Bard laughed.
“Probably bad tasting as it is.”
Bard pretended to punch him.
“Spiders are not evil and I do not think it would be right to kill them, especially since they are babies. Let’s save the killing for the evil ones.”
“Let’s go and find the others,” Bard said, putting his tinderbox back in his bag.



“Shouldn’t we try to find George?” Britt asked. “If we bite down on another piece of stone, we should be teleported to the same place.”
“I would not do that,” Balon warned. “This type of stone is unpredictable.”
“What do you mean?”
“This stone does things at random. You may bite down on it and nothing happens. Sometimes the stone will help you. For example, it may heal you or make you wiser. However, it can also curse you. One person, I remember, went into a deep sleep for several days until the curse wore off.”
“So it is better just to look for George?” Massacharamar asked.
“Yes.”
“What if he tries the stone to teleport back to us?”
“The stone is useless now. Once it is used, the magical properties are gone.”
“What do we do, wait for them or look for them?” Johanna asked.
“I say that we look for them,” Britt said. “Who knows what trouble George got himself into.”
The left the chamber and started walking south.
There is a cavern up ahead.
“Be careful,” Balon said. “There are only four of us.” When he saw Britt’s face became pale, he added, “that is until George and Britt join us again.”
He hoped that he was right.

George and Bard walked a short distance and came upon another cavern. However, there was nothing in it. “I wonder how far we are from the others,” the thief wondered.
“We are still in the lower level.” He knew this just by looking around the walls. They were irregual, rough and unfinished.
“I do not think Stephan and Joban ever got around to getting this fortress of theirs finished.”
“I see what you mean, said George. “The upper level, from what I can see is complete. Even though, all the rooms are full of dust, they can be lived in. However, on this level, only the museum and are finished. I wonder what their plans were for the rest of the lower level.”
“That may be a mystery to us, forever. Still, if the elders are planning to make this a tourist attraction, they may want to consider sealing off a majority of the lower level. It can be dangerous.” Just as he said this, Bard tripped on a piece of uneven floor and fell to the ground.
“Are you okay, Bard?” George asked him. For once, there was no laughter in his voice and even had a hint of fear.
“Yes,” he said getting up. “How about you?”
“To be honest, this is the first time I have been underground like this. When went on missions, when we were underground, we were always near the entrance. This is different; it feels like the walls are closing in on me.”
Bard understood. Even when he had ventured into the catacombs, he was not this far underground. If he did not get out of here soon, he could go mad.
“I wish Britt and the others were here.”
“Just keep going, George. Things will be fine.” He took one of his knives out and laid it on the floor of the cavern, with the blade pointing to the west.
“What are you doing?”
I am hoping to leave a sign for them to see. It shows the others which direction we went.
“Good thinking, Bard.”

“This one is empty,” Britt said, disappointedly looking around.
“They can be anywhere,” Balon said. “We will just continue as we have been before. Knowing how George is, he can be around a corner ready to pull a practical joke on us.”
“True,” said Britt, unconvinced.
“He has the best sense of direction,” Massacharamar said. “He probably will make it back to the library. I bet when we get back up there, he will be sitting in that divan, reading from one of the books.”
“When I get a hold of him,” said Britt, “I am going to knock some sense into the boy. Then I will buy him all the books he wants out of my own cash.”
“I think we will all do that,” said Johanna.
After coming to antoher empty cavern, Balon said, “Let’s get back to the main passageway, and continue traveling north.”


Bard looked at the pile of stones in front of him. It looked like some had fallen away, leaving a hole. “I think there may be a cavern. Stand back and watch my back.”
Within minutes enough rocks were cleared away and they were able to crawl into a small cavern.
Bard shone his lantern and the light reflected off the sunken eye sockets of a corpse.
“George, be careful,” Bard warned as the thief approached the body. “You remember wheat had happened in the throne room with the ghouls.”
George found a pole laying near the body and prodded it with it. However, the body, sitting propped against the wall of the room, fell over to its side.
“No, it was somebody unlucky enough to not survive the caverns.”
Bard approached George and cast more light on the body.
“This happened a long time ago.” The body only contained bones and the tattered remains of leather armor. All the flesh had decayed away.
“A thief,” George said. “I wonder if he was belonged to the party that the beserkers killed?
“No this happened before that,” Bard answered. “It must have been at least a year.”
George suddenly wanted to get out of the the room, out of the caverns and as far away as possible. “I wondered what happened to him.”
Bard looked closely at the neck bones and saw two marks. “It looks like he was bitten by a giant spider. They are very poisonous and he probably did not have a healing potion with him. It appears that he just crawled in here to die.”
George caught a glitter on the remains of the thief’s cloak. He bent down and removed decorated silver stud that was used to fasten it.
“I wonder how many times the caverns have been explored.”
“I believe that he just came in by himself,” George was looking through a purse that was lying near the remains. Some thieves will go through extremes to get extra money. They do not have any regard for their own safety.” He removed eight gold and eight silver pieces and handed them and the silver stud to Bard. “I personally would rather leave these. It is one thing when you find treasures that monsters are guarding. However, when if comes to a fellow comrade, even one I do not personally know, it is different.”
“I understand,” Bard said. He looked at the skeletal hands of the body of the thief. It was still grasping a crossbow. “This is still in excellent shape,” he said picking it up and looking at it. “We may need this.”
“Here is a quiver of arrows,” George said.
Bard fitted an arrow into the crossbow and handed it to George.
“This will be better that your knife. Have you ever used one before?”
“Massacharmar taught me. But I have only used it while we hunted. It has been a while and I might be a little rusty.”
“Just make sure that I am not in the way.”

“There is another side passage just ahead,” Massacharamar said. Thanks to the light coming from Balon, she was able to make it out easily.
Britt did not see any thing, but made a silent plea, “Help me find George. And also Bard, I keep forgetting about him.”
The corridor sloped downhill and at the bottom was a cavern. The walls were went with water, which glictened like diamonds and the light reflected off the droplets.
“A sunken cavern,” said Britt.
While the small cavern next to it was empty, the one across from these two was considerably larger. The floor were even and level. However, when they approached the center, the floor sloped downwards. The middle of the carven was about twenty feet lower than the even surface of the floor.
“Look at the slope,” said Balon. He sat down. “I believe these are seats that have been carved from the rocks.”
Balon and the other sat next to him.
“I wonder if this was some sort of arena,” Johanna said.
“I think it is,” said Massacharamar. “However, was it an arean for men to train in. Or was it just for entertainment?”
“Are you thinking that Stephan and Balon put some innocent human down there and watched in enjoyment as he was torn apart by some vicious beasts?”
“Hopefully,” said Balon, “we will never find out.”
“I agree,” said Britt. “If we ever did find that was the use for this cavern, I would totally lose respect for both of these men.”
“That also goes for me,” said Balon.
When they left the arena, Johanna asked, “What is that glow?”
“It is coming from Balon,” said Britt.
“No, there is something glowing from over there,” she said pointing to the left.
“I see it too,” said Massacharamar.
Sure enough, there was, coming from another cavern, a soft purple phosphorescent glow. They walked to the cavern and all the walls were illuminated. Balon did not have to use his own light source in this cavern, there was enough light. n However, where was it coming from?
Massacharamar walked over to the wall. “There is a purplish mold on the walls.” She looked up. “It is even on the ceiling. The light is coming from the mold.”
“We better leave,” said Britt, remembering the mold in the garden room. “It could be dangerous.”
“This one is harmless,” said the elf. “We have this in my homeland. I just cannot remember its name.”
After making sure the room was secure, Britt said, “While I want to continue on and look for George and Bard, and believe me I would if I was alone, I think we will do better if we eat and rest for a while. I think we will do better if we have a clear and fresh start.”


After they left the hidden cavern where they found the skeletal remains of the thief, Bard and Geroge traveled up the northern passageway.
“They can be anywhere,” said George. “Who will take care of Britt, if we can not find him!”
“The others are with him,” said Bard. “Do not worry, we will find them.”
George halted. “What’s wrong?” asked Bard.
The thief held up his hand and waved for Bard to be quiet. Tilting his head, he listened.
“I hear running water, like a stream. It is just ahead. Come on! What are you waiting for?”
Keeping his sword ready, Bard followed George. Just ahead of them was a large pull of water. It was twenty feet across and approximately eight feet wide. A nearby stream was feeding it.
“I wonder if this was the pool that Johanna almost feel into,” Bard said, remembering the trap she had stumbled across on the upper level.
George looked up towards the ceiling but could not see anything through the darkness above their heads. “I can not tell…” All of a sudden he saw a figure sneak out from the shadows. “Bard! Look out!”
Even as George yelled his warning, he felt something leap onto his back. Whatever, it was, it was small and light. It was striking at his back with a weapon like a rock or a small knife. However, whatever weapon it was using, it was not doing any harm.
Reaching back with his arm, he tried to grab at the creature. However, he could not grab it effectively. Hopefully, George would not try to use the crossbow on the creature. With his luck, he would miss his target and impale him instead.
However, George only stared at the attacker in shock. Why was he not doing anything to help him?

 

“Fire!” Balon yelled and fire surged out of his fingers. The omega stopped constricting and started to burn.
“You are going to burn Bard alive!” Johanna cried.
Balon stopped the fire. “See if you can pull him from the jelly.”
Johanna reached into the substance, grabbed Bard’s arm and pulled. Even though, she felt a slight tingling from the jelly, most of the acid was destroyed by Balon’s fire. “I cannot move him!” she yelled.
“Britt, stand by with you hammer! Johanna, let go of Bard! Freezia!” he yelled as ice now shot from his fingers. The omega was frozen into a giant chunk of ice.
“Break Bard free!” Britt, Massacharamar started hitting the ice around Bards head with their hammers. George grabbed his knife and started chipping.
Soon Bard was free from the ice. However, he was unconscious. His exposed skin was burned beyond recognition. George ran to his bag and pulled out his healing potion. “Here you go buddy. You gave me yours so you can have mine.”
“Do not expect me to kiss you,” Bard said weakly.
“Let him rest,” Britt said. “He nearly had a close one. Bard’s damaged skin was almost healed. While the acid could have dissolved the armor, the omeba was removed in enough time to save him.
“George, let me look at that burn on your face,” Johanna said, taking about the mark where the omeba had struck him.
“It is only a scratch,” George said. “Let’s save the healing potions for emergencies.”
Balon once again used his fire spell to melt the remains of the Ochre jelly. As the ice melted down he noticed several stones fall away from the ice. He picked them up and returned to the others.
“It appears that while the acid eats away metal and flesh, it does not harm rocks.”
“That is why it was able to lurk over our heads,” Massacharamar said. “It did not eat the rock away.”
“Nor did the acid eat these rocks,” he said handing Britt several Amethyst and Peridot gems. Nor this one,” he added, handing the dwarf a giant Garnet.”
“These are worth over 1,000 gold pieces,” Britt said. “What we found so far is worth the trip here. We can return our findings to the elders and just call this mission completed.”
“What about this place and their plans for it?” George asked.
“We will just say that it is too dangerous,” Britt said.
Bard, getting stronger by the minute said, “We should all agree whther to give up. If one person wants to leave, then we all leave. I have the first vote. Not me.”
“Not me,” said George.
“Not me,” said Johanna and Balon together.
“Not me,” said Massacharmar. “That leaves you Britt. If you want to leave, we will respect your decision.”
“Not me,” said Britt. He looked around, they were is what looked like a mining shaft. Even though there had been no work recently, the equipment was like it was just brand new. He picked up a pickaxe and handed it to Bard. “You are going to need this, since you lost your sword.”
“I can just hear Joe Smith when I tell him that a jelly monster ate my sword. He never let me forget about the rust monster.”


Chapter
CAVERN OF THE MYSTICAL STONE.

They were standing in an ante-chamber that was empty except for a large piece of green rock that was glowing.
“Be careful,” Balon warned, as Britt reached out to touch it.
“It is only mica,” the dwarf replied. “Still I wonder what is making it glow.”
“Let me see,” George said and picked up a piece that had peel off from the main foundation.
“From what you taught me, I think you are right, Britt. Yet, there is one way to find out.” He put the piece in his mouth and bit down.
“George! What do you think you are…”
Bard reached out and grabbed George’s arm.
The two disappeared into thin air.
“doing!” finished Britt.
“What happened?” Johanna asked.
“They teleported to another part of the Caverns,” Balon said.
“George is alone!” Britt yelled. “He will not be able to defend himself! We have to find him!”
“Bard went with him,” Massacharamar said. “He will protect him.”
George looked around. “This definitely mica,” he said. “Mica with magical properties.” He bit down on the stone again. However, nothing happened.
“Where are we,” George said drawing his sword.
Bard held his lantern up and looked around. “This look like a cave. What is this stuff?” Bard asked pulling sticky stuff from his hair.
“It looks like web.”
“How do we get out of here?”
“It looks like an entrance over there. It is all covered with web. We have to cut our way out…”
A scurrying noise cut off George’s sentence.
“Be quiet,” Bard whispered. “I think there might be sp…”
In the next instance Bard was covered with a web.
“I cannot move!” he yelled. “Get out of here, now!”
A large spider approached Bard, unaware of George standing a few feet awaw.
George, with his knife in his hand, sprung on its back and sank it into the spider’s back. The creature fell to the ground, dead.
He ran over to Bard and started cutting the robe like-web from the warrior. “At least he did not have a tail to grab me.” Finally, Bard was freed. George looked at him and shaked his head. “How do you get yourself into these situations.”
Bard did not say anything but drew his sword. “We have to cut through this web to get out of here. There may be more spiders, so be careful.”
“Bard, we may be expecting parents.” George pointed to a section of the cave. Ten giant eggs, laying in the web, looked like they were starting to crack.
“Help me over here. Then we will take care of those.”
They finally cleared an entrance to get them back into the corridor.
“Hold my lantern,” Bard said. He started to feel around in his backpack
“What are you doing?”
“I am looking for my tinderbox. If those eggs hatch, we are going to have problems.”
“No. Please do not do that,” George pleaded. “They will not hurt us. Once they are hatched, they will go outdoors. The one spider was just looking for food.”
“You call me just food?” Bard laughed.
“Probably bad tasting as it is.”
Bard pretended to punch him.
“Spiders are not evil and I do not think it would be right to kill them, especially since they are babies. Let’s save the killing for the evil ones.”
“Let’s go and find the others,” Bard said, putting his tinderbox back in his bag.



“Shouldn’t we try to find George?” Britt asked. “If we bite down on another piece of stone, we should be teleported to the same place.”
“I would not do that,” Balon warned. “This type of stone is unpredictable.”
“What do you mean?”
“This stone does things at random. You may bite down on it and nothing happens. Sometimes the stone will help you. For example, it may heal you or make you wiser. However, it can also curse you. One person, I remember, went into a deep sleep for several days until the curse wore off.”
“So it is better just to look for George?” Massacharamar asked.
“Yes.”
“What if he tries the stone to teleport back to us?”
“The stone is useless now. Once it is used, the magical properties are gone.”
“What do we do, wait for them or look for them?” Johanna asked.
“I say that we look for them,” Britt said. “Who knows what trouble George got himself into.”
The left the chamber and started walking south.
There is a cavern up ahead.
“Be careful,” Balon said. “There are only four of us.” When he saw Britt’s face became pale, he added, “that is until George and Britt join us again.”
He hoped that he was right.

George and Bard walked a short distance and came upon another cavern. However, there was nothing in it. “I wonder how far we are from the others,” the thief wondered.
“We are still in the lower level.” He knew this just by looking around the walls. They were irregual, rough and unfinished.
“I do not think Stephan and Joban ever got around to getting this fortress of theirs finished.”
“I see what you mean, said George. “The upper level, from what I can see is complete. Even though, all the rooms are full of dust, they can be lived in. However, on this level, only the museum and are finished. I wonder what their plans were for the rest of the lower level.”
“That may be a mystery to us, forever. Still, if the elders are planning to make this a tourist attraction, they may want to consider sealing off a majority of the lower level. It can be dangerous.” Just as he said this, Bard tripped on a piece of uneven floor and fell to the ground.
“Are you okay, Bard?” George asked him. For once, there was no laughter in his voice and even had a hint of fear.
“Yes,” he said getting up. “How about you?”
“To be honest, this is the first time I have been underground like this. When went on missions, when we were underground, we were always near the entrance. This is different; it feels like the walls are closing in on me.”
Bard understood. Even when he had ventured into the catacombs, he was not this far underground. If he did not get out of here soon, he could go mad.
“I wish Britt and the others were here.”
“Just keep going, George. Things will be fine.” He took one of his knives out and laid it on the floor of the cavern, with the blade pointing to the west.
“What are you doing?”
I am hoping to leave a sign for them to see. It shows the others which direction we went.
“Good thinking, Bard.”

Bard looked at the pile of stones in front of him. It looked like some had fallen away, leaving a hole. “I think there may be a cavern. Stand back and watch my back.”
Within minutes enough rocks were cleared away and they were able to crawl into a small cavern.
Bard shone his lantern and the light reflected off the sunken eye sockets of a corpse.
“George, be careful,” Bard warned as the thief approached the body. “You remember wheat had happened in the throne room with the ghouls.”
George found a pole laying near the body and prodded it with it. However, the body, sitting propped against the wall of the room, fell over to its side.
“No, it was somebody unlucky enough to not survive the caverns.”
Bard approached George and cast more light on the body.
“This happened a long time ago.” The body only contained bones and the tattered remains of leather armor. All the flesh had decayed away.
“A thief,” George said. “I wonder if he was belonged to the party that the beserkers killed?
“No this happened before that,” Bard answered. “It must have been at least a year.”
George suddenly wanted to get out of the the room, out of the caverns and as far away as possible. “I wondered what happened to him.”
Bard looked closely at the neck bones and saw two marks. “It looks like he was bitten by a giant spider. They are very poisonous and he probably did not have a healing potion with him. It appears that he just crawled in here to die.”
George caught a glitter on the remains of the thief’s cloak. He bent down and removed decorated silver stud that was used to fasten it.
“I wonder how many times the caverns have been explored.”
“I believe that he just came in by himself,” George was looking through a purse that was lying near the remains. Some thieves will go through extremes to get extra money. They do not have any regard for their own safety.” He removed eight gold and eight silver pieces and handed them and the silver stud to Bard. “I personally would rather leave these. It is one thing when you find treasures that monsters are guarding. However, when if comes to a fellow comrade, even one I do not personally know, it is different.”
“I understand,” Bard said. He looked at the skeletal hands of the body of the thief. It was still grasping a crossbow. “This is still in excellent shape,” he said picking it up and looking at it. “We may need this.”
“Here is a quiver of arrows,” George said.
Bard fitted an arrow into the crossbow and handed it to George.
“This will be better that your knife. Have you ever used one before?”
“Massacharmar taught me. But I have only used it while we hunted. It has been a while and I might be a little rusty.”
“Just make sure that I am not in the way.”

 

It spoke, “Brave adventurer, Joban, you hav made it this far. You passed the tests and obstacles I have set out. You got through both the seen and the unseen. Even where your strength failed you at times, your determination allowed you to succedd.
“Many people ran at the first sign of danger. You did not do that. Even though you used magic to help you throughout the tasks, you realized the key to reaching your destination was by using a clear mind.
Gallapas’s ghost floated behind me. As I turned to face it again, it spoke, “You are the only one who made it this far. You are my soul heir.While you found many valuable and magical objects throughout my castle, the most valuable treasure is within you. All that I have learned throughout the years is now within you. You will have more magical powers that you ever though it was possible to obtain. I give you all my knowledge and wisdom.” In an instant my mind became a universe that I had no idea how I would be able to handle everything that entered into my mind at once. Then it organized itself into different parts of my brain. When I needed that information, it would come forth, then receed back into the blackness of my mind and be retained until I needed it again.
“There is nothing more that you can do in this castle. I will depart this place and go to the heavenly realms. This place will eventually decay and rot in age. Never return to this forsaken place. However, you will leave you my ring to show you that you are my rightful heir.”
The ghost slowly disintegrated into air. The breeze that was flowing around me disappeared. On my ring a sterling silver ring appeared; there was a body of a tiger engraved on it. I decided there was nothing more I could do in this castle. Already the walls started to become black and moldy with age. I stepped out of the room.
All of a sudden everything turned black. I did not lose consciousness and was aware of my surroundings. It was not even for a second. Then once again I could see once again. I was no longer in Gallapas’s Castle, but standing next to the fireplace at the Stoneville Inn. Patrons were too busy talking and laughing over their mead and ale that thye did not seem surprised to see me suddenly appear. However, one person noticed, the man who told me ablout this marvelous place.
He walked up to me. “Congratulations, Joban! I knew you could do it!”
Clasping my hand, he shok it. Then he noticed the ring on my hand. Do you know why you were able to survive the castle?”
I never thought about it.
“Gappalpas has chosen you to be his heir. This ring is his gift to you. Even though it is worth over a thousand gold pieces, do not sell it. It will be worth more to you throughout your entire life!”
I smiled to myself. Yes. I am finally happy. I have found worth and a purpose in my very existence.

Note: To the intruder who found this journal: Do not expect to become my heir. I am not generous like Gallapas was. I am and always will be selfish, even when I am dead. Also, the ring that I was given was given to me alone. Once I die it will become a piece of worthless junk. Once I die it will be teleported back to this fortress. If you have found it, that means that I am dead.

“That is the end of the journal,” said George.
“That ring I found in Joban’s laboratory,” Johanna said, “was that possibly the ring?”
“I believe so,” so said Balon. “He was right, it is not worth anything. What do you think, Britt?”
There was no answer from the dwarf. He had closed his eyes and was starting to snore.

Chapter ?
The Entrance to the Lower Level

“I remember there was another hallway to the east of the throne room,” Johanna said. It was the next morning. They were awake with the effects of the ale worn off.
The left the captains quarters and headed back to the throne room. The hallway winded and they were in a room that had chairs stacked up against the walls.
“This must be a storage room,” Britt said looking at two tables that were stacked upon each other.
“It may have be used as a carpenter’s area,” Bard said. In the corner stood a table that looked like it was made for woodworking. A vise was attached to one end. Saws and other equipment were on the table. Woodchips and sawdust covered most of the floor about the table.
“Didn’t their mother tell them to clean up after themselves?” George said. Then he noticed that, like the other room in the fortress, a footprint impression was made in the dust.
A second door in the room opened into a small hallway. Just a few steps away was another room.
“A female stayed here,” Johanna said. They were staring at a beautiful walnut bed that had decorations carved throught the wood.
“This is beautiful and skillfully made,” Massacharamar said running her hands over the bed’s canopy. The fabric was blue with many different designs embroidered of the cloth. Green tassles lined the entire border of the canopy. “I wonder if the female we saw in the picture is the one who lived here.”
“I believe she is,” Balon said. He spoke in a strange voice and stared in the corner of the room.
“What is wrong, Balon?” Bard asked. Then he saw he. A beautiful ghoshtlike female was standing next to the red cedar dresser. She looked at them and acknowledged their presence with a shy smile. She looked hopeful when she saw Bard, then, when she realized that he was not the one she was waiting for, her face became sad.
“She died of a broken heart, waiting for Stephan to return,” Johanna said. “I wish there was something we could do for her to help appease her.”
“I think I have an idea!” George said suddenly. “Britt and Bard, come with me real quick.”
“Where do you think you are going?” Britt gruffed.
“Back to Stephan’s chamber. I do not know if it will work, but there is no harm in trying.”
“We will be right back!” he called to the others.
“Her name was Michelle,” Massacharamar said, looking at the headboard. Her name was carved in it.
Michelle did not seem bothered that there were people in her room. She had be alone for so long, she welcome the prospect of company.
She floated to the nightstand. It was covered by a lace doily. On top were several bottles of perfume and silver combs. She smiled at Johanna, who was the closest to het. “Take them,” she seemed to stay.
She floated to the full length mirror in the room and looked in it. Unable to see herself she floated and stopped in front of a carved walnut plaque. It read:

My Michelle,
I love you
You are beautiful,
You are king.
I have collected
Many great treasures
All my Entire life.
However, my best treasure,
The one that I will
Always cherise is you
My beautiful Michelle.
My love I give to you
Will be for eternity.
Love, Stephan.

“That is so beautiful,” said Johanna.
“And so sad,” said Massacharamar.
“I believe I know why George went back to Stephan’s chamber for,” Balon said. “If it works, she will be happy again.”
Soon George, Bard and Britt carrying the tapestry of Stepah and Michelle. They hung it next to the mirror. Michelle looked at the picture and broke into a beamful smile. A ghostlike form of Stephan emerged from the picture. Smiling, he took her hand, and they both disappeared.
“A love story with a happy ending,” Massacharamar said.
“She knew that he would return for her,” Johanna said.

Leaving Michelle’s room they headed back the way they came. “This covers this part of the fortress,” George said, looking at the map.
“What gets me is we have not found any way to get to the lower lever,” Britt said.
“Maybe there is a secret door that we missed somewhere,” Balon said.
“We might even have to go back outdoors. There may be an entrance out there,” Johanna said.
By now they were just passing the trophy room that George and Britt had explored while the others were traipsing around the dance floor. “Wait!” he said.
“What is it wrong?” Britt said, drawing his sword.
“Oh, nothing like monsters to worry about,” the thief said. “Just when we went to the Captain’s chamber, we went down this hallway. There is another hallway above the trophy room.”

“There is nothing in this room,” Bard said looking around. It was just contained bare walls, with no sort of decorations on them, and contained no types of furnishing in it.
“It probably is a room that never was finished,” Balon said.
The group turned to leave. However, Britt noticed a large stone slab in the corner. A heavy chain was attached to an iron ring.
“Bard, help me with this,” the dwarf said.
Bard and the dwarf pulled on the chain. Even though it seemed heavy, the stone slab moved easily.
“That is a staircase,” George exclaimed.
“This must be the entrance into the lower level,” Britt said. “It is going to be dark down there. Get you lanterns ready. Oh you okay, George? You look pale.”
“I am fine, Britt,” the thief answered. For once there was no joking in his voice. George did not look like a joking and cocky adventurer; he look like a scared teeneager. He glasped his knife tightly in his hand.”
“We go down single file.”
The stairway seemed to descend forever. The group moved slowly, with Bard in the lead. With each step down, he tested to make sure he was on solid footing. Soon the light from the room above was gone, a rock outcropping was over their head.
“It should not be much further,” Britt whispered quietly.
Bard paused. He had felt a drop of liquid on the bare skin of his arm. Nothing unusal about this since there was always misture in underground caverns. That was one of the reasons why unpreserved food went bad so quickly. However, where the liquid hit his, his skin began to burn. It was a if there was acid on his skin. He looked up.
A giant amoeba-like liquid creature fell from the outcropping. It wrapped its liquid tenticles around his body and constricted.
His one arm holding his sword was free. He cut through the liquid. However. the amoeba was not killed. Its body was spitl into two living forms. Now Bard’s body was entirely consumed. Bard screamed. The acid was eating though his armor. His bare skin was already burning.
“Bard!” George screamed. He ran up and sank his knife into the liquid. His knife melted away. The last thing Bard saw before he passed out was the amoega stiking George away with one of its tentacles and the thief crashing against the walls of the cavern.
“No!” Balon, yelled as Britt ran up to Bard with his sword. It will only eat metal. Johanna! Get ready to pull him away!”
“Fire!” Balon yelled and fire surged out of his fingers. The omega stopped constricting and started to burn.
“You are going to burn Bard alive!” Johanna cried.
Balon stopped the fire. “See if you can pull him from the jelly.”
Johanna reached into the substance, grabbed Bard’s arm and pulled. Even though, she felt a slight tingling from the jelly, most of the acid was destroyed by Balon’s fire. “I cannot move him!” she yelled.
“Britt, stand by with you hammer! Johanna, let go of Bard! Freezia!” he yelled as ice now shot from his fingers. The omega was frozen into a giant chunk of ice.
“Break Bard free!” Britt, Massacharamar started hitting the ice around Bards head with their hammers. George grabbed his knife and started chipping.
Soon Bard was free from the ice. However, he was unconscious. His exposed skin was burned beyond recognition. George ran to his bag and pulled out his healing potion. “Here you go buddy. You gave me yours so you can have mine.”
“Do not expect me to kiss you,” Bard said weakly.
“Let him rest,” Britt said. “He nearly had a close one. Bard’s damaged skin was almost healed. While the acid could have dissolved the armor, the omeba was removed in enough time to save him.
“George, let me look at that burn on your face,” Johanna said, taking about the mark where the omeba had struck him.

 

George knew what Britt was asking. “I give it time, because he just does not know. Looking at Johanna’s eyes, I can tell she is in love with him. However, he is completely blind or just is not ready. I have been trying to nudge them on when ever I can.” George became silent, thinking about his own true love, Shyla. He left out a heavy sigh.
Britt reached out his hand and patted him on the shoulder. “Do not give hope, son. I believe you will meet with her again one day. Just promise me one thing, George.”
“What is that, Britt,” he asked with renewed hope.
“First you need to stop thieving and live a honest life.”
“Oh I already know that,” George said. “I do not want to jeopardize losing her again. The only thing is thieving is the only thing I am good at. I do not know any other skills.”
“You can learn something from what you already know,” the dwarf said wisely.
“I see what you mean,” George said. “I even have an idea. I also am good with numbers. Hey! I might be a good banker. What was the second thing?”
“When you get married, I want to be your best man.”
“You got it!”
Balon and Massacharamar were amused watching the two dancers.
“The king and queen of the ball,” the magic-user said. When he saw Bard accidently step on Johanna’s toe, he laughed. “He has a lot of learning, but he is catching on quick. Shall we join them?”
“With pleasure,” the elf said. The shortly joined the dancers on the floor.
George looked over at Britt. “Do not even ask.”
“Do not worry; I was not going at ask you to dance. I wanted to know if you wanted to check out the room over across the hallway.
“I do not see any reason why we should interrupt the partiers.”
They got off the thrones and walked to the first door.
“They must have collected something from each of their adventures,” Britt said, after making sure the room was secure.
“Do you remember the tapestry in Stephan’s room?” George asked. “Maybe this is the dragon he had slain.” On the northern wall was a dragonskin. Britt wan his hands over the green scales. “After all these years, and this skin is still in very good condition.”
“What is the sense of having something like this? It has no use, handing on this wall. I am sure it would sell. Somebody, could make shoes and clothes out of this.”
“I agree,” said Britt. “If I have to kill something, I do not keep parts of it to brag about it. True, something will provide me with food and clothing. But to have something just for the sake of it,, it just means that I have more stuff to carry. Even if I did have a home, I do not think I would litter it up with worthless junk.”
“My home,” said George, “will have a roomful of books.” His eyes opened wide. “How did he even managed to do that?”
Looking where George was pointing, Britt saw a stone basilisk.
Maybe this is just a sculpture. They walked over an rans his hands over it. “No, this was alive at on time. Do not worry, George,” he said when he noticed the thief was trying not to look in the creature’s eyes, “it will not harm you or anybody again.”
“Still, how did Stephan manage to do this. He would have turned to stone when he directly looked into the basilisk’s eyes.
“He must have been using a mirror. The creature probably saw his reflection and it turned to stone.”
“We were wondering where you disappeared to,” Balon said, when Britt and George returned to the dance floor. “Did you find anything?”
“No it was some sort of trophy rooms. There were bear rugs, antlers from a moose or an elk. Then he told them about the dragon skin and the petrified basilisk.
“Interesting,” the magic-user said. “I wouldn’t even want to tangel with one of those.”
“There is a hallway to the south,” Bard said.
They followed a short hallway. “I hope this is not another maze room,” said George after they made three right turns.
“No it is a room,” Massacharamar said, when after they made the final right, she walked right into the door. The plaque on the door read:
“Thomas,
My friend,
My Captain,
My comrade in arms.
You are my best fighter,
Trusted Among Friends
Feared by your enemies
May you prevail
In all that you do!”

“This must be the captain’s chamber,” Bard said.
“I would have thought that this would have been a more elegant room,” George said.
“All the chambers have been like that,” Bard said. “It seemed that the people who lived here have been frugal.”
“Sure,” Britt said, “we have found gems and gold coins throughout the fortress. However, it is nothing different of the other missions we have been on. Joban did put more of his money in the furnishings in his rooms.”
A bed sat in one corner of the room. There was nothing special about it. It looked like somebody had hammered some planks together and suffed a mattress with straw. The table was built crudely in the same way. On top of the table was a chipped stoneware dish and mug. “Maybe he was the one who turned the basilisk into stone,” Balon said holding up a mirror.
George unlocked a wooden trunk that was found under the bed. He was disappointed when he did not find anything valuable in it. “Nothing but a coat, cloaks, boots and a broken knife.”
Britt came, with a grin, carrying a barrel. “Let’s take a break and have a drink.”
“What is that?” Bard asked.
“Ale! And it is still fresh!”

“It is getting late,” shouldn’t we get back to the library?” George asked, looking around the room.
“No,” hiccupped Britt, “it would be safer to stay here.”
George shook his head. He and Balon were the only sensible ones. He had filled his flask once. When he had finished his, he had no more. Balon did nothing, he just sat on the bed, smiling and watching the others in silence. Even though they were no where near what you would call intoxicated, their judgement would be off if they encountered any monsters on the way back. Well, at least the barrel of ale, was finished. After a solid sleep, and a good breakfast, they would be one their way once again. According to Stephan and Joban’s map, there were other rooms nearby.
“George!” Britt suddenly exclaimed.
“What?” the thief asked startled, thinking that an orc suddenly materialized in the room.
“What happens next?”
“Oh,” knowing what Britt was talking about. He pulled the journal he had found in the dry pool out of his bag, and began reading as soon as Balon deciphered it with the read spell.

I see you have found my second journal. I see that you are getting deeper and deeper into into my cavern since you found the dry place I told you about. Congratulations. You are brave explorers, or foolish ones. However, if you make it through the Caverns of Kildun Aalda, do not expect any magical rewards from me. You may find trinkets scattered throughout the room. Some as you can see are worth something in gold pieces. Others may protect you. That is all I am going to tell you, since you are intruding upon my and Stephan’s privacy.

I will not bore you with details of all the rooms I explored while I was in the tiger castle of Gallapas. I defeated many monsters throughout the different rooms. Whenever, I rested I read from the magic journal and learned different spells. Within a short amout of time I went from being a medium and advanced to a conjurer. Maybe that was what I intended to do in the first place. However, I still felt that my life was unworthy. I had no choice but to continue.

I found myself in the castle longer than I intended to be. Once I left the castle, I had an eight or nine day journey back to Antares. My food supply would run out efore I got back. I would either have to end my quest now and head back with my belt tightened around my stomache. Or I could continue and worry about finding food later.
After several days of exploring, killing monsters, finding treasures, meditating and building up my magical skills, I found myself in a room that was lit with a glow and I did not need my lantern. When I saw the glassware that lined the shelves, I realized that I was in Gasllapas’s laboratory. On the west wall there were two windows that were shaped like tiger eyes. However, when I went to look at them, I could neither see out of them or break them
Where was this glow coming from? On the west wall were two furnaces. Coals were in them and even though they were giving off light, there was no smoke. They were not even hot; I was able to hold some in my hand without getting burnt.
In the center of the room was a spiral staircase, just like one of many spiral staircases throughout the castle. The glow from the furnace lit it entirely and I could see above my head. A trapdoor was in the ceiling above my head. Somehow, I knew that what I was seeking was up there. I pulled on it and the door came down, revealing another set of stairs.
I entered the room and as soon as I climbed through the hole in the floor, I heard a hissing to my right. A pit viper was coiled up, ready to strike. With the spells I had already used, I had to wait until I was rested. There was one I had not used yet. The snake, suddenly relaxed and went limp. I imagine it snoring as I walked by its still body. “Let it sleep,” I told myself. There was no reason to kill it. It would still be dreaming, what snakes normally dream about in their tiny pea-sized brains, when I left this room.
I looked around the thirty foot circular room. Shelves loaded with books lined most of the walls of this castle. I was standing in Gallapas’s private study. Even if I did not find this rumored treasure by surviving the quest into the castle, the greatest wealth would be in these books. However, after I looked through a couple, I realized they were just general books, the types you can find in different towns such as Antares. There did not seem to be any journals or books on spells.
A cool breeze started blowing through the room. I became aware of a presence in the room. I did not see it but felt that something was watching me as I moved.
I turned slowly around and I saw a cloud of dust. There was a strange light source within the dust. Soon it formed into a translucent being. I was facing Gallapass’s ghost! He slowly raised his hand. How would I fight and defeat a ghost? I raised my hand to use whatever power to distract this being and escape.
“You cannot attack me!” the ghost laughed. It was not an evil laugh. In fact, he chuckled gently. “You are mortal and I am immortal!” With no power to defeat this presence, my unworthy light would be ended. “Joban,” the ghost said, gently, “There is need to be afraid of me.”
A cool breeze that was blowing around me had now turned into a fierce cold wind. It sent chills up and down my spine. The ghost was floating a foot above the floor. I realized that I had no need to fear it. This one had no evil in it; it was a benevolent ghost.

 

Soon the aura disappeared from Balon. “I had to do that just to make sure,” he said.
“What do you mean?” Massacharamar asked.
“I am sure that I am a lawful magic-user,” he explained. “However, I have been tempted to cross to the chaotic side. Then I had commanded that orc and he obeyed, I wanted to make sure I was not falling victim to turn evil. If that aura had been yellow, I would have no choic but to leave.”
“Why leave?” Bard asked.
“I would not want to cause harm to fall on any of you,” the magic user said quietly. Without saying anymore, he walked over to the next pool that had a liquid that had different shades of green. The image showed a lion drinking from it. Then all of a sudden it yawned greatly and laid it head in its paws and went to sleep. “A pool of sleep.”
“Does anybody have a fishing pole?” George asked. In the next pool, trout and bass were swimming around. No image appeared when Balon waved his wand. I guess this is how the orcs survived in here, by eating fish.
Steam was coming from the next pool. They went over to investigate. “Ice,” said Britt “dry ice. Do not touch it. It is so cold that it will burn you.”
“I think we are going to be rich,” George said looking at the bottom of the final pool. Looking down into the clear water, the bottom of the pool was covered with gold coins.
Balon smiled, “I do not need my wand to tell what this one is.” He reached his arm into the pool and as soon as the surface of the water was touched, the image disappeared.
“Oh shoot,” said George, disappointed “Another illusion, just like the one in Joban’s chamber.”
Balon walked over to the west wall of the pool room and looked at it. It was bare except for some rune markings on it.
“I think there may be a secret door,” he called. In less than a minute they were standing in a small but quaint room. It too had the perfectly layered floor in ceramic tile, forming a beautiful checkerboard pattern of reds, browns and black, just like the pool room.
“I wonder who stayed in this one,” Johanna said, looking at the simple bed, chairs, desk and table. They had no worth, since they were commonly made and were worn.
Massacharamar walked over to a painting that was hanging on the wall over the bed. A strong warrior, wearing plate armor, was wielding a sword. “If this actually is Stephan,” she said, “he is very handsome.”
Standing next to the warrior in the picture was a magic-user wearing purple robes. Power was coming out of his fingers. “He too looks very impressive,” Balon said. He looked closely at the painting, “What does that say?” There was writing in the lower left corner.
“Of that is written in the elfin language,” Massacharamar said. “It says:

‘To Luten
Advisor
Counselor
Friend.’”

Underneath, in the common language, Stephan and Joban’s names were signed.
George looked at the gold frame surrounding the painting. “I bet this could sell for at least three-hundred gold pieces. However, I think it would will be too heavy to carry back to Antares.”
“We will leave that up to the elders,” Britt said. “I never heard of this Luten fellow. I wonder what he advised them on.”
Johanna walked over to the desk and picked up the book. Opening the book, she said, “I think I know.” She pointed to a page with a drawing on in. It was of a room that they had already explored. There were notes of what supplies were needed for the construction, how long it would take and how many laborers were needed to complete the room on time. Different pages showed similar drawings of other rooms.
“He must have been the major planner of this fortress,” Bard said, looking through the pages. “However, there is nothing about the lower lever.”
“Maybe that never got done,” Massacharamar said. “What are you doing, George?” she asked as he pulled out his lockpicking kit.
“I just wonder what is so important that the desk drawer had to be locked.”
“Be careful,” Britt warned. “You remember what happened before.”
“This one is safe,” George said. “I already checked I dismantled the trap.”
“Was it the pin one again?” Bard asked.
“No. It more or less was a harmless one, something like my laughing gas prank. However, if it was set off, we probably would have left the room quickly, holding our noses.”
“What was it?” Britt asked
“A gas one. You know what happens after we eat too many beans.”
“George!” Britt barked out laughing. “I am so glad you dismantled that trap! If that gas is anything like your bean episodes, we would not be able to come back into this room for at least four hours!”
George grinned, evilly. “Pay back, Britt if I find any laughing gas in this drawer.”
He finished skillfully using his kit and had the drawer open. “Maybe I might be in luck,” he said holding up a bottle, filled with a clear liquid. He handed the bottle to Balon. “You are the expert in this.”
“This is a potion of levitation.”
“It there anything else?” Bard asked.
“Yes and they may be worth something. He held up a gold necklace and a ring.
“Let me see the ring, for a second,” Balon said. George handed it to him. “This is a ring of protection.”
“Just like the one Joban had,” Johanna commented.
What is that you are holding, George?” Britt asked. “Something you are going to pocket?”
“No. I actually do not know what it is. Though the gems might be worth something.”
“That is a moonstone, Johanna said, looking at the stone with the blue gems embedded in it.
“What are they used for?” Bard asked.
“These are magical gemstones. Do you see how it shimmers with different light when you rotate it one way or another. They are used for different purposes. Sometimes they are used to predict weather. Some woman use them to become fertile. Farmers use them to bring an excellent harvest. However, I think this one was used as a dream stone. By turning it where you get the right color, you can have beautiful visions at night.” She handed George the moonstone. “I think you should have this,” she said. “You were tossing and turning last night, maybe you need a good dream.”
“Thank you,” he said quietly. He was not shocked that she was generous with this find. Everybody, was kind and generous. What surprised him was that Johanna was not off the mark. He had that dream about Shyla again. She kept calling out to him during slep. He would think he would find her. But then it would turn into a dead end. “It is dark in here, George! Please help me!” Everytime he thought he was in reach, Shyla was no where to be found.
The dream he had last night was worse. She let out a blood curdling scream. Then she was silent. “Shyla!” he yelled to her. “Where are you!” However, there was nothing but silence.
He woke up sobbing in his blanket, thankful that nobody was awake to witness his weakness.

Chapter Twelve
May We Dance?

“Is this Stephan’s’s chamber?” Bard asked, looking around the circular room.
“If it is,” said Britt, “he rather liked to live a simple life than like royalty.” Still this is a nice room.”
The had taken left the pool room and went back down the corridor where they had encountered the orc. Then they followed the next one to the west. At the end was a room that was different from the others they had so far explored on the upper level. First the walls of the room were curved. Second, the walls were covered in tephan strips of finished pine wood.
George ran his hand over one of the strips, “I like this. While, it is simple and nothing fancy about it, I think it is very beautiful.”
“Yes, I think this is Stephan’s chamber,” Johanna said, studying a tapestry in on of the corners of the room. Measuring approximately seven feet wide and nine feet high, it showed a dragon with green, blue and red scales. A warrior had thrust a sword into its belly.
“Did tephan actually kill a dragon?” George asked with his eyes wide opened. “Then he looked at the dragon again. “Is it me or does that dragon look like it is only three feet long.”
“There are dragons,” Britt said. “However, they are not the large monsters, people tell stories about. Three feet is actually large for a dragon.”
“Why do people fear them?” Bard asked.
“Because of their fire breath. Did you ever wonder why Antares is a town that is made of stone?”
“I never thought of it,” Bard asked.
“Fire does not burn down stone. Antares was built that way to protect its residents.”
Johanna spoke, “Different dragons have different types of breath. Some breath wind, some ice and I even saw a horde of dragons destroy a village with water.
Now it was Britt’s turn to be surprised. “I did not know that,” he said.
“If dragons are so small, why do people fear them?” George asked.
“Because they are like bees, they swarm. Luckily for us, they only travel in groups of two or three.”
“I have never seen a dragon,” said Massacharamar.
“They usually keep to themselves,” Britt answered. It is said that they are a dying breed. It is rumored that fewer that a hundred still exist. They usually attack if they are provoked. They are not necessarily evil.”
The second tapestry showed a battle in a mountain pass. “This must be the barbarian invasion,” balon said. He ran his finers over the colorful threads showing the great detail. “This is very beautiful work. Whoever, did this put a lot of time and effort into this.
“Hello,” said George, doing a wolf-whistle. “Who is this?” He was standing in front of a third tapestry.
“She is beautiful,” said Massacharamar. The picure showed a woman and warrior standing by a lake, holding hands. The wind was tossing her blond hair. She had a look of love and admiration of her face. The warrior was smiling, happily.
“I would not think of Stephan having a wife or even a mistress in his life,” Bard said. “Maybe he was not a self-centered as we thought him to be.”

“Look at this!” exclaimed Bard. They had left Stephan’s personal chamber and walked down a short hallway. They were standing in a large open area that had a floor made of smoot slate. At each corner of this room were four marble columns. However, this was not what had attracted his attention. At one end, sitting on a stone platform, stood two large chairs made of red granite.
“I say,” said George, “they must have actually thought they were rulers! I wonder which one was the queen and which was the king.”
He went to one of the thrones and sat on it. “I am the king!” he called. “Britt, you are my queen!”
“Keep dreaming, son,” Britt growled. However, he walked over to the empty throne and sat on it. They kept an eye on the other.

Johanna and Bard walked around. “Do you think this was used as a ballroom?” she asked.
“I have no idea,” the warrior answered. “I have never been to a ball before, let alone dance.”
“Me neither,” said Johanna. “I mean I never have been to a ball, but I know some dances. Here, I will show you a few simple ones.”
“Shall we dance,” ask Bard.
After a few minutes, he learned a few simple steps. Soon they were dancing around the room, keeping step to unheard music.

Britt and George watched and Bard and Johanna were twirling around the ballroom.
“He is a fast learner,” George said. “Maybe I can teach him how to thieve.”
“With that big and clumsy body of his, he could not scale a wall,” Britt gruffed. He would get a few feet, then he would fall to the ground!” He barked out laughing. They watched in silence for a few minutes, then he leaned towards the thief. “How long do you give them?” he whispered.

 

After checking to make sure the door had no traps, he unlocked it and peered inside. It looked like this was another hallway and not a room. He listened, thinking he heard something.
“What is it, son,” Britt whispered.
“I think there is something in this corridor.” There was another sound, like a grunting.
“Balon and George, you stay in the middle. Britt, you cover the rear.”
They moved slowly and quietly down the hallway. After a few silent minutes, Britt halted the group and he peered around the corner. “I can see them up ahead. There are three orcs and they are fighting each other over something. One of them looks sick.”
“Should we try to talk to them?” asked Bard.
“No they are never good to try to persuade unless if you are involved in the black magic,” he said looking at Balon.
The magic-user shook his head. “ I know the dark arts but I avoid using them. There are always serious consequences when you use them. If I did, I would putting all of us at a great risk.”
“Do they have any weapons?” Johanna asked.
“One has a crossbow and the other has a battleaxe. If we attack, I must warn you they are like berserkers and like fighting in close combat. They will fight to the death and rarely retreat or surrender. They are not like goblins, who are cowardly.”
A smell reached Bard’s nose. “That smells like wine,” he said to himself. “Hey!” he whispered to Britt. “I think they have been drinking.”
“That will give us the advantage,” Britt said. “I do not see any chieftains; the look like they have been separated from their tribe. If things go wrong, we will retreat back the way we came. Massacharamar, get ready with your bow. When we turn the corner, we will rush them.”
When they stepped the corner, the three orcs did not notice them. The were fighting over a piece of fish. The one that look sick, just sat there with his back against the wall, sending grunting remarks to the other two once in a while.
“Massacharamar, take out the one with the crossbow.” The elf shot the arrow and the orc fell down dead, with the shift protruding from his heart.
The sick orc leapt to its feet and the one holding the battleaxe let out a blood thirsty yell and rushed towards the group.
Britt and Bard attacked the stronger orc. When it swung at Britt, Bard protected the dwarf. At the same time, Balon used his magic to fight the sick orc and Johanna used her mace against it. “Fire!” Balon yelled an the orc was consumed in flames. It screamed at it burned but continued to burm. Johanna struck it head and it fell to the ground, dead with a crushed skull.
The larger orc was harder to handle. It swung its battleaxe, trying to cut into the fighter and dwarf. Even though they were able to defend against themselves, they were unable to strike effectively against it.
George, holding on to his knife, could not get into striking distance. He was trying to attack the creature from the rear and, every time he had a chance, the orc swung at his direction with the battleaxe. When he did this he left an opening for the fighter and dwarf to hit him. Still it would give him the satisfaction of killing somebody.
“Hold back!” Balon yelled with a fury in his face that nobody was expecting. Even the orc was stunned for a second before it started in on his rage again. “You have your orders vile loathsome creature!’ The orc snarled and grunted at Balon. “Be one your way. Go back to your leader and await further orders!” The orc snarled and slithered away.” Shaking Balon fell to the ground.
Johanna was the first to reach him. “Are you okay?” she asked with concern.
Balon stood slowly to his feet, his face a pale as a sheet.
“Are you okay?” Johanna asked again.
“Yes,” he said, wiping his hands on his robe as if he was removing dirt and grime from his hands. “Let’s just get out of this hallway.
“There is a door up ahead,” said George. “Let me see if it is safe first.” The looked over at the magic-user, “Balon are you sure you are fine?”
“Just check the door, please,” said Balon.
Britt walked over to George and pretended to help him check for traps.
“What did Balon said to the orc? All I heard was a bunch or grunting and snarling.”
“That is what I heard too. Remember that he did not like to perform the dark arts.”
“It is safe to enter,” George called. He looked into the room and exclaimed, “We have hit the mother load!”
“Did we find treasure?” Britt was the second to follow him. The rest of the group quickly followed suit, looking for monsters.
“No I am just thirsty and my flask is empty,” George said.
The group stared in surprise. They were standing in what was, of what the had explored so far, the largest room in the Caverns of Kilda Aalda. Although the floors in the rest of the cavern were of stone, with the exception of the moss covered floor in the garden room, the floor in the room was perfectly layered in ceramic tile, forming a beautiful checkerboard pattern of reds, browns and black.
“Very beautiful,” said Johanna.
“I agree,” said Massacharamar.
“Excuse me,” said George, as he walked up a pool that was in the floor. “I have to fill my flask..” The room contained fourteen pools that were each fifteen feet wide and five feet deep.
“Wait, George!” Balon said, regaining his composure, approaching the thief with his wand out.
George stopped walking as the magic-user approached him. “We need to see what these pools contain. We don’t want you to get poisoned or grow horns, do we?”
“Thanks. I never even thought about that.”
Balon took out his wand and waved it over to the first pool. A translucent image appeared over the pinkish liguid. It showed an elf driving a drink to a sick elf. The second elf stood up on her feet, completely healed. “Ah a pool of healing,” he said.
Bard walked over with a flask. “I have an extra one; we should fill it up and keep it in case we run out of healing potions.”
“No,” said Balon. “I know these pools. You have to drink from the pool to get healed. Once you fill the flask, the liquid will lose its healing powers. However, it still has a pleasant taste, if you are getting tired of water.”
He walked to the second pool and once again a translucent image appeared over the fizzing liquid. George turned his head and almost vomited as he saw a person wishing to take a swim. As soon as the person dipped into the water his skin began to bubble and melt away. He screamed soundlessly as his body changed into a glob of human flesh. Soon his bones only remained, then they too melted away.
“A pool of acid,” Balon said. “Do not worry, George. Your flask would have melted away as soon as it touched the liquid.”
“Why would Joban and Stephan even have such a pool? Britt asked.
“Maybe just to get rid of unwanted items. Just think, if they had a weapon, like a sword that was rusting. All they would have to do is throw it in this pool. It would be gone.”
The third pool contained murky gray mud-like liquid. “I would not even drink from that,” Bard said.
“It is a good thing,” Balon said as the image showed a goblin becoming sick after drinking it. “A pool of sickness. I winder if that orc we encountered outside this room had drank from this. He did not look like he was healthy. It was holding his stomach while fighting.
“Now that is gross,” Johanna said, looking at the next pool. Even Balon could tell without using his wand that it contained green slime. Even though the pool was not filled with this liquid the bottom and walls were covered with the slime. Britt went close to the pool to get a better look.
“Look out!” Johanna yelled, as a tentacle came up and grabbed the dwarf’s sword. It started pulling him towards the edge of the basin.
Geoger ran up and pulled on Britt’s other arm and broke him from the slime’s grasp. The fell backwards with the dwarf falling on top of the thief.
The dwarf looked at George and said, “As much as I appreciate you helping me, I hope we do not get this close again.” He looked at the slime pool and said, “Of course, I could have let go of the sword.”
“Here you go, George,” Balon said, after the image over the next pool, with revealed wildlife drinking from a pool of clear water. George went over and filled his flask. “This is the best and coldest spring water I have ever drunk! It sure beats the warm water we have been carrying in our flasks. “Come on everybody, this is delicious.” All, but Britt went to drink. He was staring at the pool next to it. This one contained a liquid that had a deep red color.
“Balon,” he said hopefully, “I think I know what is in this one. Just can you check for me?”
The image showed a group of dwarves laughing and carrying on, drinking wine. “This pool is for me!” Britt yelled rushing to it.
“Careful, Britt,” George said, as the drawf dwarf drank his flask and went to refill it a second time. “You do not want to become intoxicated. Still this is good wine,” he said after taking a sip.
“I know,” he said. “I am saving this flask for later. Hey, everybody fill your flasks; we will have a party later on tonight in the library!”
Balon went to the seventh pool. “This one is completely dry.” Even after waving his wand over it, no image appeared.
“This one I guess is going to be a mystery to us.”
Geroge peered over the side and looked down. “There is a book down there! Britt, help lower me down so I can get it!”
Britt looked down, “It looks safe to me.”
Britt lowered George to the bottom of the pool. He opened it and looked inside. “It looks like one of Joban’s missing journals!”
“Good, now we can find out what happens,” Britt said.
They helped pull him back up.
The next pool looked like the fresh water pool. However, its clear liquid was boiling. The image showed servants carrying buckets of water and filling a tub. Several other images showed either a magic-user or a warrior sitting in the tub, taking a bath.
George looked at Bard and held his nose. “I think somebody stinks a little. Just kidding Bard, I am only talking about myself.”
Bard grinned, “I think I might need a bath soon, too.”
“This is beautiful, Balon said, as he approached the next pool of water. It was only half full but the water was shimmering, glistening and sparkeling in a variety of colors.
“Is that an aura pool?” Johanna asked.
“Yes.”
He reached down with a silver cup that was lying near it. Filling the cup, he drank the liquid. As soon as he swallowed it, he felt a strange sensation come over his entire body.
“What is he thinking of?” Britt asked. “What is happening to him?”
After the tingling ended throughout his body, Balon felt a warmth surround him. A blue circle of color surrounded him.
“The color shows what type of magic-user he is. Since it is blue, it means that he is lawful.”
“What if somebody evil like trent swallowed it or somebody like me?” bard asked.
“A yellow color would surround Trent. That shows tat he is chaotic or evil. If somebody who does not have magical abilities drinks it, they would be surrounded by white.”

 

In both the southwest and northwest corners of the stables were two spiral staircases. They were each standing outside a door. There were also two dors on the north wall and three on the south. Which way was I to go?

. George stopped reading.
“What happened next?” Bard said.
“Yes,” said Britt. “Do not leave off here. Just when it gets interesting.. Are you too tired to continue?”
“That is not it, said George. “This is the end of the journal. I am on the last page.”
“You mean to tell me that he never finished the journal?”
“Maybe he did not have time to write any more in the book,” Balon said. “Once he was in the castle, he probably did not have time to do anything except thinking about surviving.”
“What is that paper on the floor?” Massacharamar said.
George reached down and picked up what looked like a letter. “It must have fallen from the journal.
George opened it up and saw that it was written in the common language. It read:
“If you are reading this journal, you used a read spell on it and are obviously reading it in the common language. If you read it in the hobgoblin or ogre language, you mostly likely did not get past the first few sentences and were too embarrassed to read any further.
“Obviously you have intruded in my and Stephan’s abode. If you have survived my traps so far, congratulations. In my first entry, you will notice that I mentioned that I packed journal’s in my unworthy backpack. I have filled them with my adventures in that haunted castle and have them hidden throughout the caverns of Kilda Aalda.
“If you find the other journal, even though I never liked intruders, you are worthy adventurers and deserve it. The only thing I am going to say is to look for the journal in a dry place.”
“Joban, the Powerful.”
“Well,” George said, miffed. “That was a very sneaky thing for Joban to do. What did he think, that people would just take his things without asking.”
“Joban, the Sneaky, that name does fit him,” said Britt.

Chapter Ten
?

“Where do we explore next?” Britt asked the group the next morning after they woke up and ate a small breakfast.
“We should start from where we first entered the fortress,” Balon said. The lounge and the dining room are just to the east of there and the Wizard’s annex is to the north. Still there are other areas to the north and south of these. Then we still have the entire west wing.”
“Let’s get down to the main entrance,” Britt said. “Don’t worry George, we will not have to hear that warning again; we will not go outside.”
“I am so glad that we are now sleeping in the library. I was starting to get a headache from hearing that same warning each time we camped outside.”
Within a few minutes, they gathered their gear and were standing outside the kitchen. George was studying his map. “Let’s go north of the wizard’s chamber,” he decided.

“Here are some stairs,” Johanna said. “They may go down to the lower lever.”
“Good job,” Britt said. “I never thought we would find it.” They climbed down the steps. “The funny thing,” Britt said, “I thought they would be steeper and dangerous that these. I also thought it would be darker. It seems just like we never left the first level.”
By then, they reached the landing and were on the lower level. “Um, Britt,” George began.
“What is it, son?”
“We are still on the upper level.”
“What do you mean? We just climbed down a flight of steps. Maybe the lower level is finished. It was rumored that it was never completed, they were mostly caverns and hardly any rooms.”
“Britt,” George said, trying not to laugh, “over there is Joban’s chamber.”
“George, you are right,” is this another teleporting room or something.
“Let’s try the stairs once again.” As they climbed, George looked at his feet while they were walking.
“I am sorry, George, for not believeing you,” Britt said as they walked.
“Oh, I am not mad. I think I know what is happening.”
They were once again standing on the landing, not far from Joban’s chambers.
“It is the way the steps were constructed,” George said. “I noticed that they do start by slanting downwards when we first started climbing them. We were actually going down.”
“So how do we happen to still be on the upper level,” Bard asked.
“I did not notice it the first time we climbed the stairs,” explained the thief. “However, this time, I noticed that after about five stpes, the steps started to slant upwards. This change is so slight, if you are not paying attention, you will not notice it.”
Britt barked out a laugh, “I would have been climbing steps all day and not getting anywhere if you were not here, George.”
A female’s scream pierced the fortress. Thinking it was a pahtom, they were surprised to see Johanna grabing at thin air as the floor under her feet opened up. She grasped with her hands and grabbed a corner of solid floor.
“Johanna!” Bard and Balon yelled and ran up to her. She was hanging by her fingers, trying to pull herself up. However, she was too weak.
“I can’t hold on!” she cried.
Forty feet below her was a pool of water that was about eight feet deep. If she fell, her equipment would weigh her down and she would drown.
“I got you!” Bard yelled, grabbing her wrists. Even though he was strong, he could not get enogh leverage to pull her up. “Somebody help me!”
Balon ran to his side and lay next to him. Grabbing the cleric’s hand they slowly pulled her up. Britt, Massacharamar and George got behind the magic-user and Bard and pulled them away from the hole in the floor. Soon Johanna was safely in Bard’s arms. He held her until she calmed down enough to kiss him on the cheek. “Thanks Bard, I knew you would be my hero.”
“I wonder if this is the way to the bottom level,” Britt said. “George, you are the lightest one. Maybe you can rapeel down on a rope and scope things out.”
“Sure. Now which one of us has the rope?” he asked. “Never mind, I think we have to find another entrance down below,” he said as the doors suddenly sprang back up and closed. George, carefully tapped the area where the trap was with his foot, ready to spring back to solid floor if it sprung open. However, the floor did not open again.

“I bet my life this is where Stephan and his men did their training,” Britt said looking around the room
“This look like the room at the warrior school,” Bard said.
Against two walls were large archery targets. Massacharamar looked at the holes in the walls where arrows had pierced when their shots were off. “I guess they needed all the practice they could get.” She walked a distance away and put her arrow on the bowstring. The arrow took flight and made it mark, dead center in the bullseye.
“Your shot are always on,” George said.
Bard walked over to some bars lying on the floror. Trying to pick one up, he gave up before he hurt himself. “These men must have been very strong,” he said.
“What is this bar for? Johanna asked. There was a bar attached, seven feet off the ground, between the east and west wall. Bard walked up to it, reached his hands upwards and jumped. Grabbing the bar with his hands, he started doing pull-ups and chin-ups. “This is more my style,” he said.
“This is for me,” said George. A rope was hanging from the ceiling that was twenty-five feet over their heads. He grabbed the rope and shimmied up it to the ceiling.
“We always knew that you were part monkey,” Britt called, when the thief reached the top of the rope.
Balon looked at different weapons that were lying around the room. “I guess they were also trained to fight.”
Bard walked over and picked up a shield and battleaxe. The shield was similar to the one he carried. However, it weight twice as much. “This was an excellent way to build their arm muscles quickly,” he said, as he noticed that the other weapons were just as heavy.
To the right of the training area were three rooms.
“This is pretty boring,” George said when they stood in the middle of the first room. Sparsely furnished it only contained a simple bed, table and chair. Even the walls were not decorated.
“Let’s go to the middle room,” Britt said.
Once again they were standing in a room that was a duplicate of the first one they were in.
“Is this another teleporting room?” Bard asked.
“I do not think so,” Balon said. “ I did not have that feeling that I experienced in the teleporting room.”
“Me neither,” said Johanna and Massacharamar said at the same time.
They left the room and were standing outside the door of the middle room. The third room was identical to the other two.
“I am just wondering,” Bard said. “If Stephan and Joban had all these people helping construct this fortress and fighting in the Barbarian Wars, where did they all stay.”
“These look more like guest chambers,” Britt said. “There must be an area on this upper level that we have not explored yet. We should go back to the library and look at the map. Maybe there is a room that we have to return to.”



33. BARRACKS. This large, open room is the dwelling place
for the guards and men-at-arms of the stronghold (most of
whom left on the last adventure with Rogahn and Zelligar).
Scattered throughout the room are about 40 common beds,
and about half that numbr of chairs and stools. There are
several large wooden tables along various walls, and at the
south wall is a large wooden chest of drawers which is empty
except for a few old socks, some common footwear, a few
cloth vestments, and other similar items of no special value.
In the southwest corner of the room the floor slants toward the
wall steeply and an opening (too small to give any access)
leads into the wall. From the faint smell, it is apparent that this
is some kind of crude toilet area.
The walls of the room are rough stone, but there are wall
sconces designed to hold torches, and various pegs upon
the wall. There are some odds and ends hanging from several
of the pegs: an old battered shield, an empty canteen,
a 20' section of light chain, a sheathed sword (old and rusty),
and a bearskin.
Monster:
Treasure & Location:
34. ARMORY. This irregularly-shaped room is designed to
house the arms supply of the stronghold. It is mostly empty
now, however, since many of the arms were taken along on
the last forway of the inhabitants of the hideaway.
When the room is entered, a slight whistling sound can be
heard if the adventurers stand quietly. If the door is closed
(unless spiked open it will close automatically one round after
everyone has entered, and even if so secured, there is a
50% chance that it will close anyway) and the second exit is
likewise closed, a howling wind will immediately result, with
an 80% chance of putting out any torch carried by the adventurers,
or a 50% chance to extinguish each lantern carried.
The wind will cease whenever either or both of the exits
is opened. Upon examination of the ceiling of the room
(which is a full 20' from the floor), two sizable vents will be noticeable
(neither providing usable access) to show that this is
a natural, rather than magical, phenomenon.
The rock walls of this room are mostly smooth, and there are
carved ledges within several of them. Wooden pegs also
abound, and there are some items still left in place on the
wall: a number of battered shields (several broken and in
otherwise poor repair), bits and pieces of body armor (in uniformly
poor condition), several crude bows (-2 "to hit" if
used), a quiver of normal arrows, two swords (one in good
condition), a dozen spears, two hand axes (one with a split
19
handle), a flail, a two-handed sword with broken blade, and
a dagger. None of the items appears remarkable, although
the flail, the dagger, and one of the swords seem to be usable
and of normal value for such an item.
In the extreme southwest corner of the room are two locked
chests, but they are empty. Both are large and bulky, as well
as heavy.
Monster:
Treasure & Location:


Chapter Twelve
George’s Dreams
After checking to make sure the door had no traps, he unlocked it and peered inside. It looked like this was another hallway and not a room. He listened, thinking he heard something.
“What is it, son,” Britt whispered.
“I think there is something in this corridor.” There was another sound, like a grunting.
“Balon and George, you stay in the middle. Britt, you cover the rear.”
They moved slowly and quietly down the hallway. After a few silent minutes, Britt halted the group and he peered around the corner. “I can see them up ahead. There are three orcs and they are fighting each other over something. One of them looks sick.”
“Should we try to talk to them?” asked Bard.
“No they are never good to try to persuade unless if you are involved in the black magic,” he said looking at Balon.
The magic-user shook his head. “ I know the dark arts but I avoid using them. There are always serious consequences when you use them. If I did, I would putting all of us at a great risk.”
“Do they have any weapons?” Johanna asked.
“One has a crossbow and the other has a battleaxe. If we attack, I must warn you they are like berserkers and like fighting in close combat. They will fight to the death and rarely retreat or surrender. They are not like goblins, who are cowardly.”
A smell reached Bard’s nose. “That smells like wine,” he said to himself. “Hey!” he whispered to Britt. “I think they have been drinking.”
“That will give us the advantage,” Britt said. “I do not see any chieftains; the look like they have been separated from their tribe. If things go wrong, we will retreat back the way we came. Massacharamar, get ready with your bow. When we turn the corner, we will rush them.”
When they stepped the corner, the three orcs did not notice them. The were fighting over a piece of fish. The one that look sick, just sat there with his back against the wall, sending grunting remarks to the other two once in a while.
“Massacharamar, take out the one with the crossbow.” The elf shot the arrow and the orc fell down dead, with the shift protruding from his heart.
The sick orc leapt to its feet and the one holding the battleaxe let out a blood thirsty yell and rushed towards the group.
Britt and Bard attacked the stronger orc. When it swung at Britt, Bard protected the dwarf. At the same time, Balon used his magic to fight the sick orc and Johanna used her mace against it. “Fire!” Balon yelled an the orc was consumed in flames. It screamed at it burned but continued to burm. Johanna struck it head and it fell to the ground, dead with a crushed skull.
The larger orc was harder to handle. It swung its battleaxe, trying to cut into the fighter and dwarf. Even though they were able to defend against themselves, they were unable to strike effectively against it.

 

“If it was not so gross,” George said, “I would lie down and take a nap.”
“I wonder why it is like this,” Bard said.
“Nobody tended these plants for a long time,” Balon said. “It basically went out of control.
“Wouldn’t the plants die then?” Britt asked.
“I believe that some plants did die,” the magic-user replied. “However, the stronger plants have been able to thrive off from the weaker ones.”
Not only were the floors covered with the mold, the walls and ceilings were also covered.
“In a way, I think it is very pretty,” Johanna said. The molds formed a beautiful pattenr of different colors including greens, pinks, blues and reds.
“I think we better turn back,” Britt said. “It is not healthy to breath in all this mold.”
“I can’t see!” Balon yelled all of a sudden.
Johanna started towards the magic-user and she started coughing from breathing in some of the fungus that was in the air. She collapsed to the ground.
“Johanna!” Bard yelled.
With his hand over his mouth and nose he ran to her body. She lay there coughing and retching. Reaching into his bad, he pulled out his second, and last bottle, of healing potion. When the liquid was poured down her throat, her coughing fit ended. “We have to get out of here! Something is spraying mold at us! Where is Balon!”
George came up leading the magic-user by the hand. The thief had done the same thing Bard had done, by covering his mouth and nose. “Whatever it is, it is over there,” he said pointing.
Britt stood looking around, with his sword dwarn and Massacharamar stood ready with her bow and arrow.
Ten feet in front of them a large brown grub-like creature rose in front of them.
Bard felt the flesh of his skin crawling.
Massacharamar shot the arrow and it sunk into its body. She shot three more and the creature fell to its side.
“Come on, Bard!” Britt yelled, running toward the creature. “Just do not breathe.!”
Bard and Britt stabbed at the creature with their swords until they were sure it was dead.
“What was that creature?” Bard asked once everybody was out of the room. Johanna was sitting next to Balon, pouring a healing potion in his eyes.
“It is a fleshcrawler,” the dwarf answered. “When you saw it, didn’t it seem like your own flesh was crawling?”
“Yes, it did.”
“Mine too.”
“I have seen more dangerous monsters and this one gives me the creeps most.”
“Thanks, Bard,” Johanna said coming over to him and gave him a kiss on the cheek.
Bard blushed and all of a sudden he wanted to hold her and never let go.
Britt did not seem to notice and continued. “Fleshcrawlers are like buzzards. They eat something that is already dead. However, they are tricky. They can paralyze their prey and think that the unfortunate creature is already dead.”
“Is that why it was blowing those spores at us?” Balon asked.
“Most likely it was trying to confuse you so it got close enough to stun you. It has to physically touch you to do that.”
“I hope we do not run it any more of those,” George said, nervously brushing himself. “That thing gave me the creeps.”

Chapter Nine
Joban the Sneaky

“George, are you finding yourself comfortable?” Britt asked.
The thief once again was in his favorite divan. “As much as I love sleeping outdoors, this is the life.”
“Are you okay?” the dwarf asked, as George rubbed his shoulders. “Is you flesh still crawling from that creature?”
“No, dad, my arms are sore from all of that sawing I did earlier. For some reason, we had to free some monkeys from the zoo.”
“The others laughed.”
“Do you want a healing potion?” Johanna asked.
“Oh, no thank you. I would rather save them when I actually would need them. How are you feeling Johanna?” She did have a brush with death earlier that day.
She smile at Bard, who blushed. “Thanks to Bard, I am much better.”
“George, we have covered the entire western part of the upper level” Britt said, “haven’t we?”
George looked at the map. “Yes. I have all the rooms marked on the map. However, the eastern half is larger. I still don’t know how we are to get to the lower level. I cannot find any stairs or passageways that will take us there.
“Do not give up hope,” Britt said. “I am sure there is a way. We just have to find it.”
Johanna sat next to him. “Are you up to reading from Joban’s journal?”
George sat right up. “With all that happened today, I forgot about all about it.” He looked over at Bard, who was standing next to Britt. He smiled evily. “Move over next to me,” he whispered to Johanna. She slid closer to the thief. “Hey Bard!” he called to the fighter. “There is room for one more over here!”
Without saying a word, Bard came over and sat next to Johanna. “I am going to kill, George,” he thought to himself. However, he was greatful, especially when she took and held his hand.

Daga 11, 3045

Keeping a respectful distance from the castle, I circled the walls of the castle, looking for an entrance. An entire wall enclosed it. If I was more than a medium, I could have levitated over the walls. I could have passed through the walls with my potion of gaseous form. This allows me to turn into a gaseous form and pass through solid objects easily. However, I only had one portion and might need it when I was in the castle.
(“Smart thinking,” said Britt.)
Finally on the east wall, I found an entrance. It looked like a gatehouse. On the other side a narrow path wound its way along the body of the castle. If I got past the gatehouse, I could find a way into the castle.
I decided to rest and get some sleep before entering into the castle. I could have entered yesterday, when I arrived. However, the late afternoon’s light was failing and I was advised no to attempt to enter during the night. Still, I had to be on the lookout, since it was rumored that there were wild animals and monsters outside of the castle. I thought to myself that if I ever built a fortress such as the one Gallapus build, I would only contain the monsters within my walls. I do not care if people walked by my humble abode. However, if somebody intruded on my privacy, I would want to teach them something.
(“That is why we did not encounter anything before we entered the Caverns of Kilda Aalda,” Johanna said.
“True,” said Britt. However, on the missions we have been on before, we never met any encounters, until we entered.”
“That was the same way with the Catacombs,” said Bard. “Still I did not stay around until nightfall.”)
I awoke at dawn and removed my invisibility ring. Nothing had disturbed me during the night. After a quick breakfast, I started on my way.
I was standing towards the back of the castle walls. I decided to go through the gatehouse. The gate was opened, raised above my head. It was probably where carriages came and went since the entrance was high and wide enough.
Still, I wondered, why was this opened?
I put on my ring of visibility and stepped through. I head a noise above my head and I looked up. Immediately I jumped backwards. Not a second too soon, for the gate came crashing to the ground. If I had hesitated for even a fraction of a second, I would have been crushed to death. My unworthy life would have been over. Still that is an idea I will keep if I ever build my own fortress.
(“I think that is how he got that idea for the cage trap in the tool room,” Balon said.)
I tried pulling on the gate but it would not budge. It was too heavy. I realized that even when I was invisible, the traps in the castle would still be set off. With the gate closed, I decided to look for anther way in. If I needed to, I would use the gaseous form potion. I only I had a rope to scale these walls.
I walked back the direction I followed last night night. I got to the part where the north and east walls intersected. There was another gatehouse. I could see the back of the castle. It did look like a tiger’s tail. Would I have better luck with this entry. If I had lept forward before, I would have been on the castle grounds.
In this gatehouse, I could see two sets of woden doors that were open. What was beyond that, I could not tell; it was too dark to tell. I looked above me and saw that there were now gates that would crash down on me.
Still I did not want to use the gasous potion just yet. Plus my ring of invisibility’s power was getting weak, since I wore when I was sleeping last night. I would have to wait a while before I wore it again so it could regain its full powers. I decided to walk through this gate house without using any from of magic.
I got past the the entrance to the gatehouse and beyond the first set of wooden doors. I stopped and look around. Then, all of a sudden, a rock fell to the ground ahead of me. I looked up towards the ceiling. Rocks were coming through a hole, raining down on me. I ran forward towards the second set of doors. On sharp rock had hit me on the arm while I was running.
I got past the doors and they slammed shut behind me. I tried to open them, but they were locked. I had no choice now but to go forward.
It was dark, I could not see my hand in front of my face. I filled my lantern with oil and lit it. I checked my arm where the rock had hit me. It was bleeding, but the cut was nothing more than a scratch. In a few minutes, the bleeding had stopped.
I looked around. It looked like I was in a dark tunnel. The lantern threw an errie light off the walls. Then I realized that I was in the castle! I was in the tiger’s tail!
I started walking down the tunnel. Even though it seemed much longer, the light of the lantern was not throwing off enough light to see the entire tunnel and I was taking small cautious steps, the tunnel was only a little more than fifty feet long. Just ahead it opened up into a semi-circular chamber that was about twenty feet wide. One the opposite side of the chamber was another tunnel.
I decided to cross the chamber and continue on down the other tunnel. All of a sudden a giant ferret jumped in front of me and blocked my way. I would either have to fight this creature or go back down the tunnel. That would mean I would have to find another way to get in. No way I was going to do that. I would fight and win and continue on my quest to find some worth in my life. Then I could lose and find an end to my unworthy life.
While I can only carry a dagger, I am not allowed to have weapons that have a blade. However, there is one I can create by magic. I held out my hand and a small ball og glowing yellow light emerged from it. This light formed itself into an arrow. It hovered by my side. I did not have to physically touch this arrow. All I had to do was flick my hand and the arrow followed the motion of my movement. The ferret fell to its side, dead, with the arrow sticking from its body.
I crossed the chamber and saw that the tunnel was actually a hallway. I followed it until I reached the do at the end. As I neared it, a familiar smell of maneur and straw reached my nostrils. I walked through the doors and I was standling in the stables. Gallapus must of owned many horse, since the entire east and west walls were the cubicles that held the horses.

 

“Ooh,” said George. “That is very pretty.” Once they had left the library the walked down the corridor to the west. There was a door at the end of the hall. After checking for traps they opened another door and found themselves in a shorter hallway.
“There is a room to the right,” Johanna had said. The corridor branched to the left.
When they opened the door, it was dark at first. Then a light coming from the furthest corner of the room caught their eye. After making sure there were no monsters, the room was bare of any furniture or other things they could lurk behind, they entered the room to investigate further.
“Did you feel something?” Bard asked Johanna.
“Like what?” she asked.
“It was a weird feeling,” he answered. “It felt like I had blacked out.”
The source of the light was a set of crystals embedded in the wall. There was no distinct pattern to it, just a display of a variety of reflecting colors.
“Though it is pretty,” Balon said, “there is nothing magical to it.”
“There is no value, either,” said Britt. “This is common ordinary crystal, something I can mine in any cave. Come on, George. You have the map, lead the way.”
They left the room and followed the hallway that led away from it.
After the had travel a hundred yards, George stopped and looked at his map. Something did not look right. Maybe Joban and Stephan’s map of the stronghold was not accurate. He checked his compass.
“Sorry guys, I must have went the wrong way.”
“What do you mean?” Britt asked.
“We should be going south and we are going north.”
“Do not play games with us!” Britt thundered. “You know that the only direction the hallway went after we left that room was south. We started walking down the hallway as soon as we got out of the room!”
“Come see the compass for yourself,” said George, miffed. It was one thing to get yelled at when he joked around. It was another when he was totally serious.
Britt brushed passed the others and grabbed the compass out of George’s hand. “We are going north. Maybe we just turned a corner and did not notice.” He put his hand on George’s shoulder. “I am sorry, George. Let’s head back the way we came.” They turned around and headed back down the hallway.
“There is a room to the right,” Bard said.
“That is funny that we did not see this before.”
“I believe we have been here before,” George said, looking at the crystal decoration on the wall.
Once again Bard felt that strange sensation again. This time he did not say anything.
“Maybe we needed to go north in the first place,” Britt said. “George, turn left when we leave the room.”
“There is a room to the left” Massacharamar said.
“I cannot believe it,” Britt said hitting his head with the hand. They were once again standing in the room with the crystal decoration on the wall. “It is not funny!” he said as Balon started laughing.
“I think I know what is going on. Come on everybody. Step outside of the room.”
Once they were outside, he said, “Britt go back in the room, wait a minute and come back out.
The group waited and in a minute they heard Britt yell in the northern part of the corridor. “What is this some type of joke! Where are you guys hiding.”
“Follow me,” said Balon. “They walked north up the corridor and soon saw Britt standing outside a room looking miffed.
“Sorry if you thought we were pulling a joke,” the magic user said. “There are two rooms that are identical. I thought it was me, but I felt something as we teleported from one room to the other.”
“I had felt something too,” said Bard. “What is the purpose of these rooms.”
“They most likely were used to confuse the unwanted intruders. They would get confused by entering one room and teleporting to the other and get lost. George see the door of the northern room has a B on it. This is the room on the map.”
“I think that I saw an A on the other door.”
“At least we know where we are now.”
They went back to the first teleporting room. George scratched his head. “Now which way are we heading, north or south?”
Britt playfully threw a punch at the thief.

“Well, that was a bit boring,” George said as they stood once again in front of the first teleporting room.
“I agree,” Britt said.
There was nothing interesting down the southern corridor. They first came to a room that was full of soot and black dust.
“This was probably used for the room across the hall,” Bard said. “I think this was used as a blacksmith shop.” It reminded him of Joe Smith’s shop in Antares. It contained an anvil, bellows, black smith tools and irons. “The only thing there are no chimneys.How were the fumes vented from this room?”
Johanna pointed to the ceiling. There were holes in the walls and a wind whistled through them. “That is how the fumes were vented,” she said.
The one interesting room was one that had a corridor in it.
“Maybe it is a maze,” Geroge said as they followed its winding path, “or maybe a dead end,” when they got to the center of the room.
“Or maybe it is a trap!” Britt exclaimed.
The walls of the center of the room were covered in spider webs. The skeletal remains still hung there. “I guess these are not your ordinary daddy long legs spiders,” Bard said, as he looked at the remains of a deer.
“It is best to get out of here,” Britt said. “Giant spiders usually hunt in packs.”
“Before we go,” said George, “you might want this.” He handed Britt a bag containing some silver pieces.
“I guess this is the reason why we have not run into any orcs or goblins yet,” Bard said, picking up a goblin ax and an orc knife.
Massacharamar picked up a longsword and looked at it. “This looks like it is elven made,” she said quietly. She could not help but wonder if an elf had fallen victim to a spider attack.

“Which way do we go now?” Massacharamar asked, standing in front of the first teleporting room.
George looked at the map. “There are a couple of rooms to the north of the second teleporting room. Then it seems that is the most northern part of the fortress.”
“We still have not even checked the west side yet,” Bard said.
“At least we have plenty of food, thanks to Massacharamar.”
The elf had cooked a delicious dinner of snake. Knowing which parts were edible, she removed all of the poison sacs.
However, George being the jokester that he was, pretended to keel over after the first bite. He did not fool anybody. He even went back for seconds.
They found themselves in some sort of tool room. Britt went to look at a box of mining picks. He picked up one and but it back down. “Totally useless,” he grunted as the one he put down crumbled into runst. “Still there may be something that we can use.”
“These are in perfect shape,” Massacharamar said inspecting a box of arrows. She picked up several and put them in her quiver. “Mine are almost gone.”
Bard saw a length of rope lying near the far wall of the room. Even thought it was about fifty feet long, he recognized the weave. It was light enough to carry, maybe about ten or fifteen pounds put strong enough to hold two hundred pounds. This would come in handy if they had to scale a wall. He walked toward it. Britt spied more mining tools lying towards the rope and followed Bard.
George, who was examing some hacksaws glacnced up. To his right and to the front he saw, hiden by cob webs a lever. He glaced at the ceiling and saw the bottom of what looked like a cage.
“Look out!” he yelled. “It is a…”
Too late, a grate with vertical bars dropped down to the floor.
“Trap!” George finished.
Bard and Britt were trapped on the other side of the grate. Balon had also recognized the trap and pulled Johanna to safety before the grate fell on top of her.
“George, thanks for the warning,” Britt growled.
George looked pale. “This trap has no wires that I can see. This one is set underground. When you stepped on one of those rocks, it set off a spring. The spring tripped a wire and the lever released the trap.” He shuddered thinking of what could have happened to Johanna.
“That is okay, son,” the dwarf answered.
“No, it is not,” the thief answered. “I should have seen the lever.”
Johanna went over to the lever and looked at it. “There is no way you could have seen this, George. It is totally covered with webs. It is also possible that the wire just got rusty and broke.”
Still George looked pale. “But you almost got killed. It would have been my fault.”
Johanna smiled, secretly. “I actually was practicing a spell that was putting a force field around me. I had succeded in having one over my head, thought not the rest of my bpdy. That is why Balon was able to pull me out of the way.
“You mean to say…”
“If Balon had not pulled me out of the way, the grate would have stopped five feet over my head.”
“I thought I was saving your life,” Balon said.
“You did and I am very greatful for it. Now we must see what we can do for these two. Now remember, George, do not feed the monkeys.”
“Hey,” he said, back in a joking mood. “That was what I was going to say.”
Bard had his hands on the the bars, examining them. “We might be able to pull on these and break them.” However, when he pulled on them, even though they moved slightly, they did not give.
“Tie the rope around one,” Britt said. “It might give them more leverage.”
Geroge ran back to the hacksaws he was looking at. Two were still in very good condition.
With each person taking turns sawing and using the rope to pull on the bars, they were able to create an openin big enough for Bard and Britt to crawl through.

“I think this takes care of the western part of Joban’s and Stephan’s humble abode,” Britt said. After sawing their way out of the cage trap, they needed to rest. Eating his iron preserved rations, George was looking over Stephan and Joban’s map. “I think we missed two rooms,” he said.
“What do you mean,” Britt asked.
George pointed to the map. “There is a hallway from the kitchen. I do not think we went down that one.”
“Isn’t that the hallway that led to that maze room.”
“No, actually this is the hallway, said pointing. “Remember how we followed this one from the library and came to the one with the teleporting rooms,” George pointed to another hallway. “This is the hallway that led us to the maze room and we are here,” he said, pointing again at the map.
“George,” Britt said, clapping him on his back, “I do not know what I would do without you. I think I could get hopelessly lost,” he added in a hearty laugh.

“This would be great if the elders ever set this place up as a tourist attraction,” Balon said as they stood in a large room filled with benches. George had walked over to what looked like a stage and climbed upon it.
“Does anybody want to hear a joke?” he yelled.
“Boo! Get off the stage!” Britt said, pretending to throw fruit at him.
George got off the stage and walked to the group. “Were Stephan and Joban entertainers.”
“It was rumored that Joban did demonstrate his magical abilities for an audience,” Balon said.
“Do you mean to say that he entertained here?” Massacharamar asked. “It is had to imagine with them not liking people.”
“According to lengend, he did most of his demonstrations in taverns,” Balon said. “Maybe he just entertained here for his laborers. Then again, maybe they entertained for him and Stephan.”
“The door to the other room is over here,” said Johanna.
“It seems that this is the only entrance,” George said looking at the map. “I ws thinking that there was a secret door somewhere.”

“Where are we?” George asked. “Is this some sort of tropical rainforest.”
“No this is where they, well most likely where Joban, kept his garden.”
Expecting to find the ground under their feet stone, like the rest of the upper level, Massacharamar was surprised to find out that the surface was soft, like grass. She reached down and tounched the carpet-like growth.
“This is mold,” she said.
“I think it covers the entire floor of this room,” Johanna said. Sure enough everywhere they stepped, the mold made a soft carpeting.

 

They were standing inside a room, filled with barrels.
“There must be over sixty,” Johanna said.
Balon walked over to one and looked inside. “This must be the storeroom. These contain flour.”
“This one has wheat,” George said. He tasted some and made a face. “It is still edible, but a bit stale.”
“Well, I hope we will not have to resort to eating any of this,” Britt said.
Bard saw where some flour had fallen on the floor. “I think somebody has recently been in here.” He pointed to a boot prints leading to the door.
Britt bent down and looked at it. “George, is that your print? They looks like the boots that you wear.”
“No, the prints are smaller that my foot.”
“I wonder if some monsters wear boots,” Massacharamar suggested.
With weapons drawn they searched the room. However, there was nothing in the storeroom, not even the rats, except for barrels containing wheat, flour, pickles, meat, fruit and vegetables.
“The supply room is over there,” George said looking at the map.
“These are still in good shape,” Britt said looking through a box containing iron spikes and metal nails.”
“Joban and Stephan probably had not completed building this stronghold,” Bard said. Stone blocks lay in a corner. Wooden doors were stacked against one wall in the room. He walked over to a 200 foot long coil of rope. “This is too heavy to carry.
Johanna said, “The laborers probably suspended from this when they worked on the outside.”
The elf returned with several boards of wood. “These will help get the holes boarded up and keep the rats out.”

After covering the rat holes in the kitchen, they walked up the corridor past the store and supply rooms. Two beautifully oak doors were ahead of them.
“I should have known this would be the library,” Balon said.
George looked down at thee dust covered floor. There were those mysterious footprints again. It was as if they belonged to a female, the prints were delicately small. Maybe one person did survive the berserker attack. But who was it and what happened to him or her?
Britt ran his fingers through the dust. “This is excellent craftsmanship!” he exclaimed. Though the floor was covered in years of dust, it was like it was newly done. The floor was made of polished marble. Large blocks of the stone were uniformly laid out. The stones were all even and the lines of each block lined up perfectly.
“It must have taken years to do this,” Massacharamar said, as she looked at red gems in the center of the floor. “Look at that,” she said, pointing. “The gems are their initials!” Everybody gathered about and noticed that the gems actually read S & J.
“I notice that they both liked oak,” Bard looked at the three large tables in the east west and north wings of the library.
“Believe it or nor,” George said, when I am not thieving, my next best acivity is reading. He looked at the plush divans in the corners of the room. “I could make myself at home here,” he said running his fingers through the fleece upholstery. “It is a shame that they are as dirty as they are.”
“We can take care of that,” Johanna said. Within a few minutes, all the dust, dirt and grime were gone. The room looked like it was built just the day before.
“Now this is living,” the thief said as he jumped onto the divan and lay on his back. “Give me a good book and I will be happy.”
“Wait a mnute,” Balon said. “Where is all this light coming from?” The rooms that they had previously explored were outside rooms. Light came in either through windows or cracks in the walls. This was an inner room; there was no way the sun ray’s had penetrated this far. The light was much more than what their lanterns were giving out.
George looked at the sconce that was mounted over his head. Instead of holding a torch, it held a small cage. Similar sconces hung around all the walls of the library. Each cage gave off a red glow.
“Fire beetles,” Britt said.
“How have they survived after all these years?” Johanna said.
“Nobody knows how they live and eat. Yet they live many years,” the dwarf continued.
“Should we free them?” Massacharamar asked.
“I do not think these cages can be forced open,” Britt said. “However, it is better to leave them be. Once they are captive, they are not able to survive if they are released from their cages.”
George went over to look at some books on one of the shelfs. He picked up one and the pages fell away into dust. “It probably was not interesting anyway.”
“George,” Britt spoke suddenly and quietly, “whatever you do, do not move.”
George started to laugh. “You cannot fool me…” A hissing noise stopped his words. He turned slightly towards the noise. A giant snake was gliding towards him, eyeing his prey. Even if he wanted to run, he was not able to; he was frozen by fright, hypnotized by the beady eyes. The snake was so close that its tounge flicked out and touched George’s face.
“He is tasting me!” he whispered despartely. “He thinks I am his dinner! Please help me!”
“Keep calm, George,” Britt whispered drawing his sword. “We will save you. Both the dwarf and Bard slowly approached the snake on both sides. Massacharamar got her bow and arrow ready.
“One three,” Britt said. “One, two…”
“Three!” yelled George.
The snake, seeing the attackers, forgot about its dinner and coiled as if to attack. However, it did not go for either of them. Seeing the creature with the stick that had a point on the end, decided to go for that instead. It leapt and passed between the two and attacked the elf.
Massacharamar had no time to react. Her bow was knocked out of her hands as the snake landed on her and coiled around her body.
“Stun!” both Balon and Johanna yelled as power shot out of their hands. The snake stopped restricting and began to uncoil from the elf’s body. Bard and Britt pulled the snake off her body and slew it.
Massacharamar breathed a sigh of relief. “It goes to show that you never know what to expect. I did not realize that would happen and let my guard down.”
“That is why we always have to be on our highest alert while in these caverns,” Britt said. “We have had too many close calls.”
After making sure there were no more snakes in the library, they felt the room was secure.
“We can stay in here, for the night. Now that the kitchen is clean, we can cook in there.”
“I wonder if snake tastes good,” George said.
“What do you have there, George?” Britt asked. They were back in the library after eating dinner and getting settled for the night. George was lying in his favorite divan and had pulled out the journal he had taken from Joban’s chambers.
“It is that one journal. The one I cannot make any heads or tales of.” He kept turning the book one way and the other.”
“You took that without permission. What if the elders found out?”
“I would have returned it. I just forgot about it until now. I thought it might give some clue about these two men of legend.”
“Let me look at that,” Balon said, sitting down next to George. “I think if I cast a read language spell, we may be able to decipher this.”
“How does that work,” Bard asked. “It will decipher these runes. The only problem is if Joban spoke in different tongues, which he most likely did, it may take a while to find the interpretation in the common language. Well it will not hurt to try.” He waved his wand over the book.
“I recognize this one,” the magic user said as the runes started to form. “This is the ogre language.”
“You know ogre?” Massacharamar asked.
“Just a few words and ones I do not want to repeat; they are that vulgar. I do not recognize this one, however,” he continues as the runes once again formed on the pages of the book.
“Let me see,” said Britt. “Oh yes this is hobgoblin. I can speak it fluently but I only know a few written words and ones that I do not want to repeat etiher.”
“Here we go,” Balon finally said as the runes were deciphered in the common language. He handed the book back to George. “It is all yours.”
George started reading. “It looks like a jounal of one of his adventures from his younger days.”
“Even though they had been getting ready to sleep, they were interested. “Please read it, son,” Britt said.

Dage 1, 3045

I Joban of unworthy parents, unworthy heritage, unworthy ancestry am going on a mission to, hopefully end my unworthy life. While I can end my life by drinking from that poison I made, I do not want to die the coward’s way. I, an unworthy medium, want to die fighting for my life, my unworthy life.

(“Wow,” said George. “I seems that Joban was a very bitter person. “Maybe that was his goal in the barbarian lands and he dragged Stephan along with him.
“Maybe,” said Britt. “From that date, he must have been a young man, maybe even younger that you, George.)

Before I start out, I pack all my unworthy possessions. There are not too many of them. These include (all unworthy, of course):
1 Knife
1 Flask for water
Lantern
Oil
My Personal Journal
Magic Journal
Ring of invisibility (why I would even have one of these, I do not even know)
Ring of Protection
My Robes
Potion of Gaseous Form
Tinderbox
Iron Rations for Three Weeks
Several Small Sacks

All of these unworthy items go into my unworthy backpack.
Now I go to my mission and hopefully my death.

I had been traveling the world trying to make something of my unworthy life. After months of acquiring nothing, I finally returned to my home town of Antares.
(“I did not know that,” Bard said.
“This is probably his personal journal that I am holding,” George said)
I stopped at the only tavern in town, The Stoneville Inn, hoping to drink my sorrows away. How it mad me angry or sad (I am not really which one it was) when I passed through the tables and heard people laughing and breaking out in gleeful songs. With the mood I was in, I did not feel like laughing and singing. I just wanted to forget about my unworthy life.
I made my way to a table away from the others. It was near the back exit in case I wanted to leave quickly. There was a table unoccupied next to me. I thought I was lucky and that I would be alone. However, after I took the first sip of my mead, several patrons came in and sat next to me. One man turns to me.
“I see you are a magic-user,” he says noticing my robes.
Great now he wants to talk to me. I just want to drink my sorrows away, crawl in a hole somewhere and hopefully not wake up.
I nod my head without saying a word. Maybe this man will leave me alone. Of course I know that is not the case.
“Have you heard of the wizard, Gallapus?”
Who has not heard of Gallapus, the greatest wizard of all time. Maybe if I was a famous as Gallapus, I would not feel that I was so unworthy.
“Yes,” I decide to answer him. “No wizard was able to defeat him. Their power,however great it was, could not harm him. Only when Gallapus used magic against his own body, it worked.” Now I am starting to warm up. “Is that how he met his demise? Did he use his powers to kill himself?” Maybe I should rethink about using my powers to end my unworthy life.
“No he only used powers to let people think he was defeated. From what I heard he lived a long life and died of old age.”
That will be my curse in my unworthy life, live for a long time.
“People are afraid to go to his castle. It is rumored that his ghost still wanders the hallways. Many magic-users, including warlocks and wizards are afraid to go their. They believe they will lose all their powers.”
I am interested. Maybe if I go to this castle and if the stories are true, I can either find some meaning in my unworthy life or find a way to end it. “Where is this castle?”
“Sir, it would be too dangerous for you!”
This makes me happy to hear.
“I am just curious,” I answer.
The man looks relieved. “The castle is ajourney of eight or nine days from here. You will find it easily. It is built on the plains and it is in the shape of a lion.”
(“I remember that castle,” Britt said. George do you remember that dead-end mission?”
(“Yes,” George said. “The castle was abandoned and there was no ghost. We did not even find one gold coin.”
(“The castle was starting to fall into ruins,” Massacharamar said. “The elders did not think it was worth any effort to try to restore it.”
That is interesting. It looks like this wizard put great detail into his home. Maaybe someday, if I find so worth in my life, I will build a fortress that people will talk about.
(“I think he did find some worth in his life,” George said.)
“What can you tell me about this castle?”
“It is a very dangerous place. He haunts his castle day and night, waiting for somebody worthy.”
That leaves me out.
“There are monsters with him guarding his home.”
“Has anybody ever entered it before?”
“Yes. There are rumors of great magical rewards. I do not know what they are because, most how enter the castle, do not return.”
Ah a way to end my unworthy life.
“The ones who do return turn into wild animals.”
At least if I was an animal, somebody can hunt me for food.
“I even remember one time an entire army tried to enter the castle. All but one was destroyed. That is when an important secret came known.”
“Which secret is that?”
“Only one person at a time can pass through the magical boundaries of the castle. If you are planning to explore the castle, do not bring anybody else. That is your only chance. With you being a magic-user, you may survive the castle and be greatly rewarded.”
I really do not want to survive. I want my unworthy life to end.
The man pulls a book out of his bag and hands it to me. “I know you are going to attempt to explore this castle, so you should have these. It is a magic journal and there are maps of the castle.”
“What if I do not survive in there?”
“I will know your fate if this book appears back in my bag and you do not return. Others who entered the castle and did not return were able to map areas they explored. If you survive in the castle, you will be a hero.”
If I were a hero, maybe I would not feel that my life is so unworthy.
“How to I find this castle?”
“Do you know where the Moosegrove River branches to the east?”
“Yes.”
“Follow it until it branches to the north. That is about six days traveling. Then you walk in a southerly direction for two days. By then you should be able to see the castle on the plains. It looks like a tiger getting ready to strike.”
“Just be careful,” said the lady sitting next to the man. “When you get near the castle, there may be creatures lurking on the outside.”

Dage 10, 3045

The next day, I left on my mission with all my possessions. The man, whose name I never found out, walk with me to the edge of Antares and wished me luck.
“Before I frget, never enter in the castle during the night.”
“Thank you,” I said and went on my way following the river. While I could have rented a horse from the stables, I preferred to walk. I never liked or trusted horses.
Six days passed and it was a lonely journey. I met no people along the way and very few animals. It did not matter much to me; I did not feel like talking to anybody. I did not need people trying to convince me to turn back. On the six day, just as the man had said, the river branched to the north. I started walking south.
After two days of crossing the grasslands, I could see a faint outline of the castle on the southern horizon. Even though I could not see the outline of the tiger, I knew it was Gallapus’s castle. It looked like it would take me at least one more day to reach it. I decided to sleep the night and start out early the next morning.
At dawn, I started once more towards the castle. Even though the past eight days had went quickly, this last day seemed to drag. Even after walking ten minutes, it seemed that two hours had passed. The castle just did not seem to get any closer.
I finally reached the castle today in the late afternoon on the ninth day. I am going to rest here for the night and try to enter the castle in the morning. Whatever it takes, I have three days to complete my mission, unless it is my fate not to survive. Then I have to make it back to Antares before my food supply runs out.
George yawned.
“Son,” said Britt, “that is a very interesting story. However, put the book away, you need to sleep.”
“But I want to find out what happens,” the thief said.
“We will, just get some sleep.”
George did not answer. His head was leaning against Balon, already asleep.
Johanna gently took the book from George’s hands and put it back into his bag. Gently covering him with his blanket, she said, “Sleep soundly.”

 

“How can humans be so cruel?” Britt said picking up the jar. “How is it possible that it is still alive?”
“The fluid is a preservative,” Balon said. “It leaves something in suspended animation until it is released. Even if over a hundred years had passed, the cat would be the same age as when it was put in the jar.”
“Why would Joban do this?”
“Maybe he needed the cat alive to study. I have known wizards who would remove parts from an animal and then would keep them alive in the fluid. The poor creatures would writhe in agony, welcoming for death to come. However, it never would until the wizard was completed with his studies.”
“I even respect Joban less than I did before,” Bard said. “One can only go so far.”
Balon carefully examined the jar. “This cat looks unharmed; in fact it looks satisfied and comfortable. Most likely this was a pet. He probably put it in this fluid to protect it while he was gone.”
“Joban is not coming back,” said George. “Can we just free the cat?”
“Help me with the lid,” Britt said. “It is on tight.”
George and Britt unstopped the cork lid. The liquid instantly evaporated. As soon as Britt set the jar on the ground, the cat opened its eyes and looked around. Stretching its body, it jumped out of the jar. It looked at the group of people and meowed at them. Then it turned and ran out of the door.
By the time the reached the hallway, the cat had vanished from view.
They went out into the hallway to continue on. However, Balon was not with him.
“Where did he get to?” Britt asked. They entered into the Wizard’s Chamber. Still there was no sight of Balon.
“There is a door over there?” Johanna said.
“I do not remember seeing that before,” George said.
“It probably was another secret door.” They walked through the door and found Balon looking around in amazement.
“This is Joban’s laboratory,” the magic user exclaimed. “Who would have imagined it was this big. “They were standing in a room that was fifty feet long and thirty feet wide.
“I do not think the stories about the barbarian invasion were false,” Bard said. Hanginf from the ceiling was a skeleton of a barbarian.
This room was like the workroom, with three wooden tables and a heavy stone table. A smell of incense still hung in the air.
“George! Watch what you are doing!” Britt yelled as he thief picked up a glass bottle filled with a smoky substance from the floor and trying to remove the cork.
The warning came too late as the cork popped out and there was a swooshing noise as the substance poured out of the bottle.
Bard all of a sudden had the urge to laugh, even though he found nothing funny about a thief getting into a trouble.
Starting to giggle, he thought the entire situation was funny. Soon he was bellowing with laughter, clutching his sides. He could not stop.
“George! I am going to kill you,” Britt yelled as he rolled on the floor laughing his head off. Soon the others were joining in.
“I do not even know what we are laughing at,” Johanna said.
“It is laughing gas!” Massacharamar yelled.
Drawing deep breaths, Balon managed, between bouts of laughter, yelled, “Dispel!”
Within a minute the laughter died down.
George grinned, sheeplishly and put the bottle down.
“Do not play innocent with me, George!” Britt yelled, wiping his tears. “How many times have you played that stunt? Is it three times now?”
“No,” George replied. “Just four.”
“When are you going to learn? There may be monsters lurking around! What if they heard us?”
Bard walked over to George. “Did you know that was laughing gas?”
“Yes. I am a bit of a prankster. Yet, Britt is right; if monsters had attacked us, I do not think we would have been able to fight them. I guess this will be the last time with this prank. I will have to think of something different, something safer.”
“No you are thinking, son.” Britt said. “Well, there is no harm done. Just if you find another bottle, bring it back to Antares for a gift for those foolish warriers,” he said, thinking of the ones who taunted him.
“Now that is an idea,” George said.
Now that they were composed, they looked around the room. Balon walked to a shelf that contained empty vials and bottles, which some of them were broken. “This one still has something in it.” He peered at the thick silvery liquid. It appeared to be glowing. “This is a potion of Sanctuary.”
“How does it work?” Britt asked.
“You drink it and it protects you against attacks. For example, if you are struck by a sword, you will be unharmed.”
“You should keep that, Balon,” George said. “You are the least protect person here. You, most likely will need that the most.”
“Well, I was going to give it to you, George. Maybe it will make you immune to playing practical jokes.”
A glitter by the stone table caught Bard’s eye. He bent down and picked up a silver figurine. It was in the form of barbarian wearing armor.
Britt looked at it. “I wonder if Joban made this. It is finely crafted and has to be worth two and fifty gold pieces.
Johanna looked at a pile of logs stacked in the corner of the room. “This might be worth something,” she said returning with a gold ring.
Britt looked at it and noticed gold paint was chipping of, revealing nothing more than ordinary metal. “This is worthless. However,” he added, handing the ring to Balon, “it has magical properties.”
“No it just an ordinary ring, cheaply made,” he said handing the ring back to the dwarf.
Massacharamar walked over to the wall and looked at a rack. “I believe that Joban tortured people who intruded on his privacy.” They walked over and saw the rack had chains and there were still signs of blood on the front of the rack.
George noticed a leather skin stretched against the other wall. He walked over and saw there was writing on it. However, he could not understand the symbols. “Balon, I need your help.”
Balon waved his wand at the skin. The writing became readable to everyone:

“What mysteries lie within the caverns of Kilda Alda?
Only the bravest or foolish will know!”

“We are either brave or foolish,” Bard said.
“Which one, we do not know,” Britt agreed.


Chapter Seven
Joban’s Journal

They were standing inside a room, filled with barrels.
“There must be over sixty,” Johanna said.
Balon walked over to one and looked inside. “This must be the storeroom. These contain flour.”
“This one has wheat,” George said. He tasted some and made a face. “It is still edible, but a bit stale.”
“Well, I hope we will not have to resort to eating any of this,” Britt said.
Bard saw where some flour had fallen on the floor. “I think somebody has recently been in here.” He pointed to a boot prints leading to the door.
Britt bent down and looked at it. “George, is that your print? They looks like the boots that you wear.”
“No, the prints are smaller that my foot.”
“I wonder if some monsters wear boots,” Massacharamar suggested.
With weapons drawn they searched the room. However, there was nothing in the storeroom, not even the rats, except for barrels containing wheat, flour, pickles, meat, fruit and vegetables.
“The supply room is over there,” George said looking at the map.
“These are still in good shape,” Britt said looking through a box containing iron spikes and metal nails.”
“Joban and Stephan probably had not completed building this stronghold,” Bard said. Stone blocks lay in a corner. Wooden doors were stacked against one wall in the room. He walked over to a 200 foot long coil of rope. “This is too heavy to carry.
Johanna said, “The laborers probably suspended from this when they worked on the outside.”
The elf returned with several boards of wood. “These will help get the holes boarded up and keep the rats out.”

After covering the rat holes in the kitchen, they walked up the corridor past the store and supply rooms. Two beautifully oak doors were ahead of them.
“I should have known this would be the library,” Balon said.
George looked down at thee dust covered floor. There were those mysterious footprints again. It was as if they belonged to a female, the prints were delicately small. Maybe one person did survive the berserker attack. But who was it and what happened to him or her?
Britt ran his fingers through the dust. “This is excellent craftsmanship!” he exclaimed. Though the floor was covered in years of dust, it was like it was newly done. The floor was made of polished marble. Large blocks of the stone were uniformly laid out. The stones were all even and the lines of each block lined up perfectly.
“It must have taken years to do this,” Massacharamar said, as she looked at red gems in the center of the floor. “Look at that,” she said, pointing. “The gems are their initials!” Everybody gathered about and noticed that the gems actually read S & J.
“I notice that they both liked oak,” Bard looked at the three large tables in the east west and north wings of the library.
“Believe it or nor,” George said, when I am not thieving, my next best acivity is reading. He looked at the plush divans in the corners of the room. “I could make myself at home here,” he said running his fingers through the fleece upholstery. “It is a shame that they are as dirty as they are.”
“We can take care of that,” Johanna said. Within a few minutes, all the dust, dirt and grime were gone. The room looked like it was built just the day before.
“Now this is living,” the thief said as he jumped onto the divan and lay on his back. “Give me a good book and I will be happy.”
“Wait a mnute,” Balon said. “Where is all this light coming from?” The rooms that they had previously explored were outside rooms. Light came in either through windows or cracks in the walls. This was an inner room; there was no way the sun ray’s had penetrated this far. The light was much more than what their lanterns were giving out.
George looked at the sconce that was mounted over his head. Instead of holding a torch, it held a small cage. Similar sconces hung around all the walls of the library. Each cage gave off a red glow.
“Fire beetles,” Britt said.
“How have they survived after all these years?” Johanna said.
“Nobody knows how they live and eat. Yet they live many years,” the dwarf continued.
“Should we free them?” Massacharamar asked.
“I do not think these cages can be forced open,” Britt said. “However, it is better to leave them be. Once they are captive, they are not able to survive if they are released from their cages.”
George went over to look at some books on one of the shelfs. He picked up one and the pages fell away into dust. “It probably was not interesting anyway.”
“George,” Britt spoke suddenly and quietly, “whatever you do, do not move.”
George started to laugh. “You cannot fool me…” A hissing noise stopped his words. He turned slightly towards the noise. A giant snake was gliding towards him, eyeing his prey. Even if he wanted to run, he was not able to; he was frozen by fright, hypnotized by the beady eyes. The snake was so close that its tounge flicked out and touched George’s face.
“He is tasting me!” he whispered despartely. “He thinks I am his dinner! Please help me!”
“Keep calm, George,” Britt whispered drawing his sword. “We will save you. Both the dwarf and Bard slowly approached the snake on both sides. Massacharamar got her bow and arrow ready.
“One three,” Britt said. “One, two…”

 

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.