I began speaking to Dravist, “Dravist, could you get the ground meal bag from the cart. Gillfort, could you get the pots and pans? I would like to make biscuits for breakfast.” They stretched and ambled over to the cart. I remembered the agreement from the previous evening and got a jar of honey and my spices together to turn over to Alnifolia. I was going to miss the spices on the two day journey back to Stonebridge, but a deal is a deal. “Thanks fellas. Dravist, could you go draw water for us from the well? Thanks.” Dravist picked up a bucket and headed over to the well. “Gillfort, did you learn anything from the druids yesterday for us?” Gillfort replied, “I learned a lot from them but most of it about being a better druid.” “What about their activity here? How long have they been working together? What have they accomplished?”
Gillfort replied, “You can tell the Magistrate they have been here for a few months. They first found the place according to legends Alnifolia learned about. They cleaned up the barracks office and meeting room to give them a safe space to sleep. They cleaned up this courtyard, which was overgrown with weeds and plants they didn’t need. They made a cursory survey of the temple but wished to avoid it so they wouldn’t risk reigniting the spirit patron of the temple worshipers. They planted the trees at the upper edge of the amphitheater and elsewhere around the clearing. They found and surveyed the trail we came here using and they have cleared it up a little. They have started to see to the needs of the animals in these woods, since they will provide for and benefit from them. They recruited Laevis, since they began with only Alnifolia and Palustris and most recently they have found Marogred and trying to figure out what to do with him.”
I noticed his first remark about the Magistrate and I had a bad feeling he was now driven by the influence of Alnifolia. I decided to stick with the matter of common interest for the time being. Dravist came back with a pail of water. We used some to make the meal into dough. I let them fuss over that while I checked on the coffee only a few feet away. “I was surprised they didn’t put on some kind of ‘house arrest’.” Gillfort replied, “They didn’t have the resources for that. With only three of them, having to use one of them as a guard would have been a big sacrifice. They realized that he wasn’t going anywhere unless he suspected they knew something. So they let him help out a little while they tried to sort it out. If they had just banished him, then he would have returned in some more deceptive form. He would likely have come back with friends, and with only a few friends and the three of them would have been overwhelmed. I admired their methods. Until we came along everything was working for them just fine. Now we’ve gone and messed things up. Mind you, things were going to change, but they were not ready for them to change right away. I figure we owe them a favor to return Marogred to your friends in Stonebridge.”
It seemed Gillfort wanted to settle this matter of where his loyalties belong. “That may be the right thing to do. I’ll ask Alnifolia. You seem begging for an argument. My friends? I can tell The Magistrate? What’s bothering you Gillfort.” He stepped away from the dough and brushed off his hands. I walked over and checked on Dravist to see if he was doing OK with it; and he was. Gillfort said, “I heard you in there last night. You were only interested in solving the mystery of the renegade Marogred. You didn’t care what this meant to the druids here.” I replied, “I don’t understand what you’re implying. Are they not equally interested in the mystery? I’d wager it is more important to them than it is to the Magistrate.” Gillfort responded, “Well then it’s just you who wants to know so you can get more accolades with the Magistrate? Isn’t that why you killed those bandits?” I replied immediately, “Whoa, whoa, whoa. What in the heck are you talking about? I killed those bandits because they wanted to rob Joseph and they would have killed us for showing the least resistance. Any brave man would have wanted to do the same, and between me and Joseph I figured we had the means. Why not kill the bandits? Have you lost your mind? And I didn’t do that to impress the Magistrate. I did it because it was the right thing to do for the people of this Province.” Just then Vallen came from the building. I took a breath and calmed down a little. “Good morning, Vallen. I hoped you passed the night without incident.” Vallen replied, “Yes, they pretty much just slept through the night. They did wake and wanted to relieve themselves and I told them to use the chamber pot.” I chuckled. Prisoners and magistrates, shopkeepers and adventurers all have the same needs.
I said, “Vallen, have some coffee, and if you’d be so kind fill up my mug as well.” “Sure thing”, he said, “I could do with some coffee.” “Coffee Gillfort, Dravist?” “Yes” and “Yes” came from them. I stepped over to wake Jackwon. I believed I wanted him to hear this. “Jackwon, how about getting up. We’ve got coffee ready.” Jackwon rolled over and brushed my hand away from his shoulder. I stepped back and he rolled up onto his knees and stood up. “Sure thing. Where’s the coffee?” I stepped back to talk to Gillfort so everyone would hear the next bit.
“Gillfort, it seems you’re unhappy about something; my leadership in particular. Do you wish to leave our company and join Alnifolia and his crew?” Gillfort responded, “Herd. He considers a group of druids a herd and he is our shepherd, our master.” I replied, “Well I suppose that is my answer, yes?” Gillfort replied, “Yes. That is my answer. I am joining Alnifolia’s herd and their noble task is now my burden as well.” I replied, “And Alnifolia knows this?” Gillfort responded, “I have asked Palustris to make the Master aware of my desire.” I paused and Vallen said, “Gillfort, what are you talking about?” Jackwon added, “Yea, what’s up with you?” Gillfort said, “We’ve been together for about a month, right? In all that time we have killed some kobolds and a bugbear. We’ve traveled across the empire not stopping to do anything for nature. We hung about Stonebridge for two days doing nothing. Now we’re out here arresting criminals and looking for treasure. Can’t you see? None of your interests are my interests. And now I find a great druid doing something that I should have been doing all these past several days. Of course I’m going to join up with him.”
I paused again so that I didn’t interrupt anyone else. Hearing no other comments, I asked, “Well then you consider our agreement broken? You will not return with me to Stonebridge?” This put him on his heels. He had made an agreement with me. He was to travel with us here and back again and fight for the group’s safety if it came to that. Now he was bailing on his companions and going back on his word. He looked down and responded, “I forgot about that. Is it a problem if I just remain here?” I replied, “Well that depends on whether we need your help during the trip back, and we won’t know that until we get to Stonebridge. Although you made an agreement with me, I should like to hear Vallen’s, Jackwon’s and Dravist’s views on the matter before we decide. They are your companions, although I have done nothing to harm you but rather facilitated your easy passage to this place. I rode ahead finding our water and smooth passage. I took the lead in the forest should any danger come. I stood up for the bear at our camp as did you. But if you wish to characterize the Magistrate as undeserving of the help I give him as a member of the Corps, I should not wish to hold you to your word. Let’s take this up again tonight.”
I stepped over and helped Dravist make small lumps of dough for baking biscuits. Vallen stood speechless and Jackwon mumbled about going to fetch more firewood. Having made lumps of dough I showed Dravist how to make a pot into an oven for the fire. We got two pots made up for baking and set them going. I asked Gillfort, “Would you like to see if they would like some biscuits inside? We’ll have plenty.” Gillfort said, “Sure.” And he walked inside to ask.
Vallen spoke next, “Bene, uh, my lord, what was all that about? What’s got into Gillfort?” I replied, “Well, you heard him. He has been overwhelmed by the feeling of being among his own kind. He hasn’t had this feeling since he left his home. I think he is struggling with his feelings right now. He completely forgot about his agreement; his duty. He is confused right now. I heard it in his remarks last night at dinner. I’m sure Alnifolia heard it too.” Jackwon returned with an armload of wood. Vallen said, “Well what do we do now?” I said, “I think we should find this treasure. If Dravist is right, we’ll have everything we need to find it this morning in our hands. I don’t think Alnifolia will have any objections although we may wish to share some coin with him. I’ve got the key. Dravist thinks he knows where we can find the parchment. We’re at the site. We’ve got a cart, although we don’t have a team, just a mule. If Marogred was going to find it by himself, we should be able to get it. Sounds like just the way to finance your trip to me.” Jackwon said, “Now you’re talking. That lying dwarf doesn’t have anything we don’t have. And we got plenty he don’t have.” Dravist said, “Yea, he’s right.” I said, “So after breakfast we’ll have a look for the parchment and then a talk with Alnifolia.” We sat down and had our breakfast and cooked all our dough. Gillfort came out to join us but it was a cool feeling among the fellows. Everyone tried to talk about something else besides the “mastodon.”
We finished our breakfast and Gillfort carried in a dozen biscuits. I asked the fellows to clean up and put things away. I needed to talk to Alnifolia for just a minute. Inside he was coming from the meeting room and I asked if we could talk in his study. We went in and sat down. I began, “Gillfort wants to quit our company and join your flock, sorry herd. Did you know?” He answered, “Yes, I knew before Palustris asked me for him. It is not uncommon for a young druid out on his own for the first time to jump in with the first herd he meets. I think Laevis is here for much the same reason.” I asked, “Do you have an opinion on the matter? Would you share your thoughts with me?” Alnifolia responded, “It is the other way around, my friend. He is your charge. He is under obligation to you and I will not ask him to break his oath. He may return here when you are finished on this journey.” I said, “His heart is not with my group. It is with you.” Alnifolia said, “We can manage it either way, but I will respect your wishes. Now I believe there is something else?”
I said, “Yes, yes there is. If Dravist finds the parchment, my group would like your permission to spend a day or two to find the treasure. If we find it, what would be your terms to divide it? If Marogred thought he could find it by himself, we believe we can find it for him.” Alnifolia responded, “Remember you will now have two prisoners to take back with you. The letter said you will need a cart and a team, which Marogred said was a four-horse team. You have one mule and a cart, not a wagon and a team.” I answered, “Yes, there could be more than we can carry. We would trust you to hold onto the extra for us on a return trip. We don’t see you gambling it away out here. We could even bring a wagonload of supplies when we return for the rest. But we recognize you should have a portion. What do you think is appropriate?” Alnifolia said, “We would not need much. Coin would serve us well to purchase supplies and a little would go a long way for self-sufficient men like us. If however, there were magical items among the treasure, we should want to have claim on those things a druid could use in our work. Is that fair? We get say, one portion of six, of the coin and non-magical valuables, save for anything that you show belongs to the Empire, and we get first pick of magical treasure and alternate item for item until it is divided?” I thought about it and said, “Under the circumstances this is a very fair offer. You are a powerful and wise man. You could send us away and keep the key because you are that powerful. The treasure would be yours. You have little need for the treasure, so both of us believe, and therefore no need of the risk in retrieving it. Let us have the risk and you are rewarded handsomely. I think it is more than fair.” Alnifolia held out his hand, and I took it. He said, “I wish you and your party luck. I will send Gillfort with you. He owes you that much even before you leave.” I nodded and stood up. I said, “I’ll go see if Dravist can find the parchment.” And I turned and left.
Outside, I called over to my party saying, “Let’s go have a look for the parchment.” And they stood up and made themselves ready. We headed over to the temple and at the porch we tied scarves around our noses and mouths. We went inside and I paused again to let my eyes adjust to the light. Jackwon almost tripped on himself as I did the day before. We walked slowly into the main chamber and turned around to look at the rear wall as Dravist went to look for the tablet with the water rune. It was beyond his reach so he said, “Somebody give me a hand.” Both Vallen and Jackwon came over to help him up. He raised himself up and pulled carefully on the tablet. He said, “It’s loose. It also seems heavy.” I called up to him, “What do you think?” He replied, “I think I can move it but if it falls and slips out of my grasp I don’t want it to hit one of you on the head.” Jackwon said, “Yea, I’m all for that.” I said, “No problem. Just come down a moment.” They helped him down. I said, “Is it fixed up there or is it hanging free?” Dravist said, “It’s just leaning against the wall held up on two pins that project from the wall. Let me show you.” Dravist stepped over to the Earth tablet. We examined it and saw what Dravist described. Vallen said, “It looks heavy. If he does move it, it will probably be more than he can handle standing on our shoulders as he was.” I said, “Let’s just knock it loose. If it falls I can mend it. Then we just need to get it back up there.” Dravist said, “Oh, good idea.”
We stepped back and reached up. We couldn’t reach it so decided to help Dravist back up there, having him stand off to one side so we could just knock it free. He knocked it loose and it fell striking the floor with a loud stone on stone sound but it didn’t chip. The floor stones however, did chip a little. They scooted him over and he reached in to a hollow exposed behind the tablet. He found the parchment and tossed it down before they helped him down slowly. I asked them to set the tablet upright near where it fell and I cast my cantrip to mend the floor stones, and they were mended immediately. As a matter for fact, the algae, mold, mildew was also cleansed from the stones for a good space. I motioned for them to follow me outside.
Outside I unrolled the parchment and looked. It was a map of some passageways. Some of it was ruined by the mold and mildew but a good portion was legible. I twisted the map this way and that. There were no writings on it to help me know which way was “up.” It seemed plausible the area depicted on the map was about the size of a regular warehouse sized building. I asked that we go back inside to examine the temple for underground entrances, stairs leading down or a trapdoor. We looked for about half an hour and didn’t find anything. I said I would go see Alnifolia about it and see if it could be the barracks.
Alnifolia said they had been over the barracks carefully before and he didn’t think there were any underground features they hadn’t found. The cells in the basement were the only things they found and the map didn’t seem to include them. He said, “You should have a look at the warehouse foundation.” I walked back over to the temple and asked if they found anything and they said, no. I asked that we come have a look at the warehouse. They gladly left the temple and the stench.
At the warehouse we located the corners of the building and began to clear away some forest debris. As we cleared we looked for a set of stairs or trapdoor leading down. Gillfort came over to talk. He said he was going to join us on our investigation. Alnifolia sent him to join us. In one corner of the building we found what we were looking for. We uncovered a stairway leading down but it was so full of leaves we were going to have to dig it out. We went to get tools. We spent a couple hours digging it out and we uncovered a basement landing with a heavy wooden door, iron fittings and a substantial iron lock. We left to get our equipment and the key. We decided we’d have lunch first before going down.
I packed my pack with plenty of rope, ball bearings, some oil and a fire starter, bandages, candles and other things. I left my tocco, pipe, lute and all the other things I didn’t need. After lunch we suited up (I put my leather armor on) and went to face the passages in the basement. We got to the door and I tried the key. It still worked like it was made yesterday. There was a satisfying click as the lock cleared, but the noise made me uneasy because we were going to lose the opportunity to surprise them. Just like in the woods, I was going to have to be in front if we were going to have the benefit of my dark vision. I thought about my studded leather armor being made back in Stonebridge.
The door was stuck but we pushed it open as it scraped on the floor. I couldn’t see into the dark with the sunlight behind me. I motioned for Vallen to go first with his torch. He had the strongest armor. He went in with his sword in his right hand and a torch in his left. He had to wave the torch around clearing many cobwebs in the passage. The smell of mold and mildew returned. We pulled on our masks again and went inside.
The first passage was straight and level with a finished stone floor and a stone wall on my right. It was just wide enough for one man to fight or two men to walk side-by-side. We staggered our formation so we could see a little better. We moved slowly to help us see. A torch doesn’t shine like the sun. Vallen was doing well and we were moving steadily forward. We came to a door on our left and Vallen went past it before stopping. I stopped at the door and motioned for Vallen and Jackwon to move forward a bit more to see what else was on this corridor. They went about sixty feet, as far as they could see in the torch light and then came back. They said there were two more doors ahead on the left about twenty to twenty five feet apart. This didn’t match anything on my map yet.
I motioned that we would try this first room. Vallen positioned himself to open the door. Jackwon stood on the other side to cover it. Gillfort held a torch. Dravist held a torch and covered out retreat. I positioned myself to look into the room. I motioned for Jackwon to listen at the door. He did but heard nothing. On the signal, Vallen opened the door. I looked in and saw a large empty room. I motioned for Gillfort to give the torch to Jackwon and he went inside and I followed. We looked around and I saw a rat scurry away. I called for Gillfort and Dravist to come in too. Vallen stayed in the hallway to watch the corridor.
We checked around the room. We checked the floor, the walls, even the ceiling for unusual features. It appeared to be a storage room with nothing of interest. I paced off the room to check the size and marked it on a piece of paper I had for a temporary map. I hoped that my crude map would begin to match the one on the parchment, then I might know what was ahead. We withdrew from the room and closed the door. Vallen led us down the corridor to the next door. He went ahead to check sixty feet and came back. He said the corridor took a bend to the left. We positioned ourselves at the second door and repeated the process; Jackwon listened, we opened the door, I looked inside, two of us went inside and Gillfort and Dravist followed.
This room had several tables and chairs. There were a number of lanterns in the room so we tried to light one. I had to put some oil in it but it lit just fine and gave off good light. Slowly we went around the room and lit others. This was obviously a mess room or something like that with all the chairs and tables. We examined the walls, floors and ceiling and found nothing again. The wall to the left did have a double door connecting it with the next room we would search so we discussed whether we would enter through the hallway or through these doors. We decided the hallway.
Back out in the hallway, Vallen went forward and looked around the corner with Jackwon. I was behind them. Turning the corner, they saw another stairway leading down a second level. We backed up to the third doorway off the corridor. We had Dravist wait at the second doorway where he could watch the corridor and the double doors into this room. We lined up at the third doorway as before and Jackwon listened at the door. Hearing nothing he opened the door. This time the door was sticking because of a broken hinge and the door scraped across the floor because it was sagging. I looked in and there were a few tables but it was much more open inside. We stepped in as before and I looked around. This appeared to be the kitchen. We lit a few lanterns again and the room again lit up. We looked around and there was nothing special. We walked over and checked the double doors. They were not locked so we pushed them open and left them that way. The kitchen stopped short a little and there was a doorway on that wall but no door. Inside were many shelves which I supposed were for the pots and pans. There was nothing on the shelves except the remains of rodents. I found some iron fire tools against one wall where a fireplace and ovens were made into the wall. We used two of these tools to unhook two lanterns and carry them at the end of the rods for better light than the torches.
Out in the hallway I wondered about the kitchen and the mess room. There should have been a pantry or supply room for the kitchen, but there were no other doors off the corridor and the next way forward was down the stairs to the second lower level. I decided to check the corridor walls closely. We didn’t find anything. I noted everything on my temporary map and checked the parchment map. Next I decided we would pull a few more lanterns out of the mess room and light the corridor. We went in and brought out six lanterns still burning. We placed three of these along the corridor and moved the other three to the top of the stairs we were preparing to descend.
Down the stairs we went. The door at the bottom of the stairs was of the same construction as the first door with the lock, but there was no lock on this door. Vallen and Jackwon stood at the door and I stood just beyond them, Gillfort behind me and Dravist at the top of the stairs. Vallen opened the door and Jackwon stuck his lamp into the doorway. Inside was a vast open room with a polished aisle down the center and a pool of water to each side of the aisleway. I waved for Jackwon to pull the lantern back and I stepped up to have a better look with my dark vision. It was very eerie inside. I leaned inside to look at the walls just inside the door and there was a sound of water rushing from the room. I jumped back and Vallen stepped into the doorway and Jackwon behind and beside him holding the lantern. The sound of the rushing water died away.
I got out my crude make-shift map and did my best to estimate the size of the room. I suspected it was as large as the three rooms we had just passed all put together. There were stone columns inside evenly spaced about twenty feet apart holding up a sturdy wooden floor above. There were no lanterns in this space that I could see. It appeared that the clerics used this room because it had the same provision to maintain pools of water, not very deep, in a manner like the temple. I motioned for Vallen to close the door. I examined the door carefully and found another low relief carving in the door that we had missed because of the door’s age. It was obscured in the moss or mushroom growth on the wood. Trying carefully to clear it away we saw the inscription of the fan pendent on the door. There even appeared to be some paint left from when it was new. Maybe it was painted in the colors of the mosaic? We reopened the door and I looked in again. I asked Jackwon to move his lantern into the room as far as he could reach and set it on the floor. He did so and nothing happened. I again moved up to the doorway and looked in trying to see where the rushing water could have come from, but I couldn’t see anything.
I leaned in again and the sound returned. I looked forward to see if I could find the sound, but it was everywhere. The water in the pools was churning and then I could see two figures rising from the pools in a vision of waterfalls that ran up instead of down. They didn’t swirl around or dance as much as just sway back and forth. I took a bold step forward and immediately a rush of water hit me square in the chest and threw me out of the room. I struck the far wall and lay there, but I was wet only on my leather armor, not my legs, arms or face. There was no water in the corridor either.
Vallen was kneeling down beside me. Bene, my lord, are you OK? I was dazed from hitting my head but I was alright overall. I asked, “What happened?” Vallen replied, “My lord, it appears the room has some manner of enchantment. You were attacked by two water elementals, I believe. A rush of water came from each of them knocking you back. You almost flew backwards from the force of it. Are you sure you’re alright?” I moved to push myself into a sitting position and almost collapsed. I replied, “Maybe I’m not quite alright.” Vallen said, “Dravist come down here, he needs your help. Use some healing magic. He has been hurt.” Dravist stepped down the stairs and gingerly approached and half-looked into the doorway. He knelt down and placed his hand at the nape of my neck supporting my head. He put his other hand flat against the middle of my chest and looked upwards and chanted very quietly to himself. I felt a warmth from his hands and my head and chest immediately felt better, even my right foot felt a warmth from the experience. Dravist stopped chanting and looked down at me. He said, “You should be much better now, my lord.”
Again I tried to get up and they helped me to my feet. I brushed my hair with my hand and thanked them. Then turning to look into the pool room I said, “Well, we need to find out how to defeat water elementals. I’ve heard about them but I’m not an authority on their behavior. Jackwon, Vallen, please close the door. Let’s go talk about this with Alnifolia. Maybe they know how to fight such things.” And we left one lantern at the door and walked out of the basement up to the surface. We had been down about two hours I figured, no more. “Jackwon, could you stay here and listen for any activity?” He replied, “As long as I don’t have to go down there alone, sure.” Vallen said, “I’ll wait here with him, my lord.” I answered, “Thanks. We’ll be back.”
We went to find Alnifolia and the other druids. We found them outside tending to the trees at the edge of the clearing. All three of them were working together. I saluted them as we approached. “Hello friends. We need some advice if you have it to share.” Alnifolia, Palustris and Laevis all turned to face us. Alnifolia answered, “What happened?” I replied, “We descended to a second basement and ran into two water elementals, I believe. They are blocking the way. It appears they are part of some sort of enchantment placed on the room to keep strangers out. The room is about thirty feet wide and I believe it could be eighty feet long, it is hard to say. There is an aisle down the middle and a shallow pool on either side as long as the room. I hope our treasure is just beyond this. Other than that, we’ve found nothing of value; just a few lanterns.”
Alnifolia responded, “Water elementals? Palustris, do you know anything of water elementals?” He replied, “I know a little. Of course they require a source of water, and the size of their source gives them more or less power, as well as the power of the magic that created them. They are not bothered by fire magic, but lightning spells can be very harmful to them.” I replied, “These seem to activate when someone enters the room they are guarding. We opened the door and nothing happened until I leaned into the room. Then they came alive. As soon as I left the room they went away.” Alnifolia said, “Hmmm, curious. We’re missing something. If they attacked everyone then nobody could get past that room. But clearly they were placed there as guardians. So they are not meant to attack everyone, just enemies. What did you do that signaled to them you were an enemy? Or what could you do that would signal that you were a friend?” Laevis exclaimed, “Master, the pendent. Maybe the pendent is immune to the guardians.” Everyone looked at Laevis so that he stepped back.
Alnifolia said it first, “Brilliant. That would explain the pendent and why Marogred was in little hurry to find the treasure. He thought it was well guarded and only he had the pendent to get past the guards. But this may mean only one man can go past the guards to explore the rest of the basements.” I spoke up, “I will go first, but if necessary, I will find a way to pass the pendent back to the others. I should explore because my dark vision gives me an advantage. Now who has the pendent?” Alnifolia said, “Oh, I have it. Laevis brought it to me last night. It was the first thing he confiscated during the search.” And with that he walked to the barracks. We followed and Palustris and Laevis returned to their work.
“Here you go. I recommend tying it on something around your neck since that would be the normal way to wear a pendent.” I replied, “Thank you.” I spoke to Dravist and Gillfort, “Let’s get back to it.” And we turned and went back to the ruins of the warehouse. Outside, talking to Vallen and Jackwon we explained out theory of the pendent. Vallen said, “My lord, let me take the pendent. You are a brave man, but I am armored and trained to fight. Your vision gives you a distinct advantage but only until you are found. Once combat begins you are not so well armored.” Jackwon made a similar appeal for the job saying he was a trained fighter and used to facing many different beasts. He pointed out that he was ready to face the bear before anyone. Dravist also spoke up. “My lord, I am also armored. I have a good weapon”, and he held his mace close to his chest to emphasize its heft, “and I am prepared to deal with enemies using spells too.” Gillfort said, “Don’t mind me. You go right ahead. I’m not afraid any of you are going to steal MY treasure.” And with that remark, Dravist, Vallen and Jackwon all took offense. I quieted everyone down saying, “Hold on fellows. Nobody is going down there to steal anything. Vallen, I’m going to let you take the first attempt. If you get stuck at a door or something come back and let us know. Don’t go forward if you’re uncomfortable. No, hold on. I am going to take the first bit. I will take the lanterns in as far as I can first and then let you take over.”
And I pulled out my make-shift map and showed everyone what I had already recorded. Then we entered the first basement again and I asked them to bring all the lanterns. We placed one half way down the first corridor and a second at the top of the stair down to the second level. We placed the rest outside the door to the pool room and opened the door. Wearing the pendent I took a deep breath and stepped into the pool room. There was a rushing water sound which faded away and then nothing. I let out my breath. I reached back and they handed me an iron stake holding one lantern. I walked slowly across the room on the aisleway and as I approached the other side I saw another wooden door. I set down the lantern and examined this door carefully. There was nothing to see other than rusty hinges and fittings. I pushed the door open and it scraped the floor. There was nothing on the other side but cobwebs. I set the lantern down just outside the pool room and I turned to retrieve another lantern. As I walked, I thought ‘Who says the pendent only protects one person? Let’s try two.’ And so I asked Vallen to bring a second lantern with me and we carried two lanterns across the room. I said, let’s go down this corridor and see what there is to see. So we turned and after a few steps came to a third stairwell. I set my lantern at the top of the stairs and Vallen and I carried the other one to the bottom. Soon the corridor ahead took a turn to the right so we set the lantern down and looked down the corridor carefully. I said, wait here. I drew my rapier and started forward relying on my dark vision.
I walked this corridor about sixty feet and it resembled the corridor of the first level below ground with doors on my right this time. I walked back to Vallen and said, “Please wait here and I’ll be back in a moment with other lanterns.” I went up the stairs and across the pool room. On the other side I asked Jackwon to bring a lantern and I picked up another myself. Staying close together we crossed the pool room and went down the stairs to join Vallen. “Follow me and we’ll go check out the first door on this corridor.”
We went about fifteen feet and came to the first door. We set one lantern down and positioned ourselves on either side of the door. Jackwon listened and didn’t hear anything. We opened the door and I thought I saw something scurry away in the dark. I shined my lantern inside and saw a small sitting room with a number of lanterns along the walls, a well-made table and chairs for four. There was a cabinet against the wall to my right that fit floor to ceiling and a floor to ceiling bookcase on the wall to my left. The room was much smaller than the rooms on the first floor. I stepped to the door and shined the lantern around to have a better look. Nothing seemed to be out of place; just very dusty as I would expect. I stepped inside.
There was a thick coat of dust on everything and it likewise hung in the air giving form to the beam of light from my lantern. I reached out and grabbed the back of one of the chairs and pulled it away from the table and tipped it forward. A thick cloud erupted from the seat making me cough. I tapped the chair on the floor and more debris fell on the floor. I set the lantern on the table and reached down to brush off the chair. It was not just well made; it was a fine piece, and the others seemed to be part of a set. I fussed over it some more and set it by the wall. Next I brushed off the table and again coughed in the thick cloud. And then I started suddenly when I thought I saw a form in the dust cloud.
It was there and then it was gone. It appeared to me as an androgynous humanoid form, bald, no distinct race I had ever seen, a slight build, naked, with large questioning eyes, tiny ears and two nostrils but without a nose. As soon as it was there it was gone and I looked about the room casting the light of the lantern about as I spun this way and that. I called out, “There is something in here with me!” Jackwon replied, “Where? I don’t see anything.” Vallen asked, “How big?” I called back, “About as tall as a dwarf but this is almost invisible. Let’s try to catch it if we can. We might learn something from it.”
I didn’t realize I hadn’t described it very well and that even though it was humanoid I hadn’t say so. I said, “One of you make sure to cover the door. Let’s get some of these lanterns lit in here. I think we need more light.” Behind my back, as I stepped to grab hold of another lantern, Jackwon looked at Vallen and motioned for him to go in with me, and Valllen didn’t like the idea. But for the sake of his honor he stepped forward but muttered under his breath, “As you wish you big chicken.” Vallen took down a lantern and lit it while I did the same. I left the one lantern on the table and motioned for Vallen to cover the wall to the right while I covered the one to the left. He drew his sword and I saw another flash of motion come my way. I thought, “Oh crap” but I remained calm.
I stood as still as I could letting my eyes scan for motion. It seemed I couldn’t see it unless it moved. I held my hand up for Vallen to be still and we looked for a few seconds. I heard a scaping sound and I looked in the direction of the sound and something moved in the dust under the table. I called out, “Jackwon, I think he’s trying to get past you in the door. I think he’s just scared and hasn’t done anything to us. Try to just grab him.” Jackwon called back, “Are you kidding? Let that thing touch me?” Vallen was also looking at the floor in my direction and swinging his lantern a little to see if the moving light helped. I held up my hand again and said quietly, “Just be still with the light.” I began to crouch down low and reached out with my free hand and took a handful of dirt while scanning this way and that. I thought I saw something and I threw my handful of dust that way. All of a sudden we could see the form.
He was crouched beneath the table. His head was turning to see each of us but mostly looking to the doorway that Jackwon had blocked. He didn’t seem to know we could see him at first but then he became aware we were each looking at him. His mouth was open and he appeared to be hyperventilating. His eyes were wide with terror. I held up my free hand to show I had no weapon. I called softly for Vallen to sheath his sword. The ghost didn’t seem to have a weapon and hadn’t made the first move to attack us. Then I called softly for Jackwon to put away his axe but he was having none of it, and Vallen whispered again, “C’mon you big chicken. At least I was willing to come in here with it.” I didn’t think I was going to persuade Jackwon so I just thought about what I should do next.
Since we were calmed down it was easier to see the figure even though the dust was settling. I thought what I might have that the ghost would find interesting; some kind of bait like I might give an animal I wanted to calm down with a bit of food. The first thing I could think of was a shiny coin. I reached in my purse and pulled out a shiny silver coin and I held it out at arms reach. I turned it in my fingers hoping it would catch a ray of light to get his interest. Then I dropped it a few inches forward beyond my reach and withdrew my hand.
He stared at it. Then slowly he reached out for it while watching me. Vallen took a step forward and he heard the movement. Quickly he pulled his hand away and scurried back from us. I called quietly for Vallen to be still. I reached in my pouch and retrieved a few other coins and chose a shiny copper coin. Again I reached out and turned it in my fingers before tossing it on the floor between us, clearly beyond my reach. Again, slowly he reached out and watched me but glanced at Vallen a few times. Then he seized it and it disappeared. But I could see him pull his hand back apparently holding the copper coin.
He held it up near his face and examined it, but took it down quickly to look at me and Vallen. Then he raised it up near his face again to examine it again. I leaned forward onto one knee and reached out for the silver piece and picked it up slowly. I blew off the dust and held it out for him to see once again. I tossed it gently to him so it would land just in front of him. It struck the floor and a puff of dust rose up. He reached out and took hold of the silver piece and it too disappeared. He examined it, even comparing it to the copper piece. Then he put both in his right hand and stared at me. I didn’t know what else to do. I didn’t have any food and I wasn’t going to show him my dagger or rapier. So I decided to try and talk to him.
I said softly, “Do you understand me?” He turned a little more my way and slid back a few inches. I called out, “We don’t want to hurt you. We want to find out what is hidden down here. Would you help us find the things stored down here?” He only looked at me and then slowly shook his head no very slowly so that I wasn’t sure if he was saying “no” or just scanning. I said, “There is an evil man that wants what is here. We don’t want the evil man to get it so we are trying to keep it safe from him.” The ghost man then nodded his head slowly. Again I wasn’t sure if he was communicating or if this was some habit of his when afraid.
I asked, “Do you like the coins I gave you? They are shiny coins. You may have them if you like them.” With this remark he opened his hand and gazed at the coins again, closed his hand, and looked back at me. Now I believed I was being understood. I asked, “Could we sit down and talk? Do you speak this language?” He remained still for a moment and then he nodded his head and said rather uncertainly, “Yes.” I asked again, “You understand me?” And he replied a little more loud “Yes.” I asked, “If I ask my companions to step into the hallway, would you sit down and talk with me?” And he replied, “Yes. Outside. Yes.”
I asked Vallen to slowly step into the corridor and I asked Jackwon to step back from the door. They both did so. I said to the ghost man, “Would you feel more comfortable sitting in a chair? I would feel more comfortable sitting and talking.” He said slowly, “I will sit too.” And slowly he stood up and I mirrored his move. I stepped back from him, facing him and reached for the chair we cleaned off earlier. I moved it back to the table and set it down. I said, “I need to brush off the dust, please; the dust on the table and the dust on my chair. Would you like me to brush off the dust on your chair?” He called out loud and sudden as if alarmed, “No!” Then there was a pause and he said softly, “Not my chair.” He made a motion to me and said, “You brush your chair.” I replied, “Thank you. Please sit down if you are ready.” I pulled out a cloth and brushed off the nearest half of the table trying not to brush the dust toward either of us. I paused and then brushed off my chair again. I paused and then sat down. I leaned forward and rested my arm on the table. Slowly he sat down in the chair opposite mine.
I asked, “I have never heard of someone like you. I don’t know what to call you. Do you have a name?” He paused and then said, “No name. We don’t have names.” I replied, “Well, we each have names. My name is Bene Timber. This fellow wearing the mail is called Vallen. The fellow not wearing a shirt is called Jackwon. What may I call you?” He paused again and replied, “I don’t know. No name.” I thought a moment and said, “I’ve never met someone like you. You are somewhat like a ghost man. Does your kind have a name, what do they call folks from your race?” After a pause he replied, “I am a dust man.” I brightened up a little because I was beginning to get some real information and build a rapport with him. I asked, “Dust man. May I call you ‘Dust Man’ then?” And he replied, “Yes, dust man.”
“Dust Man, are there others here, in this basement?” He replied, “No.” I asked, “Are you from the woods, or do you come from somewhere else?” He replied, “Not from the woods.” I asked, “Where do you come from?” He replied, “I’m not sure where. I only live here.” I wondered about that a moment. I asked, “How did you get here? Did you walk here or fly?” He replied, “I was at my home and then my home was gone and I was here to live.” I wondered again what this meant and then I thought I understood. I asked, “Was your home very different from here?” He replied, “Yes, very different.” I asked, “Have you ever been up the stairs? Did you know there are trees up there?” He replied, “No, only here. Trees?” I answered his question delicately, “Trees are living things but they don’t move like us. Sometimes trees give us food. What do you eat?” He paused and replied, “I eat dust. Dust here no good. I am weak from eating this bad dust. I can’t go in the water room.” I began to think he wasn’t from the material plane and was some sort of enemy of water elementals. It seemed he was trapped here alone.
“You can’t get out of here and you are not from here. You are stuck eating this bad dust.” He was nodding his head as I restated what I understood. “You don’t like evil, do you?” He replied, “No evil.” I replied to him, “We are also good, which means we are no friend of evil.” Then I said, “It seems by some work of evil you are trapped here. I would like to see you return to your home, if you wish.” He replied, “Home. Yes. Now?” I frowned a little and said, “Unfortunately I don’t believe I have the means right now. I don’t understand the exact nature of where you belong or how to get you there. But I know other good people that should know who can tell me how to help you. But I will need to understand your nature so that the magic we use will send you to your home and not somewhere else by mistake. I hope you understand this is a difficult task for us and we don’t want it to go wrong.” He raised his voice a little saying, “Home. Yes. Now!” I raised my hand, “I understand. I would feel the same way. But I will need help from wise men to get you home. After we are done, I will tell other wise men we need to help you. I promise.” He bowed his head. He rubbed his face and I began to think he was crying. I asked softly, “What can I do for you today?” I waited and he raised his head in a moment and said, “I want to go outside and see the trees.” I replied, “I’ll see what I can do. Right now, the only way out of here I know is through the water room you don’t like. Can you help us search this place? Maybe we will find another way out and you can leave and see the trees.”
He stood up slowly and said, “No way out. I will show.” I stood up. I asked, “May we use the lamps and search for other things while we look in the other rooms?” He said after a pause, “You may have the lamps. I don’t need the lamps. You will look for yourself. No way out.” I asked, “Are there many rooms to search? Is this a big house?” He replied, “Not big. Small place. Long time, small place.” I realized his idea of small and mine could be very different things.
He hesitated moving to the door with Jackwon and Vallen there. I understood. He was outnumbered and had little reason to trust them. I believed I was safe from him, but I didn’t know what else might be down there that he wouldn’t even notice. I turned to him and said, “Dust man, I may be afraid of other things down here that you may not even notice. My companions are here to keep me safe. They will not hurt you. May they come with us to help me be safe?” Dust man said, “I will show you. You safe with me. I’m not safe with them. Go with them or come with me.”
I thought about it and said, “Jackwon, Vallen, please wait down at the end of this corridor near the stairs. I will check out these other rooms with Dust Man.” Vallen said, “My lord?” Jackwon just stood motionless for a few seconds, then touched Vallen’s elbow and motioned they should step back from the door. I used a metal rod to pick up a lantern and I followed Dust Man down the corridor to my right. After a few steps we came to the next door and he just reached out and opened it. I slowly came around the doorway and held the lamp to shine into the room.
The smell hit me before my eyes understood what was in the room. There were shelves and shelves of books. I smelled the smell of old books. There is something about the smell of paper that has been left to a stale room that is unmistakable. The air was very still in the room and I almost lost Dust Man from my sight. There were five book shelves about ten or twelve feet long and six feet high all loaded with books. They were not “collector’s books”, all pristine bound volumes. No these were original manuscripts and carefully made copies of original books. They were larger than typical books and their binding was well made but not elegant. The binding was very sturdy and most were laced with thick hide. I pulled one from the nearest shelf about the height of my elbow above the floor. There was no title on the cover. I looked for a place to set the lantern so I might examine the book more carefully. I spied a wall hook to hold the lantern and reached up and hooked it there.
Carefully, slowly I opened the book, and noticed it was a handwritten manuscript. The cover page displayed the title, “The Valley of Entrall, Vol. II”. The next page immediately described a place and time in history. It mentioned a civilization that lived among a thick grove of trees with “buildings” of woven branches and men living in harmony with many animals such as domesticated deer and boar. It sounded like an older time but with some knowledge beyond mine concerning nature, which was somehow troubling to me because of my upbringing among the elves. The people in this book practiced a cultural harmony with natural things that eclipsed my knowledge of elvish methods. I set the book back on the shelf and retrieved the lamp. Next, I walked around the room to get a gage on the size of it.
I stepped out into the hallway and looked about for Dust Man. It was dim inside the library room so that I lost track of him, but I had a strong feeling he wasn’t going to run off. On one hand, where was he going to run off to? It seemed he wanted to find an exit as much as I did so I believed he would stick with me and be good to his word. I saw him standing in the doorway to the library watching me. I smiled at him and set down my lamp. I pulled my sketch from my pouch and added the two rooms on the third basement to my drawing. Then I took a good look up and down the corridor and then paced off the full length coming back to the library room. I added the corridor to the drawing. Then I pulled my parchment map from my things and checked it against the third level sketch. It seemed the library may have been part of that drawing as well.
I replaced the parchment map and raised the lantern again saying, “Let’s look at the next room.” We turned and headed for the next doorway. Dust Man again opened the door and I looked inside. This room was more like an office. It contained book shelves along the walls to the right and the left and four desks, two on either side. There were candle stands on the desks but I didn’t want to burn the candles. I set a lantern on one desk and went back into the hall to retrieve another. Back with a second lantern I set in on a desk on the opposite side of the room. I asked, “Have you searched this room?” Dust Man responded, “Yes, I have looked for doors.” I asked, “But what else is in this room?” He said, “Door in the back; writing stuff.” I looked at the walls and I didn’t see any door in the back. I turned and asked, “Door, where?”
Dust Man stepped to the back wall and put his hand on the wall. He said, “Here.” And I stepped forward and looked and I couldn’t see what he was showing me. I put my hand on the wall and it didn’t move, but I felt a cool air blow on my hand. He had found a hidden door. I asked, “Do you know what is in that room?” He replied, “Yes, no door.” I asked, “What is in there?” He answered, “More storage.” I thought, it must be something they wanted to hide so possibly treasure or something very important to them. I asked him to wait in the room while I talked to my companions.
Out in the corridor I walked down to Vallen and Jackwon. I told them the next room is a library and the room after that is an office with four desks but there is a hidden door on the far wall. I plan to search the desks and then find the secret to open the hidden door. Then I returned to the office room. I checked the first desk nearest the door on the right hand side. As Dust Man told me, there were writing supplies and a few notes but nothing that seemed noteworthy now. I checked the desk on the left hand side. Again, more writing things and a few notes but nothing noteworthy. In both cases, the ink wells had dried up but there was plenty of paper and quills. I checked the second desk on the left side. In this desk more writing supplies and a few notes, but also a book was in the drawer written in a language I could not read. It looked rough like dwarvish or orcish writing to me, not an elegant elven or celestial writing or even a rough human provincial writing.
I checked the final desk and found paper and quills, a dried up ink bottle and a ceramic cup for washing pens. There was another book, but this one was a ledger not a book of writings. It was bound in a cobalt blue leather with fine binding work. There was a gold imprint of a rune or glyph on the cover. I opened it and, although I couldn’t read it, I believed it was a log book of supplies showing deliveries and rates of consumption. It appeared to have pages with different goods, dates, and additions and subtractions on the pages. Some of the goods appeared to be listed on different pages and some pages appeared to be the only entry concerning that particular commodity. I went through the desk drawers and found a second book, a little smaller, with fine binding in a brick red color with another gold imprint of a rune or glyph. Inside was written more log book type information, but this didn’t show commodities coming in and out. It simply listed an item in one column and another item in a second column. A few of the items were crossed out, but not in a way so that the names of the items were obscured. It appeared the item was there and then the item was removed from the inventory. I began to suspect the first blue book was a general log book of supplies but the second red book was a ledger of special items of importance.
I searched further and found two maps. One was a large map that appeared to be of the area including the whole province governed by Stonebridge although Stonebridge was not on the map. I could see the same roads, the primary stream, the hills I visited a few days earlier to the northeast and the wooded areas of the deep woods and the pine forest of Pinesmill. The Deep Wood was at the center of this map unlike being near the top edge of my map, and this gave me an idea of what lay beyond this province’s borders.
The second map was smaller and appeared to depict a route for travelers coming from the south to the Deep Wood, or possibly the other way around. The city of Eros appeared to be an important feature on this map at the time it was made. The map included four symbols of the well, one right here in the Deep Wood, one south of Eros, another on the southern edge of the map and the fourth one in the top left corner of the map. I carefully rolled up both maps and tucked them away in my message case.
I pulled out my partial map I was making and checked the dimensions of this room. I updated my partial map by adding this room. I marked the approximate location of the hidden door with a heavy dot on the wall on my map. Then I unrolled my parchment retrieved that morning. Comparing the size of the rooms for the two floors above with the size of the three rooms down on this level it appeared there should be room for a hidden room on the other side of the wall. Knowing that anything worth hiding was usually worth finding, I was determined to figure it out. But I wasn’t going to let Jackwon bash a hole through the wall because that could destroy the single most valuable find in the hidden room. No, we had a good reason to be patient and figure out the secret of the hidden door. Also, so far, we were not in a rush so I wasn’t going to act hastily.
I looked up and Dust Man had been watching me patiently. He was curious about my searching and it occurred to me he might not be able to read any writing and the whole thing might be foreign to him. I asked, “Have you seen books like these before?” He paused and said, “Books? No books.” I opened the large blue book and flipped through the pages a little. Then I closed the book and I held it up. I said, “Book.” Then I set the book down and opened it. I fingered one sheet and said, “Page inside the book.” Then I smoothed out the page and I pointed to the letters and I said, “Writing. Words.” Then I fingered a single symbol and said, “Letter.” Then I fingered another and said, “Letter.” And another and said, “Letter.” I scratched my finger under a word and said, “Letters make word.” Then I scratched under a row of words, and said, “Words make writing.” Then I put my hand on the page and said, “This is a page.” Then I flipped all the pages and said, “Pages make a book.” Then I closed the book and smoothed my hand on the cover and said, “The binding protects the pages in the book. Do you understand? Book?” He repeated slowly in a quiet voice, “Book, pages, words, letters.” He moved to lift a piece of paper from a desk and said, “Page.”
I paused and thought a moment. I said, “Blank page. No words. Blank page is sheet of paper.” Then I opened my case and showed him my stuff and said, “Paper”, as I showed him blank paper and then “Pages”, as I showed him some of my pages I had written in my journal. Then I held up my journal and said, “Book.” He paused and said, “Book, pages, words, paper.” I said, “I think you are understanding a little. Writing is a hard thing for us to understand. Long time to learn what I know. Do you have books, and writing where you come from?” He paused and replied, “No books. Writing different. We write on walls. No books. No pages. No paper.” I looked at him and smiled. I said, “You are a smart fellow. I think we could learn much from each other.” He replied, “Not learn. Go home. Please, go home, now?” I paused and replied, “I can’t get you home. I will need help from the wise men.” He fell silent and bowed his head.
After a pause I said, “Let’s look inside the hidden room for a door.” Slowly he raised his head. I started to step around the last desk to the spot where I could feel for the door. He stepped back to give me room. I placed my hands on the wall and felt for the draft. In one place I could feel it well, but it was a small spot. I turned my head to dust man and asked, “Have you opened the door before? Do you know where it is?” He just looked at me. I looked about for a small stick or splinter of wood and found one. I reached over and lit it in the lantern. I brought it over to the draft and it flickered a little. Then I blew out the splinter and watched the smoke flow. When it was done, I lit it again and dropped about half way down to the floor and brought it to the wall. The flame flickered again and I blew it out. The smoke flowed and curled in the draft.
I repeated this until I thought I had an idea where the outline of the door would lie. I stepped back and looked at the size and shape. Then I looked at the corners of the ceiling and floor to see if there was something I was missing. I was getting pretty frustrated that I believed I knew where the door was but I couldn’t make it budge. I settled down and sat on the floor to get my eyes closer to the floor for another look. I asked dust man if he could bring a lantern down from the table. He shook his head. Annoyed, I started to stand up to get a lantern myself, and when I pushed against my hand to support my weight while standing, the door shifted. It pushed in at the bottom and came out a little at the top. Surprised I released my hand from the wall and the door fell back into place.
I stood up and retrieved two lamps. I set them on the floor and pressed against the wall again and the door opened up again. I thought the door would pivot but instead it was set on a horizontal axle that required some force to raise it up. As I pushed in there was a stale cold blast of air from the other side. A spider ran out into the open from the other side and I almost lost my hold of the door. It was a small spider but the suddenness of his appearance caught me off guard.
I pressed harder on the door and it continued to raise up. The light from the lantern illuminated an unfinished room not very deep on the other side. The door got easier to push and then it seemed to latch onto something. It remained open so that I could withdraw my hands. I grabbed an iron and lifted a lantern. I reached in and set it on the floor to illuminate the room to my right. I turned back and lifted the second lantern. I reached in and set it to illuminate the room on my left. I peered straight ahead to study the construction. Next I leaned in and looked to my right. There was not much to see besides cobwebs. I turned my head and looked to the left and saw much the same. I stepped back and looked over my shoulder to find dust man.
I said, “Dust Man, have you been in there before? Do you know what is in there?” He stepped closer and then around my side to look in himself. He just walked in and went to the left. I leaned in and tried to watch him, but with his chameleon like quality and my need to use my dark vision and all the cobwebs I lost sight of him. I wanted a torch to deal with the cobwebs. Growing up in Tahgrum I learned to be comfortable in the outdoors not in confined spaces like this. I called out for Jackwon. “Jackwon, do you have a torch handy?” He replied, “Yea, sure.” I answered, “There is a secret room here but it’s full of cobwebs. I’d like a torch.” He called back, “Sure thing.” And then I heard his steps coming up the corridor. He rounded the corner and looked over to see the door raised, a glowing space beyond from the lantern light and me standing just on this side of the door.
I stepped over to him and he handed me the torch. He said, “How big is the room?” I replied, “I’m not sure yet. Please go back to Vallen so you don’t scare him, uh, Dust Man.” Jackwon nodded his head with an expression of deep caution, or was that a little bit of fright, and stepped back down the corridor. I lit the torch and started to go to the opening. I reached in with the torch and touched a few cobwebs which immediately blazed up. The fire created a little heat which caused a little air current. The current pulled and pushed on the other cobwebs and made them shimmer. The fire caught slowly in each direction and cleared out much of the cobwebs as it did. I heard a shriek from inside where dust man was. I didn’t know if it was the fire or something else that scared him. He started shrieking more. I called out to him, “What is it? I’m coming.” And I started to walk in with the torch in my hand. His shrieking became worse still. “Fire! No fire! No fire! Out! Out! No fire! …”
I pulled the torch back and retreated. I went out of the door and then into the corridor where I set the burning torch down. I went back to the door and beat at the small flames to put them out. I called out to dust man, “It’s OK. I’ll put the fire out. It won’t hurt you. It’s OK.” With the flames out, I stood about as far in as they had progressed in and stared ahead to see if I could make out dust man or even the size of the room. He went by me in a hurry and was gone like that. I stepped back to the desk room. In the desk room again, I looked around. I was pretty sure he didn’t run back past Vallen and Jackwon. Then I caught sight of him hiding behind a desk in the corner.
I stepped about half-way toward him and he knew I could see him. “No fire. Fire must stay out. No fire.” He was almost crying. I replied softly, “The cobwebs bother me. I just wanted to burn them away so I could see better. Are you afraid of fire?” He said in a shaky voice, “Fire bad. No fire. Fire keep out. No fire.” I stood up more erect and said, “I’ll burn away to cobwebs. I’ll put out the fire. You can come and see if you want to go back in when I am done.” Then I asked, “Did you find anything in there before I made the fire?” Dust man replied, “Yes. Big box. On end of wall. Big box. No fire.” I replied, “I’ll only use the fire to remove the cobwebs. I promise.” And with that I stepped away to retrieve the torch.
I carried the torch into the secret room and looked about again. The right hand passage came to a dead end quickly. I stepped to the left and lit a few cobwebs. Again, they caused a current and burned the other cobwebs. I watched ahead to make sure I didn’t miss anything important, especially anything that might interact with the fire. I didn’t want to come this far to set a bunch of scrolls on fire by mistake. I moved forward and began to see the box, which was a chest. I’m sure a smile came across my face and I thought, “Now we’re getting somewhere.”
I stepped forward and cleared away the rest of the cobwebs and took a good look at the chest. In training they reminded us that some chests might be made with other anti-handling devices and traps. I knelt down and examined the lock and pulled on the hasp. It wasn’t locked! Setting my torch down and using both hands, I raised the lid slowly to have a look. It opened with the sound of wearing metal from the corrosion on the hinges; a very distinct sound that I thought Vallen and Jackwon might be able to hear. Inside I viewed a shallow tray covering the width and depth of the chest. The tray held some precious jewelry and several small cloth bags of fine make. I reached for the torch and raised it up to have a better look inside.
I lifted the largest bag to feel the weight of what it contained. It was heavy enough to increase my anticipation of what lay within, although it was not loose coins from the feel of it. I lifted each of the other bags in turn and felt for anything unusually heavy or light as well as the feel of loose coins. I then checked each of the pieces of jewelry; necklaces, rings, pendants, bracelets, earrings and even a stick pin. There were no crowns or tiaras, nor anything as heavy as bracers or ornamental belt buckle. There were also two loose gems; one appeared to be a pale green emerald and the other a pale blue sapphire. I set the torch down again leaning on the wall and raised the tray by two silk chord handles made into the sides. It was heavy but was well made so that it came up easily. I turned and set it on the floor to my right.
In the lower portion of the chest were a number of boxes, most with lids. The two boxes without lids contained loose coins. I reached in to take a few for examination. They did not bear the image of any government I knew, but they were well made coins, obviously minted by accomplished metal smiths. There were images of a man’s face on one side and a series of designs on the reverse with lettering. The lettering was made using block letters and not script writing. These were not elvish or celestial societies. The images were not dwarven either, and not human because they did not contain common tongue inscriptions. They also didn’t appear to be made with druidic influence because there were no natural references such as images of leaves or animals. But the lettering also didn’t suggest magical societal influence either.
Among the coins there were platinum, gold and silver. The silver coins needed a polish for they were dull in appearance. I didn’t stop to count the value of the coins. I began to examine the other boxes within. The first contained red gems, probably either rubies or garnets. The next contained dark blue gems, probably kyanite, topaz or sapphires. The third box also contained blue gems, but these were pale blue, probably agate, aquamarine or turquois. A fourth box contained yellow gems, probably citrine. The next box contained small bottles with wax seals. I raised one and could see it still had fluid in the bottle. The next box contained forged arrowheads. In addition, there was a writing kit but the ink in the bottle had dried years ago. I replaced everything and closed the chest. I tried to handle the chest and learned I could drag it out but that wouldn’t do well for the chest. We should carry it out and I would need either Jackwon or Vallen, and I preferred both.
I went out of the hidden passage and spoke to dust man. “I need my friends to help me move the chest. Would you like to wait in the first room? Wait in the room where we found you? I will move the chest with their help and ask them to wait by the stairs, if you agree.” Dust man sat silently for a moment. He replied, “We can go to more rooms. Look more for doors.” I responded, “I intend to resume our search once we have moved this chest, OK?” Dust man hesitated and then said, “Yes?” He paused again and said, “Yes. I wait.” I answered, “Good. Let’s get you back there and they won’t come into the room with you. They will only help me with the chest.” And with that, I lifted the torch and indicated the corridor. Dust man shrunk back. I said, “Sorry. You don’t like fire. Sorry.” And I put out the torch, leaned it against the wall and indicated the corridor again.
Dust man and I walked back up the corridor and he stepped into the first room with the chairs and tables. I stepped over to Vallen and Jackwon. “Folks, I found a chest. Keep your voices down because I don’t wish to startle Dust Man or give Gillfort and Dravist anything to wonder about. There are gems and some coins and other things I will need to have investigated, but I’m sure we will be allowed to split the coins so we’ve done very well on this trip. Right now, I want you fellows to help me bring the chest to the top of these stairs. Let’s go.” They nodded.
As we started down the corridor I said, “Dust Man is going to wait in there for me. Then we’ll resume our search.” As we stepped forward I added, “This is a library of old books. At least some of these are old histories of the region. We’ll need to take these back to Stonebridge too.” Then arriving at the desk room I indicated with my arm to open passage at the back of the room. The lanterns were still set to provide illumination for us. I said, “I found this passage because Dust Man told me it was there. It took some searching, but I found the door and figured how to open it. The passage leads off to the left.” We stepped to the back of the room.
As we entered the passage I said, “The chest is the only thing I found in here. Here it is. I’d appreciate it if you could bring it to the stairs and take it up for us. I want to take care of it so it will survive the trip home.” And with that, Vallen and Jackwon stepped around and lifted the chest and carried it out of the passage, through the desk room and down the corridor. At the bottom of the stairs Jackwon said, “Hey wait. Let’s leave it here in this room on the table. I don’t want to lose sight of it. As a matter of fact, I’d like to see what is inside myself.” Vallen said, “I’d like to see too, Bene, uh, my lord.” I replied, “OK wait a moment. I need to talk to Dust Man.”
I entered the table room and asked Dust man to step down the corridor and wait in the desk room. He only asked that I walk down there with him, which I did. I returned to the stairs and guided Vallen and Jackwon to set the chest on the table. Then I opened the lid carefully again and removed the tray and set it on another table. I let them look at the jewelry and showed them the bags didn’t hold coins. Then I showed them the boxes and the coins. I told them the other boxes mostly contained gems but there was also a box of forged arrowheads, a box of liquids in small bottles and a box of writing things. I told them they could count the coins, but I wasn’t sure it was safe to handle any of the other things. I wasn’t sure what sort of blessings, curses or traps may have been cast upon any of the things in the chest and I believed it was necessary to have it checked out. But I promised them a share of the coins and I would talk to the governor about the value of the other things in the chest.
Jackwon was upset with this view. “What are you talking about. Gems, jewelry, coins! Why don’t we get our shares now? We got to split it with the druids and then you’re going to give it to the Governor for a reward? You gotta be kidding!” Vallen intervened, “Jackwon, you, uh, we, were hired to provide Bene Timber with security. You said you wanted him to supply you with food too. He even provided a cart and pack animal. He’s done everything, so by law he gets to decide how to break up this treasure. And then there is the druids. Alnifolia made it clear the treasure was to be divided between them and us, and given his power, I expect he made us a generous offer. Bene is also right that there may be something in the chest that requires special attention. We’re not prepared to do much of that. We have no Wizard, warlock or sorcerer. We have no rogue to study the contents and look for dangers. Dravist is our only cleric and while he is a fine fellow, he is probably way out of his depth with something like this. Look at the construction of this place. It is all chiseled stone. The people that built it placed two water elementals up there to guard the treasure. Do you understand the power of magic it takes to perform such a summoning ritual? There are forces here we better be mindful of and not act like tomb raiders. Do you see?” Jackwon said, “It sounds like a raw deal to me. But I can see your point.” I smiled a small smile and said, “Good. Thanks for your patience. I would be surprised if you came away with only a share of the coins.”
I started to pack everything back up and Vallen said, “My lord, allow me to count the coins with Jackwon. We’ll put everything back together when we’re done.” I replied, “Sure. I wouldn’t mind knowing how much we’ll be splitting.” And I stepped back and took another lantern with me on an iron. I walked down the corridor to find dust man. When I got to the desk room I stepped inside. I called, because it was dim in the room, “Dust man? Where are you?” He replied, “Here I am.” And I looked in the corner and found him. I said, “I’m going to remove those lanterns and then close the passage door.” And I left my lantern at the door in the corridor and stepped in to retrieve the other two lanterns. Bringing them out, I returned to close the door. It took a moment but I found how to release the catch and then lower the door. It sealed itself and again I was surprised that it was so well concealed.
With three lanterns in the room it was easier to see Dust Man. In fact, I noticed I found him by finding his shadow easier than seeing him at first. But his shadow was also an oddity. My shadow made a heavy contrast with the light, but his was much more subdued just like his appearance. I indicated the corridor and said, “Let’s get going.” And he walked out and down the corridor to the next door. Arriving at the next door I noted the door spacing was the same as the previous doors on this corridor and I remembered my map and the parchment. I said, “I need to go back and record the room on my map again.” I left the lantern I carried on the floor and walked back to the desk room. I stepped off the room and added it to my crude map. Then I estimated the size of the hidden passage and added it too. I marked the hidden door and the next door down the corridor. Then I unrolled the parchment and compared the two. They were beginning to show similarities although they were drawn to different scales. We had much more to search down here.
Returning to the next door I paused to listen; nothing. I tried the handle and it opened with a creaking noise. I shined the lantern inside and saw racks built for weapons with a few remaining. I thought “Now we’ve found something the others will like.” I called down the corridor saying, “I found an abandoned armory. There are a few weapons still here. I’ll bring them down to you.” And I stepped just inside the room and had a better look around. The room appeared to be about the size of the previous room with racks made for various weapon types. The rack on the wall at my left appeared to be made for long pole arms. The next one appeared to be made for hammers and battle axes. The next one appeared to be made for maces. The next for swords. The one on the right-hand wall was made for tabards, flags, streamers, guidons and banners. The was a cabinet on the wall immediately to my right and another on the wall opposite on the right. The shelves were covered in doors with the lower being solid wood doors and the upper being glass doors. The shelving on the upper portions were only half as deep.
Not being a pole arm wielder or interested in maces, axes and hammers, I started on the right side of the room. Among the swords I noticed only three short swords and one long sword. There was also a pair of rapiers that I wanted to check out. There was also a sword in a scabbard that was made like a long curved tube. The handle was also quite unusual being large enough for two hands but the sword itself didn’t appear like a two-handed great sword or claymore. The craftsmanship was exquisite so that I had to investigate further.
I raised the sword by lifting the scabbard and noticed it was fairly light. I grasped the handle and began to lift it free and again noticed how smooth it felt to remove it; the curve of the scabbard and blade helping the sword to release from the scabbard. The hand guard was small compared to the swords I was familiar with. Free of the scabbard I noticed how well balanced the weapon was and how easily it moved with my arm. The light shined in the blade so that it appeared the whole thing was polished to the edge not just the edge itself like the blades I knew. It made my rapier, the special one I received when I was commissioned into the service, seem a mundane weapon. I replaced the blade into the scabbard and set it back in the rack.
The rapiers were both fine blades as well. They were showing some sign of neglect being down here for a hundred years I suspected. They were made with jewels, gold and platinum in the handles for they were not showing signs of corrosion there. I lifted the nearest one and it was well balanced, obviously made by a swordsmith that understood the need for the balance in a weapon that relied on the finesse in the wrist. It had a jewel at the pommel and one on each end of the quillions. The sweepings were fashioned like two metal ropes or chords. The handle was likewise fashioned with a texture that improved the grip in the hand and was properly tapered to fit in the hand comfortably.
The other blade was well made and included a cup engraved in an elaborate scroll. The weight was comfortable and well balanced with the handle being made with the texture and taper to make it comfortable to grip. This handle contained only a gem in the pommel of deep blue. The gem was cut and faceted in the shape of a rectangle and obviously a piece of great value in itself.
I turned to look at the cabinet at the rear of the room. I set one lantern on the shelf there. Inside the upper portion I found two companion blades for the unusual sword in the rack. The sword in the rack was about five feet long, with a blade of about four feet. Inside the case there was another blade about four feet overall and another about two feet. They appeared to be a set made by the same smith. There were a number of daggers in this case as well, each displayed with a scabbard. I opened the case and lifted the nearest dagger and checked the sharpness of the blade. I replaced it and checked the others feeling each to see how they balanced in my hand. I then set one down on the shelf that I liked best and closed the door.
I stepped back a half step and opened the door on the lower portion. There were five shelves behind the door. I knelt down on one knee and placed the lantern on the floor. I looked in and there were several scabbards for swords resting on the shelves. I believed they were the companions to the blades on display and that each one had a specific sword it was matched to fit. I slid them out to find the two that belonged to the rapiers. I set them in the rack next to the rapiers and then checked out the others. While looking through these I found two more long swords in their scabbards. I lifted these out and set them in the sword rack too. I closed the door and raised the lantern back up onto the shelf. I decided to take a few pieces back to let them be appraised by the experts, Vallen and Jackwon. I knew Vallen would want to see the swords and Jackwon would like to see the axes and longswords. I decided to take two of each back to them in each trip. I selected the first two in each rack and carried them back down the corridor telling Dust Man I would be back in a moment each time.
Walking down the corridor they noticed I was carrying extra weapons and began to ask about them. “How many? What kind? What else?” I just responded, “Wait a moment and I’ll have it all back here for you to look over. I would recommend that you choose two knowing that the one you choose first may be claimed by either Alnifolia or the Governor’s men.” This remark was met with some grumbling about us coming down here facing all the risk. I just responded, “You will each be well rewarded when this trip is over, so just remember that and be thankful.” I returned and made the several trips to bring the axes, maces, swords, hammers, pole arms and daggers back. When I brought the curved sword and the companion pieces they drew much interest from both warriors.
Next, I took a lantern back and set it on the other shelf and had a good look at the banners. They were mostly blue with either bold numbers or some sort of animal spirit represented on the cloth. Some had gold designs and some had silvery, white or yellow designs; but the gold ones appeared to be more significant. Some had elaborate borders and fringe, but none of the heraldry was anything I recognized.
I decided to look into the last cabinet. This cabinet had two crossbows on display in the upper section. They were also well made with a beautiful finish on the smooth woodwork. Below on the shelves were a number of crude or more mundane crossbows, eight in total. There were several crossbow bolts on the shelves as well. I grabbed one crossbow from below and a fistful of bolts and hauled it up to the front. The room with the tables was getting quite full of loot. I set the first one down and returned for the others. I brought the better two up on the last trip.
“Bene”, Vallen began, “This is an amazing collection of weapons. Their value is beyond my imagination.” Jackwon added, “I’m not a collector or appraiser of weapons, but Vallen says many of these weapons will be taken back to the capitol. If we are allowed to keep one for each of us, we will be very lucky indeed.” I responded, “Well if you can keep that idea in mind, you’ll be better off. I don’t think we will receive more than one-fifth of the value of these weapons for the trip. But, and remember this well, it may not matter so much to you that the governor will always remember us favorably for recovering these treasures for the Empire. You will be rewarded more than you realize over the course of your life if you remain in the Empire.” Vallen thought on this and an expression of calm happiness came over him. Jackwon just kept looking at everything and making an assessment what he should choose.
I waited a moment and said, “Look, we can’t take all this back in our cart. Choose the best and move the rest into the desk room. Remember to pick out something for Dravist and Gillfort or I’ll just take one of you back up and bring each of them down in turn.” Jackwon answered saying, “That’s a good idea. I could work with them in getting these things out of here while they inspect them for their choice.” I replied, “No, to do that I’d have to give you the pendent and I’m not ready to do that.” Jackwoon got a belligerent look on his face and Vallen held up his mailed hand and said, “And I think that is a good idea. He got us this far, let’s just stick with the plan.” Turning to me he said, “How about getting Gillfort? Jackwon can take an armload up when you go get him.” I had a better thought.
I said, “Let’s take the two weapons you would each like for yourselves. We will be allowing Alnifolia to inspect them before we have his approval to take them away from here, but I think I will be able to secure his permission if you will let me handle it. We will also take this chest up as well. I will leave you two to guard it while I bring Dravist and Gillfort down here to look around.” Jackwon said, “If you can make sure I get this axe then I’m willing to give it a try.” I replied, “Good. Now select a couple weapons each. I’m taking these two rapiers and these two daggers.” Vallen and Jackkwon selected two weapons each. I said to them, “Go ahead and select a dagger each, too.” I said to Vallen, “Carry these weapons to the top of the stairs. Jackwon and I will bring the chest.”
At the top of the stairs Vallen waited while I carried the chest with Jackwon to the other side. I told Jackwon to wait there with Dravist and I asked Gillfort to come back with me. On the other side, I picked up my rapiers and daggers and Vallen carried the other weapons across the pool room with me. We set these down and I asked Vallen and Jackwon to guard and wait for us to return. I then asked Dravist to come back across with me. On the other side of the pool room, we descended the stairs again to the third basement level. We rounded the corner and I told them to wait at the table room. I described what had happened with Dust Man and finding the different rooms. I pulled out my crude map and showed them each of the rooms. Then I told them Dust Man was afraid of us so he only wanted to join me in the exploration of the basement.
I showed them the collection of weapons we had found. I explained that most of these would be given to the Governor after Alnifolia took what he wanted from the bunch. I allowed them to go through the weapons while I caught up with Dust Man and then I turned and headed down the corridor again.
“Dust Man?” I called. I found him standing near the door to the armory. He asked, “Where did you go?” I replied, I took the other two men up and brought the other two from my group down. I wanted them to see what was going on so they didn’t think we were forgetting them on the other side of the pool room.” He asked, “Pool room?” I replied, “Yes, that is what I call the room above us with the two large pools.” I didn’t want to mention the water elementals. He asked, “You can walk through the room?” I replied, “Yes. But it is because I have a special magic token. I don’t know if it would protect you. I want to see if we can find another way out before we consider the risk of bringing you into the pool room with me.” Dust Man replied, “I understand.”
I walked past the door to the armory with a lantern and noticed there was a branch in the corridor off to my right. There was also a door straight ahead and another door before that on the right hand side of the corridor. I set one lantern down at the intersection and asked Dust Man if I could ask my friends to come guard the side passage. Dust Man replied, “No, no. Only you good.” I replied, “Would you come and see them? They are not like the first two men that came down.” He hesitated and said, “I will see. Not close like before. Not close.” I said, “That is OK. We will not get close unless you say OK.” He replied, “No. Not OK.” I replied, “Yes, I understand. We will go see.”
I walked to the armory and picked up a lantern. Dust Man was walking with me. We walked up the corridor until I could see the door for the table room. I stopped and Dust Man stopped with me. I called out, “Dravist, Gillfort. Please step into the hallway. Dust Man would like to see you.” Dravist and Gillfort came into the hallway. I called out, “Just wait there a moment.” I turned and spoke softly to Dust Man, “See, these are two different men. One man is a cleric and the other man is a druid, which is like a cleric in the outdoors. But I guess you wouldn’t understand that because you don’t know about trees, yet. Just think of them as clerics. They are holy men that worship spirit forces, and the spirits give them power and guidance. Do you understand?” Dust Man replied, “I don’t think I like these men. Spirits are evil. If they worship spirits they are evil.” I replied softly, “There are good spirits too. These men each worship different good spirits. They do not worship bad spirits. They have been helpful to me. Dravist even healed my wounds from the water elemental. Do you understand good spirits and evil spirits?” Dust Man replied, “I understand good is not evil and evil is not good. Spirits I know are bad spirits. They make us hide from them or we get hurt.” I responded saying, “We don’t meet the spirits they worship. They don’t like coming to this plane. It makes them weak. It might be like the way you became weak. We will have to speak with wise clerics to get you back to your place if I understand your situation. You will see we have good clerics, and wise clerics, that want to help you. You should meet these two clerics that are my friends. I won’t let them hurt you.” Dust Man said, “Let me see better?” And he took a step and then another closer to them.
I held up my hand indicating they should stay still. I said softly, “Dust Man, the fellow at the door is Dravist and the fellow at the wall is Gillfort. They are my friends. Folks, this is Dust Man. We don’t know what else to call him. Can you see him?” They stared at me and shook their heads. I called out, “Dust Man, could you step closer to them?” He looked at me over his shoulder and then turned back. He took two more steps forward, crouched down a little, ready to leap. I called back, “Can you see him now? He is about half way between us.” Gillfort said, “Yes, yes, I can see him.” Dravist said, “I don’t think I can see him.” Gillfort held his hand on Dravist’s shoulder and pointed with his other hand. Then Dravist said, “Oh, now I see him. He’s a small fellow, isn’t he?” I called out, “Dust Man, what do you think?” He stepped back to me. He said to me, “I don’t like them. But they are OK?” I replied, “I’ll ask them to keep some distance. Just walk near to guard the other passage. OK?” He turned and looked again at them and then turned back to me and nodded his head a little and then looked down.
I said, “Follow along guys but don’t come closer unless something happens. Bring an extra lantern.” And I turned and started walking back down the corridor. They followed us and picked up a lantern at the door of the desk room. I was walking ahead of them and said, “Keep an eye on this corridor”, and I indicated the corridor that branched to the right. “We’ll check out what is behind this door ahead.” And Dust Man and I walked forward to the door on the right hand side of the corridor. I stopped and listened at the door and heard nothing. I tried the handle and the door opened. I shone the lantern inside and it was another office room.
I stepped inside and looked around. This room was a bit better furnished than the desk room. The chairs were better made; there were book cases on two walls, extra tables and chairs and tapestries on the walls and a rug on the floor. I set a lantern on a desk and had a look around. I brushed off the dust and found a few candles on candle holders. I lit these and set them about the room. I went to the doorway and asked Dust Man to come inside. I indicated I had cleaned off a chair for him and he took a seat. I asked, “Have you been in this room before?” He nodded his head. “Do you know what is in here? In these desks?” He replied, “Books, paper, letters, words, paper. Like other room.” I nodded my head. “Are there any hidden doors in this room?” He replied, “No. No find.” I went to sit behind the first desk and Dust Man sat quietly staring at the candle nearest him. I said, “Does the candle bother you?” He replied, “Little fire. No fire. May become big fire. No fire.” I replied, “Those candles will be OK for the light. I bet a few could warm up this room. That is why they used a rug and tapestries in here. It makes the room warmer. Do you enjoy a warm room or a cold room?” He asked, “Warm?” I wanted to show him warm but that would not do because of his feelings about fire. I said, “The fire makes light and warm too. Do you know heat?” He said, “Heat?” I asked “Do you know cold?” He said, “Cold?” This wasn’t getting me anywhere. I decided to cut that off. “I will tell you about heat and cold some other time. Let me look at the desks and the books.” I opened the first drawer of this desk and found writing implements. There was also a seal and sealing wax. This was the desk of an official. I grabbed the candle and held it so I might see better.
I opened the next drawer and looked inside and found blank paper. I opened the bottom drawer and found stacks of letters divided into groups with layers of cloth between them. I reached in and lifted up a handful of the letters. I looked through them and noted the handwriting was very good but I couldn’t read the language of the letters. Judging from the script and the lettering they appeared to be all written in the same language. I decided these were worth preserving so I lifted all of them from the drawer taking care to keep them in order. I found there was nothing further in the drawer so I put them back in the drawer.
I went to my own supplies and pulled out my make-shift map. I stood and paced off the room and then sat down to note the size. I made some notes about the room in particular including a note to return and investigate these letters. I then checked out the drawers on the left hand side of the desk. In the top drawer there was a map and a few letters written in a much poorer hurried script. I laid the map on the desk and looked it over carefully. It appeared to be a map of this site. The well and amphitheater were all clearly shown, along with the outline of the temple, this warehouse and the barracks. There were also notations showing other buildings. Since I had not seen these buildings I thought I should go pace these off and see if the foundations were still present. I folded this map and put it with my things. I replaced the other letters in the top drawer.
I opened the next drawer and found several pouches made of cloth with draw strings. The first pouch had a very satisfying heft to it indicating it held a number of coins. I poured out the contents on the desk and investigated the coinage. These coins were not made of gold or silver or platinum, but may have been made of a mixture or alloy of metals. A trained smith should be able to guess at the alloy by taking measurements of weight and volume. The color was not a shiny gold but dingy. There was some surface corrosion but only a little. Compared to the silver coins I found earlier that needed much polish, these were in much better shape, but I should expect these coins were just as neglected.
The image and script on the coins was more refined as well. These coins were not minted by the same smith that produced the other coins. I began to wonder if these were coins or some other manner of medallion, medal or talisman of this clerical order. I removed two and placed them in my pouch and returned the rest to the pouch.
I retrieved another pouch. If contained some dirty substance that had little weight to it. I believed it was something organic that had decayed away. An alchemist or mage might know how to determine what it was. I put that pouch away. I took out the next pouch. This pouch contained something that felt like sand. I was very unsure of touching this substance for it may be deadly or harmful, or it could be something as harmless as flash powder. I slowly opened the pouch and set it carefully on the desk top with the mouth opened. I moved the candle closer and could only see it had an orange color to it. I closed the pouch and returned it to the drawer.
I lifted the next pouch from the drawer and felt it had a box inside. I opened the pouch and looked in and could see nothing else, so I slipped the box from the pouch and set it on the desk. I examined the box. It was fashioned by someone familiar with making intricate things for the wooden joints were tight with a fine dovetail join. The pieces of wood were selected to provide contrasting colors of light and dark to enhance the aesthetic appeal of the box. I lifted the box and it seemed light for its size so I believed it was mostly hollow. There was no hinge, hasp or lock. The cover appeared to just lift off. So carefully, slowly, I lifted the top from the box. Inside was a single silver globe. It was still shiny so that I knew it was either not pure silver or it was magically enhanced. Not wishing to invoke magical forces that I may not be prepared to deal with, I placed the cover back on the box; the box back into the bag, and the bag back into the drawer. I noted on my crude map that the box was an important discovery to investigate. The bag was a beautiful green color.
Finishing the drawers of the first desk I turned my attention to the bookcase behind this desk. These were unlike the books in the library room. They were bound books in the traditional manner with heavy leather cover, fine close stitches and the pages evenly trimmed. There were no titles on the covers but the bindings were colored. I lifted a volume from the shelf and turned it over to se the pages. I could immediately tell this was an oft used book for there was an area over the middle of the pages where the dirt from a thumb had stained the edges of the pages as it was thumbed through to find the right page. Inside the printing was very good as if copied by a practiced scribe such as those found in a monastery.
It appeared to be a book of verses for the first word of the chapters were written in a special handwriting that emphasized the first character. The letter was written into an artistic box, extra large, with tiny artwork woven into the box around the letter. The remainder of the writing on the page was divided into one, two or three sentence verses. I flipped through to verify the whole book was written or copied in this fashion. I placed it back on the shelf and withdrew the volume next to it. This volume was the same style, and so were the other volumes on that shelf so that it appeared they might be a set.
I checked the shelf above and these volumes were made in the same manner with some seeing more or less use than the first book I examined. I was intrigued and confirmed the whole bookcase was filled with volumes of this sort. I stood up and took a step back from the book case. The books were arranged with several side by side all with the same color binding. After seven, eight, even ten volumes, the binding color would change and there would be another several volumes of the same color. I sat down and noted the bookcase as something that would need to be studied. I stood and stepped over to the other desk and Dust Man just sat and watched me.
I brushed off the dust on the desk and chair and sat down and resumed my search. The contents of the right-hand drawers were much the same as the other desk; writing supplies, blank paper, and correspondence carefully stacked with cloth dividers. The left-hand side drawers were also different from the right. In the top drawer I found another copy of the site map and several letters bearing seals. There was also a special knife, not a dagger with a cross piece, but an ornate knife with a blade as large as a dagger. The whole of the blade was polished and still bore a fine edge. The handle was made with gold and silver and set with gems. There was no scabbard for the knife but it was wrapped in a grey soft cloth tied with a silver braided chord.
In the other drawer there were more pouches. These pouches contained bowls and cups, one in each. There was one large bowl, enough to hold a gallon, made of silver. There was one large cup, enough to hold a pint, maybe more and it was made of both silver and gold. There were four other bowls all the same size that might hold a half pint each and there were four small cups that might also hold half as much. These cups, unlike the large cup, had no stems. None of them had handles. There was one final bowl that also had a lid that fit tight to the bowl, not water tight, but very tight. This bowl bore a crest on the side and the lid had a small handle.
I put these things away and made the proper notations on my map for a later investigation. I turned to look at the bookcase and again several shelves were filled with books from the set, or so it appeared. I removed one and checked inside. The writing and style of the chapter pages appeared the same. But about half of the bookcase contained other volumes. I took one from the other shelves and inspected it. It also showed the signs of heavy use but was as well made as the books from the set. I opened it and saw it was also copied by an experienced scribe. Inside the book was not written in verse and the chapter pages didn’t contain the beginning style of the others. There was a single number boldly made and then writing below in the script of the scribes. I set that book back on the shelf and made notations on my map. I stood and stepped over to one of the tables in a corner of the room taking the candle with me.
I set the candle down and brushed off the dust before sitting down. There were a few sheets laying on the table and I reached for the top page and looked it over. This appeared to be a page from a letter or report that contained more pages because the writing went to the end of the page and did not end with a punctuation mark. There was no writing on the other side indicating the writer had an abundance of paper or they desired this page to be preserved for future historical significance, as in the manner of a diploma, commission or other significant charter. I set this away and rose to investigate the writings on the other table.
I looked at Dust Man and asked, “Would you like to move to this seat over here?” I indicated the desk without a candle. “I would like to take a look at those pages and I will need to bring a candle with me. I realize you don’t like fire so I want to let you stay away.” He said after standing, “I will move. Good. Fire bad. What are you looking for?” I responded, “I’m looking for clues about who built this place, and why. After looking at that desk and these books in this room, I believe the wise men that will help get you home will find their answers in this room. I believe this room holds the secrets about their rituals and the information here will help us understand how you came to be here and what we can do to return you to your home.” With this, Dust Man smiled and nodded his head. He stepped away from the table in the other corner and I picked up the candle and stepped over there. Again, I wiped the dust away and sat down.
The first letter among these appeared as a standard letter signed at the bottom. I glanced at a few more and saw other similar letters. There were several letters there arranged in neat piles. I wished I could read their language. I was sure Thomas Quintus could, or at least make arrangements for someone who could, read these documents for us with the assistance of magic, but I feared with the number of documents here it would take a long time to sort it out. The last things I did were to pace off the room and record it on my drawing and then I took the seal from each desk and made a seal on the back of my map to show to Thomas Quintus when I returned to Stonebridge. I thought he might recognize the seals from some of his studies. I replaced the seals at the proper desks and then blew out the two candles. I took the first lantern to the corridor and went back and grabbed the second.
Out in the corridor I told Dravist I thought this office was the key to learning about this place. He asked what was in there and I said lots of important correspondence, several books that I believed would explain their rituals and even some ritual hardware like the knife I found. I believed the head cleric and his right hand man used that office for their administration duties. I then told them I was going to check out the other door at the end of the corridor next. As before, I knelt down and listened and then tried the handle. This door was open and it swung freely. I raised my lantern to have a look inside. This appeared to be living quarters. I stepped inside.
I found a table near the door and set a lantern on the table and retrieved the other lantern from the corridor. I stepped further into the room and looked for another table. There was a table with chairs on the other side so I stepped over there and set the lantern down. I looked about the room and saw a bed, a bedside table, a dresser, chest of drawers, mirror with a table, a bowl and pitcher, a wardrobe, another bookcase, a small desk, a cabinet and various shelves. At the other side of the room from the door there was a fireplace that hadn’t seen a fire in some time. I didn’t dare light a fire for Dust Man might go into a panic. I did locate a few more candles and lit them to provide better light.
I noticed on one of the shelves a smaller version of the knife I found in the desk of the previous room. There were also bowls and cups arranged neatly on these shelves. Under these shelves there was a large thick book set on a reading stand. The book was closed and an examination showed the binding was exquisitely prepared. The cover was a deep blue and it had designs on the cover in silver somehow pressed into the leather. The design suggested water so I believed it was a book of their most sacred water rituals. Next to the reading stand was a font carved from a single piece of green stone. It was an octagonal pillar about three feet tall and an almost hemispherical depression was carved into the top. It was polished smooth and the only inscription was a glyph know to alchemists for water on one of the faces.
I looked to the book shelves. These books did not appear to be official books but they were well made. It appeared this might be something the owner might read for recreation such as histories of their favorite places or other works of literary art from wherever they were from. I moved on to the wardrobe. The wardrobe contained one set of traveling clothes, three sets of robes all in a dark blue with silver accents and three more sets of elaborate robes also in dark blue with silver. There was also a pair of shoes, a pair of boots and four pair of sandals. I went to check the other personal things and found only more of the same; things you would find in any affluent man’s room for relaxation and comfort.
I turned to Dust Man and asked him, “Have you been in this room before?” He nodded his head. I asked, “Are there any other hidden doors in here?” He replied, “No. No find.” I stepped off the room and marked it on my crude map. With that done, I blew out the candles and took the first lantern out into the corridor and came back for the second. I met with Dravist and Gillfort. I asked, “Have you heard or seen anything since being over here?” They replied, except for the noise coming from the room where I was searching, they had not heard a thing. I asked if they would take a lantern ahead down the branching corridor ahead of me. Dravist picked up the second lantern and motioned for Gillfort to follow him.
They didn’t go very far and they could see the corridor came to a wide passage. They walked slowly to the end of the corridor where it joined the passage and called back to me, “There is a wide passage in front of us that goes left to right. It looks like there is a door on the other side of the passage.” I replied, “Is it the same manner of construction as the corridor and rooms? Is the door about the same?” They called back, “Yes, and yes.” I called forward, “Go ahead and have a quick look.” At this, Dravist said, “Us?” And Gillfort replied (in a voice that expressed disappointment in Dravist), “C’mon, let’s have a look.” They stepped forward with Gillfort now in the lead. They looked around and didn’t see anything threatening. Gillfort called back, “We’re in the passage and there are more doors. They’re on either side of the passage.” I replied, “OK, I’ll be right up.” And I stepped forward to have a look with them.
I could see the passage was about thirty feet wide and there were doors on either side as they said. There were also statues through the middle of the passage; statues of men, four of them. They all had the look of clerics. I joked with Dravist indicating the statues with my arm, “Friends of yours?” Dravist was not in a humorous mood and replied, “Not funny.” I asked, “They look like clerics to me. How about you?” Dravist took a lantern and gave the nearest one a good look and said, “Yes, I think they probably are, or were.”
I asked, “Do either of you have some kind of light spell?” They answered that they did not. I asked, “Could one of you go back for another lantern? You could use a torch to walk back and then extinguish it and come back with a lantern.” Dravist didn’t say a thing so Gillfort again had to jump in, “I’ll got fetch another lantern.” I said, “Thanks. Dravist, keep an eye on things out here, while I’ll have a look in this room.” Dravist replied, “Sure.”
I went to the first door on my left and knelt down to listen. Again there was nothing. I was preparing to open the door when I caught a glimpse of Dust Man that gave me a start. Regaining my composure, I tried the handle and the door was not locked. I pushed it open and it scratched a little as it gave way. I shone my lantern inside and this appeared to be a smaller version of the same thing I had just seen. There was a bed, night stand, wardrobe, table, books, even a polished font although not so well made or quite as large. I stepped inside to have a better look. It all looked so much the same I left it for Dravist and Gillfort. My anxiety was becoming more noticeable and I decided to let them have some of the ‘fun.’
I stepped out into the passage and said to Dravist, “You check this room out. Don’t move anything after you look at it. Put it back where you found it. Let me know if you find anything out of the ordinary.” Just then Gillfort came back. I called to him, keep an eye out while Dravist checks out that room. I’m going to check out this next one. I stepped down the way to the next door and listened. Hearing nothing, I tried the handle and found this was either stuck or locked. I decided I wasn’t going to force the door right now and would check the other first.
I stepped over to the next door and listened. Hearing nothing, I tried the handle and this one was open. I pushed it open and shone my lantern inside. Again, it looked the same as the last two. I called to Gillfort, “You check this room out when Dravist is done with his. Don’t move anything. After you check something out, put it back like you found it.” I stepped to the next room and listened and heard nothing. I tried the handle and it was stuck or locked. Now I had two rooms to think about.
I stepped to the next one, now on the other side of the passage. I listened and heard nothing. I tried the handle and it was open so I pushed the door and looked inside. Another room like the others. I called to Gillfort, “Do you want this one or shall I give it to Dravist?” He replied, “I’ll take it. More of the same, then?” I answered, “Looks so.” I stepped toward the next door on my right. I listened and heard nothing. I heard Dravist finishing in his room so I asked, “Dravist, anything of note?” He replied, “This fellow had some expensive clericals. I couldn’t read his books. It looks like he smoked tocco like you.” And Dravist held up a pipe and smiled at me. I said, “Please put that back unless you think we need to show it to Alnifolia.” Dravist just lowered his arm and ducked back into the room.
I called over to Gillfort, “Go ahead and check out that next room.” He nodded his head and walked over to see the room. Dravist came out and I asked him, “You ready to check out this room?” He said, “Uh, yea, sure.” So he stepped across the passage and tried the handle and the door opened. He looked inside and stepped in. I stepped over to the nearest statue and had a close look. The sculptor was very good so that I had an uneasy feeling it wasn’t a sculpture at all. I could see the undulations in his hand and arm where the tendons and veins came close to the surface. Not only was the work prepared with such detail but it was also polished to a fine smooth finish none the worse for wear down here these many years.
Dust Man made a comment that gave me a start. “These like the men before.” He said. I caught my breath and asked, “Were all these here when you got here?” He replied, “No, not that one. This one yes. That one yes. That one yes.” So of the four he indicated one was new compared to the others. I asked, “Did you see them bring it in or were you hiding from them?” He answered, “I hid from them. Remember when it came. Long time ago.” I then asked the question I wanted to know, “So they really are statues?” He didn’t understand and said, “Statues?” I said, “Are these stone or were these men turned into stone?” Dust Man replied, “These stone, can’t you see?” I realized he didn’t understand the point of my question and I was probably making something out of nothing in my imagination.
Dravist and Gillfort came from their respective inspections. I asked, “Dravist, anything unusual?” He said, “Nope. More of the same. Good robes and some books.” I asked Gillfort, “Gillfort, did you find anything except normal personal effects?” He replied, “No. Just regular stuff.” I asked him, “Would you go ahead and check that room. I’m going to measure off these spaces and add them to my map.” He replied, “Sure.” He ducked into the next open door I left for him. Meanwhile I told Dravist to watch out while I measured things and added to my map.
First, I paced off the corridor and the location of each door and statue. I used another piece of paper to make a rubbing of each statue’s inscription. I marked which rubbing came from each statue. Next, I went into each room myself just to measure the interior and mark my map. When I was finished, Gillfort had finished his room and I went in to complete the survey of that room. Out in the passage again I pulled out the map and showed it to them. “This is were we came down the stairs and the corridor came this way. There were four rooms before the branch in the corridor and then two more rooms. So far, in this area we have checked these rooms and it looks like there are three more rooms to see. If you step down there you’ll see the passage becomes a great open gathering space.
I indicated we should move on checking the rooms. We walked in the direction where we had not yet inspected and using the lanterns they could now see what I noticed with my dark vision earlier. There was an enormous room at the end of this passage. Judging by the spacing of the columns that had been placed very regularly throughout the building, I estimated the corridor to be thirty feet wide. The next space might be three times as wide judging by the columns. I listened at the first door and tried the handle. It was open so I pushed the door open and looked inside. I said, “Dravist, this one is yours.” I stepped forward and repeated the process. Finding the door open I said, “Gillfort, this one’s for you.” I stepped across the passage to the last door and listened, tried the handle and pushed it open. I looked inside with my lantern and Called out, “I’ll take this one.” I stepped inside.
This room was a smaller version of the last room I inspected. It had one different look to it; it didn’t appear to be lived in. It had all the furniture including a bookcase and wardrobe, but there were no books or clothes. There were writing supplies but no letters about. I paced off the room and marked my map. Then I stepped back into the passage, which had decided to refer to as the “gallery.” The other had stepped from their rooms too. I asked, “Anything?” They replied they hadn’t found anything to report. I walked over to pace of their rooms. After doing that we turned our attention to the big room.
We stepped closer and stood at the edge. The lantern light could not be seen on the opposite wall but it did appear that I was right about the size of this space, ninety feet wide as measured by the columns. I asked them, “Any reason we shouldn’t step in there? Any feeling of traps or curses?” They just looked back at me and shook their heads, but they were in no hurry to take the first step. There were markings on the floor that suggested this was used for something special.
I turned and looked about for Dust Man. I called out, “Dust Man, where are you?” He was only a few steps away and answered giving us all a start. It was very unsettling that he could be so near and we wouldn’t know it. He said, “Yes. Yes. Here I am.” I asked him, “Have you been in that room too?” He replied, “Yes. Yes.” I asked, “Is it safe in there?” He replied, “No men. It is safe. No men. No fire. No water.” I asked, “Did the men use this room with fire and water?” He answered, “Yes. Fire and water. They brought some and the room made more.” I looked at Dravist, “Do you know what he means?” Dravist answered, “Well, we have figured this is a water elemental cult. We are using fire to see down here. Maybe they lit many torches to provide light for their ceremonies. Other than that guess, I don’t know.” I turned to Gillfort, and he just shrugged his shoulders.
I asked about the markings. “Do you fellows have any idea what these are about?” Gillfort said, “Maybe after we see the whole floor.” I answered, “Yea, I thought so. Well here goes.” And I stepped inside the room and thankfully nothing happened. I thought I would go around the side instead of straight out into the middle. I turned to my left and stepped over that way.
As I stepped in there was a large triangle of deep blue on the floor, which was otherwise grey-ish stone. In the corner in front of me there was another triangle of finished stone that was a pale yellow. The wall had more low relief carvings that reminded me of the carvings in the temple we inspected the day before. I turned to my right to follow the wall and came to a pale white triangle on the floor and more relief carvings on the wall. I was getting a little far away from Dravist and Gillfort so I asked them to step into the room. They slowly came in with me but stayed together and near the middle. I said, “The walls have the same type of low relief carvings we saw in the temple yesterday. There is a white triangle at my feet and I can now see the far wall with more carvings. What is over there?” Gillfort said, “There is a large yellow circle in the middle of the room. I think it is yellow. It is hard to tell in the torch light. But it has triangles around it so I think it is a symbol for the sun. It reminds me of the alchemists that believe the sun and the four elements are related.”
I stepped forward, and in the corner ahead of me was another triangle. This triangle was a darker color contrasting with the pale yellow of the rest of the stonework. I turned again to my right. As I stepped forward I saw the next triangle was a darker color that I believed was a bright red, but as Gillfort said, it was not so easy to be sure of the colors in the light of these lanterns. Ahead of me was another triangle in the corner. This triangle was finished in two colors alternating thin strips of purple and turquois. I turned again to my right and saw a triangle of dark brown. I stepped forward coming to the last corner and the corner appeared to be a triangle of white again. I walked into the middle of the room to see the sun symbol better.
I looked around from this vantage point and I realized this room was made for some sort of secret ritual, and I feared this is where they summoned their water elemental minions; or were they their masters? On several columns and around the sides of the room there were chandeliers that held a number of candles for light. There were also a number of bowls fixed to columns about elbow high that would be filled with water. The triangles around the room were colored for the four elements. I couldn’t figure out what the triangles in the corners were in this arrangement, but they had some significance, I was sure of that. I paced off the size of the room and then said we should step away into the gallery. Once we were out of there I marked my map and said we should go back to the table room where the weapons were placed. I could give my map a good look and then we could return to the surface.
We started into the corridor and when we reached the branch I told them to go ahead while I spoke with Dust Man. I said, “Dust Man, it appears you were right and there are no other doors out of here except through the pool room. I think the last room we visited, the ritual room, is important to getting you out of here, and I also believe the answers our wise men need to help you are in that office room with the two desks.” I held out my hand to touch him on the shoulder gently. “I’m sorry that you have been trapped down here for a long time but I don’t have the answers to get you out of here and back to your home. I don’t think your home is outside. I think it is in another plane. I don’t much knowledge of such things, but I am going to speak with wise men that can figure this out and help you. It may take them some time to sort out the details but I believe they can do it. I hope to be back here soon. When the men come back you may want to stay in one of the small rooms back there”, and I indicated the rooms around the gallery.
I looked into his face and paused. He just blinked at me. I said, “Good luck.” I turned and went to join the other fellows in the table room.
In the table room I asked them to also pick two weapons and a dagger each. I explained to them the same as with the others, Vallen and Jackwon, that they may not be able to keep either weapon because Alnifolia and the Magistrate may think they should have them for one reason or another, but they would be well rewarded when this was all over. Dravist was annoyed thinking we should be able to keep anything we want but surprisingly Gillfort was not bothered by this; he seemed pleased. Unfortunately Gillfort didn’t find anything among the weapons he much valued except the apparent worth of the weapons as sale pieces. The weapons themselves didn’t appeal to him. He took some interest in the pole arms and I asked why. He said he was going to remove the head and use one as a quarter staff if he could find one of the druids up top to train him.
I picked up one of the crossbows, not one of the show pieces, but one of the utilitarian ones, and a number of bolts. I thought I could learn to use it too. With our weapons picked out we went to the stairs. We crossed the pool room in pairs as before and joined up with Vallen and Jackwon. One the way up I had the lantern extinguished so they would be of use to the next party we sent back. Up top I secured the great wood door that allowed entry and we took our bounty to the barracks and out camp site. I said, “Leave everything here and I will need to speak to Alnifolia first.” It was late in the afternoon so I wasn’t sure if he would be inside or working around the edge of this compound. I decided to head inside and ask whoever was on guard.
Down in the basement, I found Laevis passing time while it was his watch. I asked him where I may find Alnifolia and he replied that he and Palustris would be back shortly for it was getting near dinner time. He asked, “So, any luck down there?” I replied with a grin, “Oh yea. More than we were expecting. This may be the biggest find in the Empire this year; not for the value in money but information. That is why I am so anxious to see Alnifolia.” He asked, “What did you find then?” I replied, “Well there was a chest with jewels and coins. But the biggest find was the books down there. We think we stumbled into a major cult stronghold that was prepared to summon beings from the elemental planes. And we think the means to do it again are in the books. Unfortunately I couldn’t read their language, but it appears they had extensive books on elemental rituals. You already know about the two water elementals that are trapped down there. I wonder what would happen if we got a good rain and went inside the temple. There might be another bigger one trapped in there for all I know.” He replied, “Well we’ll have plenty to discuss at dinner tonight I guess.” I said, “Yes, we will. Now if you will please excuse me, I’m headed back upstairs.” And with that I returned to the party.
As I was coming outside I could hear Palustris talking to Vallen and Jackwon. They were excited about the weapons and jewels. As I came outside I looked about and did not see Alnifolia. I asked Palustris, “Where is Alnifolia? I want to talk to him about what we found down there.” Palustris replied, “He should be along shortly.” I asked him, “What do you think?” He replied, “I don’t know. It sounds great. I hope there are as many fine weapons as they say.” At that, Gillfort chimed in, “There were no staves down there, only fighter weapons, although there were a few daggers and crossbows. But what need we of weapons out here?” I responded, “No need for that. Let’s bring everything we brought up into the office so Alnifolia can see it.” Secretly I wanted to make sure we were not accused of holding anything back from Alnifolia. It was imperative we keep him favorably disposed to our cause.
We took the chest into the “office” and set it on the floor and brought the weapons in and set them on the table or leaning against the walls. I counted everything to make sure they were there. I decided to open the chest and count the coins just to pass the time while I waited. I invited Palustris to sit with me and the others hung around outside the door to the office. First I divided the coins into piles depending on the metal. I counted the platinum at seven, the gold at forty-eight and the silvers at one-hundred sixty-two. I put them back in one box leaving the other box empty. I said, “We need to polish these silver pieces right away. If we leave them the rate of corrosion will grow.”
I lifted out one of the boxes of gems and counted them out. First, I sorted them by size. I counted seven large gems, twenty medium gems (the size appropriate for a ring stone), and fifty-five medium-small gems. I replaced them in their box and wrote the number in charcoal on the box. I counted the other gem boxes the same and wrote on the boxes. I lifted the forged arrowheads and spread them out on the table. As I began to sort them according to shape and size Palustris took quite an interest in these. I counted them and was thinking how I would write the number and decided to just write the total on the box. The other box contained the small bottles with the wax seals. On this box I marked a circle with an “X” through the center. I placed the writing kit back and then the tray over it all.
From the tray I lifted up the green stone and studied it. It was a cut stone shaped in a rectangular fashion. I remembered seeing another stone cut this way but I couldn’t recall where it was. Was it in one of the daggers, I wondered. It was clear in the manner that it had few inclusions. I placed it back in the box and then lifted the other blue stone. It was also a cut stone in a rounded diamond type shape, almost like an egg with a point at each end. I held it up to the light and noted it was also very clear of defects. I put it back in the tray. Then I turned my attention to the loose jewelry.
I picked them out of the tray and set them all on the table on a piece of cloth. There were five bracelets, four neclaces, nine rings, three broaches, four pair of earrings and the stick pin. The stick pin was topped with a single large pearl and I took an immediate fancy to it. The earrings included one pair of elaborate dangling earrings with clear stones (I believed they were diamonds) and red stones. The other three pair were single gems each, one pair of pearls, one pair of an opaque pale blue stone and one pair of a bright yellow stone, citrine.
The three broaches were all made in the same style like the fan of a peacock’s tail. They contained a center stone of one color and a row of diamonds straight up from there. Then on either side of the row of diamonds there were red stones, then green stones, then yellow stones and finally blue stones, so that there were nine rows of these stones in a fan. One broach contained a blue center stone, another a green stone and the last one a purple stone.
The bracelets were mostly gold bands with a row of gems along the middle portion. These gems were cut in square shapes and faceted. There were five or seven stones in each one. The four necklaces were all different. One was made of pearls. The next was made of alternating green and blue stones. The next was made of alternating blue and red stones and the last was made of red, yellow, blue and green stones, with a single large diamond at the center.
The nine rings were more mysterious. We had all heard that many rings exist with magical powers but none of us had first hand experience handling something like that. But because of the stories were held great anticipation for what the rings may be. They were all fashioned to be worn by a man. The stones were all faceted except for one smooth deep red ring. They were all single stones set in heavy gold settings. Six were smooth finished gold settings but the other three were made with low relief designs in the metal work.
Of the six smooth rings, two held dark blue faceted stones, one like an oval and one like a rectangle. The next one was the deep yellow stone faceted and shaped like a circle, not as large as the others. The next was an opaque blue stone faceted in the shape of a pointed egg. The next was a deep red faceted stone in the shape of a rectangle and the last of the pain settings was a pale green stone also in the shape of a pointed egg.
The ring that caught my eye the most had a red faceted stone in the shape of a circle. The jeweler’s work on the metal was spectacular. Around the stone was a texture like a piece of rope. Then much of the sides were finished in small flats overlapping to appear as scales. Another of these rings was made with a gem that had brown, white and yellow with a sparkling appearance. It was a faceted stone with few facets as if the onlooker were supposed to be tempted to look at the ring and count the facets. I couldn’t help it and held the ring up in the light and counted them twice to make sure I had the count right; twelve. The center four facets formed a four-pointed star. The metalwork began around the edge of the stone with points reaching in to hold the stone in place like teeth, no fangs or tusks, biting the stone to hold onto it. The rest of the sides were fashioned in swirls like the waves of the ocean crashing on rocks. The final ring contained a single large diamond, faceted by an expert, in the shape of a circle. The metalwork was like the waves on the ocean slowly undulating up and down. It had a mesmerizing effect that made one think of running water. The large round diamond sparkled and called to my mind the pale white light from the moon.
Alnifolia appeared in the door to the study. I set the last ring down on the table and looked at him. I smiled and said, “You wouldn’t believe what we found down there.” And he smiled at me and said in response, “Try me.” All at once I remembered my manners and stood up. I asked where he had been and he replied, “I’ve been about my work.” He looked at the table of weapons and rings for just a moment and then said, “Well, we need to get ready for dinner. Laevis, Gillfort, would you mind managing the cooking tonight? Let’s have a hearty meal again tonight. I’m sure we’re in for a tale.” And with that, Palustris stepped out of the room and allowed Alnifolia to enter. I asked Jackwon and Dravist to help with firewood or anything else they might need. This left me, Alnifolia, Palustris and Vallen. I asked Alnifolia if Vallen should go downstairs and watch the prisoners. He replied, “Yes, that would be nice.” Vallen immediately stepped down the hallway.
I began by saying this chest is full of valuable things but I believe the real value is still down in the third basement. Would you like to look at these things or have me set out the map and discuss what we found down there? Alnifolia said, “I think I’ll have a look at these things here.” And he surveyed the jewelry and we placed it all back in the tray. I showed him the two large gems and replaced them. I removed the tray and showed him the contents of each box concluding with a note that we needed to attend to polishing the silver to protect it. We replaced the boxes and the tray and closed the lid on the chest.
We turned our attention to the weapons. Several daggers were on the table. I told him about the weapons room and that we each brought up two favorite weapons except for Gillfort who was unimpressed because there were no staves. He did bring a crossbow up and two dozen crossbow bolts. I told him it would do my fellows a great boost if they were allowed to return with the two weapons and dagger they selected, because I told them the magistrate may well elect to keep one or both of them. But since we had an agreement, I wanted to put all these weapons before him and let him decide if we might take them.
He grinned a little and said to me, “And which of these did you pick out for yourself. Wait, let me guess.” And he immediately reached for one of the rapiers and set it on the table and then the other one. He pulled on the first, the one with the cup, to expose the blade several inches and admired the work. He pushed it back and did likewise with the second. He admired the blade and the handiwork of the handle and pushed it back. Then he fingered the daggers and pointed to one saying, “This dagger and these two rapiers, I bet.” I smiled back at him and said, “Yes, and this dagger too. What do you think?” He replied, “I’m sure there are none better down there.” And I replied, “Well, none. There were only the two rapiers down there. And these two daggers are very beautiful. Do you know if we have any magically enchanted blades among these weapons? How would we know?” He just replied, “Sometimes you know right away and sometimes you find out later. The later ones usually have a special foe the blade was made to contest. The ‘right away’ blades either exhibit some elemental magic or have an unusually light feel and are also especially well balanced in spite of their appearance. It would seem you don’t have any ‘right away’ blades here, then.”
He looked at the others. He reached for an axe and admired the work. He set it back and reached for a long sword and its scabbard. He exposed the blade and admired it, then replaced it and admired the handle and even the scabbard. He asked, “How many more of these are down there?” I said, “A handful. I didn’t want to bring any more up here in this trip because I believe they are safer down there. If we brought everything up at once and something awful happened, we could lose everything. I recognize that such possessions tend to draw attention and I don’t want us getting too far out of our league.” Alnifolia replied, “Oh, I’d say you’re out of your league already. Any of these weapons belong in the hands of an official the rate of your Governor, I bet. You may be allowed to keep one of the rapiers and a dagger from this haul only by turning over the rest to your Governor.” I turned my head down and replied, “I see. I feel I owe my companions better.”
Alnifolia paused and said, “I think I should go down and see the rest of the treasure horde before we make any decisions about this. I think you are wise to have only brought up this portion. Do you have anything else to show me?” I thought and remembered I needed to return the key and amulet to him. And because I was digging in my pouch for the key I remembered the medallions. I pulled them out and showed them to Alnifolia. I told him there were many more in the executive study but I wanted to take two back; one for the Magistrate’s people to study and one for Andante to take back to the capitol for them to study. He looked at the medallions and said, “This is a good idea. I don’t want to keep one up here. If we were attacked and someone saw this, and knew what it symbolized, they may well tear this place up looking for the others. I fear these are dangerous to us in this place.” I said, “Let me show you the map I made.” He replied, “No let’s look at that after dinner at the table. Now, I believe you will want to keep this under guard so let’s move these things into the dining room. If you’ll get the chest with Palustris, I’ll bring these weapons. We’ll set them in the corner.” We took everything into the dining room and he asked Palustris to stay there and keep an eye on everything. We returned to his study. As we went, Dravist and Jackwon came in with armloads of wood. We directed them to drop off the wood and join Palustris in the dining room.
Sitting down in the study again we lit two candles for better light. He called out, “How long before dinner is ready, Laevis?” Laevis called back, “A little while yet, master.” He replied, “Thank you.” He closed the door and sat down. He pointed to a shelf and said, “Let’s have a bowl of tocco and discuss things.” I pulled down the pouch and two pipes and we prepared a pipe each. He then said, “Let’s see that map or yours.” And I retrieved my map and the parchment from my case. I flattened them both out with my map on top.
Pointing at the corner of the first layer I said, “We went down these stairs to the locked door. The key worked fine. Inside we found three great rooms; a storage room, an eating room and a kitchen. There were rows of columns with the columns spaced ten feet apart and the rows spaced thirty. With this we could easily compare room sizes as we progressed.” He looked and said, “Then you don’t know what is over here?” And I looked at his finger and replied, “Well, we were in a hurry at that point so I should need to check those dimensions and count the columns again.” He replied, “I see.”
I continued, “We went to the end of this corridor and as the passage turned to the left we went down a set of stairs about the same height as here to the basement. At the bottom we went forward to a great door here. On the other side was the place where we found the two water elementals. I call this the pool room.” And looking at this he asked, “And you’re sure of these distances?” I replied, “No, sorry. I was none too anxious to step into the pool to check those distances, so looking at the construction I estimated the columns would line up from one floor to the next.” He nodded his head, “Yes, I don’t think I am so bold as to step into those pools either. And your instincts are correct. Those columns should line up from one floor to the next.”
“On the other side there is another great door, and beyond is something like the mirror image of this corridor. At the end we descended a stair and turned right this time. Now we were on the third basement. There was a door almost immediately to our left and inside was a room with four well-made tables and several equally well-made chairs. I should like to take a set back with me on another trip. You would be please to have a set, I’m sure. But it is what we found inside that room that was our first amazing discovery.” He asked, “Your first amazing discovery … and you already discovered two water elementals?” I said, “Yes. We found another being, trapped down there, something like a human in form but not human, and I don’t even think he belongs on the material plane. I believe he is a lesser being from the elemental plane of air, and I fear he was tormented by someone with fire at some point earlier. He is trapped down there as best I can tell. I could have tried to bring him up with us, but I feared he might run off and we would never be able to help him return to where he belongs. He had a translucent appearance. Some light was passing right through him so that he cast only a very soft shadow. Other than that, his skin or hide appears to be covered in dust. We could communicate a little in the common tongue and so I called him Dust Man.”
Alnifolia sat back and puffed on his pipe. He said, “I shall need to see this too when we go down there.” He gazed off and puffed on his pipe again. He sat back up and said, “So what did you find next?” I said, “The next room was full of bookshelves like you may find in a library, but the volumes on the shelves were ancient texts. I couldn’t read anything I found down there but I had a sense the volume I inspected down there was a history of this region from long ago. As a matter of fact, I believe there is enough information to sort out all the history of this complex and much of the region commanded by Stonebridge. I believe this will be of great value to you and the Governor and the Emperor.” Alnifolia just nodded his head, which I took to be an indication of both “I understand” and “please go on.”
In the next room there were four desks and several lanterns. I used the lanterns to give me better light since we had used the few I had brought down from above. Inside the desks were old writing supplies and stuff but nothing especially noteworthy. But there was a hidden door at the back of that room here that the Dust Man showed to me. I found how to open it and there were thick cobwebs in a passageway that led off to the left. I followed the passage to find this chest. Jackwon and Vallen hauled the chest out for me.
In the next room I found the armory. There were racks of weapons and two cabinets. The cabinets held a few special weapons on display and some mundane weapons like the crossbows. The racks held valuable weapons but as far as I can tell none magical. We brought up the best pieces and moved most of the rest to the table room. We left all the banners in the armory but I would like to retrieve them too because the heraldry may give us yet more clues. At this point I had Vallen and Jackwon carry some stuff up and I invited Dravist and Gillfort to come down. I wanted all of them to understand what we had found down there otherwise they might think I was concealing something from them. At this point Alnifolia broke in and said, “There will be many times when you will need to keep things from your party because of your honesty and sense of duty. As a matter of fact, I wish to do you a favor. I think I am going to claim the two rapiers as part of my portion. Your partners won’t believe it and they will be much easier on you about the rest of the treasure you transport back to Stonebridge.” At first I’m sure my mouth dropped open but then I understood what he was doing.
I went on describing the basement. “The corridor branched off this way and that but I decided to check out these two rooms before taking the branch. The next room appeared to be the executive study or something like that. There were two desks and two grand bookcases. The bookcases contain a series of volumes that I believe form the core of the knowledge of their beliefs. There are easily 80 volumes or more in this set. In addition there are other books that contain ritual notes because they have figures and diagrams and special arcane glyphs and other material within. I believe the set will provide all the answers to their elemental magic we could learn in a lifetime. They had a set a special hardware including a knife, bowls and cups, that I believe are used for their rituals also.
The next room appeared to be the private quarters of their leader. In the wardrobe there were a number of elegant robes for their ceremonies. He kept only one pair of shoes and one pair of boots but many pair of sandals in his room so that I believe he didn’t travel much. There were smaller replicas of the ceremonial hardware and a special font for water in this room. But it was also furnished with the things one might enjoy when they were just wishing to relax and not work. The furniture, the rugs and tapestries were all very fine and the room was very spacious.
I then took them down the corridor and we visited these rooms which were smaller versions of the large bedroom I had left. This room was double large compared to the others and this one was also. Two of the smaller room were locked or blocked so that I couldn’t go in. It is my hope you might be able to help with that. The area through the middle contains four fine statues; so fine that I worried they were not statues but men turned in to stone. The detail of their hands and arms, their ears and other details were so fine that I had never seen such a sculpture. Beyond the gallery was their ritual room. It was clearly arranged with consideration for all four elements, the sun and the moon, which causes me to wonder if it was strictly an elemental magic cult or if there was a strong influence from alchemists. The four elements with the sun and moon are always found together in alchemical tomes of knowledge.
After measuring off the ritual room and noting the layout of the major features I wanted to leave for it seemed there were magical forces I better not disturb in that basement. But I would be pleased to return with you tomorrow so that you may confirm I have shared everything I know about the place with you. You now have the key and amulet so I have no ability to reenter without your blessing. Alnifolia sat back and considered what I had said. He said, “I think you’re right. Let’s go down for one more look in the morning. Now, let’s see about some dinner.” And with that he stood up and knocked out his pipe. I stood and did the same. We headed for the dining room.
Inside the dining room Alnifolia called out, “Laevis, how’s it coming?” And he called back, “We’ll be bring it in in a moment.” He sat at the head of the table and I sat on his right-hand side again. He said, “Let’s have a better look at those swords.” And Jackwon shot a glance at Vallen who shot a glance back at him. I knew both were thinking, “I sure hope he leaves mine alone.” Vallen passed the first trophy sword down to him. Alnifolia took it in both hands and admired the scabbard and then the handle. He withdrew the blade and tilted it back and forth to catch the light. This allowed him to inspect the finish and straightness of the blade. Still holding the sword out he held it up to look at the ornateness of the handle again saying, “You realize this sword is still only as good in combat as the one you are carrying, right Vallen?” Vallen paused and then replied, “You are probably correct, but it has other value, er, utility to me to show I have been through the trial of acquiring it, my lord. It will convey a message that I am willing to face the danger that is attracted by such craftsmanship.” And Alnifolia replied, “Danger? Oh yes, you waited at the end of the hallway while Bene entered the room and found it for you?” Vallen let out a deep breath and replied, “My lord, I was watching his back as he asked.” And Alnifolia replied, “Yes, I suppose you did. And the other sword?”
Vallen passed the other sword up as Alnifolia slid the first back into its scabbard and leaned it against the wall carefully. He took hold of the second and repeated his inspection. He remarked, “Two fine blades we have here. I believe the second is the better weapon. The balance is just a little better, but I see you don’t want it for fighting. I sense no magic powers in either of them.” And with that he replaced it into the scabbard and set it with the first.
And Laevis came in with Gillfort carrying bowls to serve the dinner. Gillfort returned to the kitchen and brought back plates and flatwear for each of us. Laevis went to get drinking cups. He called down to Dravist that we were going to begin eating. Dravist came slowly up the stairs and Alnifolia indicated he should have a seat. They were not afraid of our prisoners getting out with us dining at the head of the stairs.
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I began speaking to Dravist, “Dravist, could you get the ground meal bag from the cart. Gillfort, could you get the pots and pans? I would like to make biscuits for breakfast.” They stretched and ambled over to the cart. I remembered the agreement from the previous evening and got a jar of honey and my spices together to turn over to Alnifolia. I was going to miss the spices on the two day journey back to Stonebridge, but a deal is a deal. “Thanks fellas. Dravist, could you go draw water for us from the well? Thanks.” Dravist picked up a bucket and headed over to the well. “Gillfort, did you learn anything from the druids yesterday for us?” Gillfort replied, “I learned a lot from them but most of it about being a better druid.” “What about their activity here? How long have they been working together? What have they accomplished?”
Gillfort replied, “You can tell the Magistrate they have been here for a few months. They first found the place according to legends Alnifolia learned about. They cleaned up the barracks office and meeting room to give them a safe space to sleep. They cleaned up this courtyard, which was overgrown with weeds and plants they didn’t need. They made a cursory survey of the temple but wished to avoid it so they wouldn’t risk reigniting the spirit patron of the temple worshipers. They planted the trees at the upper edge of the amphitheater and elsewhere around the clearing. They found and surveyed the trail we came here using and they have cleared it up a little. They have started to see to the needs of the animals in these woods, since they will provide for and benefit from them. They recruited Laevis, since they began with only Alnifolia and Palustris and most recently they have found Marogred and trying to figure out what to do with him.”
I noticed his first remark about the Magistrate and I had a bad feeling he was now driven by the influence of Alnifolia. I decided to stick with the matter of common interest for the time being. Dravist came back with a pail of water. We used some to make the meal into dough. I let them fuss over that while I checked on the coffee only a few feet away. “I was surprised they didn’t put on some kind of ‘house arrest’.” Gillfort replied, “They didn’t have the resources for that. With only three of them, having to use one of them as a guard would have been a big sacrifice. They realized that he wasn’t going anywhere unless he suspected they knew something. So they let him help out a little while they tried to sort it out. If they had just banished him, then he would have returned in some more deceptive form. He would likely have come back with friends, and with only a few friends and the three of them would have been overwhelmed. I admired their methods. Until we came along everything was working for them just fine. Now we’ve gone and messed things up. Mind you, things were going to change, but they were not ready for them to change right away. I figure we owe them a favor to return Marogred to your friends in Stonebridge.”
It seemed Gillfort wanted to settle this matter of where his loyalties belong. “That may be the right thing to do. I’ll ask Alnifolia. You seem begging for an argument. My friends? I can tell The Magistrate? What’s bothering you Gillfort.” He stepped away from the dough and brushed off his hands. I walked over and checked on Dravist to see if he was doing OK with it; and he was. Gillfort said, “I heard you in there last night. You were only interested in solving the mystery of the renegade Marogred. You didn’t care what this meant to the druids here.” I replied, “I don’t understand what you’re implying. Are they not equally interested in the mystery? I’d wager it is more important to them than it is to the Magistrate.” Gillfort responded, “Well then it’s just you who wants to know so you can get more accolades with the Magistrate? Isn’t that why you killed those bandits?” I replied immediately, “Whoa, whoa, whoa. What in the heck are you talking about? I killed those bandits because they wanted to rob Joseph and they would have killed us for showing the least resistance. Any brave man would have wanted to do the same, and between me and Joseph I figured we had the means. Why not kill the bandits? Have you lost your mind? And I didn’t do that to impress the Magistrate. I did it because it was the right thing to do for the people of this Province.” Just then Vallen came from the building. I took a breath and calmed down a little. “Good morning, Vallen. I hoped you passed the night without incident.” Vallen replied, “Yes, they pretty much just slept through the night. They did wake and wanted to relieve themselves and I told them to use the chamber pot.” I chuckled. Prisoners and magistrates, shopkeepers and adventurers all have the same needs.
I said, “Vallen, have some coffee, and if you’d be so kind fill up my mug as well.” “Sure thing”, he said, “I could do with some coffee.” “Coffee Gillfort, Dravist?” “Yes” and “Yes” came from them. I stepped over to wake Jackwon. I believed I wanted him to hear this. “Jackwon, how about getting up. We’ve got coffee ready.” Jackwon rolled over and brushed my hand away from his shoulder. I stepped back and he rolled up onto his knees and stood up. “Sure thing. Where’s the coffee?” I stepped back to talk to Gillfort so everyone would hear the next bit.
“Gillfort, it seems you’re unhappy about something; my leadership in particular. Do you wish to leave our company and join Alnifolia and his crew?” Gillfort responded, “Herd. He considers a group of druids a herd and he is our shepherd, our master.” I replied, “Well I suppose that is my answer, yes?” Gillfort replied, “Yes. That is my answer. I am joining Alnifolia’s herd and their noble task is now my burden as well.” I replied, “And Alnifolia knows this?” Gillfort responded, “I have asked Palustris to make the Master aware of my desire.” I paused and Vallen said, “Gillfort, what are you talking about?” Jackwon added, “Yea, what’s up with you?” Gillfort said, “We’ve been together for about a month, right? In all that time we have killed some kobolds and a bugbear. We’ve traveled across the empire not stopping to do anything for nature. We hung about Stonebridge for two days doing nothing. Now we’re out here arresting criminals and looking for treasure. Can’t you see? None of your interests are my interests. And now I find a great druid doing something that I should have been doing all these past several days. Of course I’m going to join up with him.”
I paused again so that I didn’t interrupt anyone else. Hearing no other comments, I asked, “Well then you consider our agreement broken? You will not return with me to Stonebridge?” This put him on his heels. He had made an agreement with me. He was to travel with us here and back again and fight for the group’s safety if it came to that. Now he was bailing on his companions and going back on his word. He looked down and responded, “I forgot about that. Is it a problem if I just remain here?” I replied, “Well that depends on whether we need your help during the trip back, and we won’t know that until we get to Stonebridge. Although you made an agreement with me, I should like to hear Vallen’s, Jackwon’s and Dravist’s views on the matter before we decide. They are your companions, although I have done nothing to harm you but rather facilitated your easy passage to this place. I rode ahead finding our water and smooth passage. I took the lead in the forest should any danger come. I stood up for the bear at our camp as did you. But if you wish to characterize the Magistrate as undeserving of the help I give him as a member of the Corps, I should not wish to hold you to your word. Let’s take this up again tonight.”
I stepped over and helped Dravist make small lumps of dough for baking biscuits. Vallen stood speechless and Jackwon mumbled about going to fetch more firewood. Having made lumps of dough I showed Dravist how to make a pot into an oven for the fire. We got two pots made up for baking and set them going. I asked Gillfort, “Would you like to see if they would like some biscuits inside? We’ll have plenty.” Gillfort said, “Sure.” And he walked inside to ask.
Vallen spoke next, “Bene, uh, my lord, what was all that about? What’s got into Gillfort?” I replied, “Well, you heard him. He has been overwhelmed by the feeling of being among his own kind. He hasn’t had this feeling since he left his home. I think he is struggling with his feelings right now. He completely forgot about his agreement; his duty. He is confused right now. I heard it in his remarks last night at dinner. I’m sure Alnifolia heard it too.” Jackwon returned with an armload of wood. Vallen said, “Well what do we do now?” I said, “I think we should find this treasure. If Dravist is right, we’ll have everything we need to find it this morning in our hands. I don’t think Alnifolia will have any objections although we may wish to share some coin with him. I’ve got the key. Dravist thinks he knows where we can find the parchment. We’re at the site. We’ve got a cart, although we don’t have a team, just a mule. If Marogred was going to find it by himself, we should be able to get it. Sounds like just the way to finance your trip to me.” Jackwon said, “Now you’re talking. That lying dwarf doesn’t have anything we don’t have. And we got plenty he don’t have.” Dravist said, “Yea, he’s right.” I said, “So after breakfast we’ll have a look for the parchment and then a talk with Alnifolia.” We sat down and had our breakfast and cooked all our dough. Gillfort came out to join us but it was a cool feeling among the fellows. Everyone tried to talk about something else besides the “mastodon.”
We finished our breakfast and Gillfort carried in a dozen biscuits. I asked the fellows to clean up and put things away. I needed to talk to Alnifolia for just a minute. Inside he was coming from the meeting room and I asked if we could talk in his study. We went in and sat down. I began, “Gillfort wants to quit our company and join your flock, sorry herd. Did you know?” He answered, “Yes, I knew before Palustris asked me for him. It is not uncommon for a young druid out on his own for the first time to jump in with the first herd he meets. I think Laevis is here for much the same reason.” I asked, “Do you have an opinion on the matter? Would you share your thoughts with me?” Alnifolia responded, “It is the other way around, my friend. He is your charge. He is under obligation to you and I will not ask him to break his oath. He may return here when you are finished on this journey.” I said, “His heart is not with my group. It is with you.” Alnifolia said, “We can manage it either way, but I will respect your wishes. Now I believe there is something else?”
I said, “Yes, yes there is. If Dravist finds the parchment, my group would like your permission to spend a day or two to find the treasure. If we find it, what would be your terms to divide it? If Marogred thought he could find it by himself, we believe we can find it for him.” Alnifolia responded, “Remember you will now have two prisoners to take back with you. The letter said you will need a cart and a team, which Marogred said was a four-horse team. You have one mule and a cart, not a wagon and a team.” I answered, “Yes, there could be more than we can carry. We would trust you to hold onto the extra for us on a return trip. We don’t see you gambling it away out here. We could even bring a wagonload of supplies when we return for the rest. But we recognize you should have a portion. What do you think is appropriate?” Alnifolia said, “We would not need much. Coin would serve us well to purchase supplies and a little would go a long way for self-sufficient men like us. If however, there were magical items among the treasure, we should want to have claim on those things a druid could use in our work. Is that fair? We get say, one portion of six, of the coin and non-magical valuables, save for anything that you show belongs to the Empire, and we get first pick of magical treasure and alternate item for item until it is divided?” I thought about it and said, “Under the circumstances this is a very fair offer. You are a powerful and wise man. You could send us away and keep the key because you are that powerful. The treasure would be yours. You have little need for the treasure, so both of us believe, and therefore no need of the risk in retrieving it. Let us have the risk and you are rewarded handsomely. I think it is more than fair.” Alnifolia held out his hand, and I took it. He said, “I wish you and your party luck. I will send Gillfort with you. He owes you that much even before you leave.” I nodded and stood up. I said, “I’ll go see if Dravist can find the parchment.” And I turned and left.
Outside, I called over to my party saying, “Let’s go have a look for the parchment.” And they stood up and made themselves ready. We headed over to the temple and at the porch we tied scarves around our noses and mouths. We went inside and I paused again to let my eyes adjust to the light. Jackwon almost tripped on himself as I did the day before. We walked slowly into the main chamber and turned around to look at the rear wall as Dravist went to look for the tablet with the water rune. It was beyond his reach so he said, “Somebody give me a hand.” Both Vallen and Jackwon came over to help him up. He raised himself up and pulled carefully on the tablet. He said, “It’s loose. It also seems heavy.” I called up to him, “What do you think?” He replied, “I think I can move it but if it falls and slips out of my grasp I don’t want it to hit one of you on the head.” Jackwon said, “Yea, I’m all for that.” I said, “No problem. Just come down a moment.” They helped him down. I said, “Is it fixed up there or is it hanging free?” Dravist said, “It’s just leaning against the wall held up on two pins that project from the wall. Let me show you.” Dravist stepped over to the Earth tablet. We examined it and saw what Dravist described. Vallen said, “It looks heavy. If he does move it, it will probably be more than he can handle standing on our shoulders as he was.” I said, “Let’s just knock it loose. If it falls I can mend it. Then we just need to get it back up there.” Dravist said, “Oh, good idea.”
We stepped back and reached up. We couldn’t reach it so decided to help Dravist back up there, having him stand off to one side so we could just knock it free. He knocked it loose and it fell striking the floor with a loud stone on stone sound but it didn’t chip. The floor stones however, did chip a little. They scooted him over and he reached in to a hollow exposed behind the tablet. He found the parchment and tossed it down before they helped him down slowly. I asked them to set the tablet upright near where it fell and I cast my cantrip to mend the floor stones, and they were mended immediately. As a matter for fact, the algae, mold, mildew was also cleansed from the stones for a good space. I motioned for them to follow me outside.
Outside I unrolled the parchment and looked. It was a map of some passageways. Some of it was ruined by the mold and mildew but a good portion was legible. I twisted the map this way and that. There were no writings on it to help me know which way was “up.” It seemed plausible the area depicted on the map was about the size of a regular warehouse sized building. I asked that we go back inside to examine the temple for underground entrances, stairs leading down or a trapdoor. We looked for about half an hour and didn’t find anything. I said I would go see Alnifolia about it and see if it could be the barracks.
Alnifolia said they had been over the barracks carefully before and he didn’t think there were any underground features they hadn’t found. The cells in the basement were the only things they found and the map didn’t seem to include them. He said, “You should have a look at the warehouse foundation.” I walked back over to the temple and asked if they found anything and they said, no. I asked that we come have a look at the warehouse. They gladly left the temple and the stench.
At the warehouse we located the corners of the building and began to clear away some forest debris. As we cleared we looked for a set of stairs or trapdoor leading down. Gillfort came over to talk. He said he was going to join us on our investigation. Alnifolia sent him to join us. In one corner of the building we found what we were looking for. We uncovered a stairway leading down but it was so full of leaves we were going to have to dig it out. We went to get tools. We spent a couple hours digging it out and we uncovered a basement landing with a heavy wooden door, iron fittings and a substantial iron lock. We left to get our equipment and the key. We decided we’d have lunch first before going down.
I packed my pack with plenty of rope, ball bearings, some oil and a fire starter, bandages, candles and other things. I left my tocco, pipe, lute and all the other things I didn’t need. After lunch we suited up (I put my leather armor on) and went to face the passages in the basement. We got to the door and I tried the key. It still worked like it was made yesterday. There was a satisfying click as the lock cleared, but the noise made me uneasy because we were going to lose the opportunity to surprise them. Just like in the woods, I was going to have to be in front if we were going to have the benefit of my dark vision. I thought about my studded leather armor being made back in Stonebridge.
The door was stuck but we pushed it open as it scraped on the floor. I couldn’t see into the dark with the sunlight behind me. I motioned for Vallen to go first with his torch. He had the strongest armor. He went in with his sword in his right hand and a torch in his left. He had to wave the torch around clearing many cobwebs in the passage. The smell of mold and mildew returned. We pulled on our masks again and went inside.
The first passage was straight and level with a finished stone floor and a stone wall on my right. It was just wide enough for one man to fight or two men to walk side-by-side. We staggered our formation so we could see a little better. We moved slowly to help us see. A torch doesn’t shine like the sun. Vallen was doing well and we were moving steadily forward. We came to a door on our left and Vallen went past it before stopping. I stopped at the door and motioned for Vallen and Jackwon to move forward a bit more to see what else was on this corridor. They went about sixty feet, as far as they could see in the torch light and then came back. They said there were two more doors ahead on the left about twenty to twenty five feet apart. This didn’t match anything on my map yet.
I motioned that we would try this first room. Vallen positioned himself to open the door. Jackwon stood on the other side to cover it. Gillfort held a torch. Dravist held a torch and covered out retreat. I positioned myself to look into the room. I motioned for Jackwon to listen at the door. He did but heard nothing. On the signal, Vallen opened the door. I looked in and saw a large empty room. I motioned for Gillfort to give the torch to Jackwon and he went inside and I followed. We looked around and I saw a rat scurry away. I called for Gillfort and Dravist to come in too. Vallen stayed in the hallway to watch the corridor.
We checked around the room. We checked the floor, the walls, even the ceiling for unusual features. It appeared to be a storage room with nothing of interest. I paced off the room to check the size and marked it on a piece of paper I had for a temporary map. I hoped that my crude map would begin to match the one on the parchment, then I might know what was ahead. We withdrew from the room and closed the door. Vallen led us down the corridor to the next door. He went ahead to check sixty feet and came back. He said the corridor took a bend to the left. We positioned ourselves at the second door and repeated the process; Jackwon listened, we opened the door, I looked inside, two of us went inside and Gillfort and Dravist followed.
This room had several tables and chairs. There were a number of lanterns in the room so we tried to light one. I had to put some oil in it but it lit just fine and gave off good light. Slowly we went around the room and lit others. This was obviously a mess room or something like that with all the chairs and tables. We examined the walls, floors and ceiling and found nothing again. The wall to the left did have a double door connecting it with the next room we would search so we discussed whether we would enter through the hallway or through these doors. We decided the hallway.
Back out in the hallway, Vallen went forward and looked around the corner with Jackwon. I was behind them. Turning the corner, they saw another stairway leading down a second level. We backed up to the third doorway off the corridor. We had Dravist wait at the second doorway where he could watch the corridor and the double doors into this room. We lined up at the third doorway as before and Jackwon listened at the door. Hearing nothing he opened the door. This time the door was sticking because of a broken hinge and the door scraped across the floor because it was sagging. I looked in and there were a few tables but it was much more open inside. We stepped in as before and I looked around. This appeared to be the kitchen. We lit a few lanterns again and the room again lit up. We looked around and there was nothing special. We walked over and checked the double doors. They were not locked so we pushed them open and left them that way. The kitchen stopped short a little and there was a doorway on that wall but no door. Inside were many shelves which I supposed were for the pots and pans. There was nothing on the shelves except the remains of rodents. I found some iron fire tools against one wall where a fireplace and ovens were made into the wall. We used two of these tools to unhook two lanterns and carry them at the end of the rods for better light than the torches.
Out in the hallway I wondered about the kitchen and the mess room. There should have been a pantry or supply room for the kitchen, but there were no other doors off the corridor and the next way forward was down the stairs to the second lower level. I decided to check the corridor walls closely. We didn’t find anything. I noted everything on my temporary map and checked the parchment map. Next I decided we would pull a few more lanterns out of the mess room and light the corridor. We went in and brought out six lanterns still burning. We placed three of these along the corridor and moved the other three to the top of the stairs we were preparing to descend.
Down the stairs we went. The door at the bottom of the stairs was of the same construction as the first door with the lock, but there was no lock on this door. Vallen and Jackwon stood at the door and I stood just beyond them, Gillfort behind me and Dravist at the top of the stairs. Vallen opened the door and Jackwon stuck his lamp into the doorway. Inside was a vast open room with a polished aisle down the center and a pool of water to each side of the aisleway. I waved for Jackwon to pull the lantern back and I stepped up to have a better look with my dark vision. It was very eerie inside. I leaned inside to look at the walls just inside the door and there was a sound of water rushing from the room. I jumped back and Vallen stepped into the doorway and Jackwon behind and beside him holding the lantern. The sound of the rushing water died away.
I got out my crude make-shift map and did my best to estimate the size of the room. I suspected it was as large as the three rooms we had just passed all put together. There were stone columns inside evenly spaced about twenty feet apart holding up a sturdy wooden floor above. There were no lanterns in this space that I could see. It appeared that the clerics used this room because it had the same provision to maintain pools of water, not very deep, in a manner like the temple. I motioned for Vallen to close the door. I examined the door carefully and found another low relief carving in the door that we had missed because of the door’s age. It was obscured in the moss or mushroom growth on the wood. Trying carefully to clear it away we saw the inscription of the fan pendent on the door. There even appeared to be some paint left from when it was new. Maybe it was painted in the colors of the mosaic? We reopened the door and I looked in again. I asked Jackwon to move his lantern into the room as far as he could reach and set it on the floor. He did so and nothing happened. I again moved up to the doorway and looked in trying to see where the rushing water could have come from, but I couldn’t see anything.
I leaned in again and the sound returned. I looked forward to see if I could find the sound, but it was everywhere. The water in the pools was churning and then I could see two figures rising from the pools in a vision of waterfalls that ran up instead of down. They didn’t swirl around or dance as much as just sway back and forth. I took a bold step forward and immediately a rush of water hit me square in the chest and threw me out of the room. I struck the far wall and lay there, but I was wet only on my leather armor, not my legs, arms or face. There was no water in the corridor either.
Vallen was kneeling down beside me. Bene, my lord, are you OK? I was dazed from hitting my head but I was alright overall. I asked, “What happened?” Vallen replied, “My lord, it appears the room has some manner of enchantment. You were attacked by two water elementals, I believe. A rush of water came from each of them knocking you back. You almost flew backwards from the force of it. Are you sure you’re alright?” I moved to push myself into a sitting position and almost collapsed. I replied, “Maybe I’m not quite alright.” Vallen said, “Dravist come down here, he needs your help. Use some healing magic. He has been hurt.” Dravist stepped down the stairs and gingerly approached and half-looked into the doorway. He knelt down and placed his hand at the nape of my neck supporting my head. He put his other hand flat against the middle of my chest and looked upwards and chanted very quietly to himself. I felt a warmth from his hands and my head and chest immediately felt better, even my right foot felt a warmth from the experience. Dravist stopped chanting and looked down at me. He said, “You should be much better now, my lord.”
Again I tried to get up and they helped me to my feet. I brushed my hair with my hand and thanked them. Then turning to look into the pool room I said, “Well, we need to find out how to defeat water elementals. I’ve heard about them but I’m not an authority on their behavior. Jackwon, Vallen, please close the door. Let’s go talk about this with Alnifolia. Maybe they know how to fight such things.” And we left one lantern at the door and walked out of the basement up to the surface. We had been down about two hours I figured, no more. “Jackwon, could you stay here and listen for any activity?” He replied, “As long as I don’t have to go down there alone, sure.” Vallen said, “I’ll wait here with him, my lord.” I answered, “Thanks. We’ll be back.”
We went to find Alnifolia and the other druids. We found them outside tending to the trees at the edge of the clearing. All three of them were working together. I saluted them as we approached. “Hello friends. We need some advice if you have it to share.” Alnifolia, Palustris and Laevis all turned to face us. Alnifolia answered, “What happened?” I replied, “We descended to a second basement and ran into two water elementals, I believe. They are blocking the way. It appears they are part of some sort of enchantment placed on the room to keep strangers out. The room is about thirty feet wide and I believe it could be eighty feet long, it is hard to say. There is an aisle down the middle and a shallow pool on either side as long as the room. I hope our treasure is just beyond this. Other than that, we’ve found nothing of value; just a few lanterns.”
Alnifolia responded, “Water elementals? Palustris, do you know anything of water elementals?” He replied, “I know a little. Of course they require a source of water, and the size of their source gives them more or less power, as well as the power of the magic that created them. They are not bothered by fire magic, but lightning spells can be very harmful to them.” I replied, “These seem to activate when someone enters the room they are guarding. We opened the door and nothing happened until I leaned into the room. Then they came alive. As soon as I left the room they went away.” Alnifolia said, “Hmmm, curious. We’re missing something. If they attacked everyone then nobody could get past that room. But clearly they were placed there as guardians. So they are not meant to attack everyone, just enemies. What did you do that signaled to them you were an enemy? Or what could you do that would signal that you were a friend?” Laevis exclaimed, “Master, the pendent. Maybe the pendent is immune to the guardians.” Everyone looked at Laevis so that he stepped back.
Alnifolia said it first, “Brilliant. That would explain the pendent and why Marogred was in little hurry to find the treasure. He thought it was well guarded and only he had the pendent to get past the guards. But this may mean only one man can go past the guards to explore the rest of the basements.” I spoke up, “I will go first, but if necessary, I will find a way to pass the pendent back to the others. I should explore because my dark vision gives me an advantage. Now who has the pendent?” Alnifolia said, “Oh, I have it. Laevis brought it to me last night. It was the first thing he confiscated during the search.” And with that he walked to the barracks. We followed and Palustris and Laevis returned to their work.
“Here you go. I recommend tying it on something around your neck since that would be the normal way to wear a pendent.” I replied, “Thank you.” I spoke to Dravist and Gillfort, “Let’s get back to it.” And we turned and went back to the ruins of the warehouse. Outside, talking to Vallen and Jackwon we explained out theory of the pendent. Vallen said, “My lord, let me take the pendent. You are a brave man, but I am armored and trained to fight. Your vision gives you a distinct advantage but only until you are found. Once combat begins you are not so well armored.” Jackwon made a similar appeal for the job saying he was a trained fighter and used to facing many different beasts. He pointed out that he was ready to face the bear before anyone. Dravist also spoke up. “My lord, I am also armored. I have a good weapon”, and he held his mace close to his chest to emphasize its heft, “and I am prepared to deal with enemies using spells too.” Gillfort said, “Don’t mind me. You go right ahead. I’m not afraid any of you are going to steal MY treasure.” And with that remark, Dravist, Vallen and Jackwon all took offense. I quieted everyone down saying, “Hold on fellows. Nobody is going down there to steal anything. Vallen, I’m going to let you take the first attempt. If you get stuck at a door or something come back and let us know. Don’t go forward if you’re uncomfortable. No, hold on. I am going to take the first bit. I will take the lanterns in as far as I can first and then let you take over.”
And I pulled out my make-shift map and showed everyone what I had already recorded. Then we entered the first basement again and I asked them to bring all the lanterns. We placed one half way down the first corridor and a second at the top of the stair down to the second level. We placed the rest outside the door to the pool room and opened the door. Wearing the pendent I took a deep breath and stepped into the pool room. There was a rushing water sound which faded away and then nothing. I let out my breath. I reached back and they handed me an iron stake holding one lantern. I walked slowly across the room on the aisleway and as I approached the other side I saw another wooden door. I set down the lantern and examined this door carefully. There was nothing to see other than rusty hinges and fittings. I pushed the door open and it scraped the floor. There was nothing on the other side but cobwebs. I set the lantern down just outside the pool room and I turned to retrieve another lantern. As I walked, I thought ‘Who says the pendent only protects one person? Let’s try two.’ And so I asked Vallen to bring a second lantern with me and we carried two lanterns across the room. I said, let’s go down this corridor and see what there is to see. So we turned and after a few steps came to a third stairwell. I set my lantern at the top of the stairs and Vallen and I carried the other one to the bottom. Soon the corridor ahead took a turn to the right so we set the lantern down and looked down the corridor carefully. I said, wait here. I drew my rapier and started forward relying on my dark vision.
I walked this corridor about sixty feet and it resembled the corridor of the first level below ground with doors on my right this time. I walked back to Vallen and said, “Please wait here and I’ll be back in a moment with other lanterns.” I went up the stairs and across the pool room. On the other side I asked Jackwon to bring a lantern and I picked up another myself. Staying close together we crossed the pool room and went down the stairs to join Vallen. “Follow me and we’ll go check out the first door on this corridor.”
We went about fifteen feet and came to the first door. We set one lantern down and positioned ourselves on either side of the door. Jackwon listened and didn’t hear anything. We opened the door and I thought I saw something scurry away in the dark. I shined my lantern inside and saw a small sitting room with a number of lanterns along the walls, a well-made table and chairs for four. There was a cabinet against the wall to my right that fit floor to ceiling and a floor to ceiling bookcase on the wall to my left. The room was much smaller than the rooms on the first floor. I stepped to the door and shined the lantern around to have a better look. Nothing seemed to be out of place; just very dusty as I would expect. I stepped inside.
There was a thick coat of dust on everything and it likewise hung in the air giving form to the beam of light from my lantern. I reached out and grabbed the back of one of the chairs and pulled it away from the table and tipped it forward. A thick cloud erupted from the seat making me cough. I tapped the chair on the floor and more debris fell on the floor. I set the lantern on the table and reached down to brush off the chair. It was not just well made; it was a fine piece, and the others seemed to be part of a set. I fussed over it some more and set it by the wall. Next I brushed off the table and again coughed in the thick cloud. And then I started suddenly when I thought I saw a form in the dust cloud.
It was there and then it was gone. It appeared to me as an androgynous humanoid form, bald, no distinct race I had ever seen, a slight build, naked, with large questioning eyes, tiny ears and two nostrils but without a nose. As soon as it was there it was gone and I looked about the room casting the light of the lantern about as I spun this way and that. I called out, “There is something in here with me!” Jackwon replied, “Where? I don’t see anything.” Vallen asked, “How big?” I called back, “About as tall as a dwarf but this is almost invisible. Let’s try to catch it if we can. We might learn something from it.”
I didn’t realize I hadn’t described it very well and that even though it was humanoid I hadn’t say so. I said, “One of you make sure to cover the door. Let’s get some of these lanterns lit in here. I think we need more light.” Behind my back, as I stepped to grab hold of another lantern, Jackwon looked at Vallen and motioned for him to go in with me, and Valllen didn’t like the idea. But for the sake of his honor he stepped forward but muttered under his breath, “As you wish you big chicken.” Vallen took down a lantern and lit it while I did the same. I left the one lantern on the table and motioned for Vallen to cover the wall to the right while I covered the one to the left. He drew his sword and I saw another flash of motion come my way. I thought, “Oh crap” but I remained calm.
I stood as still as I could letting my eyes scan for motion. It seemed I couldn’t see it unless it moved. I held my hand up for Vallen to be still and we looked for a few seconds. I heard a scaping sound and I looked in the direction of the sound and something moved in the dust under the table. I called out, “Jackwon, I think he’s trying to get past you in the door. I think he’s just scared and hasn’t done anything to us. Try to just grab him.” Jackwon called back, “Are you kidding? Let that thing touch me?” Vallen was also looking at the floor in my direction and swinging his lantern a little to see if the moving light helped. I held up my hand again and said quietly, “Just be still with the light.” I began to crouch down low and reached out with my free hand and took a handful of dirt while scanning this way and that. I thought I saw something and I threw my handful of dust that way. All of a sudden we could see the form.
He was crouched beneath the table. His head was turning to see each of us but mostly looking to the doorway that Jackwon had blocked. He didn’t seem to know we could see him at first but then he became aware we were each looking at him. His mouth was open and he appeared to be hyperventilating. His eyes were wide with terror. I held up my free hand to show I had no weapon. I called softly for Vallen to sheath his sword. The ghost didn’t seem to have a weapon and hadn’t made the first move to attack us. Then I called softly for Jackwon to put away his axe but he was having none of it, and Vallen whispered again, “C’mon you big chicken. At least I was willing to come in here with it.” I didn’t think I was going to persuade Jackwon so I just thought about what I should do next.
Since we were calmed down it was easier to see the figure even though the dust was settling. I thought what I might have that the ghost would find interesting; some kind of bait like I might give an animal I wanted to calm down with a bit of food. The first thing I could think of was a shiny coin. I reached in my purse and pulled out a shiny silver coin and I held it out at arms reach. I turned it in my fingers hoping it would catch a ray of light to get his interest. Then I dropped it a few inches forward beyond my reach and withdrew my hand.
He stared at it. Then slowly he reached out for it while watching me. Vallen took a step forward and he heard the movement. Quickly he pulled his hand away and scurried back from us. I called quietly for Vallen to be still. I reached in my pouch and retrieved a few other coins and chose a shiny copper coin. Again I reached out and turned it in my fingers before tossing it on the floor between us, clearly beyond my reach. Again, slowly he reached out and watched me but glanced at Vallen a few times. Then he seized it and it disappeared. But I could see him pull his hand back apparently holding the copper coin.
He held it up near his face and examined it, but took it down quickly to look at me and Vallen. Then he raised it up near his face again to examine it again. I leaned forward onto one knee and reached out for the silver piece and picked it up slowly. I blew off the dust and held it out for him to see once again. I tossed it gently to him so it would land just in front of him. It struck the floor and a puff of dust rose up. He reached out and took hold of the silver piece and it too disappeared. He examined it, even comparing it to the copper piece. Then he put both in his right hand and stared at me. I didn’t know what else to do. I didn’t have any food and I wasn’t going to show him my dagger or rapier. So I decided to try and talk to him.
I said softly, “Do you understand me?” He turned a little more my way and slid back a few inches. I called out, “We don’t want to hurt you. We want to find out what is hidden down here. Would you help us find the things stored down here?” He only looked at me and then slowly shook his head no very slowly so that I wasn’t sure if he was saying “no” or just scanning. I said, “There is an evil man that wants what is here. We don’t want the evil man to get it so we are trying to keep it safe from him.” The ghost man then nodded his head slowly. Again I wasn’t sure if he was communicating or if this was some habit of his when afraid.
I asked, “Do you like the coins I gave you? They are shiny coins. You may have them if you like them.” With this remark he opened his hand and gazed at the coins again, closed his hand, and looked back at me. Now I believed I was being understood. I asked, “Could we sit down and talk? Do you speak this language?” He remained still for a moment and then he nodded his head and said rather uncertainly, “Yes.” I asked again, “You understand me?” And he replied a little more loud “Yes.” I asked, “If I ask my companions to step into the hallway, would you sit down and talk with me?” And he replied, “Yes. Outside. Yes.”
I asked Vallen to slowly step into the corridor and I asked Jackwon to step back from the door. They both did so. I said to the ghost man, “Would you feel more comfortable sitting in a chair? I would feel more comfortable sitting and talking.” He said slowly, “I will sit too.” And slowly he stood up and I mirrored his move. I stepped back from him, facing him and reached for the chair we cleaned off earlier. I moved it back to the table and set it down. I said, “I need to brush off the dust, please; the dust on the table and the dust on my chair. Would you like me to brush off the dust on your chair?” He called out loud and sudden as if alarmed, “No!” Then there was a pause and he said softly, “Not my chair.” He made a motion to me and said, “You brush your chair.” I replied, “Thank you. Please sit down if you are ready.” I pulled out a cloth and brushed off the nearest half of the table trying not to brush the dust toward either of us. I paused and then brushed off my chair again. I paused and then sat down. I leaned forward and rested my arm on the table. Slowly he sat down in the chair opposite mine.
I asked, “I have never heard of someone like you. I don’t know what to call you. Do you have a name?” He paused and then said, “No name. We don’t have names.” I replied, “Well, we each have names. My name is Bene Timber. This fellow wearing the mail is called Vallen. The fellow not wearing a shirt is called Jackwon. What may I call you?” He paused again and replied, “I don’t know. No name.” I thought a moment and said, “I’ve never met someone like you. You are somewhat like a ghost man. Does your kind have a name, what do they call folks from your race?” After a pause he replied, “I am a dust man.” I brightened up a little because I was beginning to get some real information and build a rapport with him. I asked, “Dust man. May I call you ‘Dust Man’ then?” And he replied, “Yes, dust man.”
“Dust Man, are there others here, in this basement?” He replied, “No.” I asked, “Are you from the woods, or do you come from somewhere else?” He replied, “Not from the woods.” I asked, “Where do you come from?” He replied, “I’m not sure where. I only live here.” I wondered about that a moment. I asked, “How did you get here? Did you walk here or fly?” He replied, “I was at my home and then my home was gone and I was here to live.” I wondered again what this meant and then I thought I understood. I asked, “Was your home very different from here?” He replied, “Yes, very different.” I asked, “Have you ever been up the stairs? Did you know there are trees up there?” He replied, “No, only here. Trees?” I answered his question delicately, “Trees are living things but they don’t move like us. Sometimes trees give us food. What do you eat?” He paused and replied, “I eat dust. Dust here no good. I am weak from eating this bad dust. I can’t go in the water room.” I began to think he wasn’t from the material plane and was some sort of enemy of water elementals. It seemed he was trapped here alone.
“You can’t get out of here and you are not from here. You are stuck eating this bad dust.” He was nodding his head as I restated what I understood. “You don’t like evil, do you?” He replied, “No evil.” I replied to him, “We are also good, which means we are no friend of evil.” Then I said, “It seems by some work of evil you are trapped here. I would like to see you return to your home, if you wish.” He replied, “Home. Yes. Now?” I frowned a little and said, “Unfortunately I don’t believe I have the means right now. I don’t understand the exact nature of where you belong or how to get you there. But I know other good people that should know who can tell me how to help you. But I will need to understand your nature so that the magic we use will send you to your home and not somewhere else by mistake. I hope you understand this is a difficult task for us and we don’t want it to go wrong.” He raised his voice a little saying, “Home. Yes. Now!” I raised my hand, “I understand. I would feel the same way. But I will need help from wise men to get you home. After we are done, I will tell other wise men we need to help you. I promise.” He bowed his head. He rubbed his face and I began to think he was crying. I asked softly, “What can I do for you today?” I waited and he raised his head in a moment and said, “I want to go outside and see the trees.” I replied, “I’ll see what I can do. Right now, the only way out of here I know is through the water room you don’t like. Can you help us search this place? Maybe we will find another way out and you can leave and see the trees.”
He stood up slowly and said, “No way out. I will show.” I stood up. I asked, “May we use the lamps and search for other things while we look in the other rooms?” He said after a pause, “You may have the lamps. I don’t need the lamps. You will look for yourself. No way out.” I asked, “Are there many rooms to search? Is this a big house?” He replied, “Not big. Small place. Long time, small place.” I realized his idea of small and mine could be very different things.
He hesitated moving to the door with Jackwon and Vallen there. I understood. He was outnumbered and had little reason to trust them. I believed I was safe from him, but I didn’t know what else might be down there that he wouldn’t even notice. I turned to him and said, “Dust man, I may be afraid of other things down here that you may not even notice. My companions are here to keep me safe. They will not hurt you. May they come with us to help me be safe?” Dust man said, “I will show you. You safe with me. I’m not safe with them. Go with them or come with me.”
I thought about it and said, “Jackwon, Vallen, please wait down at the end of this corridor near the stairs. I will check out these other rooms with Dust Man.” Vallen said, “My lord?” Jackwon just stood motionless for a few seconds, then touched Vallen’s elbow and motioned they should step back from the door. I used a metal rod to pick up a lantern and I followed Dust Man down the corridor to my right. After a few steps we came to the next door and he just reached out and opened it. I slowly came around the doorway and held the lamp to shine into the room.
The smell hit me before my eyes understood what was in the room. There were shelves and shelves of books. I smelled the smell of old books. There is something about the smell of paper that has been left to a stale room that is unmistakable. The air was very still in the room and I almost lost Dust Man from my sight. There were five book shelves about ten or twelve feet long and six feet high all loaded with books. They were not “collector’s books”, all pristine bound volumes. No these were original manuscripts and carefully made copies of original books. They were larger than typical books and their binding was well made but not elegant. The binding was very sturdy and most were laced with thick hide. I pulled one from the nearest shelf about the height of my elbow above the floor. There was no title on the cover. I looked for a place to set the lantern so I might examine the book more carefully. I spied a wall hook to hold the lantern and reached up and hooked it there.
Carefully, slowly I opened the book, and noticed it was a handwritten manuscript. The cover page displayed the title, “The Valley of Entrall, Vol. II”. The next page immediately described a place and time in history. It mentioned a civilization that lived among a thick grove of trees with “buildings” of woven branches and men living in harmony with many animals such as domesticated deer and boar. It sounded like an older time but with some knowledge beyond mine concerning nature, which was somehow troubling to me because of my upbringing among the elves. The people in this book practiced a cultural harmony with natural things that eclipsed my knowledge of elvish methods. I set the book back on the shelf and retrieved the lamp. Next, I walked around the room to get a gage on the size of it.
I stepped out into the hallway and looked about for Dust Man. It was dim inside the library room so that I lost track of him, but I had a strong feeling he wasn’t going to run off. On one hand, where was he going to run off to? It seemed he wanted to find an exit as much as I did so I believed he would stick with me and be good to his word. I saw him standing in the doorway to the library watching me. I smiled at him and set down my lamp. I pulled my sketch from my pouch and added the two rooms on the third basement to my drawing. Then I took a good look up and down the corridor and then paced off the full length coming back to the library room. I added the corridor to the drawing. Then I pulled my parchment map from my things and checked it against the third level sketch. It seemed the library may have been part of that drawing as well.
I replaced the parchment map and raised the lantern again saying, “Let’s look at the next room.” We turned and headed for the next doorway. Dust Man again opened the door and I looked inside. This room was more like an office. It contained book shelves along the walls to the right and the left and four desks, two on either side. There were candle stands on the desks but I didn’t want to burn the candles. I set a lantern on one desk and went back into the hall to retrieve another. Back with a second lantern I set in on a desk on the opposite side of the room. I asked, “Have you searched this room?” Dust Man responded, “Yes, I have looked for doors.” I asked, “But what else is in this room?” He said, “Door in the back; writing stuff.” I looked at the walls and I didn’t see any door in the back. I turned and asked, “Door, where?”
Dust Man stepped to the back wall and put his hand on the wall. He said, “Here.” And I stepped forward and looked and I couldn’t see what he was showing me. I put my hand on the wall and it didn’t move, but I felt a cool air blow on my hand. He had found a hidden door. I asked, “Do you know what is in that room?” He replied, “Yes, no door.” I asked, “What is in there?” He answered, “More storage.” I thought, it must be something they wanted to hide so possibly treasure or something very important to them. I asked him to wait in the room while I talked to my companions.
Out in the corridor I walked down to Vallen and Jackwon. I told them the next room is a library and the room after that is an office with four desks but there is a hidden door on the far wall. I plan to search the desks and then find the secret to open the hidden door. Then I returned to the office room. I checked the first desk nearest the door on the right hand side. As Dust Man told me, there were writing supplies and a few notes but nothing that seemed noteworthy now. I checked the desk on the left hand side. Again, more writing things and a few notes but nothing noteworthy. In both cases, the ink wells had dried up but there was plenty of paper and quills. I checked the second desk on the left side. In this desk more writing supplies and a few notes, but also a book was in the drawer written in a language I could not read. It looked rough like dwarvish or orcish writing to me, not an elegant elven or celestial writing or even a rough human provincial writing.
I checked the final desk and found paper and quills, a dried up ink bottle and a ceramic cup for washing pens. There was another book, but this one was a ledger not a book of writings. It was bound in a cobalt blue leather with fine binding work. There was a gold imprint of a rune or glyph on the cover. I opened it and, although I couldn’t read it, I believed it was a log book of supplies showing deliveries and rates of consumption. It appeared to have pages with different goods, dates, and additions and subtractions on the pages. Some of the goods appeared to be listed on different pages and some pages appeared to be the only entry concerning that particular commodity. I went through the desk drawers and found a second book, a little smaller, with fine binding in a brick red color with another gold imprint of a rune or glyph. Inside was written more log book type information, but this didn’t show commodities coming in and out. It simply listed an item in one column and another item in a second column. A few of the items were crossed out, but not in a way so that the names of the items were obscured. It appeared the item was there and then the item was removed from the inventory. I began to suspect the first blue book was a general log book of supplies but the second red book was a ledger of special items of importance.
I searched further and found two maps. One was a large map that appeared to be of the area including the whole province governed by Stonebridge although Stonebridge was not on the map. I could see the same roads, the primary stream, the hills I visited a few days earlier to the northeast and the wooded areas of the deep woods and the pine forest of Pinesmill. The Deep Wood was at the center of this map unlike being near the top edge of my map, and this gave me an idea of what lay beyond this province’s borders.
The second map was smaller and appeared to depict a route for travelers coming from the south to the Deep Wood, or possibly the other way around. The city of Eros appeared to be an important feature on this map at the time it was made. The map included four symbols of the well, one right here in the Deep Wood, one south of Eros, another on the southern edge of the map and the fourth one in the top left corner of the map. I carefully rolled up both maps and tucked them away in my message case.
I pulled out my partial map I was making and checked the dimensions of this room. I updated my partial map by adding this room. I marked the approximate location of the hidden door with a heavy dot on the wall on my map. Then I unrolled my parchment retrieved that morning. Comparing the size of the rooms for the two floors above with the size of the three rooms down on this level it appeared there should be room for a hidden room on the other side of the wall. Knowing that anything worth hiding was usually worth finding, I was determined to figure it out. But I wasn’t going to let Jackwon bash a hole through the wall because that could destroy the single most valuable find in the hidden room. No, we had a good reason to be patient and figure out the secret of the hidden door. Also, so far, we were not in a rush so I wasn’t going to act hastily.
I looked up and Dust Man had been watching me patiently. He was curious about my searching and it occurred to me he might not be able to read any writing and the whole thing might be foreign to him. I asked, “Have you seen books like these before?” He paused and said, “Books? No books.” I opened the large blue book and flipped through the pages a little. Then I closed the book and I held it up. I said, “Book.” Then I set the book down and opened it. I fingered one sheet and said, “Page inside the book.” Then I smoothed out the page and I pointed to the letters and I said, “Writing. Words.” Then I fingered a single symbol and said, “Letter.” Then I fingered another and said, “Letter.” And another and said, “Letter.” I scratched my finger under a word and said, “Letters make word.” Then I scratched under a row of words, and said, “Words make writing.” Then I put my hand on the page and said, “This is a page.” Then I flipped all the pages and said, “Pages make a book.” Then I closed the book and smoothed my hand on the cover and said, “The binding protects the pages in the book. Do you understand? Book?” He repeated slowly in a quiet voice, “Book, pages, words, letters.” He moved to lift a piece of paper from a desk and said, “Page.”
I paused and thought a moment. I said, “Blank page. No words. Blank page is sheet of paper.” Then I opened my case and showed him my stuff and said, “Paper”, as I showed him blank paper and then “Pages”, as I showed him some of my pages I had written in my journal. Then I held up my journal and said, “Book.” He paused and said, “Book, pages, words, paper.” I said, “I think you are understanding a little. Writing is a hard thing for us to understand. Long time to learn what I know. Do you have books, and writing where you come from?” He paused and replied, “No books. Writing different. We write on walls. No books. No pages. No paper.” I looked at him and smiled. I said, “You are a smart fellow. I think we could learn much from each other.” He replied, “Not learn. Go home. Please, go home, now?” I paused and replied, “I can’t get you home. I will need help from the wise men.” He fell silent and bowed his head.
After a pause I said, “Let’s look inside the hidden room for a door.” Slowly he raised his head. I started to step around the last desk to the spot where I could feel for the door. He stepped back to give me room. I placed my hands on the wall and felt for the draft. In one place I could feel it well, but it was a small spot. I turned my head to dust man and asked, “Have you opened the door before? Do you know where it is?” He just looked at me. I looked about for a small stick or splinter of wood and found one. I reached over and lit it in the lantern. I brought it over to the draft and it flickered a little. Then I blew out the splinter and watched the smoke flow. When it was done, I lit it again and dropped about half way down to the floor and brought it to the wall. The flame flickered again and I blew it out. The smoke flowed and curled in the draft.
I repeated this until I thought I had an idea where the outline of the door would lie. I stepped back and looked at the size and shape. Then I looked at the corners of the ceiling and floor to see if there was something I was missing. I was getting pretty frustrated that I believed I knew where the door was but I couldn’t make it budge. I settled down and sat on the floor to get my eyes closer to the floor for another look. I asked dust man if he could bring a lantern down from the table. He shook his head. Annoyed, I started to stand up to get a lantern myself, and when I pushed against my hand to support my weight while standing, the door shifted. It pushed in at the bottom and came out a little at the top. Surprised I released my hand from the wall and the door fell back into place.
I stood up and retrieved two lamps. I set them on the floor and pressed against the wall again and the door opened up again. I thought the door would pivot but instead it was set on a horizontal axle that required some force to raise it up. As I pushed in there was a stale cold blast of air from the other side. A spider ran out into the open from the other side and I almost lost my hold of the door. It was a small spider but the suddenness of his appearance caught me off guard.
I pressed harder on the door and it continued to raise up. The light from the lantern illuminated an unfinished room not very deep on the other side. The door got easier to push and then it seemed to latch onto something. It remained open so that I could withdraw my hands. I grabbed an iron and lifted a lantern. I reached in and set it on the floor to illuminate the room to my right. I turned back and lifted the second lantern. I reached in and set it to illuminate the room on my left. I peered straight ahead to study the construction. Next I leaned in and looked to my right. There was not much to see besides cobwebs. I turned my head and looked to the left and saw much the same. I stepped back and looked over my shoulder to find dust man.
I said, “Dust Man, have you been in there before? Do you know what is in there?” He stepped closer and then around my side to look in himself. He just walked in and went to the left. I leaned in and tried to watch him, but with his chameleon like quality and my need to use my dark vision and all the cobwebs I lost sight of him. I wanted a torch to deal with the cobwebs. Growing up in Tahgrum I learned to be comfortable in the outdoors not in confined spaces like this. I called out for Jackwon. “Jackwon, do you have a torch handy?” He replied, “Yea, sure.” I answered, “There is a secret room here but it’s full of cobwebs. I’d like a torch.” He called back, “Sure thing.” And then I heard his steps coming up the corridor. He rounded the corner and looked over to see the door raised, a glowing space beyond from the lantern light and me standing just on this side of the door.
I stepped over to him and he handed me the torch. He said, “How big is the room?” I replied, “I’m not sure yet. Please go back to Vallen so you don’t scare him, uh, Dust Man.” Jackwon nodded his head with an expression of deep caution, or was that a little bit of fright, and stepped back down the corridor. I lit the torch and started to go to the opening. I reached in with the torch and touched a few cobwebs which immediately blazed up. The fire created a little heat which caused a little air current. The current pulled and pushed on the other cobwebs and made them shimmer. The fire caught slowly in each direction and cleared out much of the cobwebs as it did. I heard a shriek from inside where dust man was. I didn’t know if it was the fire or something else that scared him. He started shrieking more. I called out to him, “What is it? I’m coming.” And I started to walk in with the torch in my hand. His shrieking became worse still. “Fire! No fire! No fire! Out! Out! No fire! …”
I pulled the torch back and retreated. I went out of the door and then into the corridor where I set the burning torch down. I went back to the door and beat at the small flames to put them out. I called out to dust man, “It’s OK. I’ll put the fire out. It won’t hurt you. It’s OK.” With the flames out, I stood about as far in as they had progressed in and stared ahead to see if I could make out dust man or even the size of the room. He went by me in a hurry and was gone like that. I stepped back to the desk room. In the desk room again, I looked around. I was pretty sure he didn’t run back past Vallen and Jackwon. Then I caught sight of him hiding behind a desk in the corner.
I stepped about half-way toward him and he knew I could see him. “No fire. Fire must stay out. No fire.” He was almost crying. I replied softly, “The cobwebs bother me. I just wanted to burn them away so I could see better. Are you afraid of fire?” He said in a shaky voice, “Fire bad. No fire. Fire keep out. No fire.” I stood up more erect and said, “I’ll burn away to cobwebs. I’ll put out the fire. You can come and see if you want to go back in when I am done.” Then I asked, “Did you find anything in there before I made the fire?” Dust man replied, “Yes. Big box. On end of wall. Big box. No fire.” I replied, “I’ll only use the fire to remove the cobwebs. I promise.” And with that I stepped away to retrieve the torch.
I carried the torch into the secret room and looked about again. The right hand passage came to a dead end quickly. I stepped to the left and lit a few cobwebs. Again, they caused a current and burned the other cobwebs. I watched ahead to make sure I didn’t miss anything important, especially anything that might interact with the fire. I didn’t want to come this far to set a bunch of scrolls on fire by mistake. I moved forward and began to see the box, which was a chest. I’m sure a smile came across my face and I thought, “Now we’re getting somewhere.”
I stepped forward and cleared away the rest of the cobwebs and took a good look at the chest. In training they reminded us that some chests might be made with other anti-handling devices and traps. I knelt down and examined the lock and pulled on the hasp. It wasn’t locked! Setting my torch down and using both hands, I raised the lid slowly to have a look. It opened with the sound of wearing metal from the corrosion on the hinges; a very distinct sound that I thought Vallen and Jackwon might be able to hear. Inside I viewed a shallow tray covering the width and depth of the chest. The tray held some precious jewelry and several small cloth bags of fine make. I reached for the torch and raised it up to have a better look inside.
I lifted the largest bag to feel the weight of what it contained. It was heavy enough to increase my anticipation of what lay within, although it was not loose coins from the feel of it. I lifted each of the other bags in turn and felt for anything unusually heavy or light as well as the feel of loose coins. I then checked each of the pieces of jewelry; necklaces, rings, pendants, bracelets, earrings and even a stick pin. There were no crowns or tiaras, nor anything as heavy as bracers or ornamental belt buckle. There were also two loose gems; one appeared to be a pale green emerald and the other a pale blue sapphire. I set the torch down again leaning on the wall and raised the tray by two silk chord handles made into the sides. It was heavy but was well made so that it came up easily. I turned and set it on the floor to my right.
In the lower portion of the chest were a number of boxes, most with lids. The two boxes without lids contained loose coins. I reached in to take a few for examination. They did not bear the image of any government I knew, but they were well made coins, obviously minted by accomplished metal smiths. There were images of a man’s face on one side and a series of designs on the reverse with lettering. The lettering was made using block letters and not script writing. These were not elvish or celestial societies. The images were not dwarven either, and not human because they did not contain common tongue inscriptions. They also didn’t appear to be made with druidic influence because there were no natural references such as images of leaves or animals. But the lettering also didn’t suggest magical societal influence either.
Among the coins there were platinum, gold and silver. The silver coins needed a polish for they were dull in appearance. I didn’t stop to count the value of the coins. I began to examine the other boxes within. The first contained red gems, probably either rubies or garnets. The next contained dark blue gems, probably kyanite, topaz or sapphires. The third box also contained blue gems, but these were pale blue, probably agate, aquamarine or turquois. A fourth box contained yellow gems, probably citrine. The next box contained small bottles with wax seals. I raised one and could see it still had fluid in the bottle. The next box contained forged arrowheads. In addition, there was a writing kit but the ink in the bottle had dried years ago. I replaced everything and closed the chest. I tried to handle the chest and learned I could drag it out but that wouldn’t do well for the chest. We should carry it out and I would need either Jackwon or Vallen, and I preferred both.
I went out of the hidden passage and spoke to dust man. “I need my friends to help me move the chest. Would you like to wait in the first room? Wait in the room where we found you? I will move the chest with their help and ask them to wait by the stairs, if you agree.” Dust man sat silently for a moment. He replied, “We can go to more rooms. Look more for doors.” I responded, “I intend to resume our search once we have moved this chest, OK?” Dust man hesitated and then said, “Yes?” He paused again and said, “Yes. I wait.” I answered, “Good. Let’s get you back there and they won’t come into the room with you. They will only help me with the chest.” And with that, I lifted the torch and indicated the corridor. Dust man shrunk back. I said, “Sorry. You don’t like fire. Sorry.” And I put out the torch, leaned it against the wall and indicated the corridor again.
Dust man and I walked back up the corridor and he stepped into the first room with the chairs and tables. I stepped over to Vallen and Jackwon. “Folks, I found a chest. Keep your voices down because I don’t wish to startle Dust Man or give Gillfort and Dravist anything to wonder about. There are gems and some coins and other things I will need to have investigated, but I’m sure we will be allowed to split the coins so we’ve done very well on this trip. Right now, I want you fellows to help me bring the chest to the top of these stairs. Let’s go.” They nodded.
As we started down the corridor I said, “Dust Man is going to wait in there for me. Then we’ll resume our search.” As we stepped forward I added, “This is a library of old books. At least some of these are old histories of the region. We’ll need to take these back to Stonebridge too.” Then arriving at the desk room I indicated with my arm to open passage at the back of the room. The lanterns were still set to provide illumination for us. I said, “I found this passage because Dust Man told me it was there. It took some searching, but I found the door and figured how to open it. The passage leads off to the left.” We stepped to the back of the room.
As we entered the passage I said, “The chest is the only thing I found in here. Here it is. I’d appreciate it if you could bring it to the stairs and take it up for us. I want to take care of it so it will survive the trip home.” And with that, Vallen and Jackwon stepped around and lifted the chest and carried it out of the passage, through the desk room and down the corridor. At the bottom of the stairs Jackwon said, “Hey wait. Let’s leave it here in this room on the table. I don’t want to lose sight of it. As a matter of fact, I’d like to see what is inside myself.” Vallen said, “I’d like to see too, Bene, uh, my lord.” I replied, “OK wait a moment. I need to talk to Dust Man.”
I entered the table room and asked Dust man to step down the corridor and wait in the desk room. He only asked that I walk down there with him, which I did. I returned to the stairs and guided Vallen and Jackwon to set the chest on the table. Then I opened the lid carefully again and removed the tray and set it on another table. I let them look at the jewelry and showed them the bags didn’t hold coins. Then I showed them the boxes and the coins. I told them the other boxes mostly contained gems but there was also a box of forged arrowheads, a box of liquids in small bottles and a box of writing things. I told them they could count the coins, but I wasn’t sure it was safe to handle any of the other things. I wasn’t sure what sort of blessings, curses or traps may have been cast upon any of the things in the chest and I believed it was necessary to have it checked out. But I promised them a share of the coins and I would talk to the governor about the value of the other things in the chest.
Jackwon was upset with this view. “What are you talking about. Gems, jewelry, coins! Why don’t we get our shares now? We got to split it with the druids and then you’re going to give it to the Governor for a reward? You gotta be kidding!” Vallen intervened, “Jackwon, you, uh, we, were hired to provide Bene Timber with security. You said you wanted him to supply you with food too. He even provided a cart and pack animal. He’s done everything, so by law he gets to decide how to break up this treasure. And then there is the druids. Alnifolia made it clear the treasure was to be divided between them and us, and given his power, I expect he made us a generous offer. Bene is also right that there may be something in the chest that requires special attention. We’re not prepared to do much of that. We have no Wizard, warlock or sorcerer. We have no rogue to study the contents and look for dangers. Dravist is our only cleric and while he is a fine fellow, he is probably way out of his depth with something like this. Look at the construction of this place. It is all chiseled stone. The people that built it placed two water elementals up there to guard the treasure. Do you understand the power of magic it takes to perform such a summoning ritual? There are forces here we better be mindful of and not act like tomb raiders. Do you see?” Jackwon said, “It sounds like a raw deal to me. But I can see your point.” I smiled a small smile and said, “Good. Thanks for your patience. I would be surprised if you came away with only a share of the coins.”
I started to pack everything back up and Vallen said, “My lord, allow me to count the coins with Jackwon. We’ll put everything back together when we’re done.” I replied, “Sure. I wouldn’t mind knowing how much we’ll be splitting.” And I stepped back and took another lantern with me on an iron. I walked down the corridor to find dust man. When I got to the desk room I stepped inside. I called, because it was dim in the room, “Dust man? Where are you?” He replied, “Here I am.” And I looked in the corner and found him. I said, “I’m going to remove those lanterns and then close the passage door.” And I left my lantern at the door in the corridor and stepped in to retrieve the other two lanterns. Bringing them out, I returned to close the door. It took a moment but I found how to release the catch and then lower the door. It sealed itself and again I was surprised that it was so well concealed.
With three lanterns in the room it was easier to see Dust Man. In fact, I noticed I found him by finding his shadow easier than seeing him at first. But his shadow was also an oddity. My shadow made a heavy contrast with the light, but his was much more subdued just like his appearance. I indicated the corridor and said, “Let’s get going.” And he walked out and down the corridor to the next door. Arriving at the next door I noted the door spacing was the same as the previous doors on this corridor and I remembered my map and the parchment. I said, “I need to go back and record the room on my map again.” I left the lantern I carried on the floor and walked back to the desk room. I stepped off the room and added it to my crude map. Then I estimated the size of the hidden passage and added it too. I marked the hidden door and the next door down the corridor. Then I unrolled the parchment and compared the two. They were beginning to show similarities although they were drawn to different scales. We had much more to search down here.
Returning to the next door I paused to listen; nothing. I tried the handle and it opened with a creaking noise. I shined the lantern inside and saw racks built for weapons with a few remaining. I thought “Now we’ve found something the others will like.” I called down the corridor saying, “I found an abandoned armory. There are a few weapons still here. I’ll bring them down to you.” And I stepped just inside the room and had a better look around. The room appeared to be about the size of the previous room with racks made for various weapon types. The rack on the wall at my left appeared to be made for long pole arms. The next one appeared to be made for hammers and battle axes. The next one appeared to be made for maces. The next for swords. The one on the right-hand wall was made for tabards, flags, streamers, guidons and banners. The was a cabinet on the wall immediately to my right and another on the wall opposite on the right. The shelves were covered in doors with the lower being solid wood doors and the upper being glass doors. The shelving on the upper portions were only half as deep.
Not being a pole arm wielder or interested in maces, axes and hammers, I started on the right side of the room. Among the swords I noticed only three short swords and one long sword. There was also a pair of rapiers that I wanted to check out. There was also a sword in a scabbard that was made like a long curved tube. The handle was also quite unusual being large enough for two hands but the sword itself didn’t appear like a two-handed great sword or claymore. The craftsmanship was exquisite so that I had to investigate further.
I raised the sword by lifting the scabbard and noticed it was fairly light. I grasped the handle and began to lift it free and again noticed how smooth it felt to remove it; the curve of the scabbard and blade helping the sword to release from the scabbard. The hand guard was small compared to the swords I was familiar with. Free of the scabbard I noticed how well balanced the weapon was and how easily it moved with my arm. The light shined in the blade so that it appeared the whole thing was polished to the edge not just the edge itself like the blades I knew. It made my rapier, the special one I received when I was commissioned into the service, seem a mundane weapon. I replaced the blade into the scabbard and set it back in the rack.
The rapiers were both fine blades as well. They were showing some sign of neglect being down here for a hundred years I suspected. They were made with jewels, gold and platinum in the handles for they were not showing signs of corrosion there. I lifted the nearest one and it was well balanced, obviously made by a swordsmith that understood the need for the balance in a weapon that relied on the finesse in the wrist. It had a jewel at the pommel and one on each end of the quillions. The sweepings were fashioned like two metal ropes or chords. The handle was likewise fashioned with a texture that improved the grip in the hand and was properly tapered to fit in the hand comfortably.
The other blade was well made and included a cup engraved in an elaborate scroll. The weight was comfortable and well balanced with the handle being made with the texture and taper to make it comfortable to grip. This handle contained only a gem in the pommel of deep blue. The gem was cut and faceted in the shape of a rectangle and obviously a piece of great value in itself.
I turned to look at the cabinet at the rear of the room. I set one lantern on the shelf there. Inside the upper portion I found two companion blades for the unusual sword in the rack. The sword in the rack was about five feet long, with a blade of about four feet. Inside the case there was another blade about four feet overall and another about two feet. They appeared to be a set made by the same smith. There were a number of daggers in this case as well, each displayed with a scabbard. I opened the case and lifted the nearest dagger and checked the sharpness of the blade. I replaced it and checked the others feeling each to see how they balanced in my hand. I then set one down on the shelf that I liked best and closed the door.
I stepped back a half step and opened the door on the lower portion. There were five shelves behind the door. I knelt down on one knee and placed the lantern on the floor. I looked in and there were several scabbards for swords resting on the shelves. I believed they were the companions to the blades on display and that each one had a specific sword it was matched to fit. I slid them out to find the two that belonged to the rapiers. I set them in the rack next to the rapiers and then checked out the others. While looking through these I found two more long swords in their scabbards. I lifted these out and set them in the sword rack too. I closed the door and raised the lantern back up onto the shelf. I decided to take a few pieces back to let them be appraised by the experts, Vallen and Jackwon. I knew Vallen would want to see the swords and Jackwon would like to see the axes and longswords. I decided to take two of each back to them in each trip. I selected the first two in each rack and carried them back down the corridor telling Dust Man I would be back in a moment each time.
Walking down the corridor they noticed I was carrying extra weapons and began to ask about them. “How many? What kind? What else?” I just responded, “Wait a moment and I’ll have it all back here for you to look over. I would recommend that you choose two knowing that the one you choose first may be claimed by either Alnifolia or the Governor’s men.” This remark was met with some grumbling about us coming down here facing all the risk. I just responded, “You will each be well rewarded when this trip is over, so just remember that and be thankful.” I returned and made the several trips to bring the axes, maces, swords, hammers, pole arms and daggers back. When I brought the curved sword and the companion pieces they drew much interest from both warriors.
Next, I took a lantern back and set it on the other shelf and had a good look at the banners. They were mostly blue with either bold numbers or some sort of animal spirit represented on the cloth. Some had gold designs and some had silvery, white or yellow designs; but the gold ones appeared to be more significant. Some had elaborate borders and fringe, but none of the heraldry was anything I recognized.
I decided to look into the last cabinet. This cabinet had two crossbows on display in the upper section. They were also well made with a beautiful finish on the smooth woodwork. Below on the shelves were a number of crude or more mundane crossbows, eight in total. There were several crossbow bolts on the shelves as well. I grabbed one crossbow from below and a fistful of bolts and hauled it up to the front. The room with the tables was getting quite full of loot. I set the first one down and returned for the others. I brought the better two up on the last trip.
“Bene”, Vallen began, “This is an amazing collection of weapons. Their value is beyond my imagination.” Jackwon added, “I’m not a collector or appraiser of weapons, but Vallen says many of these weapons will be taken back to the capitol. If we are allowed to keep one for each of us, we will be very lucky indeed.” I responded, “Well if you can keep that idea in mind, you’ll be better off. I don’t think we will receive more than one-fifth of the value of these weapons for the trip. But, and remember this well, it may not matter so much to you that the governor will always remember us favorably for recovering these treasures for the Empire. You will be rewarded more than you realize over the course of your life if you remain in the Empire.” Vallen thought on this and an expression of calm happiness came over him. Jackwon just kept looking at everything and making an assessment what he should choose.
I waited a moment and said, “Look, we can’t take all this back in our cart. Choose the best and move the rest into the desk room. Remember to pick out something for Dravist and Gillfort or I’ll just take one of you back up and bring each of them down in turn.” Jackwon answered saying, “That’s a good idea. I could work with them in getting these things out of here while they inspect them for their choice.” I replied, “No, to do that I’d have to give you the pendent and I’m not ready to do that.” Jackwoon got a belligerent look on his face and Vallen held up his mailed hand and said, “And I think that is a good idea. He got us this far, let’s just stick with the plan.” Turning to me he said, “How about getting Gillfort? Jackwon can take an armload up when you go get him.” I had a better thought.
I said, “Let’s take the two weapons you would each like for yourselves. We will be allowing Alnifolia to inspect them before we have his approval to take them away from here, but I think I will be able to secure his permission if you will let me handle it. We will also take this chest up as well. I will leave you two to guard it while I bring Dravist and Gillfort down here to look around.” Jackwon said, “If you can make sure I get this axe then I’m willing to give it a try.” I replied, “Good. Now select a couple weapons each. I’m taking these two rapiers and these two daggers.” Vallen and Jackkwon selected two weapons each. I said to them, “Go ahead and select a dagger each, too.” I said to Vallen, “Carry these weapons to the top of the stairs. Jackwon and I will bring the chest.”
At the top of the stairs Vallen waited while I carried the chest with Jackwon to the other side. I told Jackwon to wait there with Dravist and I asked Gillfort to come back with me. On the other side, I picked up my rapiers and daggers and Vallen carried the other weapons across the pool room with me. We set these down and I asked Vallen and Jackwon to guard and wait for us to return. I then asked Dravist to come back across with me. On the other side of the pool room, we descended the stairs again to the third basement level. We rounded the corner and I told them to wait at the table room. I described what had happened with Dust Man and finding the different rooms. I pulled out my crude map and showed them each of the rooms. Then I told them Dust Man was afraid of us so he only wanted to join me in the exploration of the basement.
I showed them the collection of weapons we had found. I explained that most of these would be given to the Governor after Alnifolia took what he wanted from the bunch. I allowed them to go through the weapons while I caught up with Dust Man and then I turned and headed down the corridor again.
“Dust Man?” I called. I found him standing near the door to the armory. He asked, “Where did you go?” I replied, I took the other two men up and brought the other two from my group down. I wanted them to see what was going on so they didn’t think we were forgetting them on the other side of the pool room.” He asked, “Pool room?” I replied, “Yes, that is what I call the room above us with the two large pools.” I didn’t want to mention the water elementals. He asked, “You can walk through the room?” I replied, “Yes. But it is because I have a special magic token. I don’t know if it would protect you. I want to see if we can find another way out before we consider the risk of bringing you into the pool room with me.” Dust Man replied, “I understand.”
I walked past the door to the armory with a lantern and noticed there was a branch in the corridor off to my right. There was also a door straight ahead and another door before that on the right hand side of the corridor. I set one lantern down at the intersection and asked Dust Man if I could ask my friends to come guard the side passage. Dust Man replied, “No, no. Only you good.” I replied, “Would you come and see them? They are not like the first two men that came down.” He hesitated and said, “I will see. Not close like before. Not close.” I said, “That is OK. We will not get close unless you say OK.” He replied, “No. Not OK.” I replied, “Yes, I understand. We will go see.”
I walked to the armory and picked up a lantern. Dust Man was walking with me. We walked up the corridor until I could see the door for the table room. I stopped and Dust Man stopped with me. I called out, “Dravist, Gillfort. Please step into the hallway. Dust Man would like to see you.” Dravist and Gillfort came into the hallway. I called out, “Just wait there a moment.” I turned and spoke softly to Dust Man, “See, these are two different men. One man is a cleric and the other man is a druid, which is like a cleric in the outdoors. But I guess you wouldn’t understand that because you don’t know about trees, yet. Just think of them as clerics. They are holy men that worship spirit forces, and the spirits give them power and guidance. Do you understand?” Dust Man replied, “I don’t think I like these men. Spirits are evil. If they worship spirits they are evil.” I replied softly, “There are good spirits too. These men each worship different good spirits. They do not worship bad spirits. They have been helpful to me. Dravist even healed my wounds from the water elemental. Do you understand good spirits and evil spirits?” Dust Man replied, “I understand good is not evil and evil is not good. Spirits I know are bad spirits. They make us hide from them or we get hurt.” I responded saying, “We don’t meet the spirits they worship. They don’t like coming to this plane. It makes them weak. It might be like the way you became weak. We will have to speak with wise clerics to get you back to your place if I understand your situation. You will see we have good clerics, and wise clerics, that want to help you. You should meet these two clerics that are my friends. I won’t let them hurt you.” Dust Man said, “Let me see better?” And he took a step and then another closer to them.
I held up my hand indicating they should stay still. I said softly, “Dust Man, the fellow at the door is Dravist and the fellow at the wall is Gillfort. They are my friends. Folks, this is Dust Man. We don’t know what else to call him. Can you see him?” They stared at me and shook their heads. I called out, “Dust Man, could you step closer to them?” He looked at me over his shoulder and then turned back. He took two more steps forward, crouched down a little, ready to leap. I called back, “Can you see him now? He is about half way between us.” Gillfort said, “Yes, yes, I can see him.” Dravist said, “I don’t think I can see him.” Gillfort held his hand on Dravist’s shoulder and pointed with his other hand. Then Dravist said, “Oh, now I see him. He’s a small fellow, isn’t he?” I called out, “Dust Man, what do you think?” He stepped back to me. He said to me, “I don’t like them. But they are OK?” I replied, “I’ll ask them to keep some distance. Just walk near to guard the other passage. OK?” He turned and looked again at them and then turned back to me and nodded his head a little and then looked down.
I said, “Follow along guys but don’t come closer unless something happens. Bring an extra lantern.” And I turned and started walking back down the corridor. They followed us and picked up a lantern at the door of the desk room. I was walking ahead of them and said, “Keep an eye on this corridor”, and I indicated the corridor that branched to the right. “We’ll check out what is behind this door ahead.” And Dust Man and I walked forward to the door on the right hand side of the corridor. I stopped and listened at the door and heard nothing. I tried the handle and the door opened. I shone the lantern inside and it was another office room.
I stepped inside and looked around. This room was a bit better furnished than the desk room. The chairs were better made; there were book cases on two walls, extra tables and chairs and tapestries on the walls and a rug on the floor. I set a lantern on a desk and had a look around. I brushed off the dust and found a few candles on candle holders. I lit these and set them about the room. I went to the doorway and asked Dust Man to come inside. I indicated I had cleaned off a chair for him and he took a seat. I asked, “Have you been in this room before?” He nodded his head. “Do you know what is in here? In these desks?” He replied, “Books, paper, letters, words, paper. Like other room.” I nodded my head. “Are there any hidden doors in this room?” He replied, “No. No find.” I went to sit behind the first desk and Dust Man sat quietly staring at the candle nearest him. I said, “Does the candle bother you?” He replied, “Little fire. No fire. May become big fire. No fire.” I replied, “Those candles will be OK for the light. I bet a few could warm up this room. That is why they used a rug and tapestries in here. It makes the room warmer. Do you enjoy a warm room or a cold room?” He asked, “Warm?” I wanted to show him warm but that would not do because of his feelings about fire. I said, “The fire makes light and warm too. Do you know heat?” He said, “Heat?” I asked “Do you know cold?” He said, “Cold?” This wasn’t getting me anywhere. I decided to cut that off. “I will tell you about heat and cold some other time. Let me look at the desks and the books.” I opened the first drawer of this desk and found writing implements. There was also a seal and sealing wax. This was the desk of an official. I grabbed the candle and held it so I might see better.
I opened the next drawer and looked inside and found blank paper. I opened the bottom drawer and found stacks of letters divided into groups with layers of cloth between them. I reached in and lifted up a handful of the letters. I looked through them and noted the handwriting was very good but I couldn’t read the language of the letters. Judging from the script and the lettering they appeared to be all written in the same language. I decided these were worth preserving so I lifted all of them from the drawer taking care to keep them in order. I found there was nothing further in the drawer so I put them back in the drawer.
I went to my own supplies and pulled out my make-shift map. I stood and paced off the room and then sat down to note the size. I made some notes about the room in particular including a note to return and investigate these letters. I then checked out the drawers on the left hand side of the desk. In the top drawer there was a map and a few letters written in a much poorer hurried script. I laid the map on the desk and looked it over carefully. It appeared to be a map of this site. The well and amphitheater were all clearly shown, along with the outline of the temple, this warehouse and the barracks. There were also notations showing other buildings. Since I had not seen these buildings I thought I should go pace these off and see if the foundations were still present. I folded this map and put it with my things. I replaced the other letters in the top drawer.
I opened the next drawer and found several pouches made of cloth with draw strings. The first pouch had a very satisfying heft to it indicating it held a number of coins. I poured out the contents on the desk and investigated the coinage. These coins were not made of gold or silver or platinum, but may have been made of a mixture or alloy of metals. A trained smith should be able to guess at the alloy by taking measurements of weight and volume. The color was not a shiny gold but dingy. There was some surface corrosion but only a little. Compared to the silver coins I found earlier that needed much polish, these were in much better shape, but I should expect these coins were just as neglected.
The image and script on the coins was more refined as well. These coins were not minted by the same smith that produced the other coins. I began to wonder if these were coins or some other manner of medallion, medal or talisman of this clerical order. I removed two and placed them in my pouch and returned the rest to the pouch.
I retrieved another pouch. If contained some dirty substance that had little weight to it. I believed it was something organic that had decayed away. An alchemist or mage might know how to determine what it was. I put that pouch away. I took out the next pouch. This pouch contained something that felt like sand. I was very unsure of touching this substance for it may be deadly or harmful, or it could be something as harmless as flash powder. I slowly opened the pouch and set it carefully on the desk top with the mouth opened. I moved the candle closer and could only see it had an orange color to it. I closed the pouch and returned it to the drawer.
I lifted the next pouch from the drawer and felt it had a box inside. I opened the pouch and looked in and could see nothing else, so I slipped the box from the pouch and set it on the desk. I examined the box. It was fashioned by someone familiar with making intricate things for the wooden joints were tight with a fine dovetail join. The pieces of wood were selected to provide contrasting colors of light and dark to enhance the aesthetic appeal of the box. I lifted the box and it seemed light for its size so I believed it was mostly hollow. There was no hinge, hasp or lock. The cover appeared to just lift off. So carefully, slowly, I lifted the top from the box. Inside was a single silver globe. It was still shiny so that I knew it was either not pure silver or it was magically enhanced. Not wishing to invoke magical forces that I may not be prepared to deal with, I placed the cover back on the box; the box back into the bag, and the bag back into the drawer. I noted on my crude map that the box was an important discovery to investigate. The bag was a beautiful green color.
Finishing the drawers of the first desk I turned my attention to the bookcase behind this desk. These were unlike the books in the library room. They were bound books in the traditional manner with heavy leather cover, fine close stitches and the pages evenly trimmed. There were no titles on the covers but the bindings were colored. I lifted a volume from the shelf and turned it over to se the pages. I could immediately tell this was an oft used book for there was an area over the middle of the pages where the dirt from a thumb had stained the edges of the pages as it was thumbed through to find the right page. Inside the printing was very good as if copied by a practiced scribe such as those found in a monastery.
It appeared to be a book of verses for the first word of the chapters were written in a special handwriting that emphasized the first character. The letter was written into an artistic box, extra large, with tiny artwork woven into the box around the letter. The remainder of the writing on the page was divided into one, two or three sentence verses. I flipped through to verify the whole book was written or copied in this fashion. I placed it back on the shelf and withdrew the volume next to it. This volume was the same style, and so were the other volumes on that shelf so that it appeared they might be a set.
I checked the shelf above and these volumes were made in the same manner with some seeing more or less use than the first book I examined. I was intrigued and confirmed the whole bookcase was filled with volumes of this sort. I stood up and took a step back from the book case. The books were arranged with several side by side all with the same color binding. After seven, eight, even ten volumes, the binding color would change and there would be another several volumes of the same color. I sat down and noted the bookcase as something that would need to be studied. I stood and stepped over to the other desk and Dust Man just sat and watched me.
I brushed off the dust on the desk and chair and sat down and resumed my search. The contents of the right-hand drawers were much the same as the other desk; writing supplies, blank paper, and correspondence carefully stacked with cloth dividers. The left-hand side drawers were also different from the right. In the top drawer I found another copy of the site map and several letters bearing seals. There was also a special knife, not a dagger with a cross piece, but an ornate knife with a blade as large as a dagger. The whole of the blade was polished and still bore a fine edge. The handle was made with gold and silver and set with gems. There was no scabbard for the knife but it was wrapped in a grey soft cloth tied with a silver braided chord.
In the other drawer there were more pouches. These pouches contained bowls and cups, one in each. There was one large bowl, enough to hold a gallon, made of silver. There was one large cup, enough to hold a pint, maybe more and it was made of both silver and gold. There were four other bowls all the same size that might hold a half pint each and there were four small cups that might also hold half as much. These cups, unlike the large cup, had no stems. None of them had handles. There was one final bowl that also had a lid that fit tight to the bowl, not water tight, but very tight. This bowl bore a crest on the side and the lid had a small handle.
I put these things away and made the proper notations on my map for a later investigation. I turned to look at the bookcase and again several shelves were filled with books from the set, or so it appeared. I removed one and checked inside. The writing and style of the chapter pages appeared the same. But about half of the bookcase contained other volumes. I took one from the other shelves and inspected it. It also showed the signs of heavy use but was as well made as the books from the set. I opened it and saw it was also copied by an experienced scribe. Inside the book was not written in verse and the chapter pages didn’t contain the beginning style of the others. There was a single number boldly made and then writing below in the script of the scribes. I set that book back on the shelf and made notations on my map. I stood and stepped over to one of the tables in a corner of the room taking the candle with me.
I set the candle down and brushed off the dust before sitting down. There were a few sheets laying on the table and I reached for the top page and looked it over. This appeared to be a page from a letter or report that contained more pages because the writing went to the end of the page and did not end with a punctuation mark. There was no writing on the other side indicating the writer had an abundance of paper or they desired this page to be preserved for future historical significance, as in the manner of a diploma, commission or other significant charter. I set this away and rose to investigate the writings on the other table.
I looked at Dust Man and asked, “Would you like to move to this seat over here?” I indicated the desk without a candle. “I would like to take a look at those pages and I will need to bring a candle with me. I realize you don’t like fire so I want to let you stay away.” He said after standing, “I will move. Good. Fire bad. What are you looking for?” I responded, “I’m looking for clues about who built this place, and why. After looking at that desk and these books in this room, I believe the wise men that will help get you home will find their answers in this room. I believe this room holds the secrets about their rituals and the information here will help us understand how you came to be here and what we can do to return you to your home.” With this, Dust Man smiled and nodded his head. He stepped away from the table in the other corner and I picked up the candle and stepped over there. Again, I wiped the dust away and sat down.
The first letter among these appeared as a standard letter signed at the bottom. I glanced at a few more and saw other similar letters. There were several letters there arranged in neat piles. I wished I could read their language. I was sure Thomas Quintus could, or at least make arrangements for someone who could, read these documents for us with the assistance of magic, but I feared with the number of documents here it would take a long time to sort it out. The last things I did were to pace off the room and record it on my drawing and then I took the seal from each desk and made a seal on the back of my map to show to Thomas Quintus when I returned to Stonebridge. I thought he might recognize the seals from some of his studies. I replaced the seals at the proper desks and then blew out the two candles. I took the first lantern to the corridor and went back and grabbed the second.
Out in the corridor I told Dravist I thought this office was the key to learning about this place. He asked what was in there and I said lots of important correspondence, several books that I believed would explain their rituals and even some ritual hardware like the knife I found. I believed the head cleric and his right hand man used that office for their administration duties. I then told them I was going to check out the other door at the end of the corridor next. As before, I knelt down and listened and then tried the handle. This door was open and it swung freely. I raised my lantern to have a look inside. This appeared to be living quarters. I stepped inside.
I found a table near the door and set a lantern on the table and retrieved the other lantern from the corridor. I stepped further into the room and looked for another table. There was a table with chairs on the other side so I stepped over there and set the lantern down. I looked about the room and saw a bed, a bedside table, a dresser, chest of drawers, mirror with a table, a bowl and pitcher, a wardrobe, another bookcase, a small desk, a cabinet and various shelves. At the other side of the room from the door there was a fireplace that hadn’t seen a fire in some time. I didn’t dare light a fire for Dust Man might go into a panic. I did locate a few more candles and lit them to provide better light.
I noticed on one of the shelves a smaller version of the knife I found in the desk of the previous room. There were also bowls and cups arranged neatly on these shelves. Under these shelves there was a large thick book set on a reading stand. The book was closed and an examination showed the binding was exquisitely prepared. The cover was a deep blue and it had designs on the cover in silver somehow pressed into the leather. The design suggested water so I believed it was a book of their most sacred water rituals. Next to the reading stand was a font carved from a single piece of green stone. It was an octagonal pillar about three feet tall and an almost hemispherical depression was carved into the top. It was polished smooth and the only inscription was a glyph know to alchemists for water on one of the faces.
I looked to the book shelves. These books did not appear to be official books but they were well made. It appeared this might be something the owner might read for recreation such as histories of their favorite places or other works of literary art from wherever they were from. I moved on to the wardrobe. The wardrobe contained one set of traveling clothes, three sets of robes all in a dark blue with silver accents and three more sets of elaborate robes also in dark blue with silver. There was also a pair of shoes, a pair of boots and four pair of sandals. I went to check the other personal things and found only more of the same; things you would find in any affluent man’s room for relaxation and comfort.
I turned to Dust Man and asked him, “Have you been in this room before?” He nodded his head. I asked, “Are there any other hidden doors in here?” He replied, “No. No find.” I stepped off the room and marked it on my crude map. With that done, I blew out the candles and took the first lantern out into the corridor and came back for the second. I met with Dravist and Gillfort. I asked, “Have you heard or seen anything since being over here?” They replied, except for the noise coming from the room where I was searching, they had not heard a thing. I asked if they would take a lantern ahead down the branching corridor ahead of me. Dravist picked up the second lantern and motioned for Gillfort to follow him.
They didn’t go very far and they could see the corridor came to a wide passage. They walked slowly to the end of the corridor where it joined the passage and called back to me, “There is a wide passage in front of us that goes left to right. It looks like there is a door on the other side of the passage.” I replied, “Is it the same manner of construction as the corridor and rooms? Is the door about the same?” They called back, “Yes, and yes.” I called forward, “Go ahead and have a quick look.” At this, Dravist said, “Us?” And Gillfort replied (in a voice that expressed disappointment in Dravist), “C’mon, let’s have a look.” They stepped forward with Gillfort now in the lead. They looked around and didn’t see anything threatening. Gillfort called back, “We’re in the passage and there are more doors. They’re on either side of the passage.” I replied, “OK, I’ll be right up.” And I stepped forward to have a look with them.
I could see the passage was about thirty feet wide and there were doors on either side as they said. There were also statues through the middle of the passage; statues of men, four of them. They all had the look of clerics. I joked with Dravist indicating the statues with my arm, “Friends of yours?” Dravist was not in a humorous mood and replied, “Not funny.” I asked, “They look like clerics to me. How about you?” Dravist took a lantern and gave the nearest one a good look and said, “Yes, I think they probably are, or were.”
I asked, “Do either of you have some kind of light spell?” They answered that they did not. I asked, “Could one of you go back for another lantern? You could use a torch to walk back and then extinguish it and come back with a lantern.” Dravist didn’t say a thing so Gillfort again had to jump in, “I’ll got fetch another lantern.” I said, “Thanks. Dravist, keep an eye on things out here, while I’ll have a look in this room.” Dravist replied, “Sure.”
I went to the first door on my left and knelt down to listen. Again there was nothing. I was preparing to open the door when I caught a glimpse of Dust Man that gave me a start. Regaining my composure, I tried the handle and the door was not locked. I pushed it open and it scratched a little as it gave way. I shone my lantern inside and this appeared to be a smaller version of the same thing I had just seen. There was a bed, night stand, wardrobe, table, books, even a polished font although not so well made or quite as large. I stepped inside to have a better look. It all looked so much the same I left it for Dravist and Gillfort. My anxiety was becoming more noticeable and I decided to let them have some of the ‘fun.’
I stepped out into the passage and said to Dravist, “You check this room out. Don’t move anything after you look at it. Put it back where you found it. Let me know if you find anything out of the ordinary.” Just then Gillfort came back. I called to him, keep an eye out while Dravist checks out that room. I’m going to check out this next one. I stepped down the way to the next door and listened. Hearing nothing, I tried the handle and found this was either stuck or locked. I decided I wasn’t going to force the door right now and would check the other first.
I stepped over to the next door and listened. Hearing nothing, I tried the handle and this one was open. I pushed it open and shone my lantern inside. Again, it looked the same as the last two. I called to Gillfort, “You check this room out when Dravist is done with his. Don’t move anything. After you check something out, put it back like you found it.” I stepped to the next room and listened and heard nothing. I tried the handle and it was stuck or locked. Now I had two rooms to think about.
I stepped to the next one, now on the other side of the passage. I listened and heard nothing. I tried the handle and it was open so I pushed the door and looked inside. Another room like the others. I called to Gillfort, “Do you want this one or shall I give it to Dravist?” He replied, “I’ll take it. More of the same, then?” I answered, “Looks so.” I stepped toward the next door on my right. I listened and heard nothing. I heard Dravist finishing in his room so I asked, “Dravist, anything of note?” He replied, “This fellow had some expensive clericals. I couldn’t read his books. It looks like he smoked tocco like you.” And Dravist held up a pipe and smiled at me. I said, “Please put that back unless you think we need to show it to Alnifolia.” Dravist just lowered his arm and ducked back into the room.
I called over to Gillfort, “Go ahead and check out that next room.” He nodded his head and walked over to see the room. Dravist came out and I asked him, “You ready to check out this room?” He said, “Uh, yea, sure.” So he stepped across the passage and tried the handle and the door opened. He looked inside and stepped in. I stepped over to the nearest statue and had a close look. The sculptor was very good so that I had an uneasy feeling it wasn’t a sculpture at all. I could see the undulations in his hand and arm where the tendons and veins came close to the surface. Not only was the work prepared with such detail but it was also polished to a fine smooth finish none the worse for wear down here these many years.
Dust Man made a comment that gave me a start. “These like the men before.” He said. I caught my breath and asked, “Were all these here when you got here?” He replied, “No, not that one. This one yes. That one yes. That one yes.” So of the four he indicated one was new compared to the others. I asked, “Did you see them bring it in or were you hiding from them?” He answered, “I hid from them. Remember when it came. Long time ago.” I then asked the question I wanted to know, “So they really are statues?” He didn’t understand and said, “Statues?” I said, “Are these stone or were these men turned into stone?” Dust Man replied, “These stone, can’t you see?” I realized he didn’t understand the point of my question and I was probably making something out of nothing in my imagination.
Dravist and Gillfort came from their respective inspections. I asked, “Dravist, anything unusual?” He said, “Nope. More of the same. Good robes and some books.” I asked Gillfort, “Gillfort, did you find anything except normal personal effects?” He replied, “No. Just regular stuff.” I asked him, “Would you go ahead and check that room. I’m going to measure off these spaces and add them to my map.” He replied, “Sure.” He ducked into the next open door I left for him. Meanwhile I told Dravist to watch out while I measured things and added to my map.
First, I paced off the corridor and the location of each door and statue. I used another piece of paper to make a rubbing of each statue’s inscription. I marked which rubbing came from each statue. Next, I went into each room myself just to measure the interior and mark my map. When I was finished, Gillfort had finished his room and I went in to complete the survey of that room. Out in the passage again I pulled out the map and showed it to them. “This is were we came down the stairs and the corridor came this way. There were four rooms before the branch in the corridor and then two more rooms. So far, in this area we have checked these rooms and it looks like there are three more rooms to see. If you step down there you’ll see the passage becomes a great open gathering space.
I indicated we should move on checking the rooms. We walked in the direction where we had not yet inspected and using the lanterns they could now see what I noticed with my dark vision earlier. There was an enormous room at the end of this passage. Judging by the spacing of the columns that had been placed very regularly throughout the building, I estimated the corridor to be thirty feet wide. The next space might be three times as wide judging by the columns. I listened at the first door and tried the handle. It was open so I pushed the door open and looked inside. I said, “Dravist, this one is yours.” I stepped forward and repeated the process. Finding the door open I said, “Gillfort, this one’s for you.” I stepped across the passage to the last door and listened, tried the handle and pushed it open. I looked inside with my lantern and Called out, “I’ll take this one.” I stepped inside.
This room was a smaller version of the last room I inspected. It had one different look to it; it didn’t appear to be lived in. It had all the furniture including a bookcase and wardrobe, but there were no books or clothes. There were writing supplies but no letters about. I paced off the room and marked my map. Then I stepped back into the passage, which had decided to refer to as the “gallery.” The other had stepped from their rooms too. I asked, “Anything?” They replied they hadn’t found anything to report. I walked over to pace of their rooms. After doing that we turned our attention to the big room.
We stepped closer and stood at the edge. The lantern light could not be seen on the opposite wall but it did appear that I was right about the size of this space, ninety feet wide as measured by the columns. I asked them, “Any reason we shouldn’t step in there? Any feeling of traps or curses?” They just looked back at me and shook their heads, but they were in no hurry to take the first step. There were markings on the floor that suggested this was used for something special.
I turned and looked about for Dust Man. I called out, “Dust Man, where are you?” He was only a few steps away and answered giving us all a start. It was very unsettling that he could be so near and we wouldn’t know it. He said, “Yes. Yes. Here I am.” I asked him, “Have you been in that room too?” He replied, “Yes. Yes.” I asked, “Is it safe in there?” He replied, “No men. It is safe. No men. No fire. No water.” I asked, “Did the men use this room with fire and water?” He answered, “Yes. Fire and water. They brought some and the room made more.” I looked at Dravist, “Do you know what he means?” Dravist answered, “Well, we have figured this is a water elemental cult. We are using fire to see down here. Maybe they lit many torches to provide light for their ceremonies. Other than that guess, I don’t know.” I turned to Gillfort, and he just shrugged his shoulders.
I asked about the markings. “Do you fellows have any idea what these are about?” Gillfort said, “Maybe after we see the whole floor.” I answered, “Yea, I thought so. Well here goes.” And I stepped inside the room and thankfully nothing happened. I thought I would go around the side instead of straight out into the middle. I turned to my left and stepped over that way.
As I stepped in there was a large triangle of deep blue on the floor, which was otherwise grey-ish stone. In the corner in front of me there was another triangle of finished stone that was a pale yellow. The wall had more low relief carvings that reminded me of the carvings in the temple we inspected the day before. I turned to my right to follow the wall and came to a pale white triangle on the floor and more relief carvings on the wall. I was getting a little far away from Dravist and Gillfort so I asked them to step into the room. They slowly came in with me but stayed together and near the middle. I said, “The walls have the same type of low relief carvings we saw in the temple yesterday. There is a white triangle at my feet and I can now see the far wall with more carvings. What is over there?” Gillfort said, “There is a large yellow circle in the middle of the room. I think it is yellow. It is hard to tell in the torch light. But it has triangles around it so I think it is a symbol for the sun. It reminds me of the alchemists that believe the sun and the four elements are related.”
I stepped forward, and in the corner ahead of me was another triangle. This triangle was a darker color contrasting with the pale yellow of the rest of the stonework. I turned again to my right. As I stepped forward I saw the next triangle was a darker color that I believed was a bright red, but as Gillfort said, it was not so easy to be sure of the colors in the light of these lanterns. Ahead of me was another triangle in the corner. This triangle was finished in two colors alternating thin strips of purple and turquois. I turned again to my right and saw a triangle of dark brown. I stepped forward coming to the last corner and the corner appeared to be a triangle of white again. I walked into the middle of the room to see the sun symbol better.
I looked around from this vantage point and I realized this room was made for some sort of secret ritual, and I feared this is where they summoned their water elemental minions; or were they their masters? On several columns and around the sides of the room there were chandeliers that held a number of candles for light. There were also a number of bowls fixed to columns about elbow high that would be filled with water. The triangles around the room were colored for the four elements. I couldn’t figure out what the triangles in the corners were in this arrangement, but they had some significance, I was sure of that. I paced off the size of the room and then said we should step away into the gallery. Once we were out of there I marked my map and said we should go back to the table room where the weapons were placed. I could give my map a good look and then we could return to the surface.
We started into the corridor and when we reached the branch I told them to go ahead while I spoke with Dust Man. I said, “Dust Man, it appears you were right and there are no other doors out of here except through the pool room. I think the last room we visited, the ritual room, is important to getting you out of here, and I also believe the answers our wise men need to help you are in that office room with the two desks.” I held out my hand to touch him on the shoulder gently. “I’m sorry that you have been trapped down here for a long time but I don’t have the answers to get you out of here and back to your home. I don’t think your home is outside. I think it is in another plane. I don’t much knowledge of such things, but I am going to speak with wise men that can figure this out and help you. It may take them some time to sort out the details but I believe they can do it. I hope to be back here soon. When the men come back you may want to stay in one of the small rooms back there”, and I indicated the rooms around the gallery.
I looked into his face and paused. He just blinked at me. I said, “Good luck.” I turned and went to join the other fellows in the table room.
In the table room I asked them to also pick two weapons and a dagger each. I explained to them the same as with the others, Vallen and Jackwon, that they may not be able to keep either weapon because Alnifolia and the Magistrate may think they should have them for one reason or another, but they would be well rewarded when this was all over. Dravist was annoyed thinking we should be able to keep anything we want but surprisingly Gillfort was not bothered by this; he seemed pleased. Unfortunately Gillfort didn’t find anything among the weapons he much valued except the apparent worth of the weapons as sale pieces. The weapons themselves didn’t appeal to him. He took some interest in the pole arms and I asked why. He said he was going to remove the head and use one as a quarter staff if he could find one of the druids up top to train him.
I picked up one of the crossbows, not one of the show pieces, but one of the utilitarian ones, and a number of bolts. I thought I could learn to use it too. With our weapons picked out we went to the stairs. We crossed the pool room in pairs as before and joined up with Vallen and Jackwon. One the way up I had the lantern extinguished so they would be of use to the next party we sent back. Up top I secured the great wood door that allowed entry and we took our bounty to the barracks and out camp site. I said, “Leave everything here and I will need to speak to Alnifolia first.” It was late in the afternoon so I wasn’t sure if he would be inside or working around the edge of this compound. I decided to head inside and ask whoever was on guard.
Down in the basement, I found Laevis passing time while it was his watch. I asked him where I may find Alnifolia and he replied that he and Palustris would be back shortly for it was getting near dinner time. He asked, “So, any luck down there?” I replied with a grin, “Oh yea. More than we were expecting. This may be the biggest find in the Empire this year; not for the value in money but information. That is why I am so anxious to see Alnifolia.” He asked, “What did you find then?” I replied, “Well there was a chest with jewels and coins. But the biggest find was the books down there. We think we stumbled into a major cult stronghold that was prepared to summon beings from the elemental planes. And we think the means to do it again are in the books. Unfortunately I couldn’t read their language, but it appears they had extensive books on elemental rituals. You already know about the two water elementals that are trapped down there. I wonder what would happen if we got a good rain and went inside the temple. There might be another bigger one trapped in there for all I know.” He replied, “Well we’ll have plenty to discuss at dinner tonight I guess.” I said, “Yes, we will. Now if you will please excuse me, I’m headed back upstairs.” And with that I returned to the party.
As I was coming outside I could hear Palustris talking to Vallen and Jackwon. They were excited about the weapons and jewels. As I came outside I looked about and did not see Alnifolia. I asked Palustris, “Where is Alnifolia? I want to talk to him about what we found down there.” Palustris replied, “He should be along shortly.” I asked him, “What do you think?” He replied, “I don’t know. It sounds great. I hope there are as many fine weapons as they say.” At that, Gillfort chimed in, “There were no staves down there, only fighter weapons, although there were a few daggers and crossbows. But what need we of weapons out here?” I responded, “No need for that. Let’s bring everything we brought up into the office so Alnifolia can see it.” Secretly I wanted to make sure we were not accused of holding anything back from Alnifolia. It was imperative we keep him favorably disposed to our cause.
We took the chest into the “office” and set it on the floor and brought the weapons in and set them on the table or leaning against the walls. I counted everything to make sure they were there. I decided to open the chest and count the coins just to pass the time while I waited. I invited Palustris to sit with me and the others hung around outside the door to the office. First I divided the coins into piles depending on the metal. I counted the platinum at seven, the gold at forty-eight and the silvers at one-hundred sixty-two. I put them back in one box leaving the other box empty. I said, “We need to polish these silver pieces right away. If we leave them the rate of corrosion will grow.”
I lifted out one of the boxes of gems and counted them out. First, I sorted them by size. I counted seven large gems, twenty medium gems (the size appropriate for a ring stone), and fifty-five medium-small gems. I replaced them in their box and wrote the number in charcoal on the box. I counted the other gem boxes the same and wrote on the boxes. I lifted the forged arrowheads and spread them out on the table. As I began to sort them according to shape and size Palustris took quite an interest in these. I counted them and was thinking how I would write the number and decided to just write the total on the box. The other box contained the small bottles with the wax seals. On this box I marked a circle with an “X” through the center. I placed the writing kit back and then the tray over it all.
From the tray I lifted up the green stone and studied it. It was a cut stone shaped in a rectangular fashion. I remembered seeing another stone cut this way but I couldn’t recall where it was. Was it in one of the daggers, I wondered. It was clear in the manner that it had few inclusions. I placed it back in the box and then lifted the other blue stone. It was also a cut stone in a rounded diamond type shape, almost like an egg with a point at each end. I held it up to the light and noted it was also very clear of defects. I put it back in the tray. Then I turned my attention to the loose jewelry.
I picked them out of the tray and set them all on the table on a piece of cloth. There were five bracelets, four neclaces, nine rings, three broaches, four pair of earrings and the stick pin. The stick pin was topped with a single large pearl and I took an immediate fancy to it. The earrings included one pair of elaborate dangling earrings with clear stones (I believed they were diamonds) and red stones. The other three pair were single gems each, one pair of pearls, one pair of an opaque pale blue stone and one pair of a bright yellow stone, citrine.
The three broaches were all made in the same style like the fan of a peacock’s tail. They contained a center stone of one color and a row of diamonds straight up from there. Then on either side of the row of diamonds there were red stones, then green stones, then yellow stones and finally blue stones, so that there were nine rows of these stones in a fan. One broach contained a blue center stone, another a green stone and the last one a purple stone.
The bracelets were mostly gold bands with a row of gems along the middle portion. These gems were cut in square shapes and faceted. There were five or seven stones in each one. The four necklaces were all different. One was made of pearls. The next was made of alternating green and blue stones. The next was made of alternating blue and red stones and the last was made of red, yellow, blue and green stones, with a single large diamond at the center.
The nine rings were more mysterious. We had all heard that many rings exist with magical powers but none of us had first hand experience handling something like that. But because of the stories were held great anticipation for what the rings may be. They were all fashioned to be worn by a man. The stones were all faceted except for one smooth deep red ring. They were all single stones set in heavy gold settings. Six were smooth finished gold settings but the other three were made with low relief designs in the metal work.
Of the six smooth rings, two held dark blue faceted stones, one like an oval and one like a rectangle. The next one was the deep yellow stone faceted and shaped like a circle, not as large as the others. The next was an opaque blue stone faceted in the shape of a pointed egg. The next was a deep red faceted stone in the shape of a rectangle and the last of the pain settings was a pale green stone also in the shape of a pointed egg.
The ring that caught my eye the most had a red faceted stone in the shape of a circle. The jeweler’s work on the metal was spectacular. Around the stone was a texture like a piece of rope. Then much of the sides were finished in small flats overlapping to appear as scales. Another of these rings was made with a gem that had brown, white and yellow with a sparkling appearance. It was a faceted stone with few facets as if the onlooker were supposed to be tempted to look at the ring and count the facets. I couldn’t help it and held the ring up in the light and counted them twice to make sure I had the count right; twelve. The center four facets formed a four-pointed star. The metalwork began around the edge of the stone with points reaching in to hold the stone in place like teeth, no fangs or tusks, biting the stone to hold onto it. The rest of the sides were fashioned in swirls like the waves of the ocean crashing on rocks. The final ring contained a single large diamond, faceted by an expert, in the shape of a circle. The metalwork was like the waves on the ocean slowly undulating up and down. It had a mesmerizing effect that made one think of running water. The large round diamond sparkled and called to my mind the pale white light from the moon.
Alnifolia appeared in the door to the study. I set the last ring down on the table and looked at him. I smiled and said, “You wouldn’t believe what we found down there.” And he smiled at me and said in response, “Try me.” All at once I remembered my manners and stood up. I asked where he had been and he replied, “I’ve been about my work.” He looked at the table of weapons and rings for just a moment and then said, “Well, we need to get ready for dinner. Laevis, Gillfort, would you mind managing the cooking tonight? Let’s have a hearty meal again tonight. I’m sure we’re in for a tale.” And with that, Palustris stepped out of the room and allowed Alnifolia to enter. I asked Jackwon and Dravist to help with firewood or anything else they might need. This left me, Alnifolia, Palustris and Vallen. I asked Alnifolia if Vallen should go downstairs and watch the prisoners. He replied, “Yes, that would be nice.” Vallen immediately stepped down the hallway.
I began by saying this chest is full of valuable things but I believe the real value is still down in the third basement. Would you like to look at these things or have me set out the map and discuss what we found down there? Alnifolia said, “I think I’ll have a look at these things here.” And he surveyed the jewelry and we placed it all back in the tray. I showed him the two large gems and replaced them. I removed the tray and showed him the contents of each box concluding with a note that we needed to attend to polishing the silver to protect it. We replaced the boxes and the tray and closed the lid on the chest.
We turned our attention to the weapons. Several daggers were on the table. I told him about the weapons room and that we each brought up two favorite weapons except for Gillfort who was unimpressed because there were no staves. He did bring a crossbow up and two dozen crossbow bolts. I told him it would do my fellows a great boost if they were allowed to return with the two weapons and dagger they selected, because I told them the magistrate may well elect to keep one or both of them. But since we had an agreement, I wanted to put all these weapons before him and let him decide if we might take them.
He grinned a little and said to me, “And which of these did you pick out for yourself. Wait, let me guess.” And he immediately reached for one of the rapiers and set it on the table and then the other one. He pulled on the first, the one with the cup, to expose the blade several inches and admired the work. He pushed it back and did likewise with the second. He admired the blade and the handiwork of the handle and pushed it back. Then he fingered the daggers and pointed to one saying, “This dagger and these two rapiers, I bet.” I smiled back at him and said, “Yes, and this dagger too. What do you think?” He replied, “I’m sure there are none better down there.” And I replied, “Well, none. There were only the two rapiers down there. And these two daggers are very beautiful. Do you know if we have any magically enchanted blades among these weapons? How would we know?” He just replied, “Sometimes you know right away and sometimes you find out later. The later ones usually have a special foe the blade was made to contest. The ‘right away’ blades either exhibit some elemental magic or have an unusually light feel and are also especially well balanced in spite of their appearance. It would seem you don’t have any ‘right away’ blades here, then.”
He looked at the others. He reached for an axe and admired the work. He set it back and reached for a long sword and its scabbard. He exposed the blade and admired it, then replaced it and admired the handle and even the scabbard. He asked, “How many more of these are down there?” I said, “A handful. I didn’t want to bring any more up here in this trip because I believe they are safer down there. If we brought everything up at once and something awful happened, we could lose everything. I recognize that such possessions tend to draw attention and I don’t want us getting too far out of our league.” Alnifolia replied, “Oh, I’d say you’re out of your league already. Any of these weapons belong in the hands of an official the rate of your Governor, I bet. You may be allowed to keep one of the rapiers and a dagger from this haul only by turning over the rest to your Governor.” I turned my head down and replied, “I see. I feel I owe my companions better.”
Alnifolia paused and said, “I think I should go down and see the rest of the treasure horde before we make any decisions about this. I think you are wise to have only brought up this portion. Do you have anything else to show me?” I thought and remembered I needed to return the key and amulet to him. And because I was digging in my pouch for the key I remembered the medallions. I pulled them out and showed them to Alnifolia. I told him there were many more in the executive study but I wanted to take two back; one for the Magistrate’s people to study and one for Andante to take back to the capitol for them to study. He looked at the medallions and said, “This is a good idea. I don’t want to keep one up here. If we were attacked and someone saw this, and knew what it symbolized, they may well tear this place up looking for the others. I fear these are dangerous to us in this place.” I said, “Let me show you the map I made.” He replied, “No let’s look at that after dinner at the table. Now, I believe you will want to keep this under guard so let’s move these things into the dining room. If you’ll get the chest with Palustris, I’ll bring these weapons. We’ll set them in the corner.” We took everything into the dining room and he asked Palustris to stay there and keep an eye on everything. We returned to his study. As we went, Dravist and Jackwon came in with armloads of wood. We directed them to drop off the wood and join Palustris in the dining room.
Sitting down in the study again we lit two candles for better light. He called out, “How long before dinner is ready, Laevis?” Laevis called back, “A little while yet, master.” He replied, “Thank you.” He closed the door and sat down. He pointed to a shelf and said, “Let’s have a bowl of tocco and discuss things.” I pulled down the pouch and two pipes and we prepared a pipe each. He then said, “Let’s see that map or yours.” And I retrieved my map and the parchment from my case. I flattened them both out with my map on top.
Pointing at the corner of the first layer I said, “We went down these stairs to the locked door. The key worked fine. Inside we found three great rooms; a storage room, an eating room and a kitchen. There were rows of columns with the columns spaced ten feet apart and the rows spaced thirty. With this we could easily compare room sizes as we progressed.” He looked and said, “Then you don’t know what is over here?” And I looked at his finger and replied, “Well, we were in a hurry at that point so I should need to check those dimensions and count the columns again.” He replied, “I see.”
I continued, “We went to the end of this corridor and as the passage turned to the left we went down a set of stairs about the same height as here to the basement. At the bottom we went forward to a great door here. On the other side was the place where we found the two water elementals. I call this the pool room.” And looking at this he asked, “And you’re sure of these distances?” I replied, “No, sorry. I was none too anxious to step into the pool to check those distances, so looking at the construction I estimated the columns would line up from one floor to the next.” He nodded his head, “Yes, I don’t think I am so bold as to step into those pools either. And your instincts are correct. Those columns should line up from one floor to the next.”
“On the other side there is another great door, and beyond is something like the mirror image of this corridor. At the end we descended a stair and turned right this time. Now we were on the third basement. There was a door almost immediately to our left and inside was a room with four well-made tables and several equally well-made chairs. I should like to take a set back with me on another trip. You would be please to have a set, I’m sure. But it is what we found inside that room that was our first amazing discovery.” He asked, “Your first amazing discovery … and you already discovered two water elementals?” I said, “Yes. We found another being, trapped down there, something like a human in form but not human, and I don’t even think he belongs on the material plane. I believe he is a lesser being from the elemental plane of air, and I fear he was tormented by someone with fire at some point earlier. He is trapped down there as best I can tell. I could have tried to bring him up with us, but I feared he might run off and we would never be able to help him return to where he belongs. He had a translucent appearance. Some light was passing right through him so that he cast only a very soft shadow. Other than that, his skin or hide appears to be covered in dust. We could communicate a little in the common tongue and so I called him Dust Man.”
Alnifolia sat back and puffed on his pipe. He said, “I shall need to see this too when we go down there.” He gazed off and puffed on his pipe again. He sat back up and said, “So what did you find next?” I said, “The next room was full of bookshelves like you may find in a library, but the volumes on the shelves were ancient texts. I couldn’t read anything I found down there but I had a sense the volume I inspected down there was a history of this region from long ago. As a matter of fact, I believe there is enough information to sort out all the history of this complex and much of the region commanded by Stonebridge. I believe this will be of great value to you and the Governor and the Emperor.” Alnifolia just nodded his head, which I took to be an indication of both “I understand” and “please go on.”
In the next room there were four desks and several lanterns. I used the lanterns to give me better light since we had used the few I had brought down from above. Inside the desks were old writing supplies and stuff but nothing especially noteworthy. But there was a hidden door at the back of that room here that the Dust Man showed to me. I found how to open it and there were thick cobwebs in a passageway that led off to the left. I followed the passage to find this chest. Jackwon and Vallen hauled the chest out for me.
In the next room I found the armory. There were racks of weapons and two cabinets. The cabinets held a few special weapons on display and some mundane weapons like the crossbows. The racks held valuable weapons but as far as I can tell none magical. We brought up the best pieces and moved most of the rest to the table room. We left all the banners in the armory but I would like to retrieve them too because the heraldry may give us yet more clues. At this point I had Vallen and Jackwon carry some stuff up and I invited Dravist and Gillfort to come down. I wanted all of them to understand what we had found down there otherwise they might think I was concealing something from them. At this point Alnifolia broke in and said, “There will be many times when you will need to keep things from your party because of your honesty and sense of duty. As a matter of fact, I wish to do you a favor. I think I am going to claim the two rapiers as part of my portion. Your partners won’t believe it and they will be much easier on you about the rest of the treasure you transport back to Stonebridge.” At first I’m sure my mouth dropped open but then I understood what he was doing.
I went on describing the basement. “The corridor branched off this way and that but I decided to check out these two rooms before taking the branch. The next room appeared to be the executive study or something like that. There were two desks and two grand bookcases. The bookcases contain a series of volumes that I believe form the core of the knowledge of their beliefs. There are easily 80 volumes or more in this set. In addition there are other books that contain ritual notes because they have figures and diagrams and special arcane glyphs and other material within. I believe the set will provide all the answers to their elemental magic we could learn in a lifetime. They had a set a special hardware including a knife, bowls and cups, that I believe are used for their rituals also.
The next room appeared to be the private quarters of their leader. In the wardrobe there were a number of elegant robes for their ceremonies. He kept only one pair of shoes and one pair of boots but many pair of sandals in his room so that I believe he didn’t travel much. There were smaller replicas of the ceremonial hardware and a special font for water in this room. But it was also furnished with the things one might enjoy when they were just wishing to relax and not work. The furniture, the rugs and tapestries were all very fine and the room was very spacious.
I then took them down the corridor and we visited these rooms which were smaller versions of the large bedroom I had left. This room was double large compared to the others and this one was also. Two of the smaller room were locked or blocked so that I couldn’t go in. It is my hope you might be able to help with that. The area through the middle contains four fine statues; so fine that I worried they were not statues but men turned in to stone. The detail of their hands and arms, their ears and other details were so fine that I had never seen such a sculpture. Beyond the gallery was their ritual room. It was clearly arranged with consideration for all four elements, the sun and the moon, which causes me to wonder if it was strictly an elemental magic cult or if there was a strong influence from alchemists. The four elements with the sun and moon are always found together in alchemical tomes of knowledge.
After measuring off the ritual room and noting the layout of the major features I wanted to leave for it seemed there were magical forces I better not disturb in that basement. But I would be pleased to return with you tomorrow so that you may confirm I have shared everything I know about the place with you. You now have the key and amulet so I have no ability to reenter without your blessing. Alnifolia sat back and considered what I had said. He said, “I think you’re right. Let’s go down for one more look in the morning. Now, let’s see about some dinner.” And with that he stood up and knocked out his pipe. I stood and did the same. We headed for the dining room.
Inside the dining room Alnifolia called out, “Laevis, how’s it coming?” And he called back, “We’ll be bring it in in a moment.” He sat at the head of the table and I sat on his right-hand side again. He said, “Let’s have a better look at those swords.” And Jackwon shot a glance at Vallen who shot a glance back at him. I knew both were thinking, “I sure hope he leaves mine alone.” Vallen passed the first trophy sword down to him. Alnifolia took it in both hands and admired the scabbard and then the handle. He withdrew the blade and tilted it back and forth to catch the light. This allowed him to inspect the finish and straightness of the blade. Still holding the sword out he held it up to look at the ornateness of the handle again saying, “You realize this sword is still only as good in combat as the one you are carrying, right Vallen?” Vallen paused and then replied, “You are probably correct, but it has other value, er, utility to me to show I have been through the trial of acquiring it, my lord. It will convey a message that I am willing to face the danger that is attracted by such craftsmanship.” And Alnifolia replied, “Danger? Oh yes, you waited at the end of the hallway while Bene entered the room and found it for you?” Vallen let out a deep breath and replied, “My lord, I was watching his back as he asked.” And Alnifolia replied, “Yes, I suppose you did. And the other sword?”
Vallen passed the other sword up as Alnifolia slid the first back into its scabbard and leaned it against the wall carefully. He took hold of the second and repeated his inspection. He remarked, “Two fine blades we have here. I believe the second is the better weapon. The balance is just a little better, but I see you don’t want it for fighting. I sense no magic powers in either of them.” And with that he replaced it into the scabbard and set it with the first.
And Laevis came in with Gillfort carrying bowls to serve the dinner. Gillfort returned to the kitchen and brought back plates and flatwear for each of us. Laevis went to get drinking cups. He called down to Dravist that we were going to begin eating. Dravist came slowly up the stairs and Alnifolia indicated he should have a seat. They were not afraid of our prisoners getting out with us dining at the head of the stairs.