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Retsy was enjoying a nice nap outside of the cave when she was awakened by approaching footsteps. At first she thought these footsteps were her friends returning, but then she realized they were coming from the wrong direction.
Two humans came into view, and saw her. "Who are you?" one of them asked Retsy.
"Umm. . ." Retsy had no idea how to respond to that. "I'm waiting for my brother and my friends to come back. They went to look for something in the cave. We're working on a project to save the world. . ."
Content that she had described her purpose in that area well enough, Retsy looked up at the men and waited for them to introduce themselves.
"You are after the clue within this cave?" they asked finally.
"Yes. Do you want to help?"
"We'd better take her back," one of them said to the other, who nodded in agreement.
"What?" Retsy asked as one grabbed her by the arm and pulled her to her feet. Her eyes widened, "are you bad guys? The ones who want the weird sword thingie to destroy the world? Is that you?"
They didn't respond, and started leading her off; she didn't know which direction.
"Am I bait? The others won't care that I'm missing, they won't come to rescue me!"
"Good, then we can torture you."
"What?! That's not nice!" Retsy exclaimed.
"Don't worry, you'll tell us everything you know. Eventually," one replied.
"Is that it? I'll tell you now! We're here to save the world, we're following clues so we can find the weird strong sword before the bad guys get it. That's all I know!"
"I'm sure it is," said one tonelessly.
Retsy gave up reasoning with them, and instead took to glaring at them all the way back to. . . Wherever it was they were taking her.

This post has been edited by BreadWorldMercy453: 12 January 2007 - 08:26 PM

Shanadar continued to continue with the group.

When they had reached the river, he spared no time in following the more pioneering party members across the river via the rope. He had no wishes for a watery grave.

Although, admittedly, he was rather tempted to dunk Rapierian in a few times. But he decided against it, seeing that Rapierian could still cause a great deal of mayhem, magic or no, and that putting him in such a state would certainly be viewed as right justification for his actions.

His heart went into his thought when The Wizard lost his grip on the rope. Although Shanadar had little love of mages or persons of similarly magical nature, the old man seemed pleasant enough and was probably the only party member who really knew what he was doing. When The Wizard finally made his way to the other side of the river, Shanadar breathed a short sigh of relief.

Of course, it was not to last.

The effeminate youth called Alice, who could be no more than a lad of 19 (although he was likely younger), made comment about another youngster who had been tagging along, a girl named Retsy. Shanadar began wondering why so many children were following the group, only to have his train of thought derailed by Alice revealing a previously unseen ghost (who had apparently been following him for some time). After almost recovering from shock, Alice proceeded to swim across the very fast moving river. Feeling somewhat faint from all the excitement, he moved closer to the far wall and leaned against it for support.

And then, Cat the elf/cat party member cried out in excitement, "This isn't a cave wall! There's some kind of door hidden back here!"

Again, pulled away from any chance of reprieve, Shanadar helped excavate the doorway from the rock-face with his shovel.

As they continued onward through the now-opened passageway, Selax, the de facto party leader announced, "I think that there we shall find the next clue. However, we should all be on our guard: there is bound to be at least one more trap."

Brandishing his staff, Shanadar could not help but make at least one sour remark, "I don't know how you people handle all this excitement. Never a dull moment, never a pause to rest, I swear that it almost makes negotiating terms with ruffians seem enjoyable." he paused at his last remark, almost sensing a sort of dark premonition in his own words, "Well, at least it breaks the monotony."

Cat watched in horror as Alice swam across the antimagic river. How could he... She was feeling a little faint. She sat down near the entrance of the hole, waiting until she felt better.
"Go on without me, I'll catch you up later. I'm feeling a bit wobbly." she called to Selax.
Selax nodded, and lead the others into the hallway.

This post has been edited by CrazyChick: 15 January 2007 - 04:10 PM

Talryn climbed up the ladder after Silverfish and the ghost, when he received questionable looks, he paused, "No offense to those two, but wouldn't a ghost and Silverfish kinda freak you out and make you not want to come inside when you don't know either?"

Talryn left the trapdoor open and jogged out side to see the ghost and Silverfish looking around. He queitly walked over and looked around. "Hmm this does look like the same surrounding area... hey whats that?" Talryn spoke in a quiet voice. Upon further inspection by all three, they could trace the movements of Retsy. "Looks like she got up and took a couple steps back before these footprints grabbed her and dragged her off that way. We need to warn the others."

Talryn, feeling a tad paranoid summoned a light that flew around the chamber and then hovered above the trapdoor. Statisfied, Talryn led the way, then paused and turned to the enterance. He concentrated and the enterance outline glowed briefly. He climbed down the again and closed the door. Seeing as he was one of the last to cross he let the party know that he had cast a simple spell that would alert him if beings entered the cave and about Retsy's disappearance. As he waited his turn to climb over, Talryn pulled out the bread and cheese he had packed earlier and begun to munch.

-Dark

This post has been edited by Dark Jet: 13 January 2007 - 10:42 PM

The group carefully entered the room and looked around. It was a large cavernous room with a single pedestal in the middle. On the pedestal sat a single, glowing crystal, with a fire seemingly trapped within. This was the source of the strange light that the group had been following.

It was also obviously the next clue.

"Wizard," Selax said, "I suggest that you move that with telekiness. There is almost certainly some sort of trap around the pedestal."

Wizard obliged, and the crystal shot off of the pedestal and into his hand.

Suddenly, there was loud groaning sound. Above the pedestal, part of the cavern's ceiling came crashing down and obliterated the pedestal, sending up large clouds of dust.

Through the dust, Toreon saw movement.

"What is that?" he cried, pointing at a strange liquid that was starting to flow into the room out of cracks and crevices and from where the walls met the floor. It was also starting to flood the hallway behind them.

"Ooze!" snarled Rapierian, just as part of the ooze somehow spat something at him. He lifted his cloak and blocked the incoming gob. It struck his cloak, sizzled, and then seemed to burn out. Although the magic in the necromancer's cloak protected him, it was clear that the liquid was acidic. "Acid-spitting ooze," Rapierian corrected himself. Then, he fried his attacker with a bolt of lightning.

However, the rest of the ooze had now gathered together and had completely surrounded the group.

Hurriedly, the adventurers prepared themselves for the attack. They didn't have to wait long...

This post has been edited by Selax: 14 January 2007 - 12:06 AM

Sideline half drew his sword, but let it slip back into its scabbard when he heard the word 'acid'. Instead, he fished a flask out of his pack, uncorked it, and took a large mouthful. He lifted the flaming torch he'd been carrying since they'd crossed the river, and sprayed the liquid through the flame at the nearest ooze creature. It rapidly shrivelled in the resultant blast of fire.

"Oh, I'll handle them," Moonshadow declared. "We'll be here all day at the rate you're all going."

She raised both hands above her head, and her eyes flashed silver. The air around them began to swirl, like they were in the eye of a hurricane. Snow and ice descended in the wind, quickly freezing the ooze creatures.

"All right, that's that," she declared.

Selax, the Wizard and a few others gathered round to inspect the crystal.

Moonshadow noticed Sideline had a pensive expression on his face. "I know that look. What's bothering you?" Intrigued, Brianna stepped closer to listen.

"Two things," Sideline replied. "First, I'm not sure a ghost was the best choice to send to fetch Retsy - from what I've seen of her, she'll probably faint, and I don't think the little guy will be able to carry her back, do you?"

"Didn't you notice? Talryn went after them, too."

"He did? Damn, I hate the dark."

"I thought you loved the dark?" Brianna teased.

"Not this much dark," Sideline grumbled.

"What's the second thing?" Moonshadow prompted.

"Well, it's that river back there. Supposedly the sword, the map, the clues and these traps all originate in the earliest days of Cythera, before humans, elves and anyone else - even the Ronin - arrived here."

"So?"

"So why's there a river here that saps mana-based magic, when that's something they knew nothing about? I mean, from what I understand from the Ronin, the elementals' magic works on an entirely different principle. You'd know that better than me, though. So am I right?"

"You have a point. What do you think it means?"

"Well, I've thought of three possibilities: it's a natural phenomenon, although I've never heard of anything like it outside that little island side trip a few folks took a while back; the map is a fake, and this whole expedition is designed to kill us; or someone else has already been down here ahead of us, and laid a few traps of their own. Whichever it is, I'm getting worried."

This post has been edited by cache22: 15 January 2007 - 01:35 PM

Cat was rapidly feeling better after watching Alice swim across the river.
After a few minutes, she saw Talryn, Silverfish and Alice's ghost coming through the trapdoor at speed.
Then, from the tunnel behind her, she heard faint shouts and thumps, and was getting up to join the fun when she noticed Talryn was visibly agitated.
"What's the matter? Why isn't Retsy with you?" she called.
"She's vanished. We think she was kidnapped!" replied Silverfish.
"Come on! We should go and find her!"
"Don't you think we should tell the others first?" asked Talryn.
Cat shrugged. "Sure. Someone tell them, and I'll start while the trail's fresh. Come with me now or catch up with me later. No offence, but I can probably move faster and quieter by myself. Don't worry, I can look after myself." She set off at a run, slowing down only to cross the river, then shinnied up through the trapdoor and was gone.
Talryn smiled. "She sounds like she's fond of that kid. And she really needs to learn a bit of diplomacy."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Outside the entrance, Cat examined the tracks. They were maybe half an hour old, but as the ground was wet from a recent rainfall, the footprints stood out clearly. The larger footprints that had taken Retsy wound east, and taking care to avoid being seen, Cat ran silently alongside them. Retsy hadn't been struggling, but Cat could see her footprints - strange, she thought. Maybe something was wrong. She speeded up, and nearly landed in a pit trap, obviously dug for that purpose. Cat grinned, showing her prominent canines. This was going to be fun! A tracking challenge, with maybe a fight at the end! Not something you got every day!

This post has been edited by CrazyChick: 15 January 2007 - 04:11 PM

After a moment hesitation, Silverfish followed Cat stealthily.

As Cat paused for a second by the trap, she saw something move on the embankment beside her. She whirled around, ready for battle.
Silverfish jumped back a step, "Sorry, I guess I shouldn't have tried sneaking up near you!"
Cat dropped her stance and looked around, "Are any of the others with you?"
"Not that I noticed," replied Silverfish, "Mind if I play the part of your familiar?"
He passed around a tree, and was wearing a charcoal gray tunic, instead of his traditional white. Then he grew horns on his head, spikes down his back, and a long whip-like tail. And to top it off, he morphed his wings to look like bat wings, and wore spiked gauntlets.
"Do I look fierce enough?" He asked brightly.

"If I had to wager a bet, I'd say that someone else has been booby-trapping the area, Mr. Sideline" Shanadar interjected as he approached the conversing party members, "If this is indeed the case, then our newfound competitors clearly have a great deal of expertise. In any case, we're not dealing with an ordinary band of treasure-seeking ruffians."

Shanadar let his words sink in for a moment before continuing.

"Regardless, I suggest you hurry up you business that crystal, because the Ooze that Miss Moonshadow froze are beginning to thaw" he said in an irritated tone as he pointed to a slowly melting ice-block in the corner, "Considering we may have to come back this way later, I think it wise to take care of those slimy abominations once and for all."

He reached into his pack, searching for something.

"And I had the foresight to bring some conventional explosives" He finished, pulling out a bomb.

Talryn ran into the room and yelled, "Someone's kidnapped Retsy!"

"What?!" Toreon demanded, and Talryn explained as best he could.

"Then, we'd best hurry out of here," someone replied.

Quickly, Shanadar set his explosives, and the group exited the caves. Behind them, there was an explosion and part of the cave system collapsed.

"Now, we have to find Retsy!" Toreon stated, causing a chorus of agreement.

"Perhaps, some of us should continue on to find the next clue, and some of us should go looking for Retsy?" someone proposed.

If the group split up, they might have trouble regrouping, or they might not have sufficient force to deal with the threats that they would encounter. If they did split up, however, they would be able to get twice as much done.

"You know, these people might just lead us to the next clue anyway," someone mused. "Perhaps, we should all go after Retsy..."

In the end, it was agreed that the group should split up—to both rescue Retsy and beat whoever else was after the sword to the next clue—and regroup at a point outside Cademia. (It was not, after all, safe to assume that the group that had taken Retsy was the only other party after the sword.)

Quickly, the group split up, and each set off after their respective objectives.


Selax, who had elected to go with the group seeking the next clue rather than allow Rapierian to do so, examined the crystal while the group moved along. It was what the Seldane called a crystal puzzle. Although the crystal appeared solid, it actually was not, and, if one applied pressure correctly, it would break open. Inside, no doubt, was the next clue.

However, Selax's primary focus was not on the crystal. Since he was no good at solving such things, he didn't even waste his time on it. Selax, like Sideline, was suspicious of their circumstances, and he did not at all like the way that things were going.

Cat blinked, then said, "Yes, you definitely look fierce enough." Returning to the trap, she carefully walked around the other side, knelt next to a footprint, and frowned.
"Looks like they have magic. The footprints going away are about the same age as the footprints on the other side of the trap. So either this trap was here before, which I doubt, as the sides are freshly dug, or they did it by magic."
"Might make for an interesting fight if they don't give up Retsy." replied Silverfish.
"Interesting fights are the best sort! Come on, time's wasting!" With that, Cat continued down the track, Silverfish flying after her.

Talryn had a hard time choosing which party to go with, he wanted to possibly speed up the process of finding Retsy but he also wanted to offer his aid with the next clue. After being filled in on what happened in the cave, he decided to go help Retsy. Before the groups separated, Talryn pulled Wizard off to the side and filled him in on his small telepathic powers that he had gained from his curse. "...Maybe I can use this to contact you guys and update you on Retsy's whereabouts and also help the rescue party catch up.."

With that, Talryn waved goodbye then ran after the rescue party and jumped nito the air, a few moments later he transformed.

---

Cat and Silverfish were making good time on the path that they had chosen to follow. The rescue party had begun to follow the trail left by the kidnappers and Cat. As Cat and Silverfish were nearing the top of a hill, a bird swooped down infront of them. They paused briefly before continuing up the hill, and again the bird flew over their heads. As they got up to continue again, the bird turned around and hovered in mid air looking at the two.

Upon closer inspection, it was no ordinary small bird but about the size of a normal human. It landed on top of the hill and then transformed back into Talryn. He came running down towards them waving his arms. Cat and Silverfish started moving forward, then heard him yelling something about a trap. He was still to far away to be clearly heard but from his arm gestures, they started to back up. A few moments later when Talryn caught up, he paused for breath and said, "Must... back up... further... the hill... is the trap.."

Silverfish jumped on Cat's back and ran down the hill in the direction of the party while Talryn transformed back into a Storm Crow. He flew above them till they reached the party where the Storm Crow proceded to transform back into Talryn. Once he returned to his normal shape, Talryn layed on the ground. Cat looked at him as if to say 'What was the trap?', and Talryn pointed to the hill. The party looked over and the illusion of the hill poped out of exisitance along with a few animals that had strayed onto the hill.

-Dark

This post has been edited by Dark Jet: 13 January 2007 - 10:42 PM

Rapierian, who had come along with the rescue party (actually he'd been forced to come along because no one wanted him near the sword), raised his eyebrows.

"Quite a trap," he commented. "You know, I have a feeling that our quarry knows that we are following."

Odd, he thought to himself. Almost no "scent"...

Like most other mages, dark mages had the ability to sense magic and spells cast by others, but some Rapieriain for one of them, such as Rapierian, also had the ability to "smell" magic. He had been able to pick up a faint, unfamiliar "scent" connected with the magic that had made the hill disappear, but, given the nature of the spell, he should have been able to pick up much more. To him, this meant that whoever they were following was quite skilled.

"Out of curiosity, how did you know that was a trap?" Rapierian asked Talryn.


After a brief examination, the party found that the path continued on the other side of where the hill had been. Cautiously, they started to follow again. They had a feeling that they gaining on their quarry...

This post has been edited by Selax: 14 January 2007 - 12:07 AM

"Maybe you should go look for Retsy, too, Brianna," Sideline suggested. "You'll probably be more at home up top, anyway."

"She already left," Moonshadow replied.

The torch made loud swishing noises as Sideline spun around, verifying Moonshadow's obsevation.

"Damn, I hate the dark."

-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-

Cat felt something warm, soft and furry against her leg. She glanced down to see a black panther pressing up against her.

"Oooh, pretty kitty!" she cooed, and scratched it behind the ears. Deep in its throat, the panther purred.

This post has been edited by cache22: 30 December 2006 - 09:34 PM

Cat shivered. "That was close! We'd better go carefully. We don't know what the next trap might be. It's probably even worse!"
She turned to Talryn and said, "Do you think we should have a scout out the front in case there's another trap? And if there isn't, we might stumble onto the kidnappers and be taken by surprise."
Then she looked down and saw the panther. After a bit of "Ooooah, who's a pretty kitty?" she looked at it more closely, blinked, and whispered, "Brianna? Is that you?"
She could have sworn the panther winked.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

A little further down the path, the party spotted a gleam of copper in the trees. Some quickly drew their bows and prepared to fire. Just before several arrows were about to zoom into the trees, Cat jumped out and yelled, "Stop!"
As the band looked on, bemused, she turned towards the trees, cupped her hands to her mouth and shouted, "I can see you! You never were any good at hide and seek!"
The branches rustled, and a young girl appeared. She looked about twelve, and her skin and hair were copper-coloured. She was the same height as Cat.
"I was wondering when you'd notice me." she said to Cat, who was grinning like a pumpkin. "But where am I? May I?"
She reached out as if to touch Cat's hand, and Cat nodded, and proffered it. The girl lightly brushed fingertips with Cat, and said, "Cythera? And I don't have a... what is it?... a name! What should I call myself?"
"Whatever you like. It's your choice!"
"In that case... You said whatever I liked? Ok, my name is Starfall."
Cat turned to the group. "Everyone! I would like to introduce Starfall. She already knows all your names. Just one thing, please avoid touching her unless you don't mind her knowing everything in your memory."

This post has been edited by CrazyChick: 31 December 2006 - 05:47 AM

"She doesn't know my name!" piped in Silverfish, "Just what I've been going by for the last long while!"
He grinned, and directing his voice toward the newcomer, asked "Starfall? Do you have a strong affinity for copper? Your electromagnetic signature feels quite coppery."

This post has been edited by Jehezekel: 31 December 2006 - 05:45 PM

Selax was watching as Wizard toyed around with the crystal. "I hope you can figure that out before we lose very much time," he commented, glancing at the sky.

"Well," Wizard sounded slightly exasperated, "For all that I've heard and read, I have never successfully solved one of these." He paused and took a deep breath, "However, I've heard that if approached with the proper attitude and due patience, they are really very easy. From what I understand, the objective is to open the crystal and quench the flame inside. Opening the crystal is the challenge, though. I think it has something to do with the mineral composition of the crystal and the way the bonds form, or some such thing."

He continued to poke and prod at all sides of the pyramidal shaped rock before muttering, "This ought to do it." Carefully placing both hands on a side of the crystal, he gently squeezed. "I think I have it now," he said in triumph. The crystal began to crack in affirmation, then it came apart.

Wizard sat, one shard of the crystal in each hand. Floating before his eyes, where the crystal had previously been, the fire remained floating. On an instinct, the old man dropped the shards and drove his hand into the flame. For a moment it seemed as though his flesh would be consumed by the fire, but slowly, the fire shrank until it was completely gone. In Wizard's hand sat a scrap of paper.

"Selax, let me see the map," he beckoned with his free hand. Selax complied and, after a moment's examination, spoke, "It looks to be a fragment torn from the northern portion of the map."

"Yes, it does. The red dot seems to be located in a forest somewhere east of Land King Hall."

"Very well. That is our next destination." With that, the air elemental started off in the stated direction, not waiting to see who was following.

Selax stopped and turned to Wizard.

"If it's just east of Land King Hall, why don't we direct nexus to Land King Hall and shorten our trip?"

After a brief debate, the rest of the group agreed to this idea. It was decided that when they reached the Hall someone would explain the situation to Alaric, while others gathered more supplies. They would meet just inside the exit to the Hall. If everything went according to plan, they would be there for less then an hour.

In moments, the spell was cast, and everyone stood in the middle of Land King Hall.

Selax and Wizard went off to speak to Alaric; some of the others went to see Emesa about food; and those who needed to went to see Hadrian about equipment...


One hour later, the party had regrouped at their planned meeting-place.

"What did Alaric say? Was he able to help us?" Sideline asked Wizard as soon as the older man and Selax had rejoined the party.

"Not much, he wishes us well, but he can't tell us much about our competitors," Wizard sighed, although he didn't seem very surprised. "He does think that there may be more to this than simply ruffians. He's still busy dealing with the aftermath of the trouble at Pnyx to do much for us."

"Is everyone here? Are all ready to depart?" Selax asked the others.


If anyone tries to read my memory, I'll fry whoever it is, thought Rapierian to himself. The thought gave him some amusement, and he chuckled to himself. Some of the others around him glanced at him warily.

"The more the merrier and the more to watch me, I suppose. Apparently, I require a lot of surveillance," he said aloud, sounding amused. "Now, I suggest that we make haste. We are losing time, and we must catch up to Retsy soon. Otherwise, I'll be forced to put up with the rest of you longer than I'd like to, and Retsy won't be around to be a constant source of amusement."

Finding themselves agreeing with the necromancer for once (they didn't want to put up with Rapierian any longer than necessary after all), the rescue party quickened their pace. If they kept their pace, they had a good chance of catching up to Retsy by nightfall, even though the sky had already began to darken.

This post has been edited by Selax: 14 January 2007 - 12:07 AM

After a little while, Starfall turned to Silverfish and said, "I do know your name, Silverfish - as I know everyone's here - if you gave Cat is your real name. And I do have a magical affinity with copper, but it's all rather complicated. Do you want to know? It would take a while, it's a long story."
Silverfish shrugged. "Ok."
Starfall took him aside and told him her story.
A few minutes later, she went over to Cat and discussed, in hushed voices, what exactly had happened to bring them both to Cythera.

This post has been edited by CrazyChick: 15 January 2007 - 04:12 PM

Talryn had more or less pulled Rapierian off to the side and a bubble which no sound could pass through formed around the two. "I believe it has to do with a long recent story. In short, I became a sercant of a very powerful 'person' who imbued me with the knowledge of most Dark Arts. Along with that I also had some other changes occur, I haven't discovered them all yet. The best way I can discribe it is that the hill had more or less a stench to it-" Dropping the bubble, Talryn spoke to the group, "-Hey whats that over there?" Talryn pointed to a tree or near it that appeared to be on the trail.

-Dark

The panther paced forward, paced back to Cat, then took a few paces forward along the trail agin. It looked back over it's shoulder and yowled.

"Um, I think she's trying to tell us to stop dawdling, because Retsy might be in trouble," Cat interpreted.

-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-

As Selax and the others left Land King Hall, Sideline diffidently cleared his throat.

"Was it just me, or did anyone else notice that cave starting to collapse in on us just as we 'ported out?"

Silverfish carefully formed a mesh ball and built a thought into it. Then he tossed it through the air so that it bounced off Starfall, and rolled back to him.

Starfall jumped slightly, afraid that she had brushed against somebody accidently, but there was only one extra memory. She remembered, and in her mind saw:
<A group of children playing on a beach... a doll-sized person with flipper feet comes up out out of the ocean... some of the children hang back, but one strides toward him and says, "Would you like to play with us? We're hunting for the unicorn! You can be Silverfish, prince of the sea-fairies. I'm the Queen of Beech, she's a good witch, he's a...". Silverfish joined the game...
Then she saw Silverfish standing in the middle of anywhere, saying, "So I received the name of Silverfish, and left my real name and other names behind. I have been Silverfish ever since.">

The panther batted Silverfish across the road for interrupting a conversation without substantial reason. He felt properly remorseful, and decided to walk the next hundred yards to give himself time to remember wisdom. But when Talryn pointed at the tree, he flew up to get a better look.

This post has been edited by Jehezekel: 10 January 2007 - 12:38 PM

Everyone stopped and burst into discussion. Some had noticed the cave starting to collapse; some thought they had noticed the cave starting to collapse; and some had noticed nothing at all. When asked why they had not mentioned this before, those who thought they had seen something mostly replied that it had been too dark to be certain and, until Sideline had spoken up, each thought it had just been his imagination.

"If our enemy is capable of this, they must be pretty powerful," Wizard mused. "I wouldn't be surprised if they were able to split their forces as we have done. Of course, there may be more than one group around anyway. We must proceed cautiously."

To this, all agreed, and the party set out into the forest. Although the sky would soon darken, they had at least two or three hours of travel time left.

Selax remained mostly quiet; if he or Wizard had any idea of who their enemies were, neither of them mentioned it out loud.


"A magically-appearing tree?" someone asked incredulously.

"You know, as obvious as that is, I wonder if it's a trap. Oh well, no sense taking chances," Rapierian stated. Then, he laughed, raised his hands, and sent a bolt of lightning at the tree.

The lightning struck the tree and bounced off. The tree seemed to shiver, almost as though it were laughing. Then, the "tree" simply faded away.

"I suppose that next time I'll have to try something more powerful," Rapierian remarked still smiling, almost seeming amused about what had happened. He began to laugh almost quietly to himself. The apparent power of their enemies was such that he had a guess who they might be; of course, he had no way to know whether or not his guess was accurate.


Close by, in a small clearing sat one of the men who had taken Retsy. Curiously, there was no fire; however, if one knew the nature of the men, this was not really so curious but expected. Retsy was tied to a tree at the edge of the clearing. Suddenly, the other man appeared. He approached the first and said, "They follow as we hoped. None of them have our power, and we will easily be able to take them when they arrive."

Starfall was looking a little apprehensive. She sidled over to Cat, and asked, "Is there a copper mine in Cythera? Because I can sense some over there." She pointed east.
"I'll have to ask someone. I don't know." replied Cat, and she headed off towards the group leader. A brief bit of dialogue ensued, then the elf came back.
"He wants to know if you can sense whether it is raw or refined. I don't know why."
Starfall concentrated, then said, "Refined. And there's something else, too. It feels sort of... twinkly, but prickly at the same time. And very cold. Is that possible?"
Cat nodded, then hurried back to the group leader. He looked a bit alarmed at the news, and gave orders to slow down and walk quietly.

This post has been edited by CrazyChick: 15 January 2007 - 04:13 PM

Back in the northern forests:

They had spent the next couple hours of light moving steadily east. When dusk set upon them, the group stopped and camped.

"I think we're nearing the point on the map," Wizard said as he studied the map by firelight.

Selax sat silently for a moment, and when he did speak, he was calm. "We shouldn't be stopping at all. If we don't reach that sword first, there is no knowing who or what will."

"I agree entirely." Wizard sighed, obviously comfortable on his rock by the fireside. Then he readjusted his position and bent to further study the map. "You know, I think that we're only a few miles from this red dot; we're practically on top of it! That's if my estimation of how far we traveled today is correct and if this map's scale is as accurate as I hope."

"I only hope that the map itself is accurate," Sideline spoke quietly from the shadows.

Wizard paused and thought for a moment but did not answer.

* * *

By dawn, they had fanned out to explore the area to their east. They did not know what they were looking for, it's size, or even if it was an object.

Wizard had been carefully making his way through some foliage when Sideline came up behind him. Detecting his presence, Wizard turned hopefully, "Have you found something, Mr. Sideline?"

A few moments later, Selax, Sideline, and Wizard were peering out from behind a shrub at the sight before their eyes. In a small clearing, lay a stone structure. It was one story, beaten and decayed. Slowly the group crept into the clearing and approached the building. It's ceiling had collapsed along with parts of its northern wall; aside from that, the other walls stood perfectly, though completely covered in vines and other plant life.

"I think we have found what we're looking for," Wizard was examining the map again.

"Not quite," Selax said as he drew near the doorway. "We've found a rundown shack but no clue."

They walked around the outside and the inside, checked every crack and crevice, tested the ground for trapdoors or any kind of opening, but found nothing.

"Hmm," Wizard said after awhile. "Maybe this isn't what we're looking for after all..."

Selax was studying an indentation in the wall with interest. "Wizard, do you still have the shards from the crystal that we found. The one you pulled apart."

"Ummm, yes, yes I do," the old man smiled, stuffing his hands in his robe. "I picked them back up to look at them later. I completely forgot about them. Ah, here they are."

"Hand them to me, please," Selax stretched out his hand. "Now you say these break in a specific way?"

"That's right. The puzzle can only be solved one way, and the crystal will only break in one pattern. Otherwise, it wouldn't be much of a puzzle."

"Here, take this half. I believe that you'll find it fits perfectly inside that crevice over there, just as this one fits here." Selax returned one shard of the crystal to the elderly man.

The two pushed the crystals in their respective places at the same time. After nothing happened for a moment, the ground started to shake. Suddenly the patch of ground between Selax and Wizard disappeared; in its stead was a dark abyss with a stone staircase spiraling down. The group descended as one, and once they reached the dirt some twenty feet down, Wizard exclaimed, "Polyps. I don't like polyps."

"This is going to be difficult," Sideline prepared himself for a fight. Just ahead of them, a whole pack of polyps lay, poised for battle.