Chapter Four

Chapter Four. Change

“When the winds of change blow hard enough, the most trivial of things can become deadly projectiles.”

:-:-:-:-:-:-:

The trio woke early the next morning, and after washing and eating, made their way from the town in the direction of their neighboring country, Aknia. The human and gnome were still tense with each other, snapping whenever they spoke, and trying to hold conversations with the remaining member of their group simultaneously to pass the time. Elera, on the other hand, passed between amusement at her comrades and disinterest, depending on how the day was changing. When the first night arrived, the demon was acting as a boundary between the other two, who chose to sleep on the opposite sides of her. The next several days went the same way, and it was on a night that rain had begun to fall that Elera’s patience began to wear thin.

The group had come to a stop beside a large oak, trying to find shelter from the pouring water, which seemed to be a general dislike in the group. Vivace clambered into the tallest tree roots as to avoid getting caught in the puddles forming around parts of the tree, and the other two had to find dry spots of ground. They were silent for a time, the woman trying in vain to fall asleep while rain guttered down on them.

“This isn’t working.” Elera muttered at last. “Can either of you tell how long this is going to last? Seems like it’ll be around for a few days to me.”

Vivace peered out from between the roots she had laid herself against. “Yeah. Three days, maybe.”

Dolly just shrugged, shifting her position to see the other two. “Does it matter? We’re still out here.”

“How much longer until Don Tensh?” The gnome asked, “I really don’t want to be out here if it floods.”

Dolly opened her mouth to respond, but looking at the gnome she looked away. After a moment she asked in a strangled voice, “How tall are you exactly?”

“Two feet, three inches. Why?” Vivace peeked her head out from her small grove of roots. She noticed the two taller women choking back laughter. “Oy!”

“Haha, wonderful.” Elera said. “Well, she won’t be to much trouble if we have to carry her.”

“Che’. Yeah, really.” The human responded.

“OY!”

The two ignored her, watching as the road became a thin river of mud. The gnome climbed down from her spot, and sat on a smaller root closer to the others. “So how much farther until Don Tensh? El, let me see the map. If it’s not that far, we can keep going and avoid the weather when it gets worse, can’t we?”

Elera threw the bag up the girl, who proceeded to dig through it and find the paper. A lightning bolt flashed in the distance, and thunder rumbled. The demon kept watch on the sky. “If we leave now, how likely are we to be struck?”

“Not that likely.” Dolly muttered. “The chances are greater if we stay here, this tree is the tallest thing for miles.”

Despite this statement of doom, none of the females seemed eager to leave their make shift shelter. Apparently getting wet was a bigger fear than the painful death of a million of electrolytes running through their bodies. Instead they continued watching as the lightning flashed across the sky and thunder pounded the clouds.

“Hey, we’re not that far off.” Vivace said from her spot amongst the papers. “Maybe another two days walk and we’re there.”

“Two days?” Dolly asked mournfully. Elera gave the gnome a glance that obviously said she shared the human sentiments. She glanced at the plants around them regretfully. “Remind me to learn plant shaping in the next city. Maybe I’ll be able to make a shelter to stop this next time.”

“Isn’t plant shaping an easy skill?” Dolly asked, looking at the demon through the curtain of rain that was beginning to fall through their leaves. The demon nodded.

“It is, but I never had a reason for wanting it before, so I never bothered with learning it.”

“Come on.” Vivace said, putting the paper back into the bag. “It’s getting wet, and if we wait any longer the road might be too deep to walk through.” There was a moment of silence, followed by an outburst of laughing from the taller woman. Vivace objected with a loud “OY!”, but went ignored. The trio got up to make their way onward, and just as they got back on the road, a bolt of electricity cracked down into their tree. The three turned, feeling their hairs stand on end, and watched at the place struck snapped off and fell to the ground, splattering mud up the side of the trunk. The team glanced at each other, and almost with a guilty air around them continued forward.

With the water pouring around them in thick curtains, the group remained close together. More then once the two taller figures would look about their feet for the gnome to make sure she hadn’t gotten swept away in the current. For the most part, they trudged on in silence, occasionally letting out a grunt if they found themselves slipping on something.

“Here!” Vivace called to the others, and pointed to a path that led down from the side of the road. The others followed, cursing the decline in the path that was leading them to their next destination. There was greenery on either side of the trail and the woman made their way down the slippery slope with caution. As the path grew slightly steeper, they began using the shrubbery to hold on to as to avoid falling. Vivace was particularly troubled with this, ending up sliding down parts of it multiple times. They finally reached a place where the ground evened out, and made their way forward until the came across a large cliff.

“Is that it?” Elera asked, her voice being carried off by the wind. The group stood on the cliff, looking over a large open area of fields below them, in the distance which was a small settlement. The cliff was too much to climbed down, and the path continued off to the side and led around the dangerous edge into the woods until reappearing in the distance by the town.

“We could cut off over half the trip by jumping down.” The human called over the sound of the rain, clearly irritated that nobody had built a more direct path. Glancing over the side of the cliff proved this not to be an option however, as they were rather high up. Huffing, the trio turned to continue following the path that once again took on a downward slope. They entered the wooded area, but could still see the edge of the cliff they were following. Suddenly, a thunder clap rang out directly above them, and Vivace missed a step as she was walking, slipping down part of the path and into the bushes.

“Ace!” Dolly called out, seeing the gnome’s fall. Elera went to run up to the bushes, but in her haste tripped over one of the tree roots and went sprawling herself. The human tried to catch the demon, the weight in which pushed both of them over, and projecting them into the same shrubbery that the gnome had fallen into.

Vivace had just lifted herself up, rubbing her head, and looking gratefully at the inch of land she had left before she would have crashed to her death. Then she noticed something odd about the edge of the cliff at that spot, and went to call to the others over her shoulder, only to have them crash down from the path behind her. The impacts forced all of them over the side of the cliff, and they landed with a thud on a small edge that was protruding a few feet down from the cliff above them, small enough that a person wouldn’t notice from a distance, or at all, if they didn’t look directly down from the cliff above it. The edge, however, was a steep slope down, and as soon as the team landed on it, they began hurling down toward the ground below. They landed with a crunch, into a tangled heap of limps that groaned with pain and discomfort. A stifled grunt from below the pile made the two taller females shoot off the top of the mound, glancing down hurriedly at the small gnome that they’d been crushing.

“Ace!” Dolly knelt beside the figure, laying a gentle hand on the girl’s arm. Her eyes opened stiffly, and she began spitting out mud that had gotten into her mouth. With some help, she slowly clambered onto her feet, and looked up at the cliff with distaste. Turning to the two females, she pointed to the small path they had hurtled down.

“I-” she stopped, and coughed up more mud, something that had both of the others glancing at each other with concern, then she continued hoarsely, “I found a way down.”

Elera started laughing nervously, running her hand through her hair and tugging at her horns, while Dolly simple stared at the small girl in front of her. Shaking her head, she gestured toward the village. “Come on, let’s see if we can find an inn in this town somewhere.”

They entered the small village warily, covered from head to foot with mud and soaking wet, looking at the boarded up buildings and rubbish littering the ground. There was a small inn, located at the corner of the town where the group headed intent with nothing but getting out of the rain and washed up. A small bell jingled as they entered the building, and an old man reading a book looked up. He stared at the group for a moment, then put his book down and asked, “Would you like a room?”

Vivace started coughing, and Dolly nodded. It was Elera who added, “And if you have baths, we’d like to use them.”

The three paid for the room, and got themselves cleaned up. Vivace’s cough was mostly gone, as was the mud, so the team proceeded to check themselves for injuries. They had collected a large number of bruises and sores, but scrapped by without any breaks. Happy that there was nothing to seriously worry about, the team collapsed into their beds, pushing off searching for information until the next day.

The following morning, not even Vivace was getting up without protest. The team pulled themselves from their beds with groans, the sores on their bodies having settled into painful throbs overnight. The only thing keeping them from remaining in bed was sheer force of will, and the trio trekked out of the room to find out whether or not their journey in coming to the village would prove fruitful.

They hurried over to a small diner that was open to avoid getting wet from the rain still falling, and found themselves seats at the empty bar. The building was run down like the rest of the town, with cracked paint and rust showing through on some of the chairs and tables. The bartender wandered over to them, wearing a dirty and stained apron which was probably white once, and took their orders gruffly.

“So, we hit him up for information?” Vivace asked quietly as he went in back to get their meals.

“Looks like it.” Dolly said, glancing around the empty room. “There’s no one else here, or I’d say we shouldn’t bother. Doesn’t seem like the talking type.”

“We can try the innkeeper.” Elera pointed out. “We haven’t spoken to him yet.”

“If we want information, we should try all of them.” Dolly sighed. “Listen shorty, if it turns out this was a waste of time, we’re never following your suggestions again.”

The gnome sputtered in outrage, and the man walked back into the room, going over to the drink fountain for their beverages. After getting the drinks, Dolly started talking to him. “Hey, you wouldn’t by any chance mind if we asked you a few things about this place, would you?”

The man looked up with an expression that clearly stated he would, but the woman plowed on nonetheless. “We were wondering if anyone living here knows anything about the Tournament going on now.”

“Dun’ get many visitors.” He replied gruffly, and turned his back on them, walking into the kitchen.

“Shot down.” Elera commented. The human looked miffed, and glared at the door the man had walked through. It was a number of minutes before the man came back out with their meal, and Dolly made another attempt at conversation.

“Has this town always been so empty, or did it become like this later?” The man walked back into the kitchen.

Elera turned with raised eyebrows to the woman on her side. “Was that even an attempt?”

“I don’t like the guy.” Dolly stated uninterestedly. “We should try the innkeeper.” Elera let out a stifled laugh, while Vivace frowned. They ate their meal in silence, and the next time the man returned from the kitchen was with their bill.

“Hey mister.” Vivace called as he turned to walk away once more. The two companions turned to look at her, quirked eyebrows at her attempt. The man looked at her with an almost annoyed expression. Vivace stood up so she could see over the counter better, and asked the man, “could you tell us, please, if you’ve heard anything about the Heart Stones around here.”

The man shook his head. “How the ‘ell would I know ‘bout yer city business?”

Vivace opened her mouth, then her face lit up with a dawning realization. “Hey, mister? Did you move to this area, or were you born around here? We’re looking for someone who might have been in this town a while.”

“What the ‘ell makes yeh think ah wasn’t?” The man asked in an irritated tone. The two females at the bar seemed to mirror his confusion, and were looking at the gnome oddly.

“Well,” she replied. “you have an accent. The man at the inn doesn’t. You can’t both be from around here, and I haven’t noticed anyone on the road with an accent either.” Suddenly, the detail clicked and both woman turned to the man. Vivace continued. “We think there might be someone around here who could help us. But it would be someone who’s been living here a while. We’re looking for someone, we just don’t know who.”

“Yer lookin’ for someone but yeh dun’ know who?” The man shook his head. “That ain’t gonna help yeh girl.” After looking at the gnome for a moment, he walked over. “Nah, I haven’t been ‘round ‘ere long. Only fer the last twenty or som’whut years. But the others ‘round ‘ere ain’t ‘bout to tell yeh much, dun’ like visitors, them. It were a buncha outsiders that came an’ wrecked the place.”

The woman glanced at each other, and looked back at the man questioningly. He shrugged. “Mah bruther moved down ‘ere, long time ago. He was ‘ere for it, so they dun’it mind it much when ah came down. Knew me already. Buncha Players came along, ripped the town apart lookin’ for sum’ records. Killed the man who s’posed to ’ave ‘em. If that’s the man yer lookin’ for, he’s been long dead.”

The three sat thunderstruck. Finally Dolly recovered enough to ask, “When was this? What happened to the records?”

The man shrugged. “’Bout ten years ‘fore I got ‘ere. Dun’ know ‘bout the records, none’a the folk ‘ere did either. They heard it when them Players came lookin’, then old Dalen got killed, and nobody could find out why. Looks like he ne’er shared it with none’a the rest o’us.”

“Do you know where we could find out more about this?” Vivace asked quietly. She looked up at the man. “We’re not like them, we’re not going to cause problems. We just want to know about the Heart Stones.”

The bar tender shrugged. “Odd yeh come askin’. Yer not the firs’ recently. There was ‘nother man lookin’ for the records, still ‘ere, in fact. Noticed mah accen’ same way yeh did, little missus, went askin’ the other folk. Dun’ think he got tha’ far. If yeh wan’ whut ah told ‘im, jus go down an’ check out old Dalen’s house. It’s pretty burned up now, but none’a us know any more ‘an at.”

The women nodded, and put the money down on the counter. “Thank you.” Vivace told the man before running out of the diner to look for the old burnt down house. The other two followed quickly, making their way into the lightening rain. It was a drizzle now, not the downpour they had been suffering before.

“Looks like your guy was telling the truth.” Elera said, looking around the town for an area that looked more burnt then the rest. There was a large section that they hadn’t been down, that was crumbling from what looked like a large fire in the past, and they went towards it. The road through that part of the town was unkempt, and they continued walking down the path winding away from the rest of the town.

“Those people must have been serious, to do this much damage.” Dolly muttered, looking at the buildings. They were quickly moving away from the part of town where the people lived, and into old ruins where nothing resided but animals and weeds. The rain had turned the dirt road into mud, and the team fought against the biggest puddles, as they looked for a house that seemed to stand out amongst the rest. It was most likely the one that would be worst off for damage wise. As the burnt buildings got slightly farther apart, a small graveyard that seemed to be dedicated to the victims could be seen amongst some of the overgrown shrubs behind the rest of the town. They passed it, glancing at the number of tombstones warily, searching for the man’s house.

Finally, Elera pointed to a hunk of rubble that was on a small hill, surrounded with a broken down gate. “I think this is our place.”

Dolly cursed. “There’s no way we’re finding something here.”

Despite the hope simmering underneath the surface of the doubt, Vivace couldn’t help but agree that she might be right. They moved closer, and could better see the remains of what once had probably been a tall house. There was nothing left standing, with all the walls fallen in toward the inside of the house. A few poles remained upright, holding pieces of the ceiling in diagonal slants off the ground. A small movement in the rubble caught their eyes, and part of a horse’s backside appeared behind one of the pillars.

“That guy must be around here.” Dolly muttered quietly, looking around for the horse’s owner. It was possible he was being blocked from their view, and the three nodded to each other, making their way up to the rubble cautiously. The crunching of the remains beneath them must’ve given them away, because the horse stiffened, and from behind the pillar a head peered around. A head that happened to be attached to the horse. The team blinked, taken by slight surprise at the development. The centaur moved out from where the rubble was blocking his form and looked at the approaching Players warily.

“Hey.” Dolly called friendlily. “You looking for the records to?” Dolly immediately reverted to one of the basic rules of interacting with other Players: When caught by surprise, avoid being rude, because there are probably more surprises waiting.

The centaur glanced them over again, seemingly just as surprised and suspicious by the picture they made. The gnome clambered over some of the taller rubble, having more problems than the other two members in her group with maneuvering around the debris. “We heard there was someone else here, we didn’t know they’d be here.” She said, pulling up beside the demon who had stopped.

“Can I help you?” The centaur asked the newcomers awkwardly. Honestly, what do you do in that type of situation? The females glanced at each other, and Elera grinned cheekily.

“You could start by answers the question.” she nodded her head at Dolly, who’d been the one to ask. Deciding to repeat it, the demon went on, “Are you searching for Dalen’s records? It’s what we’re here for.”

“I don’t think that’s any of your business.” he replied, looking at them critically. The man turned away, and went back to looking at something in the rubble. The team exchanged looks, and Vivace stuck her tongue out at the centaur. The man noticed, and straightened. Before he could say anything Vivace had started speaking.

“There’s no need to be rude about it.” she snapped. “Fine, we’ll find them by ourselves. You can keep pushing around dirt.” The centaur flushed, clearly annoyed, and the two other females watched in amusement as Vivace began making her way to another side of the rubble to look for clues.

Dolly cleared her throat, glancing at the outraged centaur. “You been at this a while?” He turned to glare at the women, the demon who was silently laughing while moving away to check out another part of the remains. After a short pause, Dolly continued. “Since we’re all here looking for the same thing, maybe we could help each other out. How about it?”

“I’m not interested in having help, thanks.” The centaur replied, not altogether unkindly, but more with a tint of pride. The rain was still coming down, and the rubble was creaking quietly under the weight of the newcomers. “I can find it on my own well enough.”

“Not if we get to it first!”

The pair glanced up at the gnome, who was observing a gap in the debris, clearly wondering how to jump across to avoid going around. Dolly coughed, an unsuccessful attempt at breaking the awkward silence beginning to form. “Alright, well, good luck with that.”

With that she walked away from the centaur toward a pile of partially constructed furniture. The man huffed, and glanced back at what he’d been looking at, before looking around the remains once more. The demon was walking around the building, scanning the area for anything that might have an obvious relation to the objects being searched for. Vivace had disappeared from sight altogether, and the centaur had the odd feeling the gnome may have fallen in to the hole while trying to jump it. He glanced over at the human, who seemed to be opening a half complete drawer in one of the furniture pieces, just to close it again with a shake of her head. When he turned to look back at the gate, he noticed the demon watching him.

“Hey, Dolly, Viv.” She called, turning away from the man. “Let’s go, there’s nothing here.”

The gnome’s head appeared above some of the rubble. “Nothing?” she asked, disappointed. Elera shook her head, and the other two females watched her curiously while they began making their way over to her. The gnome went grudgingly. “How do you know? We just got here.”

“Yes,” Elera replied, heading toward the gate with the team following. “but he’s been here a while, and hasn’t found anything. It was doubtful, what, with this happening thirty years ago, that something may still have been here. We can check around other places, if there’s nothing we keep going. Records are normally on paper, they would’ve burned.”

“But we were so close…” Vivace lamented. “Where do we go now? Town reports? Keep asking the people?”

“The people here aren’t very keen on talking to outsiders.” The man said quietly from behind them. “And the town’s accounts are private, I already checked there.”

The group turned to see him talking to them. Vivace made a move to reply inappropriately, but Dolly stepped on her foot. And having a human step on a gnome’s foot isn’t the same as a human stepping on a human’s foot. Vivace let out a list of gnomish curses, which the other three ignored.

“So you’ve covered all the basics?” Dolly asked. The centaur nodded.

“This was one of the last places I came to, actually. Being destroyed for the last thirty years, I didn’t think it’d make sense to come here.”

“Maybe we’ve missed something.” Vivace muttered at last, holding her foot where it was hurt. “The man said to come look for somebody with the information. If it happened years ago, wouldn’t he have known the person was dead? Why would he tell us to look for someone if the someone was dead for thirty years?”

The group went quiet, and the centaur looked at them with an odd mix of expressions on his face. “You were told to come here?”

Vivace shrugged, refusing to reveal the information. The centaur sighed, and brought his hand up to rub the bridge of his nose. “May I ask by whom?” Being met with silence he was forced to concede. “Was it a man wearing a long dark cape, hiding his face?”

The group looked up, startled, and the centaur had his answer. He frowned, seeming thoughtful. Vivace would have none of it. “Wait, Mr. Dark and Out of Date told you to come here to?”

The centaur looked put off by the name, but nodded his head nonetheless. Vivace stomped her foot. When the team looked at her questioningly, she just shrugged and looked resolutely away, in what the rest of the team dubbed to be a sulking manner.

“Mr. Dark and Out of Date is going to have one little pissed off gnome on his hands next time he shows up.” Elera pointed out happily. The only response was Vivace shouting she wasn’t ‘little’ and running off to the gate, heading toward what looked like the village inn.

Dolly shook her head and looked to the side at the off put centaur. “Why don’t you come back with us? We can try to find out where those records are. You’ve already done some searching, it’ll save us time if we cross out what you’ve done from our list.”

The centaur hesitated, but after coming to the conclusion that having other people in the search might help, nodded. “My name is Sforzan, of the Ashen Forest Tribe. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

Dolly nodded. “Dolce Lithus. Dolly.” she nodded toward the woman on her right. “This is Elera of the Darkwater Clan. That,” she turned to look out the gate, but the gnome was long gone from sight. “That, was Vivace Bluebell, the leader of our party. We’re Players in the Royal Guard Tournament.”

“Let’s get back.” Elera said, motioning to the gate. “We might not want to leave our ‘little’ leader alone for now.”

-:-:-:-

Vivace made her way out of the burnt remains at a run, swearing up and down silently that the next person to call her small would be stabbed. She made her way past the deserted ruins, slowing to a stop when she realized how much mud had been splattered on her person. She let out another round of curses, finding herself inexplicably irritated. If that man was giving hints to everyone, there was no way they’d get ahead in the tournament. Vivace wasn’t quite sure why it mattered, but she still found it all annoying. The tips had been annoying as well. Who would tell you to go after someone specific, when that person had been dead for years?

But had that been what he said? What did he tell her exactly? Vivace tried to remember the exact words the man had told her. She muttered out loud, “Someone in Don Tensh…knew the whereabouts of the Heart Stones…Knew? Wait- He was telling us to come here looking for a dead person? ARG!” Vivace shouted, kicking the nearest piece of rubble she could find. “What the hell are we suppose to do?! TALK TO HIS GRAVE?!!” The assaulted rock went flying into a small path, clattering against the ground leading down to the graveyard the group had passed earlier. Vivace stared. She took a hesitant step forward, than another. Then she turned and shot back in the direction she had just come from, aiming for her team that she’d left behind. When the group, including the centaur, came into view, she began shouting.

“HEY! HEY GUYS!”

The party looked up to see the gnome running toward them, waving one of her fists in the air. In her haste, she stopped watching where she was going and tripped over a rogue piece of rubble, which had been successfully laying in wait to get revenge for the previously assaulted rock. Vivace went sprawling to the ground, and Dolly brought a hand up to rub her temple. A more troubled soul she didn’t know.

The gnome got up, sputtering, complete drenched in mud as in the previous day, but her mood didn’t seem dampened. “GUYS!” she called again. “I KNOW HOW TO FIND THE RECORDS!”

The group started. The gnome had been gone for maybe five minutes, three or four more likely, and she came back knowing where the records were? Dolly stepped forward, quickening her pace to reach the smaller figure. “What are you talking about?”

“The records!” Vivace stated, running up to the woman and practically bouncing with joy. “We need to check the graveyard! We were told someone here knew about the records, and where would that person be now? The graveyard! He might’ve left a clue on his grave!”

The others had walked up, and heard the gnomes theory. They glanced at each other thoughtfully. “It’s possible, you know.” Elera said quietly.

“Maybe, but how likely? This guy didn’t know someone was going to come along and kill him, why would he have left a clue there?” Dolly asked.

“For future generations? He was going to die eventually.” Sforzan pointed out, although he was frowning.

“Arg, just come on. We can find out when we get there.” Vivace said, turning around and making her way back down the road for the second time, this time, however, she was more wary of rocks. The rest of the group followed, slowing down when they reached the path leading to the cemetery. Vivace was already amongst the tombstones, passing through the rows searching for the name of the man she was looking for. The markers were made of rough stone, all in an identical arch shape. The only differences between the stones was the writing on them, which listed the names, years of life, and a small saying which could have been put there by themselves or family.

Vivace squinted at the stones, twenty years old each and worn by the elements. The others came up behind her, and started searching through the graves that she hadn’t seen yet. It wasn’t long before Dolly was calling the others over with Dalen’s location. She pointed to the lines on the tombstone, looking over at the approaching group.

Dalen Xeterou

1684 - 1728

In Hopes That My Dearest Segno Reaches Her Star

Scrawled below the inscription were the words: The Secrets of the Heart stays buried in the Home

“Those words down there seem way to cryptic not to be what we’re looking for.” Elera muttered, kneeling down to inspect the tombstone better.

“Who’s Segno?” Vivace wondered, glancing up at the centaur to see if he would provide the answer. He shifted uncomfortably under her gaze.

“The records never mentioned any Segno.” He replied, after thinking back. “Probably someone he knew, but I don’t think that’s as important. We just need to find out what that means, then whoever wrote that line. Someone else must know about the records.”

“Does it matter? As long as we get them, we’re gold.” Dolly said. She was smirking, “Those lines are pretty obvious, we go back to the house, see if the guy had a basement or something. They’re probably down there.”

“It does seem rather straightforward, doesn’t it?” Sforzan was frowning. “But I searched the ruins, I never saw a door to a lower level.”

“Maybe it wasn’t right near the house. It’s a secret entrance.” Vivace offered. “Either way, we need to go back and check. C’mon.”

As Vivace took a sprint out of the graveyard back toward the house, the others began following at a slower pace. Elera shook her head. “Is it just me, or does it feel like we’re running in circles?”

After returning to the burnt down house and searching the ruins, they found a small path between some trees behind the house, and followed it to an entrance shaped like doors to a cellar. The team tugged open the metal latches, and a ramp was revealed leading down into a dark passage. Sforzan provided a light for them, and they began moving down into the opening, only to find it lead to a room filled with shelves and old supplies.

“There’s another door here somewhere.” Vivace said, “Let’s find it.”

The team broke apart to inspect different parts of the room. Vivace walked around inspecting parts of the floor, looking underneath the shelves and boxes, to see if there were any type of trapdoor built into the concrete. Elera spent her time looking over the shelves, inspecting for triggers that might open a door or give the team further instruction, as did Sforzan. Dolly was looking at the walls in a similar method as the gnome, trying to find a door hidden. The group looked around the room in silence, each caught up in their own tasks. After a few minutes, they began sending irritated glances at each other.

“This seemed too easy.” Elera said quietly, sitting on a box and watching the others. Eventually, only Vivace was left searching, abandoning the floors and inspecting what the others had been covering before. “Maybe this was a decoy.”

“It’s possible.” Sforzan said. “If this man supposedly had the locations of the Heart Stones, he wouldn’t be likely to hide them in such an obvious place.”

“Have we missed something in the clues?” the demon asked, thinking back to the gravestone.

“The grave said that the secrets were buried beneath the home. I think we’re on the right track, there just must be a detail were missing.” Sforzan mused, he looked around. “Perhaps there was something underneath the rubble. Of course, then we’d have to go back and dig through it all, that may take a while. Or another, more hidden, basement? There are possibilities.”

“Or maybe we’re just not looking enough.” Vivace protested. She leaned back, having finished looking at a shelf. “It says it’s buried, maybe we need to dig.”

“Into concrete?” Dolly asked skeptically. She tapped her foot against the floor, indicating the thickness of the structure beneath them. “Good luck with that.”

“We should try digging.” Vivace stated, looking around again, this time going over to the boxes in search of something that would help them. The others ignored her, used to the gnome’s insistence on fruitless ventures. The centaur looked ready to protest, but Elera waved her hand in dismissal.

“Let her try, we need to think of something else anyway.” She tugged her horns thoughtfully, looking amidst the discarded objects Vivace was displacing in her search for something to dig with. Scrapes were being made where the gnome dragged the boxes against the floor, and Elera frowned. The centaur followed her eyes, seeing the white marks appearing on the floor.

“Gnome,” Sforzan said abruptly. Vivace glanced over and he went on, “move those boxes on that side of the room.”

Vivace straightened, putting her hands on her hips. “One, it’s Vivace, not gnome. Two, why?”

“Do it, Vivi, we want to see something.” Elera prompted. “Drag them the same way you were dragging the others.” The gnome looked confused, but went over to the other pile of boxes nonetheless. She inspected them for a moment, and glancing back at the ones watching, gripped them and began pulling them away from the wall they were against. The trio, for Dolly was gazing with interest now as well, watched what she was doing, inspecting the floor the boxes were dragged across on. While the scrapping noise sounded basically the same, the scratches being made were different.

“The floor. It’s different in the other section.” Sforzan pointed out needlessly, walking over. Vivace stopped dragging the box, wiping her brow. Sforzan tapped the spot of the floor experimentally. “Two different materials, it looks like they’re mixed into each other so nobody would notice the change. We can dig into this one a lot easier then we could the concrete.”

“So we are supposed to dig?” Vivace asked, looking down at the floor. “Then why’d you stop me? We need to find something to dig with.” She went back to looking at the shelves, while the others began standing up to go over to the discovered spot. Elera pointed to one of the shelves, motioning toward some shovels she had seen earlier in her examination. The gnome made her way over, jumping up to grab them. She threw the three shovels over to the other Players, being to small to properly wield one herself. The centaur looked affronted at being given the tool, but upon a glare from the gnome grudgingly began helping the two woman dig.

The ground was slowly dug up as the group searched for something that might’ve been buried. Eventually, the shovels hit a structure blocking their progress, and they cleared the material away to reveal a thick metal latch. They opened it, only to find it drop down into an underground tunnel, stretching into the distance. Vivace was the first to drop down, then the two women, and with slight difficulty the centaur brought up the rear. They made their way down the slightly descending ramp, with Sforzan holding the light as before. The damp walls were made of a type of metal, as well as the floor. It stretched forward, the journey lasting at least ten minutes before they found anything of interest. They walked down in silence, watching as the path slowly widened and turned into a large chamber. Sforzan aimed the light around, viewing a substantial circular room, the walls lined with shelves locked behind thick metal grates. The rest of the floor was bare, save a small table in the center, and a wooden box laying on top.

The group glanced at each other before moving forward, gaining ground on the centerpiece cautiously. There was nothing on the table besides the box, and the four topped to inspect the small holding device, Vivace jumping onto the dust table to be better able. The box was small and thin in size, and had iron bands around it to hold it shut, with an elegant lock that seemed out of place in the center of the front.

“Is this it?” Vivace asked nobody in particular in a hushed tone. She leaned down to get a better view of the box. Then, answering her own question while the others continued their inspection, said, “Guess we won’t know ‘til we open it.” She waited a moment to see if anyone was about to object, and hearing nothing, she reached forward to try and pry open the lock.

Be wary, mortal.

Vivace shot back off the table, much to the surprise of the others. She stared at the box, trying to regain her composition. Had that voice come out of the package? Of course it had, what else would be talking. Seeing the startled expressions on her comrades faces, she knew that they hadn’t heard the hollow speech that resounded from the wood, no, the lock, when she tried to open it.

“What the hell, Ace?” Dolly exclaimed, having stumbled back when the gnome moved. In response the gnome pointed at the box on the table. The three looked back at it, then at her.

Vivace pointed again, keeping her eyes glued to the container. “There’s something in there.”

After a moment of silence where the team digested her words, Dolly asked in what would have been a concerned tone, if it hadn’t been practically growled, “Excuse me?”

“That box, there’s something in there.” Vivace stated again, adding emphasis on her outstretched hand by prodding it forward.

Elera turned to inspect the wood, and shook her head. “There’s nothing in there Viv, I’d be able to tell if there was.”

“The lock then! Try the lock.” The gnome insisted. “I heard something from that thing when I tried to touch it!”

“An enchanted lock?” Sforzan asked questionably, glancing at the box with doubt. The human shrugged, while the demon looked at the object again. Vivace stood away, watching the others cautiously with one eye and staring at the container with the other. When Elera turned back around, it was with a shrug that mirrored Dolly’s.

“I think you’re paranoid.” The human jibbed, running her hand through her hair and smirking. “Fine, if you won’t do it, let someone else open the stupid thing.”

Vivace made a noise of protest that went ignored as Dolly swept her hand forward and flipped the latch, which opened without the need of a key or pick set to the group’s amazement. There was a moment of silence, then a deep humming began to fill the room.

“SEE?!” Vivace insisted, as a dark vapor began rising from the contents of the softly glowing lock. Elera reached forward before the rest could do anything and pulled something from the inside of the box just as the lip snapped shut and a loud voice echoed around the hall.

What mortal dares to take from this sacred tomb?

The group exchanged bemused glances with each other. “This isn’t a tomb.” Vivace muttered, sending a look around the grated walls and cabinets behind them.

Silence!

You have robbed my Master of his treasures-

“Is it possible to rob someone who’s been dead for twenty years?” Elera asked out loud. Sforzan snapped his head over to her with a bewildered expression on his face.

Silence!

“Yeah, it’s called grave robbing. But we’re not in a grave, so I don’t think it applies.” Dolly responded conversationally. The centaur began making hushing motions with his hands, glancing at the box repeatedly.

Mortals! YOUR DEATHS COME NOW!

“Huh, I think we pissed him off.” Elera smiled, watching as the vapors began swirling, and the box shook with the pressure. A hunching shadow began forming, taking on a physical shape in front of the table. The group backed off giving the thing room to create itself, having no way themselves to attack an intangible being. The shapes began making themselves swiftly, and in moments a creature with large spindly horns jutting out from the tops and sides of its head, and spikes accenting the think spine was standing in front of them. It had large, graying claws, and multiple rows of jagged teeth. A tail capped with spikes was slowly roving back and forth behind it, the dark blue skin rippling with taught muscles.

“What, is that exactly?” Vivace asked, drawing her sword from her back and moving forward slightly. The others began taking out their own weapons, seeing clearly where the situation was heading.

“It’s a Marid, I think.” Elera said moving further away from the creature turning to look at them. To give them options, she asked in an off hand voice, “Maybe we should go?”

“Never!” Vivace stated vehemently. Then: “Besides, I don’t think it’s gonna let us.”

The thing lunged forward, sweeping its claws at the collected group. Immediately the four split up, dodging to the side or backward. Vivace cursed as she hit the ground, and sprinted upward to attack the creature with her blade. It saw the gnome coming, but as it was ready a burst of magic to send at its opponent, a group of large vines began circling it. The beast growled, blasting away the greenery with the magic it’d been building for the gnome. Elera kept up the pace, having her vine weave in and out of the bolts way and forcing them to continue climbing up the monsters leg. Vivace jumped up, using the marid’s numerous spikes to reach its face, and slashed at the creatures eyes. It roared, forgetting the plants attacking it and let a blast of magic loose at the gnome, who’d already dodged back to the ground.

Dolly stood behind the beast and making a gesture with her hands, released a circle of cards around it. Unlike the game she’d played with Vivace at their first meeting, these cards wove in and out, slashing at the creature with their sharp sides. The marid let out another growl, and concentrating on the wall in front of it, tackled forward, breaking free from the vines and card blockage. The cards followed it now, aiming to get in as many hits as possible, but with a few short blasts of magic, the beast dispatched the untimely game accessories. Vivace slid into sight, powering her sword with a touch of magic causing it to glow faintly. She jumped forward to attack the creature, slashing down with her blade held tightly between her hands. The marid turned, picking up its fist and slamming it through the air toward the attacker, causing the gnome to squeak and drop, letting the limb fly overhead and only being caught by the rippling of air behind it. A gust of wind flew underneath the gnome, catching her before she could collide with the ground. As soon as the gnome was on her feet, a second column of air slammed into the side of the opponent, causing it to grunt and dig it’s feet into the metal floor to avoid moving.

Sforzan frowned, and read another line from the book he had opened, adding power to the magic he was assaulting the creature with. The marid, after trying to force its shoulder against the onslaught of wind an d waiting for it to give out, jumped to the side. The column of wind continued forward for a small length before disappearing. The marid looked around at the team surrounding it. Coming to a decision, it turned to face the back of the room, and let out jets of blue magic, which slammed into the back wall with surprising strength. The room shook, books began falling off the shelves behind the grates, and beams holding up the structure began groaning. Dolly and Sforzan both stumbled, having trouble standing on the heavily shaking surface. Suddenly pieces of the roof began falling, the cracks from the marids attacks having climbed to the top of the room. A piece of rock fell down on top of the light Sforzan had put down, causing the room to be plunged into darkness. The only light was beginning to stream in through the openings in the ceiling.

“He’s caving the roof!” Elera shouted over the sound of snapping and pounding of magic. “We have to get out of here!”

The rest of the team silently agreed, and they began making their way hastily back along the dark hallway. The marid let out a yell, and somewhere behind them the pulsing of missiles stopped to be replaced by the crunching of feet coming after them down the hall. Sforzan let out a muttered spell, and a tunnel of air rippled behind them to smash into the oncoming opponent, slowing his progress. The team didn’t have time to wait and see the effects intent on getting out of the collapsing chamber. The trip back seemed to take the same amount of time as going in, despite the fact that they were running this time around. Burst of magic were let loose from behind them, the occasionally missile hitting walls close to them and showing the team with rubble. Dolly halted, turning around and making rapid hand motions. The ground beneath her lit up, and she thrust her fist forward, turning to run as soon as she had accomplished her magic. A wall of steel cards formed behind them, and a loud roar echoed from the other side, followed by an onslaught of thundering sounds suggesting the attacks on the barrier. When they reached the end, the group jumped or climbed hurriedly out of the passage, and began running at a full sprint towards the exit. A crashing from below marked the destruction of the makeshift blockade.

The rain had finally come to a stop, and the team wasted no time in slamming the doors to the basement closed behind them when they finally reached the outside. They made their way a little further down the path and stopped, trying in vain to catch their breaths. Besides their heavy breathing, there was no noise breaking the still silence. Each of them had their eyes on the latch to the underground, waiting for the marid to make its way up to continue the fight. The section of earth beside the entrance had caved in, creating a large, gaping opening in the ground, leading to what looked like an explosion crater further down past the house.

A pounding sound came from the other side of the latch, then silence. The group stared. The latch blew off its hinges, flying high in the air above the Players heads, landing with a thud embedded into the wet dirt several feet away. The marid hoisted itself out of the hole, climbing onto the soil with a squelching sound. The team looked at the fiend apprehensively, and it shook itself off of the rubble that had fallen onto it. Stopping, it returned their looks with a glare, and without any further signal lifted its arms to start blasting pulses of raw magic at the group.

Elera quickly dodged around, twirling the plant life with her magic and forcing it to strike at the fiend. She bushed at the plants to grab the marid's legs and restrict its movement, figuring that the more vines and roots she could get around it now the stronger the binding would be once it went for physical attacks. The marid brushed the vines away with a jet of a fiery substance from its hands. Dolly pulled out a pair of die, throwing them onto the ground at the opponents feet. The cubes bounced, and with every number landing up a shock wave blasted into the creature, forcing it to aim its attacks at the female gambler. She continued moving for as long as it was concentrating on her. As soon as the dice had settled, they disappeared from the ground with a small sparkle of light. A blast of air impacted the marid, Sforzan summoning the outside wind to aid them in their fight. The marid let out a sharp growl and roared, causing the ground to shake and a swift echo of magic to extend outward, knocking the four Players off their feet. It struggled with Elera’s tangled net of plants binding its feet, giving the team enough time to regain their shaky balance and rise to their feet.

“Good job on the foot lock.” Dolly muttered to the demon, rubbing her head and seeing the marid resist the answer of blasting apart the bonds in fear of harming itself. “I know we’ve pissed this thing off pretty good, but have we actually hurt it?”

The team exchanged glances, but refrained from answering, instead moving forward to continue with the battle. The marid looked up as they approached.

You will pay, mortals. The property you stole was not your own.

“Let’s try something new.” Vivace said quietly, avoiding pointing out the obviousness of that statement, “Dolly, with me. El with him.”

Without any other type of strategy, the group moved to follow the gnome’s plan, breaking off from their last attempt at using brute force. The demon nodded at Sforzan, and he looked back down at his book to summon small whirlwinds of air, which Elera quickly wrapped with the thorny plants in the area, having them be sent forward with twice the damage involved. Dolly didn’t quite know how a warrior and gambler were to work together, so when Vivace told her to make the cards, she did so without question. Dolly sent the sharp game pieces toward the marid at the same time as the winds went flying in his direction, and the marid stopped trying to untangle his feet in choice of blasting apart the incoming projectiles. Vivace took a running jump onto one of the flat surfaces, being brought closer to the marid then she could normally get by running at this point. Just as the beast was about to rip apart her card with a blast of magic, she jumped, coming down roughly on his back. The beast tried turning to scratch at the annoyance, but as soon as it took its eyes off the Players in front, the assault of magic on its person was doubled, the attacks being made stringer during its distraction.

The beast let out a loud roar of annoyance, trying to knock the Players off their feet a second time. Vivace grabbed the horns sticking out of its head and did the most obvious thing there was to do- throw her sword down the marid’s throat and up into its skull. The howl was quickly turned into a bellow of pain, and the monster stopped trying to attacks the things in front of it, turning its attention to the gnome on its back. It twisted around, trying to grab the creature, one hand being thrown over its shoulder, the other going to its mouth to try and pull the steel out. The others would have none of it. Every time the beast tried to reach for the sword a card edge would swipe upward, aiming itself at the marid’s wrist to prevent it from removing the weapon. Sforzan sent a gust of air forward to collect the gnome, not wanting her to be crushed while the things was thrashing around in agony. Sensing the opportunity, Elera summoned up a pack of vines, twisting them into two long rows and sharpening the tips before thrusting them forward into the marid’s eyes and through the back of its skull. The body immediately went limp, being propped up by the green chains in its skull. Silence fell onto the clearing as the Players watched their opponent’s body stop twitching and the blood begin falling from its mouth and eyes.

Vivace slowly made her way forward, and jumped up to try and grab her sword from where it was stuck inside of the marid’s skull. Seeing the gnome having problems, Dolly walked over to lend a hand, muttering something about her size which went unheard by the pink haired girl.

“What do we do with this?” Sforzan asked, gesturing roughly toward the body while looking anywhere else in the clearing. “There’s no way we can just leave a giant marid in the middle of a field to decompose. Not so close to a town.”

Elera shrugged. “I’ll cover it with some pretty flowers. No one will notice.”

“The ‘ell yeh think no’bodied notice.” a voice floated from behind them. “Yer takin’ care’a that ‘fore yer leavin’.”

The team turned to look at the source of the voice, noticing a good portion of the town standing in the path to the ruins, gawking at the sight in front of them. The team glanced around at the wrecked surroundings and gaping hole guiltily, but seemed pleased with themselves nonetheless.