[coronatiger]

Thoughts on August 15th (continued)

We climbed down the long, winding stairs and met Olivia for lunch. After the meal, Va’lyndra was still tired from her spell-casting and wanted to rest a bit longer, so Olivia and I went to retrieve the ladder pieces. They were valuable, even if they were shattered, but we discovered the ladder had just broken in two.

Leaving Olivia in the camp, the rest of us went to explore the next building. It looked like a sports stadium where one quarter of the circular building had collapsed. We took the main entrance, for Lady Karita thought that the public areas wouldn’t be trapped. A portcullis barred the way to the arena proper. It was barred from our side, making us think captive animals or people were the entertainment. We also found cells. They were empty now, of course, and we couldn’t decide whether they had held people or beasts.

In the basement, we found several mechanisms for getting up to the arena. Many of them were broken; some levers were so rusted they wouldn’t budge, others simply did nothing. Then Kine pulled a lever, opening a trapdoor under me. The drop wasn’t long, but rusted spears protruded from the floor. I managed to avoid most of them, but one hit me right between the legs. A depressing thought struck me that I might never be able to enjoy sex again. My second thought was that healing potions work wonders.

I had to stretch to tip-toe to get off the spear. I jumped to grab hold of the ledge, and pulled myself out of the hole. Va’lyndra offered to give first aid, but I told her I wouldn’t let anyone but Olivia near that part of me. While Lady Karita ran to get her, I sat down a short distance away to get some privacy, pulled down my trousers and waited for Olivia, clamping down with my hands on the wound to staunch the bleeding.

Olivia arrived with her first aid kit and set to work. The thought of her fiddling around down there was arousing, but the intense pain staved off my desire to do anything about it. I had healing potions of my own, but since Kine had dropped me into the trap, I figured she should be the one to spend resources healing me. I demanded a potion from her, and felt much better, but the pain remained, so I demanded another one after the first had settled. I told Olivia I still wasn’t fully healed, and was about to shout for yet another potion from Kine, when Olivia stood up with a stern look on her face, saying I should wait. The pain would keep me focused on doing my job, she declared, and if I could keep myself in check, she would kiss the pain away tonight. A wave of anticipation surged through me, but Olivia crossed her arms stubbornly and glared at me until it passed. I dressed and joined the others; Olivia returned to camp.

We found another such trap, and took care to avoid it. The we discovered a metal door with a key hole. Va’lyndra peeked through, and saw the glow of magic on a shield there. There was no magic on the door, but Lady Karita found a tiny switch near the floor, and noticed that the entire area outside the door was a giant trapdoor. We tied a piece of string to the switch, moved off the trapdoor, and pulled. Nothing happened, so Lady Karita pulled harder until eventually the string snapped. Then we tried forcing it up with Va’lyndra’s quarterstaff, still from a distance, but the switch was completely stuck. I put all my strength into it, and the switch broke.

Lady Karita picked the lock. Then we tied a rope to the handle, and pulled open the door. A crossbow bolt shot out and struck the wall. Good thing we all stood safely to the side, off the trapdoor. We tested the trapdoor, and it still seemed safe. The room was a repository for weapons, but except for the magic shield, there was nothing of value there. Even the crossbow used in the trap was beyond repair.

We searched through the entire stadium, and found a few coins. I had to test the arena, of course, so I took the time to do some cartwheels and backflips before we returned to Olivia. She made good on her promise.


Thoughts on August 16th

The next building resembled the first one we explored on this quest. A music hall or theatre, with a door of living wood, this structure was in a much worse state. There were holes in the walls, and the roof had partially collapsed. Lady Karita thought the door was trapped, so we simply entered through the wall and took a look from the other side. It was clear the arrow trap had deteriorated to such a degree that it no longer was able to fire. We searched through the building and found some coins. Va’lyndra stepped on a loose tile on a ledge and fell to the floor below, slightly twisting her ankle. I jumped down and bandaged her leg.

After a short rest, we proceeded to a building that we figured out was a public bath. At first, the large number of storage closets had us thinking it could be a place where people could store valuables, but when we got to the main room in the building, we changed our minds, for it had a large pool in the middle. Admittedly, there was no water there, but the depression in the floor, along with drains and faucets, strongly hinted at a watery theme. Va’lyndra did a spell dance and declared there was no water nearby, except for what we’d brought with us. I found a fine ring in one of the drains, and Kine estimated it was worth thirteen gold pieces. This was the first time that I found something all the others missed. I couldn’t wait to tell Olivia about it.

We had time to check another building before bedtime. It was pretty small, compared to many of the others, and half of it had fallen down. The stairs between the two floors had crumbled too, but because of all the rubble we could climb on, getting up was pretty easy, even for the others. We thought the building had been a restaurant once, with dining rooms on both levels, and a large kitchen in the back of the ground floor. We found nothing of value, but at least we did our job, searching the place.


Thoughts on August 17th

I awoke slowly, rejuvenated. Euphoria rushed through my veins as I recalled what Olivia and I had been up to last night. A sharp prod in my side brought me back to reality. It was time for watch duty.

There were two sites left to check out. One of them was hardly more than a pile of rubble, and we chose to take that last. The other was a compound of adjoining buildings, most of which had fallen down, but two towers still stood.

The towers yielded no secrets, no treasures. Wanting to leave no stone unturned, we started poking through the ruins, and Lady Karita and Va’lyndra spotted an open space through cracks in the rubble. We managed to remove enough rocks to wriggle through to the chamber below. A corridor led away from the chamber, to a metal door. After not finding any traps or spells on the door, Lady Karita picked the lock. Stacks upon stacks of coins gleamed at us from under a thick layer of dust.

Then three large knives rose into the air and darted towards Lady Karita. Not expecting this kind of attack, she let one past her guard and fell to the floor. Va’lyndra smacked one of the blades to the floor with her staff, and I stepped on it to keep it down. After overcoming the initial surprise, we found it easy to subdue the enchanted knives, and for safety’s sake, I broke the two I had seized, but Va’lyndra wanted to keep the third. It had stopped moving on its own, but was still magical.

Lady Karita had remained conscious and rejoined the short fray as soon as she could stand up, but was in need of bandaging, so I offered to take care of her while Kine and Va’lyndra started emptying the treasure chamber. Suddenly, the third knife broke free from Va’lyndra’s grip, and lunged at her. I leaped up and grabbed hold of it. If Va’lyndra wanted to keep the knife, she’d better come up with a good plan to restrain it, fast. She made some feeble attempts at binding it to her quarterstaff, but I could see that wouldn’t hold it for long, so I broke the third knife too, ignoring Va’lyndra’s protestations.

Va’lyndra found an enchanted stick and three magical gems in the treasure chamber. I thought the stones smelled like rotten fish, and Va’lyndra and Kine added that they made a high-pitched, monotonous sound when they touched them, so I stayed away.

Getting all the treasures out through the narrow passage in the rubble took quite some time, so we postponed searching the last building until tomorrow.


Thoughts on August 18th

Lady Karita, Va’lyndra and I searched the last ruin, but found nothing. Kine and Olivia packed the wagon with all the loot we’d found. We put the malicious painting between two doors, and Va’lyndra welded them together, using her elvish talent for shaping wood. Kine put something in the secret compartment in the bottom of the water barrel. I didn’t think there was anything we needed to smuggle out, except for the painting. We had certainly found enough valuables that we could afford the fifty percent tax. I didn’t say anything, though. We left in the early afternoon.