The Dragons Bane

Later that evening, the two mages awaken to the smell of hot food. They find Clernon up and about, busily warming up some of the meat pies while Nordok holds the torch.

“Well, I thought the smell of food would get you two up, at least. Once you are fully awake, you two can have these. We four have already eaten. The other two won’t likely awaken for some time, however. I finished healing Clandistra, Nordok, and Dimlar, so everyone is good to go, as far as that goes.”

“Good, I am hungry. I take it that it has been quiet, no creatures trying to break the door down or anything?” asks Mizdar.

“Aye, no problems at all,” answers Delgar, who is just finishing his meal while Dimlar stands guard by the door.

After the two mages have eaten, Mizdar goes over to the door, determined to make sure they remain undisturbed for the night. He begins to cast a spell, when he is done he puts both hands to the doors. A reddish light stretches across the doors like a spider’s web, his wizard’s bar spell sealing them against all but the most powerful of creatures.

“Well, that should ensure that we aren’t disturbed tonight. But I still want a guard on the door, just in case.”

Dimlar, having moved out of the way of the mage, agrees. ”I ‘ave the watch fer a couple more hours, I’ll not be lettin’ nothin’ through them doors, least not without wakin’ the rest of ye.”

“Well, I don’t feel sleepy, and I doubt Mintock or Clernon are ready to go back to bed for a while, either.”

“Has anyone had a chance to update their maps yet?”

“Nay, none be willin’ to go through Mintock’s stuff lookin’ fer the map, figured it’d be better to wait till he was up,” replies Delgar.

“Probably for the best, but hang on and I’ll get the map out of my pack.”

Now that the cooking is done, Nordok begins to feel sleepy after his meal. “I’m for bed, it’s been a long day. Wake me when it’s my turn at watch.” And Nordok turns in for the night, trying not to wake the two sleepers.

Seldor, awakened by either Nordok or the smell of food still floating in the air, begins to stir, and then sits up, wondering what is going on. “What happened? One minute I was flying and the next minute those two ugly statues were ripping me apart.”

“That they did, but we managed to kill them, though they put up one hell of a fight,” says Mintock.

“Are you hungry?” asks Clernon.

“Starving.”

“Hang on and I’ll cook you up a few meat pies. Mintock, would mind you helping me by holding the torch?”

“Sure, let me grab my flint and steel and a torch.”

“After you have eaten, if you feel up to it, I’d like you to try flying again. I have something I want you to check out.”

“Except for my empty stomach, I feel fine. In fact, I feel better than fine. What did you have in mind, Mizdar?”

“Well, I was thinking, since we didn’t find anything worthwhile on the brutes, that maybe they kept their loot up there, on their perch. So, after you have eaten, when you are ready, I’d like you to fly up there and check. Also, you still need to learn how to land, besides on your belly, that is,” says Mizdar with a smile.

“No problem.”

After Seldor has let his food settle, he is ready to continue his flying lessons under Mizdar’s tutelage. “Now, the first thing you need to learn is how to land. After you get the hang of that, you can explore the ledge. So, first fly about halfway up to the ceiling. Then I want you to try hovering, and slowly lower yourself to the floor.”

“Ok, I’ll give it my best shot.” Seldor succeeds in flying up, but has difficulty hovering. He can go very slow, but not stop.

“Well, maybe in time you will be able to. Now, I want you to slowly come down, feet first.”

Seldor manages to land on his feet, this time. “That was easy. I think I am ready to try landing when I am going faster, I think it should just be a matter of bringing my feet under me at an angle, sort of like jumping.”

“Give it a try, worst you can do is give Clernon some work to do, healing you.”

After a few successful landings, Seldor seems to have the hang of it.

“Ready to check that ledge?”

“You know it, fact is I thought I saw some rocks piled up in the back corner when I was flying. I’ll bet Delgar’s beard there is something under them.”

“Leave me beard out of it. But I do hope there be somethin’ up there, we earned it.”

Seldor, flying up and landing with a little awkwardness, begins to check the ledge. Finding a large pile of rocks, he begins to move them. “You guys aren’t going to believe this, but we’ve hit the mother lode! Delgar, come and stand under the ledge and I’ll start tossing stuff down to you.”

Delgar, his curiosity spurring him on, quickly moves to stand below the ledge. “What ’ave ye found, birdman?”

“Several large sacks of coins and gems, as well as quite a few other things. Are you ready to catch the cash?”

“Aye, start tossing down the sacks.” Delgar has no trouble catching the four large sacks of gold, silver, and other coins. “What else be ye tossing down?”

“Well, I’ve got a couple of swords, a knife, some armor, a hammer, and a pair of boots. Ready? I’ll toss the swords and the knife first.”

“Aye, just don’t stick me wit ’em.”

Seldor, laughing, begins to toss the other items down to the dwarf.

“I wonder what became of the owners of this stuff?” asks Clernon.

“I am of the mind that the zombies across the hall may have been the owners. Seldom is anything wasted in the dungeon,” replies Mizdar, watching the stuff being tossed down.

“After they are through, I think we will have to see if any of it is magical in nature. There must be some reason the beasts kept only these items,” observes Mizdar.

“Yes, it is just possible that all of them are magical. Wouldn’t that be nice?” asks Mintock.

“Yes, it would. This would be the biggest haul we’ve heard about in some time. Fact is, we might consider leaving early. While we know you four new members have gotten enough experience to go up to second level, the rest of us weren’t thinking we’d go up to fourth until after the next trip. But this haul may be big enough for us to go up, too,” notes Mizdar.

“If that is the case, then I doubt any of the others would mind returning early. We’ve definitely got more than we came for,” replies Mintock.

“I think we should wait until morning to bring the matter up, that way everyone can have a say.”

“Yes, that’s as it should be.”

Seldor, having finished tossing everything down except the rocks, flies down to join the others in examining the treasure. They dump out the four large sacks of assorted coins, making a large pile on the floor. They then begin to sort and count the coins.

“Look what I just found,” says Clernon, holding up a medium sized brooch of a snake coiled around a cross.

“And here be a necklace, and a ring!” says an excited Dimlar.

“Set ‘em aside an’ keep sortin’,” says Delgar. “We’ve got a heap of coin to count.”

When they are all through sorting and counting, they find that there are 34 assorted gems, 4856 gold pieces, 9188 silver pieces, 328 eridium pieces, and a sack of copper which none of them wants to bother counting.

“Put it all into separate sacks, 1000 coins to a sack, and throw in the other coins we found so far, as well,” orders Mizdar.

“What about that ring we found earlier?” asks Mintock.

“Set that with the other items, that way I can check it for magic too.”

Once all the coins are bagged up properly, and the items to be checked for magic are all laid out neatly, Mizdar begins to cast a spell. When he is done, all of the items laid out, except the necklace, begin to glow with a pearly light.

“Well, this is good news indeed. Everything except the necklace has some magical property. Mintock, will you remove the necklace? Put it in with the other gems, we will sell it along with them when we get back. Also, get your quill and ink and something to write on, we want to keep track of what these are as I identify them.”

After Mintock removes the necklace and returns with the requested items, Mizdar begins to cast another spell. When he is done, he picks up each item, handling each as it would be handled when being used.

He starts by swinging each sword, quickly determining that each is a +1 weapon. Next he swings the hammer, it too is a +1 weapon. A few slashing swings of the knife are all it takes for him to determine it has a +1 bonus as well. The armor, splint sized for an elf, he places against his chest, soon pronouncing it to be +2.

After trying on the boots, Mizdar stands up and begins to run, only he can now run faster than Dimlar. Returning to the rest, he removes the boots. “These are able to double the speed of the wearer.”

The rings are next, handling the first one and examining it, he places the ring on his finger and promptly vanishes from sight. Removing the ring, he reappears. “This ring gives the one wearing it the power to become invisible.”

Examining the next ring, he finally places that on a finger. Leaping into the air and hovering there, he says “this one can make you fly,” and slowly he returns to the floor, landing with a graceful ease that makes Seldor envious.

The snake brooch is last, and after a careful examination, he pins it on his breast. “This will make the wearer immune to any poison or disease.”

“Did you write down what each item is?” asks Mizdar.

“Yes, each is recorded and I will now label each item so that we don’t get confused on which ring is which.”

“When do we choose who gets what?” asks Seldor.

“As soon as the rest are up,” replies Mizdar.

“Oh, we’re up. We’ve been watching for the last ten minutes, but you were all too busy watching Mizdar identifying the treasure to notice,” says Clandistra, smiling.

“Why didn’t one of you say something?” asks Seldor.

“We didn’t want to interrupt Mizdar while he was working,” says Nordok.

“Are you hungry, Clandistra?” asks Clernon, concern for her evident in his voice.

“Yes, but I’ll gladly wait. I am as anxious as everyone else to choose from the magic items. Mizdar, I believe first pick is yours, correct?”

“Aye, then be you, followed by the two of us, an’ so on, jest as yesterday, fer the statue wall,” says Delgar, eager for his turn.

Mizdar, intentionally deliberating for a few minutes just to tease Delgar, finally chooses the ring of invisibility. “Bout time,” mumbles Delgar under his breath, but not quietly enough, causing the others to laugh at his impatience. Clandistra, having already made up her mind earlier, chooses the armor.

Delgar, a little ashamed of his eagerness, generously offers the next pick to Dimlar. Dimlar, knowing full well that Delgar wants the boots, asks “Mizdar, if I were to put on the boots, would they make me be even faster?”

“I doubt it, but you can try them on and see, I suppose.”

“I think not, the hammer will do nicely fer me.”

Delgar, able to breathe easy again, chooses the boots, amid much laughter from the others, since all of us knew that the boots were what he so direly wanted.

“Now I be able to keep up wit ye, an’ what a team we be makin’,” says Delgar.

“Aye, we will, at that.”

Mintock then chooses his, feeling a little guilty because he gets to pick before the others, especially since they paid for the treasure with their blood. Taking the other ring, he decides to make a gift of it to Nordok, that way both fighters will be able to fly. Clernon, going next, must choose the brooch; as a cleric, he cannot use edged weapons. Seldor and Nordok each take a long sword, leaving the knife.

“Now what do we do with the knife? We can’t very well split that eight ways,” observes Nordok.

“Well, I was thinking that I would take that instead of a share of the money. When I go up to fourth level, I will be able to learn a new weapon, I might as well make it a knife. Unless anyone thinks we should sell it and split the money instead?”

“Nay, ye may have the knife. None of us want it, an’ it not be worth much, anyways.”

“Anyone else?”

“Keep it with our blessings, and I think you deserve a share of the money as well, you have lead us well,” offers Clandistra.

None of the others have any objections, agreeing with Clandistra that he should also still get a share of the money.

So Mizdar takes the knife, “thanks, but I will forgo my next pick of treasure, it is only fair.”

After Clandistra and Nordok have eaten, and everyone’s maps have been updated, Mizdar brings up the question of our returning early, maybe as soon as tomorrow. “All in favor of leaving early and returning to the castle, say aye.”

Everyone agrees, the chance to go up in levels, as well as the opportunity to breathe fresh air again and sleep in a soft bed obviously figuring prominently in everyone’s decision. So, Mizdar, after setting the watches for the night, begins his studying while the two clerics pray. The others not assigned to the next watch turn in for the night.