Dungeon-crawling: bringing new meaning to the word "pointless" for hundreds of years. Possibly longer. The Palace of the Silver Princess had been one giant deathtrap, filled with monsters, strange spells, and snares of all kinds. And, yes, it was a complete waste of time. On the advice of the mage Chaarna, we sought the famed ruby known as My Lady's Heart. Alas, Chaarna's research had been incomplete at best. Only after fighting past dozens of monsters and disarming traps by the score did we find the gem, and with it, something else. The Princess Argenta haunted her former palace, forever guarding it against her long-ago killer—with the ruby her source of power. The heroes then arrived, stage right, and were told two things. Firstly, a second spectre was to arrive in a matter of moments—alliteraiton unintended. In any case, once it had been dealt with, Argenta presented the second bit of bad news. Chaarna would have to carry the ruby to Raven's Bluff, and meet us back at Oakhurst—empty-handed.
Thus my irritation, and our shrunken party, consisting of a half-elven archer and an immature and secretive halfling. And, of course, the half-elven bard doing her utmost to keep her temper. The weather wasn't helping much. Twenty years spent wandering the wilds around the charming hamlet of Oakhurst had done little for my love of the "great outdoors."
Fortunately, the village was now in sight. On the other hand, I wasn't much looking forward to arriving with neither treasure nor the goblin-made medicine I'd been told to fetch. It looked as though the patients in the rapidly crowding infirmary would have to hang on a bit longer. None of this made sense. The sicknesses, the goblins attacking farmers and stealing their livestock, the unusually long and harsh winter. But we'd pull through, as we always did. It was at times like this that I could almost feel proud of my village.
Dirbert nudged me. "Quiet, isn't it?"
I heard nothing, save for our feet crunching through the thick snow. "Too quiet," I agreed.
The archer kicked at a small bump in the snow, sending out a small puff of white. His eyes widened. "Look at this." I knelt, and saw the rough greenish features of an orc.
"Sharess' girdle, what the hells is this doing here?"
"Can't be good," Dirbert responded. He looked worried. "I hope that everyone's all right." Shadow shook her head but said nothing.
"We'll see." First, I wanted to know what was going on. "What I don't understand is—why now? You and I have been patrolling Oakhurst for years, and there's nothing out of there. We're a backwater village in the middle of Sembia."
"I'll say," Shadow snorted.
"Why did you come here, then?" The halfling was silent. "All right, never mind that," I continued. "Let's see if we can find anything in this bloody snow."I hoped my parents were all right. I knew that they were experienced enough to take care of themselves, but... Somehow, I couldn't stop worrying.
"Kyland Lind's cave first?" Dirbert suggested. "That's where most of the village would go if something happened, anyway. Or your family's house?"
"Split up. Shadow?"
"Ready," she replied, sounding as disgruntled as ever.
"Do you know where the inn is?" She nodded. "Check there. Dirbert, try the cave. I'll check my house." We set off in different directions, Shadow north, Dirbert west, and myself north-east. Never before had I felt such dread and anticipation. Mother, Father, I'm coming.