Chapter Three: The First Steps
"In every hero's journey, the most important action they can take is always their first steps into the journey itself. I sat at home reading about the first steps my friends took to begin there journey, if there was anything I could have told them at that time it would be; don't."
Though the road they took too "Oaken tree" village was a known path and safe everyone kept there eyes open for bandits or any form of ambush, except Ian. Though he was in the lead and appeared to be focused the truth is that his head was in the clouds. He would be the last person to notice an ambush when he should be the first but he couldn't help it.
Ian just walked ahead at his own pace thinking about the fight the other day. The way he was able to maneuver didn't feel just natural to him; it felt like he had been practicing it for years until mastery. Then Ian began to wonder if the others had felt like this too. Everything he's done in this world so far hasn't felt just natural it's felt like a routine he's done practically everyday, how he slept, how he walked, and even how he views and judges peoples actions instantly.
So wrapped up in his own thoughts Ian barley noticed when he was being spoken to all he caught was "Don't you think so too Ian?" Ian didn't even know who had said it he was caught completely by surprise and just turned around casually and asked, "I'm sorry could you repeat that?" to no one in particular.
Everyone just stopped walking and started laughing. Ian's puzzled look made them laugh even hard until Shaun enlightened him, "We were talking about our course of actions when we got to the village and when you didn't respond after your name being called like a dozen times, we decided to see what your reaction would be if we had made it sound like you were included on the conversation at all. Priceless as always and your look of puzzlement just now only added to the humor."
Ian just sighed and said, "You guys are hopeless." He continued walking forward in silence, while everyone just shrugged and did so as well. Soon enough they arrived at the village and it was Morthos who spoke up first. "We should go find who put out the bounty on the goblins and gather all in the Intel we can on the goblins before setting out."
Everyone agreed with that plan and kept there eyes out for anyone in the village who could pay the fair to have a small band of goblins killed. However walking into this small town with the group they had got attention from everyone. They walked around trying to be inconspicuous but to no avail.
Soon enough everyone was getting frustrated and it was Shaun who walked away from the group and went up to a few adults leaning against a small hut that seemed like someone's home and said, "Pardon me gentlemen but me and my companions here would like to know who we may speak to, to gather information about your Goblin issue.?"
The men just looked at Shaun puzzled then looked at each other until one of them said, "Look pal I don't know what problem you're talking about but if you have questions I would take them up with the mayor." Then the men walked off without further explanation.
Shaun walked back to the group saying, "Something is wrong. This village seems rather peaceful and old." "So what's wrong with that?" Allen asked. "Everything" Morthos said now joining the conversation. "I've noticed it as well for a town that's being attacked by goblins frequently the townspeople seem rather at peace."
"Well those gentlemen told me to take any questions up with the mayor." Shaun said. "So how about we go find where he lives and ask him about the goblins."
They found the mayor's house or rather estate was in the center of town just in next to the massive oak tree that was growing in the middle from where the town had gotten its name. It took them some trouble getting into the estate because the group was so awkward but the guards eventually allowed entry inside because of Allen and Shaun surely a paladin and artificer mean absolutely no harm to innocents. However they still had to relinquish they're weapons to the guards until they left the estate. Though Morthos was completely hidden behind his cloak if he held out his hands the guards would notice so he ingeniously just placed the staff out a foot and let it drop into the guard's hand.
The mayor's estate wasn't massive but it was still rather impressive for such a small town. The decor inside was cheap but it did a good job of creating a nice atmosphere inside. The mayor was a tall man a little round but not too bad for someone who lived in such a relaxing status. The mayors invited everyone into his office without much care of what they looked like and he told them his name was Charles.
Shaun and Morthos suspicion grew even more at the sight of Charles good personality and general care freeness. It wasn't that it was a bad thing but it shouldn't be like that if there was trouble with any creatures raiding the town.
"So then what can I do for travelers such as yourselves?" Charles asked.
"Well sir we heard that you had an issue with some goblins raiding your town and we've come to offer our services in this endeavor." Ian said.
The look on Charles face gave everyone the information they needed but they let him say it anyways. "I'm sorry to disappoint you but our small town here hasn't seen goblins or even trouble for that matter in centuries. In fact as far as I know there haven't been any goblins around here for just as long."
While the mayor was talking Ian was searching through his clothes and bags to see if he could find the wanted poster from the Inn but it wasn't anywhere on him. "It's gone!" Ian said. The wanted poster for the goblins I don't have it anymore." Everyone then started searching their stuff as well but to no avail. The wanted poster was gone completely.
"Is there something wrong" Charles asked.
"Yes" Ian said. "We had a wanted poster for goblins that we picked up the Inn south of here in the small village.
Charles just gave Ian a puzzled look then said, "I'm sorry to disappoint you further lad but there is no village south of ours. There's only the forest." The friends looked at each other with worry, then immediately left the mayors estate without another word. They grabbed their weapons back from the guards trying there best to hold in their frustration until they finally got back to the back end of the town from where they entered.
"Alright I think it's best if me and Ian went back ourselves because we are fastest." Sena said. "We will run back to the village and just grab another poster. We should be back by nightfall at the latest. Just wait here for our return please." With that Sena and Ian took off running at their full pace. She was right they would be fastest, those two moved about five times as fast as their walking pace. They should be back in a few hours.
Sena and Ian kept to the same exact path they took when walking because there wasn't really any other roads to take but they started noticing something was wrong with this road. It seemed much less worn in the further they traveled down it. Eventually they saw the forest path and the open plains that they stayed in when they first arrived in that world.
That's when Ian and Sena started panicking. Not only should they have arrived at the town by now but from where they were standing they had passed it. The two ran back towards the village this time looking out for the spot where they were fighting just the other day. Surely there would be at least some scorch marks in the ground from Mortho's flame attacks.
It took them a few minutes of searching the general area of where they believed to be the approximate location to their battle ground to actually spot some scorch marks on the ground. Once Ian and Sena stopped to examine the ground they could confirm this was the spot of their first training practice but the village which would have been an easy spot from there was nowhere to be seen. It wasn't just gone⦠it was like it was never there in the first place.
When Sena and Ian returned Allen was the first to speak up, "We have another problem." He said. "After you two left I began searching for my map I got back at the town for reference but couldn't find it. All of us practically striped naked searching for it but just like the poster it was gone as well, not only that but Shaun also noticed that all of the money we spent at the inn is back in the pouch."
Sena and Ian just sighed and Sena said, "It's gone. The entire village that was there has disappeared completely. Ian and I only noticed this because first we followed the road we took and it led straight into the forest at the end, then we searched for the area where we battled. The signs of Morthos attacks were evident and other marks we left in the ground but there was no village."
For several minutes everyone just stood there silent. Eventually it was Ian who spoke up first, "Alright I don't know what's going on but our quest remains the same. We'll camp in town for the night and at first light we go to those caves in the west. Whatever we find there should at least provide us with some answers. Besides if there's no goblins then it's just a cave worst creature that could possibly be living there is a bear and if so then we move on."
The group found a secluded alley in the town and slept there. After the last place they didn't fully trust inns right now. Morthos took the first watch for a couple hours, and then Sena, and so on until the sun rose and everyone got an equal amount of sleep. What ever they found in those caves now would be the next step into the journey, now they had nothing to go back to and could only move forward and discover the mysteries of this land.
Ian and Sena approached the cave entrance cautiously, listening intently for any noises inside. It was broad day light outside but they made sure to go around the sides so they couldn't be seen approaching from inside. After only a moment of waiting Sena and Ian could hear the sounds of creatures talking, it was muffled but there was definitely something in there. Ian walked closer to the entrance in utter silence and poked his head in to look inside.
The cave started out with a wide dark path that led into a much larger area. Within this area were five small and ugly green creatures. They were all wearing light leather armor and carrying short swords. One of them however looked slightly bigger than the others and held a javelin in its other hand.
Ian knew these creatures were goblins right away and noticed by there lack of size and equipment they were the weakest amongst their race. Ian signaled for Sena too look inside too and while she did that Ian quietly strode away from the cave to report to Allen, Morthos and Tekaru. Sena followed shortly after Ian and they discussed their battle plan.
The goblins stood around the cave quietly doing their normal patrol routine of this top level. As they were beginning to head down the tunnel to report that there was nothing unusual an arrow coming out of the other end of the cave soared past one of the goblins and hit another one in the back of his head. The goblins fell that got hit with the arrow fell dead immediately and the others; startled turned around to see a massive human clad in heavy armor with a broad sword and wooden shield charging right at them.
Allen took the head of the group with Ian right behind him, then Mortho's and Sena and Tekaru at the back side by side. The caves first passage was wide enough for them to go side by side but they ultimately decided this formation was better. Ian stopped everyone and waited until he had a clear shot of one of the goblins until he allowed Allen to draw his sword and relinquish what little subtlety he had. Ian released his arrow and that was the signal for Allen to charge the goblins.
Allen charged straight at the goblins as fast as he could with his sword ready to parry and blows and his shield held a little high to block any projectiles. The goblins were too startled to start moving until Allen was already upon them and with one swing he had beheaded a goblin. The last three left had gathered their bearings by then and two of them were backing away from Allen as the third was trying getting behind Allen to try and get a more favorable position.
The two that went to one side of Allen had their javelins in their main hands and were getting in position to throw them when vines and thorns violently sprouted from the ground wrapping around their bodies and arms preventing them from throwing the javelins. Then the Goblin who had maneuvered himself behind Allen prepared to strike when and arrow caught him in the neck and he fell over twitching and writhing with pain bleeding to death. As the last two goblins quickly freed themselves from the tangle of the vines they saw there other enemies emerging form the shadows of the caves entrance tunnel.
Both retreat outside and further down the caves were blocked for the two goblins, they quickly assessed that the paladin would be an easier opponent and threw there javelins at him. However only one of the goblins javelins came close to it's target as the other goblin who was in the middle of his toss immediately caught on fire hindering his attack making the javelin completely miss the paladin. The other Javelin was right on target for Allen's head.
Allen didn't have enough time to move aside but instead of the javelin running through his skull it deflected off of an invisible wall and fell to the ground. Allen was momentarily stunned as was the goblin until he realized the small white light emitting from his friends and he knew it was Tekaru's doing. The goblin however recovered from his shock faster than Allen and was charging straight at him. Ian and Mortho's were hesitant in doing any attacks because Allen was partially in front of the goblin possibly as the goblin had wanted.
Allen parried the goblins strikes realizing the creature was trying to hit him so much as it was trying to get around him. Allen kept up with the goblins sword play allowing it to get around him and when the creature was in the position it wanted, for the briefest moments it hesitated its next attack to make sure that it could turn and run. It was in that moment of slightest hesitation that Allen took the opportunity to bash the goblins face with his shield and then decapitate it with his sword as it staggered back from the surprising blow.
Everyone was now standing in the cave area, Ian was picking his arrows back from the dead goblins and everyone else was just in partial awe. Within a minute or so they had completely destroyed a small band of goblins. Though they knew it was because not only had they gotten a surprise round off on them but also that the goblins were probably the lowest ranks they rejoiced in having done so well in their first encounter.
Once Ian had gathered his arrows back the group searched the goblins for any treasures they might have. The goblins only had there armor and weapons but the group decided that it might be worth it later so they striped the goblins of the leather armor and short swords and put them off into a neat pile to come get when they came back.
While his friends did that Ian stood starring down the long dark passage going further into these caves then Ian said, "You know I can't be certain but I think there's an entrance to a dungeon down here everyone."
Everyone cautiously went down the cave tunnel with Allen and Tekaru both Carrying torches to help light the way. They encountered no traps of any sort but the tunnel it's self had a deep decent to slope until flattening out again after about 20 minutes of a slow paced walk. The group stopped in front of massive double doors with some writing in goblin tongue that translated to: Dark miester shackled at underlow.
None of them knew exactly what it meant exactly but after a few minutes of discussing it they decided that Dark Miester was some kind of sorcerer and under low was the bottom of the dungeon. Then Allen pushed against the doors with all his might. At first nothing then the loud sound of rock grinding against rock echoed throughout the tunnel as the doors started opening revealing the dungeon's short hallway.
With the doors open everyone could see into the dungeon hall, it was a little dark but the hall wasn't long and it spread immediately to the left and to the right. Still weary of traps the group walked slowly down the hallway and observed both paths. Each path was the same distance and with the same lighting from torches still burning.
Ian and Sena both walked soundless to both sides peaking there heads slowly around the corner and listening intently for any noise. It was Sena who caught the sounds of footsteps approaching from further down the left path. The group hugged the wall with their backs, just at the turn of the path as the footsteps approached. From the sounds of it there were only two but they decided it best to ambush them when they turned the corner.
As the two goblins turned the corner they stopped in total surprise by the massive human clad in plate armor standing just on the other side. Neither goblin had time to react before the paladin grabbed both of them by there heads, turned around and tossed them right into a group of fearsome warriors. One of the goblins was sent flying right at Ian as he was already in pose wielding a short sword aimed for the goblins throat. While the other goblin was hurled at Tekaru who had his staff posed to smack the goblin like it was a baseball.
The goblin flew right into Ian causing him to stumble back but his dagger slipped right into its throat killing it instantly. As the next goblin got within range of Tekaru he swung his staff as hard as he could; smacking the goblin in the head, knocking it off course. Though that goblin wasn't dead it was sent sprawling harmlessly a good ten feet, and when it stopped and started to get on it's feet a dark blast of energy hit it right in the chest throwing its back onto the ground. Sena approached it cautiously not sure if it was dead or not, but when she got close enough she could see the goblins eyes were open and pure white. "Doesn't get much deader than that", Sena thought to herself.
Ian had already pushed the goblin off of him and started cleaning up its blood as the other took care of the last one. "Well then that was easy enough" Ian said. "I propose we take a small lunch break in the first hall this way we can see any other patrol's coming and take quick cover behind the massive doors if necessary."
No one argued the logic they were all too hungry at that point. Although it had only been about an hour or two since they started the quest, they had worked up in appetite from the last two encounters. And though none of them said they were all thinking the same thing that it's so much more different from when they were fantasizing about raiding a dungeon. They would make their characters go through almost entire dungeons without taking time to rest but trying that now would likely end up getting them killed.
The group pressed on throughout the first level of the dungeon. They met nothing but goblins in this first level and always in small groups. They never got another surprise round like before off but not all of the battles were difficult either. A couple times one of them would get a serious injury but Tekaru would heal them up right away. Despite having an adept healer they decided he should save his strength only on big wounds otherwise when they got cuts or gash they just bandaged themselves up after the encounter using there first aid kits.
They found no treasures or traps on the first level but they still approached everything with utmost caution. After there fifth encounter with another small group of goblins they found a long stairway leading down to a darker path. The group memorized the layout of the first level and realized that after five encounters they must have completely cleared it of goblins because they literally searched every path and what few rooms there were. The first level only had about six different rooms, four of them were sleeping chambers for the goblins, and the other two was food storage and a kitchen. Putting all of these things together the group decided to take a rest at the top of the stairs and gain there strength back before going further down.
After about ten minutes of resting everyone got up and Allen took the lead as always and was about to light up his torch to light the way Ian stopped him then said, "I think I see some light further down."
Allen Couldn't see anything but darkness and looked back to the others to see if they saw more when Sena confirmed Ian's suspicions that there was light further down the path.
When the group emerged from the dark path into the lighted hallway ahead they could see several decayed small bones lying around the next torch lit hall. The bones were from goblins but none of the friends could figure out what had killed them in the first place. They approached the end of the hall with the utmost caution and waited until Ian and Sena could confirm they heard or sensed nothing directly around the corner.
Around the corner the friends saw the path was cleared of goblin bones and had another path going to the right, while directly ahead at the end was what looked like a hollowed out dark hole in the wall. The torches illumination was lower down the path but all of them could see plainly a giant web around the hollowed out area with about 3 small figures wrapped in web caught in it.
As everyone else put the pieces together Sena shouted, "Above us!"
Everyone turned and looked up in time to see a gigantic Brown spider flying at them from the ceiling. Tekaru put up an invisible barrier between the spider and them, but as it impacted his shield he could feel his strength quickly draining. Morthos quickly blasted the spider with dark energy knocking it back and allowing Tekaru to drop the invisible barrier.
Ian fired and arrow aimed for the beasts many eyes but it bent low immediately causing the arrow to graze across its back unharmed. Allen came at the spider shield raised and sword held high glowing white. The spider was more cunning and lifted its front two legs and putting its weight into smashed right through Allen's shield and threw him on his back.
Sena was to busy trying to help Tekaru to notice that the spider had advanced onto them trying to get the easy kill, and Ian couldn't get a clear shot of it now with his friends in the way. The spider raised its front legs to go for the kill as Sena braced herself knowing Tekaru couldn't throw up a barrier in his state. But nothing happened.
Sena starred at the spider it stood in place then slowly started backing away. Confusion swept over Sena until she heard Morthos say, "I can't hold it for long. Allen do something."
Allen was already on his feet with his sword held in both hands glowing white, he started hacking its legs off with great ferocity and soon the beast only had the right side of its legs, the left side was nothing more than stubs oozing red blood. Morthos fell to his knees and the spider shrieked in rage and pain, whatever spell he had keeping the monster at bay was done but the creature wasn't going anywhere. Or so they thought, the spider was quickly positioning itself to use its right side legs to push off the wall and launch at Morthos.
Allen was behind the beast and would be too slow to do anything anyways when an arrow flew into its eye soon followed by another and a third one in the head. After the third arrow the spider fell down dead. Ian was all the way at back the next hallway giving himself a better view of the spider. "Well if that wasn't a boss I don't know what is" Ian said. "I don't think we have to worry about any more encounters either there's another set of double doors down this hall possibly where the treasures are."
No one responded to Ian though, they just slumped against the wall or lay on there backs in exhaustion. It was a tough fight they may have been able to clear through the first level of the dungeon with ease but caught off guard they quickly expended whatever pools of resource energy they had on fighting back that monstrous spider. And though none of them noticed at the time that spider was a much stronger and much cleverer creature than its type should be.
When everyone recovered enough to carry on they talked about weather or not they should turn around and leave the dungeon now or continue and see what was beyond the doors. Eventually they decided to at least open them and peek what was behind them. When they got within ten feet of the doors Morthos stopped them saying, "hold up there is something massive something powerful behind these doors." Then Mothos took the lead and with almost no effort pushed the perfectly black doors open.
The doors opened up to reveal a purple illuminant room with a coffin in the middle. The friends stood starring at the room trying to figure where the source of light was coming from. Morthos took one step into the room and BOOM! The coffin lid flew off and strangely enough didn't land didn't hover in the air it just seemed to disappear as the friends stood perfectly still not sure what to do.
A figure started rising out of the coffin when Josh's voice boomed into their heads yelling, "Run! You need to get out of there right now!" That sudden shock of Josh's voice is all they needed to turn around and get moving. The started at a fast walk noticing that at some point the torches on the walls of the dungeon had turned into green flames.
They had gotten just past the dead spider when they noticed the green torches were slowly going out behind them, this caused them to now run at full pace. When they got up the stairs and onto the first level of the dungeon they could see that the torches were green here as well. The friends quickly navigated the dungeon bets they knew how this time without any caution towards traps as the green torches ahead of them were already out. Racing through the first level of the dungeon the friends didn't slow down, didn't even look back as they found themselves just escaping the darkening dungeon into the cave that led them there.
Ian dared to look behind them now that they were inside the cave and regretted it right away. Behind them were dozens of glowing red eyes and outlines of small mouth with several tiny sharp teeth. As soon as the friends were out of the cave it collapsed in on itself burying whatever dark secrets lay inside.
It was night time outside and though the friends were exhausted and breathing heavily they cheered, happy to be out of that nightmare dungeon. Mortho's never did tell them what he truly felt beyond those doors, and Ian decided not to talk about those eerie red glowing figured he saw behind them. Some things were just better left unsaid.
After a few months the friends had traveled around the land doing various quests mostly just small ones where they wouldn't be in too much danger but as they grew more confident from doing these quests with minimal damage they decided to try something more challenging. Within these last few months they changed a lot and became completely familiar with their new bodies and talents and growing stronger every day. They all decided to use their new names as well when introducing themselves.
When the group got into another new town they immediately split up searching for places where they might find knowledge about a dangerous quest for them to test themselves with. Ella and Shaun decided to check the inns for quest boards and Morthos would check around the shadiest parts of the town, leaving Ian and Allen to talk to the townsfolk. After several hours of searching they met up at the entrance of town as they agreed before to share their knew knowledge with the others. Everyone accept Morthos was present when Allen showed up several minutes after the others.
They all waited for half an hour for Morthos but when he didn't show up yet apparently still busy looking they decided to start sharing information. "So then who wants to start?" Ian asked looking around at everyone.
"I checked with the town monks to see if they were having any monster issues or reports of any kidnapping stuff that might be related to a ritual of any sort but they had nothing." Allen said.
"Me and Sena searched through every inn top to bottom even asking some of the patrons about a quest board but they had none around at all." Tekaru said.
"I tried talking to the more rugged characters and traveler type people in both the taverns, and on the streets but none of them had heard of any monsters or anything for miles around. As far as I could gather this place has been peacefully for generations, I am not sure there is anything for us here." Ian said.
"That is correct, here there is nothing for us." Morthos called out to them form several feet away. He approached them casually still keeping most of himself hidden behind the cloaks of his robes. He was also accompanied by a smaller, dirty, and twitchy man. Morthos waited until he was stopped a few feet form everyone to start talking again. "This whole town and environment has been cleared of monsters years ago, most slaughtered and the rest led underground; underground in a hidden dungeon.
A dungeon filled with potentially strong monsters a perfect test for us I think. Twitchy here will guide us to this dungeon for a silver coin." Morthos then gestured to the man standing next to him who was always looking over his shoulders.
The friends all looked at each other then back to the paranoid man. "So where is this dungeon exactly and how do you know of its location?" Ian asked suspiciously.
The man looked over his shoulder one more time then looked at Ian and said, "Lets just say its my job to know certain things; things like this for example. As for where its at, well you give me that silver coin now and I'll tell you, or I guide you to it directly and get that coin either way works for me."
Ian sighed then reluctantly said, "Alright fine lead us to the entrance of this dungeon and you'll get your pay." And with that they all set off.
The twitchy un-named man led the group deep into the woods several miles off from the town and kept going into the forest as night slowly came and the woods grew ever darker. Despite this darkness the man still managed to guide them through the forest but at a much slower rate. Eventually they came to an open area of the forest with much less trees around and the man said, "Well you can't see it from her but if you walk 20 paces ahead you will find the stairs leading down to the dungeon. And with that I will take my coin and leave."
Only Morthos could see very well in this much darkness and even he struggled to see the steps. After concentrating in the darkness for a few moments he finally said, "Yes I see it in the distance there faintly, it's mostly covered with brush and leaves but there is definitely an unnatural structure there."
Tekaru pulled out a small coin bag and fished around inside it until he felt out a silver coin. He felts its weight in his hand to confirm it was indeed silver and not copper or gold, when he was content he tossed it over to the man and put the bag of coins back in his sleeve. The un-named man caught the coin carefully and then ran off, disappearing in the woods. After the man was gone they talked for a few minutes and decide to rest that night and traverse the dungeon in the morning.
Sena transformed into her newest form that of a wolf and sniffed around the ground in search of some small animals they could eat. While the others put some distance between the dungeon entrance and themselves and made camp; just in case some tray monsters came out while they slept. After finishing setting up a small camp set they built a fire and Sena came back carrying, three small animals in her mouth.
The food wasn't much but it would be enough for them to fill their stomachs before bed and they could just hunt proper food when the sun was up then go in the dungeon. As Morthos helped them start a small fire to cook the animals and Ian skinned them, Sena stayed in her wolf form and ate half of one of the small animals raw then lay down close to the fire and closed her eyes. The others went to sleep shortly after eating their meals as well.
The next morning after breakfast which was made up of an antelope and some berries the group headed back towards the dungeon. Sena stayed in her wolf form, she was highly keen on her animal forms and seemed to enjoy traveling in them more than her elf form. The month she learned how to transform into a bird she spent countless hours flying around barley coming down for food or rest.
They approached carefully looking out for any signs of danger. When they were all content that the entrance to the dungeon was free of any visible traps they continued. Slowly walking down the old stone stairs covered with moss and small plant roots, even the walls inside were covered with vines and ivy.
The dungeon entrance was a long straight walk and when the group could no longer see a few feet ahead of them they pulled out a couple of torches. Allen held the first torch in one hand taking the lead while Morthos had the second torch behind them watching their backs. They continued walking for several minutes straight until they finally came to a massive wooden door with some old writing on it. The text was of common dialect but was very old and a little hard to read.
Allen held the torch close to the door so he could read out loud to everyone, "To any brave adventures out there looking for, treasure, a challenge, or to make a name of yourself from conquering a dungeon; look elsewhere! In here I have trapped many monsters that were terrorizing a nearby town; but that was many, many years ago. By now the monsters are all dead, and there bones likely dust. This place is nothing more than a tomb for dead demons by now, and you who are reading this have wasted your time in coming here."
"Is that all there is?" Ian asked, sounding very irritated.
"As far as I can see, yes" Allen replied.
"I still say it's worth a look" Morthos said. "Everyone stand aside I'm just gone use a minor fire spell to blow this open."
Everyone took several steps backwards making sure to keep a good distance form the door and themselves. They all knew that when it came to Morthos there was no such thing as a "Minor" spell.
Morthos held out his right hand, his palm facing the door and began to concentrate. After a minute a small red glow appeared from Morthos extended hand and faster than the blink of an eye a ball of fire the size of Allen's torso shot out at the door.
The fire ball hit the door dead center and for a moment it just sat there until violently rebounding from the door heading straight back at its caster. Morthos threw his arms up to defend himself but Allen was much faster to react and threw himself between Morthos and the fireball. Allen had his shield raised in front of him as the fireball smacked it and exploded. The blast forced Allen to take a step back but otherwise he was completely unharmed.
Everyone else looked around at each other to make sure everyone was alright. When they were all content that no one was harmed they turned to look at Morthos who just shrugged as if it was an accident; which technically it was considering he didn't know the door was protected by a strong magic. The only person not giving Morthos a scolding look was Tekaru who was studying the door closely. Desperate to throw the scolding attention off himself Morthos called out, "You have something over there?"
"Yes" Tekaru said keeping his attention on the door. "Did anyone else notice that something strange appeared on the door after the fireball hit it? As well as the fact that the fireball didn't just rebound right away instead the door seemed to absorb its magic for a moment before responding."
No one else really did notice much except the fireball violently returning to hit Morthos but now they were all intrigued and gathered around the door behind Tekaru; who held his hands up towards the door and was focusing. Tekaru was silently pushing magic into the door slowly so as to not cause an unwanted rebound of magic. Slowly small writing started to glow on the door written in between the first text. Allen read this new writing out loud, "To the wizard or sorcerer who ahs solved my door's riddle I give you congratulations and permission to enter my dungeon. Simple speak the phrase 'by the order of the light I command you to open' While touching the door. Inside you will find a great treasure of knowledge, but be warned I have set up many traps and turned many powerful monsters to stone who will return to their normal selves once the door is opened and they will guard this spring of knowledge with their lives."
It only took a second for all of them to make a decision as Tekaru put his hands on the door and said, "By the order of the light I command you to open." The doors then slowly parted ways opening up a large expansive room with little light. Morthos stepped forward and shot out dozens of little fireballs from hid hands that ignited a set of torches on the walls. With the torches lit the room was much more visible and the group could see several snake statues around the room as well as a few larger serpent like creatures wielding bows.
The group slowly walked into the expansive room when Ian said, "Stop!" They all turned around to look at him; his eyes were darting around the room hastily. "Remember what the door said, that the monsters were turned into statues and would now begin coming to life. Well I don't think these statues in here are just decoration."
Everyone turned back around and focused their attention on the statues now and realized some of them were gone. Soon the other statues began springing to life as well and dozens of large snakes and a few serpent like creatures with arms and bows came at them.
