Author's Note: Thanks for the reviews and for your patience! I have no intention of abandoning the story, but I'm rotating through about half a dozen projects, and I wind up following where the plot bunnies lead.


Camden paused outside the door, listening to the sounds of squabbling from within. Dissension had definitely broken out in the ranks.

"A couple of fireballs in the room should take care of the little vermin," Xanos commented in a low voice.

"Might destroy whatever artifact they have, as well, though," Cam reminded him. "Sounds like a couple of dozen in there."

"Even rats can be dangerous in sufficient numbers," the half orc growled. "Engaging them in direct combat would be foolhardy."

"Agreed," Cam replied, stepping up to the door and knocking smartly. The chattering behind the door immediately went silent; moments later, barely audible over Xanos' sounds of strangled outrage, a timorous voice could be heard.

"Go 'way, gnolls! We be no kobolds here! We be…what be we?" This last was muttered in a lower tone of voice. "Ogres! We be ogres, and we be hungry! If gnolls run fast, we not eat you!"

Cam rolled his eyes. "Sure got small feet for ogres," he said, "but we're not gnolls. We just want to speak with your leader."

"You…you not sounds like gnoll," the kobold said hesitantly. "Not smell like one, either…but how me know we can trusts you? Lots of things down here try to kill us…you maybe one of the elf-ghosts!"

"Just open the door and look," Camden replied patiently. "We're about as far from elves as you can get."

"Except for kobolds," Xanos muttered, glaring balefully at him, "and if Xanos meets an ignoble death at the hands of these creatures, his ghost will haunt yours for eternity!"

"Just relax," Cam told him, listening to the sounds of a hastily convened conference behind the door. At last, the guard spoke up again.

"Me is going to open the door, but you puts weapons away! That way we knows you not hurt us!"

"The little fools know nothing of what a trained mage can do," Xanos said contemptuously, putting his crossbow into the sling at his hip while Camden sheathed both his daggers.

"All right," Camden called out. "We've put our weapons away."

There was the sound of heavy crates being pushed away from the door, and moments later, the door swung open…outward.

"Nice barricade," he congratulated the kobolds as he stepped inside, his eyes sweeping the room. His guess had been about right; close to two dozen kobolds filled the room. About half of them held flimsy shortbows with arrows nocked, eyeing the intruders nervously.

The kobold by the door yipped in pleasure, missing the sarcasm in the deadpan comment. "Them gnolls come here, they gets a fight! They not get in here easy! What you want?"

"That not for you to ask, Yazka!" another voice rasped. "Me be boss here, so me ask questions!" Cam's eye fell on a kobold near the rear of the chamber, noticeably larger than the rest, and he approached him with the kobold who had guarded the door moving sullenly beside him.

The kobold leader glared up at him. "What you wants here? How you get past gnolls and ghosts?"

"Same as you, I guess," he replied.

"You run like rabbits?" another kobold inquired. "You not look that fast!"

The leader shot him a deadly glare, but Camden intervened before the conversation got sidetracked. "I just figured that you fought your way down here. Those gnolls sure seemed afraid to follow you, and the elven ghosts wanted us to try to get you to leave."

Excited yips burst from all around, and the leader puffed up visibly. "See?" he boasted. "What me tell you? You follow Urko and all fears us!"

"You're Urko?" Cam asked, feigning awe. "The Urko?"

"You hears of me?" the kobold asked, unable to conceal his surprise.

"Of course!" Camden exclaimed, warming to the role. "I just never imagined I'd get the chance to meet such a legend!"

"Hah!" Urko looked around smugly. "You hears that? Urko be a legend!" He eyed Camden suspiciously. "Legend be good thing to be, right?"

"Absolutely," Cam assured him solemnly, ignoring the curious noises emanating from Xanos' direction.

Urko looked at the half orc. "What be the matter with him?" he demanded.

"Dealing with the gnolls and the ghosts was a bit much for him," Cam replied, shooting Xanos a warning glance. "He's got a delicate constitution," he added as his companion managed to compose himself. "It must be hard, leading so many," he went on. "I have a hard time with just one. How do you manage?"

"It be easy," Urko bragged. "Me be the smartest of kobolds, so me be the leader!"

"Not leader of everyone!" Yazka said spitefully. "Deekin no follow you. He runs off alone!"

"Yazka, you shuts up!" another kobold hissed. "Deekin be bad kobold to run away! Urko be leader so we gots to follow him!"

"Who is this Deekin?" Cam asked, thinking of the lone set of tracks above.

"Deekin be big coward!" Urko snapped. "He runs away and leaves when the gnolls catches us."

"Deekin not coward!" Yazka protested. "Him nice and sings pretty songs!"

"Only girl kobold could likes Deekin," the other kobold sneered. "Him runs off and leaves us, and him takes our magic, too!"

Camden had been wondering how one told the difference between male and female kobolds, but the mention of magic got his attention.

"You shuts up, Kipper!" Yazka snapped. "You not supposed to talk about that!"

Urko glared at the squabbling pair. "Deekin be coward and thief, but at least him not stupid," he grumbled.

"He stole from you?" Cam looked shocked. "That's awful! What did he take?"

"That not be your business!" Urko said angrily.

"Yah!" Kipper piped up. "You no needs to know about the tower or the mummy hand!"

"You is so stupid, Kipper!" Yazka informed him smugly. "Why you not shut up and lets Urko and me talks to strangers?"

"You both shuts up!" Urko exclaimed. "Me thinks me demotes both of you!"

"Me sorry, Urko!" Kipper cried in agitation. "No demote me, please! Me not tell him that we still have the hand!"

Cam's heart sank. It seemed that only the hand was here. His mind worked furiously. "The hand? That old thing? What would you want with that?"

Urko eyed him suspiciously. "You know 'bout hand?"

"It's a paperweight," Camden lied easily. "It's just a trophy left over from Master Drogan's adventuring days. There's no magic in it."

"What?" Urko's eyes bulged.

"That's why it not work to drive off kobolds!" Yazka squeaked. "Them nasty gnolls take the tooth and the mask, then Deekin takes the tower after he breaks it, and all we gots is this stupid hand!"

The tower was broken? This day just gets better and better. "Why did you take those things, anyway? Did someone pay you to do it?"

"Me not tell you nothing!" Urko shouted, pacing up and down agitatedly. "Me got to figure out how to gets us out of here without them gnolls and ghosts getting us!" He had evidently forgotten about his legendary status.

"The gnolls are gone," Cam told him soothingly, "and I think I have an idea about the ghosts, if you're willing to listen."

"Me listens," Urko said, "but if me not likes what me hears, you dies! Me has bad day, very bad!"

"The hand has no magic," Cam said, "but it is from an old enemy of the elves; that's why they tried to attack you coming in. Give us the hand. We'll go first and act as a distraction so that you can get away."

"Why you do that?" Urko asked him disbelievingly.

Cam shrugged. "I figure we owe it to you," he said sincerely. "It wasn't very nice of Master Drogan to keep a worthless item locked up with the other stuff. How's an honest thief supposed to tell the difference?"

"Yah!" Urko exclaimed in indignation. "You right! You owes us big for that!" Striding to a pack on the floor, he withdrew a withered hand and tossed it to Camden, who caught it easily. "You goes now!" he ordered them as Cam tucked the hand into his backpack. "Let them ghosts be chasing you!"

Slinging the backpack over his shoulders, he gave them a jaunty salute. "Good luck, little friends!" he called over his shoulder as he jogged from the room, Xanos at his heels. They saw nothing on their way out of the tomb, but the air near the exit grew momentarily colder for a brief moment.

Once outside, he led Xanos a short distance into the forest surrounding the tomb. They crouched there motionless, waiting.

They did not have long to wait. Perhaps a minute passed before the first tiny head peered cautiously from the tomb. The cry of "Gnolls all gone!" floated to their ears, and immediately the entire band flooded out, yipping excitedly.

"Ghosts got 'em good!" Yazka exclaimed. "Me not even see bones left!"

"Now you see why me be leader!" Urko told them. "Me trick stupid human and ugly orc into taking hand, so they dies, not us!"

"You be good leader, Urko," Yazka said. "You be so good that I bet you already know what you gonna say to tell Master that we not have any of the things he wants!"

"Oh, me knows exactly what me gonna do!" Urko informed her. "Me gonna have you tell him!"

The chattering continued as the group moved off to the north, towards the Nether Mountains. Cam and Xanos waited in silence for a minute or two more, then emerged from concealment.

"Kobolds are reputed to be clever," Xanos observed, shaking his head in disgust. "Obviously cleverness and intelligence are mutually exclusive."

"Lucky for us," Cam replied with a crooked grin. "I wish my marks in Lyrabar had been that easy to fleece."

"Xanos is surprised that all you wished to do was fleece them," Xanos commented, eyeing him curiously, "after what happened in Hilltop and the school."

"It wasn't the time," Cam replied curtly. "They're nothing more than lackeys, anyway. The one I want is the one who sent them."

"Should we follow them, then?" the half orc suggested. "It is likely that they will lead us to this Master of theirs."

"I know," Cam admitted, "but we know they don't have any of the other artifacts, and that's what we're after. Revenge is going to have to wait for now. We need to either track down that kobold that ran away or go after the gnolls. Maybe we should go back, ask Ayla for some advice…" He took a step on the path, intending to go back to the main trail, when suddenly he felt a violent movement from inside his backpack. In an instant, he had dropped the pack to the ground and leaped several feet away. Xanos looked at him in astonishment.

"The damn thing is moving!" Cam exclaimed, pointing at the bundle, which was visibly twitching from within. Picking up a long branch, he edged back toward the pack and used the branch to loosen the top flap and tease open the pack. The hand rolled out onto the ground, grey and withered, the tattooed fingers moving sluggishly…but the fact that they were moving at all was highly unsettling.

"Incredible," Xanos breathed in awe. "This much have been a lich of tremendous power, indeed."

"Wonderful," Cam muttered, using the branch to nudge the hand back into the pack and moving forward to tie it tightly shut. He had been planning to return to the school on foot, not wanting to waste the focus crystals on such a short trip, but… "We're going back now," he said firmly, lifting the pack and holding it well away from his body. "Use your ring."

Xanos nodded, though his eyes lingered hungrily on the pack. Camden ran his thumb over the ring on his right hand, where the focus crystal was mounted, ready to utter the command that would activate the spell and return him to the school. Let Ayla deal with the damn thing.

"Wait!" A thin, reedy voice cried out. "Waaaiit!! Deekin must talk to you!"

Turning, Cam saw a single kobold running toward them from the east, waving its arms frantically.

"The one who stole the tower," Xanos murmured as the creature drew nearer. "With luck, we can bring two of the artifacts back quickly."

The kobold was smaller than the others had been, and curiously attired in tattered leather armor that had been dyed in a riot of colors. There was a cheap shortsword belted around his waist and a battered lute slung across his back.

"What do you want?" Cam asked as the kobold staggered to a stop before them, panting for breath.

"Deekin watches you! Deekin sees that you be great human hero!" he exclaimed. "Deekin needs your help, he does! Needs help so very badly!"

"A human hero?" Xanos looked indignant. "And what of the half orc hero whose greatness eclipses him?"

The kobold eyed Xanos curiously. "Half orcs not be heroes. Deekin reads lots of books and not one half orc hero story! Humans and elves and dwarves be heroes!"

"And what do the stories say about foolish little lizards who do not know enough to be silent before their betters?" Xanos queried him ominously.

"No kobold hero stories, either," Deekin said sadly. "Not even one."

Camden eyed him speculatively. He didn't seem to be carrying the tower; they would have to proceed with caution. "Why should I help you after what you and your companions did to the people of Hilltop and Master Drogan?"

"Deekin not want to go!" the kobold squeaked frantically. "Deekin only goes because the Master tells him to, and Deekin not hurts nobody! Master just wanted Deekin to write story or song about the raid to tells him later! The Master likes Deekin's songs and stories, but…" he swallowed hard and a single tear ran down his scaly nose. "Deekin did something bad…very bad! Master will be so very angry with Deekin, so very, very angry that Deekin can never goes back!"

Undoubtedly, the kobold was referring to the breaking of the tower. "Who is this Master of yours?" he asked him.

"Master is great dragon Tymofarrar, ruler of kobolds!" Deekin declared earnestly. "Him be very scary; gots lots of sharp teeth and very bad breath, but him thinks Deekin be funny." He sighed dolefully. "Him not think Deekin be funny any more."

A dragon. Should have known that a day that started with a knee in the balls wasn't going to be a good one. Trying to buy a bit of time to think, he said, "So, why is this Tymofarrar going to be angry with you?"

"Deekin was carrying tower statue back to Master, but we be attacked by nasty gnolls!" He looked beseechingly at Cam. "Deekin not mean to drop it, but him be so very afraid! It hits rock and cracks open, just like Zeebo's head when Urko hits him with rock." He paused thoughtfully. "Inside Zeebo's head all messy, though. The tower just gots something shiny inside, very pretty to look at. Much nicer than Zeebo's brains."

"So, the tower broke," Cam said, trying to maintain his patience with the creature's rambling. "What happened then?"

"Deekin ran," the kobold replied, looking ashamed. "Nasty gnolls kept chasing us and Urko wants us to go into scary elf-graves, but Deekin not wants to. Him takes the tower and runs away while the gnolls not looking."

"So…where's the tower now?" Cam asked as casually as possible. "Did you throw it away after it broke?"

The kobold shook his head. "Deekin hides it, hides it real good so gnolls never find it!" He paused, then added slyly, "But Deekin would give you tower if you helps him!"

Cam sighed. He had known that something like this was coming. "And what exactly is it that you want us to do for you?"

"Deekin wants you to set him free from the Master!"

"You are free now, you foolish reptile!" Xanos growled in exasperation. "And if you wish to remain so, I suggest that you turn over the tower statue now!"

The kobold took a nervous step backward. "Deekin not free, not really," he explained. "Master can find Deekin whenever he wants, and if him finds Deekin…" The kobold shivered.

"So the dragon was the one who ordered you to steal the artifacts from the school?" Camden asked him. "What did he want with them?"

"The Master not say, and Deekin not ask," Deekin replied. "Master gets mad if Deekin be asking too many questions, and when Master gets mad…" He shivered again. "Deekin sees him breathe on a kobold once when him mad and make little lizard icicle!"

"There's no way that we can fight a dragon, Deekin," Cam told him seriously. "If you give us the tower statue, maybe we can bargain with him. It's not even magic; it's a paperweight, just an old souvenir from Master Drogan's adventuring days."

The kobold regarded him scornfully. "Master says that Deekin dumb, but him not that dumb. Deekin gives you the statue now and you be leaving him high and dry. Maybe Urko believe what you tell him, but Deekin knows that great heroes not be out looking for paperweights! You helps Deekin first, then him gives you the tower!"

"What do you expect us to do?" Cam demanded. "I told you that there's no way we can fight him!"

"You not needs to fight him," Deekin assured him. "The Master be smart, very smart. You just talks to him. You be great hero; Deekin knows you can do it!"

"I say that we build a fire here and hold his feet to it," Xanos rumbled menacingly. "The scent of his own flesh cooking will persuade him to surrender the tower."

The kobold backed away even further, poised to run. "That not be what great hero would do," he said reproachfully, "and you must catch Deekin before you can cooks him!"

"Hold," Camden muttered from the side of his mouth. "I'm no hero," he told Deekin in a matter of fact tone. "I'm just trying to get back what you and your friends stole from my master." His words had covered the soft murmurings from Xanos; as he finished speaking, the half orc released the spell and the kobold's eyes widened in terror as he found himself unable to move.

"Fortunately for you," Camden added, striding forward and scooping Deekin up under one arm, "I'm not all that fond of the smell of roasting kobold. I'll try it your way, but I want you where I can find you easily when I'm done." Nodding to Xanos, he touched his ring, murmuring the words to transport himself back to the school.