Outside the chamber where Killik chatted away with the mysterious voice, Drizzt and Kalandyn looked at each other while leaning against opposite walls of the hallway. Kinder however, had his ear to the door, grinning as if he was able to hear what was going on in there.
"He's been in there a long time." Drizzt noted, then only to earn a dirty look from the yellow robed wizard.
"Shh!" Kinder then said, holding a hand up as he whispered, "I'm trying to listen… okay, I hear flirting, joking, discussions about books, something about a theatre, more flirting… I think I just heard a squeal of delight over my baby brother Derik being mentioned…"
"Anything related to what we might expect ahead of us Kinder?" Kalandyn said, "Would not be surprised if Killik spoke to a spirit in there too."
"No…" Kinder said, before standing up straight, "But, Killik is heading towards the door now, so pretend I wasn't eavesdropping you two!"
Drizzt and Kal both exchanged an annoyed look just as Kinder stepped away from the doors, which soon opened up again. Killik, providing light with his tail surrounded by flame stood in the doorway, along with what was to Drizzt and the other two Rydrions, a very intriguing creature… if intriguing could be used to describe something that looked like a mishmash of other beings at all. Of course, from how the two laughed, it seemed they had gotten to know each other very well.
"Killik, who is that?" Kalandyn then said, while Drizzt decided to keep quiet, curious to see who and what Killik's new acquaintance was.
"This, little brother," Killik then said, grinning widely, "Is Lucinda Margrave, the 'guardian' of this place."
"Sorry about the deception, boys." Lucinda then said, rubbing the back of her head with a taloned hand, "I was sort of afraid that you guys were bandits… so, I did a little improv and well, you know the rest. Anyway… Killik and I chatted and I'm happy to say I'll be part of the group for now." As she smiled, two small fangs were clearly visible in her mouth, sending shivers down Kalandyn's and Drizzt's spines while Kinder just kept from laughing.
"Killik," Drizzt then said, looking stunned at the fey'ri, "Why did you let… her… into our group?" In all honestly, Drizzt wasn't sure what Lucinda was, and if she wasn't still trying to deceive them.
"There are two reasons, first is that Luci here is a bard, and has access to not just a few arcane spells, but also healing magic as well. And the second reason, is that well…. I'd feel guilty if I just left her down here on her own." As the fey'ri mentioned the other reason, his birthmark seemed to turn a bit purple as he blushed out of embarrassment. "Besides, I filled her in on what was going on, and since she disabled the traps we saw on the way to the chamber, it'd make sense to bring her along to help!"
"You sure it's not because she seems to fit your idea of a good looking woman?" Kalandyn asked rather dryly, honestly hoping that the woman's appearance was an illusion.
"Kal," Killik said while returning the flat look his brother gave, "Her looks, as real as they are, have nothing to do with my decision. And as the one heading this search party and also knowing exactly what we are here to get, I'd rather not get into an argument because of a nice girl." Drizzt simply smiled and shook his head as Lucinda giggled, the older ranger being reminded of how he was when his dear Cattie Brie was alive and well in her youth, and how she made Drizzt fall for her because of how brave, and kind she was.
"Need I remind you," Kinder then said, crossing his arms and giving the group a look as they looked towards him, "that we are currently located inside some ruins under a troll infested moor? Because seriously, the sooner we find the treasure Killik came here to get, the better our chances of leaving this cramped, hallway filled tomb of horrors alive. I really, really do not want to stuck down here for the rest of my life and be forced to eat trolls which, if I might add, will lead to the worst case of indigestion the planes have ever known, thank you very much."
The group, fully aware that to eat a troll would lead it to regenerate inside whatever was stupid enough to devour one, and then burst out of the victim's body later on, collectively shuddered at the mental image and decided to get moving.
"It will be rather dangerous from here on out." Drizzt said, looking towards Killik, "Since you are apparently leading this expedition, you must have a plan, correct?"
"Yep," said Killik, grinning, "You and I will take point position and disable the traps along the way, while Kal brings up the rear to pro- HEY!" Killik's sudden shout as he suddenly cringed and rubbed his forehead as though he had been struck there brought confusion and worry to Drizzt and Lucinda.
Kalandyn and Kinder however, were not surprised as they could probably guess what had happened.
In Killik's eyes though, the fey'ri saw his spirit companion sitting on the ground and giving him a look as it started to chirp and move.
"Yes, I know Kal's my brother, but I don't want him getting hurt because of a trap going off by accident!" the fey'ri said to the spirit, while everyone else saw nothing by air, "Hey, is it wrong to worry about family? Don't give me that look Khrima, you know I don't like that look… What? No! I am not being overprotective!"
"Does he do this often?" Lucinda asked, while Killik put his arms up defensively as he started protesting while the spirit pecked at him.
"Yes." Both Kinder and Kalandyn said, the two pretty much used to the fey'ri and his "chats" with Khrima by now. Lucinda's expression at the answer, followed by a nervous chuckle was enough to state that perhaps joining the group was a bad idea. Combined with Drizzt shaking his head and running his hand through his thick white hair, she was not alone in her thoughts as the two somewhat normal members of the group wondered if Killik was going to lead them to their doom.
"Okay, okay!" Killik then said, the attack apparently ending soon afterward, "After… being convinced by Khrima, new plan: Kal? You and me take point, Drizzt, you're bringing up the rear with Argryn. Kinder and Lucinda? You two are going to act as support. Also, Luci, how much healing can you do with your spells?"
"I'm able to use magic to heal serious wounds at the worst. Think there might be trouble?" Lucinda said, smirking as she caught on quickly.
"Never hurts to be on the safe side." Killik told her, smirking back before he turned around to look at the hall ahead of them. With the party and their positions figured out, they moved ahead, Drizzt also bringing forth Guenhwyvar to help. Though he did have to explain that the group were allies, despite Killik flinching as he caught the magical panther's growl.
"Oh great…" he mumbled, "He brought out the cat… this will be fun."
Kalandyn, being the only one among the sharp eared group to hear his brother complain, only rolled his eyes. He knew full well his brother was uncomfortable around cats, if he didn't have to work with Guen within a trap filled hallway the fey'ri would have screamed and panicked. Thankfully, Kalandyn could rely on Argryn to make sure that the magical panther kept her distance… though the blue skinned ranger did worry that the two might end up fighting themselves.
In any case, the group moved slowly along, the brothers Rydrion disabling the traps they came across, Drizzt, Guen and Argryn staying back to protect against any surprise attacks from behind. Occasionally, the four men would look up at the ceiling, Drizzt and Kinder due to age and experience, and the brothers following advice given to them by their parents, grandparents, and the other relatives that were experienced and retired adventurers about how they could never tell when something might drop down and attack from above. So far, only the occasional troll wandered their way, which was quickly dispatched by Kinder's magic, Killik's abilities, or the flaming weapons used by the two rangers and Argryn. Why Lucinda didn't get to borrow Argryn's new sword was mainly due to the fact the dire wolf did not wish to give up what was currently something he had fun with, as Kalandyn explained when the mongrel woman attempted to convince the beast to let her use it. Guen however, used her magical eyes to see the phoenix spirit that Killik had argued with beforehand, and not really trusting it, kept a close eye on Khrima, her fangs and claws sure to be a good advantage against it if the bird proved to be an enemy.
Soon enough, Killik stopped the group pointing out a web of tripwires that shone in the blue flame harmlessly burning around his tail, as well as the holes in the walls ahead.
"Leave this to me Kal," he then said to his brother, "You're good at disabling traps… but Grandpa Derik and I practiced on traps like these more than you have, so I'll take care of it."
Trusting Killik, Kalandyn stepped back incase trolls attacked while Killik worked, and the fey'ri then started searching out where the ends of each wire was tied, using his tail to provide light, and slowly began to untie them. He wove his way through the web as he worked, also taking out a piece of scrap metal, focusing to heat it enough so that he could manipulate it like clay, and then use it to block the holes that the darts would come through. Mainly to keep the darts, and whatever nasty surprises they carried, from hitting anyone in case he accidentally set off one of the traps. As easy as it would have been to simply cut or burn away the wires, Killik knew that if he had done that, the sudden snapping from the fire burning through, or the tug caused by a knife about to cut it, would most likely set off the traps, and do more harm than good. Killik's method was slow, but also the safer and most likely smarter way of doing things. Occasionally however, he would slip up, but the clogged holes protected him as he heard a quick tap whenever one of the darts fired because he moved a bit too quickly and pulled the wire too much while he worked.
By the time he had finished, the walls where dotted by plugs of copper, iron, silver, and gold, and the tripwires were now scattered about the hallway floor, but the party as a whole was safe, and that, for Killik, was all that mattered. Thankfully nothing attacked them in the meantime, otherwise, that would have ran the risk of setting the traps off faster. Once again the group moved onward, only to come across a dead end that opened into a chamber that only contained a series of switches, and glyphs on the wall.
Kinder stepped forward, casting a spell to detect any magic in the room, and the glyphs started to glow, the rest of the party soon moving closer to try and make out what they said.
Unfortunately, it seemed to be only gibberish.
"I can't make it out." Kal said in frustration, "I'm not even sure what language this is in!"
"It looks like some insane mix between orcish, elven, and… gnomish?!" Lucinda groaned, "What sort of maniac came up with this?"
Drizzt however, remained quiet. Not because he was able to decipher it, but mainly because he shared the views of Lucinda and Kalandyn.
On the other hand Killik hummed as he stepped closer, his ability to see what normally couldn't due to invisibility or illusions showing him the truth behind the glyphs. Muttering to himself as he read the words, and traced the letters he actually saw as he did so, the fey'ri soon figured it out.
"Man, I gotta admit the magic powering this illusion is pretty impressive." He then said, causing everyone, including Kinder, to look at him, "Kinder's spell detected magic, but as old as this is, the fact the spell is still going strong is saying something about whoever cast it in the first place since it's pretty well set up… for normal eyes anyway."
"So then Killi-Willi," Kinder said, using a name that caused Killik to groan while Kalandyn and Argryn snickered, "What does the mysterious message say?"
"You know I hate that name." Killik said, causing the rest of the party to chuckle while Guen seemed to smile in amusement.
"Indeed I do, now tell us or I'll pull out the other names you've been called by the family." Kinder said, smiling while Killik grumbled.
"Blabbermouth." He muttered before speaking aloud, "The glyphs on the wall are actually a riddle. 'When Selune is full, the door will open, but when the moon is new, there is only woe. Twice, then thrice down, four to be raised, one is alone, and five should remain.'"
"An odd riddle." Drizzt said, and soon notice Killik's tail twitch as he crossed his arms to think.
"Oh great, we couldn't have found a dungeon without this?" Kalandyn said, as he and Argryn backed away, Drizzt and Guen watching as Kinder pulled Lucinda back as well, and followed suit just as Killik turned and start muttering to himself while examining the switches. As he soon started pacing around the room, the fey'ri's hands made a few random gestures as he seemed to be puzzling out the answer. Drizzt was about to move to ask what he was doing, but Kalandyn grabbing his arm to stop him, followed by the younger ranger shaking his head no ended that plan.
"Killik loves puzzles and riddles," the blue elf then whispered, "he finds one, it'll be the only thing he focuses on until it's solved."
Drizzt nodded as he continued to watch Killik, occasionally hearing him say things like "it has to be the switches, that's for sure," and more often than not, "From the left or from the right? Now that is the real question!" Eventually, the rogue started messing with the switches as he went from left to right, pulling two of them down, and raising one while the ones at either end were untouched.
Stepping back, the fey'ri waited, looking upward as he hoped that he had it solved. After what seemed like hours, a faint light appeared overhead, a crystal orb beginning to glow brightly. Everyone seemed to feel relief as Drizzt smiled and walked over to the rogue, placing a hand on his shoulder.
"How did you figure out the answer?" he then asked, jerking Killik back to reality before he grinned.
"Well, the riddle mentioned how the switches were to be used, and as there are five in the room, that part was easy to figure out. The hard part though, was figuring out which was the second, and which was the fourth, causing me to try and figure out which direction to go with." Killik explained, "I gotta admit, that was pretty challenging, but I then remembered that as the moon went through its phases, a new moon waxes from the left to a full moon, which then wanes to the right to return to a new moon…"
"You guessed, didn't you Killik?" Kinder then asked, sensing the fey'ri was getting needlessly complicated with the explanation.
"Yeah pretty much…" the rogue said, just before the glyph covered wall started glowing again, much brighter this time as the room started to shake. Soon the wall started sinking into the ground, the chamber opening up to reveal a secret room that was lit with everburning torches that reflected their light off piles of treasure. In the center of the newly opened room though, was a large crystal inside of which were a young blond barbarian and a unicorn, both of which seemed asleep. Drizzt first thought for a moment the man inside the crystal was his old friend Wulfgar, but as he soon realized that the man was at least a foot shorter than the drow's large friend, as also had freckles across his nose. While he wondered why a unicorn was in the crystal crystal as well, Drizzt then noticed a pedestal nearby that had a club resting on it.
"Killik, who is that?" Drizzt asked, only to get a shrug from the fey'ri as the party moved ahead and looked through the treasure, the brothers Rydrion checking for traps, and when they deemed a part safe, Lucinda and Drizzt would soon go to a treasure pile and take a little from it in the form of trinkets, gems, and baubles and placing the loot in their bags. Kinder meanwhile, examined a pile of scrolls, one of which caught his eye as he pulled it out and after breaking the wax seal on it that showed a book, saw something that caused the wizard to raise an eyebrow.
The scroll held a series of pictures that told the story of a group of humans with extraordinary weapons, among them younger versions of the barbarian and unicorn, and the group's adventure throughout the world as they fought evil for what looked like a gnome or a beardless dwarf in a red robe. Eventually, their adventures bringing them to a final battle against a villain on a black, batwinged horse who, from what Kinder could decipher, was freed from some sort of evil being's hold as he was revealed to be the red robed being's son. Continuing onward after that, he saw that the humans chose to keep fighting when given the choice to return home, and eventually saw a scene of the party falling against something much too strong for them, and where the members of the group had been buried all across the continent. Among the odd things shown on the scroll, such as some sort of large sea-vessel that looked extremely too heavy to properly float on water, or strange objects Kinder just couldn't identify at all, the final image on the scroll showed what looked like Killik, gathering the weapons of the fallen heroes, consisting of a bow, a staff, a cloak, a green hat, a shield, and a club, and using them to face something. Unfortunately, the scroll would not open up any further, despite there still being more to see from how much was rolled around the bottom handle of the scroll, and Kinder was forced to close it. Taking a look around to make sure no one was paying attention to him however, he hid the scroll up his sleeve, and walked over to Kalandyn who examined the crystal in the middle of the room.
"Wonder what created this crystal, and why?" the young ranger then asked.
"For all I know, it was this Dungeon's Master." said Kinder, "whatever it was though, I've never seen magic like this before."
Killik at that moment, then walked over to the pedestal, checking it for wards and traps, and also something else amiss.
"No wards or anything, and I don't see any spirits in here either besides Khrima…" he said, "I guess that barbarian and his friend crossed over a long time ago." With that, the fey'ri then picked up the club and stuffed it into his bag, thankfully a magical bag of holding, and had just closed it when the pedestal soon flashed.
"Uh oh." Killik said, just as his brother, great uncle, Lucinda, and Drizzt all looked at him when two figures appeared, both made of crystal.
The guardian had revealed themselves, and the two crystal elemental archons were not going to let the club leave their protection easily as they prepared to attack.
~O~O~O~
And thus ends Chapter 14! Man, this one was a long one, huh? Anyway, just what is hidden still on that scroll Kinder found? Who is the man and unicorn in the crystal? Will our heroes get out of this alive? Or will the strategy of killing it with fire that helped them so far get them killed?
Unfortunately, that will have to wait until next time! Also, the next chapter will be shorter than this one was.