scrollofseekingpro


Prologue

It just wasn't fair.

Tasslehoff sat in the corner of the room, trying hard to amuse himself with the fixtures on the wall, but that one line of text was all that he could think of. It wasn't fair, after all. He had been sent into the corner of the room by Tanis for doing nothing that he thought was horrible wrong (it wasn't his fault that another person's handkerchief had fallen into his pouch and that person had oddly enough been angry at Tas for finding it, although Tas did think that it was a nicely made and pretty handkerchief.) So, of course, Tasslehoff thought that it was quite unfair when Tanis had told him to leave the room and sit in the corner.

But Tas was there, sitting, as he examined the fixtures in the wall. He had long since examined the room that he was in, as well, and it proved to be not too interesting. A few small boxes of papers, one of which was now mysteriously in Tasslehoff's pouch, and several old cobwebs, which Tas certainly did not wish to look at - he didn't like spiders all that much, even though they did crawl around in the most interesting fashion.

Then, his boredom getting the best of him once again, Tasslehoff got to his feet and began to pace around the room. This was almost fun at first, because he could count how many steps it took to walk a full circle around the room, but that became dull after the first two or three times. So once again he was bored, except this time he was standing in the middle of the room.

Then he saw it.

Eyes going wide with interest, the kender pounded over to the expertly hidden door in the floor - a trapdoor, if that was correct. It was hidden well (no human or elf could have seen it, that was for sure), but Tasslehoff was a Kender, and he had a knack for seeing things that he wasn't supposed to see. It explained how he often found assorted objects that people were missing or had left out (and he was rarely thanked for finding them, either, Tas noted with a small frown.)

Looking down at the small door, Tas noted that it was locked - not that it really mattered all that much, as he was an expert lockpicker. After all, as the saying went, Why insult a door's purpose by locking it? It was one of Tas' favorite sayings. So, without any hesitation, the small kender went to work on the lock (which was, he noted, quite a difficult one. But nothing that he couldn't handle.)

After the lock had been opened (Tas made especially careful to check for traps, as hidden doors like this seemed to have them), the kender looked in the small hole that was revealed with a wide-eyed look on his face. During the time it had taken to open the trapdoor, Tasslehoff's curiosity had soared to great heights as he wondered what might be under the door. Jewels, probably, he thought, although it could be just some old letters. But Tas was sure that it was something of some importance, after all, whoever locked it up had been careful. Eager, the kender looked in the small room beneath.

He blinked at what he saw, holding it up to the light that was streaming in through a small (but barred) window. It was a scroll, and as he unfolded it, he saw words written in a strange language that he couldn't understand. Curiosity overtook him once again, and he placed the scroll down at his feet carefully before rummaging through his pouches for his Glasses of True Seeing.

No sooner after his hand had reached the first pouch, Tasslehoff heard Tanis' voice from the other room. Tas! Hey, Tas, it's time to go now, okay? You can come back now.

Okay, Tanis. Tasslehoff called in reply, completely forgetting his earlier feelings of resentment. Looking down at the yellowish scroll by his feet, Tas reasoned that he should try and keep it safe for whoever owned it - after all, it looked old, and perhaps the person who had hidden it had forgotten where it was. Giving his head a quick nod, Tasslehoff placed the scroll carefully in his pouch, resolving to look at it later (to try and figure out who owned it, of course, so he could return it.) After locking the trapdoor once again, the kender bounded up, eager to leave the dusty old room.