Chapter 4

Midsummer 1368 DR, Year of the Banner

With Erilett at his side and Virgo a few steps back, Sawyer took the lead once more as he and the others continued their way though the ruins. In the back of the group, Roland and Val were devising a plan to fight the dragon. The druid shook his head as his ears picked up the conversation. He wasn't sure if he wanted to kill the dragon.

Once, a drow ranger had told Sawyer, that dragons were beautiful creatures, as mighty as the gods themselves. On the other hand, Sawyer wondered how he and his comrades would fare against a dragon, especially a large one.

After they all stopped at a door, Virgo came up to join him and wrapped an arm around him. She pointed up at a painting of a silver dragon bird on the wall. "That painting, isn't it beautiful?"

"It is," Sawyer answered, holding her close," but not as beautiful as you."

"Hey Dove and Florin," Val called out as he opened the door that revealed a staircase that descended down into the next level of ruins. Are you two going to stare at the painting all day, or are you going to come with us?"

Virgo walked over and hit Val hard in the shoulder, then walked down the stairs. Val let out a hiss as he felt the muscles in his arm go numb. Bowie and Roland let out a laugh, then followed Virgo. Erilett walked over to Val and rubbed up against him, then Sawyer stepped next to the young man and gave his arm a twist. Val felt a sharp pain go through his arm, but it was replaced by the normal feeling.

Val thanked Sawyer, and together, along with Erilett, they walked down the stairs.

When they entered the room, the Harper recruits stared at the statues that filled the room. Only Bowie saw the thin tapestries that were covered with dirt and dust, and even ripped in some places.

The bard let out a soft whistle, that was actually a Legend Lore spell. He quickly learned that this room used to be a shrine to the goddess Mystra, and that this place was defiled by looters after the fall of the elven city.

"Well this is a cheerful place," Roland said with a sarcastic voice.

"This must have been a shrine to a god or goddess," Virgo as she looked at Sawyer. Sawyer nodded, seeing Erilett sniff around the statues.

Val was currently examining one of the shorter statues. "You don't think someone turned these people into statues?" he asked as a small stone hand crumbled at his touch.

The druid shook his head. "These statues were built by elven stone workers hundreds of years ago. If anything, these statues are falling apart because of old age."

"Sounds like some of the regulars at the Old Skull back in Shadowdale," Val commented, looking at Roland. They both wondered how long it would be before they were back in Shadowdale again.

Bowie quickly walked over to the doorway and called the recruits over to him. "Let's get moving, we still have places to explore."

"And dragons to kill," Roland added.

The Harper recruits followed their teacher as they walked down a wide hallway and entered a circular room. All seemed to be calm, until Roland let out a yell when he saw a rubber-like twelve foot sphere with six long tentacles Three of the tentacles held battle axes while the other three tentacles ended in toothy jaws, Dozens of eye stalks cover it's body.

"Deepspawn," Bowie shouted as one of the toothy tentacles shot out at him. The bard quickly countered the attack and slashed Vithril through the tentacle. Two more toothy tentacles struck at Bowie, but the bard easily sidestepped the attacks.

The bard began to sing a ballad that Storm had taught him years ago. Like before, the song began to flow through his body, and the bodies of his Harper recruits, giving them strength and courage. Roland and Val charged the deepspawn, batting away the battle axes the deepspawn swung at him. They moved their way through and drove their blades through the monster's brown hide.

One of the deepspawn's toothy jawed tentacles snapped forward and slapped Roland and Val, knocking them several feet away. When they hit the floor, the toothed tentacle that was bleeding (courtesy of the bard's sword as Val would say) struck down at them.

Erilett jumped in the air, landing onto the tentacle before it struck the two young men. Her claws and sharp teeth dug into the tentacle's skin. Roland and Val were up on their feet and swung their weapons at the tentacle, severing it from the rest of the deepspawn's body. The wolverine flipped off of the tentacle, and landed safely on the ground.

On the other side of the room, Bowie continued singing his song, as he slapped his short sword across a tentacle One of the battle axes managed to hit Bowie, but the bard shook off the blow, musing to himself that he had gotten worse hits from Storm Silverhand.

Raising his voice, Bowie slashed Vithril in a spiral motion, cutting off the armed tentacle that had just attacked him. "Virgo, Sawyer!" Bowie cried out, but he saw no sign of them.

A wide jawed tentacle came at Bowie's face, but the bard dodged the attack and weaved through another tentacle When he reached the deepspawn's hide, he stabbed out of two of it's eyestalks, then slashed his short sword through it's body.

Bowie stood back as the deepspawn's body began to wiggle and weave. The two tentacles Roland and Val were fighting-one toothed and the other armed with a battle axe, swung back and forth. They looked to see Bowie hacking Vithril through the deepspawn's body.

Roland and Val raced to join him, then began to plunge their swords through the deepspawn. The final blow was dealt by Roland, who watched as fire sprang from Flamestrike's blade and engulfed the deepspawn.

Ignoring the deepspawn's death cry, Val turned to look for his sister and her druid lover. When he saw no sign of them, he turned to Bowie, who shook his head. "They must have fell through a part of the wall."

Val sighed, but Roland noticed the small cut on Bowie's jerkin. "You're bleeding."

The halfling shook his head as a thin trail of blood spilled from the wound. "Just a scratch. Let's continue exploring, and maybe we'll find out what happened to Virgo and Sawyer."

Val nodded, then noticed the sad look in Erilett's face as he walked out of the room. Erilett was about to follow, when she saw some gold pieces under the deepspawn's body.

The wolverine let out a cry, and Roland and Val ran over, pushing the deepspawn's corpse away, revealing a large pile of gold. Roland dug through the gold and found a ceremonial gold dagger with a ruby in the pommel. He dug deeper and found a beautiful set of chain mail armor. "Good thing I found this, my armor is all beat up."

Picking p the dagger, Val smiled as Roland slipped of his breastplate armor and quickly put on the chain mail. Then he slipped the gold in the bag,

"Nice armor Roland," Val said as he placed the bag of gold on his belt. "I guess coming here wasn't all bad," he added with a sigh.

"Yes, I wonder what treasures Virgo and Sawyer are finding?" Roland asked out loud.

"I wonder that myself," Bowie sighed as Erilett laid next to his feet. The wolverine let out a soft cry and looked up. She knew that her master was alive, and that she would see him again.