SILVERYMOON
Chapter 31
They had reached the front edge of the westernmost section of the mountain range while the sun was still up. They had even found a shallow amount of cover for the camels.
Since it was still daylight, they had set up Ghared's little tent far in the back with the fire up against the back wall and the camels hiding it. Rick and Kate were first to put Ghared's tent to use. Rick needed her Cum to replenish his body and feel the best he could. Kate even bit him again and drank a little for the same reason.
Alexis and Corimin followed the two of them. Alexis needed his Cum, and Corimin was in love. He was more than happy to make love to her.
The others didn't question why. Besides, Rick and Kate were married, and Alexis and Corimin were clearly in love with each other.
Come nightfall, they sat down and ate their Trail Rations. "I'm first, it'll give me a chance to look around. I'm bats. Who'll be afraid of a small cauldron of bats?" Kate asked.
Rick looked her square in the eye and said, "Vampire bats." He was questioning her thinking and ignored the look she gave him like always. Some things never changed.
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Everyone watched as Kate suddenly became a swarm of bats and took off. "I know Vampires like wolves and bats, but this is still something new," Eslor commented as she watched Kate vanish from sight. "Any ideas why they left us alone the last few days?"
"Maybe they ran out of something to send," Rick suggested.
"Nope. I think someone told them to stop and prepare for us to show up." Alexis waited for someone else to say something.
Corimin spoke next. "Meaning this is a trap."
"The first thing to defeating a trap is knowing it is a trap," Rick said firmly. "And, we have you." He counted on her going Ethereal to save them all from a trap.
Then Rick frowned slightly. "I do wonder where our Brass Dragon is. I didn't see him the entire trip. I thought he lived out here." He wanted to tell him more of his stories.
"It's a big Desert," Durgeddin reminded him.
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Kate had been gone for almost an hour when she suddenly showed up. "I've got three cave openings. The one on the left goes in about 60 to maybe 70 feet and ends in a pair of doors, not double doors, but two independent doors.
"The one on the far right goes in about 40 feet and ends in a pair of double doors. That one is an actual double door. The one in the middle goes much deeper. Easily 120 feet, but the only portal is just 40 feet inside on the right. There are paintings on the walls and floors all the way down. Each is about 30 feet almost straight up," Kate added.
Alexis took a deep breath, straightened up and put her shoulders back. "Sounds like my turn. You stay, Patches." With that, Alexis vanished and went to search each cave opening.
"What did she just do?" Fiona didn't remember ever seeing that before.
"Alexis can go Ethereal," Kate explained. "She can go where none of us can."
"That's my girl." Rick was proud of her. She had adapted to being a Succubus quite well, and he grudgingly admitted that Corimin was good to her.
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It wasn't long before Alexis was back. "The ones on the left and right are dead ends. Pretty sure the doors don't even open. Now the one in the middle – that door does go somewhere. It leads into a maze of doors, most of them hidden pretty well. There's also something in the second room. It looks like a statue to something. It has four arms, and each arm holds a sword. It looks like it's stone, but the weapons are not. Those are real."
"Secret entrance and guarded at that," Ghared muttered.
"I agree. The far end is probably full of traps meant to hold you captive and let you die for lack of water and food. Then get turned into an Undead," Durgeddin said. "As for how we get up, I have a rope that can solve that."
Kate and Alexis took him to the center cave and watched as his rope went up all on its own and wrapped itself around something. Up he climbed like it was nothing.
"We gotta get one of those," Alexis whispered to Kate since she still had control over their money.
"We all fly," Kate whispered back to her. "Almost." She noticed Corimin and remembered he could only fly using potions or something. Maybe she had a point. "We'll see."
The door on the right led to a door that opened onto a door with a statue in it. The second Durgeddin, who was out front, stepped inside the room, it started moving. He charged it to get the first swing. His double-bladed Axe took out a chunk. Then a Hammer came flying in and hit it. One of its arms shattered, and its sword fell to the floor.
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"Better?" Eslor asked Durgeddin after using her Wand of Cure Light Wounds on him several times.
"Better, thank you," Durgeddin nodded. "And, thank you, Ghared." It was her Hammer, and it kept shattering an arm, depriving the statue of an arm and a weapon.
"This way." Alexis took them to a door. "There's a door on the right. Then straight, straight again, turn right, the door on the right that you can't see again, followed by another one on the left and another straight ahead," she told Durgeddin since he wanted to lead.
"Right, straight, straight, right, right, straight, left, straight. Got it." It sounded like a maze even to him.
Durgeddin stepped through the last door and into a room only about 20 feet wide but had to be at least 120 feet long. "Oh crap!" What he saw had him concerned. He could see 20 statues of different people or creatures, and each and every one was holding a colored globe.
Directly across from him was a door with another door next to it. He saw an opening on one end, except it meant going past four statues.
"Don't move," Alexis told him since she had insisted on being right behind him. "I'll be right back. You stay, Patches." Alexis vanished.
Durgeddin didn't move an inch. He tried not to move a finger or twitch his nose and waited.
Alexis showed up in front of him. "The opening down there is a dead end. In that room is another one of these things, only it doesn't have any weapons in its hands.
"However, the fourth statue down can be moved to reveal a tunnel opening. The sixth one down has another tunnel opening behind it. I don't know if the gems mean anything," Alexis told him.
"Hmm, if we go past, each one may activate and attack. Could be them all or one at a time," Durgeddin speculated. "Ghared, keep that Hammer ready." She was right behind him now. "Fourth statue first." Durgeddin headed for it, but nothing happened. No statue moved so much as a finger.
Moving it with Ghared's help, it scraped across the floor till Rick showed up and literally picked it up and moved it. Rick smiled as Durgeddin's jaw dropped and stared at him because that thing weighed a ton.
"Me first, you stay, Patches." Alexis took off while Ethereal yet again.
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"It's a tunnel and a small one. Everyone will have to crawl the entire way. It's dirty and dark. I had to use my Dark vision to see anything. There's another hidden door at the end. Past that, there is a church. It has eight pews and a speaking altar with a wooden chair. Unlit candelabras line the walls. There are symbols on the walls." Alexis pointed at Eslor. "One of them is yours."
Eslor blinked. "Pelor?" That made no sense to her. "Interesting. Why here?" She didn't understand.
Still, Durgeddin crawled in first, followed by Ghared and then Eslor since her God's symbol was on the other side.
Alexis was already inside and on the far end behind the chair. She watched patiently as Durgeddin got the door open. He crawled in and stood up with his Axe at the ready. Yet save for the pews and other things, it was empty.
Durgeddin headed for the chair while everyone else spread out.
Rick ran his hand over a pew. "I think this is mahogany."
Suddenly, Eslor called out a warning, "THIS SYMBOL IS FAKE," and looked around since she had touched it.
"NO ONE MOVE!" Durgeddin shouted and froze in place. "It's a trap." But he didn't know what kind of trap. "We need a way out." He looked at Alexis.
"Don't move, Patches. Not even an inch. Be right back." She needed to look around for a way out.
Rick was moving to look at a pew. "CASTLE!? What part of 'No one move' did you not understand?"
"It's just a pew made of wood," Rick countered, but stopped. "Where would you hide your gold if you were a priest?"
"Not in a room with fake Holy Symbols," Eslor retorted. Rick gave her that one and stopped searching his pew.
Alexis showed up to the far left, about even with the chair. "Over here. There's another hidden door behind me. It leads into a corridor."
"Go around, touch nothing, and watch where you walk," Durgeddin ordered. Even he walked backward so he could go around the room and up that side.
"Trap?" Alexis asked him when he joined her.
"That is my guess. A fake temple to various good gods. Now, what does the trap do?" That he didn't know and got started on the door.
The corridor turned right, went down a series of stairs, turned right again, and ended in a door.
"Back in a minute." Alexis vanished but soon returned. "A covered pit on the other side of this door. Another one on the other side of the next door and yet another past that one. You don't want to know what or who is at the bottom of each one."
"Perfect, so another dead end?" he asked.
Alexis shook her head. "Nope. At the bottom of the third pit, there's another hidden door. Try to ignore the dead body with a massive spike coming out of his chest. That leads to another corridor. We have to get past each pit behind each door."
"All right." Durgeddin could deal with this. He opened the door and jumped for the next door, opened that, and jumped for the next one. Once he had that one open, he spotted Alexis on the far side, pointing at the floor. Now, this trap door he needed to open. However, he chose to jump it first and then worked on opening it. Sure enough, just like Alexis had told him, he saw a skeleton at the bottom in leather with a massive spike poking out his chest. It meant he had to go down to find this door of which Alexis spoke.
"One at a time. Jump as far as you can and finally jump to where I am," Durgeddin told them and made his way down the pit to the bottom.
Ghared was next, followed by a flying Kate as a swarm of bats.
"That is so cheating, Kate."
"I'm cheating!?" Kate sputtered indignantly. Just how had Alexis gotten to this point? She was the one cheating.
Then it was Eslor who was next, followed by Rick. "CASTLE!?" He was waving his arms all around like he was about to fall back into one of the pits, only he stood upright and smiled.
"I'm going to kill him," Kate growled.
Fiona was last. "Jump, boy." Night was dead last, and he ran and jumped, then ran and jumped again till he was standing next to Fiona. "That's my good boy," Fiona crooned as she petted him and kissed his head. Now she had to get him into the bottom of the pit.
Durgeddin climbed out of the pit on the opposite side and found Alexis standing there, holding Patches, pointing at a wall that had him looking at said wall.
This door turned out to be a little harder to spot. Durgeddin didn't ask how she had found it and really didn't care. So far, Alexis was great!
The next door opened into a room full of horrors that could chill a person's soul. There were two stone slabs in the middle. Glass jars filled with countless oils and liquids. There were also balls and balls of wrappings piled up everywhere. There were also some tools.
"What in the world is this?" Kate walked around and looked but touched nothing. "Do. Not, Castle." He had stretched his hand out to touch something but stopped.
"I'm not sure, but this reminds me of something I read in school about how to mummify a dead body in Egypt. Heat the poker, shove it inside, twirl it around and pull out the brains. Remove the organs and fill the body with all kinds of chemicals," Alexis said. "Patches, don't." He was getting curious about something.
"Fake temple area and now this." Eslor didn't care for either space.
"We need a way out." Durgeddin didn't see anything here. He certainly didn't give a damn how someone mummified a dead body. No Dwarf wanted to be treated like that when he died.
"On it." Alexis vanished and took Patches with her this time.
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When Alexis showed up, they were still looking around and trying to read the tags that were on most of the jars. "Sorry I'm late. There's a very deep pit filled with spikes out in the open past here. Nothing at the bottom save spikes. It's easily 20 feet long, if not a little longer. The ceiling is only just tall enough to walk in.
"Past that, there's another room. This one is a room full of unfinished furniture and many tapestries. Some are hanging on the walls. All of those depict sea life. In the corner is yet another hidden door. After that, I don't know yet," Alexis explained.
"Twenty feet." Durgeddin thought about that. "Too far to jump." However, he pulled out his rope and considered how he might use it.
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Kate found a way to get the rope to the far side, but there was nothing to wrap it around. The door down the hallway was too far for his 50-foot rope.
"All right, now what?" Kate had her end of the rope in the middle of a stone corridor. Next, she watched as Durgeddin dug two things out of his backpack. First, a piton landed at her feet, followed by a small hammer. "OH!" Kate picked up both and got ready to pound the piton into the floor.
"The ceiling. Then throw them back and pound another one into the ceiling here. After that, we go hand over hand over the pit. Safer and easier than trying to balance by walking it," Durgeddin explained.
Kate was thankful that she was tall and the ceiling was low.
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"Just hold still, Night." Alexis reached down to pick him up, then went Ethereal to the far side. The same as she had done with Patches.
"Woof!"
"Oh great, he liked it." Fiona was sure she was so dead since she couldn't do what Alexis was doing.
Durgeddin was getting used to this. "Lead on, Alexis."
"Be right back." Alexis took Patches in her arms with her this time and headed out.
Except, Alexis wasn't right back. In fact, she was gone for a while. "Kate?" Rick was getting very worried.
The best Kate could do was turn into a swarm, but if she hit a door, she had to find a way through it. She was just about to try it when suddenly, Alexis showed up with Patches and someone else.
She looked rather elvish, but she was also nearly naked and drop-dead gorgeous. Even Kate thought she was extremely pretty.
"Her name is Delmadine. She says she's a Siren. All she wants is out of here. Long ago, she was forcefully confined here. If we get her out, she'll reward us. Reward us even more if we can get her to an ocean. Sadly she only knows the room where she was kept," Alexis explained.
"Acererak caught me and imprisoned me in that room. There was just enough water for me to live, and no way out for me. No way to carry water, and I can't live without it," Delmadine told them.
"We're a long way from an ocean," Kate commented.
"I told her, Kate." Alexis told her. "She knows we're in the middle of a vast Desert in Anauroch."
"Acererak is cruel. He doesn't even bother to show up and tease or taunt me. Alone is lonely." A single tear ran down Delmadine's cheek.
"I told her she could come with us," Alexis declared, "and that she didn't have to do anything, just follow us."
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"There's another hidden pit in the intersection. And yet another in front of the two doors. The one straight led to her," Alexis said. "The one to the left leads to another room, but nothing in it. However, there is eventually another door."
Delmadine was impressed with Alexis. "What you can do is amazing."
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Alexis was right. The next room did look terribly boring. It was just a wide corridor that did a U-turn and ended in a door.
"Be right back. Stay, Patches." Alexis vanished.
"What ocean?" Rick was curious because to him a Siren was a woman that sang and led men to their deaths.
Delmadine replied quietly, "Sea of Swords."
"That's past Waterdeep," Eslor commented.
"That's weeks from here," Kate added. What the lovely Siren wanted wasn't going to be easy.
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Alexis was back. "You're not going to believe this. Past that door is a small room about 30 feet long and 10 feet wide, more or less. Inside it is a glowing crystal skull with glowing red eyes. A few hundred gems are lying all around. A sword a lot like yours." Alexis pointed at Durgeddin. "A spear, scroll cases, and potion vials, a few of which look broken. A rod, staff, and other things."
"Interesting." Durgeddin was sure it was a trap of some kind.
"A Phylactery," Eslor said. "A Lich places his life inside an item called a Phylactery. Destroy it, and when you destroy his body, you kill him permanently."
Durgeddin shook his head. "It has to be a trap, assuming his Phylactery is indeed somewhere in there."
"It looked like any other door save for the markings on the inside of it. I can't read them, so I don't know what they say. I can understand spoken languages but not written ones," Alexis added.
"Trap." Durgeddin was sure of it now. "We open that door, and we have trouble."
"I can go back and get all of it," Alexis offered. "I'll just put it all in my backpack. It'll fit."
"Find out if there is somewhere else to go first. This has been too easy so far." Durgeddin didn't like it at all. Traps and more traps he could understand.
"Someone tried to stop us," Kate added.
"Be right back. You stay, Patches." Alexis vanished to look around.
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Alexis was back. "There's a Throne room with a massive gold chair that's empty. Past that is an enormous room. It has to have at least a hundred columns in it. Lots of places to hide. That room is huge."
"Now what?" Alexis asked since she didn't actually see anyone.