AUTHOR'S NOTE: Brother Ben was not quite ready for what lay ahead. After finishing his letter to his mentor Reverend Father Stauk-Flezr, he walked about the hustle and bustle of the newly forming army encampment. The 100 men and women he saw were hard, tough soldiers, not like the inexperienced conscripts of Outpost X. These soldiers had seen war and worked together with a sense of unison whether setting up their tent camp or sending out perimeter patrols. Each seemed to understand the necessity to listen when an order was given. Every soldier displayed subtle skill in completing the task at hand. Brother Ben was growing fond of his own friends and he had long come to think of his fellow conscripts at Outpost Xavier as family to him. But the solders, Ben envied them. He could only hope these militia might become a team as close-knit as they were. They were the answer to his prayers. And there would be no more deaths with them here. Or so he believed.
The rest of the party was preparing to head back down the well to Quasqueton. Corporals Dalin and Dram had chosen to stay above ground in order to focus on the training of the conscripts each had previously started. Ben thought they planned to use the soldiers expertise, but did not hear after climbing in the well himself. The afternoon trip took some time, but a few useful things were discovered. First off, in their meeting together Elion had given Kayla some kind of parchment which allowed her to read the strange symbols which encircled each of the 20 pools in the large room. While Kayla's scroll crumbled, Ben took notes on a scrap of parchment trying to copy down all the words she read around each pool. Sadly, he unknowingly lost this same piece of parchment sometime in the next few days.
After scouting out the pool room, the party used the Zelligar circle inscribed on the floor of a different room to re-enter Zelligar's pristine personal quarters. The magical forces had cleaned up since the day before and even the caryatid columns were working once again. The group quickly destroyed the arms off of each with arrows and shot again. Fortunately, the powerful cleaning forces at work had not moved the throne back in front of the tunnel it guarded. This unexplored hallway had a much lower ceiling than the throne room. It was roman arched and etched on all sides with more strange symbols and weird writings. Kayla murmured a few words under her breath sounding like those from the parchment before and entered bravely. It was a puzzle, but Kayla quickly discovered the answer. Just like the Zelligar floor circle, one had to pronounce "Zelligar" before passing through.
The room on the far side was 40' x 40' square and every square inch was filled with supplies. Their jaws dropped at the sight. It was a vast treasure trove and more than they could have hoped for. Even the dried food was fresh. Ben had suspicions this might have to do with the magical cleaning forces and set a mental note to pass on how it might be contaminated. Heading in Darius found a strange crack in the wall and floor on the far right of the room. He believed that the position of this room matched up on Mirel's map in the upper left hand corner. He tied a rope to the end of his hammer and was throwing it at the wall in hopes of bursting through and proving his theory. Instead, a large hole crumbled away in the floor and Darius had to jump away to keep from falling in. Ben didn't notice if any supplies fell in, but with the floor rumbling Darius dared to take a peek below.
Amazement! With his vision Darius could see the whole of this room had a vast empty space below dropping into oblivion farther than his eyesight could reach. Checking along the sides he ascertained the space spread out in all directions from the hole encompassing at least all of the treasure room and likely far more. At the time the group could not afford to wait and ponder over this new found discovery. Darius did drop a stone and heard a splash after a good long fall.
The real danger was now clear. The cracks slowly were creeping outward in the floor. Everything of value needed to be moved out as quickly as possible. Quick as a snap a plan was laid and executed expertly. In retrospect Brother Ben was quite proud of how the team had worked things out. You see, several soldiers were brought down the well and a single line bucket brigade moved every item out of the treasure room before its entire floor collapsed. Even moving the supplies up the well to Outpost Xavier was accomplished before the end of twilight above. After hours of exertion by the team and twenty soldiers they all slept more soundly that night. In fact, it was the first night Ben was able to sleep soundly since his arrival less than one week ago.
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