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Message: <blockquote data-quote="hbarsquared" data-source="post: 3251071" data-attributes="member: 4550">More profusive apologies.  I have the updates prepared, I just keep forgetting to post them at good intervals.  Well, I've graduated now so hopefully it won't slip my mind again!Chapter Two, Part ThreeAbrina followed the nervous gnome to the second floor.  He motioned for her to hurry, sporadically glancing into every corner of his home, as if expecting another strange creature to leap from the shadows, or even from the woodwork itself.  He ignored the door at the far end of the landing, instead retrieving a key from a pocket and unlocked the closest door.  She followed him inside.The richly appointed bedroom held furniture sized for Ghelve's small stature.  Abrina spotted a coat rack by the door, a cozy bed with a hand-sewn comforter, a clean bedpan tucked away in the corner, a chest of drawers at the foot of the bed, a wooden screen with birds painted on its panels, a wardrobe, and a small bookcase with some books and trinkets on it.  An unlit lantern sat atop a small end table by the bed.Ghelve scurried to the foot of the bed where he pulled yet another key from his may-pocketed vest and opened the chest of drawers there.  He glanced over his shoulder, making sure Abrina and no one else occupied the room, and removed a tattered piece of coarse leather from beneath a stack of papers in the middle drawer.  Shutting the drawer closed, and locking the chest with the same key, Ghelve rose and handed her the piece of leather."It's a map," the gnome said in a hoarse whisper, "to the enclave below, where the short ones and tall ones came from.""A whole enclave?" Abrina said incredulously, pulling the map from Ghelve's shaking hands.  On the old, nearly crumbling, piece of leather a huge complex had been drawn, detailing a maze of chambers and stairs.  She had not thought about the origins of the camouflaging creature, but definitely had not expected it to have come from below, in the depths beneath the city itself.  And in a tremendous secret and hidden complex, no less."How could such a place go unnoticed?  Surely others know of this huge structure beneath the city?"The gnome shrugged.  "Some do, but it was abandoned long ago, and many have simply forgotten it exists.  The last time I visited was when I was just a boy, and the only entrance left is here, through a secret passage downstairs."It's called Jzaridune, and it was an old gnome enclave of spellcasters.  They would research and develop all sorts of magical items, until one day a strange, magical plague began taking them, one by one.  They called it the Vanishing, and no one's been back since.  That was seventy five years ago.""Until now," Abrina responded."Yes, until now," Ghelve said, hanging his head.  "They took me by surprise a little over three months ago, in the middle of the night, threatened my life, and took my familiar.  He's somewhere close in a dark place, I can tell, and he's hungry and frightened, poor thing.  They forced me to make three skeleton keys, told me to keep quiet, otherwise they would kill Starbrow, then me next..."Abrina dismissed Ghelve's excuses.  He had put the lives of everyone in the city in danger to save his own hide and that of his... pet."I'm going down there," she declared."What?""I'm going to find those children, and anyone else that may have been kidnapped, thanks to you.""But, I...  I didn't kidnap anybody..."Abrina wheeled on the gnome, who flinched and cowered by his bed.  "You gave them the keys to the city!  You are just as responsible for their disappearances, and maybe their deaths, as the monsters who did this.""D-d-deaths?"  Ghelve wrung his hands as his face suddenly lost all of its color."I hope not," Abrina replied, heading for the door.  "You said they have the keys?""Yes, one of the tall ones has the entire set on a silver ring.""And the children?"Ghelve shook his head emphatically.  "I don't know, I really don't.  I hide when they come through the door from below at night.  I don't see them come and I don't see them leave.  I certainly wouldn’t have made them a key to get through my bedroom door."Abrina gave an exasperated sigh.  "What about Jzaridune?  This plague you mentioned, what is it?""It was some magical plague that swept through the enclave.  I don't know what caused it.  I don’t think anyone ever did.  The disease caused several of them to slowly fade away into nothingness.  I don't know whether the plague still poses a threat."Abrina held her head in one hand and took a deep breath.  "Anything else I should know?" she asked, waving the map in one hand."Well, the doors are hard to miss in Jzaridune.  They are gear-shaped and designed to roll to one side or the other.  But, many of them bore traps that only the gnomes could safely bypass."Abrina closed her eyes in resignation.  "Of course.""There might be a way past them, though,” Ghelve offered.  “I remember my father telling me about secret pasages in Jzaridune.”  He paused, reflecting.  “But, I don't know where any of them are.  None are shown on the map, at least."    "Oh, well then.  Great.  Very helpful."  Abrina rolled her eyes and stepped out of the room onto the landing.  "Show me where your secret door is to this Jzaridune."Ghelve nodded and quickly ran past her and down the stairs."It's here," he said as she arrived at his side, motioning next to the red curtain, "in the wall of the staircase."  With one more nervous glance around the room, he pushed against the wall.  A secret door separated from the surrounding wood paneling with a loud squeal, revealing a square landing at the top of a stone staircase that descended into darkness.Almost triumphant, Ghelve gestured to the dark landing.A loud chime rung through the home as the grandfather clock reached the half-hour.  Ghelve's eyes grew wide and he frantically grasped at Abrina's cloak."You must go, now.  Another tall one will be here soon, to replace the other.  If they find the one you killed, I'll be next."Abrina grasped his wrists and removed Ghelve’s clawing hands from her clothing.  "I will go," she said harshly.  "I am not one who will knowingly place anyone in danger, including you.  Go to the Temple of Enlil and seek the cleric Ruphus.  Tell him what has happened, and where I am going.  I will expect you there when I return, or else I will report you to the Cauldron authorities.”She turned and stepped through the door.  The stone staircase, its steps shrouded with cobwebs and dust, descended twenty feet to another square landing, then bent to the right and plunged further into the darkness.  Abrina glanced around and removed an unlit torch from an iron sconce mounted to the wall on the landing.  She lit the torch with one of her tindertwigs and swiftly followed the steps.  Above her, she heard the parting words of the gnome locksmith."If you find and bring back my Starbrow, I can give you a reward!  Discount on any locks you want!"Abrina scowled, ignored the gnome, and continued down the flight of stairs.</blockquote>

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