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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 7194468" data-attributes="member: 143">Chapter 70Kosk had been expecting trouble, but he hadn’t expected it to come from above.  He tensed, ready to spring, but the stone block fell faster than even he could react.But a scant instant before impact the dwarf was jerked roughly back.  The stone slammed hard into the floor and balanced there for a moment before it tottered over, dropping into the room with another loud crash.  It was almost large enough to fill the archway, and had to weigh at least a thousand points.Kosk remained quiet in Quellan’s grasp for a moment, both of them staring at the results of the trap.“That would have squished me like a bug,” the dwarf finally said.“Aye,” Quellan said.“What’s happening?” Bredan asked.  “What was that noise?”Quellan let go of Kosk’s robe and the dwarf quickly straightened, adjusting the garment.  “We’re all okay,” the cleric said over his shoulder.  “There was another trap.”“Yeah, just another bloody trap,” Kosk said.  He stepped forward onto the block, using it as a platform to edge cautiously into the chamber.The room was vaulted like the last, and likewise had niches in the walls.  But these were long and narrow, forming depressions almost large enough to hold a person.  Those horizontal slits were stacked several high, and most of them were bricked up, the mortar that had once sealed them crumbling from age and the dampness that suffused the complex.  The ones that were open were dark slits that were deep enough to be ominous in what they might have concealed.Quellan and Glori stepped to the sides as they passed through the arch, letting Bredan’s light spill into the chamber.  It revealed that the place was roughly twenty feet long, culminating in a slightly raised platform dominated by a stone altar or table.  The platform extended into a deep alcove that formed a rough hemisphere, a geometric oddity against the more regular lines of the rest of the complex.Kosk stepped forward off the fallen slab.  His sandals made a soft squelching sound as they sank slightly into floor; like the outer vault the floor was packed dirt.“This place… it feels… dark,” Glori said with a shudder.Bredan’s sword let out a soft hiss as he drew it from its scabbard.  “How much you want to bet there’s another guardian here?” he asked.No one offered to take his wager.  The companions spread out slightly as they slowly moved forward toward the altar.“I think there’s something in that round area,” Glori said.  “Bredan, hold up the light.”He did, and it revealed that the curving walls behind the altar had small niches cut into them as well.  The light glinted on something in one of them, a small metallic object that had a distinctive greenish tinge.“There’s no need to go over there and maybe trigger another trap,” Xeeta said.  The sorceress had remained in the entry, standing atop the fallen slab in a half-crouch.  “I can use my magic to bring whatever it is to us.”The others had stopped when she’d started speaking, and when she was done Kosk nodded eagerly.  “Sounds like a good idea to me.”The companions drew back to give her a clear line of sight to the alcove.  Bredan glanced back at the wall behind him, where one of the open vaults was nearby at waist level.  There was something visible near the end of it, just within the shadow of the opening.He turned and lifted his scabbard to get a better look, but then a soft gasp from Glori drew his attention around.The object she’d spotted was drifting slowly through the air toward them.  He still couldn’t see what it was, exactly; it was roughly oblong and about a foot long, but it was crusted with a heavy green patina that masked its purpose.  Verdigris; that meant that it was made of bronze.  It was being held aloft by a translucent magical hand that cupped it almost like a real hand would have.  Curious, he found himself moving closer without even thinking about it.“Did you hear something?” Kosk asked.Bredan turned to look at the dwarf.  He and Quellan had moved to the far side of the chamber, and both were looking around.  The mage hand had stopped moving, but when nothing happened Xeeta gestured and it continued pulling the artifact toward her.  As it approached Glori stepped forward to take it.But even as she reached out toward the hovering object she came to a sudden stop.  She looked down, a look of confusion on her face.  Bredan also looked, and saw the reason for her trouble: a sickly gray-green hand topped with yellowed claws had emerged from the floor and seized hold of her ankle.“Monster!” Bredan yelled.  He rushed forward, but was still several steps clear when the ground around Glori exploded and a creature surged up to attack her.  The adventurers barely had time to register a humanoid figure caked with mud and huge slavering jaws before the bard was flung up into the air.  The creature was still holding onto her ankle, and as it reared up it latched its other hand around her throat.  The young woman’s scream abruptly died, and the monster pulled her into a tight embrace, its jaws opening wide to reveal rows of sharp teeth.  She didn’t struggle as it twisted her head roughly aside, leaving the pale flesh of her throat completely exposed to its deadly bite.</blockquote>

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