NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Funeris" data-source="post: 1972417" data-attributes="member: 22792">Chapter 8: Into the Deep    ContinuedHere's the first half of the next part.  I'm working on the next part but I'm not sure I'll get it up today.  Enjoy.-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Tobias and Motega slid the one thousand pound door off the well.  Cautiously they peered into the hole that ended abruptly at a cave-in only thirty feet down.  From the cave in, a tunnel headed generally northward, but the ledge was such that nothing could be seen.“There is still something evil down in the well.  Not too far down that tunnel,” Tobias noted.  Then he shifted to find a handhold of some type.  A rope fell in front of his face, as Magnus and Motega secured it with a climbing piton.  As soon as it was sturdy enough, Motega grabbed a hold and lowered himself down the thirty feet.  He landed slowly on the cave-in, distributing his weight with care.  A pebble fell bounced off his shoulder and landed in front of him.  He peered upward at his friends.“So you can see!”  Fitz hollered down.  Motega noticed the pebble did glow with enough illumination for his eyes.  He picked it up and started down the tunnel.Above Magnus, Tobias, and Fitz waited anxiously for what seemed eternity.  Tobias’ patience gave out and he grabbed the rope to descend.  Halfway down, Motega re-entered the well.  The remaining Heroes shuffled their way down the rope in turn until they all met up at the bottom.“Tunnel ends.  Fifty feet then water.”  Motega led them into the tunnel.  “Dead dwem,” the Rornman pointed at a corpse.  Tobias and Magnus rummaged over the dead deep dwarf.  Both sets of eyes focused on an onyx amulet.  Tobias could feel its taint and grabbed his sword to break it.“Wait!”  Magnus threw himself on top of the desiccated body.“Move away, mage.”  Tobias’ sword was poised on the verge of attack.  Magnus’ interference had spared the amulet only a few minutes respite.“It…uh…it,” Magnus searched his memory for a reason not to destroy the expensive amulet.  “It could be a prison,” he blurted.“What?!”“It could be a prison for a demon.  Their souls can be trapped in gems like this.  If you broke the gem, you would set it free!”“Well, then I’d just have to kill it.”  Tobias glared at the mage.“But you don’t know what the effects of shattering it would be!  It could explode, causing another cave-in and killing all of us.  Or you could release a powerful and ancient demon.”“And what would you have us do?  Sale it?  I think not.  I will destroy it here and now and forever.”  Tobias hefted his greatsword but Fitz’s hand stopped him from completing the blow.“The mage is right, Tobias.  We will take it to a powerful priestess to examine it.”  Fitz reached through Magnus’ arms and grabbed the pendant.  Then he dropped it into the haversack.  “We have more important things to worry about right now.  I hope you two know how to swim.”-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------By the time everyone swam through the tunnel, Motega had already started the next descent.  The waterlogged tunnel had been short at only twenty or thirty feet to a point where it forked.  One tunnel headed farther downward, a direction illogical if only for the need for air.  The other tunnel led upward and hopefully away from the water.  It was the second tunnel the Heroes chose and it led them to another corridor with air.This tunnel went forward only thirty feet.  And had it not been for Fitz’s pebble lights, the Heroes may have all fallen to their demises.  The cliff ahead of them was at least a one hundred and fifty foot drop.  Possibly, it was two hundred.  The fall was straight except for one ledge that would’ve invariably broken their fall and their bodies if only for a moment.Motega had been the first to climb downward.  With lengths of rope and climbing pitons, he secured an easier path for the other Heroes.  Fitz occasionally threw another lighted pebble down the cliff, which made the climb much easier for Motega.  He left a lighted pebble at each of the more treacherous areas of the climb.Once he made it to the floor, Motega took in as much visual information as he could.  He would be prepared if the lights went out before Fitz could create another.The rest of the Heroes, thanks to Motega’s efforts, had a relatively easy climb downward.  They took their time with Tobias in the lead but within a quarter of an hour they set down on the same ledge Motega waited upon.With another blessing to Ceria, Fitz created another light source and flung it into the darkness.  The twisting shadows rolled away as the light bounced down the seemingly endless corridor.  A passageway loomed out of the darkness toward the approaching light.  As the pebble passed its entrance, a high-pitched shriek echoed through the tunnels.  The Heroes had to brace their hands against their ears to stop the deafening sound.Motega waited until the echoes had passed to speak.  “Shriekers.  If anyone was waiting for us, they’ll know we’re here now.  We should be prepared.”  He withdrew his bow and nocked an arrow.  Everyone else followed suit and drew weapons.  Fitz lit a few more pebbles and threw them toward the doorway.It wasn’t long before they all noticed the faint sounds of the stone being scratched by thousands of appendages.  The sounds steadily grew nearer…</blockquote>

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