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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Whizbang Dustyboots" data-source="post: 3388760" data-attributes="member: 11760">The Tulgey Barrow is silent and unvisited for the next few hours.The silence is disturbed several hours after dawn on the next day, Birth 16.Hazel's eyes have dark circles under them, and yesterday's events seem to have left their mark on her. Beside her, Katadid lurches along, now seemingly untouched by Emmerson's death or the danger they all faced almost at this very spot.As Hazel scans the brush for kobolds and bandits, the wizard speaks out loud in Draconic."Kat? You know I can't speak the language yet, right?" Hazel says finally. "If I could, I wouldn't need the lessons."Katadid's eyes widen as he considers this thought. Finally, he switches to Imperial."Of course, yes, immersive perhaps not the best approach. Hmm, strange, quick ears for birdsong, yes, not languages, odd. Another approach," Kat nods violently, as though concluding a long vehement argument with an unseen and unheard contemporary. "I shall set you written lessons, beginning with the Draconic alphabet, and you will complete assignments on time, no laziness. Now, tell me again of the sarcophagus and the mirrors. Leave nothing out."Clearing her throat, Hazel begins her story once more, lightly grasping the wizard's arm to keep him moving in the right direction, her axe bared in her other hand.At last, they arrive at the entrance to Fibber's Cairn. After the last two trips, she no longer needs the boy's map to find her way here. She scouts the entrance for fresh tracks, finding nothing of interest, and pauses to light her lantern before continuing."Stay close, Kat. We don't know what else the kobolds were up to in here."The pair enter the cairn, and a ripple of pleasure going through Katadid's frame."And try not to look with your hands," Hazel says as they reach the first set of alcoves and Katadid reaches toward a sarcophagus. "Not everything in here likes being disturbed."The wizard pulls his hand back, nodding. He remembers the story of Renraw and the statute.She waits silently at each alcove, alert for threats, as Kat, eyes shining, explores with rapt fascination.They mount the stairs silently. Hazel pauses near the top, letting the lantern light spill out over the floor as she peers into the large room. A search turns up little more than the footprints of kobold scouts, a few days old.Kat immediately begins circling the pillars. He directs Hazel to bring the light closer as he examines the writing and makes notes on his parchment. He's quite focused, his chatter much more intense and lucid than Hazel usually hears, although much of what he says mean little to her.He casts a spell and then expectantly examines the pillars again. He sputters in frustration before finally explaining the spell has revealed that the bas-relief, carvings and hollows are not a written language."That's interesting," Hazel murmurs, turning from her latest scan of their surroundings. "Is it -- What are you doing?"She pulls the wizard's arm back from the column. His fingers are coated with an oily residue, which he calmly cleans with a small cloth before folding it and tucking it away."Testing," he says shortly. "Please don't interfere with the testing."Hazel drops his arm and grinds her teeth before responding, mimicking his tone."Please don't stick your hands inside the columns. For all we know, the walls in here have a zapping thing like the statue upstairs."Kat jots more notes on his parchment."Yes, the statue. That room next, please.""Just don't touch anything this time," Hazel mutters as she leads him up the stairs.Kat peers very closely at each statue and inside the coffin, but keeps his hands well back, taking seemingly endless notes."Interesting. And you say only the one statue contains a defense mechanism?""I think I said only one went 'zap.' And then they all laughed. Maybe. It sounded like the statues were laughing. And Renraw's hands were frozen.""So you didn't check the others for traps?""I didn't go near them. Did you hear the part about Renraw's hands? Being frozen and all? I like my hands nice and toasty, thank you very much."Kat sighs and scribbles on his parchment."We'll have to test them, then.""Fine." Hazel shrugs. "But neither of us are going anywhere near them to conduct these 'tests,' because I'm not explaining to your dad why you have blue hands when I carry ya home.""Not a concern," Kat mutters as he tucks the parchment into his belt and pulls bits of string and wood from his pack. "I will test them magically."Still, Hazel pulls the young wizard toward the stairs and positions him behind her crouched form before allowing him to complete the spell.Hazel cannot see any effect produced by Kat's spell, but the boy concentrates and grunts for a protracted period. After several minutes, she clears her throat."Well, did it work?""No effect." Kat unrolls his parchment again, pressing on Hazel's back as he writes. "Hold still, you're mussing my letters."Rolling her eyes, Hazel complies. When Kat's finished, they move on to the other rooms, turning up nothing of interest. It takes several hours and more parchment before Kat is satisfied with his findings.As they depart, Hazel again scans the entrance for tracks, but finds no evidence of Tiberius or anyone else.The young wizard is unusually animated and lucid on the walk home, tossing out theories and responding to them himself as Hazel attempts to decipher the magical terminology with little success. By the time they reach Maidensbridge, his talk has turned to mumbling and he taps complicated patterns with his feet as he walks. Hazel drops him off at his father's shop before heading home herself.</blockquote>

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