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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lars Frehse" data-source="post: 979913" data-attributes="member: 1674">The heart of darkness- part 4 of 4Using his druidic powers, Ben walked at the wall of thorns and, twisting slightly sideways, he passed through it as if there were no barrier at all.He stood in an earthen corridor that ran parallel to the room he had just been in. At its end, there was a small, natural stairway that consisted of big roots that spiralled their way down deep under the ground. However, all he found down there was another corridor which ended at a point where it had collapsed, and the masses of earth, rocks and roots made it impassable even for him.Back with his friends, they decided to take a look around. The first exit of the big room lead to a much smaller one, which looked like a smelly, damp and messy bedroom. A casual glance didn't make the room look like there was anything the friends were looking for, and since they felt that time was running out, they headed to the next room.This one looked different, and a short glance gave them all the impression that it served for a sinister combination. Most of the room was filled with vile instruments of torture. A wall rack contained several whips, scourges, thumbscrews, eyehooks, prods, pincers and knives of every kind and there were even more instruments of tortures on tables in the room. The sight was shocking enough, but what was truly sickening was that the table that obviously served as a place to fixate the victims had lastly been used as a dinner table. There were still scraps of cooked meat on it, and the friends didn't dare check just what kind of meat it was...In the northeast corner of the room, there was another passage that lead down. They peered down, but it was too deep for them to see anything. However, they saw that there were enough foot- and handholds for them to easily climb down there. "Let's look around in the other rooms up here, first", Torn said, "I have a bad feeling about this passage."For the heroes, a hunch was good enough by now. The many lethal situations they had survived together ever since they had left Durrover had taught them that acting according to hunches can often save lives...They walked back into the main room. Of the four visible corridors, they had now checked out two. They entered the next one, which was about fifty feet long and then found themselves in a large, vaguely hemispherical chamber about 25 feet wide. A dozen cots lined the far wall and the stench of human filth was nearly overpowering. In the middle of the room stood an enormous three-legged cauldron made of iron. The legs were fashioned in the form of snakes and the coals beneath were still spreading warmth, as if not too long ago they had been glowing brightly. A long wooden ladle protruded from it's open top and the green-greyish liquid within was quietly bubbling away.Appalled by the stench and weary from what they had seen so far, none of the friends dared taking a closer look at the pot or anything else in the room and they turned around again. They went into the remaining corridor, which lead into a room with a wooden door set in the northern wall, the first door they had seen in Annot Kalambath so far.On one wall there were three sets of manacles and a small wooden table was leaning against the other wall. The table was covered with what looked like a bunch of rubbish and a scroll case. Seeing it, Torn immediately grabbed it and opened it- and really, there was the scroll with the ritual inside."Only one more to go", Torn said. He silently thanked Erias and pocketed the scroll into his bag of holding, and only then did he take the time to take a proper look at the rest of the room.Next to the wall, there was another scroll set into the wall. On it, there were several numbers in titan speech, which were faintly glowing. In the door, there was a small round mirror, which didn't reflect any light, and after some fiddling around, the friends figured out that there was a connection between the mirror and the numbers on the wall. Whenever a number would be pronounced, the mirror would show the interior of one of the cells behind the door.All of the cells were empty, but in one, there was an elvish woman.Fortunately, the front door wasn't locked but merely barred, and after removing the bar, they found themselves in a small corridor with seven similarly barred doors. There were no numbers on the doors, so they had to open the cells randomly, at first finding nothing but the same old straw and wooden cots.After tearing open the fifth door, however, Jan saw the woman. She had stringy brown hair and terrified, pale eyes. Upon seeing Jan, she shrieked and scuttled backwards to the rear wall of her cell.Jan rose his hands, indicating his good intentions, and after a little while in which Jan calmly told her that they would help her, she said:" You are right. The others don't wear shiny armour. Or have any symbols of gods with him.“She got up and greedily accepted the friends' offer of food and water. After she had taken care of her immediate needs, she introduced herself as Mina, and she told them that she had been kidnapped by a Dar Al Annot patrol when she had left her village in order to get some rare berries. In return, Jan told her that they were here on an important mission and that their steeds were waiting outside."I think it would be safest if you stay behind us", Jan said. "But for the meantime, I have some extra protection for you".He put down his backpack, and after a short while he pulled out what looked like a rolled up shirt that was shining a little in the lamplight. As he unrolled it, it soon turned out to be no ordinary shirt- it was a mithril chain shirt.He handed it to Mina when he suddenly felt Torn's huge hand on his shoulder. The half-orc pulled him around, and when Jan was facing him, his face was merely inches away from the human's and he snarled:" You have a mithril-chain shirt?""Sure. I bought it a while ago back in Mithril. I thought it would be good to have it to wear under my night clothing. This way, I am protected when we are attacked at night.“ Jan answered, puzzled by Torn's anger." I am wearing this stinking leatherarmor day in and day out. And I have to wear it during the day as well. And you have a mithril shirt as a night-shirt?“ Torn said and now the veins in his neck were bulging as the blood was pumping faster and faster through his veins."Calm down, please", Mina said pleadingly, but Torn had already stepped back a little and before anybody could react, he was holding his assassin's crossbow in his hand and shot at the Paladin. His bolt hit between the plates of arm and shoulder and Jan screamed out."What the hell is wrong with you?“ he shouted, still not ready to attack his companion. Torn himself seemed puzzled about his sudden anger, but before he could apologize, he heard Trepat, who stood behind Jan say:" Quit your whining, cry-baby".The next instant, Trepat's scimitar bounced back from the armour. Mina, who looked worried, turned around and shouted: "I will wait for you outside by your steeds!"Everybody was confused and they were eyeing each other suspiciously, and Ben cast a spell that made all the roots entangle everyone, keeping them from further hurting each other.While they were entangled, both Trepat and Torn excused themselves. Neither of them knew what had made them attack Jan in this way, even though Torn was still sore about the mithril-shirt.When the spell was over, Ben announced:" All right. From now on we cannot afford any more fooling around. We shouldn't do the Dar Al Annot's work for them, after all..."</blockquote>

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