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Message: <blockquote data-quote="howandwhy99" data-source="post: 1712231" data-attributes="member: 3192">For AllanyaKTWe decided to go back into the well. First, though, Darius went swimming in the well looking for something, because the notches to the tunnels keep going below the tunnel opening, but he didn't find anything useful. Kayla also had something she needed to do before we could go to the tunnels. Dram and Igor and Brother Ben and I went to the tunnel door and started playing with it. We made different words of the syllables to see if it would open or close. I was surprised when TonQuaQues opened the door. Sometimes two sounds would open it, other times all three sounds had to open it. Igor tried something with different sounds, and the door opened to that word too.Kayla and Darius finally came down to the tunnels. Sgt Darius had left Cpl Dalin in charge of the Outpost while the rest of us went into the tunnels. The first thing they wanted to do was look at the circle. Kayla wanted to try to read it. That is what she had been preparing for. It seemed pretty boring to me, standing around watching her stare at the circle, fidget a lot, and mutter to herself, so I slipped out and went downstairs to the wizard's archway down below. I didn't hear footsteps behind me, so nobody seemed to notice. I passed through the archway to see if there was another archway beyond it, possibly one that wouldn't let me through, but would maybe let everyone pass who couldn't get through the first one. I didn’t see another proper archway or even proper walls. The rock was rough, not cut smooth like the rest of the tunnels we'd been in. Pretty quickly, I came upon a web blocking the whole tunnel so I burned it away. I heard some skittering up ahead and saw a huge spider! I didn't figure it could go through the archway, because if it could've it would've and that room would be webbed over, too. So I ran for it, and got back through just moments before Darius came down the steps looking for me. He asked me what I was doing and I hedged when I answered. I said I was only just looking, which was true at that moment, if not for the whole time. He let it slide, and took me back to the group, ordering Igor to look after me. Igor didn't seem thrilled with the new task any more than I liked having it fall to him rather than any of the others. Kayla had already figured out how to use the circle. She was standing in the circle and said something. She disappeared, but nobody seemed worried. Darius stepped into the circle. I heard him more clearly, saying Zeligar, the wizard's name, and he disappeared too. Igor told me to do the same thing, but I didn't want to go to a place I couldn't see. I didn't really have a choice, though, and so I went.There was a library on the other side, with a desk and many shelves of rare books. I didn't know what to expect, but somehow that didn't surprise me much at all. And it was so clean! I wondered how. It didn't seem as though anybody was living here, but it sure looked like it. The servants sure kept this place in good order, swept and dusted and everything. I was impressed.Everyone was looking through the books and such. Brother Ben, Darius, and Kayla said that the books would be very helpful, and pulled out stacks to read later. Igor and Dram looked at the books too, and pulled out stacks to take with them. There was nothing in a library for me, and so I sat by the door waiting. Darius looked through the desk and pulled out a map. It sort of looked like the one I had drawn, but was much neater. I was happy with mine. It seems I had done it right. The map also showed another room, but we had already guessed that it was there. So I kept mapping when we finally left the library. The hallway went left and right, but was shorter on the left so we went that way first. After a turn, the next room was a bedroom. There was a mattress with clean straw, that would feed the mules for a couple days, and I could make a broom of it too. I took enough straw for the broom and tucked it into my belt. Darius looked in the wardrobe and pulled out a cloak that was twice as tall as himself. Dram took the slippers from under the bed to add to that boot from the iron chest upstairs. Everyone else looked around, but I didn't see anyone else take anything.The last room on that hallway was full of creatures, mostly heads and skins hung on the walls, and some stone-like statues in the room. Darius quickly took the weapons away from the statue-creatures, which looked alive for all that they didn't move at all, not even breathing as far as I could see. I looked around but didn't touch anything, except to pick up a sling from the pile of weapons Darius had gathered. It never hurts to have a spare. When Darius and Igor broke the heads off the statues, they bled. After a few moments, the heads began floating back towards the statues, and the blood was pooling around, going back in too. I felt sick, and when there was a tug on the sling I had picked up, I let it go, and went back out into the hallway.As we walked back by the library, we looked in. All the books were put away and I wondered who had done it. Kayla said something about magical servants that took care of chores and things, the same as might be cleaning up the bloody statues in the trophy room. I wondered what would happen to me if these magical servants took over the Keep's kitchen and put me out of work. I'd likely end up working out in the fields or go back to shepherding. But then, magical servants could do that too, just as easy. If magic was so helpful, I wondered why no one made it more common. If I had a magical dairy maid, I could sleep in late. And I couldn't be happier if I never saw a dirty kettle again.</blockquote>

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