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Message: <blockquote data-quote="howandwhy99" data-source="post: 2747597" data-attributes="member: 3192">Dram was furious and was convinced the witch had escaped them.  Kayla wisely suggested searching the walls for secret door and that is when Darius told them of the stone door he found.  The five headed back to it and Rose started examining the tubular-like hole.  She was convinced it held some sort of magic that dissipated when the hole was filled.  Several more minutes went by.  Several trips to the horses searching for suitable items to test almost proved fruitless until Dalin remembered the rod of strange metal he had won at Keep Margrave in the strength competition.  He slid it into the hole.  It fit perfectly and clicked into place.  It was stuck.  Turning it left and right the door finally released and opened of its own accord.“Finally!” shouted Dram in triumph and he charged down the tunnel beyond.  The rest of the team hurried to keep pace as Dalin struggled to remove his rod from the door.  After only a few paces Dram fell into a pit trap.  He let out a cry of frustration.  “Hey! Its not every day you get your rod stuck in a door.  Take it easy,” said Dalin.  After pulling Dram out and clearing the pit Dalin finally succeeded in removing his rod.  Feeling vindication was at hand the crew hustled down the long tunnel and found only a room with empty beds at the end.  Quickly they searched for more secret exits.  In an alcove without mushrooms Dalin saw the wall was shaped like a dirt door.  Darius ran in as he told the other and smashed at it with his hammer.  The weapon went straight through into air on the other side.  The door was quickly broken apart and a tiny, rope ladder leading down the backside of the hillock was found.  Dram pushed ahead, but it nearly broke from his weight.  “This is too damn small for that witch!” he said.  Rose was both light and short so she climbed down.  At the base she found several small tracks, one human sized set, and a folded piece of paper.  Following the tracks to a gate inside the rear wall, they led out into the broken grasslands beyond. No one was in sight.  “No! No! No!” Dram shouted in frustration.  The team regrouped outside the entrance to the hole.  Kayla read the parchment Rose had found.  It was not a taunt as Dram suspected.  It was some sort of map of the area.  Kustner/Kusnir was on it as was Gonnaway.  Rose could tell it was very poorly made however as all the directions were wrong.  “How could you possibly know that?” asked Kayla.“I’m Fae.  I always know exactly where I am.  If not always what’s around me.”  Rose explained how Fae were never lost.  She always knew where she was in relation to everything else.  “At least everything I already know.  I’ve never been here before, so I can only tell you the direction and distance things are.” Kayla turned the map over.  “What was the other skulk wearing?” she read.  “What’s a skulk?”  No one knew.<img src="http://www.geocities.com/dbedell2002/Mushroom_Map.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" /><img src="http://www.geocities.com/dbedell2002/Mushroom_Map_back.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />Darius was not ready to admit defeat.  Calling Pax over he obtained the sword and shield from him and had Rose lead him using the tracks she had found.  After a half mile the two came upon the edge of the Greenwillow.  The tracks entered inside, but Darius called off the search there.  Rose guessed his dwarfish instincts did not trust the forest.  “Which is rather wise”, she thought to herself.  Back at the compound Dram had started drawing a map of the mushroom caves so they could come back and kill the witch on their return trip to Margrave.  No one wanted to think about how far in the future that might be though.<img src="http://www.geocities.com/dbedell2002/Hobbit_Map.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />It was late afternoon before the team began traveling again.  Grog admitted he was unsure of the way to Kera after the mushroom caves.  He was still feeling down after not finding his friends.  Rose was confident she could lead.  “It’s east, right?  With the forest’s edge in sight we should come up to the mountains in a few more days.”</blockquote>

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