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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 404754" data-attributes="member: 143">Greetings, readers.  This will be my final visit to the boards for a while, as I am getting married tomorrow and then jetting off to Hawaii for two weeks of fun in the sun on my honeymoon.  I wanted to leave you with a Friday cliffhanger (of course), and am about to send Horacio 11 updates so that you can continue to read Travels through the Wild West in my absence.  Thanks for your support of this thread (and the three that came before it), and have a great October.  Lazybones* * * * * Book VI, Part 17With their new companion leading the way, the adventurers headed away from the intersection leading to what Benzan had christened the “bug room.”  Valor’s talents extended beyond the ability to speak, and his incredibly sensitive nose, even more acute than Fenrus’s, had immediately discerned that Nelan and his party had come this way, and at some point had come or gone in both directions.  Other creatures had since used the passage, the dog explained, muddling the trail, but there was still enough of a spoor for him to follow.  The passage continued south for only about twenty feet more before another side corridor split off to the left.  Valor checked both passages quickly and then led them to the side, where the passage progressed a short distance before ending in another stone door. “Careful,” Benzan said.  “This looks like it could lead back to where those centipedes were.”Pelanther came forward and listened at the heavy stone portal.  “I don’t hear anything,” he said, “but the door just might be too thick.”“Only one way to find out,” Benzan said.  He pushed the door open, slowly, checking the darkness beyond before opening it more fully. Beyond the door lay an open space that appeared to give access to a number of other areas.  The light from Pel’s ring showed that straight ahead, a larger chamber opened up off of this room, while to the right they could see two passages leading off into darkness. The familiar musty smell was evident in the air here, and they could just make out a faint chittering noise coming from the chamber ahead.  “Uh oh,” Benzan said softly.Valor pressed forward, his nose to the ground.  “He came this way,” the magical dog said, moving into one of the passages to the right.  “All right, just keep your eyes open,” Cal cautioned them, moving to join the dog.  At least the southern passages were quiet, and the noises to the north remained distant for now.  “Look,” Benzan said, drawing their attention to something.  Pel shone his light upon a space of the walls and floor that was blackened with a very thin layer of soot, charred as though someone had applied a very hot flame to the surface.  “Was Nelan a magic-user?”“Not as far as I know,” Cal said.  “His talents lay more toward the roguish career path.  Perhaps one of his companions.  Or maybe they had some alchemist’s fire.”“Well, at least we know that the lad survived the bugs,” Pel commented.“Unless he came this way first, and was killed by them on the way back to the entrance,” Benzan noted.“Yer a real burst of sunshine, you know that?”“Sorry.”They followed the dog down the corridor, which turned sharply to the right before continuing in the same direction it had been heading before.  At the point where the corridor turned, another stone door was set in the south wall, directly in front of them as they came around the turn.  They gathered near the door, Valor sniffing at it while Pel pressed up against the stone to listen.  Benzan, meanwhile, took a few steps down the passage, looking down into the darkness beyond the radius of their light sources.“Did he come this way?” “Can’t tell.”“Hear anything?”“If you’d quit yer yapping, perhaps I could...”“Um... guys?  I see something here...”The others turned as Benzan drew their attention down the corridor.  They left the door behind for now, following him as he crept warily forward.  As the light spilled out into the passageway they could see that it ended in a blank wall about twenty feet beyond the door. Or not entirely blank, they saw, noticing what had drawn Benzan’s attention; there were runes of some sort carved into the stone, the indentations in the stone highlighted slightly in the light of Pel’s ring.Wary for any traps, Benzan led them up to the wall, close enough to make out the runes.  The writing was an archaic form of Thorass.  Most of the words seemed to be meaningless, but the last line was clear enough for him to discern the meaning.If you’re reading this, of course, it’s already too late...“Back!” Benzan yelled, spreading his arms as if to drive his companions back up the corridor by brute strength.  It was, of course, too late. The air shimmered and coalesced around them, thickening until it felt as though they were trying to force their way through water.  Then all of them, including the wolf and the magical dog, disappeared.</blockquote>

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