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No, not thinking at all.

Salma’s Journal

There were several people in the room besides the Lady’s dead brother and ourselves, and of course, they were not friendly. They attacked Zandu and me; all I could think of was to get the Lady out of there! I was stabbed several times as I dragged her back into the main room. Zandu didn’t follow. I’m afraid he died almost instantly.

I didn’t have a moment to spare to mourn; I was certain that I was next! Screaming for help as loud as I could (I knew it was almost useless in the Coins, but hoped someone might be curious), I healed myself a little bit and wrestled with the masked men over the still-sleeping Lady. They won. Worse yet, the man holding her suddenly disappeared!

As the others stabbed at me, I wrenched the front door open and ran screaming into the night.

Bloody and exhausted, I actually reached the Golden Griffon without being attacked again. Tythe and Astrid sat happily at the bar, drinking. They asked me how things went, but were more interested in telling me about the fun they’d had getting out of the ball. I told them that Zandu was dead, the Lady’s brother was dead, the Lady was kidnapped... and they were too drunk to take me seriously. Miserably, I went upstairs to tend to my wounds.

While I was changing into my own clothes, someone started to thump on the door. Before I could answer it, they began shouting, “Town guard!” ..I panicked. I grabbed all of my things and climbed out the second-story window. Dropping to the ground and listening to confused shouting behind me, I decided to walk back to the girls’ school to spend the night.

I was walking up the street when I heard a sound, and turned to see one of the men from the bar shooting at a shadowy figure. Great, the assassins are on MY trail, now! I turned back to help my defender, dropping one of the masked men with my staff. The second man twisted a ring on his hand and disappeared - again, the disappearing act!

While I thanked him, the man quickly searched the other’s body, taking his longsword and pouch of gold and some vials, while I grabbed a strange cloth-wrapped dagger and a ring from his hand. Back to the bar we went, and I was determined to get Tythe and Astrid to talk seriously about what was going on. We are in danger! Of course, they were still too drunk to care, even when I flat out asked if they were going to let me die?

I showed them the ring, which had a skull face on it. Tythe took it from me, and instead of looking at it she put it on and twisted it, disappearing instantly!

Now what?

Perhaps Zandu’s dog could help us, again. We had left the dog at the Griffon; showing it Tythe’s scent, we headed out into the night. Our new friend, Deaglan, said he knew how to handle the dog; I hope it works. If nothing else, we’d be attacked again and perhaps survive to get more rings.

On a whim, we went back to where I had almost been mugged. The town guard was already there, working the “murder” scene. Astrid took the dog with her as she walked into the middle of things to ask what had happened, only to be turned away - but the dog had a scent!

The dog took us right back to the Golden Griffon. I groaned, but no - it led us next door, to Goodwife Thestra’s house. Of course, the cellar mystery! We knocked on the front door, so she wouldn’t think demons were infesting her home again, and an old man answered. He said it was all right for us to go around back, so we did, wondering if he was a butler or a “friend” ...

The door was unlocked, and the tunnel had been boarded over but the boards were broken open. This time, we climbed right into the tunnel, following the dog as it took a right turn at the T. Astrid noted that the tunnel was actually newly dug; it eventually widened out into an older chamber full of rubble. There was a chuckling sound and a faint glow ahead, which the dog didn’t like!

The glow disappeared while we talked over our options, and we eventually kept going. It looked like an old cellar, left over from a fire and collapse of a building. As we moved across the room, we saw another low tunnel that the dog seemed interested in. We were startled by a glowing, chuckling figure that came out of one wall and faded into another, but the ghost was nothing compared to the horror of three sets of undead hands coming out of the rubble to grab at us!

I turned the creatures; two fled, the third we had to kill. Into the tunnel before the others come back, and I really hope Tythe is actually down here somewhere!

Posted by Kate on January 20, 2009, 13:52 | Salma’s Journal