Brian Pratt - The mists of sorrow

Both Potbelly and Scar draw their knives and wait. The approaching footsteps grow louder as the two men draw closer. When they emerge from the corridor, Potbelly and Scar strike fast and hard. Both guards fall without a sound.

“Anyone else?” asks Jiron as he remerges from where he, Miko and Brother Willim had ducked back down the other corridor to keep from being seen.

Scar glances back down the corridor and shakes his head. “No,” he replies.

“Alright,” Jiron replies. Then to James he says, “Hurry it up.”

Nodding, James returns to the statue. He begins trying to move the various appendages of the demonic figure. He pushes and pulls the arms, head and torso. Then one of his fingers encounters a slightly loose gnarled bump on the creature’s back. “I found something,” he says.

“Don’t stand there talking about it,” Jiron says. “Get it open.”

He presses the gnarled bump but nothing happens. Another quick examination reveals two more bumps that are slightly loose, one on its stomach and another on its back. He presses all three simultaneously and is rewarded with an almost silent grinding noise as a section of the wall begins to rise into the ceiling.

James moves to the entrance and looks through. “There’s another corridor extending away,” he says, “exactly as the diagram shows.” Brother Willim and Miko move to follow him as he steps just within the new passage.

“Nice going,” Jiron praises James. Then to Scar and Potbelly he says, “Bring those two dead guards into the secret passage with you.”

“Right,” Scar says. Then he and Potbelly each take one and begin dragging them toward the new opening in the wall.

“Hurry it up,” Jiron says to them. “We don’t know how long it’s going to stay open.”

“Then give us a hand,” Potbelly says.

Crossing the room to them, Jiron grabs hold of each of the dead bodies and helps to drag them into the secret passage. They no sooner have them inside then the secret door begins to close. When it finally settles once more to the ground, they are plunged into pitch darkness. The chanting which had been present ever since they first entered the temple is no longer audible. The chanters must be in some other part of the main temple not connected with this secret area.

In the darkness they see a glow coming from Miko. It’s the glow of the Star of Morcyth from where it resides in his belt pouch. “I think it senses the presence of Dmon-Li’s priests,” he says.

“More likely the dark rites they’re performing,” suggests Brother Willim.

“Will they be able to detect it if we do magic?” James asks him.

“I don’t think so,” he replies. “With what they are doing, it’s going to drown out anything we do, unless you’re planning on something big?”

“Hardly,” James says. Then his orb blossoms to life on the palm of his hand. To Jiron he says, “Lead on.”

Moving down the corridor, James follows after Jiron and takes another look at the diagram. He sees that the corridor they’re heading down turns to the left sharply just ahead, then just after that, turns back to the right. From there it moves forward less than ten feet until coming to an end. Then on the right side is a long, narrow room with another set of annotations.

They continue down the corridor, and true to the diagram, they follow the route until they reach the final turn where it goes back to the right. “Hold up Jiron,” James says.

Coming to a stop, Jiron glances back to him.

James points to the door on the right at the end of the hallway. “Beyond that door is a long narrow room,” he explains. Holding up the diagram, he adds, “And there’s another set of annotations across it.”

“What do you suggest?” he asks.

“Just be careful,” he replies.

Giving him a nod, Jiron then moves toward the door. Placing his ear against it, he listens for any noise coming from the other side. Turning his head back to the others, he whispers, “It’s quiet.” Placing his hand upon the handle, he pushes and the door moves inward an inch then stops.

“If there’s anyone inside,” he says to James. “Your orb will give us away.”

James cancels the orb and plunges them into darkness. “Good thinking,” he says.

The only reply he hears is the all but silent creaking of the door as Jiron pushes it open. When no light comes through from the other side, Jiron says, “Alright James, give us some light.”

When the orb appears and dispels the darkness, the light reveals the room before them to be another plain room. The walls are simply the same stone blocks that make up the rest of the temple’s walls and floors. No pedestal this time. Nothing but a long, plain room. Pushing the door open all the way, he looks in while remaining in the corridor.

“Hand me the orb,” he says. “Want to get a better look inside before we enter.” James hands him the orb and then he extends his arm past the doorway allowing the light from the orb to illuminate most of the room. Peering around the doorway, he sees that the room extends further away than the light from the orb can reach.

“It’s empty,” he says after a moment’s scrutiny.

“Maybe the annotations don’t mean anything here,” suggests Scar.

“Willing to bet your life on it?” Jiron asks as he turns his gaze on him.

“Not really, no,” Scar replies.

James moves forward and takes a look. “What do you think?” Jiron asks him.

“I don’t know,” he says. “Looks pretty normal.”

“I know,” he replies. “That’s what bothers me.” He starts to step into the room when James places a hand on his shoulder.

“I may need to lead here,” he says. A barrier envelopes him after he removes his hand from Jiron’s shoulder. Something about this room has a very Indiana Jones feel to it. If it weren’t for the annotations on the diagram, he probably wouldn’t be feeling nearly so nervous. But they have to mean something.

Jiron steps back and makes room for him to enter. “Hope they don’t sense that,” he says indicating the barrier.

“So do I,” replies James. Creating a second orb on his palm, he begins moving forward into the room. At first he moves cautiously. Every step he takes, expecting something to happen. But after the fourth step, the room remains quiet. At the sixth step, he gains confidence and begins moving a bit quicker.

Then it happens. He must have stepped on a pressure plate or something for a four foot iron spear shoots up out of the floor beneath him. It strikes the underside of the barrier and launches the barrier with him in it upward.

“James!” Miko exclaims from where he’s watching in the doorway.

As he and the barrier come to land back down on the floor with jarring impact, another trigger is activated. Directly beneath him, a spear shoots up out of the floor. Again he and the barrier are catapulted upward, this time James is thrown on his side within the barrier. “Ahhh!” James hollers as he’s thrown further into the room.

Then every time he lands, another spear shoots upward and propels him further down the long narrow room. Head over heels, he’s propelled as spear after spear launches him and his barrier further along until it finally hitting the wall at the end of the room and coming to rest.

“James!” Jiron hollers. “Are you okay?”

Sitting there in the barrier, he wonders the same thing himself. Doing a quick self check he finds nothing broken, just a few bruises from where he hit the ground hard a couple times. “Yeah!” he hollers back, “I’m fine.”

Glancing to the wall at the end of the room, he discovers another door. Between where he sits and the doorway Jiron and the others are standing at is a patchwork of iron spears sticking upright out of the floor. “There’s a door down here,” he hollers to the others. “Make your way down. Step as closely to the spears sticking out of the floor as you can and you should be okay.”