Brian Pratt - Warrior priest of Dmon-Li

The first room they come to is on the right and a brief glance within shows it to be empty, the walls having the same designs as the corridor had.

“What was this place?” Jiron whispers, nervous about disturbing the silence.

“I don’t know,” replies James as he continues further down the corridor. “But we better be careful. Whoever set that trap that ensnared us might have others down here as well.”

Miko looks around nervously as he continues following James closely.

At the end of the corridor they’re following, they find another one running perpendicular to the one they’re in. James shines the light to the left and right but only sees more corridor going in either direction.

He turns to the right and makes his way slowly down it. After twenty feet, the corridor makes a ninety degree turn to the right and after another five feet, opens up into a room.

This room holds a large table that’s in remarkably good condition for its age. Six chairs sit around it. The walls of this room are plain stone, no image marring their surface. A doorway in the wall opposite where they entered is the only other exit from the room.

“Looks like a meeting room,” guesses James as he enters and comes over to the table.

“Or a war room,” suggests Jiron.

James nods his head and says, “Maybe.”

Miko stays close to James as he walks around the room, looking at everything. “What are you looking for?” he asks.

Shrugging, James says, “Not really sure. I’m hoping to find something or some way to turn off the barrier so we can get out of here. This place gives me the creeps.” And the constant prickling of magic has become decidedly annoying.

“What’s in that other room?” Miko asks, indicating the doorway they haven’t gone through yet.

“Let’s see,” he says as he moves in that direction.

A solid wooden door stands open and they pass through into another room, this one having shelves of books upon them. When James touches one, it crumbles into dust.

“Must’ve been here a long time,” Jiron says when he sees the book crumble.

“Perhaps,” James says, “or it could be the result of being exposed to magic for a long time.” He turns to Jiron and admits, “I’m not sure.”

Not finding anything of use here, they return past the ‘boardroom’ and hurry along the hallway until they come to the intersecting corridors. Continuing straight this time, they follow the section they haven’t been in yet.

Forty feet down, they come to a door on the left while the corridor continues past. James tries the door but it doesn’t open. He turns to Jiron and says, “Locked.”

Moving out of the way, he watches as Jiron comes and inspects the lock. Pulling out a knife, he sticks the point within the lock as he begins manipulating the locking mechanism. Suddenly, a ‘click’ can be heard and he swings the door open.

On the other side is a flight of stairs leading down. He starts to move down them when James stops him. “Let’s continue with the search of this floor first before we continue down,” he says.

Knowing James to be the expert here, he nods his head as he follows James further down the corridor.

Another fifteen feet and the corridor turns to the right and the prickling sensation begins to grow. James slows his speed as he moves cautiously closer.

“What?” asks Miko when he sees him slow.

“I feel magic ahead,” he whispers back to them.

“Bad?” Miko asks fearfully.

Shrugging, he replies, “Don’t know.” A little further more and the corridor again turns to the right where it ends after another ten feet. It opens upon another room.

As they move closer to the room, the prickling becomes more intense, like ants crawling all over his skin in spiky shoes. When the light from the orb illuminates the interior of the room, they can see another of the pyramid of skulls, similar in size to the ones on the perimeter.

James catches his breath for he can almost see the magic moving upward from this pyramid. “I think we’re under the main pyramid of skulls that was in the courtyard.”

“What makes you think that?” Jiron asks.

James steps into the room and replies, “I can feel, almost see, the magic flowing upward from this pyramid. It would just make sense for the magic to be going up to the other one.” He turns back to them and adds, “My guess would be that this is the source of the magic keeping the barrier in place.”

“This pyramid here?” asks Miko.

Shaking his head, he says, “Probably something further down, I would imagine. Though, who knows?” He reaches his hand toward the flow of magic and pulls it back suddenly when his hand begins to burn like he’d stuck it in a fire.

“Damn!” he curses.

“What?” asks Miko excitedly.

“That burned,” he says as he looks at his hand but doesn’t see anything out of the ordinary.

“Let’s go back to those stairs leading down,” Jiron says.

Nodding, James turns and follows him back. Once at the stairs, he again takes the lead as they proceed down to the next level.

At the bottom of the stairs, a corridor runs to the left and right. Pointing down to the right, he says, “My guess would be another pyramid like the one we just saw lies down there.” Turning right, he follows the corridor as it turns right and then after thirty feet, right again. Sure enough, they come to a room containing another pyramid.

“Why would they have another one here?” Jiron asks.

“Maybe to help in the flow of magic from its source below,” he offers. “Won’t be able to fully understand it until we get there.”

As they turn to head back down the corridor, Miko asks, “Do you think it’s dark outside yet?”

“If it isn’t, it’s not far off,” guesses Jiron.

Following the corridor, they return to where the stairs go back up and then continue on down the corridor in the other direction. Not very far, they come to a junction of corridors and James turns to follow the left one.

Twenty feet brings them to another room, this one larger than any so far. The room looks to have been a barracks of some sort, six beds are lined up in two rows of three. The bedding has long since deteriorated and at the foot of each is a chest.

As Jiron goes over to the chests, James says, “Be careful, they may be trapped.”

“I realize that,” he replies.

James moves around the room and discovers a mural painted on the wall. Though faded with time he can still make it out. Several figures stand around a dark pool, they look to be executing someone. He takes a closer look at the pool and sees headless bodies floating within.

Barely perceptible lines are drawn, as if some invisible force rises from the pool.

Crash!

Turning around suddenly, he looks to see Jiron removing his foot from a crushed chest. Coming over, he can see something sparkle from within. Ten gems lie upon the bottom, Jiron reaches down and scoops them up.

Smiling, he holds one up and says, “Not bad, these will fetch quite a bit.” Nodding to James, he places them within his belt pouch.

Seeing the treasure that Jiron had found, Miko goes and smashes one open too and is disappointed when he finds his to be empty.

“I thought we were going to be careful,” reminds James as he stands there next to Jiron.

“Couldn’t get it open,” Jiron explains, “so I kicked it. I really didn’t figure there to be a trap or anything bad.”

Shaking his head, James says, “There may only be one in a group. One on the edge that, once everyone is lulled into complacency by not finding any in the others, the would-be robbers will rush headlong into.”

“I don’t really think there’s any reason to…”