Brian Pratt - The unsuspecting mage

After it has been dark a minute or two, James cautiously makes his way back out of the crack to the sewer tunnel. He looks down the way the men had gone and discovers the light is no longer visible. Taking the chance that no one will be able to see, his orb springs to life on his palm. It’s then that he realizes Miko has not followed him back out into the sewer. Holding his light close to the opening, he whispers, “Miko, come on. They’re gone.”

From the opening he hears Miko’s voice, “James, there’s a room in here and another passage leading from it.” Pausing momentarily, he continues, “It may lead to another way out, away from trouble.”

“All right, I’m coming in,” he says and begins to squeeze back through. At one point he starts panicking when the crack narrows and he becomes stuck. But then he manages to wriggle past the narrow section and at last comes through to the room Miko has found.

The illumination from his orb shows that the room is small and looks like it had once been used as a storage room long ago. There are several barrels as well as a couple boxes stacked around the room, all of which have a thick layer of dust coating them. Examining the floor, he sees the only footprints disturbing the dust are the ones he and Miko have made. The single exit is a small, narrow hallway leading away into darkness.

“Doesn’t look like anyone has been in here for a long time,” observes James.

“Yeah, I wonder who used to use it,” adds Miko. He pokes into several of the boxes and barrels that are still intact but fails to come up with anything worthwhile, just old clothes long past the time when they were serviceable. Looking at James he says, “Nothing of any use here.”

Finding an old lantern in a box, James takes it and places his glowing orb inside. Now the light from the orb illuminates even better. He crosses the room to the hallway opening and shines the light down it, discovering a simple hallway which extends further than the light can reach.

“Wonder how far it goes?” Miko asks from behind him.

“Don’t know,” he replies as he moves into the hallway. The hallway continues for well over a hundred feet before ending at a flight of stone steps leading up. He directs the light toward the top and sees where it ends at a trapdoor in the ceiling.

He makes his way up the stairs to the trapdoor. Putting his shoulder against it, he pushes and manages to raise it a crack. Amazed at how much strength it took to raise it even that far, he sets the lantern down on a step and braces himself for a second try.

This time lifting with all his strength, he manages to raise the trapdoor far enough to allow light from his lantern to illuminate what lies beyond. Beyond is another small room, this one as untouched as the one below had been. No one has been in this area for a very long time.

Then letting out with a grunt of exertion, he raises the trapdoor several more inches, just enough for Miko to scramble through. Holding it open, he says, “Go through and help lift it from the other side.”

Miko scrambles up the steps and while James holds the trapdoor open, wriggles on through.

James’ strength is about to fail when he feels the weight ease up as Miko takes hold from the other side. When it’s open far enough that Miko can hold it by himself, James picks up the lantern and hurries through to the room beyond. Now he can see why the trapdoor was so heavy, a barrel was firmly attached to it. Perhaps in order to hide its existence and keep this way secret. He sets the lantern down on the floor and helps Miko to carefully close the trapdoor. They don’t want it slamming down hard and alerting whoever may be around. Just because this area has remained unused for a long time, doesn’t mean a nearby area is likewise deserted.

After the trapdoor is once more closed, he picks up the lantern and pans the light around the room. The room has stone walls on three of its sides, with a wooden one on the fourth. A door stands closed in the wooden wall. Around the room are more dust covered barrels and boxes. A quick search shows that there is nothing of interest in any of them, only some old cloth that has long since deteriorated.

Intrigued by the hidden rooms, James wonders where the end of it will lead. He goes over to the door and puts his ear to it. Not hearing anything, he cautiously opens the door and finds that it opens onto a dark, narrow passageway extending both to the right and the left. Shining the light on the floor reveals footprints in the dust, an indication that there has been someone through here recently. Upon closer examination, he finds the foot prints head in both directions.

Entering the hallway, he shines his light first down to the right, then the left. It looks as if they are standing in what could be a secret passage that might connect to several rooms. Miko enters the hallway behind him and shuts the door. That’s when James notices that he can’t tell where the opening of the door they just came through is. It looks like a solid wooden wall with no apparent openings.

Whispering, he says to Miko, “Now I can understand why those rooms have been unused for so long. This secret door must have been forgotten. Let’s see if we can figure out how to open it before we go any further. I’d hate to not have a way out of here if things go bad.”

Nodding his agreement, Miko takes the lantern and keeps watch for anyone approaching while James feels around to see if he can find the opening mechanism. He searches the wooden wall, feeling for any grooves or indentations that might indicate a trigger, also checking the floor for any loose boards. Returning his attention to the wall, this time taking more care in his search, he discovers a small knothole in the wall that is a little loose, but doesn’t move when pressed. He also finds two others that are loose as well and tries pressing them all at the same time. As he applies pressure, all three simultaneously sink into the wall about a quarter of an inch and a barely perceptible click is heard as the door swings open on a silent hinge.

“How’d you figure that out?” asks an incredulous Miko.

Smiling with great satisfaction, James replies, “I’ve read stories about stuff like this. It isn’t too hard if you know what to look for.” Also, years of role playing games and designing dungeons doesn’t hurt either, he adds to himself in satisfaction.

Shutting the door again, he turns and heads down the right hand passage, one direction being as good as another. Keeping the light as dim as he can while still being able to see, he tries to locate cracks of light coming through the walls which may indicate other secret doors. Ten feet further down, the passage turns sharply to the left and after another six feet they reach a juncture where they are faced with the choice of continuing straight or taking a very narrow stairway up.

James inspects the footprints in the dust and sees that the majority of the tracks follow the corridor straight ahead, while only a small portion continues up the stairs. Deciding that following the main body of tracks will most likely lead to a main exit, he continues down the passage past the stairs.

After another ten feet or so, he detects a faint outline of light in the shape of a door on the left wall. Pointing it out to Miko, he whispers “Looks like another secret door.”

Nodding in agreement, Miko says, “Look,” as he points to the tracks they’ve been following. “Most of the tracks end here. This looks like a well used entrance to the secret passage.”

“I think you are correct,” agrees James. Using the lamp to inspect the wall, he finds a simple latch keeping the door closed. He pauses momentarily as he places his ear to the door. Not hearing anything from the other side, he slowly lifts the latch and opens the door just far enough for him to be able to see through to the other side.