The two girls started walking in the direction Madison thought would allow them to circle around the entrance. After all, if there was a back entrance, then it would be in… the back. Then again, it could be a side entrance. She sighed. It was probably going to be a lot of searching.

  Madison heard the boys fall in behind them and smiled. She knew they would. She just hoped she was right. If she wasn’t, she knew she wouldn’t hear the end of it.

  “Come on,” she told Rose. “Let’s look this way.”

  Eventually, Madison convinced them to spread out in a line and look for anything unusual. She’d seen police do it on detective shows when they were searching for bodies in the forest. The concept seemed sound: space people apart so you covered more ground, but hopefully didn’t miss details.

  With only a little complaining, the boys had joined in and they’d begun sweeping the area, looking for anything out of the ordinary. Again, it seemed like a sound plan to Madison.

  Unfortunately, the forest was hilly in the area they were searching. This made it hard to keep their line straight, as well as see much if they were at a low point.

  After a couple of hours of game time, Madison was willing to call it quits and admit she’d been wrong. They crisscrossed the area that they thought was behind the entrance to the cave and there was no sign of anything strange.

  They’d found numerous berry bushes, wild blackberries and wild raspberries. And try as the boys might, every time they tried to pick a berry from the tree, it squished in their fingers. Both of them got messages about not having the proper skill.

  Rose and Madison, on the other hand, were able to pick all the berries. Once the berries were actually off the bushes, they could be traded to either boy. They just couldn’t pick berries themselves, it appeared.

  The only other things they had found were two holes in the ground where smoke was coming out. Judging by the smell of the smoke, one was the chimney for a brewery. The smoke had a very pronounced hops smell that had a hint of baking bread - probably the yeast they used.

  The second was definitely a cooking fire. Whatever the gnolls were cooking smelled good. Madison just hoped it wasn’t something gross… like humans.

  Her group started to move on from the chimneys, but Madison just stood there and stared at them, an idea forming.

  “Come on, Madison,” Cole said, waving her to follow them.

  “Hold on,” she replied, looking around the area. She nodded as a smile spread across her face.

  Cole shook his head. “I know that look. Whenever you get that look, I usually get in trouble.”

  “Not this time.” She grinned. “I have an idea!”

  “Oh?” Her brother arched an eyebrow.

  “We put the traps here!” she said excitedly.

  Michael came over to Cole’s side and looked around. He frowned. “Here?”

  Rose smiled, bobbing her head at Madison. “Yes! That’s a great idea!”

  Cole and Michael exchanged looks. “What are we missing?”

  Madison opened her mouth, but Rose cut her off. “A squirrel built a nest in the chimney of our firepit over the winter. The first time my dad tried to use it, the entire deck filled with smoke because the squirrel had blocked the entire chimney. It got REALLY smokey, REALLY fast.”

  “Ah,” Cole said, looking down at the chimneys.

  “We make the traps,” Madison explained. “Then block the chimneys. When they come to investigate and they fall for our traps, we get them!”

  The group looked at each other and nodded. Michael grinned. “Yeah! That’ll work.”

  Rose bit her lip. “You think they’ll suspect a trap?”

  “Only one way to find out,” Madison said with a smile. “Plus, we can hide and wait to see how many come and whether they fall for the traps. If not… I guess we will go back to the town and see what quests we can do.”

  “Alright,” Cole agreed. “Let’s do it!”

  22

  Despite the group’s enthusiasm, they soon found that their plan was doomed to failure. At least, the part about digging traps. As they quickly learned, there was only a foot or so of topsoil before they hit rock. In hindsight, it did make sense. The gnolls WERE in a cave after all. The ceiling had been stone.

  “That was a waste of time,” Michael said, breathing hard. Tossing the shovel to the side, he sat down heavily on the ground.

  Madison gave everyone an apologetic look. “Sorry, it seemed like a good idea.”

  She felt bad that she had wasted everyone’s time. Now they were back at square one, with no plan other than a suicidal frontal assault.

  “You couldn’t have known,” Cole said, giving her a smile. “None of us thought of it either.”

  “Uh...guys,” Rose said, waving them over. “What is…. Ahhhh!”

  One moment, they were looking at Rose waving her hand for them to come over, the next she disappeared. It was as if she had been sucked down into the ground.

  Scrambling to her feet, Madison rushed over to where her cousin had disappeared. She stopped suddenly, just inches from a hole that had opened up where Rose had just been standing. Was that some sort of sinkhole?

  Madison stared down into the darkness as the boys came running over and stopped just short of the pit.

  “What the heck?” Michael said, looking at it. “Did it collapse or something?”

  Unable to see far into the darkness of the pit, Madison called out to her cousin. “Ro...!”

  Cole’s hand shot out and covered her mouth. He put his finger to his mouth and then pointed to the nearby chimneys. “Shhh! The last thing we want is for them to come and investigate.”

  Pulling his hand down, Madison glared at her brother. “She could be hurt!”

  “It’s just a game,” he told her. “If she dies, she’ll respawn. If gnolls come up here and we all die, it will be much harder to get our stuff.”

  Madison knew her brother was right, but she was still concerned about her cousin. She cocked her head as she thought she heard something.

  “I’m… mostly okay…” came a faint voice. “Come... down. You have to... see this.”

  The voice was faint, but it did sound like Rose. She sounded pained. Madison looked up at the guys. “Did you hear that? She’s hurt.”

  Cole and Michael nodded; both shared their concern. Her brother looked around and walked over to the closest tree. “Throw me some of that rope you bought.”

  Pulling a coil of rope from her inventory, she tossed it to Cole. He tied the top around the tree, tested it several times and then walked back to them. Looking down the hole, he dropped the rest of the rope down into the hole.

  “Let’s go!” Cole grinned.

  Michael looked at Buddy and frowned. “How am I supposed to get Buddy down?”

  Madison furrowed her brow in concentration, then smiled and pulled out another coil of rope. “Tie him to you with the rest of the rope.”

  Cole shook his head. “See if you can tie him onto me. I have enough strength to lower both of us.”

  Michael nodded and cut a piece of rope from the coil on the ground. He began talking soothingly to the tiger cub as he began tying the rope to him.

  “I’ll go see if Rose is okay,” Madison told them. She reached down and grabbed the rope before her brother could respond, and then swung herself over the edge. Slowly, she began lowering herself down the rope into the inky blackness below. Above her, her brother looked down disapprovingly for a moment before going back to helping Michael.

  With the rope between her legs, Madison lowered herself hand over hand. It quickly became dark and even with her enhanced sight, there was really nothing to see except the smooth sides of the hole. Madison squinted at the sides. They were too smooth. They couldn’t be natural. At least, they couldn’t be natural in the real world. Who knew what was natural and what was not in this game world.

  She lowered herself at least thirty feet before the sides of the cave abruptly disappeared. She was suddenly hanging in the middle of nothing, and it was far too dark to see anything.

  “I see you,” Rose’s voice came from below. It was a loud whisper, but it echoed around the darkness. “You’re about twenty feet above the floor.”

  “Okay, give me a moment and I’ll come the rest of the way,” Madison replied and continued her descent.

  “The rope ends… like… ten feet above the ground,” Rose called softly.

  Sure enough, a few seconds later, the rope disappeared from between Madison’s legs. Holding on tighter with her hands, she lowered herself to the end of the rope. Close to the bottom, the light from the hole above dimly illuminated a small wood elf below her. Rose.

  “Go ahead,” she said. “Drop down.”

  Madison let go of the rope and her stomach lurched as she fell to the earth. She managed to land on her feet. As she did, she bent her knees to absorb the impact, and used her hands to prevent her from face planting into the stone floor.

  You take 3 falling damage.

  “Ow,” she said. “3 Falling damage.”

  Her cousin chuckled mirthlessly. “I took 53 falling damage.”

  “Ouch,” Madison grimaced. “That must have hurt.”

  “It did,” Rose agreed. “Luckily, I’m a healer. Why didn’t you use your wings?”

  Madison looked over her shoulder at her wings and shook her head. She’d completely forgotten about them.

  “Look out below,” came Michael’s voice moments before he landed with a thud next to Madison. He wasn’t quite as graceful as she had been but did manage not to smack his head against the floor.

  Groaning, he managed to move just before Cole’s huge form landed where he had just been. Whether her brother’s size or better muscles made a difference, Cole landed easily on the floor, bending just slightly at the knees.

  Cole immediately began to grimace and wiggle around. He spun around and pointed to the tiger cub on his back. “Okay. Okay. Get Buddy off of me while I still have flesh on my back!”

  Buddy was unhappy and trying to climb off of Cole, leaving scratches up and down her brother’s back. Michael rushed over and scratched the cub behind the ears while saying soothing words. He looked up at Madison and Rose. “Untie him. Don’t cut the rope, we’ll need it to haul him back up.”

  The girls quickly untied the cat and he scrambled to the floor, happy to be off of Cole’s back - though not quite as happy as Cole was for Buddy to be off his back. Her brother grimaced and turned his back to Rose. “Can you heal this… please.”

  Casting her spell, she healed Cole.

  Plays-With-Animals heals Brothar Snowbear for 11 damage.

  Cole smiled and sagged a bit. “Ah. Much better. That cat has sharp claws!”

  “He IS a combat pet,” Michael pointed out.

  Madison took the opportunity to look around. Her eyes were adjusting to the lack of light and she was able to make out details about the room they were in. And it was a room.

  Like the room the gnolls had been in, this chamber had been carved or fashioned from smooth stone. Part of the far wall had collapsed and there was rubble strewn on the floor nearby. On the right wall, was a doorway with a smooth stone door blocking it. On the left wall, in exactly the same spot, was another doorway. This one too was blocked with a stone door.

  And yet, the room and the doors were not what caught the eye. It was the stuff piled in the corners of the room.

  There were a dozen crates, several chests, some sacks and then just some loose coins lying around the right wall.

  “Woah,” Michael said, obviously seeing it too, even in the dim light. “Is that what I think it is?”

  Rose nodded. “It’s treasure! We’re rich!”

  Madison nodded, but frowned. In the movies and stories, treasure usually belonged to someone - or something. She looked around the rest of the room but saw no monster or anything about to jump out.

  Her brother seemed to be having the same thought. He squinted into the dark and walked over to the right door and put his ear to it. After a moment, he lifted his head up and backed away - eyes glued to the door.

  “Uh, guys,” Cole said, keeping his voice low. “I heard gnolls on the other side. I think we’re in their treasure vault.”

  23

  “Their treasure vault?!” Rose whispered. “Are you kidding me?”

  Cole shook his head. “What else would it be?”

  “Didn’t you say something about this being older architecture?” Michael asked Madison, gesturing around the room. “Maybe this is a treasure vault from whoever made this place originally.”

  Madison walked over to the treasure pile, bent down and examined the crates. Some of them had the name “Fisherton” painted on them. The paint wasn’t worn. It looked fairly fresh. She shook her head and was about to say something when a prompt appeared.

  You have received a new quest “Hey, Those Are Ours!”

  You’ve found crates of goods that the gnolls have stolen from recent trade caravans bound for Fisherton. You have a choice of whether to return the crates to the citizens or keep them for yourself.

  Return Crates to Fisherton

  Reward: +100 reputation with Residents of Fisherton, +100 reputation with Guards of Fisherton, Unknown for each crate returned.

  Keep the Crates

  Reward: Goods, Unknown of each crate kept.

  Accept quest (yes or no)?

  “Did you guys just get that quest?” Madison asked and, glassy eyed, they all nodded. She accepted the quest.

  “I guess that answers that question,” Michael said, disappointed. “So much for keeping a cut for ourselves.”

  “That stinks!” Rose said.

  “It doesn't say anything about the money,” Cole pointed out.

  They all looked at Cole, his eyes still glassy. “What?!”

  Her brother smiled. “Read the quest again. It says return the crates. It says nothing about the money.”

  “Oh!” Rose grinned, clapping her hands together. “Let’s gather it all up.”

  “Hold on,” Madison said, holding up a hand. “If we take anything or move anything, the gnolls will probably notice.”

  “So?” Michael shrugged. “We will be long gone by then.”

  “Right,” she said. “But what about killing the boss gnoll.”

  Cole nodded. “She’s right. If we give away that we were here, they will go on high alert. We may not get another chance.”

  “Another chance at what?” Rose asked.

  “Getting the commander.” Madison nodded, having thought the same thing. It wasn’t as important for the others but finishing that quest would hopefully give her more reputation in town and she wouldn’t be ignored.

  Michael shrugged. “So how do we get him?”

  Madison scratched her scaly head and looked at the right door. “If you had a big treasure and you were the leader, would you keep it near you or put it in some other part of the complex?”

  “What?” Rose asked, screwing her face up in confusion.

  “Like in the spy movies and stuff,” Madison pointed out. “The bad guy usually has a vault in his office or study - you know, basically wherever they spend a lot of time. And that’s where he keeps his valuables, plans for world domination and all that stuff.”

  Cole furrowed his brow. “You think the gnolls on the other side could be the commander and his flunkies?”

  She shrugged. “Maybe.”

  Michael nodded. “That makes sense too from a design standpoint. Put the treasure behind the big boss so players have to work for it. It would be like a reward for killing him.”

  “Makes sense,” Cole agreed. “The question becomes, how do we exploit this to our advantage. Even if we opened that door right now, the commander would probably call in the other troops and we’d be overwhelmed.”

  Madison smiled. “Unless they were busy with something.”

  “Like what?” Rose asked.

  “Like their chimneys were suddenly blocked,” Madison replied.

  “Yeah, but that would alert them that someone was here and had blocked the chimneys,” Michael commented.

  Madison bit her lip but then smiled. She pulled a hatchet out of her inventory. “Maybe we can make it look like a tree fell and blocked them. That should prevent them from suspecting us.”

  “That might work.” Cole nodded.

  “What if they come in here in the meantime?” Rose asked and pointed at the rubble that had fallen onto the floor when the roof had collapsed under Rose’s weight. “They’ll see that and the hole and know something’s up.”

  Michael pointed at the far wall. “We can move the rubble over there. A little more rubble won’t be noticed.”

  “But there’s still the hole,” Rose reminded them.

  “We can cover it up with branches,” Cole suggested. “It’s far enough away from the door and the crates that they shouldn’t notice.”

  “What about that door?” Madison asked. “What if they’re just walking across the room to get to the left door.”

  Cole walked over to the left door and stuck his ear to it. He furrowed his brow in concentration for a few seconds, then moved his ear to another spot on the door, then another. Finally, he backed away.

  Her brother cocked his head, then brushed off dust from the door, revealing symbols that Madison couldn’t make out from where she stood.

  “I don’t hear anything,” her brother announced. “But there’s some weird writing on the door. I can’t make it out.”

  Madison and the others walked over to the door and examined the writing that Cole had revealed.

  “Can anyone read it?” he asked.

  Rose and Michael both shook their heads, but Madison stared at the writing. At first, the symbols didn’t make sense but then they seemed to wiggle and form themselves into English. She blinked, unsure she had just witnessed it.

  You have read Artoshian.

  Congratulations! You are the first player to read Artoshian. A Reward has been added to your account.

 

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34