Nick rode his horse through the forest.  The darkness of the eclipse was 
obscuring his path.  He knew he was far from the town, but he'd gotten turned 
around so many times he wasn't sure where he was going.  For hours he just 
wandered, afraid to stop for fear of what might be waiting to attack him if he 
gets off his horse.  Finally, the hours of blind wandering pay off, as Nick 
notices a small town.  Not as spectacular as the last town he was at, but enough 
to find refuge for at least a few days.  Nick rode into the outskirts of the 
town and dismounted.  A small torch gave him enough light to look himself over. 
 He let out a disgusted sigh at how dirty his clothes were, then started looking 
around.  There were a few torches burning, providing a scanty bit of light on 
the town, but no activity.  Nick thought to himself that maybe they were all 
asleep in their homes.  It's impossible during the eclipse to tell what time of 
day it is.  Quietly he walked down the main street of the town.  The whole place 
had a ghostly presence to it.  He had a feeling this town was no place for him 
to be, but decided it was the lesser of two evils considering the forest he had 
just come out of.  Nick walked on, listening for any sign of life, the dim 
lighting making it hard to look for any.  Finally, some unknown person struck 
Nick awkwardly in the arm.  Nick spun toward the attacker, only being able to 
make out a vague silhouette of a person.  He immediately tried to reason with 
him, "I'm just passing through, I . ."  Nick was interrupted by a square blow to 
the stomach that knocked the wind out of him.  He bent over gasping for air, and 
soon feeling another hard blow on the back of his head.  The blood from the 
wound trickled down over his face before he lost consciousness.  Nick woke up 
completely disoriented.  He had no idea how long he'd been out or where he was. 
 All around him he could only see darkness, and hear only silence.  He felt 
slimy rocks underneath him, but no walls anywhere near him.  He sat for a moment, 
and felt the large bump on his head where he'd been hit.  After trying futilely to 
look around some more, he said in a low voice, "Hello?"  The hello echoed off 
deep walls from all sides, and he heard something move.  It was too quick to 
tell what, but something else was in there with him.  Seeing no other option and 
fearing for his life, Nick sat perfectly still, and waited.
               **************************
The Stone of Goth communicated the image of Nick in the pitch darkness to Hyru. 
 Still looking for some comfort from the images he saw before, Hyru tried to 
push his emotion aside and continue with the plan.  He got up and shouted an 
order to one of his lieutenants, "They've captured Nick.  It won't be much 
longer before we have the scroll.  Send the man out."  Hyru quickly closed the 
door and returned to the stone.  His ambitions prompted him to learn more, but 
he hesitated for an instant, during that instant his terror at what he saw 
before inching back into his mind.  He threw the feeling aside and eagerly began 
asking the stone more questions.