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We pick up this tail now at the base of Kerano, ready to enter its depths... When we awoke the following morning, we found Carile sleeping at his makeshift table. He had spent the better part of the night trying to remember every part of the path that he took to reach the Chalice's resting place. When he woke up he looked at the map he had drawn the previous night and sighed. The map was far from perfect he said, but it should at least give us an rough guide to the chambers inside. I entrusted the map to my new found brother Flash. Then we followed Carile to a pile of rocks near the base of Kerano. Then the old Cleric bent down and touched one of the rocks. Slowly it started to glow, then it burst into a thousand streams of light and vanished in an instant. My friend and adviser Scottie cast a flare and sent it into the entrance of the cavern. He gasped and said that the flare dissipated immediately upon entrance into the cavern. I heard Flash bend over and pick up a pebble from the ground and throw it into the cavern. Then it was Flash's turn to speak in a puzzled tone that the stone had just vanished, almost as though it was eaten by the cavern. Carile then suggested that the vaporizing spell he had placed on the entrance just might be vulnerable to the Crystal of the Soul, and that perhaps that is why Carla had told us to enter behind a mage with it in his possession. I then replied that Carile could have saved us a little time and effort had he told us about the spell in the first place. He just chuckled and said that no one had asked him. Then he patted me on the back and said that it was the last spell he had put in place, and wished us well. We formed a diamond with me at the core. Scottie bearing his Crystal in front, Flash with his father's Platinum Sword drawn from his scabbard to my left, Sylvia ready to invoke her voice to my right, and Butch with his hand clasped tightly around the Onyx to my rear. As we stepped through the entrance I heard first Scottie's Crystal hum with energy, then Sylvia's voice softly murmuring along with the sound of Flash's blade shimmering, and then I heard the Onyx expand with power. We walked in formation for thirty or so paces before each of their magics stopped being invoked by the cavern and we could move as individuals instead of as one. We all felt weird, but we did not stop and discuss it. Everything has its proper time and this was not the time to discuss strangeness. According to the map, Flash said we would be entering a chamber that had no floor. And sure enough, when Flash stepped around the next corner, I heard rocks slide as Flash stepped onto the nonexistent floor. Butch snagged him out of the air with one hand and hauled him back onto our ledge. Flash took time to consider what lay before us, "There appears to be a rope bridge across the chasm, which is about 70 or so meters in length. The rope bridge consists of one strand of rope stretched tightly between the two entrances. It does not look very stable, so I recommend we not use it if we do not have to. Suggestions?" Reasonably I posed a question, "Scottie, how about some of that teleportation magic that you showed us at Norin?" The world started to shake around me and I felt that I would be torn apart. It seemed that I was being stretched to edges of insanity. Then, just as I was about cross that threshold, it stopped. We collectively released our breathes as the pain stopped. Scottie grumbled while still gasping, "My magic...it did not work. Instead of transversing the chasm by magic, the spell tried to stretch us across it. I nearly ripped the five of us apart. I am so sorry my friends." Nodding sympathetically I replied, "It was not your fault. Remember, Carile said that magic did not always work correctly in this cavern. I guess that we shall have to cross via the rope." Butch volunteered to go first on the basis that as he was the heaviest. He reasoned that if the rope held him, the rope would hold all of us. He slowly tested the rope, applying his weight onto it smoothly. It held, so he added some more of his bulk to the rope until he was sure that it could support his entire weight. Then he sat down on the edge of the ledge and grabbed the rope firmly between his two huge hands. Sliding off of the ledge, he swung onto the rope and hung there until he stopped swaying violently. As soon as he was more or less steady he started crossing the chasm hand-over-hand style. Flash continued giving me the play-by-play of Butch's progress, shouting out after every yard he covered. When Butch reached the exact center of the bridge, I heard a loud *SNAP* as the rope broke in two. Butch had on hand on each piece of the rope and hung there with his arms slowly separating as his weight bore down on the broken rope. >*AARRRGGG*< Butch's bloodcurdling scream pierced through the air with gut wrenching anguish in his cry. I turned away from the scene, for even without being able to see it, I knew that Butch's arms must be nearly popping from his sockets. Then the Onyx started to glow. In a short time I could feel the coldness of its power fill the air. Scottie kept mumbling "oh, my...oh, my" while Flash shouted encouragement. Butch gave a hollar back to us, "Hurry friends! I am holding the bridge together with the Onyx's power. Cross it now. Once you are all safe, I'll let go and swing to the other side and then climb the rope piece clear to the top. Hurry though, I hate to lose more of my mobility than is absolutely necessary." We needed no further prodding. Scottie crossed first, then Flash helped me get on the rope laying down so I could scoot myself across. It was much slower than the hand-over-hand method, but without my sight, it was far less risky. As soon as I was across, Scottie helped me up, and Flash quickly crossed, not using his hands but simply running across the rope. That is no small feat I can assure you, but for Flash it was second nature. Then Butch released the far side's half of the rope and swung in our direction. >*KRUNCH*< Butch slammed into the side of the cave with such force that he made a crater one meter thick in it. Then he hollered up that he was all right (his Onyx induced strength made such collisions seem like love taps) and then he proceeded to climb the rope. Once he rejoined the rest of us, I realized that we would have no way back across the chasm on the way back. I pushed the thought from my mind though, as we had more important things to worry about. One of these more important things was the heavy breathing I heard coming from the next part of the cavern. Before I could mention this suspicious noise, we had turned around the corner and Flash exclaimed that a horrendously large beast was staring at us. The Platinum Sword yelled out a challenge to this beast. What exactly the Sword said, I know not as it was speaking the beast's language, but whatever it had said, the beast responded with a fierce some roar and it footsteps started to charge us. Flash muttered to his Sword "Now look what you went and did..." before he unsheathed the Sword and brought it to bear on the beast. The beast skidded to a stop right in front of Flash and the sound of Platinum striking claw echoed in the chamber. The Sword handled beautifully, it seemed to anticipate the beast's every move and force Flash to respond appropriately. Soon the beast was screaming in pain as the Sword found its way past his defenses and struck true time and time again. Despite Flash's obvious advantage, the beast would not fall easily and kept up its half of the battle for almost a hour before Flash could strike the deathblow. As soon as the contest was decided, Flash collapsed next to the beast, utterly exhausted. Butch lifted Flash onto his back and carried him into the next part of the cavern. Luckily, the next several hours of walking and crawling through the cave went as they should with no major obstacles (although Butch almost got stuck in one of the tighter crawl passages). Flash was back to his normal self by the time we entered into an immense cavern. The walls reached almost one hundred meters high. As we entered into the chamber, as Giant dropped from above and blocked our path. In traditional Giant fashion the big fellow talked down to us, "Hahah! Little ones dare to enter my home?! HOHO!! Maybe they will make a nice little snack for me to eat!" Flash rushed forward and stabbed the giant's foot. Now the Giant was somewhat annoyed, "Ouch! Naughty little one! You should not have done that!" The Giant's muscles and joints creaked as he bent over and picked up Flash in his hand. Scottie was frantically trying to do something with his magic, but none of his spells were working. Butch could have used his Onyx to smash the Giant, but his magic was also not working. Somewhat amused now the Giant laughed, "HOHA! Little one has a bright shiny sword! Looks to me like a toothpick! Little One with little toothpick, I shall put you in my pocket! First I will eat your little friends." All of a sudden I felt the Giant's colossal hand scoop Scottie, Sylvia, Butch and myself up. Now the Giant could see us better and puzzled to himself, "Hmmm! Old one look too gnarled! Big one look too tough! Little lady one too pretty, maybe I save her to look at! Hmmm, other one look about right!" The Giant threw my friends into his pocket with Flash, while he held me up in his other hand. Not good, I thought to myself. Very not good. Giants are rather stupid though, so I thought I would try something, "You are quite right in your judgments of my friends Mr. Giant. The old is one is quite gnarled and very poor tasting. Perhaps you should let him go since he would not be to your liking." Being so close to the Giants head I could feel his head start to burn as he thought about this. Then I heard him reach into his pocket and put Scottie on the floor. "And that big one is so-o hard, I fear that you may chip one of you sturdy teeth on him. You had best let him go as well." More heat emanated from the giant's head as he thought about this. Then Butch soon joined Scottie on the ground. "And that one with the toothpick. What if he stabs your mouth. It would hurt for many days. Methinks you should let him go to." The giant's head was now practically burning as he tried to think of a reason not to let Flash go as well, but when he could not, he placed Flash on the ground as well. The Giant was now agitated at having lost three potential snacks, "NOW QUIET LITTLE ONE! I will not eat the little lady as I shall keep her to look at and will not let her go! And you look quite tasty and I will you eat you right now!" But before the giant could carry out his threat I spoke again, "WAIT dear giant! I have one more thing to tell you. That little lady is very pretty to look upon and it only makes sense to keep her, but before you eat me let me show you something else that she can do." The giant's head almost erupted in fire as he thought about this offer. Finally he gave up trying to find an objection so he told me to get on with it. And so I told Sylvia to sing. And sing she did. Her magic, it seemed, still worked in this chamber and the giant was soon under her control. The poor fellow could do nothing but what she sang to him to do. Soon her and I were safely back on the ground and scurrying through the other exit of the chamber. As soon as we were well inside the next set of tunnels where the giant could not reach us, Sylvia stopped singing and we could continue without her having to sing out instructions to us. After another hour, Flash informed us that the next chamber housed the Chalice of Power. We entered into it. My party abruptly stopped and so I asked them why. My answer was that the Chalice was behind a wall of fire. And from the glowing response of the Crystal of the Soul, the fire was magic fire, probably some left over from Carile's powerful spell. I asked Scottie if he thought that he could use his Crystal enhanced magic to hold open a small area so that I could pass through it to reach the Chalice. He replied that he probably could and set about preparing to do so. When he was ready, I had Flash point me in the correct direction and I walked forward. I could feel the heat of the fire around me as slowly took my steps carefully, trying not to veer from my course. Then I felt the flames subside as I reached the area behind them. Flash shouted out the distance between myself and the Chalice, and I reached out and felt a pedestal. My hands reached out and I gripped the Chalice inside them. Such a great feeling of power overcame me that I thought I would fall faint, but it passed instantly and my sight slowly returned to my eyes as the magic of the Chalice took hold. Then I stepped through Scottie's hole in the flame and greeted my friends. Scottie was the first there. It felt so good to see his wizened face again. Then Butch reached me and gave me friendly pat on the back that nearly knocked me over. Flash looked into my eyes as we stared at each other both sharing an instant that seemed like a lifetime. We embraced, and I felt a tear roll down my cheek as I had finally managed to see my brother for the very first time. As I looked over his shoulder, my eyes witnessed for the first time the splendor and beauty that was Sylvia. Like a goddess she stood there wait her turn. Then next thing I knew I was holding her in my arms instead of Flash. We kissed, and I knew then that she would forever hold all of my love. And then, quite frankly, all heck broke loose... Ace Dogg of Doggainia |
