"Come on Danot, wake up", Llynowen said as she shook the snoring dwarf.

    The dwarf groaned and his eyes opened a bare slit. "Early", was his grunted reply.

    Llynowen's mouth quirked up in a half-smile and said, "Early, the sun's been up for hours." She shook her head and returned back to the campfire where the biscuits for this morning's meal were cooking.

    Danot groaned again, and slowly propped himself up on one elbow, and rubbed at his eye with his free hand.

    The remainder of the camp was silently going about their morning chores. Dardae was standing a ways off to the east, a tall and thin silhouette against the morning sun, swinging his sword in practiced motion. Mazyfum and Triolus sat under the bent oak, reading from their great tomes. Not far off, Gar was sitting on a rock, carefully sorting through a mass of pots, ropes, pitons and other assorted gear in front of him.

    Looking up, Gar said, "I've got a list of what I need. I hope they have it all in Targos."

    After a few minutes Danot rose and pulled his ferrets from his pack. He fed them, then whispered something to them and set them on the ground. They scampered off, sniffing around the camp. He pulled out his axe and began polishing it.

    "Ouch", Triolus cried as he turned to look behind him. He sighed and picked the two ferrets that were wrestling in his backpack. He carried them over to Danot and dropped one of him in his lap. "Missing anything?" he asked the dwarf, holding the other out by the neck with his index finger and thumb.

    "There you are," Danot said, reaching out and taking the other ferret from the half-elf.

    "Don't try that again, dwarf" Triolus said, and turned and return to his reading under the bent oak.

    "What?" Danot asked to the half-elf's back as he walked away.

    They broke camp after breaking fast and started south across the snowy plains. The morning passed quickly and uneventfully, and they stopped for lunch early in the afternoon. As they continued on later in the afternoon a small smudge could be seen near the edge of the lake.

    "Bremen ahead", Llarion cried back to the others.

    They entered the small fishing village of Bremen and asked around about purchasing some fish. They picked up four good-sized trout, and headed off down the Bremen trail towards Targos. As the sun set, they headed off the trail and near the lake to set up camp.

    During the night, as Dardae and Gar slowly circled the camp, Dardae saw some movement off to the south near the lakeshore. He crouched down and moved forward to investigate. As he did, he caught the glint of the fire off what appeared to be some kind of shell of a rather large thing coming right for the camp.

    "Gar!" Dardae said, and pointed towards the motion when the human turned to look. Dardae ran back and began waking the others as the creatures quickly came upon their camp.

    Triolus and Mazyfum were quick to wake, and they moved to join Gar and Dardae at the perimeter of the camp as the creatures. The creatures were very large, their bodies were ten feet long, adorned with long horns, almost as long as it's body. They looked like giant beetles, with six legs scuttling towards them, and a hard chitinous thorax. Gleaming beady eyes caught the firelight as they continued in on the camp.

    They held their weapons at the ready as the creatures came upon them, their horns stabbing at them.

Dardae swung his long sword in a sweeping arc, crashing into the hard chitin of the beetle's thorax. The beetle stumbled, but kept its feet, and thrust forward, seeking to impale the elf on it's horn. Dardae groaned as the horn found purchase in his side, and he felt a great tearing as it pulled out again.

    Triolus swung at the other beetle, but his sword went wide and missed. The beetle responded, lowering its head and impaling both horns deep in Triolus' chest. Triolus cried out in pain then went limp, as the horns slid out of his body. He slumped to the ground and blood poured from his wounds.

    Finishing his chanting, Mazyfum held his hands out, and blue electricity leapt out of his fingertips and started arching over his hands. He reached out and touched the creature, releasing the energy into its body. It stumbled, and wafts of smoke escaped from underneath it's hard carapace as the electricity cooked it's innards. It remained standing however, and turned to face Gar.

    Llynowen groggily wiped at her eyes as she woke. She looked up as Triolus crumpled to the ground. She leapt to her feet and ran over to him, and immediately began bandaging the heavily bleeding wounds.

    Dodging and weaving, Dardae swung at the creature again, connecting hard. The creature fought to respond, but was unable to catch the fast moving elf. Gar swung at the other creature again, and missed as well. It was practically on top of him at this point, and its pincers grabbed his arm and bit down hard. Gar cried out and pulled his arm away.

    Danot blinked his eyes and looked around, and noticed the fight going on not ten feet from his blanket. He grabbed his axe and swearing softly, ran around to attack the first beetle. As he reached the beetle, Dardae raised his long sword above his head and swung it down in a powerful arc that caved in the creature’s head. It shuddered, then collapsed in a heap. Danot continued on around and started looking for an opening with the other beetle as it fought Gar.

    Llynowen bowed her head over Triolus' fallen body, and began saying a soft prayer to Mielliki, "Oh great Mielliki, please heal this fallen warrior, who seeks to protect us from these creatures, who are your creatures as well as we. May the blessing of your order come to all in this world and the next." As she finished her hands began to glow and she laid them over the wounds of the half-elf, which slowly began closing underneath the glowing nimbus.

    Meanwhile the others continued to swing at the creature, causing great rends in its hide. The ichorous blood flowed in great draughts from the creature, and it stumbled and fell. It twitched involuntarily a few times then ceased all movement.

    Llynowen prayed again over Triolus, causing his wounds to heal even further. He woke groggily and smiled up at Llynowen's smiling visage. "Thank you," he said, then passed out again. Knowing that he would be fine after rest, she turned to Dardae, and similarly set to tending his wounds.

    As the others settled uneasily back into their bedrolls, Dardae and Gar resumed their watch. Dardae continued circling the camp. Each time as he passed the fallen creatures he watched them uneasily. As he was passing one time, he felt eyes on him, and he looked at the creature, and it appeared as if it was staring at him. Unnerved by this, he called out, "Gar, get over here."

    They both stared at the dead creature for some time, and finally, Gar said, "I don't see anything, but let's wake up the priestess to be sure." He walked over to where Llynowen was sleeping, and gently shook her shoulder. She slowly woke, and rubbed at her eyes.

    "Hrmm what?" she sleepily inquired at Gar's shaking.

    "I think Dardae is seeing things, but could you ask Mielliki to keep the dead bugs away from us?" Gar asked her.

    A look of concern crossed her face, then she nodded, and got up, pulling her blanket tight around her shoulders. She crossed over to where Dardae was still standing, staring at the husk of the bug. She looked from Dardae to the dead bug, then sighed. She held aloft her holy symbol and said quietly, "Mielliki, please keep this being at bay, that he may not harm us anymore." As she finished she looked to Dardae, who smiled faintly and nodded. She turned, and returned to her bedroll and quickly fell back to sleep.

    Dardae watched the bug for a moment more, then walked over to his bedroll and begain rummaging through his pack. Gar looked on with interest, then asked, "Looking for something?"

    "Oil", was Dardae's terse reply.

    Gar crossed to his pack, and drew a flask from it. "Here you can have this", he said as he handed the remainder of his lamp oil to Dardae.

    Dardae smiled, and returned to the bug. He poured the oil over the thing's eyes and walked back to the campfire. Reaching down, he pulled a burning brand from the fire, and crossed back to the creature and lit the oil on fire. He smiled to himself as he heard the sizzling and crackling as the eyes burnt back into their sockets.

    The rest of the night went quickly and silently, each of the others taking their turn at watch. The next morning they woke early and broke camp, and returned to the Bremen Trail on into Targos.

    A couple of hours down the trail they saw a dark smudge on the horizon. The sight of civilization renewed their intent to quickly get into Targos. By late morning they crossed through the south gate past the soldiers who were cursorily watching the slow ebb of people entering the city.

    They walked down the main street and stopped at the Wolf's Pelt Inn, where they had stayed on their last trip to Targos. They met with the innkeeper and gave him the other two fish they had bought in Bremen. Triolus handed some coins to the innkeeper and they booked the three private rooms for the next few nights.

    They each set off their own ways down into the marketplace, further in the city. Gar and Llynowen went off to find a jeweler. They found a richly decorated shop off the eastern side of the market, with a sign bearing the marking of a cut gem on it. Entering, the found several glass cases with glittering jewels resting on silk cushions. Several racks were arranged around the room with necklaces and bracelets made of brass, silver and gold hanging from them. Standing behind the counter, bent over a gem set on a pillow was a rotund shopkeeper. "Good morning, what can I do for you", he asked, looking up as they entered his shop.

    "I'd like to get this appraised," Llynowen said, as she pulled out the red gem the dwarf had given her the other day.

    He nodded and said, "There's two options, you can pay ten percent of the gem's worth upon appraisal, or you can sell it to me at the value I quote, with no charge."

    Llynowen frowned and said, "Hrmm, that seems to be a bit..."

    "Oh my", the merchant interrupted, and pointing to her holy symbol, "You're a priestess of Mielliki. How could I have missed that. Did I say ten percent? For you, priestess, just five."

    Llynowen nodded in response, and held out the gem for the merchant to see. He reached out and gingerly took it from her hands, and saying, "One moment please", he walked back behind the curtain into the back room.

    After a short while he returned, and said, "This fine ruby is worth fifty gold."

    She reached into her pouch and gave two gold coins and five silver coins to the man and took the ruby from his hand smiling. "Thank you", she said, and reached into another pouch and pulled out the pale blue stone she found in the tower. "I don't want this appraised, but perhaps you can help me. I'd like it set as the center sun of Mielliki's Holy Symbol."

    "I could help you, but perhaps, looking at this stone, a knucklehead carving would be better suited to the stone than metal", the merchant replied, "I know a very nice shop just across the marketplace..."

    Llynowen's face brightened and she nodded, saying, "'The Bone Works', yes that is a good idea, thank you." She collected her things and nodding to the merchant and Gar, she walked out into the market.

    She walked away to the sounds of Gar and the merchant discussing some kind of chain that Gar wanted commissioned.

    On the other side of the street Llynowen open the door under the sign that proclaimed this shop 'The Bone Works.' Walking in, she found the halfling proprietor happily dusting his wares. "Hello, and welcome back," he said to Llynowen as she entered the shop.

    Llynowen smiled at the halfling’s enthusiastic greeting and replied, "Hello Regis."

    "So did you find what you were looking for?" Regis asked.

    "Yes and no, we found the tower and we'll be returning soon to finish where we left off." she replied.

    "Good, good," the halfling said, "but I can tell by the look on your face, this is not the only reason you come to see me, what else can I do for you today?"

    Llynowen told the carver what she wanted done with the stone, who quickly agreed to the commission and told her to return the next morning.

    The next day she returned and Regis handed over the newly finished Holy Symbol. It was a sun, with the stone set in the center, each of the rays delicately carved from knucklehead. It set well, and showed off the beauty of the stone. Llynowen happily paid Regis for his work and set off to finish her shopping.

Next - Shopping in Targos
Previous - The Accursed Tower - Part 3