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Date Posted: 13:54:52 03/22/02 Fri
Author: Jade
Subject: Crossroads
In reply to: Erlic & Valhorek 's message, "Who said this was easy?" on 19:29:01 03/21/02 Thu

Jade winced slightly as Val disinfected and bandaged her arm. It hurt like a bitch, but she wasn't about to complain. She was alive, after all, and that was always a good outcome in a battle.

“Didn’t I tell you to watch yourself,” Erlic teased her, smiling. “Such carelessness will not get you very far.”

She chuckled. "Very well, darling. The next time I'm attacked by a giant skull puppet with sharp teeth I'll be sure to tell it you would disapprove if I was injured. I'm certain that would give any nasty monster pause." She grinned, her eyes twinkling. She was only half-joking, for she greatly admired the impressive way Erlic fought.

Isobel called for someone to help find traps, and it seemed that both Ravin and Erlic were either not up to it or busy at the moment. Well, why not? She called out, "Be right there."

When Val finished with her she made her way to the desk and examined the handles. She frowned, unable to really tell anything by looking. She cast a Detect Trap spell on the desk and nodded as the rim of the bottom drawer - the largest - revealed itself to be trapped.

"The others are safe... this one's trapped," she told Isobel, pointing to the trapped drawer. "Go ahead and check the others. I'll disarm it if I can."

She pulled out her snakestone and placed it against the drawer, right on the seam on the side. The stone glowed bright red for a few moments then turned blue before the glow faded. "Luckily it was a magical trap, not a physical one," she commented. "It's disarmed now."

Isobel was rifling through some papers in the top desk drawer, so Jade went ahead and opened the bottom one. Inside was a small decorative box made from jade. "Well, isn't that a coincidence?" she mused with a grin. There was nothing else in the drawer, so she took out the box and checked it for traps, too. There were none, so she opened it.

Inside were two large blue gems that were perfectly matched. They seemed to glow with an eerie inner light. They were obviously magic, so Jade didn't waste her energy on a detection spell. She closed the box and stuffed it into her pack for safekeeping, telling Isobel (who was looking quite annoyed since she'd found nothing of interest in the other drawers), "It's only for safekeeping. Of course I'll split it with you later."

Hearing Erlic call out to them, she gave Isobel a smile and headed for the passageway Erlic had discovered.

"Darling, you are a slave-driver. No rest for the wicked, hmmm?" She grinned and kissed him before following him down the passageway.

They entered a room full of many fabulous art pieces and Jade's eyes shone with excitement. After looking around Erlic pronounced it a simple storage area and began examining the valuable objects d'art. Jade's eyes widened as she caught sight of a case at the far end of the room. There was a red book laying inside it.

She made a beeline for the case and stood there, staring into it. There was the book she had come for: the red leather cover... black lettering that was mostly worn off... and sticking out from between the pages at the bottom of the book was a red silk bookmark with a skull that appeared to be pewter attached. She had finally found what she had come for.

She felt a jumble of emotions at that moment: triumph at having found what she'd come for... a sense of accomplishment at having nearly completed her mission... revulsion at the sight of the book (it was really hideous with some pretty frightening pictures tooled into the leather cover)... slight frustration at not being able to read the language that the words on the cover were written in... and, over it all, a strange sense of sorrow and a pang of fear. For now she would have to return the book to the man who had hired her to retrieve it. And now she would have to face her future. Should she return here once she'd made the delivery? Would Erlic still be here? Could she find him again? Would he ask her to come back?

She stared into the case for a long time until she felt Erlic standing behind her. "This is it, darling," she said softly. "What I came for."

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