A Home Away From Home




"A Home away from Home"
A novel by Chip Etherwing
based on the journal of Gramafatigut



It was a cold day like any other in Haven, that little piece of hell just minutes from the terror of the forgotten city of Parlainth. Gramafatigut had, the night before, sat with a group at the Fallen Toad that peaked his interest. On one hand, what seemed to be the leader was a Windling, a vile creature who Gram could hardly understand, let alone hold any sort of meaningful discussion. On the other hand, he knowticed a female of the group. She had a way about her that Gram found very interesting. She, as much as him loathed the big city and being shut indoors for any length of time. Gram felt comfortable with these strangers and yet, their tales of dread did not comfort him. They had been in Haven for quite some time, and the night before, the whole town had been under siege by an army of the undead. They had taken their place at the walls of Haven to hold off the onslaught. The very fact that they were still alive meant that Gram had probably found the group he was looking for. It was to these individuals: The Windling, the human troubadour, the elven warrior, the elven woodswoman, the thief, and another wizard like himself; that Gram decided to keep his company. There was great discussion among the group as to the origin of these creatures from the afterlife. Where did they come from? What or who motivated them to attack the city?

The days that passed were filled with a variety of things that Gram could do, but he spent almost all his time tending to the new garden he had built next to the Fallen Toad. Instead of paying the rent for a room at the inn, Gram paid the proprietor of the Fallen Toad for a piece of land where he could plant the seeds he had brought with him from Bartertown. He slept in that garden, and rarely wandered into the drinking establishments to wet his non-existent appetite. The seedlings were just appearing when the Windling came in one day to talk with Gram.



"We should be getting going", in a speech so quick that Gram had to gather all his concentration to understand.



The group had all rested up, and the Windling was all ready to go. Cyrix Stargazer was his name, and he had gathered quite a reputation in Haven as having one of the biggest mouths around. He had a girl friend in Haven too, for it is unlike any Windling to go without someone close for any length of time. Cyrix was the model Windling; impulsive, daring, and quite the talker. Although, Gram had only met one other Windling in his life, he had found that this particular Windling was not to be angered. For as much as Gram disliked the impulsive behavior, he had to admire the determination behind this winding s motivation.



"What, already? My garden is just beginning to sprout," Gram responded, in a tone that Cyrix had learned was his sarcastic side.



Gram had learned, being around winding s and elves, that he must perceive time differently in order to stay in favor of his new found friends. To him the last two weeks was but a trifle minute, but to his friends it was a long, tiresome, and quite boring two weeks. And of course to the Windling it was a millennium.


They all started out that morning with the usual supplies, and a new found use for the Obsidiman called Gram. The group had dec ided to purchase a cart, and of course use Gram as the horse. Gram, they had found, was a 825 pound mountain of flesh doubled as a packhorse. Cyrix, had decided for the group that they would head into The Twists, an area of Parlainth that was rumored to have the most concentration of undead. The way to the twists they knew was filled with all sorts of traps and creatures. And that old saying about every scary place had been told about the twists .."They go in, but they don t come out". It was also rumored, that if anyone died and was left in the twists, that they too would become one of the legion of dead. Aliceann, the female thief of the group, had taken the good sense to hire a guide who was all but too anxious to take them into the twists. It wasn t that the path to the twists was all that far away, or even that hard to find, but Aliceann knew of the straights that we would be crossing.


The gate into Parlainth was a gate like any other, but there were two large trolls guarding it. These two guards were missing allot more than just a couple of teeth.


Cyrix hailed them, "Ho, sir trolls!", and they of course ignored the hail.


Once they realized that the Windling who had addressed them was the same one that helped save the city two weeks back, they turned and talked with Cyrix. In talking with them, Cyrix handed the smarter of the two a piece of paper. Gram knew nothing about what was going on, he neither wanted to, or had the desire to try and keep up with Cyrix s rambling.


The alleyway to the twists was just as Aliceann had described. A long corridor bounded by a broken down and decaying wall. Bodies of name-givers were strewn all over the stones that littered the ground. The guide led the group up the pathways, being careful not to step too close to the left side at one point, and came to a break in the wall. After feeling around for some hidden switch, the guide set off a particularly vicious trap that was imbedded in the si de of the opening. A large blade came sliding out of the right wall, imbedding itself into the wall on the opposite side. The guide barely got his hand out of the way before the blade swung through the opening. He stepped back almost to fall, into Aliceann who was standing behind him.



"Be careful" Aliceann said, with an air of superiority.


The guide ignored her and continued through the opening.


"Hmmmph", a sound of disappointment was heard over by some rocks. Some giggling from the other side. The guide stepped aside as Gram took a foot and broke cleanly through the blade, opening the path again.


The giggling stopped.


Again, the guide led the group around an area where the ground was not quite stable, a pit had been expertly dug and hidden. Aliceann was holding a conversation with the guide as they walked. This particular guide that Aliceann had found, knew of a place that was all closed up. A building that had not been touched by anyone in the twists. Not only was this unusual, but also very exciting to Aliceann. Although the twists were not well known for the rich, it was rumored that many adventurers had been able to retire after ransacking just one house. Why this house had never been touched was not only confusing, but also a frightening thing to think of. What had made it so impenatratable, a city that had been demolished and swept clean of anything and everything? What had kept thieves and adventurers away from it for so long? Angaren, the warrior, was not at all in high spirits going into a situation like this, but he knew the possible wealth was overwhelmingly nagging at his mind.


Angaren was the warrior of the group. He had a particular feature that Gram had found to be quite a deterrent for would-be thieves. Angaren s eye was yellowed, a sign that he had been blood charmed with an astral eye. Angaren was quite the mysterious elf. He kept mostly to himself and never talked about his life or his eye. It also was rumored that Angaren was from a long line of Theran s, but no one alive had ever confronted him with that.


At this particular place at the beginning of the twists, it was apparent to Gram that there was a slight buzzing sound in the air. With Aliceann leading, the group began their slow move through the buildings that surrounded the twists. Of course, Cyrix was not far behind, and often landed on her shoulder to rest. At the end of a long street, Angaren caught sight of something with his yellowed eye. He motioned for the group to stop. Pointing to a small group of bushes about 25 yards in front of them Angaren squinted to get a better look.


"There is something in those bushes to the right of the turn in the road".


Cyrix concentrated on seeing into the astral plane, and a vision came to him. Something was there. It reminded him of a serpent with many heads. And then it suddenly disappeared and was gone.


" I saw it too", Cyrix voiced. But whatever it was seems to be gone now".


The buzzing that Gram had heard earlier was gaining, and the others could make out that the noise was coming from ahead.

Turning the corner, Aliceann almost stepped in a pool of black. From the doorway of one of the broken down buildings, a black sticky substance was oozing in a trail that led across the street. It was unknown what the sticky substance was, but no one took any chances. Gram had to lift the cart over the little river of slime, but it was only about 2 feet across.


Once everyone had crossed over, a shout was heard by Cyrix. He had of course gone a little too far in waiting for everyone to get over the river , and was further up the road. Right before Cyrix had gotten to another turn in the road, a giant bee came scouting around the corner. It saw Cyrix and -pardon the expression- made a bee-line back to the hive to warn the others. It didn t take Cyrix long to react.


Cyrix sprang from the air and flew over the top of the closest building on an intercept course to the bee, and was gone from sight in a matter of seconds. The rest of the group looked confused, but broke into a run after him.


Turning the corner, Caryss the woodswoman first strung her bow. There was no sight of Cyrix, but the three other bees sitting on the building across the street were enough to make her stop. It seemed these were not the type of scout bee that Cyrix had gone after, these were the warrior bees, and they were standing ground.


The bees began their attack at the group by diving in tandem. Gram and the other wizard stood back and readied their spells.

Away flew two arrows from Angaren and Caryss, and Gram shot his mind dagger at the leader bee.

Two bees fell, and were quickly killed by Aliceann on the ground. The other bee, although wounded did manage to knock down the other wizard, and then try to escape over the top of one of the buildings. As the escaping bee topped the building on its way back to the hive, a large dart flew into it, slamming it to the rooftop. Cyrix had returned, and his sword had found a place to sheath itself in the bee s belly. Short work of chopping up the bee, and Cyrix returned to the back of the wagon to rest himself. He was covered with bee juices, and had cut a stinger off the scout bee to let us know that he had done his job.


The buzzing noise was getting quite stronger as the group approached a large round building in the middle of a square. The buzzing noise was loud enough to drown out the groups movement as they made there way around and to the right of the building. Through some openings in the walls of the round building, Gram could make out the large bodies of some twenty or so bees, and thought he saw a much larger bee that must have been the queen, but he couldn t be sure.


Away from the round building now, the group let out a sigh of relief. All except C yrix who s blood was already boiling from his earlier encounter with the bees.


They were on a street now that arched toward the south, and at the center of the arch was a building that could be the building they were seeking. The door to this building, however had been blown it seemed from the inside out, and the windows were in similar disarray. Gram left the cart on the outside of the building, and they entered.


The room they were in seemed to be the great room of a large stately house. All the fixtures had been previously removed, as the whole house had already been ransacked by earlier adventurers. There was definitely a slight buildup of magical threads emanating from within the structure. There was a torn away door leading into the back room.


Through this door, there was a stairway leading up to the rooms, and one leading down into the basement. After a short look to Cyrix, who seemed to be eyeing the stairway down, the group began to climb up the stairs to the second floor. Being a very rich home, at one time, the floor was sturdy enough even for Gram to ascend to the upper rooms.


At the top of the stairway, there was a long corridor with doors leading to bed rooms, and a library. All the rooms had been demolished. While searching the library, Angaren came across an interesting feature. On the interior wall of the library was a painting of a door. The outline of the door was unmistakably ridden with the threads and patterns of many spells as Angaren could plainly see with his yellowed eye.



Angaren called the rest of the group into the room.


"Cyrix, what can you make out of this", as he pointed to the painting.


Cyrix concentrated and looked deep into the Astral plane at the workmanship of this painting, as well as did the guide. Then the guide looked over to Angaren.


"Why don t you just try to open it like a regular door"?


Angaren looked at the guide with a confused eye and reached out his hand for the painted handle of the door. He pretended to open the door while standing to the side of the door.


Suddenly the door in the painting began to form into a real door. The painted wood began to grow and take on a more solid and 3 dimensional look, and the handle turned to brass. Then the handle moved, and the door opened.


Behind the door was a tunnel, and thin lines of light were emanating from the runes that were drawn into the side of the tunnel. Angaren was almost blinded by the thread magic and patterns that were impressed upon the walls of this tunnel.


The guide suddenly let out a yell and pushed Angaren aside. He then ran, as fast as he could into the tunnel. The walls of the tunnel began to vibrate wildly, and the runes took on a phosphoric glow. What happened next was almost predictable. From the runes, flame and lightning arced towards the guide, consuming his flesh and bones. All that fell to the ground was a pile of dust. Then, as quickly as they destroyed the guide, the runes calmed down to a low rumble and lost their glow.


Angaren hesitated for only a moment. First, a hand was slowly put into the room. Then a foot.



Nothing.



Angaren took a step into the tunnel......



Still nothing.



The rest of the group followed. Gram looked to the walls, and tried to make out the meanings of the runes. These runes were not familiar to Gram, or the other wizard. But, a certain theme could be read from them. These runes were definitely designed to keep out the Horrors that walked the land. And, although most were intact, there were some that had eroded over time, and were lost in the walls.


The tunnel opened up to a scene that made Gram and Caryss uneasy. They were outdoors, but not any outdoors they new of. The sky was an imitation of a perfectly blue sky. It looked like the sky had been painted blue, but it wa s the wrong shade. The ground all around them was totally bare, but not like sand. More like sandpaper. Not far from the group, was a house that somehow looked familiar. It was an exact replica of the broken down and almost demolished house they had left on the other side. But the difference was impressive. This house looked like it had been build recently. The pillars of marble were all intact, and the door was lined with golden fixtures and real glass.



A figure stood at the doorway, looking over the group.


"Welcome visitors, I have been expecting you".


The figure motioned inside to someone.


"Come inside and tell me of your adventures, it has been long since I have talked to anyone."


Another man came out of the house, with some drinks on a tray, bowing to the figure in the doorway. Without making a sound, the man came over to the group and offered the tray up to each.


The other Wizard of the group flinched at the approach of the servant. The rest of the group looked over at him, and he just shook his head, as if to say It s nothing .


The group was led through the great room, to the door in the back. They saw the stairway leading to the basement, and the stairway to the second floor. They were then led through to the back of the house, where some chairs had been set out on a patio. Not far from the back of the house was a garden, with all sorts of vegetables.


The man that came out of the house looked to be in his late fifties, but was very stately and proper. He took a glass of something from his servant and motioned for him to leave.


As the group talked with the man, it became apparent that this world of his had been fabricated much like that of Parlainth in the past. It was a fortress of magic and protection that he and his family had endured for a long time. Now, as the group could fully understand, the portal had been breached. It would not take long for the horrors of the area to complete the break in the magic protecting them. The horror C dagart (Not his real name) had been tracking this wizard for many decades, and was determined to get inside the world that this wizard had created. Our guide as we later found, had been horror tainted. Or, he could have even been a minor horror himself. Besides that point, the guide had tricked us into opening the portal and practically handing this wizard over to C dagart. The wizard, at one time was a pupil of C dagart. He had learned everything he could under the supervision of this horror, and then had taken those secrets and fled to this reality. C dagart was not happy.


Just then, a woman came out of the house and sat next to the wizard. She was dressed in the typical garment of the parlainthians of the past. She whispered something to the wizard and then he rose.


"My lovely daughter Claudia says that dinner is ready. Shall we repair to the dining table"?


The group was a little uneasy, but they all knew that if this wizard wanted to harm them, he could have probably killed them easily already.


As the group entered the back room, a table appeared in the middle. Claudia was standing next to the stairway going up, and yelling something upstairs. A stomping was heard from one of the rooms, and a large human came down the stairs. For a human, this was a very large specimen, and he stood a mite bit taller than Gram. They all sat at the table, and the servant brought in a large goose and some vegetables from the garden for dinner. The newcomer from upstairs sat next to Gram, and didn t make any attempt to notice the guests at the table.


"What, goose again?" Said the big man.


The wizard glared at what seemed to be his brother.
"Yes, goose again, and it would do you good to enjoy it.".


"I hate goose. I hate vegetables. And most of all, I hate this whole damn place!"

The large man grabbed for his table knife and swung it at Gram. Only surprised a little, Gram s arm came up and caught the man s knife just under the wrist. The man became quite angry and almost turned over the table as he quickly got up from the table. He seemed to want Gram to fight him. He was motioning for Gram to get up to fight. Gram, conscious of his host s powers, sat still.



The wizard made several gestures in the air and spoke, "still!".



The large man froze.



The wizard motioned again and three servants who all looked similar came in and dragged the large human downstairs. Gram followed the movements downstairs and thought he heard the grating of a metal gate, but couldn t be sure.


"Let s have some cake and drinks upstairs in the study", said the wizard, in a tone not at all happy. And he began walking upstairs, motioning for his guests to follow.


One quick gesture from the man, and night fell. The windows became dark, and the elemental lights came on inside the house.


The group all turned to the left at the top of the stairs, except Caryss. She wanted to talk with Claudia, and walked behind her into the first room.


The rest of the group went down the corridor and through the leftmost door. This was the same room that the painted door was in back at the real house but now, all the books were there. There were all sorts of maps, grimoirs, and research materials. Cyrix, of course, went straight for the maps, while Gram and the other wizard rummaged through the magic books. Gram found a large wizards, and an illusionist grimoir.


The door opened, and two servants came through with cakes and drinks. There was a sitting chair that the wizard sat in, and he began the conversation with questions regarding the current situation in Parlainth.


In the other room, Caryss and Claudia were busy talking about normal womanly things while Claudia was busy getting ready for bed. She made the mistake of going into the powder-room after Claudia so she could hear her better.


What Caryss saw filled her with terror. In the mirror on the wall, Claudia s reflection was not that of a beautiful woman, but of a corpse. The eye sockets were empty, and all the hair had fallen off. Claudia turned around to see Caryss staring at her, and fled into the other room, screaming.

Just then the door burst open and the wizard stood there motionless, staring at Caryss. The wizard had heard his daughter scream from the study, and had jumped up to help her. The group, led by Angaren, was at the wizards back. Caryss blushed, but showed no signs that she was distressed or otherwise shaken up.

The wizard grabbed Claudia by the arm and led her into the powder room and closed the door. He looked over to Caryss.

"I guess I owe you all an explanation. Follow me."

The wizard led the group downstairs, and into the basement. At the base of the stairway, the hallway came to a crossing. The wizard led the group to the right, as some elemental lighting illuminated the area. There were several cells down here, much like that of any dungeon. Behind one door, there was a weeping sound, and behind another, Gram could see the large man sleeping.

"This is my family", said the wizard, in a tone not all together sure.

"The man crying in the back of the cell is my father. The large man sleeping is my brother, and Claudia is my daughter. Though my magic can sustain my life indefinitely, I could not sustain theirs. Over the years, as each of my family members died, I brought them back as walking dead, gave them a pleasant appearance, and tried to make them understand.".

"Where are the others?" asked Caryss.

"I had to let them go. The years of being here, locked in this world have driven all except Claudia mad. My mother was first, and then my wife. They couldn t handle knowing that they we re dead and yet having the same knowledge as they had before death."

The wizard looked hard at Angaren. Then to Cyrix. Then to Gram. "You all seem to be honorable men". Then to Caryss and Aliceann, "and women".

The wizard led the group back the way they came, past the stairway going up, and through a door to the left. This room down here seemed to be a research laboratory. There were potions on the walls, with all sorts of rune books and writing utensils. On a table in the middle of the room, were various items of interest to the group. Into each group members hands the wizard placed an item.

"These items have been crafted for you", began the wizard. "Each of you will have to thread yourself to your particular item with my help. Each item has special powers against C dagart, and his minions."

Gram was given a large staff, called "Despair Root". With it, he could learn the weak points of C dagart and his minions. The troubadour, Winton Clarion was given a flute.

Winton was special man in Gram s eyes. He had the fortunate talent of being able to sing and tell the most impressive stories. He was the least arrogant of the group, and preferred to be alone with his music. It didn t take long for Gram to gather a liking for this human.

Winton looked at his flute, then to his guitar. "Um, what does this do?"

The wizard looked up from his explanation of Cyrix bow. "That is probably the most powerful of all the items you see before you. When the flute is played correctly, you can control minions of horrors and even some minor horrors with it."

Winton s chest grew just slightly as he examined the flute.

"What do you want from us?" Angaren stared at the wizard, knowing that you don t get something for nothing.

The wizard glared at Angaren, then smiled. "Tomorrow, C dagart will come for me. I have been preparing for this day for centuries. We will fight, and I want you to help me to de feat him. But, should the battle go in his favor, I want you all to flee and take Claudia with you."

"But if you die, there will be none to re cast the spells you have placed on her. She will die, just like the rest of your family." Gram spoke up. Aware of a presence outside the door, he opened it to reveal Claudia listening in.

"Come in Claudia, this concerns you too", said the wizard. "My spells will keep for a year and a day. But, there is something that should be able to help." The wizard walked over to a small book sitting on a shelf and picked it up.
"There is an artifact that should be able to restore Claudia to her formal alive self. It was rumored to be somewhere in the vaults of Parlainth, under the city. It is called the spider box . The knowledge of that artifact is probably the only thing that has kept me from just dispelling this whole thing, and me along with it.".

The wizard continued to explain everyone s new pattern items, and then began the thread process. Gram was first to begin his threading. With some life force from the wizard, Gram was able to thread a pattern to his staff. He saw the threads meld into the staff and form themselves. The wizard continued until all artifacts had been threaded to their respective owners.

"We should all be getting some sleep." Said the wizard, who was worn out from the whole process.

As the group headed up the stairs to the second floor, Gram motioned to the wizard to wait.

"I was wondering if the books in the library were real, or a creation."

The wizard smiled, "they are as real as you are".

"Then I would ask you if I may put a few of them into my pack. If we destroy this Horror of yours tomorrow, I will return the books to you. If not, then I will keep them so as not to let their knowledge with you die."

The wizard pondered this a minute, and then accepted Gram s proposal. Before Gram went to bed, he helped himself to the tw o Grimoirs that he had previously read. One held the secrets to fifteen different wizard spells, and the other held some Illusionist spells.

The women all went into Claudia s room, while the others split up between the two other rooms. It was unsure where the wizard slept. Gram and Angaren took the last room on the right, while Winton, Cyrix, and the other wizard took the middle room.

Each room was expertly created. Gram could only sleep on the ground, though. If what you wand to call it is sleep. Gram could hardly fall asleep. Cyrix was also restless, and began searching his new surroundings in his room. Cyrix pondered the thought and then looked deep into the astral plane. He began examining the room. Everything had the wizards patterns etched into them. Everything was fabricated, except....

Cyrix noted that a gold circle where the ceiling met a chandelier had no patterns threaded to it. It was real. Cryix brought out his sword and carefully pried the gold circle off the ceiling. Sure enough, pure gold.

A knock came at the door to Gram s room. Cyrix was standing there with a big smile on his face, and a large gold disk in his arms. He could barely hold on to it. Looking into the room, he was disappointed to find only a wooden ceiling.

"Put this in the pack." Cyrix said to Gram. "With what I hear about this horror, this wizard won t be alive tomorrow to want it back."

Morning came with a blink, and everyone was asleep. All except Gram, who felt too uneasy to. A slight rumble was emanating from around the house, but Gram was unsure whether to wake everyone or ignore it. Too late for contemplation. Suddenly, the far outside wall began to shake and a large tentacle came crashing into the room.

Gram began banging on the wall adjoining the other room and yelling at Angaren to wake up. Cyrix came flying into the room, yelling something. Gram and Angaren bolted for the door and retreated down the corridor and dow n stairs, with Winton and the women close behind. The whole back half of the house was torn away, revealing a giant figure writhing with tentacles and screaming. Twenty or so extra tentacles were protruding from the ground outside the house frame, and had managed to back most of the group against the wall. The wizard was standing there in front of the giant horror yelling at it. Just then, one of the creatures tentacles came crashing down upon the wizard, grabbing on to him. As the tentacle began to squeeze, the wizard screamed and thorns began protruding from his body, piercing the tentacle. The wizard threw a vial of some liquid at the creature that was black, and a vast wave of nausea came over the whole group. The vial broke against the horror and began emitting a terrible smoky stench. The horror gestured, and a wind gust blew the smoke into the house. In the house, the tentacles from the ground were now down to about twelve. Gram had grabbed Caryss and dragged her body from the middle of the room where a tentacle had erupted. Angaren was battling with one tentacle, with Cyrix at his back fighting another. Suddenly, the tentacles stopped fighting and withdrew from the house. A slight melody could be heard emanating from the flute of Winton Clarion. As the melody gained volume, the tentacles retreated faster. Unfortunately, the flute didn t seem to have much effect on the horror. It just gestured to Winton and a flying wall of blades came crashing towards him. With a slight nod, the wizard conjured a bolt of lightning that dissipated the wall of blades.

"Run! Get Out! Take my daughter to safety!" the Wizard screamed as a spray of acid washed over his body. He was just barley able to conjure the barrier that would hold off the vial liquid. It sizzled to the ground. Gram grabbed Claudia and threw her upon his back. Angaren and Aliceann helped Caryss to her feet and Cyrix of course went after the horror.

Cyrix began stringing his bow and letting loose arrow after ar row into the beast. It paid him little attention, but kept throwing spell after spell at the wizard.

The doorway back to reality was just ahead of the group. Claudia was screaming and trying to get off Gram s back to run to her father. Gram ran through the opening with the others close behind. A tentacle or two had managed to wedge itself into the doorway, but Angaren ;s sword made it easy to whack off the end and close the door behind. The doorway began to shimmer, and then it disappeared. But not before hearing, the last words- "Take my daughter to safety!".

The group got back outside the house and Gram took hold of the wagon. Gram was about ready to throw his pack into the wagon when Aliceann stopped him. She grabbed a sack of salt that the group had brought and threw it in the wagon close to the front. A large metal pole came crashing overhead into the bag of salt. something like a large mousetrap.

"Hmmmmph!", another sound of disappointment came from some bushes on the side of the house. Gram just shook his head and began the trek back to Haven.

The group was just about out of the twists, when Cyrix had the opportunity to fight another bee. This warrior bee thought it would be funny to play chicken with Cyrix. As it came around one of the corners, it came straight at the group, and Cyrix came straight at it. Cyrix straitened out his body, put his sword in front of himself, and became a Windling arrow. Cyrix body not only hit the bee square in the chest, but came out the other end. The bee s lifeless body fell to the ground. Gram wondered if bees could come back as undead, but then thought not.

"We are the Seekers", Cyrix had told Torgak when we returned to the city of Haven and were drinking at one of Haven s establishments. Cyrix had thought up a name for the group, and all had agreed, just to keep him quiet. Torgak was a large troll that more or less ran Haven. He was interested in the tales that the group had to tell, a s was the rest of the patrons.

So, "The Seekers" the group became. And it was now known that a group of adventurers thus called had indeed entered the twists and come back alive. Seeking a box, somewhere in Parlainth that would bring the dead back to life, had now become their quest. The only problem was, that in the center of the city was a screaming fountain, that would cause any who heard it to go insane. After much discussion, it was decided that the group would go back into the twists and find a tunnel, which was thought of to go into the vaults. It was pointed out to them where the tunnel was located, and they spent the next few weeks getting ready for their next adventure.

Follow Gram and his Group in the next Novel by Chip Etherwing
"A Walk in the Dark"



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