The chest was decidedly stubborn. I worked at it with the little chisel and hammer in my jeweler’s kit, knocking chunks of rust out of the lock before eventually returning to try again with the lock picks. It took me about thirty minutes but eventually I heard a clunk and the lock sprang open. Cambrin and Ceylas both leaned forward as I lifted the lid.

“Boom!” I cried, and they both jumped back before relaxing.

Ceylas glared at me. “Nimrod,” she said, “don’t do that.” But Cambrin chuckled and leaned in again.

On top of a pile of things sat a large object wrapped in oiled leather. I lifted it out of the chest and untied the leather cords that bound it. Cambrin gasped as I uncovered a delicate rosewood instrument. It had a rounded pear-shaped body, a long fretted neck topped with an ornate scroll, and eight strings affixed with tuning pegs.

“That is a cittern,” he said, fingering the warm woodwork. “These date back to the sixteenth century.” I passed the cittern into his eager hands. He took a moment staring at it and then said, softly, “Aimsiú draíocht.”

“What was that?” I asked, watching as he twirled his finger in the air.

“Shh,” he whispered, lifting his other hand to his lips as a strange blue glow filled his eyes. He blinked then ran his fingers over the instrument again. “It’s radiant,” he whispered.

“What did you do?” I asked. His eyes were really weird. There was a soft glow in them. Not enough to light up a room but kind of like the reflection you see in a cat’s eyes at night. It was as if there was another sense within them.

“I cast detect magic,” he said. “I just wanted to know, you know?”

I nodded. Ceylas ran a hand over the soft wood. “This is magical she asked?”

Cambrin nodded. “School of Illusion.”

“What about the rest. Is there anything else magic in there?”

Cambrin peered into the box. Inside was a large pouch of coin, a small pouch of gems, and a dull brown leather hat. The hat was an cute beret dressed with copper studs and filigree. There was a small timepiece in the front and a strip of embossed darker leather ran across it from front to back. “This is also magical,” he said, picking it up and turning it in his hands. “It’s also School of Illusion.” He handed it to Ceylas. Then picked up both bags. The heavier of the two held a lot of coin. He put it to one side. The other held five small gemstones. Cambrin reached in, fishing something else out of the small pouch. It was an ornate silver ring with an amber square cut gemstone. “And this, School of Abjuration”

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

“Do you know what they do?” I asked.

He shook his head. “There is a spell I could cast to find out but I would need a pearl and an owl feather to cast it. Let me sort out this coin.” He drew his banker’s box from his bag and set about upchanging the hefty bag of coin. After a few minutes he’d transferred the coin into nineteen platinum, five gold, four silver, and two copper pieces.

Ceylas added the content of the pouch she’d been gathering our party funds into. “We should split these now, I guess,” she said. She divided the coin into three even piles and pushed one to me. I picked up the twelve platinum, four gold, two silver, and two copper pieces, adding them to my own coin purse which already contained fifteen gold pieces.

I noticed of the piles Ceylas still had a forth with just a handful of coins. “What are those for?”

She lifted a shoulder. “It didn’t divide evenly so I figured I can keep these in party funds until next time?” She looked up at me. “We are sticking together, right?”

It felt strange to think of us as a party. “I mean, I have no idea what we’re doing here, we might wake up any minute, but yeah, I guess if we’re stuck here I’d rather be with you two.”

Ceylas smiled and said, “As much as I’m not a fan of, you know, getting bitten by a giant alligator, this could be kind of fun, right?”

Cambrin shook his head but added his own pile of coin to a small pouch he kept in an inner vest pocket. “I definitely want us to stay together, for whatever this is. Now, what do we do with these items?” He gestured to the cittern, hat, and ring.

“Well, if game rules apply then we have two choices. We can either put them on and attune to them to find out what they do and risk potential curses, or I can put them in my haversack until we get you a pearl and owl feather.”

“I vote for wearing it!” Ceylas said, grabbing the hat and putting it on her head. Cambrin reached right over and took it off again.

“Don’t be crazy. That could do absolutely anything, you don’t know!”

Ceylas pouted. She turned to me. “It would be quicker and easier just to find out, right Nik?”

I sighed, shaking my head. “Jake’s right, it’s too dangerous to just assume. Remember that time Akimi’s character Daykree attuned to that scimitar? It had a bleed curse. We spent so many heal spells and potions keeping her alive until we could get that curse removed.”

Cambrin handed me the hat and I tucked it back into my haversack along with the ring and cittern. “Besides,” Cambrin said, “we have some coin. We’ll go shopping first thing in the morning.”

Ceylas’s shoulder slumped with disappointment. “Fine,” she said, “but I get first dibs when we find out what those items do.”

I couldn’t help the grin that lifted one side of my mouth. This was the Bec I knew and loved. It was good to be among my friends.

“I guess we find ourselves a bath and some sleep? Meet in the common room for breakfast.”