Terri stood in the doorway, once again struggling to make sense of what she was seeing. The old man at the table gave her a friendly wave and indicated that the young cleric should sit down at the table. Terri began to do so but then changed her mind and instead strode across the room to the other door - intending to wrench it open and continue her escape. She grasped hold of the ornate handle, which seemed to be made of a kind of purple crystal, before finding to her disappointment that the door wouldn't budge. Frustrated, the young cleric returned to the table and sat down opposite the professor.

"My friends are in danger and I need to help them. You have thirty seconds to convince me not to ask Avandar for the strength to smash through that door behind you." The young cleric's face was filled with anger and frustration as she waited for a reply.

In response the professor's eyes were shrewd, and he displayed none of the dotteriness Terri expected from him.

"Well Terri, I can't guarantee that your friends are completely safe but I can confidently tell you that they haven't suffered any major physical harm. I can also tell you that you could smash yourself against that door behind me a thousand times and you wouldn't damage it in the slightest."

Terri set her jaw but accepted the professor's statement about the door at face value. "How do you know they haven't suffered harm?" she asked.

"Simple logic," the professor replied. "If they had suffered any significant physical trauma then they'd have ended up here, like you did. Now, I suggest you make yourself as comfortable as possible. There's always a lot to tell 'first timers' and there is no way you're leaving this room until you've heard it."

Terri struggled to restrain the urge to test the professor's truthfulness by picking up her chair and smashing it against the door. After a few deep breaths she managed to calm herself enough to say, "Proceed."

"Good choice," the professor replied, smiling happily. "Especially when you consider the fact that two hours have passed since you arrived here and whatever was going to happen to your friends has undoubtedly already happened."

The professor then moved his chair closer to the table and sat a little more upright before speaking again.

"Right, first things first. You know me as Professor Emeritus Nomenclature but that isn't in fact my real name. I'm happy to explain my reasons for using a pseudonym but in the interests of time let's put that discussion aside for the moment. For the purposes of our current conversation please refer to me simply as 'professor'. Now, it's been a while since I've given the 'first timer' speech so please bear with me if I accidentally repeat myself."

This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author's work.

With that the professor began to declaim, as if he were repeating a speech that had been given many times before.

"You were brought back to Gravenhall by the power of the amulet you wear around your neck. It is a magical artefact that is designed to save the wearer from imminent physical death. You will undoubtedly not remember it, but you agreed to being saved from death in this manner when you signed the initiation contract to enroll at Gravenhall. That same contract also bound you to the performance of a service for every time that the amulet saves your life. The nature of that service is entirely at Gravenhall's discretion and while you may choose not to perform the service, such refusal will almost certainly result in your immediate death. This is not due to any malicious purpose on Gravenhall's part but is simply a natural consequence of you choosing to break the magical contract between us. To put it plainly, you either perform the task or choose to have the healing we did to your body completely reversed."

Here the professor paused and looked expectantly at Terri, as if waiting for a response that didn't arrive.

"Really?" the professor asked curiously. "You're not going to insist that there was nothing in the contract about mysterious services or being saved from death at the last minute?"

"No," replied Terri after a moment's pause. "I didn't understand half of what was written in that contract. The service agreement you've just told me about could easily have been hidden in there and I wouldn't have noticed it. And even if you're lying it doesn't really matter, you've just saved my life and as a Cleric of Avandar I'm honour bound to repay you for that."

"Marvelous," said the professor, once again smiling happily. "In that case, let us get down to brass tacks. Your task, and you are required to perform it immediately, is to return to the crypt in the graveyard where you successfully passed your initiation test. Once there you will open the sarcophagus and retrieve the ruby and gold ring from the corpse that lies within. You will then bring the ring to me at my office in the clerics' quadrant. Do you remember where that is?"

Terri confirmed that she did remember and then stood up before moving to the door. Upon reaching it the young cleric turned to the professor and spoke. "I think I'm going to have a lot of questions for you when I return with the ring, assuming of course that I'm not struck down by a vengeful skeleton when I try to leave the crypt. However, the one that requires an immediate answer is a simple one. How do I get outside from here? I've no idea where in Gravenhall I am."

The professor laughed in response. "You are an extremely practical young woman Terri Tillerson. The answer to your question is straightforward. The door in front of you opens onto the gardens outside the northern wall of Gravenhall, and it will cease to exist from the moment that you step through it. From there I'm sure you will have no trouble making your way to the cemetery. With luck I'll see you in my office within the hour, goodbye."

This time the door opened easily when Terri tried its handle and she quickly stepped through the opening and out into the Gravenhall gardens. When she turned around there was nothing behind her but the sombre grey walls of the massive castle. Wondering what exactly she had gotten herself into, the young cleric took a deep breath and set off in the direction of the Providence graveyard.