A STELLAR DEAL

The old man ranted and cursed for quite some time as he vented his anger. Flourishing his tattered clothes, that had been defiled and ripped, he swore revenge. Those goblins who participated in his assault would pay dearly. Wiping away the mixture of sweat, blood, and snot from his face, Scholar Rang inhaled a deep breath calming his anger.

"I did it. I escaped those bastards."

Scholar Rang flung back his head and cackled with a peal of mad laughter. The sounds echoed in the darkness, creating a creepy atmosphere in the unknown.

"Those fools have played me for the last time. I will sweep them away when I return from Limerock."

The old man supported himself against the ancient door and raised his foot to step forward. He froze in this position with his boot dangling in the air, refusing to drop onto the ground.

"Huh?"

His eyes roamed around, unable to pierce the blackness. His hands disappeared into the void when he thrust them forward. If he left the door, he certainly would be unable to find his way back.

Scholar Rang retraced his foot, as the vivid details still fresh in his mind sprouted. The soldier who stepped on a slab and ended up cleaved into two. The adventurer, tired from a fight and rested his hands on the wall, only to be skewered like a boar. His gentleman's stomach heaved on remembering the splatter and gore.

For an eternity, Scholar Rang maintained his pose, not daring to twitch another muscle. The sound of a low growl from within woke him from his stupor. He patted the dark ocean like a drowning man until he found the wooden door.

Scholar Rang caressed the rough wood while squeezing his body against it.

"Damn, damn, damn. Screw these mages and their Gothic designs! How stupid can you be, not to provide some form of light? I may as well fall off a cliff on walking forward. Curse my stupidity for showing my hand so early. I should have bidden my time a little longer. Now I find myself trapped and hungry while standing by a door."

Scholar Rang wailed.

"This is all because of those conniving brats. Curse them all, I will rather die here than beg them for a favor. They will never get this key from me."

Half an hour later...

"Curse this bottomless belly of mine. I swore I had a pouch with dried meat on me. Those green thieves must have stolen it. Those sly wretches used the excuse of beating me, to frisk me down. Damn bunch of robbers!"

Two hours later...

"I'm sorry, so sorry. Please help me, this Scholar sincerely apologizes, cough, cough. Help me escape this hell hole. Please don't make me walk the road to hell..."

The sounds of muffled wailing and begging floated from beyond the door. A few paces from the door, the goblins had arranged some flat stones around a large fire. Small parties of goblins roamed around the hall, engaged in cleanup activities. Explorers Miki and Rose had left with Ming to scour the opposite passageway.

Chu sat on a stone near the warm fire while chatting with Pick and a few Elders. Little Rang skittled between them, aiding the conversation where sign language proved inadequate. In the midst of his conversation about the denizens who inhabited the forest, Lucy trotted up beside him.

"Hey Chu, your scholar seems like he is ready. How did you know he would fold so easily? Now I owe Ming ten silvers because of that bet."

"I read that some prisons, uh I mean jails use this kind of solitary confinement in darkness, to break a man's will. Did you really think that soft fop in there, could really last a day? I can't believe you're feeding that spendthrift money. There is a reason I knocked his allowance down to coppers."

Chu replied to her while standing up and patting his pants. He hoped to wrap this negotiation up before Ming returned. He had accepted the offer for a hot bath by the goblins, while politely refusing their offer of food. Since he had confiscated the rations in the sleds, he had more than enough. He had even split some with the grateful Elders.

Chu had little Rang explain the situation, while he excused himself. An Elder, however, tugged at his cloak to draw his attention and retreated respectfully. The wrinkled goblin then signed and chattered.

"He says that they had gambled with the Champion's servant. He wants to know if they can have until the coming full moon, to pay the pouches of colored stones?"

Chu nearly swooned on hearing the question, while glancing at the dour expressions on the faces of the three Elders. He marveled at Ming for using gambling to break across the barriers of race.

"Tell them no need to rush to pay, they can hand it over to me during the next full moon, or even later. When they gather it, let them deliver it to me for safekeeping."

Chu instructed as he stepped up to the large doors.

"Hand over such wealth to that bottomless pit? Yea right, who knows what he would blow it all out on."

Chu muttered to Lucy. He shouted across the door, not daring to pound on it.

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"Thank the Heavens, thank the Heavens. This Scholar is willing to share any wealth in this ruins with you. If we find something of value, you may even earn a few silver or probably a gold coin."

Scholar Rang seized this opportunity to negotiate with these ignorant country bookies.

"Ah, a gold coin you say. Forget it, let him rot in there Lucy."

Chu drawled as he stomped his feet as if retreating.

"Then what do you want?"

The old man panicked.

"We want half of the profits from everything you sell. We will help transport everything out of the forest, but you will have to take it from there."

Chu demanded.

Scholar Rang spluttered on hearing this brazen demand. Nothing less from a frontier bookie--ignorant and stupid. This idiot just threw him a lifeline with a bonus.

"Deal, we have a deal."

Scholar Rang shouted before the boy could renege on this agreement.

Since they struck an accord, Chu instructed the old man to feel along the walls, near the door. If correct, Scholar Rang should find a keyhole to open the door. After over an hour of curses, that followed the clinking of the key dropping on the stone floor, the door creaked as a haggard old man limped out.

Chu stifled a laugh on viewing this man who had literally been through a war. When the explorers returned, Chu and his party enjoyed a hot bath and stuffed themselves, before taking a well-deserved rest.

"This looks like a spiral staircase leading to the ground floor of the tower."

Chu commented while holding a torch. Ahead of him, a small contingent of goblin scouts flickered on the ground and walls, searching for loose stone triggers and signs of traps. After discovering a skewer type trap on the broad stone stairs, Chu made a useful discovery.

"See Lucy, it's just as I suspected. When we pass a trap, there is always a keyhole present. By turning the key, the trap becomes disabled. We have to be careful though since I don't know if there is a timer set to reactivate it."

"If Scholar Rang knew you used him as a scarecrow to test out your trap, he would be ranting all now. Since you proved it works, where did you send Ming?"

"I sent him to disable all the traps we met in the passageway. This way we can lower the risks, in the event of accidents. When we leave, the Shaman will decide if to reactivate the traps as an added protection for the goblins."

Chu whispered while chatting with Lucy. Far in the rear, Scholar Rang tiptoed gingerly across the stairs as he followed the main scouting party. The goblins walking nearby ignored him while they conducted a second inspection of the staircase.

Scholar Rang gritted his teeth at receiving this treatment but swallowed his rage. He flourished the sleeves of his new cloak and stepped with his head in the clouds. He planned on having the sweetest of revenge in the upcoming days. Using his status in Limerock with the nobles, he would have them screaming for years. He squinted his eyes at a particular goblin bustling at the front.

Little Rang chose survival, over years of Master-Servant relations. The goblins eyed him with menace and might rip him apart if he left the shadow of the Devil. His brethren harbored deep grudges, ever since he tried to lay a finger on the Champion. If he strayed too far, a vindictive goblin might slit his throat for vengeance.

"Ha, we did it, the traps have all been disabled like you requested. We left the barriers around the triggers for the time being. What the heck, you guys have barely moved since I left!"

Ming panted. He had gone with Pug to the passages and hurried to return.

"How much of an idiot are you? You want us to die?"

Chu replied. As if to prove his point a shriek ended in an abrupt silence. The two of them stepped forward around the spiral to view a goblin laying on a stair. The frozen eyes seemed glued wide open focusing on the ceiling. This might not seem strange if not for the fact that this goblin had been cleanly severed into two.

The front half gazed towards the ceiling, while the next half looked as if he fell facing the ground. If not for the spurting blood and spreading internals, it might have looked like two goblins sleeping.

"Nobody noticed it. The broad stairs turned into three narrow ones, about a foot wide. When he walked up, his toes knocked the stone of the stair in front causing the blade to swing from the wall. I saw everything since I walked behind him."

Miki shivered. Chu had them locate the keyhole and lock this trap. The makers of these traps made full use of the design of the castle. If someone climbed the narrow threader, their toe would have a high chance of hitting the trigger set on the riser. No wonder it had been overlooked.

"Let the goblins continue, come with me."

Chu brought them all to the bottom.

"While the goblins take their time, lets practice searching for these traps ourselves."

He instructed. Using this opportunity, he wanted to find any pattern or clue as to where a trap might be found--searching for a long slit on the walls, a smaller than normal flagstone, some strange holes in the walls. This castle served as a reminder he could never take this world for granted.

They took half a day to cover the stairway that led from the high ceiling basement to the ground floor of the tower. After a rest and a quick bite, they faced the door leading into the ground floor. Chu exhaled a deep breath, before unlocking and opening the massive doors.

With the goblin scouts fanning out with torches, Chu stepped foot into a place untrod for centuries. Coughing from the wave of dust that rose under their disturbance, he looked around this massive circular hall. Except for a few shelves and some broken desk in the middle, there remained nothing that piqued his interest.

Again in the darkness, they entered another door and toiled on the staircase. This time they spent less than two hours on the stairway, before encountering the door to the second level. Ming paused in thought and then questioned

"How come there are no traps on these stairs?"

"Because we have left the basement. Mages or whoever lived here probably used these steps every day, so they probably didn't install any."

Miki answered him.

"Miki has a point. These fellows most likely used that basement to conduct dangerous experiments. Who knows if those spiders descended from past research. The keyholes are located to disarm the traps when entering the basement. These guys wanted to keep whatever lay hidden there, from seeing the light of day."

Chu said while unlocking the door to the second floor.

They filtered in while covering their noses and mouths with their scarves. Chu entered as the goblins fanned out. Scholar Rang hurried past them, with the glint of greed evident in his eyes.

The first shriek came from a goblin scout, as it flung the torch and then bolted through the open door.

Like a chain reaction, the goblins ran screaming in their haste to escape. Chu stood rooted to the stone as his eyes popped open wide in horror. Ming clutched his shoulder, Lucy retreated and bumped into him, while Miki dug her nails into his arm.

If not caught in the throes of paralysis, they would have joined the escaping chorus. Only when the wails and bumps of Scholar Rang, tumbling down the stairs did Chu snap out of shock.

The group gulped at the red, fist-sized pupils reflecting in the light from the discarded torches.

And the behemoth that owned it.