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Note # 15 : The Pirates Cove

You peek out from the caverns slender opening to windswept cliffs overlooking a cove.

As you leave the safety of the cavern, you find that the small crystalline cavern mouth has disappeared as if it were never there. "Elven magick..." you sigh and shake your head and know that your fate is now set in stone.

Happily, night is falling and you make your way past them stealthily under the protective cover of darkness down to the village. You are hoping to avoid trouble and catch a few winks in a out of the way barn.

Down in the open and lighted streets of the village, you cast the mirror shield you learned recently and cruise past the locals unnoticed. You find a large barn behind and Inn called the "Bucket of Blood" and climb into the loft. You are hardly able to keep you're eyes open, and drift off to sleep.

You are jolted awake by a loud slap and cursing. You scoot carefully under the hay quietly and listen to the voices below.

"How DARE you defy me!" shouted a woman.

"Now See here!," growled a man with an eye patch, "We be gettin�?the short end ‘ere since we started with ya, and we 'uve had enough!"

"Yeah !!"shouted another man, "We want our fair share! WE are s’posed ta be the pirates ‘ere, not YOU!"

The woman calmly said, "If living as a whole man is not enough for you... so be it!" And with that you hear a bolt of energy�? one of the men gasped in pain and you heard him crumple to the floor, screaming. Something that must have been sliced off as if by a laser beam landed on the ground with a sickening thud.

"Any other complaints?" she asked calmly.

There was an uneasy silence, except for the wailing man who suddenly became mute. "Very well then, tomorrow you will have certain contents of my treasure room packed and ready to sail. The Captain’s quarters will be adapted to my needs and you will take me to Akasha's Gate where we will retrieve all the knowledge there to cast a spell to stop time! To HALT THE TURNING OF THE WHEEL OF THE YEAR!!!!

There will be no Spring, No Ostara, No 'new beginnings!!!

When I crush the unborn hatchling of the Phoenix in my spell, it dies, and then HOPE dies!!! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA" she cackled loudly. You hear her stride out the door with a flourish of her cloak.

You lay there in silent shock, stunned and frightened and in awe of the magnitude of her powers and her madness.

You hear the men struggling to put the wounded one into a wagon.

"Think he'll make it?" asked one.

"I doubt it , Matey, Fine man he were too." Was the answer in a raspy whisper.

"If I could, I'd get thru that blasted maze in that blasted fort, I'd take her unawares, That be sure, and teach her a thing or two with this!"

You venture to peek through a crack in the floor of the loft and see a man motioning slicing a throat from ear to ear in the air with a wicked looking dagger.

"Well that'll never happen..... the only access we know of is that bloody tunnel on the north shore that only goes in and don't go out without her magic spells. So, here take this side, we have to get him to the ship's doc and see if he'll live long enough to be fitted fer a peg leg."

And they pulled the cart out into the night.

After they leave, calm set in and you decide it might be a safe and comforting night for a moonlit walk on the North Shore. Unfurling the map Fyre gave provided, you think to yourself.... "Magick spells, eh?"

Grabbing a few unused torches found in town, you tuck them under your cloak to use in the fortress, you don't dare light them until you get inside the tunnel, and make your way to the North shore.

On the side of a sheer cliff, where the Fortress loomed above like a patient and hungry vulture, you see the dark shadow in the rocky facade.... the tunnel....

Just inside the tunnel you light your first torch, and find a large door. You grasp the handle, and are surprised to find it unlocked! One slight push and it opens to reveal, not an opening as expected but instead you see what appears to be a smoky, out of focus mirror. You touch the surface and find it is not solid, as your fingers can penetrate it as if it were water . You push your hand through and feel the chill on the other side....You take a step into the "looking glass". Your torch is suddenly extinguished as you pull it through the gelatinous material. Quickly you light another torch before you are enveloped in complete darkness.

Suddenly you hear a loud crash from the other side of the mirror and you know the door slammed shut with a heavy reverberating bang that makes the area you have found yourself in seem cavernous.

You strain your eyes, to find the door again to mark it so you can find your way back out.......

You see it! Testing to see if it has been locked, you open it, but as you swing it open, there is nothing but solid stone where the way out should be!!! The door itself dissolves into a mist in your hand, and disappears. You almost utter a familiar oath, but restrain, aware that where you are it is silent... too silent.

You see a sparkling light here and there reflected from the flame of your torch. There are other unlit torches mounted on the walls, as you go around to light them you see the room you are in is cylindrical in shape and heaped high with all kinds of treasure. It is, no doubt, stolen from every village on the island, and probably beyond.

Suddenly you see it...... the large golden orb nested in a red cloth on top of a chest full of sparkling jewels.....

The Phoenix's Egg!!!!!

You jam your torch in a mound of gold coins and rush to the chest. Even before you can touch it, you feel the warmth of it's magikal energy radiating on your palms.

You pull out a plush black velvet cloth from your pouch and wrap it protectively and pack it safely inside.

Now... to find the way out and get this egg back to it's mother!!!!!

The only egress seems to be a dark and forbidding hallway. You pull out the magickal map and although the labyrinth seems hopeless the torchlight reveals secrets unseen in the daylight, moonlight, or even candlelight.

( Comment on the Main board how your Quest is feeling at this time...then, Contact Lady Qyzida   [email protected]  by e-mail to learn the secret of the torchlight)

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