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 Sent: 5/26/99

At the conclusion of the battle, Guilliam bends over and breathes deeply, more out of anxiety than exhaustion. Then, looking to the dead beast, his eyes light up, he gives a sharp whistle and smiles. "That was a good fight boys, a good fight indeed." His joy is short lived however when he notices Biln lieing on the ground. His heart sinks as he is reminded that there are two sides to battle. "Biln! By the powers! You should never 'ave come to find us!" he exclaims as he rushed to Edryd's side, kneeling above the battered miner. Guilliam has no idea what to do to help Edryd in healing Biln. Nervously, he looks to his friend in the hopes that Edryd will give him instructions that he can follow. While doing whatever he can to help, he finds himself humming a sad tune. Whenever he comes to the chorus, he sings lightly to himself... [for the sake of brevity I have not included the lyrics here, but my continued compliments to Guilliam for his ever-poetic additions to the game!]

Crayne wipes his nose with his sleeve and clutches his stomach. Winded by Guilliam he stands tall and trys to gain his breath back. After a few moments Crayne smiles seeing the Hulk lying on the floor dead, but then remembers the terrible of fate of man Biln who lies there. Shaking his head he speaks up, "Right gentleman! We have a dead Umber Hulk laying before us! We also have our friend Biln who heavens got here by himself. We are obviously going to have to do the man a proper service by providing him with a proper burial. For now however, lets make sure that the area is safe!"

Biln coughs loudly, spitting blood in Crayne's direction. "Me not dead…yet!" He whispers hoarsely. His straining face shows the pain he is in.

A little embarrassed, Crayne looks back down to the miner, answering. "Well, then, I leave you in the good hands of these men." Crayne then walks through the illusionary wall and sees what lies beyond it.

Storm stands still and catches his breath. He shakes his head sharply, as if clearing his mind of some haze, and then slowly sheathes his sword. After looking around to make sure everyone is alright, he goes back to where the illusionary wall was and begins playing with it, passing things through and back. He then sticks his face thorugh, trying to use his infravision to see whatever he can behind it.

Edryd looks from Biln's crushed body to Cy, looking for suggestions. "This man needs help, friend," he says. "A good medicine man and the luck of the gods might save him."

Cy nods, responding quietly, "I fear, though, we nay have much time."

Canter, observing this exchange, then steps forward, placing a hand on Edryd's shoulder. "Is there nothing you can do with your faith? You could heal us, can you not extend the same powers to this man?"

"A good point," Cy says, looking up to Canter's lanky frame, standing above the injured, torch in hand.

Edryd nods slowly. "Yes, that I can do. He will not be healed completely, but we might be able to move him from this shaft. If we are careful, perhaps back down the mountain..." Edryd then leans forward, placing his hands on Biln's misshapen, bloody chest. Cy and Canter can see his hands start to glow faintly. Biln rolls his neck, feeling the increased warmth of the Paladin's healing touch. Edryd closes his eyes, turning his head upwards toward the gods and Anhur. He begins to whisper, calling on the powers of his god to heal the poor miner. Moments later, the glow begins to fade, and Edryd removes his hands. The bleeding from Biln's chest is stopped.

Though still mishappen, the look on Biln's face is a combination of relief and gratitude. He tries to sit up, but is stopped by pain in his chest. He lays himself back down, with the help of Cy. Turning to Edryd, but speaking also to Cy and Canter, he whispers, "Your kindness will not be forgotten..."

Meanwhile, Guilliam finds himself looking over to the illusionary wall. Curious to find out more about it, he nonchalantly walks over and attempts to walk through it to see what is on the other side, following Crayne's path. After passing through the illusion (an experience in itself!), he steps into another small chamber. It is rounded, perhaps three to four yards across. Aside from the illusionary entrance, there are no other exits.

Along the far wall Guilliam sees Storm, who is searching the walls for more hidden passageways, doors, and illusions. Crayne, meanwhile, stands over two small chests, scratching his chin. Immediately after his eyes fall on the chests, he lets out a little laugh, hurrying over to them and dropping to his hunches. Reaching for the first one, his is suddenly stopped and Crayne grabs his hand and pulls it away violently.

"Have you no idea what you're doing!?" the mage scolds. "These chests belonged to the mage of the Red Dragon School! We have no idea what kind of traps he may have left for looters like ourselves."

Seeing Crayne's point, Guilliam quickly draws his hand away, instead inspecting the chests with his eyes only. They are not too large, perhaps a foot and a half to two feet wide, a foot deep, and a foot or two tall; each. Both are fairly ornately decorated, with guilded (real gold?) designs on top. Each has the emblem of the Red Dragon School on the lid, the open dragon's mouth doubling as some kind of keyhole.

"Storm, you're good with locks, come take a look at this." Guilliam says to the dwarf. Storm leaves his search of the walls, not finding anything anyway, and joins Guilliam and Crayne by the chests. He reaches out to touch the lid, but Guilliam pulls his hand back. "Don't touch, it may be a trap."

Storm growls in his usual un-charismatic style. "Arr! How c'n I look at 'em locks without touchin' em? My eyes are as good as yers, then." He says frustratedly.

"Well, then, let's get the others in here," Crayne says, "Maybe they have some other ideas..."

1. Yes, Crayne still has one spell memorized from before (Color Spray, I believe).

2. What next?

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