Back to page 7
-----"Sure." Sol nods and adds, "Perhaps Romney and Abram can go wi' ye. Just in case ye need th'backup."
-----The guards nod at Sol and follow the young sorceress over to the small yellow house. Everyone else rides on down the trail toward the temple. They pass another cobbler’s home and then pull their horses off the trail to their left. They can see from here that the trail begins to curve around the village heading toward the west. Another small tavern is seen along the pathway.
-----The temple before them appears to have been constructed out of dark wood. The building has at least two small wings extending from the main part. In many ways, it resembles a government building in a town rather than a temple.
-----As they dismount, Sol knocks upon the large door. Immediately a shuffling is heard from inside and within a few moments, a man dressed in the brown robes of a scribe opens the door and ushers everyone in. Inside a musty odor of old books prevails and the place is illuminated from scores of candles that are mounted in candelabras. In front of everyone there are rows and rows of high book shelves.
-----The scribe leads them beyond the rows of shelves to an inner chamber where a man is loudly speaking. The man stands in the middle of the chamber wearing brown and orange robes. In one hand, he holds a footman’s mace. The edges of the room are lined with more bookshelves and two more scribes scramble to organize some books piled on the floor.
-----The man with the brown and orange robes has curly blond hair and piercing blue eyes. His face is almost beet-red as he shouts at the scribes to clean up the mess they’ve made.
-----Sol walks at a slow, steady stride up to the man in orange robes and bows his head slightly upon reaching him. He then speaks firmly, "Pardon fer th' intrusion, yer reverence. I'm Sol Herron and these..." The Gorian gestures at his friends, "...are Raven, Rinda, Bradley and Shema. We seek th'priest Rau'Triel on official Hearthorn business. Do ye happen t'be th' man we're after?" When Sol mentions official business, he pulls out the writ and displays it.
-----The man pauses with his mouth slightly open as if taken off guard by Sol’s words. Upon seeing the writ, the man straightens himself and nods his head with a small smile of approval. "Impressive, Sol Herron," says the robed man, "you have documented proof to back up your words. You seem to be thorough in your duty." He shoots an angry glare at the scribes and then he looks again at Sol. Bowing slightly, he says, "I am Rau’Triel, Keeper of the Wisdom of Maxim."
-----Sol then says, "Ye were recommended to us by Sir Greene, in hope that ye'd be able t'provide information on th' caves in th' area of Oakwood town. We know by now that th' forces o' dark that are plaguing th' fief o' Oakwood are holed up in a cave which must be closer t' th' Oakwood town than any other village."
-----"Because we've been told that a large amount of caves reside in th' area, we were hoping that a man like yerself would be able t'provide us wi' knowledge on which caves they'd most likely be in, and their locations. I guess any caves with especially large caverns, and also maybe defensible caves would be th' most likely one chosen. We also need t'get this information as quickly as possible 'fore Oakwood's problems get that much worse. Th' Dark forces are protecting th' growing essence o' their foul goddess, so ye can understand how urgent this is."
-----"By the Power behind the Knowledge!" Rau’Triel exclaims, his eyes growing large. The priest then yells for a scribe. Turning back to the young warrior, the priest almost seizes Sol in his astonished excitement. "You must tell me of how you came by this knowledge but first, and we must be quick, we shall look upon the area maps."
-----The priest hurriedly ushers everyone to follow him to a large side room that takes up one of the ‘wings’ of the building. A scribe trots behind the party, catching up to Rau’Triel with pen, ink and parchment in his hands. In the side room, a large table dominates the room with a large wall map of Oakwood mounted on one wall. The map appears much more detailed than the one the adventurers had received from the authorities in Hearthorn. About the room are more shelves and cases holding scrolls, maps and books.
-----To the scribe, Rau’Triel roars, "Begin recording our words! This man," here he points at Sol, "has information that may prove very important in the next few days, if not hours!"
-----The law priest then races to one scroll display and picks up one particular map. Returning to the table, he unrolls it and lays it out on the table for everyone to see. The map shows the southeast quadrant of the area outside of the Town of Oakwood.
-----"Caves?" the priest begins, "yes, there are many caves between Visp and the Town. Here in this area alone I count six separate ones."
Go to Page 9