"Not all of us seek just gold Amur. Besides, we have found the gold and noone else knows it is here so it is safe enough to do some research before taking it. The parchment could have been cursed, that is true enough. As for staying on the boat next time that is not likely to happen. Someone has to look out for young ones such as you who are smitten with gold fever." She smiled at him to show her joking intent with the last.

“Well Jaufre, If there is anyone else down here we will not find them today.” Resting his hand on the holy warrior shoulder, “Let’s go back to the group and see what we are to do next. My bet is that we are coming back to get what gold we cannot carry anyway. Maybe some new clue will appear upon returning.” Giving the paladin a reassuring smile hoping to convey that he to was wondering if others came down here for safety and got trapped and found a way out or was the magic user the only one. He did think it was strange that the blockage to the entrance was large and was not done from the inside. But what was bothering him the most was a hand and only a hand was found. The rest of the body was nowhere to be found. Where did it go? As Jaufre and Areldor walked back to the group he glanced at the pool of water.



Others had bagged up as much gold as some could carry and more. The illusionist thought he would still heed Elyra's warning “since she was right about the bracers and the wand she might be right about the curse.” He spoke to himself, but did leave the room for a changed mind later. As the seekers started to leave it seemed that Elyra deemed herself the leader and started to give orders to Crow.


"I also wish to return to the ship quickly as possible. Remember once we are out those remaining skeletons might be sticking around so eyepatches on everyone. As for the gold, I am taking none of it for I am not sure how to interpret the parchment. Those who wish to take it are free to do so but keep a bit of a distance from me." Looking at the others they appeared ready to go. "Master Crow, if you would be so kind as to lead us back to the ship."


Then Amur responded in a tone that made it sound like Elyra was becoming “the bossy bard”


“I agree we should take what we can haul and then return for the rest later,” the boy said and again shook his head when the female bard spoke of leaving the treasure. He turned to her with an incredulous look upon his young face.

“Iffin you don’t want the risk might I suggest you stay on the ship next time,” he turned to go but added as he did, “ever think it ma be the parchment that was the problem?”


She fired back with,

"Not all of us seek just gold Amur. Besides, we have found the gold and noone else knows it is here so it is safe enough to do some research before taking it. The parchment could have been cursed, that is true enough. As for staying on the boat next time that is not likely to happen. Someone has to look out for young ones such as you who are smitten with gold fever." She smiled at him to show her joking intent with the last.

Areldor stood there with a small smirk on his face. “She seems to be full of herself right now, but she does have great smile” thinking to himself as he watch and listened

"Not all of us seek just gold Amur. Besides, we have found the gold and noone else knows it is here so it is safe enough to do some research before taking it. The parchment could have been cursed, that is true enough. As for staying on the boat next time that is not likely to happen. Someone has to look out for young ones such as you who are smitten with gold fever." She smiled at him to show her joking intent with the last.
Amur stopped and turned and seen her smile and knew that at least part of her response was said in jest.

“Yeah well when we get back and we all get our payment,” he said with a smirk, “you can give your share to us young gold smitten kids.”

He went on preparing to depart; he left the hauling of the chest to those larger and stronger than him. His role on the return trip was to look out for trouble whether it be traps, or more skeleton pirates; he kind of hoped they had seen the last of them but who knew.

(Edited to correct stupid mistakes. )

Mylos felt rejuvenated now that the rain dance had finished and noticed that the self-inflicted wound he had picked up had stopped bleeding and was already beginning to heal. He marvelled at this, for he had seen nothing of its sort back in his homeland and wondered what sort of magic this shaman practiced.

Shortly after they had regrouped the more curious of the party began inspecting the skeletons and, once again, the surrounding area. After taking a closer look at the enemies weapons it became clear that the hilts had the skull and crossed bones, much like their eye patches, engraved upon them. This discovery sent chills up the spine of Mylos and he began to wonder if he had made a mistake leaving his father and his merchant friend.

Nevertheless this was soon forgotten as gold had been found. Mylos rushed to the scene and dove skidding to a halt just before the hole and sticking his arm down into the ground. Mylos screamed as if in pain, distorting his face so that the others thought he had stumbled into a trap. After a couple of seconds however, he took out his hand and let coins slip through his fingers. He grabbed another handful heedless to the protests of the party and began pressing a coin into each one of the party's palms.

After much deliberation the party decided to venture down into the stairway leading underground. Mylos had been placed at the back of the party as he was deemed a liability after his performance at the golds initial discovery. Coins were littered either side of the path and it took the entirety of his self constraint to restrain from picking up as much as he could carry.

He tried to distract himself from the nagging obsession to pick up the coins below him so he looked around the cavernous expanse they were walking into. To his right he noticed a table, once again littered with coins, but this was not the only thing the table harboured for a wrinkled and crisp parchment also lay upon it. He tapped Elyra, a fellow bard, and motioned that he was going to check what the parchment said and see if it gave any clues to where more treasure may be hidden.

The pair wandered over to the table, coins clinking under their feet. As they drew closer Mylos noticed that a skeletal hand grasped the parchment, he looked about expecting to see the body which would of once of had the hand attached to it, but no skeleton was near. The pair of them held out their hands and took hold of the parchment ignoring the warning shouts from some of the party. Why were so many of these 'adventurers' so cautious?, Mylos thought to himself.

The words written on the parchment were of no tongue Mylos could read and apparently nor Elyra as her puzzled look gave away. Areldor however did manage to decipher a few words and the he read them aloud his voice eerily echoing around the cavern.

With no apparent clue to any more booty the party set about trying to find hidden entrances, exits or trap doors, but after a long while they decided to give up on their search, content with hauling as much of their treasure back to the boat and Mylos had to say he agreed.

"I'll give you all the gold I carried out Amur." Elyra joked. "Just try to remember that dead men get no share and keep your eyes open on the return trip." Looking around she added, "Is everyone ready? If so we can get moving."

As Crow continued to stand watch at the top of the stairs, cocked bow in hand, he listened to the discussions below. The Elf Ranger could not help but smile at the arguing of some of the party on how much gold to take, the best type of coin to take, and if to use bags (paper) or chests (plastic). What did it really matter in the end with a hot enough furnace the type of gold coin would not matter as each could be melted into new coins or even solid bars.

However for now he had more important things to worry about then gold and that was staying alive. Though most of the rest of the party were more then happy to take this abundance of gold back to the ship, Crow could not get Elyra’s warning of this possibly being the horde of a dragon out of his mind. He knew where his place would be upon leaving this cave, at the point of the party leading them all back to the ship. He just hoped it would be a safe return but held little faith in that............

Tohmas was growing concerned about the commitment of some of the party. They had all taken the Inn Keepers money in return for their service to bring him back treasure. Now that their duty was at hand there were some that would leave it only return with a storey of treasure.

As Tohmas prepared the chest of human gold so it could be carried up the stair Jaufre stepped up to help. With a grunt of effort the two of them lifted the crest and started up the stair behind the Cleric. The going would be slow but the two would see it through.

Crow kept a steady eye on the procession of Seekers who climbed the stairs from the bottom of the cavern, while keeping a steady hand with his bow and notched arrow, periodically surveying the expanse below for any sign of dragons, or other guardians of the gold treasure that was being carted away to the waiting ship of their employer.

Vincent helped his friend Bartimeous steady the large sack that was filled to the brim with the variety of Human, Dwarf and Orc Gold that had been secreted below in the three treasure chests.

By the time they reached the narrow flight of stairs, it took the combined strength of both Seekers to keep the large sack from spilling its precious cargo, as they made their way past the Ranger on guard.

Willem followed close behind, making sure that his companions were protected from any unexpected attack; while Amur had taken the lead to cautiously search for any hidden traps or foes that may be waiting topside to ambush the returning Seekers. He would gladly step aside and allow the Ranger to take the lead back to the waiting ship, once his fellow companions were safely extracted from the hidden underground cavern.

Tohmas and Jaufre had chosen to focus all their effort on carrying the treasure chest filled to the brim with the Human Round Gold Coins; in spite of the fact that no latch or clasp was attached to the chest to secure the top, which had been partially damaged during some mysterious mishap of its unknown past.

This had only become apparent after the Shaman and Paladin duo had committed themselves to lifting and transporting their bulky load. The previously unnoticed problem being a slightly bent hinge that prevented the top of the chest from closing properly, in addition to the missing latch and clasp.

It was an incredible effort for the Shaman and Paladin to carry the heavy laden chest up the first flight of stairs, while Mylos followed a few steps behind, eagerly gathering up the numerous gold coins scattered along every step, that were passed over by each and every Seeker on the way down to the cavern floor.

Areldor was a few paces behind the Gnome Bard, content to lead the way in front of the Elf Bard Elyra, who wanted nothing to do with any of the gold coins, either on the steps or in the treasure chests.

She was convinced that some type of curse was upon the gold coins, although there was no apparent indication that such was the case with any of the chests or coins.

So the Elf Bard chose to be the last Seeker in line, as the procession slowly made its way up the stairs to return to the waiting ship, making sure she did not step on any loose coins along the way!

However, such was not the case with the Paladin and Shaman, as they were forced to carry the chest up the second flight of stairs, with barely enough room to negotiate the narrow pathway of the steps!

With the Shaman taking the lead and the Paladin carrying the treasure chest from behind, the two Seekers slowly made their way up the narrow flight of stairs, where the Ranger stood vigil with his trusty bow and arrows!

Lifting and carrying the chest required the use of both hands, so the two Seekers were relying upon their fellow companions for protection, if any unexpected foe launched a sudden attack against them!

However, both adventurers were so focused upon the task at hand, that they slipped momentarily on a loose coin or two, as they grunted and sweated their way up the narrow stairway with their bulky burden. This in turn caused the treasure chest to tilt sideways, resulting in the slightly bent hinge allowing a stream of a few dozen gold coins to pour from the top of the tilted chest.

This only lasted a few short seconds, but the result was gold coins bouncing down the stairs, while the gold-minded Gnome behind them frantically tried to catch each coin, even though both hands were filled with the loose coins he had already collected on his personal journey up the stairs!

Somehow Mylos lost his balance while greedily grasping for the deluge of coins that were bouncing down the stairs from the momentarily tilted treasure chest, resulting in the Gnome not only losing some of the coins already in his hands, but causing some of the coins to fly up in the air, before bouncing down the stairs in high arcs past a surprised Areldor and an alarmed Elyra; before hitting the second landing and bouncing in even higher arcs down the final set of steps!

However, the stone floor at the bottom of the cavern failed to stop the wild flight of loose and lost coins, as the stone floor caused the trajectory of several of the gold coins to change direction, bouncing even higher than they had down the stairs, until they loudly and eerily splashed their way in the pool of water that lay previously undisturbed by the Seekers, beyond the boundaries of the mud below!

Crow watched the unexpected tableau intently, until the disturbed water in the pool ceased its rippling, relaxing his grip on his bow and notched arrow, after several long and understandably agonizing minutes passed, without any sign of alarming consequences from the now seemingly comical chain of events!

Each of the Seekers proceeded to make their way upwards, yet with much more caution as to where they were stepping, than they had since leaving the cavern floor!

Whether or not the Elf Ranger noticed any unusual disturbance or air bubbles beneath the surface of the water, once the ripples had subsided and the pool of water seemed to have restored itself to a reflective calm state once more; it was a few short moments later that another part of the puzzle of the finger fragments was answered from beneath the water!

It was a lone Beaked Dragon that soon emerged from below the surface of the pool of water, beyond 4 years of age and an intimidating 30 feet long and 8 or 9 feet wide!

Fortunately, its width was greater than the second flight of stairs, so the Seekers at the end of the procession would be safe enough from its clutches, as long as they made their way up the narrow flight of stairs to the first landing, where the Ranger was standing to protect them from any danger below!

Beaked Dragons are more turtle than lizard and can swim. They are heavily scaled, grow up to 30 feet long and not only bite a victim but puke up their stomach acid to further immobilize their prey.

They are wide bodied creatures with thick, round overlapping scales across its back and sides. Its tail is long, thick in its beginning and tapering down to a cone shaped point.

Its neck, with multiple folds of skin is wide and long as well and ends only where the armored head begins. A full adult can be up to 30 feet long. Its narrow jaws are capped with fierce beaks on the upper and lower jaws.

It is able to open its toothless maw extremely wide and its head is crowned by two, large dwarf-sized scales. Its short legs give way to long webbed claws and they do have the magical ability to transmute rock into mud to hide themselves and dig dens to lay in wait for unsuspecting prey.

They do have two small wings that adorn their backs, but although they are useless for flight, their wings serve the creatures well in the deep sea currents where they are often encountered.

Their eggs are considered a delicacy ... especially to dwarfs ... and will bring as much as 10 Gold Coins on the open market.

Alignment is Neutral.

[There are a few more points to know that make these creatures dangerous, but that is enough information for now to answer where the skeleton finger fragments came from, when the parchment was discovered by the Seekers!]

Tohmas and Jaufre struggled as they lugged the chest up the stairs. It was tough but finally past Crow and made it the narrow section of the stairs. Although it was considered wide enough for three adventurers to walk side by side it was tight quarters for two and chest. Trudging onward they moved further up the narrow passage. The two watched the chest and wall but missed the loose coins steps. As they pushed off their footing gave way slightly and the chest rocked spilling some of the coins. The coins bounded down the stair, some launch off and splashing into the pool. That gold was lost but they continued on making room on the stair for the others to leave the cavern. Straining Tohmas called out to his companions,“We must not stop, that may have awakened whatever had collected this gold and may come to reclaim it. Attack nothing if does not attack you first. We cannot risk starting a fight in this narrow passage”.

Amur lead the way up the stairs and, just for safety’s sake, checked again for traps as they made their way up to the surface. He had time, as those hauling the chest were not moving that fast under the weight of the chest.

As he neared the surface and was starting to poke his head up to check the surface, he heard a commotion below and paused to look down. He saw coins bouncing down the steps and into the water; after a moment or two something stirred in the water and raised it’s ugly head.

Amur didn’t know what it was, it looked like some kind of giant turtle or even a dragon of some sort, but in either case he knew he didn’t want anything to do with it.

“Y’all better hurry up!!” He cried out and without waiting to see if anyone listened, he turned back to the opening to the surface and moved up and peered out hoping there was nothing there that would bare a timely exit.

If there was nothing dangerous awaiting them, he would step out and yell down to the others.

“Come on, the surface is clear!”
While the others made their way up, he would step away from the entrance and stand guard till they were all on the surface; hoping they all made it. Once everyone was up and ready to move out, Amur would let Crow, their Pathfinder, take the lead and follow behind him alert and ready to assist in defending the group as they made their way back to the ship.

(OOC: I hope everyone decides to exit without intimidating that dragon, if not you should know Amur abides by the Pirate Code. “Anyone who falls behind is left behind.” )

All seemed to be going well as the Seekers made their way up the stairs. But then, as it often does, greed caused some trouble. The coins heaped into the chest spilled out and rolled down the stairs making a noise that ended only when the coins ended up in the pool. For a moment all seemed fine and then in an instant things turned for the worse. A creature half dragon and half turtle rose from the pool and began moving up the stairs. After a moment of panic, Elyra noticed that the creature was too big to fully ascend the stairs. "Now, do you doubt this is a dragon's horde?" she asked those who were taking the gold. Then she added, "That thing cannot get to the top of the stairs. Anyone want to see if we can kill it with ranged weapons and spells?"

As Crow continued to stand watch at the top of the stairs, cocked bow in hand. Though most of the rest of the party were more then happy to take this abundance of gold back to the ship, Crow could not get Elyra’s warning of this possibly being the horde of a dragon out of his mind. However for now he had more important things to worry about then gold and that was staying alive.

Then as if the Bard had precog powers up from the depths of the water pool arose a Dragon Turtle no less.

“Hurry damn you, we must leave here quickly before it has a chance to attack. Drop that chest if it means our lives are to be forfeit.” Crow shouted to the others. Desperately wanting to loosen his arrows the Elf Ranger knew better then to just piss it off.

"Now, do you doubt this is a dragon's horde?" Elyra spoke up to those who were taking the gold. Then as Crow listened in disbelief she added, "That thing cannot get to the top of the stairs. Anyone want to see if we can kill it with ranged weapons and spells?"

“Lady are ye daft? Let us in no way face that creature as it is a dragon and they all have 1 thing in common, a weapon of breath. In this enclosed cave it would be folly to fight it. Trust me as I stated earlier I am not that brave. However if you feel such be free to allow it to eat you as the rest of us run away.”

As Crow kept the bow trained on the dragon turtle he hoped the others would not be so foolish as to take the female Elf’s advice...........

Sounding much like a little sister they heard the Bard, "Now, do you doubt this is a dragon's horde?......That thing cannot get to the top of the stairs...... Anyone want to see if we can kill it with ranged weapons and spells?"

Tohmas grumbled to Jaurfre, "The bard didn't want to do the job she was hired to do and now she wants to start a useless fight. Perhaps it was too many years spent in the academic world and not enough in the real world.......We had better hurry before trouble starts.....Purhaps we will all learn together."

"I have no intention on fighting the beast Crow. Seems I suggested we leave the gold alone in th efirst place. Just wanted to give anyone feeling especially brave a chance to earn a place memorialized in song."

Crow could not help but smile as the Bard Elyra replied to his comments. It was so much like the comments given by a once old friend.

“It seems you desperately wish to write a song of death Bard. First you wanted to write my ending, now you wish to do so of the others?” You scare me Bard, now hurry up and get out of here or we shall sing of your end”

He continued to keep watch on the Dragon Turtle but was quite sure if the Bard wanted to stay and fight he'd let her do just that. As for himself he knew that along with the others he would be running quickly away.