"You have to think bigger," she chided, wondering how much horses cost. Probably a lot more than Francis had.
    The choker, worth who knew how much but certainly a lot. Harrick didn't sense any elemental magic from it. Phenomenally fine work, though.
    "We're not going to be able to sell that here," Robin observed.
    "Guys..." Terzin had an odd expression. "CanIhavethis?" he rushed, thinking of his angel.
    "What?!"
    "May I see that for a moment?" Dubricus inquired. "I've seen something of this sort before, it's dwarvish construction."
    "Terzin, we love you, but...."
    "I saved all your asses from the harpies," he pointed out.
    "You don't even need to start doing that," Jared said a bit indignantly at this blackmail.
    "Okay, that's fine, relax," Harrick assured the agitated young man, and Robin sighed and assented as well. If he wanted it so much, he might as well keep it, though they did wonder why. Not like the rest of them had to worry about money at the moment anyway.
    The five pieces of jade with the unknown rune carved in them. No way to tell how much those were worth, so they set them aside for the time being.
    A couple of ordinary hand axes, which they figured they might as well keep; they were sure to come in handy.
    The dwarven mail and weapons, quite nice stuff. Almost too decorated, in fact; showpiece weapons, like the swords the Briarport courtiers had worn. Each had a bit of elemental enchantment, preservative bindings to keep the crossbow's string from snapping, the metal parts from rusting, and so forth.
    "So if somebody was carrying these adventuring, they either knew absolutely nothing or were of particularly high social status," Dubricus conjectured. "These things might be family possessions...? Of course we have no way to contact the family at this point."
    "Unless these runes indicate something," Terzin suggested. Of course, none of them read dwarvish. The dwarven expedition (expeditions?) that had predated theirs was beginning to assume intriguing characteristics.
    Terzin preferred his short bow's speed to the heavier firepower of the crossbow, and none of the other items were of much use to any of the group as they were; their disposition would have to wait. There was at least one dwarf living in the Keep; Dubricus informed them that he ran the pawnshop. Visiting him was obviously in order.
    "Are you sure we can trust him?" he wondered.
    "No, but if he tries to cross us, we'll kill him," Terzin smiled.
    "Terzin!" Robin's protests were becoming familiar. "Are you trying to get us thrown out of town?"
    "You can keep the necklace, calm down," Harrick told him.
    Brother Martin put the flask on the floor among them. "I will give up claim to everything else if I may have that."
    The four exchanged a look and a shrug. Holy relics, what else was there to do? Adventuring meant upholding certain ideals. Besides, they'd survived everything so far.
    "Go ahead," Terzin told him on everyone's behalf, not without some regret.
    "I'm sure the priests of Duncan will be able to put it to use," Robin sighed.
    Martin picked it up carefully and fastened it to his belt.
    The six now faced a familiar question: what to do next?

The revised and expanded map of the second dungeon. That's the rat nest room with the secret door to the far left. I'm told that I left out a lot of curvy bits. - Ed.

   

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