Snippet #2125874

"It's close... I know it is..." A soldier in leather read a piece of paper with ancient writing while examining the powdery substance, deep within the forest. "I figured... this was the spot where the clerics fought the undead lycans which terrorized the area. The artifact used to keep those same clerics alive is somewhere south of this battle scene, sealed in a hidden temple. I can only hope nobody beat me to it." Hang in there, buddy! Your womb will be fixed by the time that Lord realizes my true reasons for enlisting. I'll be sure to burn this paper so he won't be able to read it then take you to the camp. You'll be safer with my family there until things cool down. We're all hunters, so I doubt they'd have an easy time of it if they decide to take it out on us.

A male falcon landed on his shoulder, nudging his cheek with his beak. "What is it, Jephthah?" Jephthah flew on over to one of the shrubs and landed next to a skeleton of a crystaline structure. "Looks like one of the clerics from the desert. Only residents from there have skeletons like that which last so long. I wonder what is written in the journal held in the hand?" When he looked through the ancient writing in the journal, Isaiah found that it mostly covered the battles fought with the undead lycans. Of particular interest, though, was the following entry:

I swear, someone or something is playing us for fools! It's like we've been baited! Everywhere I look, one of my brothers in faith is dead! I can only hope the humans managed to find the source of this undead lycan problem cropping up everwhere, otherwise my own people could be in grave peril back home! We have grown strong in the desert, but that strength will be for nothing if we do not know what is causing these cadavers to go beserk after rising! Where are the elves and their Stone of Life? They should have arrived by now!

After a series of rants involving the different species involved not being with the holder of the journal, the entry goes on to say this: I have my theories as to how all this could have happened. The Death Stone, the Life Stone's sister, has been missing for centuries, now, and it is rumored that a temple in this forest has a vast amount of information on both in its archives. If it is there, then the perpetrator responsible for this mess could be doing experiments with the Death Stone as we speak in that same temple. We must put an end to it and seal boths stones in that temple, then hide the entire building so neither stone can fall into the wrong hands again. Should anyoen disturb it thereafter, the Death Stone, though sealed, will activate the traps as the intruders come. It would take a man or woman with no ill intentions involving the use of either stone to appease it. We shall make certain of that, I have the High Preist's word. Only the Life Stone would be able to be unsealed, since men and women have often gone after the Death Stone more. I have a feeling the Life Stone could help our descendants with an even greater danger in the next few thousand years. I better get on with my task! I see my brethren coming towards me, and they seem frantic! They have an elf with them, too, it looks like! She may have the Life Stone with her!

"The battle must have started shortly after he completed his entry, then he died protecting the group of clerics that came to him, allowing them enough time to get to the reinforcements that they expected." Isaiah placed the journal in his quiver's hidden pocket, with the other items concerning the Life Stone. "Well, that is kind of a relief, but this should not be taken lightly. We better head back to the barracks in the castle, wouldn't you say, Jephthah?" The falcon nodded in agreement as they made their way back to the castle. Once at the entrance, the hunter-turned-soldier gave his report of the happenings in the forest, careful to leave out all details involving the finds that would lead to the temple. When inside his quarters, Isaiah put away his bow and quiver and sat on his bunk. "Jephthah, we are close to completing our goal!" The hard part is managing to find that temple without ending up killed. If anyone follows me...

Jepthah made sounds to say he was hungry. Isaiah groaned. "Man, how could I be stupid? I should have hunted while I was out there! Sorry, buddy!" He stood up from his bunk. Well, let's see if Paige has anything for you..."