Darkwood--Into the blackness....

[Laurel]

Led points to the southern hallway, "Well, we came from down that way, and we didn't see anything." Then he waves at the northern hallway, "And you came from there, with those Bad elves chasing you. So it's probably not up there, unless you ran past it too fast to notice."

Then he turns to the western exit that curves off to the north. "So, shall we go that way?"

Glancing up from the scroll where she had been keeping a rough draft of the keep and seeing Katrina look at Led for direction, the bard nods at Led's choice of tunnel and confirms his choice while rolling the scroll up and placing it with the others in her quiver. "I am in agreement as to our course. Unless our new friend has any further information regarding the tunnel she was running out of to convince us to return in that direction, I am ready to be moving on."

[Annalysei]

Anna hefts her flail over a shoulder, and as she walks by Kali, she gives her a sympathetic nod at her fairly obvious eye twitch.

"Just point me toward what you want me to hit, although Led, please, a little warning next time if you could, I'd rather not get a sword through my spleen chasing you around corners. I'm not quite sure what it does, but I'd rather keep it, if it's all the same to you." she says with a wry half smile.

[Kalindriel Ec'urb]

Before Anna even finishes, Kalindriel points at Led from the back of the group.

[Led Pighp]

Led calls back to Anna, all jests and merriment now. "Have I shown you my collection of weapons? I can't use any of them, but each and every one was used on me by someone I later killed. And each one has touched my spleen. If not for Laurel or Marrik, and later Sigrid, I'm sure I would have been quite dead many times over."

"And so, it is from that position of great experience, that I tell you this: the spleen is no ordinary organ. I suspect it to be a magical part of each of us, meant to attract the weapons of our enemies, thus preventing them from stabbing our hearts or other vitals. The mighty spleen sacrifices itself to save the others. It is, as it were, the Paladin of the innards. And each of those weapons is a memorial to the great service done to me by my spleen, and a sign of how grateful I am that it so devoutly serves its function."

[Katrina]

I listen solemnly to Led.

When he's done "What's a spleen?"

I start looking through my pouches and pockets for a spleen. My spleen, anyones.

"The Good Man never said he had a spleen, so do Good people have them, bad people? If only bad people do, I don't want one."

Looking at Led dead serious "Do they?"

[Kalindriel Ec'urb]

Sounding very scholarly, Kali pipes up, "Such a saintly organ would deprive the rest of the being. I would be wary of anyone claiming such an innard, lest they be teetering on the brink of being a bad person."

[Seven Words]

Marrik recoils from the proffered weapon..."THAT is a profoundly evil artifact. Led, I suspect it suffers your touch in hopes of corrupting you."

A faint pulse of sickly green energy washes along the blade, from pommel to tip.

[Kalindriel Ec'urb]

"Picking up evil weapons used by bad people and not even noticing its aura. On the brink, indeed."

She unbuckles the scabbard from the elf that carried the blade and puts it on. Changing from a teasing tone, one she seemed to be enjoying very much, Kali becomes more serious. "We shouldn't leave it here lest someone pick it up unwittingly, or worse, knowing exactly what it is. I'll carry it in its sheath. I wouldn't want you to end up stabbing all of us and sucking our souls dry."

[Seven Words]

Only loot of note is one CMW potion, and a wand.

[Led Pighp]

At the mention of the blade being evil, Led recoils, almost as if it had fungus on it. He sort of drops the sword, and sort of shoves it vaguely towards Kalindriel. It falls to the floor between them. Then, to cover his embarassment, he adds, "Well, if the sword took me over, it would be safer for the rest of you. As we saw with my attempts to use the machete, I can't really swing a sword." But he makes no attempt to pick it back up from the ground.

Then I see 'Trina, still waiting for an answer. "The spleen is just another organ. It's down by the liver and kidney, and it's not very big. It doesn't do very much, so we all have theories about what it does. That was all just my theory, but I don't actually know for sure. Still, I'm sure just about everybody has one. And if some people do have them, and other people don't have them, I don't think it's because some are Good and others are bad. It would probably be like... humans and elves have them, but dwarves and gnomes don't have them. Though, those were just examples, I don't know enough about dwarves or halflings to tell if they have them or not. But I'm sure you have one."

I grab the CMW, hand the wand to Sigrid, and then turn and start walking down the hallway to the west.

[Kalindriel Ec'urb]

She picks the sword up and looks it over with a scowl before sheathing it. "At least we won't have to worry about more of those elves getting a hold of it."

"West then?"

[Annalysei]

Anna snorts at Kali's request to brain Led with her flail.

[Sigrid]

"Yes. West. I'll identify these when we make camp."

[Katrina]

I look slightly confused at Led, information overload...

"K."

I think hard for a minute.

"The sword is bad?"

Eyes narrowing slightly, I stare at the sword, as if sizing it up, eyeing it up and down

With a sigh of frustration I ask Led "How do you Deal with a sword?"

[Sigrid]

"I'll cast a spell later. It should tell us all about the sword. And how to Deal with it. It takes an hour to cast the spell, so I'll wait until we camp for the night. But then we'll know."

I put the new wand in my belt, and follow to the west.

"Will you come with us, 'Trina?" I smile.

[Katrina]

"I'll cast a spell later. It should tell us all about the sword. And how to Deal with it. It takes an hour to cast the spell, so I'll wait until we camp for the night. But then we'll know."

I put the new wand in my belt, and follow to the west.

"Will you come with us, 'Trina?" I smile.

I stop my bouncing a little, look at Sigrid.

A loud sound belts forth from my mouth as I throw myself at Sigrid in a hug.

"YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES!"

[Sigrid]

"Oooof!"

[Kalindriel Ec'urb]

Kali quietly mutters "Ugh" with all the commotion.

[Laurel]

The bard smiles gently at the young girl's exuberance. Perhaps 'trina will help keep Led in the light, rather than turning more and more to any hunter darkness, she thinks. If we stay within this keep away from horses for long, I do not know how that may affect his mood. A little unchecked exuberance should be good for all of us, I think.

Shouldering her quiver yet keeping her longbow and an arrow at hand, the bard looks to the others and asks, "Shall we go on?"

[Seven Words]

As you progress tot eh west, the tunnel inclines downward, gently.....over the course of some 200 feet of western travel, you have descended perhaps 30'. There is a door, of solid stone, set in a very rough-hewn frame, utterly at odds with the rest of this place, where all edges are exquisitely smoothed and finished. The door has upon it crudely carved symbols upon a grid, with one oddly blank space.