Handing the sword and ring to The Officer, he takes the ring but seems to have forgotten about the sword, I give it to Reyansh.

“Another!” The Officer pointing with the ring at the image, like an accusing finger. “Stealing my work and putting it in bone!”

“Do you want the ring back?” The image asks. “Yes, I purchased and used your ring, and the sword,” Looking over at Reyansh. “they are diverse and not of my own construction. Will you leave then? I expect reparations for the damage you’ve caused. And a refund. I will involve your guild. You are accountable for your actions. I made purchases from you in good faith and there were no stipulations made from you at that time.”

“What about the children?” I ask, inserting myself into the conversation. Watching the eyes of the image, hoping to catch some reaction, which I did.

Reyansh turns and sets the sword I gave him on a table to his side. Glancing back to the elves by the exit, then to me as he turns back to the image. I’m not sure what his thoughts are, but he is certainly more composed of himself than the dwarf.

“What children?” The image asks. I see his eyes shift when he asks. The image now looks to be wavering slightly. His eyes give away that he is thinking or realizing something. He turns and we catch a partial instruction to someone that we cannot see. “There may be a misunderstanding in a request that I have made. I will look into it.”

“Anything to do with Community Farms?” I ask.

“No…?” The image replies, then continues. “For qualified individuals, such as yourself, I will give one silver coin for each sword and ring retrieved. A gold coin if you can recover the original.”

Almost simultaneously, “HOW many have you made???” and “You are not able?” while the image is giving a little shrug of his shoulders with a smile and his hands turning out a bit while looking at the both of them. In no way does this image look like Gandolf, but that little action certainly reminds me of what the character would do sometimes in the movies.

Turning, I walk back into the cave. I try to bypass the sunflower, but I can see no way around the illusion. Basically, everything is the same as before, except much faster as I know what to expect. I use my sword to push the copy ring and sword off the edge, still not wanting to put my hand too close. This time I do take a closer look at the original ring and sword. Even poke at each with my sword, just enough to move them so that I know that I can. I leave them and head for the exit. 15, maybe 20 minutes for everything.

Standing with the three of them again, the image was a little expectant at first. “Not able to find the originals I see. For obvious reasons, I am not immediately able to complete our transaction, but I will make sure that you receive your coins. Just leave the items on a table.

I can see The Officer is mad, but he’s not saying as much anymore. Reyansh looks the same, but I’m not sure I could read him unless he let me. I’m still not completely sure what’s going on in this world. There are too many cultural differences or something. They’re fighting, people died. Now they’re talking, still mad, but talking. I’m still trying to determine if this guy had anything to do with kidnapping the children. And now that I’m thinking about it, I have no ideas of what the laws actually are and what is acceptable in this culture, or not. What am I going to do if I find this guy was kidnapping children and throwing the bodies into the animal pen to get rid of the evidence. That’s a whole lot of stretching of the imagination and I’m reminding myself of Jaxx’s advice not to be doing something that is going to get someone hurt.

Turning, I walk back into the cave. Maybe ten minutes and I’m looking at everything, standing at the back wall again. I find myself thinking that I don’t know if this is a problem or not. Don’t know if it’s connected to the children or not. Seems to be? After a few moments of indecision, I say a little prayer to myself. “Lord, I need some help here. I don’t know what to do.”

A few more moments of silence pass and I still don’t know what to do. I scrap the copy of the ring and sword off the stone slab again. Moving closer to examine the back wall, looking for any switches or anything that might turn something off, I don’t find anything. With a little sigh, I decide to take the original ring and sword back with me. Moving to the original ring first and using my sword to scrape it off the slab and pull it towards myself. As soon as the ring falls into my hand, the blue circuit within the wall fades and everything powers down.

I freeze as I see everything goes dim and the cavern goes dark. It’s like when the power goes out from a lightning strike and you have to orientate yourself to where you are and the darkness. Fortunately, the lighting returns as I stand there. Somewhere behind me I hear. “What did you do?”

It was a question than an accusation. “What did you do?” A second time. I recognize the voice as belonging to the image. Turning, I see that he is standing there and not a projection of himself.

With the sword still in hand, I make a little scraping motion in the air with it and show him the ring in my hand. “It must have broken the circuit,” I say as his eyes narrow slightly in his response.

Stepping forward, I hold out my hand palm up, to give him the ring. I can’t say that as he took the ring the thought of sticking him with the sword didn’t occur to me. But who just does something like that unless you were in a rage or fighting for your life.

Meeting his gaze as he takes the ring, I turn and retrieve the original sword. Handing it back to him, hilt first, I see Bof Bol coming, walking like he owns the place with Reyansh trailing. The other elves keep their distance, a few with bows in hand but not drawn.

I notice him glancing at my wristband before looking me in the eye, just as Bof Bol comes alongside the man. “You’re the lost vagrant yelling at the Priest and The Paladin.” More a statement than a question.

As Reyansh approaches, the man holds out the original sword to him, hilt first. Even in what light there is, I can now see that it is a beautiful sword and the copies do not do it justice. “The sword is not mine to take,” Reyansh replies. “But if you are offering, I will exchange with you.”

Signaling, the other elves come closer. Some coins change hands, gold, and silver or platinum in color. An elf I do not recognize returns to their group with the original sword.

He then turns to me, fist outstretched, and drops four gold and three silver coins into my hand. Looking at it like the cashier just handing me back the incorrect change, I don’t think the value is correct. I give him a questioning look, but he turns away from me to the dwarf.

Holding the ring out to Bof Bol, the dwarf stares at it.

“Is It Defective?” The Officer already in a confrontational stance. The man just staring at him to take the ring.

“NO REFUNDS!” The Dwarf states. His head jerking so fast to glare at me, as I freeze a mid-laugh almost escaping from my throat.

“Reparations?” The man flatly questions the dwarf.

“The Entrance. The Doors. And No More!” The Officer responds.

“Dwarven?” I’m not sure if that was a question or a statement.

I think Bof Bol is actually growling at the man as he stares him down. I unconsciously take a step back as fear starts rising inside of me with an urging in the pit of my gut to run for my life.

“DONE!” The Office grunts as he turned and is angrily stomping his way out of the cavern.

Smiling, looking a Reyansh, then at me. “I would do business with you, Elf Friend.”