The group gathered in front of the large stone doors. Rorick pushed one of them and it slowly pushed inward. Arilee thought it was surprisingly quiet for how large the stone doors were.

The Tomb was cold and dark. The light from the setting sun barely lit the doorway to show next to the opening was a barrel full of torches.

“Torches here,” said Arilee, passing them out to the group. “Chip, could you light us?”

“Fiur” Chip whispered, running his hand over the end of the torch. A small flame appeared. The rest of the group touched their torches to Chip’s, and then walked into the tomb. The door closed slowly behind them.

“Who did that?” asked Chip, pressing on the door to open it back up. “It won’t budge. Are we trapped?”

Arilee held a torch up to get a better look at the room. The torch revealed a small room with a large ornately carved sarcophagus in the middle. Like a spectre from the past, it was shaped into the likeness of the old Dwarf King. There was a small indent on the sarcophagus, like a small rock could be placed into it.

“Look there, on the sarcophagus,” said Arilee. “What do you think goes here?”

“Stand back, everybody,” said Rorick. “This one I know how to open.”

“You’re going to open the sarcophagus?” said Chip, aghast. “I don’t want to see that.”

Rorick slowly unhooked the amulet from around his neck, gently placing it into the slot on the sarcophagus. There was a loud click noise. Followed by the groaning of gears turning.

"Stand back," said Rorick to group.

Arilee nodded and stepped back a few feet, as the ground beneath the the sarcophagus began to slide back, revealing a set of stairs going downward further.

"Ah, look stairs, goin’ down."

The group followed Rorick slowly down the stairs. Landing after landing they seemed to go on forever. Finally, at the bottom it opened into a long expansive hall. The ceiling so tall they could not see it. The columns looked like they reached endlessly up.

“Wow, this place is enormous,” said Leela. “I’ve always heard of the great works of the Dwarves, but this is unbelievable.”

Giant carved faces of Dwarven Kings from the past looked down from the walls. Their motifs elegantly crafted from the crust of the earth itself.

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” exclaimed Chip. “I’m glad you didn’t open up the sarcophagus Rorick.”

Rorick was smiling, lost in his own admiration of the craftsmanship. “Tallus, can you believe it? We’re really here. I never thought I’d see the day. Do you think the Axe is at the end of the hall?”

Arilee looked at him quizzically. “What axe?”

As she asked, they reached the end of the hallway, greeted by another small room, with a emanating blue glow.

In the middle of the room was a thin visible current of air coursed around a floating crescent-moon double bladed axe. Three gems were inlaid in its pommel, with another two in each blade. Behind it, a massive throne made of rock and stone.

“There it is,” said Rorick in a daze. “Thunderaxe.”

Rorik stepped forward as if in a trance, reaching out to grab the axe.

“Careful Rorick,” said Tallus, but Rorick ignored him.

Before his hand could grab the axe, the air sizzled with a loud crackling sound, and the forcefield zapped Rorick with giant blue sparks.

“Argh!” groaned Rorick.

“I said careful,” said Tallus, coming to help his friend, but Rorick waved him away.

Rorick reached towards the axe more forcefully this time. The sparks reacted again, sparks pushing him backwards.

“Rorick!” Leela said as she rushed over to see if Rorick was okay but Rorick shook her off of him.

“Leave me alone. I can handle this.”

Rorick stood up and gathered himself. Marching towards the throne, he began shouting:

“This axe belongs to me. I am the rightful ruler and I deserve this axe. Who are you to deny me what is mine?”

Then empty throne stared back at him.

Rorick walked up to the throne and made to sit down. A flash of light burst from the throne, throwing Rorick to the ground. Dark smoke swirled around the chair and slowly coalesced into a blue ghostly form of the dwarven prince. He had a great shaggy beard, and intricately etched armor. The ghost looked down on Rorick, who defiantly looked back.

The Ghost King grunted.

“Who are you, a fat, drunken dwarf, to challenge me, King Stormstrong?”

“I am an heir to your lineage. I have come to claim what is mine by right. Our people are in great danger. A Usurper has come to our lands. Grandfather. Please.”

“You lost our kingdom?” bellowed the Ghost King. The walls shook. He glared at Rorick. “And yet here you stand, far away. Doing what? You do not deserve your kingdom, let alone my axe. I find you not worthy.”

“Rorick looked up angrily, “You! You find me not worthy? You lost your battle. You failed to save your kingdom. Let me save mine.”

The Ghost Prince’s loud echoing laugh made Arilee cover her ears as it bounced around the room. The torches flared as he spoke.

“If you could not hold your kingdom, you do not deserve it. If my lineage has grown weak, maybe it is time it passes to another. Begone from here.”

Rorick’s eyes flared as bright as the torches. He shouted as loud as he could. “If you will not grant me the axe, I will take it!” He threw himself at the forcefield around it. Sparks flew as Rorick was again thrown across the room.

The Ghost King grabbed the axe from its pedestal. “You disappoint me. My lineage ends here.”

The Ghost King raised the axe high above his head and brought it forcefully upon the ground. The stone cracked and fissured as the walls rumbled.

“Oh no,” said Arilee, the very earth shaking beneath her feet. She looked to Leela with realization they were about to buried down here. “Run,” she said.

Rocks began to tumble from the ceiling.

“RUN!” Shouted Arilee to the group, as she and Leela ran for the hallway to the stairs. She reached out and grabbed Chip by the robe to force his feet to move. She glanced over her shoulder to see Rorick and Tallus just behind her.

They sprinted down the columned hallway as the gigantic pillars shook and boulders fell from the expanse above them.

Up the stairwell they dashed, flight after flight, they felt the walls closing in on them.

Bounding through sarcophagus frame they make it to the original tomb, the stairwell beneath them crumbling.

Arilee through herself against the door, but she was too late. It wouldn’t budge, and the hill continued to collapse around them. In a panic, she looked to her friends.

Leela, in a moment of ingenuity, pulled out her wand, “Quick around me!”

“Goddess protect us,” she said waving the wand in an arc around herself and the rest. Rorick and Tallus packed in tight against them.

A glowing protecting bubble quickly formed around them, just in time to absorb the impact from a falling rock.

“Just pray this holds,” said Leela, holding the wand up to continually reinforce the protection bubble.

The group gathered there, anxiously waiting for the destruction to stop. Dust and dirt filled the air, blocking their vision.

Once it finally settled, three large boulders blocked their path out. A small stream of light poked in through a small hole in the ceiling.

“Is everyone okay?” asked Arilee.

“We’re both okay,” said Tallus. “Nice thinking with the bubble, Leela.”

“We’re trapped,” said Chip.

Arilee could still feel the adrenaline pumping through her body. She shot a glare at Rorick.

“What was that?” she shouted angrily at him.

Rorick didn’t look at her. He just stared at the ground with no response.

Arilee walked over to Rorick, but Tallus put his hand up to try to stop her.

“You’re in trouble too. Don’t think you’re out of this either,” said Arilee coldly. “You almost got my team killed. For what? What was that? This wasn’t just some pilgrimage. You lied to us.”

Tallus and Rorick cowered in shame before her.

Leela put her hand on Arilee’s shoulder. “But we’re okay aren’t we?”

The gentle touch brought a wave of calm to Arilee. She let out a long breath.

“You are right Leela.” Arilee walked over to the large boulders blocking the door and leaned against them. “We have other problems for now.

She looked over to see Chip trying to throw a rock outside of the small opening where the beam of light was coming through.

She chuckled, relieving more of her tension. “At least someone is having fun down here.”

After a few more tries, Chip finally got the rock through the hole.

“I got it!” he exclaimed, and immediately fished a strange looking stick out of his backpack.

“Wait, what is that?” asked Arilee. And then she remembered from the island. Chip has Escape Sticks. “Was that what I think it was you tossed out?”

“Yes!” said Chip. “It was the anchor rock. In theory, breaking this stick should warp us all out there to where the rock is.”

Tallus picked his head up at that comment. “You have an Escape Rod?” He inspected it. “It’s crude, but it’s definitely the same type of mechanism. We give these to Dwarven Miners in case of collapses.”

“Shall we get out of here then?” asked Chip with a smile.

The group gathered around him, “I hope this is close enough, would hate to be left down here” joked Rorick.

“Here goes nothing,” Chip said. He snapped the Escape Stick, and with a loud poof, gray smoke filled the air around them. Arilee’s world seemed to hurl, and for a fraction of a second, up was down and down was up. Her head felt like it was spinning a million times a second. And then as fast as it started, it was over. The smoke cleared, and they were surrounded by the green trees of the forest.

Arilee coughed some of the strange smoke out of her lungs. “Ugh, that was awful. I hated that.”

Chip stumbled and fell to the ground, holding his head. “Make it stop spinning, please.”

The rest were having similar problems, but after a few moments they recovered.

Rorick picked his head up and wiped his face, he looked like he had been crying. “I'm sorry for bringing you all into this.”

Tallus patted his sad friend on the back and said to Arilee. “I really did want your help to bring my friend here, but you are right. We should have been more honest. Are you mad?”

“Yes.” Arilee sighed, hanging her head. “Well no, but I just wish you had told us from the start.

Leela echoed her, “We would have been glad to help.”

"It's hard to know who you can trust sometimes," said Tallus, looking down sadly.

"We definitely understand that," said Chip.

“Let us make it up to you. Please?” asked Tallus.

Arilee, Leela, and Chip looked at each other.

“It does feel like you owe us,” said Arilee.

"Rorick will get the caravan to take us back. And then we will help you however we can."

A dialogue scroll appeared for early

Ask Rorick to come back with the group to the caravan and ask for forgiveness and if they can come back Tell Rorick that they don't have time to get involved in this issue

Arilee thought to herself for a moment about what to do and what would be best for the group. On one hand, she felt the ever-pressing darkness and she knew they had no time for distractions. On the other hand, she felt empathy for Rorick and his situation. The corruption had ruined his life and something in the back of her mind this small battle was part of the greater war. She knew Slicks would be mad.

“Rorick, come back with us to the caravan. I'm sure they will let us back in if you apologize and try to make amends.”

The dialogue scroll highlighted her option and disappeared

+5 to relationship with Rorick and Tallus

Rorick looked at her, his tears caught in a soggy beard, with gratitude.

“Thank you Arilee. Thank you everyone.”