Thump, thump, thump. "Lord Rockgrip, are you awake. Councilwoman Yoroula is waiting for you to start the expedition. " Thump, thump, thump… this repeated several times.

Tad felt for his face. He thought perhaps he had died and woke back up in his demon cell. Then he realized he was alive, then regretting that realization. The whole side of his face was numb where it was pressed against the hard stone floor. His mouth tasted like something he had found in the monkey wagon. He was sooo thirsty.

Thump, thump, thump… "Lord Rockgrip, it is getting late. We are here to help you to the start of the expedition. "

Tad worked his mouth trying to find enough moisture to speak, his sight was still blurry, and he smelled like a week-old dregs bucket from Jack's wagon.

"Wwaaahaat…. Cough,… one second, come in. The door is unlocked." Croaked Tad, he was looking around now. Nico wasn't anywhere to be seen, his bed still made.

"Thank you, my lord. Oh, I see you have yet to rise, and you might want to wash up. " Hobart pointed at the two dwarfs following him. Then he pointed to Tad, "Please help Lord Rockgrip to the privy. You there fetch a couple of buckets of water for him. I will fetch him some food and drink. "

The two dwarf guards behind Hobart came into the room and helped Tad to his feet. Hobart left the room.

One of the dwarf guards helping Tad spoke up, "M'lord Rockgrip, my wife wanted me to tell you how much she liked the music last night. It was the best music she had ever heard."

Tad was wobbly on his feet, and he felt the floor moving. Oh, it wasn't moving. His head was just spinning. What in the hells was in that ale? And how did I get back to my room? He felt around his neck for his cittern amulet, and it was there. His staff leaned against the wall near the door.

"uhhh, you should probably get me to the privy now and not later, " said a sick-looking Tad.

"Yes, milord," One guard held the door as the other held his arm, directing him into the privy across the hall.

The privy consisted of a hole and a ventilation shaft. The small room had a stone door. There was a stack of mushroom cap skin next to the hole. Across from that was a single bucket of water with a few wash clothes stacked nearby.

He dunked his head in the bucket and scrubbed his face and clothes as best he could. There was a thumping on the stone door.

"Lord Rockgrip, I have brought you more water, food, and something to help you get ready for the expedition," said Hobart on the other side of the door.

After Tad opened it, Hobart handed him a drink. "Start with this, Lord Rockgrip. It should help. It will also get rid of any headache you might have. Here is the water, food, and more wash clothes. " He handed it to Tad and walked back to where the two guards were waiting in the hallway.

Tad nodded and drank the drink, which didn't take long to help him feel better. Then cleaned up more and worked to scrub any of the dark spots he had on his shirt out.

Coming out of the privy, "Let me get a change of clothes, then you can explain exactly what this expedition is. I have no idea what you are talking about. "

Lamruil had come out of his chamber. He looked clean, sober, and was smiling at Tad. "Oh, I can help. You apparently had a very, very good time last night. You danced with Zanna then once she decided to leave in a hurry. You then sat and talked to Yoroula and agreed to help her kill a giant spider or something that has been plaguing the farmers in a distant farming cave that is closed off now. Well, you didn't agree to kill it. You only agreed to help after they swore not to kill it. That was fun to watch btw. I thought she was going to throttle you right there. But she is convinced your cittern will draw the creature out. After that, you thought you'd help the drummers. You shouted something nobody could understand, then went to town on a drum for five minutes. You were also singing something. Again nobody could understand that either. The dwarves were really impressed with your boom, boom, boom, though. Fun times. Ah, you also challenged me to a foot race then immediately face-planted into the second step on the first stairwell. I'm surprised your bruises are all gone. I had not moved, and you'd already lost. I agree with your earlier assessment that you could not beat an elf in a foot race." The elf's smile got wider as he told the story.

Hobart was holding back a laugh, doing a fantastic imitation of a dwarf on fire fighting to hold it in. But it didn't work. "Oh my Lord, that drum solo was amazing. I don't know what you were singing, but they heard it all the way to chamber three. And everyone thought the ghost of Rotgut had possed you for a few minutes there. It was by far the best wake the Hold has seen in a hundred years. " Hobart was saying this while laughing and gasping for air. He was pantomiming the hitting a drum like a wildman.

Tad stood there for a few moments watching the elf and dwarves laughing. He used his soulmancy, but they seemed to be really enjoying themselves. No ill intent at all, he smiled. Well, at least it didn't involve mastadons and monkeys.

"I'm glad you enjoyed the show." Tad smiled weakly, knowing that it was a bit lame to say, "Lamruil, where is Nico? " asked Tad.

"He didn't come back last night, and Beothorn has been running around this morning angry as a dwarf can be. He came into your room several times and mine. Is he always that angry? " asked the elf.

"No, he very rarely is that angry. Usually, whatever makes him that angry finds a quick end, and he starts to feel better. I hope he didn't find Nico. Beothorn calms down in a few hours though, is he still angry? " asked Tad.

Lamruil looked up and down the hall, "I haven't seen him since I heard you all in the hall. You won't be able to miss him. He wasn't pleased with Nico. It's probably best you hadn't woken up when he shook you."

"Yea, and do you know what happened to Zanna? Should I be thinking up ways to apologize? I can't remember any of this, " said a frustrated-sounding Tad as he dressed into some clean clothes, putting his staff in its sling on his back and his pouches on the belt after he strapped it on.

Lamruil paused a moment in contemplation, "I do not remember seeing you do anything, but I wasn't really paying that much attention. The last I saw, you two were dancing and laughing. Tad, you know that is the first time I've seen her smile or laugh. I do not know what you could have done to cause her to run off the way she did. "

Tad thought about it, "Hobart, I have to make a stop before we proceed. " then he walked to Zanna's door-knocking three times and waited. He didn't hear anything. He hit it again with his palm, this time. The stone was hard on knuckles. Tad reached out with his empathy, he knew she was in there, and she was awake. He could never really read her feeling, but he could feel her in there, and she was awake. She must have felt him probing.

Zanna said in a gravelly voice, "Go away, Tad. "

Tad looked down and thumped his forehead against the door slowly a few times. He stopped, then turned and walked down the hall with the dwarves following him.

As the group exited the hallway to their chambers, Lamruil spoke up, "Tad, I am to go with the dwarves to the dig site today. Beothorn asked me to watch the soldiers as they set up. We are all going tonight when they leave. You probably do not need me to catch a big spider as I'm not going to be shooting anything, and you will have a hundred dwarves with you in armor. "

Tad had looked out the window earlier and figured it was past noon here. "That is fine. I still do not know what this is going to be. I think I remember part of the conversation now. They think me playing the cittern using magic will draw the spider out, and then we can trap it in a cage or subchamber. "

Hobart nodded, "That is exactly right, my lord. The councilwoman believes it will react well to the magic you possess, and it can then be baited into the cage with a lizard snack that will be waiting. It had eaten several of our larger breeding lizards before we could find it and close those entrances to that cavern. We will be using one of the larger scorpion trap cages for this. We will have two hundred guards to help us."

Tad remembered seeing that large scorpion on the way to the Hold. How big was this spider, thought Tad?

***

The Cage

Hobart had led Tad with his guards all the way to the back of the Dwarven Hold. It was a long walk, over an hour, through several areas that had almost no light. Tad had finally summoned a light to follow and circle him so he could see the tunnels. Soon he saw a more lit section of the tunnel ahead.

"I do not like this plan. The other council members agreed with me. If you are going to send our guest into there, then you, and only you, will accompany him. If you have problems, you will retreat to this entrance gate, and the guards will assist. If you do not like this, then I will cancel this whole thing right now, " shouted an angry male dwarf.

Ararmut was yelling at Yoroula when Tad's group exited from the tunnel. Tad could see the dwarves now. Ararmut saw Tad and stopped yelling.

"Tad, I'm glad you can join us. " Ararmut was suddenly calm and professional sounding. "We have everything prepared. Did Yoroula explain everything last night? "

Tad nodded to the Yoroula and them Ararmut, "I could use a refresher on it, please. " Tad had no idea what the plan was. He hardly remembered anything past dancing last night.

"The problem is we have a very large spider in this cavern where we grow some of the large mushrooms we use. This area is not visited much because of the length of time it takes to grow a large mushroom to harvest height. Somehow the spider entered the Hold and made it to this cavern. So far, it has not caused any dwarves harm if you don't count the sheer terror the thing invokes. We believe we have lost most of the lizards that we also house here, though. It has been feeding on them. This spider hunts with long lassoes of thick silk that are very sticky. You will see more than a few once we open this stone gateway. " Ararmut pointed at the large stone doors in front, they were each ten feet wide, and it was double doors.

Then he pointed at the cage on wheels. It was an odd thing. In the back of the cage was an additional room that was made from solid iron plates. There was a small door on this side, and the other side had a large cage sliding gate.

"Once we open the door, we do not expect the spider to be at the entrance here. It has always been hidden up in the mushroom caps or on the ceiling. We will push this cage in and arm the two sliding cage gates above. You with Yuroula will stand in the second half here. Inside the cage. When the spider enters, Yuroula will pull the leaver, and both gate doors will come down, and it should be trapped. You two will be safe in this all-iron part, and once done, you will exit from this back door here. " Ararmut paused, waiting to see if Tad had anything to say.

Tad didn't remember any of this from last night. He had lots of questions, "What makes you think the spider will come down into the cage if it hasn't been attacking dwarves so far? What makes you think it can't just grab one of us and pull us out before the gates fall? And what happens if this plan falls apart?" asked Tad, he had more, but Tad thought these were obvious ones. He didn't like this plan at all so far.

"We have two hundred dwarven guards farther down there. They have spears and hammers. You can see them beyond the cage in the tunnel. Well, perhaps you can't, but they are there, rest assured. I'll be watching from a smaller door a few steps down sunk in that wall. If I think this plan isn't working, we will just have to rush in and smash it. We are only doing it this way because you did ask us not to harm it, or you would not help. " Ararmut said. Tad did say that. That sounded exactly like something he would say. He had been around magical and dangerous creatures all his life at the Carnival, and he wasn't going to participate in killing ones that were not causing havoc.

"Also, you will be wearing a chain anchored to the floor there, which will be belted to you. This is how we keep the lizards from being removed, and it should hold you inside the gateway of the trap and safe. If for some reason you are yanked forward, the cage will be sprung as this ring here in the floor also triggers it. " said Ararmut. He was now pointing through the cage bars into the dark part of the metal enclosure on the back. Tad sent his light into the cage so he could see it better.

It had two cage doors that were latch-able in the up position. Those latches had thin metal cables attached to them, and the cables went down under the metal floor of the cage. The entire cage was made of iron, and the bars and support cross members were placed to keep them from being bent outward.

"Yoroula is the one that believes your cittern magic will draw it in. We will not know until we try, though. " Ararmut looked at Yoroula for a second Tad thought he saw the anger back on the dwarf man's face.

Yoroula, showing indignation, said, "It will work, Ararmut."

"OK, I'll give it a try. When are you opening the cage? " asked Tad, looking at the closed cage.

"We will have to open it after we go through the entrance here. The gates are too low to push it forward till then," said Ararmut.

Tad took his amulet off his neck, activated it, and now held his cittern. He put the light strap over his neck and under one arm to hold it in place while he stood and played. Galadinidú was in its strap on his back.

"I am ready," said Tad.

Ararmut waved to the group of dwarves standing nearby. They all lined up behind the cage wagon. Four more went to pull the large stone doors open. The dwarves pushed it inside several feet past the door. Tad sent his light ahead, and he saw a level stone area in front of a large field of Tree sized mushrooms. Some emitted a weak light, and those appeared to be spaced out evenly in each row. Every four mushrooms one was lit. These were all much taller than the cage they pushed forward. The dwarves stopped before they reached the soft earth of the cavern. They chocked the wheels with large stones, then pulled on gates and locked them in place above where they would snap down when the lever was pulled.

Tad followed by Yoroula up the two steps into the back of the cage. He stood there while the dwarves strapped the belt with a chain leading to the ring attached to the floor. Yoroula stepped to the right near the lever. She would be behind the solid edge next to the gate out of view of the opening but next to Tad when the second cage door came down. They should both be on this side of it.

"Don't pull on this chain lad, it will trigger the trap early. " said one of the dwarves before he left.

Well, what wasn't good about this plan, Tad was bait, trying to serenade a giant spider into a trap while he was chained to the floor. He frowned. This keeps getting better and better.

Tad heard the small exit door to the cage close behind him, then the larger double doors to the cavern could be heard shutting. There was a soft thud as they sealed.

***