Kasidy and I moved up the stairs to the third floor. There was no door from the landing into the space. We walked through the archway into what was clearly the mess hall of the outpost. It took up the space of the hallway and all the rooms below. There were three large tables in the room. Hanging on the wall was a black banner with a yellow horse’s head. Just under it was a slightly raised platform with a single chair facing the rest of the room.

Along the outside of the room were arrow slits. It would give the defenders a greater range; however, there weren’t murder holes. On the side opposite of the raised platform on what I would have thought of as the back wall was a ladder that went up to a trapdoor.

On the inside wall were two doors. One in the middle of the room and the other on the far right-hand side of the inside wall just a few feet from the throne

I pointed at the banner. “Do you happen to know that one?”

Kasidy laughed. “I know songs and things in songs but I don’t know all of history. For that you would need a scholar. The sad thing is most of them don’t seem to like bards that much.”

We quickly made our way through the large open room. There just wasn’t much to the room outside the tables and chairs. Everything was in its place like someone thought they would return to it sometime soon.

I paused at the raised platform and pulled up the info on the chair.

Throne of Westiral

March currently unclaimed

Claim?

Yes No

I smiled and clicked on Claim without any thought. Then I got another pop-up.

Congratulations!

Marquess Arn (house redacted) the first, of Westiral

Long may your rule!

I laughed and turned to Kasidy. “Well that was easier than I thought it would be.”

Kasidy asked, “What was?”

“Becoming a noble! That little chair there was a throne. It asked if I wanted to claim it. I didn’t know that it meant the whole march. So I did, now I am the Marquess of Westiral.”

“That’s not how that should work. There is so much more involved in becoming a noble than just claiming a throne… Unless it is claimed by might.”

“The pop up didn’t say that it was by might just asked if I wanted to claim it. So I did. Perhaps it is being claimed by might after all. If that patrol got wiped out and this was the seat of power then it might be….”

Kasidy just shook her head and then smiled. “That might have something to do with the Haunting as well. Let’s see if anything else turns up in this place.”

I, the newly minted Marquess, smiled as I strutted over to the door in the hall. I snorted as I thought about being a landholder and now being a Marquess; perhaps the claiming of the land in the past and now taking a throne put it all together. I needed to find a map of what my title gave to me and to whom I owed allegiance. I hadn’t thought through that last one before I claimed the throne. Perhaps this world didn’t work quite the same way, and the titles were based on holding size alone, not the feudal system.

It wouldn’t matter, however, if we couldn’t get out of the place. We headed through the door in the back. It dumped us in a short hallway that ran the back wall and then turned to the right. It appeared to me the whole point of the hall was the arrow slits. When we made the turn, we were in a hallway set up much the same way as the one below.

Unlike the first hallway, this one only had two doors, one on each end. I tried the door close to us, but like all the others, this one was locked. So Kasidy got to work. Unlike the other doors, she appeared to be having some trouble with it. Where the ones below took only a few seconds, she was working for a couple of minutes before the door opened.

I asked as we walked in. “Lock harder?”

“Yup, the others were low quality locks and so I could just buzz through them. This was a medium quality lock at least. Which gave me more problems, I only started with the lock picking a few years ago.”

I nodded to her as I took a look around the room. It was about a third the length of the floor. However, unlike the much smaller rooms below, there was only a single bed of a much nicer quality. It was still small, but it appeared to be more than just a soldier’s bed. The rest of the room seemed several steps above what we had seen up to this point.

The floor had a large, what I would think of as an oriental rug. Not perfectly, but a pretty good match of the colors and shapes. On top of it sat a well-made two-person table with a rather large game board on it. To the right of the table was a small cabinet that held glasses on top and bottles inside. The two chairs at the table were angled with their backs to the wall so that the people sitting at them would have to turn in to play the game.

On the wall opposite the table were two wardrobes. Both of which were full of high-quality clothing. One held trousers while the other jerkins and tunics, each with the yellow horse head stylized on it somehow. Then there were the two bookshelves. Each shelf was about my height and three feet or so wide, covered with books. Between the two shelves was a locked writing desk.

Kasidy stopped at the shelves and started to run her finger down the spin. “Arn most of these are in languages that I can’t read. The ones that I can are titles that I have heard of in the past. Great stories of old that are hard to come by.”

As her finger touched a light blue book, she gasped. “This one is a skill book. When I touched it asked if I wanted to learn the rules to the game ‘Lands.’ That’s the game of the gods!”

I laughed and said. “Well if you want to learn a game go for it. Perhaps you can teach me as we travel with all the down time we tend to have.”

She smiled and pulled the book out, and started to flip through it. A few moments later, I saw a bright blue light that played across her face. Then it slowly faded, and she smiled. I had expected that the skill book would vanish. However, it just turned a slightly darker shade of blue.

Kasidy closed the book and smiled at me. “Wow, I have never heard of a skill book that could be used again and to think this one gave me the skill at level 15! That’s unheard of.”

I grinned. “Well then let’s hold on to that book. I might need it when I learn to read. That way I can catch up to you.”

She tossed the book on the bed and kept looking around at the other books. As she was doing that, I searched the rest of the room. I picked up and examined each of the bottles learning that they ranged in quality from medium to excellent wines and meads. There were two bottles of brandy on top of the cabinet.

Under the bed, I pulled out two thin lock boxes, one from each side. As they were still locked, I had to wait for Kasidy to finish up with the books. I sat down at the table and waited as Kasidy went through the books. When she finished looking at them, she turned to me and smiled.

Kasidy said. “Most of the ones that I could read were classics on statecraft and warfare. None of the others appeared to be a skill book.”

I pointed to the desk. “The desk and the two lock boxes need your attention. I haven’t seen found anything else in here of note.”

Kasidy sat down at the desk and pulled her lockpick out. With a quick twist of her wrist, the lock opened, and she folded the top up. Then she sighed and leaned forward. I watched as she unlocked the row of small drawers across the top. Once she was down with those, she got up and moved to the lockbox.

With how thin they were, she was having trouble getting low enough, which was kind of funny to watch. I asked. “Want me to put them on the bed?”

She got up from the ground. “Yes please I just can’t get the right angle and this one seems to be a good quality lock. I might not be able to get it but I will try.”

As I moved the boxes to the bed, I said. “Just give it your best shot. I don’t want to break open boxes, but we need to check everything if we are going to beat the Haunting.”

She smiled. “It might be easier to find the key if it is in this place. My hope is that it got left here because these boxes are reinforced magically so I am not sure how we would break them. You being a Hero might could but I don’t any way.”

I waved off the problem and sat down at the desk. While I couldn’t read, I could go through the little things on the desk. The desk area itself was neatly arranged with blank paper put away in a hole on the left. There were two quills sitting in front of an ink jar on the right next to a blotter and a small jar of sand. In the middle of the desk was a thick bound book that, even without reading, I knew was a ledger.

The drawers were different; however, the top left one contained wax bars and a signet of a horse head. I pulled the little ring out and slipped on my pinkie. I should have inspected it first, but that was still something that, even after nine months, I wasn’t doing to everything. It would just be overwhelming. There was a slight flash of light, and the ring, which wasn’t fitting, slid over my finger.

I focused on the item and selected to see what it was.

Signet of the lord of Westiral

Wearing this ring proves the right to Westiral

Grants

Full access to Castle Westiral

Sealed message once a day seal a message only it’s precipitant may open

1/1

I shrugged a bit and kept looking through the desk. In the drawer next to the wax was one filled with waxed strings. Then there was one with taper candles. The next one over held a thin metal stick about 8 inches long that was inscribed. I could feel the magic on it, so I inspected it.

Candle lighter

Creates a small flame lasting no more than 30 seconds twice a day.

2/2

I smiled. Another magical item. This one clearly part of the desk set, so that wax could be used to seal a scroll. What I still wasn’t sure about was why, in a world with magic, they would use the wax seal method. Sure, it looked cool and all, but wouldn’t there be something better and more available than even my new ring?

The last drawer contained many small items. A fine pair of scissors, the first I had seen. Even the tailor had used a knife and board to cut cloth. Then I pulled out a small knife and whetstone. My guess, with how small the cutting edge on the knife that it was meant to keep the quill in shape. Lastly was a small glass jar with glowing sand in it.

Jar of mana sand

This sand provides a minor boost to magical inscription

75/100

Just as I was finishing going through the desk, I heard Kasidy groan in frustration. “These just aren’t opening for me. They are too high a level.”

I stood up and shrugged. “We can check them out once we finish the rest of the place. If we can’t figure a way in before. If push comes to shove we can just break them open.”

Kasidy pushed herself away from the bed. “I don’t think we can break them open. With locks like those the boxes are likely reinforce magically as well.”

We headed out of the room towards the last door on this side. I tested it. I heard a slight click of the lock and then the door open. I raised an eyebrow and shot a look back at Kasidy, who just shrugged.

I opened the door the rest of the way, and we stepped into another single-occupancy room. This one was also about a third the length of the floor. Whereas the other room was clearly filled with a higher quality of furnishings, this one was the standard level of the rest of the outpost. The things that made it stand out were the desk and a second armor stand that was still filled.

Kasidy went right to the footlocker. As she passed me, she said. “I think this is the commander’s room. The other one was too nice.”

I went right over to the armor stand. The armor was clearly well cared for. However, it also was clearly not what would be worn in combat. It was more of a parade uniform. The breastplate was shined brightly and covered with ornate metalwork. The helmet was open-faced with a large crest, once again polished beyond use. Every part of the armor was covered with decorations that would make it less useful in battle but look better in court.

I glanced back at Kasidy, who seemed to be having a hard time with the footlocker. Then I moved over to the desk. There were the same sorts of things on the desk that was on the other. They just weren’t as nice. Quill, ink pot, blotter, and paper. Nothing to seal a letter with nor drawers to keep supplies. Only stacks of papers in two boxes on the desk. The box on the left had far more paper in it, all written on, than the one on the right. The right-hand box appeared to have two sets of handwriting.

Kasidy slammed her hand down on the lid of the box. “This ones open!”

Then she popped the box open and started to go through things. I walked over, and I saw her pull out what could only be a journal. It was at the bottom of everything and had another small lock on it. Kasidy was quick to open it, and then she started to flip through.

Kasidy smiled. “This is the commander’s stuff. Looks like he started this journal when he got the post. There’s a lot here.”

I shook my head. “Skip to the end see if it tells anything.”

Kasidy got quiet for a few moments. “Yeah I think this is most of what we need.”

* * *