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The neighborhood of Kelspar sits against the
South Wall of the City of Oth. Here the streets are
choked with narrow houses crowded so tightly that their roofs
are pinched. Low stone porches sit before each doorway
and the cobblestoned streets slope down into wide gulleys
where the water and garbage swirl into heavy iron grates.
It rains often but the walls never get clean because
each raindrop is oily and carries soot down from the wheeling
black cloud that never parts above the rooftops of Oth.
It was one night in the coldest time of the
year that the two boys, Bendin
and Velnar noticed the shadowy
figure fumbling with a ring of keys at the alley's end. Orphans
both, they had never noticed the door and had never seen the
large figure that had stopped to open it. When finally
the stranger turned the correct key in the lock the door swung
inward allowing candlelit to shine out. For a brief
instant they saw the stranger dressed in a tall hat and long
jacket as he stepped into the door and out of sight. This
was not as odd as the fact that the figure seemed larger than
a man and that where there should have been a face, there
were only red feathers.
Curious who he might be, the two boys moved
down the alley to where the stranger had left the door ajar.
Peering into the room beyond they saw a neat chamber
of tables and chairs. On the far side of the room they
watched as a wardrobe closed from the inside and the candle
nearby guttered and went dark, plunging everything into black.
Velnar grabbed a board from the alley and wrapped rags
around one end and Bendin climbed the nearest oil lamppost
to light the torch. With this new light they opened
the door and went in. They lit the candle and examined
the room. Velnar was sure that the stranger had entered
the wardrobe and so they chopped and beat at the wooden doors
with their daggers and staff until it opened. Holding
the torch closer they saw that there was no back to the wardrobe
at all, but rather a passageway with a staircase leading down
into more darkness.
Bendin grabbed a cobblestone from the alleyway
and tossed it down the stairs. The two listened as it
rolled down the stone stairs and then skittered across a floor.
Below, footsteps and squeals issued from the darkness
so the two ran down the steps. Below they saw a carpeted
room with a heavy wood preparation table covered with plates
and cups and food. Scrambling about the room were a
handful of Urdari trying to find ready exits. Another
raced toward them with a frying pan in its hand. Bendin
threw his daggers and Velnar bashed the remaining Urdar with
his staff, bringing it down. All was too late however,
for the alarm had been raised. The two quickly took
to looting the bodies.
Bendin found a small concealed compartment
in the fireplace which contained a rolled piece of parchment,
covered with writing. While he marveled at the words
(which he could not read) a door on the room's far side opened
and an Urdar threw a knife at him. The two turned and
went for the door, opening it. On the other side they
found an Urdar trying to open a far door to get away. He
did not.
Trying another door, Bendin found a hall with
more Urdar cowering at the far end. Velnar watched curiously
as his partner talked with the Urdar about sausages. The
ugly little people promised Bendin that they had plenty. In
time the argument devolved into another fight and more Urdar
were left for dead.
With the Urdari dead or fled, the two boys
explored the complex and found a cloak room and a large dining
room with seats for a dozen guests. Beyond the dining
room they found stairs leading down to a lower level. At
the bottom of the stairs, Bendin jumped aside as a pit opened
beneath him. In the room nearby they found a large black
bird-like creature wearing armor and a carrying a spear. The
Craw attacked them. Velnar was able to cast a spell
that injured the creature before the monster thrust its spear
through Bendin's side, dropping him convulsing to the floor.
Velnar was able to kill the Craw guard and drag his
friend from the dungeon without further encounter.
After many days of waiting for Bendin to heal,
the two returned to the lair. Working their way back
downstairs they were stopped in the dining room by a raspy
voice of the owner of this place. The red Craw in the
long jacket and hat waved his hands and sheets of fire shot
from his fingertips, burning Bendin and lighting the tabletop
candles. Bendin rushed forward with his torch, but his
adversary cast another spell, plunging even the torch's light
into darkness. The red Craw cast more spells, sending
glowing red balls of light into the two boys, but nothing
slowed them down. Toward the end, Velnar was sent sprawling
by the monster's claw and did not get up. This time,
Bendin was able to punch his dagger deep into the monster's
chest and stand there as it screamed and fell to the stone
floor, dead.
Bendin used some old rags to bind Velnar's
wound and dragged him back to their home beneath the store.
After many days of waiting, they returned a final time
to the underground place to find it rank with the smell of
the rotting dead. They found some coins and a golden
ring on the Craw's finger with magic writing on the inside
of the band. The rest of the rooms they checked were
empty. Back at their hole, the two looked again at the
parchment Bendin had found and wondered what it said and why
someone had bothered to hide it behind a stone in the fireplace.
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