CHAPTER NOTES
Back to Chapter List | |<- First Chapter | <- Previous ChapterChapter 5: The Great Spider and the White Door
Date Published: 2011-05-29
Running Time: 11:25
Presented by: Justin Robert Young and Brian Brushwood with Andrew Mayne
Show Notes:
"I will take you to the library," Giggleloop says as she flips her hair, and out flies dust and specks of someone else's blood. "You are going to need to access forbidden sections." They walk the short way down to the library, and Giggleloop leads them through the massive stone doors.
"Welcome to the place where all knowledge is kept," a man in a dark red robe greets them.
"Hello Patrick," Giggleloop waves at the man, "We need to find a way for these two to get back home."
"And where is home for you two?" Patrick Delahanty smiles as he slides the hood of his robes down, revealing his wizened face.
"Uh..." Brian grumbles, "Not here."
"I believe they come from one of the Outworlds." Giggleloop says as Patrick nods in understanding. "I have to take my leave for now, will you treat them with all the respect you would give to me?"
"But of course," Patrick nods, and Giggleloop turns and exits the library back in the direction of the east wall. "So you come from the Outworlds eh? That will require some very old texts from a very lost section of this library. Come this way." Patrick waves his hand down a long hallway with massive bookshelves reaching up to the ceiling on either side. "We must speak with the Guy of Shadows, he is the keeper of forbidden secrets." Patrick says quietly, as though the mention of the secrets would burn his tongue. They walk down the hallway until they reach a door, with a slot in it, and as soon as they approach, the slot slams open, and a sinister pair of eyes peer out.
"What is the password?" The disembodied voice of the eyes whispers out. Patrick gets in very close to the slot.
"Parsimony." The slot slams shut, and the tumblers of the door can be heard disengaging, and it finally creaks open. As they enter the dark area of the library, the figure from behind the door can be seen walking down an aisle, barely visible is his black cloak waving as he walks.
"You need tomes of the Outworlds," The cloaked man says from far down the aisle, "I will get what there is, sit down."
"He spends much of his days here, his people skills have been irreversibly altered." Patrick says with a smile as he sits down at the only table in this section of the library. A moment later, the cloaked man comes back with a single massive tome, sets it down on the table. He then turns, and walks away.
"Thank you Shadow Guy!" Patrick yells down the aisle at the man with a laugh in his voice. Patrick Delahanty opens the book slowly, "I have read this book once before." He looks over the pages, trying to remember the facts he needed. "You seek a way back to the Outworlds?"
"I think so yeah," Justin tries to peer into the book as Patrick turns the pages delicately.
"I do remember this, there is only one to come from the Outworlds, who ever made it back to them." He says as he searches the tomes many pages. "Okay, here we go. A man came from the Outworlds, ventured to find the ways of the elements, the ways of magic, and then he found his way home."
"How did they get back?" Brian asks, almost standing up from his chair.
"It says he discovered a doorway in a cave deep in the Demon Forest. A doorway that led him home, much the same way he described a doorway leading him here." Patrick turns the page as he mouths words. "Do you know of the great wizard Andrew Mayne?"
"WHAA!?" Justin stands up and his chair falls back. "Andrew really does know magic!?"
"So you do know of this wizard?" Patrick asks.
"Yeah, we know of him." Brian says, trying to calm Justin down.
"We need to get to this cave, and find this door." Justin says with a sigh to calm himself down.
"I will get you a guide, and he will take you there." Patrick says as he closes the tome and stands. A while later, Brian and Justin stand opposite a knight in full armor, packing supplies onto a horse. "This is Ronaketh, one of the Great Defenders of Chatrealm." Patrick points at the man, who shakes Brian and Justin's hands.
"Ronaketh the D at your service!" He says as he turns back to his pack and tightens the leather straps.
"Won't we need more than one guy to get through that Demon Forest place?" Brian looks over Ronaketh.
"The Great Defenders of Chatrealm are a rare breed, they are the strongest soldiers that Chatrealm has ever had. There are only five Great Defenders alive now, and Ronaketh is one of them." Ronaketh silently packs his horse.
"Are you ready to go?" Ronaketh looks up at the two as another horse is walked up to them.
"Yes sir." Justin nods as he is helped up onto the horse, followed by Brian.
"Then we head for the Demon woods!" He yells as he gives his horse a swift kick, and Patrick smacks Brian and Justin's horse to get it going. They race through the plains, and reach the forest very quickly. Ronaketh turns to them, "If something attacks us, you two do NOT try and fight it, you leave it to me, these Demons will very literally eat your faces." Brian and Justin nod, as they head into the woods.
The horses move more slowly through the woods, they know all well what lives in them. Ronaketh scans the trees as they move forward, searching for a cave.
"We should not be far, the base of the mountain is just up ahead, and that will be where we'll find caves." Ronaketh points ahead. He cocks his head as though he were listening to something, and then shakes his head and continues forward. "And there it is, the only cave we know of on this side of the mountain, this is almost certainly the one spoken of in the tome." Ronaketh jumps off his horse, and helps Brian and Justin off theirs. All of a sudden, a hiss breaks the calm silence of the forest.
Ronaketh grabs his sword and shield and turns towards the noise. The hiss continues as loud crashing sounds bellow through the woods. "I know what approaches," Ronaketh yells over the increasingly loud his and crashing sounds of trees being torn down, "You two must go, the doorway is told to be at the bottom of the cave, not far from where we are, you must go," The trees at the edge of their vision begin falling down as the hissing grows louder, "GO, NOW!"
Brian and Justin look towards the falling trees, and the terror in the eyes of Ronaketh, "I will be fine, you two go!" He yells as he gets into a battle stance with his shield at the ready. Brian and Justin turn towards the cave and sprint into the darkness. Ronaketh closes his eyes, and breathes deeply, listening to the calm sounds of the forest, blocking out the terror that approaches. A moment later, the terror breaks through, and Ronaketh opens his eyes to see the beast just ahead.
A massive purple spider with the eyes of a man, and a terrifying mouth above the spider jowls crashes through the woods quickly approaching Ronaketh.
"Spider Merritt," Ronaketh laughs and smiles in the face of certain death, "We meet again." The beast's hissing stops, and the human eyes look directly into Ronaketh's. The spider jumps high into the air, and comes down on the knight. Ronaketh throws up his shield, blocking the fangs from their killer strike. He forces the spider up, and rolls out from under it. The Defender of Chatrealm throws down his shield and releases a massive roar, brandishing his massive sword with both hands. Spider Merritt rushes him, and Ronaketh spins out of the way, slashing across the spider's left set of legs. The spider releases a massive screech.
"You will die for your pathetic Chatrealm!" The spider screams in an echoing voice. It begins knocking down trees towards Ronaketh. The knight has to roll out of the way of many falling behemoths, and is finally knocked down by the impact of one. He lays on the ground amidst broken branches as the spider crawls over him. The fangs come out, and Ronaketh looks for his sword, just feet outside his reach. He stares up at the massive fangs, and smiles.
The fangs slam down, and Ronaketh closes his eyes, but the death strike is never dealt. Instead, Ronaketh hears screeching as he feels the weight of Spider Merritt lift off of him. He looks up, and sees a spear sticking out of the spider's abdomen. Spider Merritt slides back away from the man, and another spear flies through the air, landing just inches from the spider in the dirt. From one of the trees jumps a woman in tattered clothing and a crown of vines.
Ronaketh struggles onto his feet, feeling what is most likely a bruised rib or two under his armor.
"Ekaproxy," He says to the woman, who continues holding a spear, ready to throw at anytime, "We all thought you had been taken by one of Demon Lord's raiding parties."
"Fat chance at that," The woman laughs, "I have taken out a few of those raiding parties though, great fun." The spider screeches, trying to peel the spear from his abdomen. "I have been training myself in the ways of survival, the art of war."
"And the art of perfect timing as well." Ronaketh smiles as he picks up his sword, and readies it. "Now Spider Merritt! Do you feel as almighty against TWO of Chatrealms great Defenders?" The spider backs away as the two approach slowly. Ekaproxy reels back, and heaves her final spear with everything she has. The spider jumps high into the air, avoiding the spear, which slams into a tree, sliding all the way though the trunk and sticking out the other side. The massive spider disappears into the tree tops, and can be heard skittering away high in the branches. Ronaketh, and Ekaproxy stand in the woods, the hissing fades and the calm of the forest returns.
Down in the depths of the cave, Brian and Justin run down the dark paths, and after venturing several miles into the pitch black cave system, they happen onto a room which is fully lit by torches. At the end of the open cavern sits a pure white door.
"Home sweet home!" Brian yells as he runs towards the door.
"I can't wait to have me a little chat with A Mayne." Justin follows Brian towards the door. Brian places his hand on the golden door knob, and takes a deep breath. He turns the knob, and the two walk through the brightly lit doorway.
This chapter was written by Josh Hilp. Audio editing was provided by Zak Holder.
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