Topic: Karma's Treasure
Karmas Treasure
By Grayfield
The group of adventurers cautiously approached the ruins they had spent three years searching for now. Ever since their little group had formed during their university days and the rumour of this place’s existence had reached them they had been searching for it. Little rumours and whispers and fragments of texts found in old tomes had been all they had to lead them on for almost three years until they had found it; a set of instructions that had lead them here. And now, if their information was correct, they were about to discover the great hidden treasure of Karma, one of the Great Demons. The leader grinned with excitement as he caught sight of the ruins.
“Let’s go.” Darien was a strapping lad who measured in at an impressive six foot five inches. His arms were thick with muscles and he wore his plate armour and carried his greatsword over his back as if their weight meant nothing. His handsome good looks and cheerful, charismatic personality had drawn in most of the others and his brazen disregard for anything that could harm him had kept them together through thick and thin.
Of course it was the work of the second in command, Hillary, which had gotten them this far. A quite skilled magic user, Hillary had graduated from university last year and was now a professional mage. Her occult knowledge and skills had translated texts and brought them the knowledge they had needed to get to this point. She was also quite pretty with an athletic build uncommon to practitioners of magic. Her relatively small bust was made up for by her well toned figure and piercing green eyes and her red hair had a passionate swirl to it that had drawn the eye of many men.
Following her were her self-appointed apprentices, the twins. Though not incredibly skilled the two girls had an aptitude for magic and were useful enough as skilled labour that Hillary had kept them around and agreed to teach them. Although they were both nineteen now they had the youthful look of girls still around the age of fifteen, a matter they were planning to fix with magic if they didn’t mature a little faster soon. Still, their appealing blue eyes and cute demeanour had allowed the group to get bits of information that would have been either hard or impossible to get with another type of influence.
Then there was Delilah, Darius’ younger sister. Two years his junior, she had decided to follow him wherever he went and help him in his quests. Although she hadn’t really inherited his good looks from their parents, she had gotten the same ability to bear heavy loads. A bit more muscular than Hillary, the tall girl could carry much more than her frame would suggest and was used as the porter for the party. Not wishing to be kicked out of the group for complaining she had taken the task of lifting and carrying in her stride knowing that at least it meant she could stay by her beloved bother’s side.
Walking beside her was Trillian, the party thief. She was quite happy to admit it and her easy going nature had kept the morale of the group up in the more depressing times. Her slight figure and quick hands meant that she was very good at her ‘job’. Besides, sometimes people had been a little reluctant to part with the next part of information they had needed, and they weren’t about to let a little thing like laws stand in the way of a prize as big as this.
“Remember everyone, my wardings are more effective the closer we stay together so don’t go wandering off unless you want to fall prey to one of the inevitable traps we’ll find in here.” Hillary told them as they approached the hoped-for entrance. Trillian rolled her eyes.
“We know, Hillary. We haven’t gotten this far by being stupid you know? I don’t intend to end up as some demon’s plaything now.” Hillary adopted a haughty pose, choosing to ignore the slighter girl’s sarcasm.
“Well, as long as we’re all clear then.” Darien let out a loud laugh then that startled the others, pointing across the remains of the room they were in, the roof and most of the walls long since demolished, to a set of steel doors that lay at a forty five degree angle to the floor. They were set in some kind of concrete that despite the ruin of the structures around them held its original shape. Darien dashed over to it and ran a hand over its smooth surface.
“This has got to be it. Look at this, nothing we know of could possibly last like this. It isn’t even slightly worn, and there’s no vegetation growing over it.” He waved Trillian over. “Find that lockbox and get this thing open.” Trillian glared at Darien’s back but headed over to do as she was told. If he wasn’t so damn attractive she would never have let him get away with ordering her around like that. Trillian looked over the door until she found a panel to one side with a numerical keypad on it. She smiled, remembering how she had acquired the supposed code to this lock. Now was her chance to try it out. She punched the code into the softly glowing keypad and waited with held breath, not knowing what would happen if her information had been wrong.