Episode 9: The Spirit of Adventure (Part 8 of 8)

Trying to make the first move, Locke quickly draws upon Lilanei's spellbook once more. He opens the book and holds it in one palm as he holds his free hand aloft in the air; however, as he finds the incantation he wishes to use, a gust of icy wind blows from his and Lilanei's west, causing the pages to flick towards the beginning of the book just as Locke was beginning to form a flaming sphere in his palm. Without being able to finish the incantation, the sphere simply flickers and dies. Roaring in his deep native language, the Ice Archon then begins to march forward across the room quickly, his upper body seemingly extending from his lower body, a pillar of ice which slides beneath it – in essence giving the Ice Archon the appearance that he is sliding across the ground towards our Heroes. In moments, the Archon charges directly at Lil, or rather the wizard in the rogue's body, before it raises its mighty ice hammer in the air and smashes it downwards onto Lil's left shoulder. The force of the blow forces Lil to grab her shoulder in pain as, all of a sudden, she feels an intense chill run through her body as she begins to violently shiver on the spot.

Lilanei's teeth chattering due to the intense cold, she nevertheless reaches behind her and grabs Locke's crossbow. Slowly but swiftly, she then brings it forwards and aims the weapon at the Ice Archon before her. With her arms shaking in the intense cold, Lilanei tries to keep her focus as she squeezes the trigger of the crossbow, sending off a bolt which flies towards the massive monster. Immediately after her first shot, she fires off two more bolts, which all fly directly at the Archon as well. The first bolt hits the Archon bluntly in the face, followed by the second and the third – causing the Archon to roar in pain as it grabs its face with its free hand. With the Archon distracted, Locke uses the time to once again refer to Lil's spellbook. This time, without a violently chilly wind to blow on the book, Locke opens the book to the appropriate page as he raises his free palm towards the Ice Archon and begins to mumble incoherent words. Within seconds, a flicker of flame materializes behind the Ice Archon before exploding into a fairly large ball of flame – the heat radiating from the sphere being so intense as to cause the Ice Archon great pain and discomfort. As the sphere roars with fire, ice begins to melt into water slightly on the ice pillar on which the Archon stands.

Despite the roaring fire behind it, the Ice Archon's determination to fell his opponents is unwavering and he continues to set his attention on Lilanei – who he perceives to be the male, therefore the dominant of the pair, because of her appearance. Although he cannot see due to his blinded state, he swings his hammer in a sideways motion, attempting to cause the hammer to collide with anything it can; however due to his blinded state, the Archon's hammer hits nothing but air. Sweating bullets as the hammer sweeps just inches from her face, Lilanei attempts to shift her position. She finds that her feet are almost frozen to the ground due to the Ice Archon's surrounding ice trail, but nevertheless, she manages to slowly shift herself a good fifteen feet away before once again pointing the crossbow at the Ice Archon and attempting to deal another blow. She fires off another bolt, but ultimately misses the Ice Archon as the bolt collides with an icy wall some distance behind it.

Locke decides to draw upon his memory once more as he raises his palm towards the Ice Archon again. This time, an orb of magical force appears within his palm which he immediately hurls towards the Ice Archon, but unfortunately, just like Lil's attempted shot with her crossbow, Locke's orb flies past the creature's head and collides with a stalagmite – sending shards of sharp, large pieces of ice flying across the room. As the orb collides with a stalagmite behind it, the Ice Archon suddenly appears to regain its senses as its gaze seemingly shifts and rests upon Locke's girlish figure. With a deep and sinister laugh, the Ice Archon begins to glide forwards across the ground, all the while swinging its large and frigid ice hammer in the air and towards Locke's lower torso. The hammer collides with Locke's lower torso with a harsh blow, forcing all the breath out from Locke as a sharp, cold pain surges through his body and causes the young rogue turned wizard to shiver uncontrollably. Unable to move, he continues to shiver while the ground around him turns to jagged ice due to the creature chilly aura. Now staring down the creature's back in her position across the room, Lilanei excitedly attempts to fire off another bolt into the Ice Archon's unguarded back; however she is deeply distraught when the crossbow merely clicks and does nothing else.

"Erm," Lil murmurs aloud nervously. "Locke, is it broken?"

"N-no!" Locke gasps through the cold. "Reload it!"

"Reload? Oh. . . right!" Lilanei cries as she reaches swiftly into Locke's holster to retrieve a new magazine for the crossbow, which she then begins to reload.

The Ice Archon ignores what he believes to be the male behind him and instead he looks down his icy snout at Locke, emitting a mocking chuckle at Locke's shivering little body. With no mercy, it then brandishes its icy maul which it swings violently once again into Locke's torso. The hammer collides with Locke's new feminine body causing more damage than before as Locke is unable to move in any way to cushion the blow. Instead the hammer hits Locke's body with full force; the impact of the hammer causes Locke to immediate spit up a pool of blood which splatters onto the icy floor, forcing Locke to double over in a crouched position below the large Ice Archon. Shivering violently as more blood spurts from his mouth, Locke reaches into Lilanei's bag and withdraws one potion which he weakly opens and drinks from – all the while his body continuing to shiver uncontrollably. Immediately, the potion's effects come into play and Locke stands up once more, feeling slightly refreshed as the icy sensation he felt in his body disappears. Quickly raising his palm in the air, Locke calls forth the flaming sphere which floats across the room and lands floating on the Ice Archon's rear – the flames of the orb once again eating away at his ice covered body. The Ice Archon roars in pain as his body begins to shrink due to the fact the ice pillar which makes up its lower body is melting from underneath him.

Extremely agitated that its form has begun to melt, the creature seems to give off a loathsome glare as it grasps its hammer tightly with both hands and slams it down upon Locke – hoping to give him one last deadly blow. The hammer slams straight into the top of Locke's Elven head, forcing him to collapse to the floor as blood begins to drip down from the top of his head – giving his new green hair a blood-red tint. Locke begins to clutch his head tightly with his palm as he remains on the floor, pain violently surging through his body. In the meantime, Lilanei busies herself in the corner of the room as she grumbles angrily, her hands fumbling as she attempts to reload Locke's crossbow. Just as the magazine clicks into place and she emits a sigh of relief, she notices the ring which Locke wore on his left hand begin to emit a slight glow. Blinking, Lilanei looks up she notices the very distraught figure of Locke as he crouches on the floor and cradles his head in intense pain. With a sense of urgency, she re-holsters her frustrating crossbow and instead withdraws Locke's double sword, before she charges across the room and around to the Archon's right side, stumbling slightly as her feet make contact with the very icy ground around the creature.

Pointing one of the double sword's ends at the Ice Archon, Lil then cries, "I'll show you what Kingdom you belong to. . . Snowflake!"

Immediately following her version of Locke's motto, Lilanei slashes violently for the Ice Archon's melting pillar base, causing many shards of ice to fly into the air and create a snow-like mist. The Ice Archon lurches forwards from the pain, its seemingly organic-looking upper half now crouching and merging with its pillar-like base. Seeing her opportunity, Lilanei ducks under the Archon and swiftly appears around it before then leaping into the air. Once she is a good six feet in the air, to her surprise, she kicks her feet violently out into the side of the Ice Archon – the force of her dropkick causing the creature to slide five feet across the room.

Locke meanwhile crawls away from the Ice Archon and Lilanei and plops down weakly on the floor some good ten feet away from the action. Dizzily, Locke grabs Lil's spellbook and reads another spell from it. No colours of magical energy or flames fly from his hand, but his hand, which rotates in front of him, seemingly begins to entrance the Ice Archon who now looks down at him from his position in the room. As Locke continues to wave his hand towards the Archon, the creature's movements become slower and slower. With the spell taking effect, Locke uses this time to take another potion which he quickly drinks to regain his strength. The Ice Archon's body begins to waver to and fro as he feels the effects of Locke's spell taking hold. He attempts to shake it off; however the sleepy sensation is too much for it to withstand and its head suddenly droops forward as it falls asleep standing up. Lilanei, unconcerned for the Ice Archon who now sleeps soundly, instead looks to Locke who continues to gush blood from his head. Reaching into Locke's ruck sack as she moves across the room, she kneels next to Locke as she uncaps the bottle she now holds before presenting it to him.

With a frown of concern, she simply exclaims, "Drink!"

Locke complies, opening his mouth and swallowing the glowing blue liquid from the bottle. He gasps and sits up as the blood begins to clot in his green hair before he wipes the excess blood from his face. Standing up, Locke quickly waves his hand and in an instant the flaming orb which has just sat in mid air away from the battle floats over and behind the Ice Archon – who is too immersed in his sleep to notice the flaming orb which continues to melt away at its pillared base.

"Its body is beginning to melt badly. . . Maybe we can finish it off before it wakes up," Locke weakly points out between breaths.

Just as Locke speaks, however, the creature's head snaps up and it cries with pain as the flames which continue to eat at its body cause it to wake up. Weakly murmuring as the fireball continues to melt away at its ice body, the Ice Archon slowly shifts to his left, away from the ball of fire and directly in front of Lilanei. Weakly shifting itself as it begins to lift its hammer into the air, it attempts another harsh attack at Lilanei's person. Nonetheless, in its weakened state, Lil's figure appears to flicker in front of it in a blur – its vision impaired from its weak and dazed state – causing the hammer to simply breeze past her. Lilanei slightly lurches to the side as the hammer swooshes past her body and to the floor. Breathing a heavy sigh of relief, she once again brandishes Locke's double sword which she attempts to thrust forwards into the creature's melting body. Unfortunately, as she makes her attack, the section of the Archon's body which she attempts to hit recedes as it melts, Lilanei's blade just falling short of its target.

Withdrawing Lil's dagger, Locke ducks and walks under Lilanei's arm, bringing himself in front of her as he holds his dagger high at the Ice Archon's face and, with gritted teeth, cries, "Chew on this, Frosty!"

With that, the tip of Locke's dagger glows brightly before a beam of magical white light flies from its tip and collides violently with the Archon's face, forcing chunks of ice to fly from it and leaving a haze of frost and water hanging in the air – blocking Locke and Lil's sight of the creature and what damage Locke inflicted upon it. As the haze fades away, Locke's purple eyes widen as he realizes the Ice Archon's face is partly demolished, a whole half of its head and face now completely gone from its body and simply melting on the ground beside it. Heaving and breathing heavily, the Ice Archon grabs Locke by the collar, lifting him into the air and to his "eye level" as he roars deeply in his native tongue. Despite the fact Locke cannot understand its language, the creature finishes what appears to be a taunt before raising its opposite hand in the air, which now brandishes his massive hammer. Swiftly, the Archon brings the blunt and frigid end of the hammer down in a violent swing as it collides with Locke's body – the Ice Archon letting him go just in time as the hammer hits his body, much like a bat and ball. He immediately flies across the room upon impact and lands in a heap some twenty feet away from Lilanei and the Archon, Locke no longer moving as he groans in pain. Lilanei's gaze widens as she watches Locke fly across the room like a mere rag doll. She then looks angrily to the Ice Archon and cries out as she charges the five feet between herself and the creature and attempts another strike; however, in her anger, she slips on the melting ice that is the Ice Archon and misses completely with her strike.

Lifting his head, Locke gazes wearily at Lilanei and the Ice Archon before drawing all of his concentration to the flaming sphere, which he directs to the back of the creature once more – before his head drops onto the icy floor with a thud. The flaming sphere continues to eat away at the Ice Archon, who now begins to shrink down to a mere six feet of its previous ten feet height. Its head drooping as its body melts, the creature notices Lilanei's prone body on the ground as she lays dazed on her stomach. With an evil growl, the Ice Archon weakly raises his maul into the air before slamming it down into Lilanei's back with tremendous force, causing Lil's head as well as her limbs to spasm and thrust up in the air as she cries out in pain and coughs up blood. Her limbs twitching, she attempts to push herself up from the ground to face the Archon, but her weak states causes her palms to slide underneath her and across the floor, which forces her body to fall to the ground in a heap.

Locke as well continues to lie on the ground motionless, and the Ice Archon looks to both Locke and then Lilanei before raising its hammer high into the air in what it believes to be victory. Nevertheless, the flaming sphere behind it continues to eat away at its icy body in the meantime. The lower half of its body, which was a pillar of ice, melts away completely and now the heat of the flames lick fully at its upper organic-appearing body. Letting out a large howl of pain, the Ice Archon begins to melt further and further, shrinking more and more, until finally all that is left – as Locke once again looks up – is the neck and half of the Archon's head. With a final cry, they also melts into the puddle, the Ice Archon's mere hammer being left behind as it floats slightly in the melting pool of water. The flaming sphere flickers away into nothingness as Locke begins to now weakly turn onto his stomach and crawls slowly towards Lilanei. Once he's within arm's reach of his companion, Locke places a hand on her shoulder and gently nudges her.

"Lilanei," Locke breathes, “are you alive?"

Groaning slightly beneath her breath, Lilanei begins, "The next time. . . a town asks. . . for our help. . ." She pauses before her head slowly snaps up as she looks to Locke with a vicious glare and continues, "leave me out of it!"

"Glad to see you're okay after all," Locke replies weakly with a smile; he then looks over to all that remains of the Archon, the single ice hammer, before he says, "I can't believe it. . . That thing packed such a punch. . . It was a miracle we survived."

Shifting uncomfortably due to the cold puddle which dampens her clothes, Lil grumbles, "Well, it did mention that it defeated some kind of Godly master. . . He obviously wasn't just any run-of-the-mill monster."

"And yet we beat it!" Locke groans as he weakly raises his fist into the air, which quickly drops back down. "What does that make us?"

Lil slightly chuckles as she says, "Besides stupid fools?"

"Yes," Locke replies with a weakened groan. "That, but we must also possess the power of a God!"

"Or maybe we were just lucky," Lil grumbles in her usual grim fashion.

"Well, whatever," Locke pants. "We defeated it. . . That's all that matters."

"I suppose," Lil says with a weak smile.

Eventually, Locke stands up and after a few moments, he manages to pull Lil to her feet as well. From there, the two rest against each as they begin to weakly limp away from the Ice Archon and towards the door of the room. Locke stops for a moment and looks back at the puddle that remains of the Ice Archon.

Feebly, Lilanei looks down to Locke and says, "What is it?"

". . . Didn't Marven request proof or a trophy of the beast's demise?"

Lilanei appears to think for a moment, before exclaiming, "Oh yeah! Jeez, it would have been a real pain to go through all this and go back with nothing to show for it. . ."

"Exactly," Locke replies. "Which is why we'll take its hammer back with us."

Locke walks over to the hammer and grasps its large handle tightly with his feminine hands; however as he strains to lift it, he eventually gasps and sighs, "It's too heavy. . ."

Sighing, Lilanei steps forward and takes the handle from Locke, lifting the hammer but an inch from the ground before it drops back to the floor. Lilanei then grumbles, "Nrgh. . . I guess I'll just have to drag it out."

Leading the way, Locke begins to march towards the large ice doors which lead back to the underground lair, but just before they reach them, the doors slam shut with a loud “BOOM!”

"What the?" Locke asks weakly as his eyes widen at the doors.

Lilanei drops the hammer behind her and cries, "Argh! Please don't tell me—"

Suddenly, the two hear a light titter coming from the other side of the room, as the familiar image of Amun appears from behind a tall stalagmite.

"Amun," Locke sighs. "What now?"

"Now? Now, now, you tell me how," Amun rhymes.

"What?" Locke asks, almost breathless.

"Tell Amun how you got the job done!" He simply replies in his childish fashion. "Most zero heroes would have froze when facing such a foe! Amun must know how you arose from utterly obnoxious egos to ones of heroes."

"We caused it to melt!" Locke shouts weakly. "Now, are you going to be useful for once? How about getting us out?"

"Out?" Amun asks with a slight frown. "You make Amun pout."

"Come on," Locke breathes with exasperation. "We're tired, beaten up, and very weak. We need to get out. . ."

"Amun's zero heroes would leave him alone on his own? That I cannot condone! He would be quite blue without you two! For you provide much joy to this old boy."

"Then what do you suggest we do?" Locke snaps angrily. "Sit around in here forever, playing cards?"

"Yay! Stay and play!" Amun loudly exclaims as it appears to smile.

Lilanei interjects as she slightly smiles and says, "Well, maybe if Amun didn't live in a cold pit in the ground, we would stay," she pauses before angrily frowning and crying, "but he does! And we don't have the sort of constitutions to put up with such hellish conditions! Let us go!"

"For s-hoo'!" Locke begins before sneezing and wiping his nose.

"Bless you," Amun titters, before continuing, "Well, Mr. Achoo, heroes must do as heroes do, that much is true! Amun supposes he can let you through, but," Amun pauses as a sinister cackle emits from its skeletal jaw, “this does not mean Amun will stop playing with you."

Locke rolls his eyes and shakes his head as Lilanei cries, "Please! Just let us go home! And while you're at it, switch us back!"

"Yeah, Amun," Locke echoes. "At least do us one favour and put us back in our correct bodies! I've heard about the 'troubles of the woman' once every blue moon and I don't wanna go through with it."

As Locke completes his statement, he notices Amun has disappeared from the end of the room; he begins to speak, when suddenly Amun's skull head swiftly appears in front of his face as the skull cries, "A woman's troubles cause many quarrels! Amun must see as it would quite please me!"

"Back off!" Locke roars as he musters the last of his energy to swat his arm at the skull in front of him.

The skull titters as he simply hovers backwards before he begins to swiftly float around our Heroes in a circle, crying, "Amun and zero heroes will be friends forever! See the world, we will, together!"

As Lilanei groans loudly and prepares to make a retort, she is suddenly taken by surprise as Amun's form begins to glow with a vibrant white light, his spin seemingly becoming faster and faster as he spins around them. In mere seconds, they are engulfed in light, much like in the beginning of their journey to the temple. Overwhelmed by this power, Locke and Lilanei both feel as their bodies are swiftly swept into unconsciousness. . . It is unclear to them how much time passes when they finally awake. Feeling a cool breeze sweep across their bodies as their eyes open, Locke and Lilanei find themselves blinded, not by Amun's light, but the sunlight from the giant flaming orb which now hovers high in the sky.

Locke sits up, groans, and after a moment suddenly cries, "We're free!"

". . . And I'm me!" Lil shouts with joy as she looks up at her raised, feminine hands as she lies on the floor.

"Oh, thank the Lord," Locke sighs. "I thought I'd never get out of that hell hole. . ."

Snapping her head forward as she sits up, Lilanei cries angrily, "What do you mean, hell hole? Surely, it wasn't that bad being in my body!"

"Erm. . . Who says I was talking about your body?" Locke asks. "I meant the temple."

"Oh," Lilanei slowly mutters as she looks away.

"I wonder how long we've been in that place for," Locke wonders as he looks around, seeing Reedshire near by in the distance. "At least that blasted skull made the journey back a little easier."

"I suppose," Lil grumbles before adding, "but I have a feeling we'll be seeing him again."

"Please, don't threaten me," Locke says with a disgruntled look on his face.

Grinning mischievously, Lil says, "You really don't like him, do you?"

"No!" Locke snaps. "He's so annoying. I never, ever want to see him again!"

As Locke utters this, Lilanei widens her eyes as she stares behind him and cries, "Oh no!"

"What?" Locke gasps, jumping as he snaps his head back and looks behind him.

As he does so, Lilanei merely titters as she says in a childish fashion, "You must stay and play!"

"Yeah, yeah," Locke grunts in annoyance. "Where's the ice hammer? Did that stupid skull bring it?"

"Oh!" Lil cries as she looks around the area; as she does so, she notices the hammer resting on the ground just behind her as she then says, "It's right here. . . I suppose we should bring it back to town."

"Yeah, let's get to it," Locke announces before finally standing up.

As Locke stands, he suddenly hears a slight twinkle as something falls from his vest pocket and lands in the grass before him. Locke kneels down in the grass and inspects the object that fell from his pocket to find that it is a blue crystal-like jewel.

"Huh. . . I wonder what this is," Locke ponders as he looks at the jewel.

Lilanei gazes across to the jewel which Locke holds it in his hand before she rises to her feet and states, "Maybe Amun liked you so much, he gave you a present!"

"Well, if he did, I'm thankful," Locke announces as he places in his pocket. "Maybe I'll get a good price for it."

Lilanei shakes her head before walking over to the hammer, which she attempts to lift. However, she is slightly surprised when she finds she can no longer pull the heavy object.

"Let me do that," Locke announces before walking over to the hammer, which he lifts and begins to drag. "Come on, let's take this to Marven."

Pursing her lips, Lilanei mutters, "Fine. . ."

Despite the heavy hammer prolonging their trip, the walk to town is quite a short one. Soon, they find themselves strolling through the gates, across the bridge of water which protects the town.

As they enter the main road in the front of town, Lilanei glances around before bluntly stating, "So. . . Where is Marven?"

"I'm not sure," Locke pants, dragging the large hammer behind him. "Let's ask someone."

Lilanei glances around at the busy main road which no longer contains festival game stalls, but instead contains booths and tables which sell various merchandise. Her gaze traveling down the long length of the road, it finally rests on a familiar table where an equally familiar Elven woman currently sits. Leaving Locke behind with the hammer, Lilanei trots forth to the table.

Smiling, she meekly inquires, "Erm. . . Hello, ma'am! I was wondering if you might know where the mayor resides at this time."

The woman looks up from her wares and with a bright smile, she says, "Well, aren't you a familiar face? If you mean Marven, he resides in the town hall across the bridge in the center of town, nearby to the Reedshire Inn which he owns."

"Thanks," Locke grunts as he slowly walks past Lilanei and the Elven stall keeper.

Lilanei blinks as the Elven woman's concerned face follows Locke and she whispers to Lilanei, "I sure hope he didn't try to put that in his bag of holding. . . Surely, it would have ripped it!"

Lilanei smirks as she whispers back, "Don't worry. . . He can barely lift the thing, never mind put it in a bag!"

"Oh," the woman meekly smiles, with a slightly bemused expression.

"Well, in any case, thank you!" Lilanei replies as she bows to the woman.

The woman waves happily as Lilanei then darts behind Locke who continues to slowly drag the hammer up the busy street. Eventually, Locke manages to drag the large hammer over the equally large bridge after some time, which leads them to the Reedshire Inn and ultimately the town hall. Slightly frustrated by Locke's slow pace due to the hammer he drags, Lilanei simply shifts around him and darts to the front entrance of the town hall, which she enters through before begrudgingly holding the door open for Locke.

"Why, thank you," Locke spits sarcastically, almost out of breath, as he continues to drag the hammer – now dragging it through the door and into the large reception room.

As the ice hammer's blunt end drags against the marble flooring of the town hall, a cry emits from the back room as a familiar voice exclaims, "Hey! Mind the newly polished floors there!"

Locke stops in his tracks and with a look of pure fury, lifts his head and shouts, "Never mind the damn floor! I've just bought this stupid hammer all the way here to prove to that coward of a mayor that I have slain his so called "fearsome beast!" Bring him to me!"

Lilanei blinks before nervously inching away from her infuriated partner, as the voice calls out again, "Now, now! Is that any way to—“

Soon, the figure of a small Halfling man emerges from the back of the reception hall – our Heroes instantly recognizing the face of Marven, the town mayor. He looks to our Heroes with a slightly bewildered expression, before slowly realizing at whom he gazes upon.

Raising his hands in the air, he cries, "It's the two brave ones! If I had known it was you, I wouldn't have been so. . . so harsh! Please, come in!"

"But. . . we're already in," Locke blankly replies.

The Halfling grins as he says, "Not only brave, but smart too! Now tell me, how did you find the ruins? Hopefully, our troubles did not cause you too much trouble!"

Locke bites his lip as his cheeks go red for a moment and he opens his mouth, but instead of shouting, Locke simply sighs and announces, "Marv, it was bloody awful. I hope this hammer will be of worth to you, because I never want to venture into that place again."

With that, Locke drops the large hammer on the marble floor, the marble cracking under the intense weight that such a weapon suited for a ten foot creature would possess. Marven cringes slightly as he watches the floor crack beneath the weapon; nevertheless, he swiftly strolls to the weapon's side, his old eyes glancing over the enormous object.

He cries, "Why, this was more than I ever expected! That creature was even mightier than I had heard! You two must be true heroes for vanquishing such a beast!"

"Well, I am pretty great there," Locke sighs as a smile returns to his face. "Tell one and all, and all and one, that Locke the Herculean slayed the fearsome Ice Man and now the ruins can once again be used as your protégés' proving grounds once more."

"Brave, smart, and brash!" Marven cries as he laughs aloud; he then looks to Locke and Lilanei with a wide smile as he says, "Well, for your great deed, Reedshire will never forget you. And to ensure this, the day of the pilgrimage – the last day of the Adventurer's Festival – shall be named after you two! Now, what would you like it to be called?"

"Kallidin's Killer Krusade – spelled with a K!" Locke announces, holding his hands up as if framing the words.

Lilanei suddenly turns, having sheepishly remained to the opposite side of the room until now, as she cries angrily, "Hey! That's not very fair! I helped too, you know!"

"Okay, what do you think it should be called?" Locke replies with a sad look on his face.

"I. . . I don't know," Lil meekly mutters as she twiddles her fingers together. "If that's what you really want it to be called, then I suppose I'll let you—"

Locke frowns and walks over to Lil before putting an arm around her as he looks to Marven and says, "How about 'Akorrin's Trial?' After our Master?"

Marven mulls this suggestion over, before finally saying, "Well. . . it's not quite what I had in mind, but you are the heroes – so be it! The final day of the festival shall be known as Akorrin's Trial – starting next year!"

"Sounds good," Locke replies with a smile before then saying, "Now, where's our celebration? I expect a lot of rum, a lot of women, and a lot of pies."

As Lilanei glares at Locke, Marven looks to Locke with amazement as he cries, "Boy! Don't you realize? The festivities ended almost a week ago!"

"A WEEK?" Locke cries in surprise. "A bloody week?"

Lilanei's eyes widen as she cries, "You mean. . . We were gone for a week?"

"Why. . . yes. Didn't you know? I was starting to worry about you two, as you had not returned after so long," Marven replies.

"Erm. . . No," Locke answers. "I suppose we just took a long time getting around."

"It didn't feel like a week," Lilanei softly whines as she looks to the floor, trying to comprehend the time lapse.

Marven simply smiles as he says, "Well, I'm afraid the festivities are over. But I promised you a reward, and a reward you shall have."

"Really?" Locke asks hopefully. "What might that be?"

Laughing, Marven smiles again and says, "Wait here, and I shall fetch it for you."

Swiftly, the Halfling mayor disappears once again into the back room before Locke and Lilanei hear much shuffling, shifting, pushing and pulling as well as the jingling of many small metallic objects. Some more noise can be heard before Marven finally emerges from the back room, dragging a large – at least to a Halfling – sack behind him, which he presents to our Heroes.

"Now, what is this?" Locke asks as he opens up the bag, his eyes immediately lighting up as he sees 10,000 gold pieces glittering within the sack and he cries, "Wow-wee!"

Lilanei looks over his shoulder and cries, "Oh, my! Really, you don't need to give us all thi—"

"But it's very much appreciated!" Locke chimes in quickly as he closes the bag and slings it over his shoulder. "Pleasure doing business with you, Marven."

The Halfling man simply grins as he says, "Brave, smart, brash and thrifty! It's my pleasure, young Heroes. . . Usually, this gold is spent on our children, who venture yearly to the temple. However, seeing as how their journey could not be made this year, it seems appropriate that these funds be used on the two who saved our peoples' ancient tradition."

"Well, Marv," Locke begins. "As I said, it was a pleasure. Perhaps one day, you could allow us a home here," Locke adds, turning to Lil. "We rather like it here."

Lil sheepishly smiles as she agrees, "Indeed. . . It's such a lovely town."

Marven chuckles as he responds, "Well, of course you two are welcome! In fact, until you wish to settle down here, the Reedshire Inn will always be open to you, for free! So please, come back to visit every now and then. . . I'm sure the townsfolk would love to hear your stories! After all, they too are aspiring heroes."

"We'll be sure to do that," Locke replies with a smile.

"Good!" Marven exclaims, before adding, "Well, I shan't hold you up any longer. . . Good luck on the rest of your journey, and be sure to drop by again one day."

"Thanks," Locke says as he turns to the door, before looking back to Marven and adding, “and good luck finding a place big enough to mount that hammer. See you later, Marven."

With that, Locke turns and begins to walk for the door, with Lilanei following close behind him. The two leave the town hall and stop in the middle of street as Locke looks to Lil with a smile of success.

He then announces, "Job done! Whatcha wanna do now?"

Lil smirks slightly, before she finally says, "Rest."

"Well, why don't we spend another day or two here before we get back on our way?" Locke asks. "I'm sure Akorrin will hold up without us and the world won't end if we take a couple of days off for a change."

With a wistful sigh, Lilanei responds, "I agree. . . And I'd quite like that."

"Well then. Consider yourself a lady of leisure!" Locke replies with a smile.