Ch. 5, Page 6

The staff had grated on Tenser the hardest, as he retraced Mordenkainen's steps afterwards and could not believe Mord had thought to look for a secret door in that corner.  But as much as Tenser had wanted a Staff of Power -- and to have one first -- what had really changed the game was the influx of wealth coming back from the dungeons. Uncountable riches were coming back to the City of Greyhawk; no one had been aware that so much wealth had ever gone missing. The wealth was making people flock to the small city from all over the Flanaess.

More importantly, a lot of that wealth had fallen into the hands of Mordenkainen, Robilar, and Tenser, in about that order. Mordenkainen was the first to use those funds to start constructing a fortified castle, to the west, and then Robilar followed suite, constructing his castle to the south. Tenser felt obligated to do the same, having one built to the east -- though he was not quite sure what to use it for, other than to guard the money he had not already spent on the castle...

Ch. 5, Page 5

Tenser and Ehlissa shared a laugh over the pun.

"Ah, it's always fun talking to you," Tenser said. "You should rejoin our group. I'm sure if you tried adventuring again, you would like it."

"I've heard this before..." Ehlissa said, still sounding pleasant. "Now listen to this."

She spoke a magic word and a magical cantrip caused the bird she had been holding to break into a beautiful song, more complex than a songbird could normally do.

"Very nice," Tenser said. "But..."

"I'm very happy now with my birds." Ehlissa stood up and started walking the bird back to its cage. "There is no shortage of adventurers out there these days, looking to plunder the old castle. I'm sure one of them will amuse you."

There was an awkward pause, too long for Ehlissa's liking. When she glanced back, she saw Tenser had dropped his jovial facade and now looked tired, and older. She knew she had best change the subject back to something Tenser would enjoy talking about.