Ch. 3, Page 27

It was freezing cold in the cavern. Terik exhaled at the sight of it and could see his breath. Much of the cavern was immediately visible from the reflection of the magic light the party carried. Walls, floors, columns, stalactites, and stalagmites -- all were coated in ice.  The cavern stretched across at least 100 feet, which made for a lot of ice.  The ceiling started at 20 feet high, but vaulted much higher at the center, where it was circled by ring after ring of ice-coated stalactites.

Yrag started to slip on the ice, but caught his balance.

They all moved more cautiously into the cavern and glanced at the tall stalagmite closest to them. While they gathered around, Serten smiled broadly and said proudly, "I think you'll all be glad we came."

Ch. 3, Page 26

Curiosity overcame the adventurers. As Serten continued to enthusiastically wave them out of the mural room, they exited into the tunnel and formed back up into double ranks.

It became colder and colder as they came to the other end of the tunnel, until they could see their frosty breaths before them. They had been prepared for some explanation to the cold, but were still awestruck when they saw the cavern that awaited them.

Ch. 3 Page 25

One by one, the five adventurers left the tunnel behind the secret door and filed into the chamber at one end of the tunnel. The air still had its chill, but that was not responsible for the shiver they felt when they looked upon the back wall...

Ch. 3 Page 24

"We should be trying to find our way back..." Yrag reminded everyone.

"You're not at all curious about what is making this cold?" Serten asked.

"Not enough," Yrag answered. "For all we know there could be an ice monster through there making it cold."

"I think we could handle it..." Murlynd mused. "I have been saving a fireball spell..."

"Well, whatever you boys decide, at least we have this now," Terik said. He had already pried the amethyst stone from the pillar and held it up in his hand.

"Nice work," Yrag said. "Party treasure to be split later, of course."

"Of course," Terik chimed in.

What was that? Praise for prying a gem out of a wall? When he had put himself constantly at risk to find this room in the first place? Tenser fumed inwardly as he struggled to decipher the runes on the magic wand.

"We should at least see what's through here and then we can consider backtracking," Serten suggested, as a sort of compromise.

"Fine," Yrag said. "Let's form back up in our marching order. Terik, you and I will take the lead."

"I can move to the front rank," Tenser volunteered.

"Don't be foolish. Fighters in front, spell support from behind. It's how we've always done this," Yrag admonished.

"Not to mention you're still hurt," Serten added. "Do you need more healing magic?"

Tenser dismissed the offer, but fell back into the middle rank.

Murlynd retrieved his lamp-pole and fell into line.

Terik and Yrag stepped into a tunnel and fanned out to either side...

Ch. 3, Page 23

It was true, there was a definite chill in the air that was not there a moment ago, but it was clear to no one how this portended any threat to them. After everyone looked at each other, it became clear to Terik that everyone still expected him to go through with approaching the trapped pedestal.

Terik knew, as he stepped forward, that it was all his fault that people took advantage of him. With a bossy cousin like Robilar in the family, it just became easier for Terik to be the easygoing cousin. He should turn around and tell them that he was not going to be pushed around like this anymore. He could just point to one of the others and say, "You do this, not me!"  He could take command and boss them around, not the other way around!

But, on the other hand, that seemed like a lot more work than just checking to see if the magical traps were deactivated. Sighing inwardly, Terik reached forward...

Ch. 3, Page 22

It did not take long for the adventurers to find all three spots that detected for magic around the room and, at each, they found a concealed gem. The others were a red sapphire and a blue emerald. Then everyone looked to Murlynd for some explanation.

Ch. 3, Page 21

Murlynd waved his metal wand through the air while saying its magic command words. When he was done, he carefully scanned the room while slowly lowering his wand.

Behind him, Yrag and Serten kept Tenser sitting up on the floor, instead of letting him stand, out of concern for how much damage he seemed to be taking.

"I'm fine, really," Tenser said.  And it was mostly true.

"If the spell was an illusion, can we just disbelieve in it and push through?" Yrag asked.

"Intellectually, I share your suspicion it was just an illusion," Tenser said, "but the pain was awfully convincing. I fell back right away when I felt it; I can't imagine how painful prolonged contact would be."

"We could just leave it alone," Yrag suggested.

"No. I want that wand."

"We could try to dispel it with magic," Serten offered.

"It's more complicated than that..." Murlynd said, having been listening to them, even though he had not appeared to be.