Marco’s Journal : A Tale of Two Treasures

After the big party, we lost no time in planning another venture into the great underdark to seek our fortune. If our luck was running hot, why delay ?

Once more our new companion Lorenzo proved his arts useful, conjuring a magical light for the end of Friar Giovanni’s staff which burned for an hour without any fuel. We set off into the deep with Rocco in the lead followed by Lorenzo and the two priests, while I brought up the rear in my armour. We followed our steps and markings from a previous venture, and sought to expand the area we had searched. As we marched quietly along the side of a deep channel of black water, we heard an ominous rhythmic clicking. Along the far bank marched a long column of skeletons armed for war; their leader glanced our way in passing, and the weight of his gaze sent a shiver through your bones. It seemed the army of the dead was on patrol, and they yearned for new recruits. We fervently hoped they would stay on the other side of the channel, and pressed on with a prayer to the saints to protect us.

Often danger comes Right Quick.  There in front of me, Friar Giovanni shone his torch down a side tunnel and then vanished down it with a stumble and a cry of alarm ! Taking a firm grip on my boar-spear I plunged after him – into a dark tunnel full of dancing shadows as he struggled against something while encumbered by his light-staff and wading through a foot of running water. He dropped the light when he was violently dragged from his feet and engulfed in the maw of a gigantic frog! I seized the staff and gave pursuit – soon I caught up with the Friar as he frantically stabbed its scaly hide with a small knife whilst it dragged him by a leg further down the dark tunnel.

I stabbed the huge thing over and over again, thrusting my spear deep into its body, but all the while it dragged poor Giovanni away. I could see his efforts grow more frantic as he grew weaker and weaker from pain and exhaustion. He never gave in, but fought until overcome by his wounds and then went limp in its jaws. In the nick of time Rocco arrived and seized his arms as he was dragged along the floor, and I stabbed the frog once more with all my might. Rocco is a large man, hardened by years of labour, and he pulled hard to save Giovanni; the great frog had paid much in pain and blood for its prize and pulled hard to keep it. Lo ! we parted ways suddenly : we kept Giovanni but it kept his foot as it leapt back into a dark pool at the end of the tunnel.

I stood guard while my comrades saw to our maimed comrade. Father Arturo took charge – wrapping a bandage tightly above the ragged stump before singing up a mighty Hymn of Prayer. With my own eyes I saw a Miracle - the ragged stump healed and grew a new pink pad of flesh over the bleeding bones which had been laid bare. I have seen many men mangled in battle, and the power of Arturo’s prayers saved Giovanni from months of pain and anguish. In a trice, he was made well, and nearly whole again. We gave him a restorative potion against the shock, and in a short while he was able to hop with a staff and move slowly unaided. This was the first Treasure we gained – witnessing a true Miracle to save our dear comrade from death.

As we made ready to depart, curiosity took hold of me - perhaps Providence or Luck was tugging at my sleeve. I gave Lorenzo a penny and he cast his spell of light upon it; when thrown into the pool it sank to the bottom and illuminated a strange scene. The great frog lay still at the bottom of the pool in a cloud of blood or ichor, surrounded by at least a dozen huge tadpoles worrying at its flesh. So the next generation consumed the last, fighting for their places at the feast. It seemed to me that they must compete, for in the end their could be only one successor.

Other things caught my eye – gleams of gold twinkled in the rubbish littering the bottom of the pool. Swiftly I stripped off my armour and placed an alchemical ‘airy tablet’ below my tongue, slipping into the pool with only a dagger and some empty sacks in my hands. By the grace of god I had remembered to take a coil of light rope in my pack, which Rocco let down after me. The tablet produced a mouthful of frothing bubbles which allowed me to breathe under water for a short time. While it lasted I searched the pool for treasure. Four corpses I looted, gaining many coins, a fine dagger, the golden hilt of a sword, and some pieces of jewellery which had remained intact whilst other things were destroyed by water and time. Several times I was attacked by the offspring of the giant frog – they were all teeth and hunger and hurled themselves heedlessly at my naked flesh. One good thrust with a dagger was enough to end them, and distract the others as its bleeding remains drifted down to the bottom.

All too soon the tablet was consumed, and I escaped the pool unscathed with my last bag of treasure. I donned my armour swiftly and we departed, rejoicing in our good fortune. Soon we heard the dreadful march of the dead once more, this time ahead of us on our side of the black water! Rocco took Giovanni on his shoulders and we dashed away down a side tunnel before we became the latest recruits to the army of the dead. We sped on, leaving their malice behind, for they would not leave their patrol to pursue us. It had been a narrow escape, but Providence was still with us. Our luck held true, and soon we were once more in the world of living men and had left behind the great darkness below.

Back in the House of Crows, we put Friar Giovanni to bed with a large cup of hot wine, while we cleaned and polished the treasures we had taken from the Frog’s Larder. And so we had gained our Second Treasure - but wealth taken from the Underworld is dearly bought, and the Friar has paid in full. Tomorrow we shall see what may be fitted to his stump to get him walking again. His days of running may be over, but the miraculous stump will surely prove a great boon for his begging, and so he has much to give thanks for.