Timely Arrival

Despite the many breaks that Michael and Alex took to use their new toy, the group actually managed to arrive at their destination in a timely manner.

Though Annalise did give them the stink eye every time they stopped to tie the young dark elf to a tree so they could throw things at the apple they'd place on top of his head.

Currently, the group was staring at their destination : the ruined castle of an extinct race of fallen called vampires.

"Alright, we're here." Garm said as he turned toward Alex. "You know the deal."

The spearman sighed and turned around.

The young dark elf they'd been using for a bit of harmless fun had a face that was marred with sharp cuts and dead, broken eyes.

"Come on Garm! Can't I just use it one more time?" he pleaded.

Michael nodded furiously in agreement. He also thought it would be a waste to let go of such a perfectly good toy like the one they'd found.

Garm simply rolled his eyes and shoved past the two overgrown children.

He slipped on his steel gauntlets and proceeded to punch the dark elf right in the face, obliterating his head and sending chunks of meat and skull flying everywhere.

His body wobbled for a bit before finally falling over; his soul finally free from the gross torture he'd undergone for the past two days.

"Boo!"

"You suck!"

Michael and Alex of course voiced their displeasure, however Garm was unaffected. "You two knew the deal. You got to have your fun until we made it here, but now it's time for business."

The pair simply groaned and rolled their eyes as they stared at the body on the ground.

They felt the same way one might feel if they were to have spilled their favorite food on the floor.

It just felt like such a waste.

Annalise could not take her eyes off her husband.

She loved when he shed his usual aloof and carefree demeanor to become more dominant and imposing.

With the unnecessary baggage disposed of, the group moved towards the ruined entrance of the collapsing castle.

Moss and Ivy covered the walls of the great structure that had been left abandoned for over 500 years.

"How should we get inside?" Michael asked as he stared at the crumbling castle. "If we try to force our way in, we'll probably bring the whole thing down."

His reasoning was justified, and it seemed that the group had run into their first problem already.

Annalise was the first to offer a solution.

"I can use my wind magic to get us onto the roof and see if there are any openings in the ceiling?"

Everyone looked to be okay with this course of action except Garm.

His fear of heights was something he desperately tried to avoid showcasing.

Luckily, his wife seemed to understand his fear and she quickly whispered in his ear secretly, "I'll send those two up first and then we can go up together, okay?"

Garm nodded, relieved to have such a considerate wife.

Soon the group executed their plan, and they were up on the roof of the castle.

Annalise's plan appeared to have been successful when after a few minutes of searching, the group found a collapsed ceiling that led to what appeared to be an old armory.

Lowering themselves down inside using wind magic, Michael pulled out an item from his bag called a glowstone that helped illuminate their surroundings.

"Man.. Seems like this place has already been picked clean." He grumbled.

"Well, what do you expect?" Annalise said as she pulled out her own glowing stone from her bag. "The nightstalkers were said to be drowning in riches. It's no surprise that after 500 years all the good stuff's been taken."

"It's a good thing the old man's paying either way..."

The group nodded silently in agreement.

In truth, none of them were expecting to find anything.

But the payday was much too good for them to ignore such a job.

Despite their pessimism, the group continued to search.

The castle was just enormous, and every room required almost a full twenty minutes to sort through.

They found old silks, a few ancient golden trinkets and even some precious minerals.

However, none of this was actually what their employer was looking for.

Valuable as these items may have been, they were not anything a historian would be interested in.

They needed to find items of cultural significance, something, anything that would've held important meaning to the vampires.

"Geez, I can tell this place has already been looted but how can there still be so much left?" Alex was walking gleefully with two arms filled with all of the trinkets he could find.

Just because the old man wasn't interested, that didn't mean he wasn't!

Garm and Annalise had also grabbed quite a bit and were trying not to show their excitement.

With these treasures plus the money from the job, they'd finally have enough money to move to a major city!

Their attempts to hide their giddiness unfortunately went in vain as both Michael and Alex had known them far too long.

"Holy shit..."

Alex's eyes suddenly saw something so dazzling and incredible that he dropped all of the treasures in his hand and mindlessly walked forward.

The group followed his eyes to the opposite side of the room and they could admit, his reaction was entirely understandable.

At the end of a large room was a throne made of solid gold.

Embedded into the throne were blood diamonds the size of a baby's head and a velvet cushioned seat.

"Just one of these damn things would be enough to set up five generations!" Alex cried as he swiftly pulled out a dagger from his hip.

He quickly got to work, attempting to chisel out one of the diamonds from the throne.

Already his mind was filled with the hordes upon hordes of slaves he could buy and the brothels he would put out of business.

"Damn it! Why isn't this budging!?" After almost a minute, he was still unable to make any progress in taking out the diamond.

"Try another one." Annalise suggested.

However, all of the diamonds proved to be immovable and not a single one could be moved even an inch.

"Damn it! By the gods- Gah!"

After trying for over twenty minutes to get out a gem, Alex finally lost his composure and attempted to stab the chair in frustration.

Unsurprisingly, the blade promptly bounced off the chair, causing Alex to lose his grip and accidentally slice open his hand.

"Son of a bitch!" He yelled as he clutched his injured hand.

Annalise only sighed.

"Maybe we shouldn't be so greedy anyway. We already have more treasure than most people will ever see in their lifetime." She reasoned.

The group all looked at the treasures they'd collected and nodded in acceptance.

"Shall we go then?" Not waiting for the group, Michael turned around and began to walk back towards the room they'd entered from.

Garm and Annalise followed as well, leaving a grimacing Alex on the ground.

He prepared to stand up, placing a bloodied hand on the golden throne that had given him so much trouble.

Rumble.

The departing group stopped in their tracks when a dull red light began to shine behind them.

They watched in utter fascination as the throne that appeared to be bolted to the floor slid backwards to reveal a dark staircase.

"What the hell did you do?" Michael asked in shock.

"Who cares? There has to be some kind of artifact down there, let's go!" Annalise beckoned.

The group nodded and soon they all trailed down the small staircase with Garm taking the lead.

They soon found themselves in another large room with seven coffins against one wall, and a large double door on another.