4 The door

Sneaking his way further down the hall way, Finn noticed a door on his left. Listening with his ear against the door first, he tried to open it after not hearing anything. It was locked. Frustrated, he continued down the hallway passing a number of doors, each one locked. Eventually finding one left ajar, he carefully approached with his club in his right hand and a dagger in his left. Using the club to push open the door, he peeked inside. Not seeing any movement he went in.

The room seemed more like an office, with pens, parchment and ink on a desk, some shelves along the wall. A few old books gathered dust on a shelf, and one was lay open on the desk. Finn couldn't read what was written in it as it wasn't in common, the language most used in the city. He thought it might be some form of elvish writing due to its fancy swirling letters.. There were some illustrations, mostly of different animals, some common ones like dogs, rats, and cows, but mostly of stranger magical creatures or monsters he didn't recognize. Flipping through a few pages he saw anatomical illustrations of humanoids as well. The book looked expensive, hand written or copied with colored illustrations, bound with a dark leather cover and a gilded title. Figuring it could be worth a bit of money if he found the right buyer he decided to bring it with him out. Looking through the rest of the books he didn't find any he could read, and none of them looked expensive.

Opening some drawers he found a few more copper and silver coins, which he added to his money pouch. A bit more searching and he found a sack behind the door. Tying the fancy book shut, he placed it in the sack carefully along with all the parchment he had found, the vial of ink, and the pens too.

Anticipating more rat encounters during his escape, Finn gathered a few of the books, and using his dagger quickly removed the leather covers from them. Tossing the pages aside, he wrapped the leather covers around his forearms and lower legs and tied them tightly. Examining his handiwork he anticipated that although it was a quick solution, it was better than bare skin in stopping a rat bite. The last things he grabbed were the few unused candles near the lantern.

Stepping out into the hallway again, he realized he had been too distracted. As someone who grew up on the streets, prior to his enslavement, Finn had relied on picking pockets and theft to make ends meet. Seeing a room full of potential loot had brought back the inner thief in him as everything he saw turned into potential silver coins. Although happy with what he had found he needed to escape before any rats came along or worse, the ones who had enslaved him. Gripping his club in one hand, a dagger in the other he decided to move a bit quicker and not spend any more time exploring.

Moving at a light jog Finn passed several doors, stopping only to make sure nothing would come out of them and sneak up behind him. His heart was beating loudly as he made his way down the now winding hall. Turning around another corner he saw an opening in a wall up ahead. It looked like someone or something had smashed through to get in or out.

Approaching it carefully, to avoid being ambushed, he carefully tried to look into the hole. It was big enough for a large man to fit through and opened up into a small cave. He could see a tunnel carved out of the natural rock leading further away from where he had been kept. Although he didn't see any creatures inside he had no idea where the passage led to or if he could use it to escape.

Hoping for a better option, but glad that nothing would be coming out of it to bite him any time soon, Finn decided to keep walking down the hallway. Walking a bit further, passed another 2 doors and going around another corner the hallway ended in a large door, decorated with fine engraving and a gilded lock. It was a welcome change to the monotony of plain wooden doors, all of which he assumed led to small rooms. This door was different.