52. The Tower 3

Topaz called out from inside. "Boss both doors are good to go you just need to pick one."

"Do we know which one goes up and which one goes further into this floor?"

"There is no indication boss. Both doors look exactly the same as far as that goes. They are both set nicely into the frame so that I can't even peek through a crack to find a clue."

"Well at least the tower was well built. Let's try the door on the left. If it goes up we will go to the other door?"

Erica quickly asked, "why stay on this level? Why not go directly to the top of the tower to find the problem?"

Berry walked up beside her. "Who said the problem was at the top? And what if the mage that had the tower left things that do not age and do not die behind. And when we go up they attack you from behind which triggers something to attack you from above. We search everything." She saw the realization and embarrassment dawn on Erica's face. "But more than likely the problem is going to be at the top." She gave Erica a little nudge and a smile to try and help her relax.

"You are so mean. But I am thankful for the guidance." Erica was young and bold but that did not mean that she was stupid or ungrateful. She truly wanted to learn.

Topaz ignored most of the conversation as she triple checked the door on the left and finally lifted the latch and shoved it open. As the door opened torches along both side of the huge room lit up. Once all of the torches lit up they saw that the room looked almost big enough to hold the entire tower.

"Boss this is not the way up."

"Thank you Topaz. This would be known as the grand hall and used from huge parties of noble guests." Even though they could feel the age of the place there was not a speck of dust on anything in the room. Novum stepped around Topaz and walked further into the hall. He could see the fear on Topaz's face. "Don't worry Topaz. What are the chances that he trapped his dining room?"

"I live in a den of thieves, everything is trapped."

"Okay good point. I will not touch anything until you tell me it is okay but I think walking around should be fine." Novum had designed a lot of towers like this on in the world and he very seldom if ever trapped the dining room. It was to easy to forget about it when you are hungry and hurt yourself. With that knowledge he was sure that it was fine. Now trapping things around the room totally possible but highly unlikely. But he had hired her and she was very dedicated to the job.

Novum saw a few of the paintings on the wall and knew that most of the people that would build a place like this would use it to show off. He assumed that the paintings were real and that they were very expensive. "Topaz, would you please check all of the paintings. Most guys like this would use a room like this to show off. And if these paintings are that old they may be worth something. I have a storage space we can put them in."

"You know for a Baron you think a lot like both a noble and a thief. Which I guess is not to far apart." Novum let out a quick belly laugh at the remark. "I will check them all right away. You guys look for anything else that might be worth something. But remember not to touch anything until I check it."

Topaz went back to the front corner of the room and the first painting by the door and checked them all one by one. She quickly realized that while none of them were trapped per say they were all marked with an alarm spell so that if they were touched everyone would know about it. With some quick work she removed the spell on each painting and set it on the ground. Anything that was on the ground Novum would pick up and put in his bag.

Crystal came out of the kitchen area. "There is nothing in there of any value. All of the stored food has already decayed well past the point of being rotten. It is so old that it does not even smell in there. And there is no more plates or anything to match the ones that are on the table." She reached for the gold knife sitting on the table.

Topaz quickly yelled out. "I said do not touch anything without me checking it." Crystal rolled her eyes at her but did not touch anything. Topaz finished with the art and moved to the plates on the table. As she looked over them there was a sign of horror on her face. "What a petty, petty man. Crystal you should get down on your knees and thank me."

"For what?" Crystal was not sure what she saw.

"Each and every piece of this set was enchanted with a different curse or spell if they were touched by anyone other than the mage that owned them. Hell the cup had a gender swapping spell on it. And not one of a short duration. Not necessarily permanent but as long as most life times."

Crystal did not get on her knees but she did give Topaz a deep bow. "Thank you for saving me from myself Topaz. I greatly appreciate it."

A bit of color rose in her cheeks. "Well, I mean it was my job, but, I yeah you are welcome." She looked over each and every piece again. "Listen this stuff is real gold but by the time you get a mage to remove the magic you will not be making anything off of them. And I am not sure that a glove would stop the magic from activating. It is an aura like thing. I recommend that we just leave it."

Novum thought about it and with a shake of his head left it there. He was thinking that he might be able to use the stuff to pay to have anything identified in the city. But it was not worth the risk. As they explored the rest of the tower he would think about it and see if he could come up with something. "Well that appears to be everything here. Wait did anyone check for a wine cellar?"

The rest of the group looked at him and then realized that they had not seen one which did not make sense in this type of building. They all quickly headed to the kitchen and after a few minutes Rurik spotted the hidden door. It was cut directly into the stone wall so without his innate abilities as a dwarf they would never have found it.

"Topaz would you be so kind as to assist Rurik in examining the door. Between the two of you I am sure that anything he had on the door would not be missed."

The dwarf looked over the wall and saw the trigger to open the door as well as the trap that was placed on it. "Here is the release and the trap but that is about all I can tell you."

Topaz saw where he was pointing and looked over Rurik with a new light in her eyes. "Not a bad spot. Let me see what I can do with it." It took her longer to find out how to release everything than it did to search all the paintings and for them to find the cellar door. "Ah hah. Found it." Novum was standing beside Topaz watching her work. He was not very good at these kind of things but he liked to watch and maybe learn. Topaz released the trap and hit the trigger to release the door.

Novum saw the door start to swing open and a shiver ran down his spine. He knew that something was wrong. There was barely a crack in the opening and he could see a red glowing eye just a little higher in the air than his own would be. He saw the figure start to move as soon as it realized that he was not it's master. The creature tried to push the door open faster. Crystal and Berry both saw the creature at the same time. "Iron golem!"

Novum remembered that they had a breath weapon. He quickly scooped Topaz up and put his body between her and the golem. He also grabbed the door and slammed it closed. It did not close all the way since the golem already had a foot out the opening but it was enough to direct the poisonous gas cloud away from the two of them. "You two recognized it what do we need to know?"

Berry started out as she was already moving back out of the way. "It is way smaller than it should be so that might limit its strength a little bit."

Crystal took over, "but it is immune to almost all magic. Erica no matter what do not hit it with any fire magic, that heals it."

Erica who was about to sent a ball of fire at the thing quickly dismissed her magic. "Thanks for the warning."

"Any thing besides the breath and fire thing." Novum had only used one of these a few times and could not remember everything about it. There was a limit to his personal knowledge compared to his character knowledge.

"Lighting will make it even slower but very few weapons can hurt it. It is resistant to almost anything that is not adamantine. Even magic weapons are limited."

Rurik called from the back. "Novum keep him busy for a few minutes I may have just the thing."

Novum already had his shield out. "Will do. Erica do you have any lightning spells?"

"I have two but that are close quarter spells."

"I will get it to focus fully on me and Topaz will help you get behind it. If you think you can touch it without any." A huge blow landed on his shield and pushed him back a few feet. "real danger go ahead. But do not risk yourself."

Topaz reached out and took her by the hand and pulled her around towards the back of the golem. The creature turned a little to look at them and Novum slammed his sword into the things chest and left a big cut and dent in the iron shell. The creature quickly turned back towards him.

Rurik was digging in his magic bag and could not find what he was looking for. He had put three of them in here when they first left the capitol but he had not needed one since the mine was not open yet. He was lucky to remember that he had them in here at all. "Damn it, I know they are in here. Novum I am going to have to dump my bag."

"Then go and dump it. My sword can barely make a scratch so it you have something I can hold it off for a little while."

Rurik ran back to the dining hall and started dumping his bag out on the floor. All kinds of things were falling out of he bag, including two small barrels of his favorite mead he was saving for when they got the mine fully open. He figured he and Novum could handle a small barrel each. He pushed those to the side as well. Finally head head a thunk on the floor that sounded a little different from all of the rest. He looked and saw two of the three adamantine pick axes he bought laying at his feet.

Rurik picked them both up and ran back into the room and right beside Novum. He handed one of the picks to Novum handle first. "Adamantine pick axe. Not magic but should help." Novum who had a little blood at the corner of his mouth from the damage to his body through his shield smiled as he willed the sword away and grabbed the pick. If the golem could think for itself he would have been afraid of that smile.