"Oh come on. She's just a girl with a wee small hatchet." Arrick stopped the dwarph with a hand on his shoulder, "That "wee small hatchet" as you say, is the Scepter of Rhanah." "What! That slip of a girl? She canna' know how to use a thing like tha', can she?". But the dwarph stopped in his tracks. "If she didn't, it would have fried her to a crisp when she touched it." Turning to the girl, Arrick gave a slight bow. "Apologies Mistress, we mean no harm. We are visitors to the Abby, only stopped for the night. The Abbot said we could wander. My name is Arrick and this is my friend Farris." The glow from the scepter slowly faded as the girl appeared to relax a bit, "Apologies as well travelers. We don't get many visitors, and certainly not many Dwarves." She cast a suspicious glance at Farris but then turned to Arrick. "Forgive me, my name is Maya. I am keeper of the wards. Apologies again, but this area is restricted. Might I suggest you return to the comforts of the main hall, or if you are so inclined, there is a small library on the second floor." "Thank you Mistress, we are sorry for our intrusion." Arrick and Farris retreated the way they came. Farris whispered to Arrick as they turned the corner to the stairs. "What would they have in this Abby that requires the protection of such an artifact." "Curiouser and curiouser" was all Arrick would say. Maya watched as the travelers left to the main levels. How had they passed the wards? The dwarf had appeared normal enough....for a dwarf, but there was something about the human she couldn't yet put her finger on. "Curiouser and curiouser." she thought to herself. ------------------------------------------ Val gave me fits with this one, had to fix almost everything to get the SSS to work in Daz. This one was before I fixed the eyes, but I liked the effect for the story so I left it. Sorry Val, can't really blame you for trying to make something work where it isn't supposed to :) DM Kays Lair for the set and scepter.