Chapter 2: Voices in the Dark

Trig looks expectantly (and admiringly) at Crow. ::Surely he will perform some magic to open the door again?::

Crow cups his hand over his ear and presses it gently into the locked door attempting to ascertain if someone was inside. Deftly he worked a tension wrench into the lock, and slid a pick into it. He steadily began to work the pick up, tapping the tumblers to find their point of counterbalance, his little finger providing gentle steady pressure on the tension wrech as he turned the cylinder.

Tom stays a few steps back from the others, keeping his weapon trained on the door in case it opens from the inside as Crow works, his eyes nervously flitting to the other doors at occasional creaks from the building.

Sighing Crow shakes his head, berates his fingers under his breath. Pulling the pick from the cylinder, he pumps the tension wrench to reset the tumblers, and tries again to carefully pick the lock.

"So, does a lot of the work for your temple involve opening locked doors?" asks Tom idly.

"You'd be surprised how much resistance can be found in Waterdhavian people when it comes to paying taxes." Crow whispers back. "Though I am beginning to suspect there was another purpose to my training."

"Fair enough," responds Tom. "Those both sound like entirely accurate observations."

His train of thought is interrupted by the opening of the first door.

"Hmm, that much beer implies a lot of drinkers. Hopefully this is being stored for some banquet area in the city above and not the foes we'll face here below." he looks to the others. "Do we think it's worth the time to search or just move on to the next door?"

"I think we should keep moving. If we go through everything else and still haven't found Artistina, then we can come back here and open the barrels." She shudders. "I really hope she isn't in a barrel..."

"Agreed." Crow replies emphatically.

Wanting to impress her new friends, Trig heads back into the east-west hallway and tries the second door.

Crow sets to work on the lock.

The young agent sighs. Resets the tumblers and tries again.

"Oh, really, Crow! You should know I never drink on the first date!" Trig grins mischievously and skips over to the third door. She tries to open it, confident that it's another locked door to a storeroom.