19: Gold For Grabs

http://mgefanon.wikia.com/wiki/User_blog:Flodoomable/The_Adventures_of_The_Travelling_Ranger_(Link-Hub)

=Chapter 1: The golden gates to wealth.=

At an inn near the Northen Hemisphere Florandus Vindivicus had been conversing and sharing stories of the many travellers there when one merchant approached him. The man spoke of an old city under the mountains where the supposed Dwarven race unspoiled by Demonic energy still thrived. With a Dwarven city there unmistakably must have been a vault full of gold as well, knowing the greedy nature of the dwarven men of old. The ranger set out for this city, its riches and possibly some culture as well. After a surprisingly well kept route given by the merchant a letter was handed out by the young man for a friend to fetch him afterwards for an escape if things would go off the planning. Florandus came upon a large stone gate and was quickly met by Male dwarven guards, their eyes lighting up at seeing the ranger alone. He was allowed to enter on account of a visitation to a trader in the commercial district. The ranger walked through the market onto the residential till he noted a few restricted area's that where guarded. Watching from a distance he could see a few chests being hauled in and out of one of the guarded hallways. He waited for the guards to wave the chest-bearers goodbye, so he could slip soundlessly behind their backs. He ran sneakily along the passage, inspected the surroundings. The young man slipped past some patrols and shot an arrow to the other side of the room, making guards there investigate the noise while he slipped by. After a bit of such exploratory moving he came to a room, inside was a large gilded door with a group of dwarves standing at the ready for anything. The ranger looked around the room for the light sources and saw a large chandelier hanging from the ceiling. He stepped back to make sure he couldn't be seen, ready to strike while the group was still distracted conversing amongst one another. He tried his best to see how the vault was locked and noticed large cogs extending outward from the walls, that design flaw must have been to impress any who looked upon the door to show off the dwarven mechanical prowess. The ranger however saw this as a perfect way to make an entrance; he readied his bow and shot the four ropes that held the chandelier stable in rapid succession. It came crashing down, casting the room into darkness and throwing glass shards and candles around everywhere. As the dwarves panicked trying to quickly light torches, Florandus ran to the side of the wall. Using his ice picks to scale up them and jump onto one of the cogs. His weight made the cog start to turn, pulling open one of the huge sides of the door. At this one of the dwarves made a break for the exit, going on to warn the others. With one of the doors opened the ranger vaulted to the door and used it to climb over the side to the inside if the door.

=Chapter 2: The skeleton in the closet.=

Once inside he ran for the first pile of gold he could see, hiding in the coins as a rather large group of dwarves ran by into the vault. Florandus tried his best to keep quiet with the many loud coins around him. He carefully aimed an arrow to the other side of the room and loosened a shot that was visible for a fraction of a seccond as it wisked through the tortchlight held by the drawven patrol’s torchbearer. Not trusting the unexpected turn of events, the dwarven guards ran at the source of the sound and started stabbing into the piles. Perhaps they deemed it effective as they yelled while thrusting into the wealthy metal piles. In a short moment of calmness, the ranger took in the view and counted in total 7 torches among many more small armored midget-men. He slipped out of the gold, trying his best to sneak away while the dwarves where still bashing piles down. Two dwarves had heard the shift in metal behind them and began attacking the piles where Florandus had just hidden, not noticing him as his black silhouette moved further into the room. Ahead of him another torch bearing dwarf came walking, a quick shot of his bow knocked the thing right out of the dwarf's hand for the young human to take out his sword, run at the confused little man and use the blunt side of his blade to bash the guy in the head. The sound of the dwarf being knocked out alarmed the others, who could see only a dark room where at first another guard had been. The torch bearers spread out with each a small group of guards following close behind, it was only a short time span before they would find their downed colleague. The ranger looked behind him, seeing a silhouette of some kind of altar at the very back of the vault. The ranger ran up to it and saw a lock holding something behind it. Against better judgment he took out another arrow and shot open a lock that was holding some kind of chest closed, making a trapdoor open in front of the chest. Florandus grumbled under his breath as he looked down the trapdoor’s deep abyss. "Who designed this?"

=Chapter 3: Jack in the box.=

He jumped the gap, grabbing the chest as a ledge. He pulled himself into the chest and checked the lock. It was only till the young man heard a crack under his feet that he felt the ground under him. Feeling around with a hand he noted some bone-like fragile surface. It was not a chest he had entered; he clearly felt the shape of a corpse underneath his feet. He glanced down and could see the real purpose of the chest thanks to the light that was emitted from inside.. It was a coffin he had entered.. The corpse inside it was adorned with a crown of which a gem at the front glowed a faint white light. "Did I just desecrate their.. No.." The groups of dwarves searched the room, one reaching the trapdoor and calling the others. “Men, the hollowgrounds is opened. The thief might have made a bloody pulp on the bottom.” The Dwarven guards chuckled and laughed heartily at the misfortune. “That will teach him to desecrate great Valdin the Great." Florandus held the lid of the chest up on a slither, seeing the dwarves dumbfounded looking down into the abyss. The ranger cringed a bit as he pushed the corpse to the side of the chest, making room so he could maneuver around. “Ah.. This is disgusting..” The ranged thief took the crown and put it in his backpack, then looked around to find an amulet made of gold and a strange looking diamond set in it. “I’d be surprised if this was just an ordinary stone..” One of the Dwarves stepped closer to the hole, accidentally hitting a coin with his shoe so it fell down the trap door, causing a small ‘ding’ as it eventually hit the bottom. Hearing the ding the dwarves nailed their eyes to the bottom of the abyss, thinking someone had actually fallen down. Florandus pushed the lid open and began shooting down the torches, before he could hit the last one the bearer saw his face. The torch was shot, then a pop could be heard and the sound of armor hitting the floor of the abyss. This caused the small group of dwarves to be alarmed as they were plunged in the dark all of a sudden, another set or armor jiggled as one of them slipped, falling into the abyss.

=Chapter 4: Quality over quantity.=

With the clearing provided Florandus jumped back to the other side over the gap, shooting an arrow to the right of the room and him running along the left of the room to the exit, this caused the now blind dwarves to scatter to the right side of the room, roaring in an intimidating manner at the unknown assailant near them. Mid-run he took out his pouch, scooped up gold from a pile and ran back out of the vault while it was still covered in darkness. “Hehe.. I might need more pouches.” Outside the door the sound of yet more metal clashes could be heard as a small army approached, their gear loudly clanked at each movement as if they were substitutes for cattlebells. The ranger exited the vault and ran up to the wall, using his icepicks to once again move above the dwarves. He would now wait till there where little enough dwarves around, the ranger forced the ice picks into the wall to create a platform of some sorts for him to sit and wait on. Florandus whipped the non-existent sweat off his brow as he saw platoon after platoon pour into the vault. Once the exit seemed clear enough Florandus shot down the torches of those standing outside and slid down the wall, swerving between the confused dwarves and running out of the exit as hard as he could. He went on like this till he was completely outside. At returning to the commercial district he wasn't very surprised when he saw the whole city in military lockdown. He jumped down the building rooftops to lower ground where he came to civil streets, entering the market and blending in among the human and elven merchants and mercs that visited the city. The ranger eventually casually walked back to a stable near the city gates where word of the attack had not yet reached, chuckling to himself. A friend named Martin was standing on a street corner just ahead of him, eating an apple and taking in the view of the ancient dwarven architecture. Florandus saw him and stepped up, trying to act the part of his disguise. "Hey buddy, what are you eating?" The friend held up the fruit nonchalantly. “Apples, you get a good wage for your help today?” He spoke while tossing the ranger one of the fruit. The ranger caught the apple, gave it an experimental lick and bit into it. "I helped an old guy today; he had this crazy obsession with gold. So I showed him the way by taking his luxuries away. He didn't mind in the end." Martin laughed as he winked. “ah I see, I’m sure I saw you getting chased around by the boys as well, you should keep an eye out for them.” Florandus chuckled and patted his friend’s back. "Hey, I also got some extra pocket money. Feel like getting something special?" The two then walked off to the cart that was going to get them to a good drink at the next town.