<div class="floatright">(http://i.imgur.com/E7QXyYp.png)<br/><br/>(http://i.imgur.com/Hc7WCpC.jpg)</div><br/>Bo held up her spear and smiled at it,<strong>"Aye an it's a sign from the gods inn'it?  They say that only those who Moradin hi'sself is watching is lucky enough to find one, an any weapon tha' bears one carries his blessings.  Truly an amazing thing, aye?'"</strong><br/><br/>The trio packed up any belongings that were worth taking, Shugar gladly shouldering a serviceable rucksack with the rations, water, and wine.  Bo made a small joke about the bugbear not carrying too much, amusing considering that the shaman carried only the rucksack and the be-fetished leather cord that wrapped about her hips with phallic totem and fox tail.  But Zerxel knew that the nude woman's appearance was deceiving, for she carried magical potential and the razor sharp claws on the ends of her fingers and toes looked like they could be quite effective in a pinch.  Shugar shrugged the rucksack onto her back, a motion which caused her large full breasts to jiggle in quite a pleasant way, as the trio set out.  She nodded off to the west, behind them, as they walked saying,<strong>"I came from that direction and the buildings I saw were almost all ruined, but the one or two I saw that 'phased' in and out seemed mostly harmless.  There was one shop, I don't know what else to call it, with a sleepy naga behind the counter.  I got out of there pretty quick, but the monstergirl didn't seem to be interested in attacking me or enslaving me, and at the time I had very little to trade anyways.  Her shop was filled mostly with oddities, things I can't imagine being useful inside the dungeon, but as I said, I didn't stay very long.  Then there was another building that seemed like a town hall, that was up by the north gate.  I looked in and there were several townsfolk standing and yelling at a man on stage who was trying to calm them, saying everyone would have a chance to talk.  They either didn't notice me or couldn't, but again I got out of there pretty quickly.  If truth be told I was looking for anything I could scavenge or any contestants I could group up with, and was afraid the town hall was a trap."</strong><br/><br/>She shrugged, feeling like her information wasn't that helpful, but then added,<strong>"There was a large map of the town on the side wall, painted larger than you or I, but I didn't go in to check it out."</strong>She of course didn't know that Zerxel had a map herself, but it was at least useful information.<br/><br/>Bo had been walking silently, hanging just behind the other two, and keeping an eye on her compass.  It was then that she frowned and said,<strong>"Still no movement on the key.  Either other contestants have tried to get it and failed, have decided it's not worth it, or are waiting for someone else to get it and then ambush them.  Because after almost a full day on this level, others would at least have had the drive to look and see how hard it would be to obtain.  Lets not forget, finding the key is only the first step.  Even if we get it, we still have to find the golden door that it unlocks.  You didn't see that in your travels did you Shugar?"</strong><br/><br/>The bugbear shook her head and in her high voice apologized,<strong> "No, I didn't, sorry.  But like I said I didn't do a lot of exploring.  I'd be willing to bet that it's in one of the phased buildings though, not just randomly placed in a ruined home."</strong><br/><br/>Bo and Zerxel had to agree with that thought.  The dungeon was consistent in the fact that it tended to 'cluster' encounters together.  While there were sometimes secret passages or doors, the golden door was always a major event and never just placed randomly in some hidden location.  Still the dwarf continued,<strong>"I think we're getting close, we need to cut up over one avenue, lets take this passage here and climb up one level of streets aye?"</strong>The group agreed and they found themselves carefully moving up a steeply slanted street towards Magma avenue.  The tension between the three was palpable as all three contestants kept their eyes peeled for any signs of danger, especially as they passed another overgrown park.  But nothing untoward happened.  Then they found a large open air courtyard off the street and connected to a dilapidated stone building.<br/><br/><strong>"There,"</strong>Shugar said pointing at the courtyard.<br/><br/>The dwarf and elf looked where the shaman was pointing and sure enough, the golden glint of the key immediately drew their eyes.  In the center of the courtyard stood a brownish red statue, appearing to be made of cracked clay and shaped into the very rough shape of a woman.  About it's neck dangled a thin gold chain with a golden key hanging from it.  The trio stood on the street looking into the courtyard, and it was then that Zerxel noticed something else in the courtyard.  Upon the ground, close to the statue, three small skeletal hands holding slightly glowing fruit... soulfruit.  The souls of departed, defeated, contestants.  Obviously there was more to this simple, seemingly still, courtyard than appeared if three contestants had already fallen here trying to retrieve the key.  Shugar and Bo looked at each other and at Zerxel, each of the trio unsure what the next move was.  Obviously there was something deadly in this courtyard... but what?