The Walls of the Canal were hewn with stone bricks, carved deep into the rockwalls of

the passage, the roof curved overhead like a sewer and the water washed against the sides of
the gondola that persevered towards their goal.
On this gondola were three figures one tall and slim, sitting in his seat, muling over a
map in his hands, humming quietly to himself, another small and thin, wrapped in a deep brown
cloak and taking in the world around them with gleaming eyes, the third figure was unlike the
others, a strange mass of cloth and wood, certainly someone existed beneath, but with the form
of cloth that manned the gondola, no features could be made out, a wooden mask staring down
at the others as it silently piloted the craft towards their destination.
Wilson placed his map on the seat beside him and stared down at the box, his orders
were simple, deliver this package to the Merchants and receive a hefty sum for his troubles, but
as he passed his hands across the latch of the package, he wondered if this was all worth it, the
secrecy, the intrigue, the fact that these faceless figures seem too know more than they let on, it
was really starting to grind him down. But thats either here nor there.
Jesse stared in awe at the water, how the light of the canals lantern reflected off of it, this
place, its people, it was all so new and so great, adventuring was a new life for Jesse, but it was
what she wanted, this was her chance, to escape the monotony of Lamplight, all the fear and
superstition of Amberrest, she was too young to fully understand, so she simply stared at the
water as the gondola drifted along.
The craft bumps up against the stone docks, the water splashing up on the pier as the
drizzle of rain beat down on this subterranean dockyard, well it wasn’t technically rain, but thats
neither here nor there. Wilson and Jesse disembark from the gondola, wilson carried the box in
his arms leading Jesse up the street and towards the cathedral, Wilson knew where the
merchants wanted to meet for the drop off, but why was the real question, one he was smart
enough to not ask
Jesse followed behind, admiring every square inch of this place, it was a magical
atmosphere, not necessarily welcoming, but interesting nonetheless. A raining city, deep below
the ground, settled within ruins from ages past, living in by a cabal of faceless merchants,
wrapped in cloths and obscured by wooden masks. It was all so new, sure she had seen
interesting things before, but none such as this, but pulled along, she followed wilson down this
market street and into the cathedral itself.
The cathedral was a menacing building, a crumbling facade showed centuries of decay,
but inside, it was well still in use, though not as intended. A mound of relics piled over the altar
and stalls of merchants operated throught its aisles and passageways, merchants trading
everything one could ask for, protected by an ominous force, a dragon, curled up on the pile of
relics, her scales shimmering silver, seemingly melting into the dragon, staring down on the
tradehall with interest, it was clear who had been here first, every accommodation favoured the
dragon.
Wilson paid this no mind as he located the booth he was to meet at, manning the booth
was one much like the gondola driver, though two masks stared down at him from its fabric
cocoon, as wilson placed the crate on the table the figure spoke,
“¿You are back, It is done?” The Merchant spoke emotionless.
“Yes, the package has been obtained,” Wilson spoke calmly and carefully.
“¿And what of Amberrest, do they know?”
 “No, they didn’t catch on, everything is dealt with,”
“That is good, your payment awaits, the client wishes to thank you personally,”
“The Client? always figured you were the client,” Wilson was confused, the client? Who
could that possibly be, his question however was answered quickly as the long silver neck
peaked around him, staring back at him was the dragon, no long perched on the pile of relics,
instead looking him in the eyes from beside him,
Asyr’s wings unfurled, cloth draped from her wings as she got herself into a position
comfortable enough to begin this conversation,
“Well, well, well, who have we got here?” she spoke erratically with each sentence
different in tone,” an adventurer, a vagabond, a messenger, a man of many jobs, all wrapped up
in the bow of one, hope you enjoy your job, because I have another,”
“Well, I was actually going to be heading back with Jesse to..”
“Oh, I’m sorry, you thought I was asking, because I might have been, but you have to,
you must, see, this needs to be done, its uselessly important, vitally optional and overall
required of you,” Asyr spoke randomly, an incoherant request telling Wilson nothing, but also
everything, she placed a scroll against Wilsons chest, the force larger than expected, knocking
the wind out of the man, “Do this little favour for me alright, or I’ll crush you, or maybe not, I don’t
know yet,” the dragon spoke with conflicting viewpoints before letting out a laugh.
Wilson was about to ask what that possibly could mean, but the stare of the merchant
told him that was a bad idea, so he simple accepted and grabbed Jesse by the shoulder and led
the two of them out of the cathedral, the scroll once unfurled, contained payment for the
previous job as well as a map, leading the two of them on a journey deeping underground.
The maw of the cave covered the left wall of the tunnel, water seeped into it from the
channels, trail hugged the waterway, submerging ankle deep at some points, but staying
travesable, but it was were the manmade passage ended and the natural one began that things
took a turn for the interesting.
“Jesse, remember, we don’t know what’s down their, so move slowly, and stay behind
me,”
“Yes, Wilson, it’s the same rules as last time, I understand, ok,” Jesse responded,
agitated, it was always simple, the stakes were always described as high, and thought she
hadn’t been on many jobs, she had been on enough to assume a pattern out of stakes vs reality.
So she caught up at the entrance to the cave and they began their descent.
Wilson lit up a lantern and began to lead Jesse into the cave’s, down they went, past the
hollow lifeless rocks, the scroll was straight forward, somewhere down here, the caves
connected to an ancient dwarvish burial chamber, one that contained an axe, one which was
said to bear an enchantment that interested Asyr, so down they went.
The tunnels stretched on and on, with a turn to the left they continued, eventually the
roof got lower, but never too low to continue, never to thin in any dimension to fully block the
progression of the party of two, so they traversed onwards.
It wasn’t until they reached the final stretch that things became difficult, the tunnel
sharply closed, but where the two initially suspected a dead end, they instead found a shaft,
where a collasped ceiling combined with weak rock bored a straight vertical stretch of rock, not
smooth by any sense of the word, but claustrophobic nonetheless. Wilson stopped Jesse and
they discussed their next moves.
 “I was afraid of this, a shaft was the last thing I wanted for this expedition,” Wilson
admitted
“You’re afraid of everything Will, its just rock, we have faced worse than rock before,”
retorted Jesse, who still saw the terrain as the safe part of a quest. Wilson went to respond but
instead just let out a huff, securing a piton deep into the rock, and tying the other end to his belt,
Jesse did the same, securing a piton into the walls of the tunnel before joining Wilson in the
slow descent towards the bottom of the chamber, both focused on the climb, neither noticed as
Jesses Piton slid partially out of its socket.
They both made landfall, untieing the rope from their belts and leaving it to act as a way
out, now standing in the burial chamber the scroll spoke of, they both began their search. It
wasn’t long before they found the Axe, strapping it to his back, Wilson alerted Jesse to the find,
and they began their journey back.
Starting their Climb back up was supposed to be simple, just the climb down, but in
reverse, but as Jesses boot hit her cloak instead of the rocks, she slipped off of the rock, and as
the rope violently pulled agains the already dislodged piton, which pulled out of the rocks as
weight was put on it, causing her to fall downwards, maybe she should have been more careful,
maybe she should have double checked, but naive Jesse had grown complacent, and
complacency wasn’t going to help her as she fell, hitting the ground with a deafening crunch.
Wilson could have gone back and checked, but that drop was fatal, certianly, their was
nothing more he could do but return, and so he did, running back through the tunnels, his
judgement clouded by the sudden dealth of his college, so he ran, and it only took one wrong
turn to bash himself off of the rockface, sending himself tumbling to the ground who knows how
far below.
Pain shot through his leg as he forced himself to stand, tears streamed down his face as
he stumbled onwards, heart pounding in his chest as he tore through the caverns, but each
burst of speed only led to more mistakes, a shoulder agains a wall, leg to the ground, head to
the ceiling, bash after scrape after bruise, until he staggered out of the tunnels, weak and
injured, where he simply sat down and passed out, exhausted both emotionally and physically,
and he sat their for hours, asleep deep within the underground, and no one knows how this
story ends, he might have quit, or maybe he didn’t make it, but the merchants tell of his death as
none reported him ever returning, his knowledge only gleamed from a journal found in a
campsite he supposedly left at the entrance to that fated cavern.

Annotated Paragraph:
The story was purposely written more in opening than ending to show the speed things
can go wrong. With a slow beginning, setting the tone of the setting, before showing the
veterancy of the party by keeping the middle shallow, giving a general sense of knowledge,
before being wrenched away with the quick collapse of the expected, as the death of one
member utterly breaks the other, collaspsing all logic, I never needed to state that he was sad, I
was able to show. Contrasting the vocal party with the more erratic Asyr and the much less
vocal Merchants helped to show that people are not the norm here.