The Sceptre of Samnos

Vantarestin Part 6

     The three wizards had slipped quietly back out into the corridor while the Winterwells were exploring the practice room. They were much more interested in finding Zebulon's rooms which, they reasoned, had to be somewhere nearby and which they expected to contain several magical booby traps to catch unwelcome intruders. They had some idea what to expect, as magical traps had been covered by their University education, but the Winterwells didn't and they didn't want their friends to get hurt so soon after meeting them, so they thought it best to slip off and find it by themselves while the others were busy.

     Sure enough, they found another heavy wooden door at the far end of the corridor, identical to Rhanov's except that the plaque had a ‘Z' on it, and it had no keyhole. "Stand back," said Thomas as he approached and gave it a gentle push at full arms length. Much to his surprise it opened easily, without so much as a squeak. He was almost disappointed.

     "That's odd," said Jerry. "You'd have thought he'd have kept his door magically locked."

     "It's been several years, don't forget," said Lirenna. "The spell must have faded. They do that if they're not re-cast every so often."

     "Not that quickly," said Jerry, "Especially having been cast by Zebulon himself. Most locking spells can last for centuries, not just a few years."

     "Maybe there'll be some answers inside," said Thomas. "Let's look and see."

     Cautiously, they entered the room, glancing around nervously as they did so, keeping a vigilant eye open for traps. The room was expensively furnished, in contrast to Rhanov's room, but was similar in size and shape. A few art treasures adorned the walls, along with shelves on which stood a few books and ornaments that seemed to have been chosen for their curiosity value rather than their monetary worth. All along the north wall was a large and fairly detailed bas-relief depicting a wizard, obviously Zebulon himself, standing on a hilltop and casting a spell down into a valley below, in which an entire army was fleeing in confused panic.

     The bed in the room's far corner was similar to Rhanov's, except that the letter on the headboard was a ‘Z', highlighted in gold leaf. A few cupboards and cabinets stood around the room, all locked and probably trapped as well. There was a writing table against the far wall, one drawer of which was not locked but which contained nothing more exciting than writing implements. A short distance from it was a larger table around which three chairs were arranged and on which stood a pitcher and three mugs. Zebulon liked to have quiet meetings here with his friends, it seemed.

     The only other thing of note in the room was a chest containing a collection of clothes and rags. A quick search revealed nothing of any great interest to them. It was basically just the room in which Zebulon lived and slept. There were two doors in the far wall, though, and Thomas tried the first one, opening it slowly and carefully.

     Inside was a workroom, similar but smaller to many they had worked in as apprentices in the University. Seeing it brought back feelings of nostalgia to all three of them as they poked around the glass doored cabinets half way up the walls and examined the glass and ceramic containers inside, each one containing a different substance. Thomas opened one and discovered it to be full of dead beetles of all different kinds, while one Lirenna opened contained chunks of amber. A few bottles lay on the single table in the middle of the room, all containing a different coloured liquid. Jerry opened one and sniffed it, but immediately gagged and coughed and stoppered it again, but not before the whole room was filled with the smell of rotten eggs. They decided not to open any more, but to investigate the second door at the far end of the room.

    This led to a fully equipped laboratory, containing everything an ambitious wizard could possibly want and more. The walls were lined with shelves full of bottles, beakers and jars containing every possible material spell component. Thomas saw labels that read basilisk's blood, powdered forest dragon horn, yellow musk creeper flowers, yellow mold spores, snow shae hair, nemesis weed tubers and many more even more strange and outlandish.