The Esmeraldas' Triumph gracefully flew over the rocky land of what once was the Kingdom of Toulo, conquered by Iokonia 80 years ago. The weather had cleared up and it was now pleasant sailing for the crew. " I think I see it!" exclaimed Alexis.
" No, that is five pointing one way, two pointing the other" said Audrey.
" Can't we just go down there and move one?" asked Alexis, " we've been looking for two days now."
" I don't think he hid it so it would be easy to find" said Elanna, " we only have another day on this course to go."
" There are too many rocks" complained Alexis.
Elanna looked back at Gabriel and Sebastian, " Any sign of Twang or his fleet?" she asked.
" Clear skies" said Sebastian, " other than that other airship yesterday we are totally alone."
" Maybe because we are a hundred miles from nothing" said Tanis, leaning against the rail that bordered the side of the flying deck from the deck below.
" What's that?" asked Audrey, her ears twitching nervously, her tail standings straight up.
Elanna looked over the side, below them was an outcropping of rocks that had four pointing one direction, and three pointing in the other. Elanna took her spyglass out and started scanning in the direction of the four. " I think we may have something" said Elanna, " I can see some kind of building."
" Gabe" said Sebastian, " lets get us other there."
" Aye" said Gabriel.
The Esmeraldas' Triumph slowly started for a building that stood alone in a field. " Dear lady" said Sebastian, offering his hand to Elanna, " shall we go and investigate?"
" Why thank you sir" said Elanna, bowing, " I shall be delighted to accompany you."
The Esmeraldas' Triumph slowly hovered over the stone building. Sebastian tossed the rope ladder over the side and they climbed to the ground. " I use to hear stories about the Toulo people rigging their homes with booby traps to catch unwary looters" said Sebastian.
" That was 80 years ago" said Elanna, " you actually think any of these booby traps are left."
" If they are magical?" asked Sebastian.
" Oh all right" groaned Elanna.
Elanna looked back up to the ship, " Sam, I need you to go into my top drawer and get my medallion."
Sam stuck her head out of the kitchen window, " What does it look like?" asked Sam.
" Its my gold medallion with the red jewel in the middle" said Elanna.
" Why me?" asked Sam, " I have lunch almost done."
" The medallion is in my special drawer" said Elanna.
" Ahhhhhh" said Sam, " no sticky fingers."
Sam's head disappeared back into the ship, " Maybe I should get it" said Sebastian.
Elanna kept a firm hold on his collar.

Sam hurried up the stairs to Elanna's cabin and pushed the door open. Sam made her way through the mess that Elanna usually left her room. Sam walked over to her dresser and opened the top drawer. Sam whistled as she dug through the smooth silk underwear, she was insanely jealous of Elanna and her spectacular bust. Sam picked up one of Elanna's bodices and wondered if she could ever fill one these out, so she could start stealing this amazing stuff. Sam found the medallion buried all the way at the bottom, she lifted it up and started for the deck.
" Here it is" said Sam, tossing the medallion over the side.
Elanna dove and caught the medallion before it hit the ground, " Thanks" said Elanna.
Elanna held the medallion up; its magical power was to detect magic. If the jewel in the middle changed colours it meant that there was magic in the area. Elanna slowly turned in a full circle, the jewel stayed bright red. " Just making sure" said Sebastian, " I just remember that time we set Audrey's tail on fire with that fireball trap."
" Nobody wants to see a Cataka racing about a room with her tail on fire as she set the drapes on fire either" said Elanna, " especially the owner of the house we were borrowing those books from."
" You have to admit it was kinda funny to see those drapes burst into flames though" said Sebastian.
" Before or after we leapt out the window into the disgusting moat, or after we had to carry Audrey back to the ship smelling like burning hair and rancid green moat water?" asked Elanna.
" I think it was when the drape went up as Audrey was racing in circles in the room" said Sebastian, " how bout we get to work?"
" Great idea" said Elanna.
Sebastian pushed the rotting old door open. The door slowly swung open and then fell off its rusty hinges crashing into the main room with a loud bang. The noise startled a group of crows that were living in the room. They flew past Sebastian and Elanna cawing loudly making both of them duck to avoid meeting equally terrified crows. " Okay" said Sebastian, taking deep breathes.
" Scared?" asked Elanna.
" Noooo" said Sebastian, " you?"
" Of course not" said Elanna.
" Then after you" said Sebastian, sweeping his hand to usher Elanna into the building.
" No problem" said Elanna.
Elanna walked into building, it was a large center room with a small room to the side. " I don't see any red boars" said Elanna.
" I don't we hit the jackpot" said Sebastian, " looks like we found a farmhouse, I doubt he would hide a priceless statue in an empty farmhouse."
" At least we got a good scare" said Sebastian.
" Come on" said Elanna, " we have two more routes to check."
They both turned; as they hit Elanna's foot hit a loose stone. They both heard a loud snap and gears moving. A wooden panel sprung open that revealed eight arrows ready to fire. Elanna closed her eyes, this wasn't how she wanted to die, shot full of some ancient arrows in a farmhouse. She heard the string on the large crossbow snap, sorry mom I guess I won't make it home for the High Moon Festival.
Two arrows actually managed to fire, but they went three inches from the wooden panel in the wall and flopped to the ground. After several seconds of no death Elanna finally peeked out one eye to see why she wasn't full of arrows. Elanna saw the ancient trap had rotted away and not worked, she let off a long exhale. She looked over at where Sebastian once was, he was gone, Elanna looked around, the shutters on one of the windows were now wide open. But there was no way he could squeeze his entire body out such a small window thought Elanna, until Sebastian's head peeked back in through the window. " See what did I say" said Sebastian, " these old booby traps are all rotten."
" Let's just go before the roof falls in on my head" said Elanna.
" Can't agree more" said Sebastian.
The pair quickly left the farmhouse and climbed back up into the ship. " Have fun down there?" asked Audrey.
" Lots" said Elanna, " Gabriel, please get us the hell out of here now."

Twang watched as his giant battle blimps slowly caught up with them. Twang was going to find that airship; this time their evil dwarven cannons wouldn't save them this time. " How comes dinner?" asked Twang, to his cook, his dull brother Ugarth.
" Almost done" said Ugarth, " trolls are hard to cook through due to their thick skin."
" I told you to skin it" said Twang.
" I dulled two knives in skinning him" said Ugarth, " I got the skin on the hearth to dry so we can use them to patch the balloon."
" Good" said Twang.
Ugarth disappeared back into the kitchen and brought out several large plates full of sliced Hill Troll meat, no sense in letting all that pre-tenderized meat go to waste. Soon they would get to feast on human, which was a delicacy his clan would definitely love. They wouldn't eat the dwarves on that ship, they were tougher than the troll and tasted twice as bad. Twang and his crew began to devour the grey troll flesh with their large yellowed teeth, ripping into the tough flesh and washing it down with flagons of goblyn wine; a brew made from swamp water which gave it is distinct olive colour and rancid smell.

Elanna couldn't sleep; she just tossed and turned about in her bunk. The incident with the crossbow booby trap had really got her wired. After ten more minutes of rolling over and over in her bed she got up. Elanna didn't bother with her robe; it was late nobody would be up. Elanna left her cabin in her lavender silk bodice and matching panties to get some fresh air. Elanna got up on deck, the green glow of the magical helm controls were gently navigating the vessel while the crew slept. Elanna and Gabriel had argued with the crew over that for weeks before buying it, now every one loved it and there were no arguments over who drew night watch. Elanna took in a deep breath; the air was crisp and clean. Elanna slowly walked up to the flying deck to gaze up at Caracantha's two moons. As she was staring up at the moons something caught her eye, airships off to the left. They were staying back, out of sight of most humans, especially out of sight of dwarves, but Elanna's keen sight picked them up. A cold chill ran down her spin making her alabaster skin break out in goose bumps, the words from Captain Armstrong's diary echoed in her mind, were these the same ships that followed them before their untimely end? Maybe they were searching for the statue like them, or possibly they wanted the Red Fairy under Sebastian's bed. Elanna decided she wanted to get a better look at the ships just in case. Elanna hurried down to her quarters and grabbed her spyglass off her dresser. By the time Elanna had gotten back to the flying deck the ships had disappeared. Elanna took out the spyglass and began to scan the horizon. Elanna scanned back and forth desperately trying to find the ships. As she did she felt a hand on her shoulder.
Elanna leapt in the air almost dropping her spyglass. She spun around ready to fight, but instead a ship full of mysterious attackers it was just Gabriel. " Are you okay?" he asked, " I heard you running up and down the stairs."
" I saw ships" said Elanna, pointing to where the ships once where, " they were there, I ran down to get my spyglass and when I got back they were gone."
" Okay, you're thinking that they are the same ships as the ones that followed the other ship" said Gabriel.
Elanna nodded, " Guess we'll have to keep our eyes open from now on" said Gabriel, " you should try to get some sleep, we have another full day of searching ahead of us."
" Aren't we lucky" said Elanna, " night."
Elanna went back to her cabin and promptly fell asleep.

Serenity sat on an overturned tree trunk and took her boots off. Her feet were sore; walking for the past four days had just about taken all the wind out of her. Serenity looked up through the dense trees at the night sky above. She was on course, that captain's rather cryptic clues had at least given her an idea of where to travel. Serenity looked over at the crystal clear pond, it looked so clean and cool. Serenity decided against another night of traveling with little rest, she was only mortal after all. Serenity took her cloak off and laid it over the log. Her sword and scabbard, her belt of throwing knives, her satchel, and her shirt quickly joined her cloak resting on the trunk. She was unlacing her leather pants when she heard a noise; her long ears twitching, four of them, human by the sound of their breathing, armed with swords, cheap chain mail, and one had a bad leg that he limped on. Bandits, go this rotten province was nothing but thieves and ruins. Serenity carefully grabbed her belt of throwing daggers with her foots and carefully drew it towards her.
With a single graceful movement Serenity flipped her throwing dagger belt up in the air and grabbed four daggers. She spun and threw three high and one low. They found their marks, the sound of the daggers piercing the cheap chain mail and digging into soft flesh was unmistakable, then the screams of the wounded fourth, now he would limp with both legs. Serenity slipped her black shirt back on and marched over to where the man was desperately trying to crawl away, Serenity's throwing dagger pierced clean through his leg. Serenity stepped on his leg, driving the dagger deeper in. " Who do you work for?" asked Serenity, keeping her foot on the bandit's leg.
" I can't" the man screamed, " I'll die."
" If you don't you die now. You tell me at least you can try to run for it" said Serenity, " now I only ask twice."
Before Serenity could finish her sentence, another bandit burst from the underbrush his sword raised high ready to cleave Serenity's head from her body, the throwing dagger had missed. Serenity reacted; she grabbed the man's arm and twisted it. With a single graceful motion she snapped his arm and drove his own sword through his chest. Serenity tossed the lifeless corpse into the bushes. " TOBIAS SCHWARTZENSELBE!!!" the wounded man screamed so loud his ancestors could hear it, " HE HIRED US TO ATTACK AN AIRSHIP THAT HAD GOODS HE WANTED!! THE GOBLYNS HIT BEFORE WE COULD, WE ARE TRYING TO FIND THE MISSING GOODS! PLEASE LET ME LIVE!"
Serenity pulled her dagger from his leg and cleaned it on his shirt, " Travel north, you can reach Hansee in a couple of days, well more a like a week" said Serenity.
Serenity walked into the forest, very upset she had missed, she never missed. Serenity found the other two bandits very dead, one through the throat, the other in the eye. She retrieved the two daggers and took out her glow stone from her pant's pocket and began to search for her missing fourth. She found it, impaled on a tree, lucky bastard must have been behind this tree when I threw thought Serenity as she pulled the dagger free. This Tobias Schwartzenselbe was a sneaky little bastard, he must make a living out double crossing everyone. Serenity knew she had to get to that statue before anybody else did.
Serenity returned to the pond and tossed her throwing dagger belt on the trunk and took her clothes off. She slowly walked into the pond and slowly submerged under it clear water. She slowly rose up with a happy smile on her face, this felt great.

The morning brought more searching for the Esmeraldas' Triumph, who after some serious after breakfast arguing, decided to take the far left search route and if it came up dry they would take the middle route all the way to Josta and start searching again. Audrey and Alexis were perched on the front of the ship looking for their rocks, Elanna was retelling her story to Sebastian and Tanis on the flying deck, and Gabriel was piloting the ship when both Catakas began to meow loudly, " We found it! We found it!"
All four rushed to the front of the ship, they didn't need a spyglass or the Cataka's keen vision to see where Captain Armstrong had hidden the statue. Standing near a clump of trees, directly in the line of sight from a rock outcropping of four and three was a giant decaying mansion. " I think we found our hiding place" said Gabriel.
Tanis cleared his throat and put his hand out, Sebastian groaned and drew out five gold coins and dropped them into Tanis' thick hand. " So who goes?" asked Audrey.
" Well Gabriel, you love ghost stories" said Sebastian.
" Sure, the place looks great" said Gabriel, " I would like to have Audrey come with Elanna and I too."
" What?!?" exclaimed Audrey, " me?"
" You're a burglar" said Gabriel, " you'll be perfect to help us search for hidden places where someone would hide a valuable statue."
" This is all because I bet you in Hyneria Gambit last night" said Audrey.
" Possibly" said Gabriel.
The three gathered up their needed equipment and slowly descended the ladder. The three started walking down the neglected stone path towards the front gates of the mansion. Audrey turned around and gave one last mournful look at the warm and safe Esmeraldas' Triumph before turning back to look at the impossible task before her. This was going to be nothing but huge spiders and scary trouble thought Audrey, when we get back, that is if we get back, I am putting in for a big raise or I'm clawing Sebastian's eyes out.
The group reached the rusted front gates, two hideous gargoyles stood on the columns on either side of the gates, a large crest connected the two sides of the gate together with an elaborate series of locks set into the crest. Audrey took out her lock picks from her satchel and tried to pick the locks on the gate. One by one the locks clicked for the skilled Cataka. The final click and the gates gave off a long groan as if it was protesting being opened after so many years. The sound made Audrey leap back, " Its okay" said Gabriel, " the big bad gate won't eat you."
" You tell me that when we are inside" said Audrey.
The three slowly pushed the gates open, the rusted hinges making the task very hard. Finally the gates were opened enough that all three could slip through. They stopped to look at the mansion.
It was huge, must have once been the home of a very important Toulo Noble, two large wings ran left and right from the main house, the main house rose five stories into the air with imposing turrets on either end connecting the main house to the wings. The walk was lined with giant trees and overgrown brush. Even in broad daylight the decayed sad condition of the house made all three uncomfortable, adding to their discomfort was the uncanny sense that they were being watched. When they pick hiding places they don't fuck around. The three walked down the path, the stones under their feet were uneven from the roots from the trees and the brush. They walked out of the tree line entry to a dry and cracked fountain where several stone maidens decorated the fountain in the middle. Their crumbling faces made them look sad, weeping the loss of their masters. They walked up the steps; ravens had a nest in the overhanging roof. They didn't caw or fly away they just sat there and looked at them with their black eyes. Audrey tried the door, it was locked, and she dropped to knees and began to pick the lock. While she worked, softly cursing under her breath as the lock proved to be trickier than it looked, Gabriel stared at the crests on the two large wooden doors. The center of the crest a dragon stood on a rock his wings spread out, his eyes staring straight out. Underneath flames rose up around the rock, above the dragon was something written in Toulo's ancient language. " Recognize it?" asked Elanna.
" I don't know" said Gabriel, " there is something familiar about this design, the dragon and the flames. Elanna, you wouldn't know how to read Old Toulo would you?"
" No" said Elanna.
" Probably says something like Deliveries In Back" said Audrey.
The lock click and Audrey forced the door open. " Shall we" said Elanna.
The three took out their glow stones and entered the mansion.