The muddy, grimy water wept from underneath the door as Fredgar crossed it to get to Inky. He pounced at Inky to try to get his amulet, but he was too slow. Inky just jumped out the way. Fredgar's feet hit the floor but fell away from beneath him, he slipped and fell against the wall. The brickwork started to move and scraped as it slipped back into the wall. The sound seemed deafening as it echoed around the room. Fredgar got to his feet and saw he'd pressed a brick into the wall. The scraping continued but the stone had stopped.

 

Clang! Clang! Clang!

 

Fredgar evaluated his surroundings and found himself in a long hallway. An ominous red glow filled the end of the corridor and was getting closer.

Fredgar spun on his heels and looked back towards the stairs. He began running. The hallway rumbled, a slab of stone came crashing down from above the stairs and blocked his escape. Trembling, he quickly looked for a weapon of some sort. Luckily, he'd dropped the beam inside the hallway when he'd crossed the door. He picked it back up. Armed and ready, he waited for the nightmare that was approaching him. The glow gleamed off the surrounding walls and highlighted the silhouette of a giant armoured creature.

"I remember stories about golems. Creatures created by sorcerers to guard treasures and important people. This one is made of armour and is carrying a huge hammer. It was probably made from the armour of the people the sorcerer kept as slaves and murdered," Fred thought to himself.

 

Clang! Clang! Clang!

 

The beam was heavy in Fredgar's hands. He mustered all the strength he could and took a swipe at the golem. The halfling felt a shooting pain through his arms as the beam collided with the armour. Stunned, he looked at his hands. They felt as though they were going to shatter into a thousand pieces. The next second he was on the other side of the hallway with a pain in the left side of his head. The golem had launched the little man with a single strike. The golem strode towards the little adventurer and raised his mighty hammer.

"Meow!"

The golem's helmeted head looked slowly towards the noise to its left. Its body followed and walked off into the darkness. The glow got dimmer and dimmer until the hallway was dark again.

The fear in Fredgar's body wouldn't allow him to move. He eventually gained the courage and strength to venture on into the darkness. One of the many talents of halflings is they have good eyesight in the dark, but not as well as dwarves and elves.

Adventuring further into the ruin he entered a large hall. Set to the sides were huge stone boxes, long and about shoulder height. He ran his hands along the side of one and could feel indentations. Squinting hard in the darkness he could read "Here lies Hazendorf the mighty." These were sarcophagi, coffins of fallen warriors and this must be the tomb where these heroes were buried.

"Forgive me Hazendorf," Fredgar prayed.

The lid of the Sarcophagus slowly scraped aside as Mr Brandybottom pushed it open. Knowing that all great heroes are buried with their weapon, he tried to salvage one in case the golem came back. He was in luck. There lying on the chest of a halfling, was a short sword and dagger. Fredgar reached in but his tiny fingers couldn't quite grasp them. He jumped and stretched, only to push the short sword down the side of Hazendorf's body where he couldn’t reach.

"One last try. I might be able to get the dagger," He thought to himself.

With that final try, success! He grappled hold of the dagger and held it aloft.

"I thought Hazendorf would be a dwarf with a name like that, ah well."

The dagger started to give off a faint yellow glow.

"I wonder what that means?"

"Meow!"

"Inky!" The halfling expressed with great surprise.

Inky just licked his paws, turned away and ran off down the hall.

"Not again," he said with a moan.

Doorway after doorway, room after room they both ran until they got to a huge, gated doorway.

 

Clang! Clang! Clang!