Legend of Grimrock: Destiny’s Chance. (Part 2)

I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t worried. Prisoners “pardoned by the King” are brought to the top of Mount Grimrock and thrown in to find their way to the bottom and escape; should they escape, that means the gods have deemed the prisoners innocent, or at least, given a second chance.

The stories about the things within Mount Grimrock are… well, for lack of a better word, grim. So far, the survival count for prisoners who have escaped Mount Grimrock are in the single digits. As in, zero. That doesn’t bode well for us.

“We have –tic!- nothing to worry about –tic!- right?” Blaz’tik the insectoid asked, looking at me.

“No,” I smile.

Like I said, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t worried.

So sue me, I’m lying.

Taren, my minotaur companion gives me a sour look. He knows I’m lying. He’s been with me through thick and thin. He knows when I lie, or tell the truth, or even just ever so slightly bend the truth. Taren shakes his head at me.

“It would seem,” the lizard-man, Silvertan, pointed out, with his words lisping, “that your minotaur companion does not agree with your assessment.”

“Well if it makes you feel better,” I replied, standing up and rubbing my shoulder. “Taren hardly ever agrees with me on anything.” I held my hand out to the Lizard Man, my shackles rattling. All four of us had been shackled together when we were thrown in. “Now, is there anything you can do about these? Wearing these and trying to find our way through here is going to make things a lot more complicated than they need to be.”

As I suspected, Silvertan popped the locks with very little effort.

“You’re much better than you originally let on,” I commented, rubbing my wrists. “You could have easily got Boris’ purse. So why the charade? Did you want to get caught?”

Silvertan was silent for a moment. “None of you were supposed to get involved. None of you were supposed to help. I had been watching Boris for days. I knew his pattern better than he did. I waited until he went into the Fallen Star, because I thought no one would come to his aid. Patrons would be too drunk. Wouldn’t care.”

“So were you looking for some kind of death sentence,” I asked, as my eyes glanced around the small cell we were now stuck in.

“No, my intention was to be thrown into Mount Grimrock,” Silvertan hissed, his serpent tongue flickering. “There are legend of the Undying One’s treasure that reach as far as my lands in the Terragrass Marshes.”

Terragrass Marshes. My mother told me about that place. It was called ‘Terra-Gras’ because of the whole Earthly feeling. Most who traveled through it called it the ‘Terror Grass Marshes’, however, because the amount of wild life, almost all of it, beyond lethal just from a small scratch or bite. Only the brave and the foolish ventured into the Terragrass Marshes.

“So you thought you would get caught, get arrested, then just thrown down here; make your way to the bottom, on your own, fighting everything that’s said to be trapped in here and walk out with this incredible, and I might add – only a legend! – of a treasure?” I sputtered.

“I had no intention of fighting anything,” Silvertan retorted. “I’m a rogue. I live in the darkness. I come from the Terragrass Marshes. I know how to move without being seen, even if I am standing right in front of someone’s gaze. I would have made my way down without any problem,” Silvertan replied. “All you have done is complicate matters.”

“You have a wonderful way of saying, ‘Thanks for trying to help me!’” I muttered as I walked towards the only exit; thick bars that blocked our way out.

“I didn’t asked to be helped,” Silvertan said again.

I turned my head, “Great. Yeah, I get it. Thanks.” I turned my attention back to the bars. “These slide up, but they’re pretty rusted. Taren?”

The Minotaur stood, towering well over seven feet tall. Each step sounded like rolling thunder. His massive hands, bigger than my head, grabbed the bars and gave them a shove. The entire mountain seemed to scream in protest – but slowly, the bars rose and our only exit from the first room became available to us.

“The least those bastards could have done is toss us down some weapons,” I muttered.