As Ishtar head back towards the branching hallways moving slightly uphill. She again makes it there ahead of Slimer, this time but quite a bit as she takes the next tunnel. Slimer meanwhile eventually gets there seeing torches filling two hallways and as his luck would have it chooses the wrong one, heading towards the throne room.

As Ishtar continues her exploration this hallway descends slightly and then begins to travel flat almost with no slope. She arrives at another intersection. Picking her path it leads to a shut door. The door is wooden but seems braced almost into the rock. It has metal bands holding the woold together running flat at the top, middle and bottom. The handle is on the right hand side and has a simple lock with key sitting in the hole, usable from either side.

On the other side of the door if opened is the armory and barracks. There are many rows of wooden bunks. Any pillows, sheets, or mattresses are either long gone or have turned to dust. Empty wooden chests sit in front of each bunk, and a armory stands in the back. The armory is still stock pilled with metal weapons of all kinds as well as crossbows, and bows and arrows with aweful looking tips.

Ishtar went down to the new tunnel to find only to find an intersection. The young woman looked around for a minute before she took a route down that eventually lead to a wooden door. The door seemed to be built into what looked like solid rock and locked but conveniently there was a key sitting in the hole. The young woman turned the door key and opened the door, to find that on the other side there was some sort of armory. There were many wooden bunks, however it looked like everything had already been emptied. There were still weapons everywhere, the young student was sure this stuff would more interest her older sister more than herself.

Still it was clear that this place was some sort of underground castle. Of course why would someone just leave it like this? If they left willingly, why leave the weapons and the crown? It didn't make any sense, the young woman would have to look around further to see if she could find more clues.

Returning back to the four way intersection there is a long hallway leading further in and a short hallway ending in another door that has already been opened. The room at the end of the short hallway looks more recently used. There 6 of the missing mattresses pulled together stacked 2 deep three wide in the back right corner. Against the far wall on the left is a long plain wooden table, on which sits many beakers of odd looking substances in beakers of varying sizes and colors with only strange etchings, no human had ever laid eyes on, to determine what is what. In the back left corner is another fire pit looking very recently used and on top of it is hung a crude metal grate, possibly used for heating flasks. There are torches on each side of the room, the one over the table is lit. A notebook sits on the table as well with more strange etchings. Otherwise the room is sparse with sootmarks along the ceiling traveling up from the firepit. A mirror also stands against the wall just next to the door.

Down the long deepening tunnel another branch can be found branching left and right.

Slimer reaches the throne room checking behind the thrones not noticing anything else out of place, as even the strange weapons remain in their racks. He scans once more searching for possible invisible intruders and then decides to head back the way he came and begin his hunt for intruders down the other lighted cooridors.

The young woman finally found a room that looked like that had it been used recently. Ishtar looked around at the room which seemed to be some sort of weird chemist lab with all sorts weird liquids of various colors throughout. She didn't know what to make of it. The fact there room had a lit torch meant that there was someone here, but she hasn't seen any sign of anyone. There was a notebook on the table with some sort of strange etchings on it. The blue haired student walked over to the notebook and opened. She hoped she could read the text, but since she couldn't read anything else in the room she had little hope that the notebook would be anymore informative. If she couldn't read it, she would have no choice but to move on deeper into the tunnel. Of course she was going to do that anyways.

The remaining passage at the intersection would lead down the long tunnel leading to the branch, the left tunnel leads downward continuing on while the right one levels out leading a short way to a heavily reinforced steel door. The steel door stands ajar and behind it is a room full of shiny things. The walls and ceiling of the room are covered in a steel like metal with a highly shiny gloss producing a reflection, of a reflection, of a reflection in any direction looked but down. Golden coins fill a quarter of the room in unbelievable piles, filling the whole back left corner. Mixed amongst the treasure are huge gems filling the pile randomly. There are diamonds and emeralds laying everywhere.

The right side of the room has many long shelves filled with all kinds of curiosities. Some shelves contain exquisite necklaces of ruby and emeralds. Others contain rings in sapphire and diamonds. Although nothing in a single piece truely matches the tiara of the throne room, the sight of it altogether is breathtaking.

Straight in the back center of the room is a pedestal which holds a perfect crystal in a sphere shape which seems to exude a feeling of menace.

Slimer meanwhile makes it back and decides to head up to the enterance to see what he can find there choosing that lighted route before furthering his pursuit wondering who has trespassed in his lair.

Ishtar gasped when she found a huge steel door, it was slightly open and it looked like the something shiny in the room. The young woman squeezed her nubile body past the door in the room. Her curiosity was rewarded with a huge giant vault, it was filled with gold coins everywhere. The blue haired student looked around in awe at all that she saw, there were jems everywhere with lots of jewelry all on shelves one one side of the room. She didn't know what to try on first, she felt like a kid in a candy store.

It was then that caught her eye, siting in the back center of the room was the largest, most perfect, crystal she had ever seen. She walked up to get a close up look at the crystal sphere. It was simply beautiful, but she could feel some...sinister behind it. She didn't know what it was that made her feel that way, but for now she simply looked at rather than pick it up.

As Slimer makes it to the cave enterance he goes on immediate guard seeing the camp fire. He quickly explores this chamber easing up of as he finds the flowery light blue coat and tan shorts by the sleeping bag. He returns them to were he found them putting two and two together and more assuredly makes his way back home...

Meanwhile Ishtar decides to trust her instincts and observe rather than touch the beautiful but menacing crystal sphere. There's no telling how long she would decide to stay on the different sets of jewelry, or what she might decide to keep, or whether to press on at all, and how could one blame her faced with such wonderful riches. Little did she know, that was the reason for putting the treasure room ahead of the library...

The final slope downward goes another 300 feet and ends at plain door. This door is not reinforced or even locked. In order to prevent common theives from opening it, it simply requires the touch of a magical being. This includes magic users and unfortunately for the exploring student Demons as well...that is if she kind find the will power to leave the disorienting treasure room.

Ishtar could help to spend a little extra time trying on the different necklaces but finally the young woman decided that if someone did live here it was probably their treasure and they would get mad at her if she took any of it. She reluctantly put the jewelry she had played back on the shelf and continued down the hall. The blue haired student continued down deeper down into the earth until she came across another door. It was strange unlike the other doors this one was locked or reinforced or anything thing like that. It was just a simple door, the young woman didn't know why it was there. Shrugging the young woman reached out to open it, not realizing that it opened to magical creatures or users of magic just like herself. In just a moment she opened the door, revealing some sort of library.

Slimer begins his search down the lighted wing of the cavern where his room was located, ignoring the other two dark branches as common sense tells him these humans need light, the bed sill in the corner and his chemistry work undisturbed, he decides to look into the armory, searching through the armory would take some time with and the bunks to check and footlockers...

The library was were the true wealth and power was held inside the ancient civilization. As Ishtar pushes open the door she sees a cavernous room. Inside the room are a main floor with winding circular stair cases leading up to the second floor which overlooks the first. Throughout the whole room a magical light fills the air, creating the brightness of an overcast day. In the middle of the room sits a 2 inch deep circular reflecting pool, drawing its always fresh water source from small holes drilled into the bottom right out of the water table. Surrounding the pool are 4 arched stone benches arranged in a circle with gaps at the top, bottom, and sides of the circle. Small fruit trees of an unknown kingdom actually thrive in these depths just around the benches.

Starting on the nearest walls going to the stair cases then continuing around to the back wall, wooden bookcases line the walls stuffed with all manner of books. Continuing up the stairs on either side one can reach the 15 foot high second floor, a stone railing ingeniously carved out of the rock prevents accidental falls, with another 15 feet to reach the ceiling. Up stairs are another whole set of bookselves lining the side walls all with seemingly no place for extra books. The far back wall contains more odd furniture. These appear to be wine racks but upon closer inspection one finds out they are thousands of scrolls. Plush highback chairs surround a huge circular table at the center of the second floor. Stepping into the room the magical energies are apparent even to the untrained as it eminates from all over the room.

Ishtar could believe what she saw, it looked liked the entire room was bathed in some sort of magical room. In the center of the room was a beautiful reflecting room complete with benches and fruit trees. It all looked so beautiful that the blue haired student at first didn't know the stair cases that lead the second floor. But eventually the young woman did look up, to see that the second floor seemed to have some book shelfs.

Excited, the young woman moved up the stairs to the book shelfs on the second floor. Perhaps now she could find out more about who ever built this place....maybe more about the magic that seems to fill the place. The young woman got to to top of the stairs to only find the walls filled with bookshelves all manner of books. Only one section seemed to filled with scrolls of some type in some sort of rack. Ishtar quickly grabbed a few books and a couple of scrolls and went over to the circular table. Sitting down in one of the highback chairs, she couldn't wait to see what she could find out about how these people lived or used magic.

Slimer finishes searching the armory and finding nothing, he slowly stalks down the tunnel invisibly hoping to catch his suspected prey unaware. To think they didn't even have the courtesy to knock, slimer chuckles to himself as he looks into the treasury noticing nothing obviously moved. See the torches down the tunnel lit he knows his search will soon be over...

The long blue haired student unrolls the scrolls and begins skimming seeing the steps for a ritual of some sort. At the top she sees the words locator ritual, indicating the use for the ritual. Her random grab of the unperused documents include a scroll inventorying the contents of the treasury, a book on nature magic, and a book of dark magic theory. Nothing in the pile that remained unread would shed light on the people who used to dwell in these halls or their histories. The magic tomes might give her some insight into magic rituals though. The strange thing was she could read everything in her piles, but not the strange notebook in the makeshift bedroom.

Ishtar opened the first scroll in anticipation of what she was about to discover, she was surprised to find that it was some sort of ritual. Hungrily the blue haired student quickly opened the next one and then the books, consuming all the knowledge that she could. This scroll was about the treasury, the books were about different types of magic: both natural and dark magic. It was all so amazing, she didn't know where she where to begin. The young woman eventually settled on the book about dark magic. She never intended to use it, but curiosity got the better and she decided to read the dark magic book. She barely noticed the makeshift bedroom nearby, nor was she currently worried about any inhabitants that may currently reside in the cavern...

As Ishtar began reading the treatise on dark magic, Slimer pushed open the door entering the library and slipped it silently closed behind himself. His eyes quickly scanned the first floor, noticing nothing stirring wondering if the intruder had made their way out while he was checking the multitude of rooms. Noticing nothing he made his way over to the stone stairs, stalking invisibly.

Up above Ishtar was engrossed by the Book of Dark. The book wasn't on any particular spell but more of an interesting read on the different schools of black magic and theories behind them. The first chapter laid out the basic pricinples of each class, from using one's life force to empower spells, to summoning and banishing demons through a force of sacrifice, to feeding off the life force of another, and through using the cold dark arts to manipulate shadows and other powers of the dark. The subsequent chapters went into the specifics of each study individually in more detail, laying out some of the basic rituals while its author shied away from nothing. Included in the individual chapters was a culmination of a witches extended study of her practices with the dark arts. She gave almost her entire grimoire worth of encantations. The movements, the pentagrams drawn out, and the words of power all in precise detail. While focusing on the why behind how each came about, and why they worked in the authors cold focused words. The book, like almost all others in the room, was truely one of a kind...

Ishtar couldn't believe what she was reading, the book seemed to have everything about the dark arts, how to empower spells, how to summoning and banishing demons, manipulating the shadows and other stuff. There was even chapters on each of the different areas, the young woman couldn't imagine ever finding a book like this in a million years. All of these chapters were simply full of details that only someone with considerable practice could have ever written. The blue haired girl was impressed in all there was in the book, if the rest of this library was like this then she has hit the jackpot. Still she wondered why someone would simply abandon all of this...

Slimer's eyes lock on the blue haired student sitting at one of the oversized chairs circling the table. Finally the search ends, Slimer thinks to himself. His eyes take in the student from head to toe. And such pretty prey at that. He decides to evaluate his victim, knowing her corruption will come as she is at the very depths of his new home, and there would be no escape.

He silently moves closer to the student who is reading one of the libraries rare books, getting closer he notices the book on black magic. Already in the library he knew she must possess some form of magic. He is confident as banishing a demon of his strength would take more power and sacrifice then most willingly possess. He decides caution should prevail as he has all the time in the world seeing what she might do next...