The Hammer of Grimmold - River Software (Part 2) By Stormbringer Upon leaving the Inn, and hearing the cacophony from inside, I decided there was nothing I could do, and headed north. I quickly caught up with the drunken traveller who had left earlier. He stumbled. "Steady" I said, and helped him to his feet. As I did so, a small shiny object fell from his pocket. I stooped to pick it up and discovered it to be a small corkscrew. "Here you go" I said as I straightened up. "What?" the drunk was nowhere to be seen, he had disappeared! Heading back the way I had come, I tripped on some stones that were sticking up out of the path, upon further examination I found a bronze coin. "Things are looking up" I thought to myself. Here the path took a turn to the east, and as I hadn't been that way yet, I followed it, then going in a northeasterly direction before it headed east again. It lead me straight to a huge gnarled oak tree, its massive trunk shooting skyward like an arrow. Thinking that I might be able to see where exactly I was if I climbed it, I scrambled up into its branches and discovered a hole leading down into the heart of the ancient oak. I clambered down into the opening of the hole and trod on something cold and hard. "By the beard of Grimmold, what is this I've found now?" I reached down and grasped the object and pulled it out ....... it was a crowbar. "Now that might come in useful" I mused. Not wishing to go further down into the heart of the tree without any light, I climbed back out and down to the ground. Remembering the rock that I had seen blocking the entrance to a cave earlier, I decided to try and see if I couldn't shift it with my new-found tool. Heading back up the path to the west I soon arrived back at the rock, and proceeded to lever the rock away from the entrance. With much sweat and more than a little luck, I forced the rock away. I slowly made my way into the cave ............ "Crom!" I cursed as I tripped over something in the darkness. As I lay there my eyes became more accustomed to the lack of light and I could make out the shape of something lying up against the cave wall, I looked a little closer and was shocked to discover an old man, dressed in filthy rags and looking near to death. "Valk did this to me" he muttered, so taking him to be a friend I spoke the name Grimmold to him, his eyes lit up and he said this to me .... "Put a coin in my cup, kind sir, and I will reward you with the gift of everlasting strength." I reached into my tunic and drew out the bronze coin that I had found on the path and dropped it into the old man's begging cup ....... he handed me a small round thing rather like the sweetmeats my mother used to make. "It is a pill," he whispered, "eat it and you will be blessed with everlasting strength." "I thank you, kind sir, and now I had best be on my way." I rose and left the old man humming to himself, happy in the knowledge that he had perhaps done something to help repay Valk for what he had done to him. As I went out of the cave I examined the pill and thought "which way now?" I decided to go to the southwest and then headed west into the woods until I came across a dead giant, he was lying across what looked like a pair of boots, I tried in vain to move the giant off of them, but to no avail ........ "the pill," I remembered. I swallowed the pill. "Could have done with some good ale to wash it down with," I thought. A tingling feeling coursed through my veins and I felt like I could take on Valk and all of his armies single-handed. Rolling the giant after this was simple, I rolled him like a small twig and I grabbed the boots and ran ............ Going northeast and then following the trail south, southwest, south and then southeast to a river bank, I examined the boots and found them a good fit. "Just the thing for crossing the stepping stones to the other side of this river," I thought. So off I went across the stones, which were covered in slippery green moss, but my new-found boots gave me good grip and I was across in no time. I found myself on a path which headed north alongside the river and then turned east and then north again - to a graveyard! Places like this made me wish I had stayed a humble serf, and not been talked into this crazy adventure by King Grimmold. As I stepped into the main graveyard itself I scared off some graverobbers intent in stealing from the coffin that they had dug up. "I wonder what they were after in there?" I lifted the lid and looked inside. On the skeleton was placed a wooden cross. "This might come in handy," I said to myself. "Especially if the tales of vampires in Valk's castle are true," I added. I took the cross and the coffin lid as well, which was made of good strong wood and might come in useful. Going west out of the graveyard and then northeast I came across a wooden hut, built on stilts to keep it out of the mud. On making my way to the door of the hut, I noticed something lying in the mud under the hut itself. Looking closer I discovered a shaped stone, it was the sharpening stone that the woodsman had wanted. I entered the hut and found an old lamp sitting on the wooden table in the middle of the room. The flint was still attached and there was plenty of oil. Taking this I left the hut and headed back through the forest to the southwest, northwest, northeast and then east into the clearing where the woodsman lived. I gave him the sharpening stone and in return he gave me an axe. "Just the thing to break back into the Inn with," I said to myself. Off I went back to the Inn where the fight had taken place earlier, going west and then north along the stony path. I soon came across the door to the Inn which was still locked, no sound could be heard as I knocked on the door, there was no reply. "Nothing else for it," I thought, "I'll have to break the door down," so I smashed at the door with the axe. In no time at all the door gave way, but so did the axe. The axe would be of no further use to me, I threw it away and entered the Inn .......... @~To be continued ..............