Tunnels & Trolls, The Last Adventure of Big Jack Brass - Page 3

Jack and Tom thanked him and sauntered into the next room. They spotted a couple of empty chairs--chairs unlike any they had ever seen before, and as soon as they plopped into them, scantily clad goblin girls ran out to bow before them and "take their orders".

All too soon a Dwarf in light leather clothing with a strange, skull-fitting helmet and goggles over his eyes came in through a back entrance and bellowed, "All aboard for Gristlegrim!"

Jack and Tom pulled themselves out of the "comfy chairs" and followed a few other souls out the door to where they were boarding through a port in what looked like a large wooden bathtub. A dozen ropes attached the huge bucket to a great gasbag in the sky, while in a large metal urn in the center of the bucket two Dwarves in loin-cloths and using iron tongs fed pieces of black stone into a small fire. The smoke of the fire rose up and was trapped in the gassbag above.

"Cast off!" cried the begoggled pilot. Some ropes that were holding the tub down were released and with a sudden lurch, the "Riser" rose into the sky. The bolder passengers crowded the rails and watched the earth recede below them.

In about ten minutes the Dwarvish crew piloted the Riser to a landing on the flat top surface of the floating cube. "All off!" the pilot cried.

Jack and Tom filed off along with a few other beings. They looked around. There was a party of three consisting of a strangely-clad Dwarf, a scabrous Leprechaun, and a human lad even scrawnier than Tom. They found themselves atop a huge floating cube of stone, magically suspended one mile in the air. A strong cold wind fluttered Jack's beard like a bright orange pennon. The hot air balloon had settled down roughly in the center of the top face of a cube at least 1000 feet on a side. Not far away were six protrusions, each about ten feet high and sloped at a 45 degree angle. In the front of each was a massive wooden door, and carved into the wooden panels were the images of human skulls. The door at one end featured a single skull as an ornamental device while the door at the other end showed six of the ghastly skulls. The eyes were set with jewels and the teeth were set with small slabs of silver.

"I warn you now," said the balloon pilot. "It is bad luck to steal the jewels or the silver from the door skulls. "There is plenty of treasure inside Gristlegrim's Dungeon, and you won't need to deface the walls or the furniture."

"What d'ya mean, bad luck?" asked the ugliest Leprechaun Jack had ever seen.

"Why, just last week, an Elf ignored my warning, and took a blade to the ruby eyes in door number one. You can still see the nick he made in the wood trying to pry a jewel out. A huge gust of wind suddenly sprang up, and blew him right up into the sky and off the edge of Gristlegrim. We still have no idea where or when he ever came down. Last we saw of him, he was screaming frantically and whirling ever higher into the sky.

"Yes, I think I'd call that bad luck, indeed!" said Big Jack. "Now, Thomas, me lad, you just leave those skully things be!"

"How do we get inside?" asked the other human, a silly-looking lad named Ollie.

"Gristlegrim knows you're coming," said the Dwarf. "He will open the door that's right for you."

The gangplank had been retracted, and all the begoggled Dwarves were back in the conveyance. The cast off and lifted free of Gristlegrim. A breeze took the balloon and blew it off to the side, and in a few minutes they were gone.

The two parties drew apart from each other and glared at each other for a moment. As they accidentally moved toward it, the door with three skulls on it began to glow, and then it slid sideways into the stone. The unlikely trio stepped cautiously onto the stairs inside it, but as Jack started in their direction, the door slid shut again. "Hmm, I guess there's no following them," said Jack thoughtfully.

"Hey, Jack, the two-skull door is glowing!" Thomas observed.

"Well, that's more like it," said Jack. He started toward it, and the door silently slipped open. Jack and Tom stepped inside, quickly going down the stairs and emerging in a huge cubical chamber that had nothing in it but a few doors on the walls and a treasure chest right in the center of the room. Jack walked around to examine a door with only a single skull carved into it. He noticed that the eyes seemed to be buttons that would depress, but he didn't try anything.

Meanwhile, Tom had made a circuit of the room, noting that there was enough light to see by, but that it wasn't really bright.

"Well, this isn't so tough," laughed Tom. "We just waltz in and take the treasure. You want to open this chest or shall I?"

"Did you ever know a Dwarf to give away treasure so freely?" Big Jack wondered. "There's something rotten here, but I don't quite know what. "He pulled absently at his beard. "Odd," he mused, "it's a puzzle, clearly...It seems that our host would make a game with Jack. And my feet are cold," he added, casting a bemused glance downward.

Jack's story continues...