The great granite hall up in the mountains known as the Stone Teeth had been abandoned for years. Once considered neutral ground, it had been used for state meetings between the kingdoms of Appalya and Winterhaven for several hundred years. However, it hadn't been used since Appalya and Winterhaven were merged decades earlier. Even were it still used, it wouldn't be during the winter when the snowfall had drifts up to the windows in some places.

So, it was odd to see the giant polished maple doors of the hall swing open in the cold of a winter night with the pale sliver of a crescent moon the only illumination. You would have to look quite closely to see a short and slim figure that blended perfectly with the shadows slip past the open doors before they were closed once more. A lone owl noticed, but he was good at keeping secrets, and didn't even hoot.

The hall had originally been the opening to a mine for what was thought to be an immense diamond find. Indeed, the number and quality of diamonds found when the prospectors first started their mine had been staggering. But once they started digging deeper, the diamonds soon disappeared. It was as though there was a fist full of them in the cliff, and then nothing else. That didn't stop the miners from trying though, and they kept digging until they realized it was futile.

But they had accidentally made the beginnings of a perfect meeting place between the two countries that seemed to be perpetually squabbling, if not outright at war. The mine had been dug at an angle and expanded with a new outer wall that was studded with tall windows, and an intricate doorway with the finest maple doors that could be barred, as necessary. Matching shutters on the windows did their best, but after so many years of being neglected, the interior was no longer pristine. A nest of rats had damaged the long council table that once held meetings that shaped the course of history between the two lands. Several chairs lay on the floor, their legs eaten away, and their fine cloth cushions completely gone.

The shadowy figure held up a hand and two small glowing balls of electricity shot upwards to hover over their head as they examined the hall. Looking up, they could see that the chandeliers were hanging in pieces, the candles having fallen and shattered long ago. The chains still held up the scraps of wood that once contained dozens of candles, but the wood had been eaten away so that what was still there was barely recognizable.

On the side of the hall that was dug into the mountain, the walls were covered with the remnants of great tapestries denoting the history of the two countries. On the cliff side, were tall windows theirs shutters all leaking snow to make tiny drifts beneath them. At the far end, atop a dais that was once used for presentations and entertainment, was a large nest of the collected materials that squeaked loudly based on the number of little rodent inhabitants suddenly spooked by the figure invading what they considered their home.

The air was chill, even out of the wind, but the figure merely slipped off their large black cloak, revealing strange black armor with a brace of daggers at the waist. Odder still, on each thigh was a bandolier of sorts, each holding five magic wands. On their back was a slim backpack, and a coil of black silk rope as well as a curved short sword with a black gem set in the hilt. Their face was hidden by a cowl that was as dark as the armor, and boots of the same material. In no hurry, they shook off the snow from the cloak, and then slipped it back on, drawing the hood back over their head. No attention was paid to the squeaks, the rats didn't matter. But the tapestries did. Moving to the wall, the dark clad figure moved carefully, studying the wall, and counting the tapestry brackets. Aft the sixth bracket, the person slowly sank to one knee, examining the wall carefully.

Opening a pouch on their belt, they took out a small hammer, and used it to tap gently on the wall. Listening closely, they hummed in approval, and then gestured with their hand to bring one of their lights down from overhead. Holding the light close to the wall, after several minutes, the light moved to the left as the examination continued. Frustrated mumbling began to be heard, as though the figure was getting upset at the lack of results.

A brave rat ventured closer to the figure, nose and whiskers wiggling as it sniffed the air, wondering if there would be any food upon the creature that broke their blessed silence. The creature was warm, it was edible. Perhaps if all the rats jumped on it, then they could all feed! The rat took another tentative scurry forward. Suddenly, the second hovering light over the larger creature moved at the rat in a streak, discharging a shock like static electricity and causing the rat to run to the tunnel that they had burrowed through the wall to the outside. The rat had no more desire to be near that creature and flailed about in the snow trying to flee in terror. It never saw the owl, but it felt the claws gripping it, and then the trees were below it while the owl flew steadily away.

There were no more brave rats.

As if the rat incident had never happened, the careful study of the wall continued, until a mild grunt of satisfaction was heard. Another delve into the pouch at the waist procured a small metal strip that was then inserted into a crack that the light had illuminated. Moving it carefully into the hole, the figure chuckled happily once a loud click echoed through the hall. Still on their knees, they pushed on the wall. After a moment, the wall started to pivot, stone grinding on stone for a moment until it started to move more freely, and then suddenly there was an opening in the wall.

Once the door was done moving, there was still silence. The figure in black didn't move, staying on their knee with a certain tenseness, and studying the space that was now revealed. When the noise from the door didn't seem to draw any unwanted attention, the figure smoothly stood up, and moved into the newly revealed room. It was smaller than the outer hall, though similar in shape. A long room, with another dais at the end, though this one with an altar and statue upon it and the ceiling arched almost 20 feet overhead. A thin layer of dust covered everything, giving the room a greyish cast to it, but for a change, the marvelous tapestries were not torn down. Though they were still not as bright with all the dust, you could see the vibrant colors peeking through, and with even a glance one could see they would be worth a good price in the bazaars of Dallinia.

The room looked to have had almost a dozen other statues, though these were shattered, their pieces scattered around the room. Stepping carefully over the pieces, the intruder made their way carefully to the altar. The sole remaining statue was standing right behind the altar and looked earie in the light of the glowing spheres. It was a stunningly gorgeous, tall, and muscular woman wearing some sort of a gown, and a tiara on her head. Her head was thrown back as if looking at the ceiling, her arm cocked over her face.

It certainly wasn't the typical pose that many artists would carve, though whoever had created this masterpiece had to have been a genius.

But once the cursory glance at the statue was done, the gaze of the figure went once more to the altar. Smooth stone was on all four sides, but the top has what appeared to be bas relief carvings of jewelry. If the tale that had brought them here was to be believed, then this was an altar to the Mountain King, Alin, and those gems were real, though currently in stone form. Such a treasure could make people wealthy beyond compare and could be used to buy a great many things. The gems were supposed to have been an offering to make the mine wealthy, but they had no luck.

While that didn't work out the way that the miners had hoped, it did mean that the room contained a fortune in diamonds, if you could just turn them back to their normal composition. Or at least that is what the crone who told the story of the room claimed. She had certainly been right about the room's location and how to get into it. That wasn't the kind of information the common man would have, and the diamond she had provided as payment for this venture was certainly of a high enough quality to make the trip profitable even if the rest of the diamonds weren't impressive.

But looking at the jewelry embedded into the top of the altar, it was hard not to feel a rush of excitement. Everything was exactly as described, the jewels were right there, begging to be taken. For the first time, the figure moved with trepidation, carefully reaching once more into the pouch at their waist and pulling out a glowing blue cube that fit in the palm of their glove-clad hand. With a deep breath, they reached out, placing the cube on the altar. On the top of the cube was a depressed button, which a gloved finger reached out and pushed, causing it to spring outward, two little arms flipping out at the same time. The cube stopped glowing at that point, and the figure took another deep breath.

Once more, the fingers gripped the cube, this time by the little arms on the button, and turned it a quarter of a rotation. The cube gave a quiet click, and then started to glow, though only faintly. Watching carefully, the eyes of the figure noticed the glowing start to intensify. Before too long, the cube was hard to even look at, so bright was it, and the figure put their arm in front of their face to shield their eyes. They realized as they did, that they were mimicking the pose of the statue behind the altar and could only shake their head at the irony.

Reaching out once more, and squinting to see as they did, the figure put their index finger on the button atop the cube and pushed down. The cube started pulsing, the glow fading and returning, and the figure backed up nervously a dozen steps. The cube's area of effect wasn't supposed to be large but being in it wasn't something they wanted to dare.

The pulsing stopped, and then a high-pitched tone filled the room, getting higher and higher until it hurt the ears with its screech. Then it went silent, and the cube burst. The magic poured rapidly from it in a sphere, looking like a liquid, but passing through matter as though it wasn't there.

At that point, everything changed.

Looking up, the figure gasped, as did the woman now standing behind the throne where the statue had been, as she slowly crumpled in a heap onto the floor. More gruesome were the body parts that lay around the room, their little chunks of flesh slowly leaking blood that had become liquid once more.

The jewels on the altar though, those were still stone.

"What in the Hells just happened?" Came a muffled whisper from the cloaked figure.