Excerpt 1 Shepherd's Quest

They left the room behind and went to check out the room on the other side of the ‘T’. When Bart went to pick the lock of the first chest, he paused.
“What?” asked Chad.
Bart tapped an area near the lock. It had a marking on it that didn’t blend in perfectly with the overall design of the chest. “I didn’t see this on the other ones,” he explained.
Riyan moved the lantern closer and saw what looked to him little more than scratches. “So?” he asked.
“This may indicate a trap of some kind,” he said as he turned to glance up at them.
“Why would you think that?” asked Chad.
“Just something my father told me one time,” he replied. “You see, chests such as these that are trapped, often have some marking on them telling the owner what kind of trap it holds.”
“That’s stupid,” scorned Chad. “I mean, wouldn’t that give a thief an idea that something is not right?”
“Yes,” agreed Bart. “But most chest makers who specialize in traps always put an unobtrusive mark on it so they’ll know what it is and how to disarm it. Just because I know it’s there, doesn’t mean I can disarm it.”
“But why would they do that?” Riyan asked.
Sighing, Bart stood up and turned towards them. “Suppose you commissioned a chest for a specific purpose and with a specific type of trap. And suppose further that once you got it home you accidentally closed the lid and locked it before whatever you wanted to put in it was inside. How are you going to get it back open?”
“I would think the chest maker would have given the owner instructions on how to open it,” said Chad.
“Oh they do,” agreed Bart, “but there are stupid people out there who forget, lose the instructions, etc. So chest makers put markings on each chest that holds a trap so if they are called out to open a trapped chest, they will be able to do so.”
“I guess that makes sense,” said Riyan.
“How do you know so much about this?” Chad asked.
Bart gave him a look, shook his head as he rolled his eyes, and then knelt back down in front of the chest.
“He’s got lockpicks,” Riyan informed his friend. “Who has lockpicks?”
“Thieves?” replied Chad.
“Or sons of thieves,” added Bart. “Now be quiet and let me work on this. You two may wish to wait out in the passage, just in case something goes wrong.”
Riyan nodded for Chad to join him as he moved out of the room and waited at the entryway. They watched as Bart first examined the outside of the chest very closely before scrutinizing the area around the lock. After a few tense moments, Bart placed the tips of his thumbs on either side of the keyhole and pressed. Then he turned to them and grinned, “I got it.”
The other two hurried back into the room and saw a needle protruding from the keyhole. “It was a ‘Prick of Poison’ as my father would call it,” he explained. “It’s designed to prick the finger of the thief and deliver a poison of some kind. Some poisons become ineffective over time, while others grow more potent.”
“Is it unlocked?” Chad asked.
Bart shook his head. “Not yet.” Turning back to the chest, he removed the same two tools he used on the previous chests from his lockpicks and very carefully began working around the needle. Once he had the lock picked, he opened the lid.
Riyan moved closer to see what treasure may be inside. “You’ve got to be kidding!” he exclaimed when he saw the usual fare of rusted weapons and a scattering of the coins. “What’s the point of putting a trap on this garbage?”
“Vanity maybe” replied Bart. “Or it could have been for some other reason. Who knows?”
“Seems a waste of time to trap this sort of stuff,” Chad agreed with Riyan.
Riyan knelt down in front of the chest and said, “Maybe there’s a secret compartment lining the bottom or top.” Bart moved aside and then collected his lockpicks as he went to work on the other chest. Running his fingers along the inside, Riyan hunted for anything that might indicate something was hidden.
Remembering a tale told by a bard about treasure hunters, he tapped the bottom of the chest and the top. After several minutes of fruitless searching, he was unable to find anything. “Ten coins!” he exclaimed as he collected them. “Ten lousy coins!”
“It’s better than nothing,” offered Chad.
Riyan glared at him then came to his senses. “You’re right,” he said. “It’s just that I was expecting something a bit more…”
“Expensive?” his friend finished for him.
“Something like that, yeah” Riyan nodded.
Just then, Bart raised the lid of the other chest. “More coins,” he told them. He did a quick count and said, “Twenty three.”
“Every little bit helps,” Chad said when he saw the disappointment in his friend’s eyes.
Bart collected the coins then stood up. “You may have unrealistic expectations about this place,” he said as he turned back towards Riyan. “Judging by the construction and the state of the dead, I would guess that finding something worth real gold is unlikely.”
“Exactly,” agreed Chad. “Let’s hope we find at least enough so I can help my father with the new grinding wheels.”
Riyan gave him a grin and laid his hand on his shoulder. “You got it,” he said. “At the very least, we’re living the dream of being treasure hunters.”
“Just like the sagas,” agreed Chad with a grin of his own.