Erinnia and Nigel listened and heard gruff cackling sounds. Vanni grasped Exeter and detected no enemies. Erinnia opened the door easily and discovered another of the “open spaces”. There were four short gnarled trees with an unattractive bird perched upon a branch of each. The birds resembled ugly buzzards.
“*!#&#!” the first bird muttered.
“!**#%@*” the second chirped.
“*#@!*&!” the third crowed.
“*$#!@**” the fourth cawed.
“They’re calling each other names!” Erinnia said bewilderedly. “Expletives! I…I can’t repeat what they are saying!”
“They are Calling Birds,” Roscoe said. He added, “Centuries ago they were prized as door guards. But they are messy and they bite. They don’t taste good.”
“*!*!” the first bird cawed.
“How dare you!” Erinnia protested and slammed the door shut.
She added, “You’ve got the next door, Nigel!”
The fifth door was quiet. Nigel checked carefully for traps, slowly opened the door, and discovered a thirteen by thirteen foot room. One of the small blue wood tables that they had encountered before sat in the center of the room. Five rings rested on the table.
Roscoe tried the prism and said in frustration, “I can’t see anything!”
Nigel carefully picked up one of the rings and studied it.
“Don’t put the ring on!” Knarra urged.
“I agree. We must worry about cursed items,” Cara said.
Nigel commented, “These are made of Old Pewter. They are extremely rare- precious in the east, even if they are devoid of Magick. May I keep them?”
“Put them in this and don’t open it,” Knarra said as she gave him a tiny black “Bag of Containing”.
Nigel shut the door and proceeded to the sixth door.
“I hear clucking noises,” he reported.
Vanni checked with Exeter and detected no enemies.
Nigel threw open the door. There was another thirteen by thirteen foot room. There were six noisy, less than attractive birds. The geese were laying golden eggs.
“Darn!” Nigel exclaimed. “It looks like they would at least be laying something valuable. Gold!”
They wasted no time in the room.
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