Episode 134: The Island Keep

The heroes come across another enchanted elven keep inhabited by someone under it's dark magic. When they learn who it is, and retrieve another power crystal, the princesses are baffled to learn that the next power crystal keeper is already among them.

Transcript

The Island Keep

Once upon a time in the land of Atheria, there was a princess Nea and a princess Lulu and they went on the most amazing adventures. They found themselves in the Withered Isle with a few new friends and had just discovered another elven keep located on the north side of the island.

They woke up the next morning and Nea decided to fly up to the sky one more time to confirm their pathway to the Keep. When she came back down, she marked on Bekah’s map a path that they could take to get to the Keep.

Everyone followed the dwarf through the rainforest in a single file line and around a tall mountain that grew out from the middle of the island. They traveled around the mountain and ended up on this very high peak, then walked all the way down into a valley where a beautiful waterfall fell into a lagoon. 

Carmine, the giant, was so excited to be on an adventure. It wasn’t hard to convince her to work together because, for starters, she spoke the same language as the rest of the group - which was a first for Nea and Lulu. They were used to running into giants who spoke another language. In fact, they had made some pretty silly decisions about giants without ever getting a chance to meet one. They thought they were mean and angry, when in fact, they were on the same side, trying to protect Atheria from destruction. Carmine was also looking for the red Blazian Crystal and wanted to help Nea and Lulu find the keeper of it. 

Something else the giant wanted to do, was bring back enough Tranium to make a powerful weapon. She was certain that her role in saving Atheria was to protect the Lava Temple. Since as long as she could remember, other giants had protected the five temples across Atheria and she had always wanted to be a protector of the temple, just like her mother. 

The princesses hadn’t figured out was why Bekah would come all this way. Dwarfs normally stayed close to land and in their natural habitat - caves. They weren’t known to travel far let alone over water. But they would find out soon enough. 

At this waterfall, they noticed there was a cave nearby. Not just any cave, one with a carving of a griffin above it. And one thing Nea and Lulu had learned, was that with each Elven Keep they came to, there were carvings of griffins that led them there.

“If we want to find the Keep, we should probably follow this cave.”

As they walked in, Bekah shouted, “Hello, hello!” And her voice echoed through the cave. The cave was dark and very wet and musty. They winded down and around the side of the mountain, right in front of a small grassy field in front of the keep. 

“What in Atheria is an elven keep doing all the way out here?” Asked Nea. 

Noone had a good answer. 

What the girls didn’t know, was that the Keeps were enchanted by the Elf Queen Ella decades ago. When someone or something with a crystal gets near, if they are not careful the magic draws them in and can change them.

“Lulu, do you have your magic flute?” Nea asked. 

Lulu pulled out her flute, knowing that her magic flute could not only put giants to sleep but also had soothing powers and could calm someone who had been enchanted or put under a curse. 

They walked up to the Keep and pushed open the large iron door. Above the door was a large crest of griffin. Inside the keep was beautiful. It was a huge entry room with four doors - one on every corner. A huge chandelier lit up the entire tower. From the looks of it, this tower had never really been abandon. Everything looked nice and new - like someone had been living here for a long time. 

“Maybe it’s not cursed.” Said Carmine. She was holding a large club though, just to be safe. 

“Hello, is anybody home?” Bekah yelled.

And the greeting echoed through the chambers without a response. 

“What are you doing here?” came a voice from the doorway. 

Everyone turned around quickly, a little surprised to hear someone from behind. They were even more surprise to see an older dwarf standing the doorway. He started to walk towards them looking very, very distracted. 

“What brought you travelers here.”

“We’re looking for the red Blazian Crystal.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. It’s not here. This outpost is abandon.”

“Not by the looks of it.” Said Lulu pointing out the beautiful rugs and decorations all around. 

“You all really must go. It’s dangerous here if he wakes up.” He said starting to sound ever so sleepy.

And the sound of his voice, how he spoke, was all too familiar to Nea and Lulu. They had heard those words before when someone else decided to keep a power crystal and was drawn into one of the Elven Keeps. It was the sound of someone under a curse and something dangerous often happened next. This time, though, they didn’t account for Bekah.

“Father!” she yelled and ran across the room. 

The dwarf stood there with a blank gaze while she grabbed him and gave him a rough hug to the ground, which was how dwarfs showed affection.

“Be-be-bekah?” he asked confused, but then shook his head. “No! You must go, you must leave. Before the ...”

And then the noises came. First, a heavy cry came from the back room, then shot over to the other room. It was a loud, angry bird cry.

Meanwhile, old dwarf in the doorway had vanished and Bekah was left holding an empty pillar of air on the ground. 

“Okay, we’ll leave!” said Zag starting to fly towards the door. 

And that’s when the huge dark griffin appeared in front of them. Immediately all the doors swung shut and bolted tight. The griffin had the body of the lion, the head of an eagle and had a large red stripe down it’s dark back. As it looked from one adventurer to the next it’s eyes fixed on Lulu. 

“Lulu, quick! The flute.” Nea yelled.

Lulu pulled out her flute, but she was too late, the animal had used it’s lion tail to knock her over, sending the flute across the room. 

It then looked at Carmine who began charging at the it with her club.

“No! Father, No!” shouted Bekah from the ground, distracting the beast just long enough for Carmine to hit the it in the head with her club.

He shook his head trying to refocus but before he could get his bearings, Carmine jumped on top of him and wrestled him to the ground. 

“Quick! Now’s our chance!” Nea yelled.

Lulu, without missing a beat, snatched up her flute and began to play the magic tune.

[Calming tune] 

And as the griffin struggled within the giant’s grapple, the music started to have a soothing effect. Not only on the beast but also on the giant. Just as the dark griffin began to relax and calm down, the giant also began to fall asleep. Until Carmine was lying directly on top of Bekah’s father, the old dwarf. 

“Quick! We have to get her off of him or he’ll suffocate!” Bekah yelled, trying to push the sleeping giant off her father.

“Father, are you okay?” she pleaded. 

He was barely breathing, partly because of the draining power of the crystal, partly because the extremely heavy giant that just fell asleep on top of him. 

“Bekah? Is that you?”

“Yes! It’s me. I had to come find you.” She said. 

“You shouldn’t have, it’s way too dangerous out here.” 

But he hugged her anyways and was grateful that she had made the journey out to find him. 

When they finished hugging, he gave the red crystal to his daughter for safe keeping. Knowing that Nea and Lulu were sent by Tuck and Ryla to find the crystals and their keepers, she walked over to Princess Nea to give her the red crystal. Only when she pulled it out of her pocket, it began to shine as bright as the sun. 

“Nea!” Lulu said. “It’s glowing!”

“I can see that!” Nea said, a little nervous. As she picked it up for the first time she could feel what Lulu was referring to. The feeling of being powerful and capable. Like you could do anything you wanted to. She put it in her pocket while the power of the crystal flowed through her hand, up her arm and throughout her body. It was a warm tingling feeling, unlike anything she’d ever felt before. 

The end.