The Bargain and a Hero's Decision.

Fred, not wanting to impart upon Rikotyuki a share of his reward for slaying the dragon, decided to try and bargain with him by giving him something else.

Ignoring his dislike of Rikotyuki, Fred tried to show a bit of warmth and smiled somewhat as he offered, "You must know what you ask of me is much, but perhaps you would like something else I could offer..." Rikotyuki’s countenance suddenly changed and he looked at him somewhat curiously, but Fred continued undaunted, "...would you agree to something I have with me now, rather than a treasure that would come only if I defeated the dragon and made it back to the King?" Fred examined the creature closely as he finished his proposal.

Rikotyuki squeaked out several syllables that he barely understood, but managed to catch, "Okay, what do you have that might interest me?"

Fred slyly pulled out a small sapphire, (it, of course, was overshadowed in value by his reward) which caught the attention of the rat-archer, who abruptly reached for it and put it away in one of his packs, and squeaked in satisfaction, "Good. Now let me fulfill my part of the bargain - follow me." Immediately, they set out, Fred managed to get a torch from the rat-archer and they went along many curving tunnels of the caves that became progressively darker as they went along.

Rikotyuki eventually led Fred to a massive cave with three different tunnels. The rat-archer suddenly turned as they reached the center of the dry and silent cavern and with his squeaky, high-pitched voice, declared unto him, "This is strange... I don’t remember this somehow." And without another word, turned and examined the passages again before turning back to Fred, asking, "I’ll follow you onward, but you choose: which way do you want to go?"

Fred casually pulled out his map and examined it, noticing that the three caves were actually on the map, but a large section beyond them was blurred and missing, making it appear as if all the caverns combined later. Albeit the right pass was unknown, he realized, "I must choose already..."

Both Fred and Rikotyuki travel along the...

1. darker, lower tunnel.
2. narrow, straight passageway.
3. curving, upper tunnel.

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