- Prelude -

Copyright © 2026 Chin Kung GOH. All rights reserved.
Currently untitled. Edition: 0. Revision: 1. Sequence reference: 0.1.

This is a work of fiction. Unless otherwise indicated, all the names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents in this book are either the product of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
-----

So it's real and not just a saying, that life flashes before our eyes before our imminent death.

That was what happened to me as I was thrown out of the car, through the shattered windscreen, over the side of the bridge, and falling towards the dark water below.

My entire life flashed before me in minute details and sharp clarity, in reverse order, going backward from the most recent incident of that reckless BMW ramming into my car, to that devastating discovery of the betrayal, to the deteriorating relationship and the many episodes of fights, to all those wonderful moments when we were each other's whole world, to meeting her the very first time... The graduation, the schooling years, the childhood, the warmth of mother's embrace, my first breath and first cry announcing my arrival to the world.

A whole lifetime in that few seconds for me to fall that thirty metres, heading straight to a collision with the sea that would break my bones.

Other |fictitious fiction| category entries.

这样的人

本故事纯属虚构，只求表述人的态度本质。扩展我对婴儿或年幼的孩子解释要从错误学习不要重犯，和从别人的经验学习就可以省掉自己走冤枉路和避免伤痛的热水壶例子。

“天气鬼这样冷，都不知道是什么世界来的！” 儿子一贯的凡事埋怨。

“嗯，那你要不要喝些热的饮料暖一暖身？” 母亲温馨建议。

“哦，好主意，我要喝热可可。”

“你自己去冲泡你的热可可，刚刚烧开了水，小心水壶还很热。”

“靠！水壶这么热烫到手了啦，妈的XXXXXX（删掉其它的粗话）！”

“怎么会烫到的？水壶把手有那么烫吗？”

“什么鬼把手啦，当然是水壶本身啦，拿水壶当然是双手握着水壶的身体的啦！”

“多数的人是用把手的，已经证实不会烫手，可以轻易移动水壶的，你试试看。”

“妈的，你整天就是要控制我！为什么就不能让我用自己的方式？你越要控制我，我就越叛逆，越不要跟你的方式做！”

“就是给你个建议，一个证实了可行的方式。你已经试了你的方式十多次，每次都一样的结果，为什么还要继续用行不通的方式呢？难道就没有其他办法了吗？不要用把手，或许可以戴隔热手套？”

“你看！就是整天逼我用你的方式，不给我自由！妈的这是什么家来的，好像监牢那样。”

“唉，既然壶身很烫手，你又不要用我建议的方式，那你要用什么办法冲泡你的热可可呢？”

“我根本都没有要喝热可可，是你逼我那样讲的，不然你就会一直问一直问！”

“你为什么要扭曲事实？明明就是你自己说要喝热可可的，我就是想让你冷天里暖身而已。”

“我不用你管！我的方法是对的，总有一次我会幸运的不被烫到的。再说，热可可是什么烂东西！我等到水壶冷了就可以用我的方式来冲泡可可了。”

“你就是要靠运气吗？冷可可怎么暖身呢？”

“妈的！你就是不能够支持我，听我讲的。我告诉你，整个世界会变成喝冷可可来暖身的！”

随兴随想 |系列|

天马行空：虾米·虾仙

这篇文章纯属虚构，如有雷同，纯属你比我更丰富的想象力。所以乖啦，不要想太多，看了笑笑就好…

曾经，本小姐是高高在上的虾仙，笑看那些凡人每天需要浪费时间来进餐。

仙，是不需要进食的只需要看靓仔。

但生活太 dry 了，所以竟然下了凡变成了虾米。

唉，真是的。

下了凡只好进食咯，但常一起吃饭的那一群猪朋狗友没一个好看的，唯一一个颜值高的又离开了。

真的是造化弄人，每天没有滋润，继续 dry 下去。

猪朋狗友还算有义气，不时会带些小鲜肉来给我爽下。

最近又带了位小鲜肉，看起来「啵啵脆」很美味，让我顿时非常的有精神！

早就应该这样嘛，让我天天有滋润，不再很 dry 。

说不定我天天受润就可以变回虾仙咯…

让我暂时变成另一种虾仙吧！

「仙」小鲜肉的「仙」，呵呵！

天马行空 |系列|

  

天马行空：本小姐的日记

这篇文章纯属虚构，如有雷同，纯属你的幻觉。也许可能但不一定是，有一点点真实的虚构，但乖啦，不要想太多，看了笑笑就好…

二零一七年二月十七日，热到趴零倒的有云晴天。

哈喽亲爱的日记，今天有几样事要八给你听。只是给你听哦，才不要跟那个整天烦本小姐分享人生故事的怪叔叔讲！

昨晚没有去偷鸭，只是乖乖的和小情人宅在家里，所以今天很有精神，YAY！

早餐时又有位同事叫本小姐美丽，本小姐第一百零一次的纠正他说：“本小姐的名是「本虾美丽」，你要么就叫全名，要么就叫本小姐！”

真是的，这些人，怎么总是学不会？

还有就是那些很无聊的粉肠，要讲多少次本小姐跟「根本英俊」先生是没有关系的！

只是偶尔暧昧而已。

还有那位，和那位，和那一位，全部都是暧昧而已。

本小姐不认为那是有关系咯。

整个早上开会又开会，幸好本小姐开眼睡觉和神游的功力很高，一直到免费午餐的时刻本小姐才回神。

要不是有免费午餐本小姐早就蛇到别处了啦，傻的咩？

免费的东西就不要嫌咯，但是齁…

那是什么午餐啦！都没有虾和螃蟹的！

真的很过分咯，骗了本小姐整个早上竟然是给这么萝型的食物！

午餐后就是欢乐时光了，呵呵！

和一群朋友玩桌上游戏，很巧妙的用本小姐那“都不知道自己在做什么”的策略把焦点转移到「美金美金亮晶晶」身上。

那些粉肠把「美金美金亮晶晶」的黄金抢得七七八八后本小姐就很容易赢了啦！

本小姐实在是太聪明了，有时自己都顶不顺自己。

「老翁」有回要发难时很帅气的说：“各位观众…”

结果骰子投出最小的一号… *噗嗤*

还有那「无发多亮」大师，每个人至少有四颗黄金他只有两颗，真的是菜到没朋友。

不用讲都知道最后当然是本小姐赢了啦！

过后大伙们去玩桌上足球，本小姐跟你讲哦亲爱的日记，那是今天最开心的时候了。

因为有小鲜肉！

不要傻啦，本小姐当然是和他一组啦！

其它的人也很识趣，这些猪朋狗友还不错哦。

小鲜肉要发功会用些时间，本小姐也不亦乐乎，就站在他身旁胡思乱想。

想些甜蜜的幻景和冰淇淋等等的东西。

游戏结果是什么本小姐不知道，总之就是很爽就是了！

欸，亲爱的日记，本小姐不是 dry 哦，本小姐只是很友善罢了，不要误会。

暧昧不算有关系！

天马行空 |系列|

  

天马行空：雇佣兵之痛

这篇文章纯属虚构，如有雷同，纯属… 哈哪哈哪，纯属我特意引用和借题发挥啦！安抓，欸塞啵？

对不起妈妈，粗话是剧情需要。

痛。

不是第一次，只要不死，也不会是最后一次。

职业危害。

干！狙击手离敌人最远，所以不是应该是最安全的那个吗？

只能说是敌人太狡猾，暗枪太阴险。

已经是功成身退了，最后一位队友都已和我插肩而过了，一直在装死的敌人才冒出来发那一暗枪。

唯独我还是面对敌方，掩护着队友的撤退，所以也只有我看到那阴险的一枪。

狙击枪不是机关枪，我是可以瞄准然后一枪让那阴险的敌人脑袋开花，但那过程中队友肯定已中枪。

不怪那过后被打成蜂窝的敌人，毕竟自己也是那么阴险，藏在远远给人放枪。

只怪自己脑袋进水逞英雄，帮队友挡了那一枪。

干！真的应该坚持自己贪生怕死的原则嘛…

真的是自讨苦吃。

真相就是那样：一个阴险的敌人，一个猪一样的我。

我知道我常说不怕神一样的对手，只怕猪一样的队友。

但这次唯一猪头的是我。

想必猪朋狗友一定又会惯例传起谣言，赖这怪那，牵涉无辜的人，或断章起义歪曲我的意思。

习惯就好。

不是第一次，只要不死，也不会是最后一次。

要担心的，还是情人又会要我洗手不干了。

我不是很好的狙击手，而且我他妈的超级怕死，但我喜欢这工作。

只能说我会坚守我贪生怕死的原则，再也不做英雄接那些阴险的子弹。

干！真的好痛。

天马行空 |系列|

  

天马行空：谁会输？

这篇文章纯属虚构，如有雷同，纯属巧合。又，此文章内有乾坤，看明则明，不明当我一贯的废话。 ^_^

忘了几时我们这些猪朋狗友充满正能量的朋友终于成功把苏小妹带入黑暗邪恶的世界充满阳光欢乐的活动： 玩桌上游戏。

苏小妹慢慢被我们感化成魔阳光少女的同时，我发现我渐渐在游戏中输得越来越频密。*

好纳闷哦！ >_<

那天在游戏开始前，最近不正常赢很多的三三（我怀疑她又出猫了咯…）很挑衅的问：

“今天谁会输？”

“输？会！呃… 会。” 我无奈的自嘲回应。

“输会，会？”

“是的，输会会！”

“谁会输？” 三三又问一遍。

“输会会！” 大伙一起起哄。

* 若把这写成‘我发现我渐渐爱上了她’就变成要写悲情故事了，呵呵！ =P

天马行空 |系列|

Manifestation of M

Moon rises and moon wanes

Month of March marching steadily towards the end

Mood shines and mood sinks

Mayhap a mimicry of the menstrual trend

Moon rises and moon wanes

Murmur of dreams lost in mindless mad rush

Mood shines and mood sinks

Mockery of mind moored in a muddy moorish marsh

 

I, writer wannabe

Half the year has gone, and I still haven't achieved my resolution of writing a story.

Oh there has been a few ideas and notes now and then, bits and pieces of different stories that popped into my mind.

A specific scene, a certain phrase, a particular action. Disjointed stuff that's not of the same story arc.

Yea, my imagination can run wild sometimes, and things always seem so nice when they are just ideas and images in the mind.

Anyhow, I have decided on what to write a while back. Something that I intimately know and hence no imagination or make-believe required. Well, not really but I will get to that later.

Of all things, I wanted to write a romance.

My romance. In Mandarin no less.

Hey, writting my own romance should be easy right? Just telling the story as it is. Shouldn't have any gaps or writter's blocks since, well, I don't intend to write something that didn't happen. =)

I had a chapter written and was starting on another before it occurred to me to ask if wifey minds.

Oh boy she minds. Very much. And she forbids me to post online.

Good thing I didn't upload the finished chapter as soon as it's done.

What I didn't tell her, and the above mentioned not really involving no imagination or make-believe part, is that I am writing in her perspective, not mine.

=P

Oh well.

That thing is shelved. I have to come up with some make-believe story after all.

Just wrote the first chapter of my new romance. Totally fictitious, and I only have the vaguest idea of a storyline. Many gaps to be filled but I will figure them out as I go, it's all made up anyway.

Do you think I can pull this off? Would you like to read it if I ever get it done?

天马行空：多么痛的领悟！

此冷笑话纯属不要脸的幻想虚构，如有雷同，纯属巧合。

那天签唱会里唱过那令全场感动掉泪的一首「领悟」后有位嘉宾这样问我，

“怎么会用「领悟」做新专辑的主打歌啊？”

我抹掉眼角的泪，让心情恢复后回答，

“最近对这首歌有很深的共鸣。”

“难怪你唱得这么有感觉。”

“谢谢。我都是融入感情去唱每首歌的，不只是「领悟」而已。”

唱片公司有教过要怎么回答类似的问题的。

“为什么这首歌会让你这么感触？是不是它令你想起曾经的感情事故？”

“唔？感情事故啊…不是啦…其实只是歌词里的一句很贴切我的心境。”

“哦？是哪一句啊？唱来听听。”

我深呼吸，进入情绪后唱那仿佛是写给我的一句，

“我以为我会暴富，但是我没有…”

天马行空 |系列|

2013 热情推荐

首张专辑发行后一年，吴晋刚的第二张个人专辑「愚人再娱己」终于面世！

十二首升级版翻唱的流行歌曲和热门金曲，让你听出耳油。

超级限量版，欲购从速！

以上为销售部门改过的版本，“歌手”（呃…）写的原文如下：

虚幻首张专辑发行后一年，吴晋刚幻想的第二张个人专辑「愚人再娱己」终于面世！

注意左下脚的句子

十二首超烂版翻唱的流行歌曲和热门金曲，让你听出耳油、胃汁、和肚子里的全部东西。

超级限量版（就是根本没有的意思），欲购从速！

注：如果你找得到，请帮我买二十片！

-----

愚人节系列： |2009| |2010| |2011| |2012|

Curse of the Moon

Full moon rises as stars twinkle

land baths in luminous white

Tainted bloods tingle

eyes shining bright

As the pale orb crests

afflicted ones moan

There is no rest

with the curse of the moon

Scribble Pad is slowing down

And likely closing.

Not that I have many readers or followers, but I think it's good manner to give this heads up instead of lesser and shorter entries drag out over a long period of time and eventually total silence like some bloggers do.

The short version is that I no longer have the time to keep this blog updated freqeuntly and regularly, if at all.

For about 6 days now, I have two other blogs to maintain. One of them focuses on reviews, starting with books and computer games, and hopefully will attract other companies that have products to market, really it's based on marketing and advertisement and the blog is loaded with advertisements.

The other is a pay per view blog for my short stories, only four stories so far. Surprising enough this one is generating more income than the other, for now at least. Hopefully this will continue and not just a novel excitement.

I know I said I will not sell out to advertisement, honestly I didn't, not with my personal blog (this one ler) which I write simply to share. See, no advertisement here. =)

Money is tight, and there is only so much time to write everyday, so I like to apologise to the loyal readers (if any), I just can't keep three blogs updated regularly. I love to write and share, really I do, but it comes a point when hobby has to give way to upkeeping my family's quality of life.

I hope you will understand.

I like to thank all those who have been following this blog, more comments would have been great I suppose but it's all moot now.

I will update this blog whenever I can, but no promise.

The long version...

The long version will probably sound like a rant, oh well.

Ever since the company no longer utilises my strength but assigned me to odd jobs that serves nothing but demotivates me, I have been thinking about getting a new job.

Hello, digging through a user-unfriendly database to compile data for analysis of a manufacturing issue is not a thermal related project. No sir, even if it's the manufacturing of a thermal controller card still doesn't make it a thermal project.

Can't simply characterise a project as thermal related and assign your thermal engineer to it simply because some part of it has the word "thermal" or "temperature" in it, you know?

Typical "manager speech" instead of resolving the concern is to me an indication that the manager no longer values me as a thermal engineer, and perhaps the department no longer has a need for a thermal engineer. So either I change my job scope and put away the skills that got me hired in the first place, or if I still want to do thermal related work, I find a job that wants a thermal engineer.

Or, I can just bear with the shit, as long as it still pays the bill, right?

See, that's the second thing that led me to ditch my hobby of writing for sharing, but instead I write for money now, cause the primary job no longer pays the bill. =(

If I no longer enjoy my primary job, then you better believe I am going to do something I like as a part-time job.

you see, it's the time of the year the company does the annual performance review, and thus the time we find out about our pay rise, if any.

Since the company sees fit to give an employee who is rated successful a peanut-size increment on a minuscule salary base, I am getting progressively poorer thanks to the "a-lot-more-significant-than-peanut-size" inflation.

If my salary base was five figures then the peanut-size increment percentage is acceptable. But since my salary base is oh so very far away from five figures, I am feeling rather shafted. =\

Successful performance, but rubbish increment that makes me poorer. >_<

Bollocks.

Trust me, if I ever get very successful with writing and it is giving me a steady income that supports my family modest lifestyle, I am going to go full-time writing and be my own boss.

Do what I like while providing for the family, hell yea!

But let's not get to the dream land for now. My family is already on a frugal lifestyle that I can't see us going any lower, so blogging for money instead of blogging because I like to share is the necessary evil.

Again, I hope you will understand and thanks for following my blog all these years.

What to do?

Took a lot longer than I anticipated to write this entry, since it's already 1st of April I like to wish everyone Happy April Fools' Day, indulge your inner child and be merry fooling or be fooled! =)

Okay, that done, let's have a change of mood and move on to the sombre entry I have spent some time to craft.
-----

Every year around this time, my company announces the performance review for the employees. So it's this time that we find out whether or not we have meet our expectation and more importantly, whether or not we get a rise (raise in American English).

Okay, so I am the slacker extraordinaire, but really that's not my attitude towards work. Honest.

I am all serious with work related stuff, I meet my due date, put in my best into my work, make sure my work is of good quality, I pay attention to the details, and go that extra mile to make sure my work is easily comprehensible for the others.

So it came as a shock that I am underperforming. =(

This is really a big deal, I have to perform better else I will lose my job! This is seriously not laughing matter.

I admit I am not the 'long hour' type who are in the office 07:00 to 19:00 hours. I usually call into the early meetings from home and then arrive office late morning to avoid peak hour traffic. And I try not to stay late in the office unless I absolutely have to, I want some semblance of work/life balance.

But anyway, this shouldn't be the reason why I am rated underperforming, since you know, I meet my due date and all that.

Have to say I am rather puzzled, is my own standard really not as high as I think it is and hence 'my best' and 'good quality' are really not up to scratch?

I just... refuse to believe that.

It's so happened that manager MunY has just written an entry on performance review with some handy pointers for underperforming people like me. I am doing most, if not all, of his 6 useful pointers leh.

After some serious thinking I came to this: I am not selling myself.

Problem is, while I have no qualm in admitting and even joking about my weaknesses, I don't feel comfortable telling people how swell I am. I am a quiet person who listen more than speak, and I don't like to be in the limelight.

There are those who are in love with their own voice, those who will speak up for the sake of speaking up in the presence of important high up people. There are those who will pour non-stop given half the chance, to show how knowledgable, how great and mighty they are.

Empty bucket makes the most noise?

Tough luck for me then, cause usually those who make the most noise get noticed, and as the saying: it's not what you know, but who you know that matters. Sad but true.

So, what to do?

Appreciate any suggestions you may have. Before you send them to me, please read the first paragraph at the top, especially those in red. Thanks!

Sombre matter, isn't it?

Second Resurrection

"Can you hear me Mr SB-the-third?"

"Y..e..a.."

"How are you feeling?"

"Sluggish, weak."

"That's to be expected, after all, I transplanted a smaller heart to you. It has less power compared to your previous heart."

"Am I going to be alright now?"

"I am going to be honest with you, I don't know, bear in mind this is your second crash. To be frank, I am not sure if I could ressurect you if you suffered a third crash."

"Can't you just transplant another heart if I crashed again, doctor?"

"How many times do I have to tell you I am not a doctor? I only have a master degree and I don't really know what's wrong with you."

"But... but... you brought me back to life twice already."

"Well you see, it's all based on trial and error plus sheer dumb luck systematic analytical work, but that can only go so far. Besides, I do not have the mean to get a replacement for you, so you best not crash again!"

"You have financial problem?"

"Yea, I am poor to begin with, and that overlady is demanding her donation back."

"Overlady? What's an overlady?"

"Heard of overlord? You know, evil overlord? Overlady is just the female version of overlord*."

"I see. Why did the overlady make the donation if she intended to take it back?"

"I guess you don't know this overlady, this is just her way of first making you happy just to take it away after, in order to double your misery."

"Ouch... sounds like an evil person."

"Verily."

"Can't nobody do anything about this overlady?"

"Nobody dares, I certainly don't after her talk of body bags."

"Gosh! Evil!"

"Yea, verily."

* I made this up, don't think overlady is a real word. =P

My home computer (gaming machine) died again. Managed to bring it back to life after some fiddling. I changed the power supply, all trial and error systematic analytical work trying to identify the problem, of course. This 'short story' is the result of my imaginary conversation with my computer.

And yes, all self-respecting gamer named their gaming machine, mine is called SoulBot-III as it's my third computer. =)

Teaser?

Gripping the precious stone in his left hand, Lord Vomitlots raised his wand and strolled towards the helpless baby, the Killing Curse at the back of his lips, ready to be realeased as soon as he had a clear sight of his victim.

So intend was he on killing the son of James and Lily Potter he didn't notice the toy on the floor, as he chanted the Killing Curse he slipped on the toy and fell forward. He threw his left hand open to break the fall, in doing so he sent the heart-shaped stone hurling towards the baby.

Both the green flash of the Killing Curse and the heart-shaped stone struck the baby's forehead at the same time, the baby yelped in surprised and pain while Lord Vomitlots wailed in anguish and contorted in agony.

Baby Harly became the first person to survive the Killing Curse, though the heart-shape stone left a scar on his forehead. Lord Vomitlots was not seen since then, many believed The Boy Who Survived has somehow vanquished him.

H.A.F.D.

I have thought long and hard on this subject matter and decided that, what the heck, I am going to share this bit of news that I have kept secret for slightly more than a year now.

All great things started somewhere.

It might have started out as something small, something insignificant, something out of boredom, or something just for jest, but lady luck could change it to something big, something fantastic, something great.

Through sheer dumb luck, I had a brush with just that.

And this is the story.

I am not sure how many of you are aware of or still remember that I used to post a story called Harly Potter and the Heart-shaped Stone? (check the fictitious fiction category!)

The whole thing started in November 2007, when I was in transit Changi Airport to The States. I was bored, so I started scribbling.

Obviously it's just me trying to be funny with J.K.Rowling fantastic Harry Potter series. It was meant to be a jest, nothing serious, just passing time, you know.

However, I kind of got a kick out of writing the story so I became slightly serious about the whole thing. Had the storyline planned out, think of the funny names and events, that sort of things.

Will you believe me if I told you that publishers randomly surfed the net for blogs to read with the intention of hunting for potential author?

No?

Well, I didn't believe that either, until I was contacted by just such a publisher, that is.

It happened in February 2008, a few days after I posted the 6th entry. I received an e-mail from Google, saying a publishing company was requesting for the e-mail address I use to sign into blogspot. Google respects privacy so they didn't disclose my e-mail address to the company without my permission.

I gave my permission to Google, mightily intrigued and a bit excited by all that really. Two days later I received an e-mail from the publishing company saying they want me to write for them.

They like the Harly Potter story and want me to write something similar, but I have to change the name to avoid intellectual property infringement. And they want me to get rid of all those Manglish stuff and write with proper English.

Oh. My. Goodness!!!!

There are a lot more to that but I am not going to put everything down here. It's nothing big they say, just a small book to begin with to test the market reaction.

Still, my own book! Oh boy oh boy oh boy!

I cannot announce the publisher for the time being for legal purposes, but I can tell you it's a company based in the United Kingdom. After I got past my initial excitement I thought it probably was a prank so I searched the web for the company and found identical contact details as given in the e-mail, I called the company to check.

Just to be absolutely sure I wasn't dreaming I asked my UK friends to go verify and yes, there really is such a company and they really have me on their talent hunt list, whatever that is.

I never did explain why I suddenly stopped writing the Harly Potter story, now you know.

I guess I owe those who were following the story an apology. I cannot continue to post on the blog since I would be breaking my contract with the publisher if I did so. I sold out, sorry.

If you are really interested, go buy the book when it's out! =)

Long story short, my book will be around 250 pages long (last edit was 247), it has a few more stages to go before the marketing stage. I was told the initial batch will just be 100 copies and sold only in UK. I will get a copy, of course. =)

Oh, H.A.F.D. is the abbreviation of the book title, the current title anyway since it's still not set in stone but probably 80% sure it will be this one.

Want to take a guess at the current title?

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Happy April Fool's Day!

=P

If you believed this you would believe anything! =D

Sammy the Not So Nimble (5)

-----

Copyright 2008 C.K. Goh. All rights reserved.

All characters in this story are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

This story is the intellectual property of C.K. Goh. Any reproduction or unauthorised use of the material contained herein is prohibited without the expressed written permission of C.K. Goh.

-----

Chango stopped abruptly, only then did he realise Saminora was pulling hard on his legging.

"Phew, close one. I think there's a trap in your next step, cunningly hidden this one," said the rogue.

"You think? So you are just guessing?" Phancenolara asked, sceptical.

"Well... It's gut feeling, and that tile there, you see, it looks different."

"The tiles look the same to me. You don't really know, do you?"

"Don't be nasty Phancy," Hondrel said quickly, seeing the halfing was about to retort.

"Feel free to walk onto that tile, nobody is stopping you," Saminora told Phancenolara in a cold voice.

"I may just do t..."

"Come on," Chango, already side stepped the tile in question and got to the chests, beckoned the rest over.

With the prospect of treasure, everyone hurried over. Phancenolara followed Chango's path like the rest, an act that Hondrel observed but did not comment on.

Good thing the rogue didn't notice that, halflings were notorious for their taunting skill and the last thing Hondrel wanted was for the comrades to jump on each other. They were in this together, they need to stick together.

Saminora picked the locks in no time at all, and she opened both chests for all to see.

In one of the chests there were odd pieces of armour, a rag, a torn cloak, a dented helmet, a blood stained leather armour. Nothing useful and nothing worth looting. The other chest contained a few gold coins, which they split equally, as well as a dwarven made battle axe, which none of them could wield except Chango.

Phancenolara took the scroll and a potion laying at the bottom of the chest, she passed the potion to Hondrel and studied the scroll herself.

"It's a Cage Monster spell Hondrel, better suited for mage instead of cleric," said Phancenolara.

"Yes I agree, and sadly this is not a Potion of Restoration, smells like Potion of Haste. Perhaps you will find it handy, Sammy?"

"Running away faster is always a good thing," Saminora said cheekily while she pocketed the potion.

Everyone seemed to be in a better mood after they looted the chests, the door to the next room was just beside the chests.

"Let's have a look at what's waiting for us behind the door, shall we?" Hondrel knew it's time to go on.

"A minute," Chango strapped the massive battle axe to his back, bent and lifted one of the chests they just emptied. "Learn to trust your comrades, Phancy." He threw the chest onto the tile Saminora warned them not to step on.

The chest smashed to pieces at the bottom of the pit trap that slided open.

Without another word Chango moved to the door and positioned himself directly behind it, the battle axe back in his hands. He waited for the others to get into their positions.

Hondrel gave Saminora a pat on her shoulder and took up his place. The rogue went over to her position and faded into the shadow.

Finally the mage took her place and said softly, "Sorry Sammy, I should not have doubted you."

Chango smiled and yanked open the door.

(the end)

Edited 13th August 2012, fixed typo and added link.
go to previous