Julian realised much too late that he should grab something for himself, and before he knew it, everything was gone. He cursed under his breath and Samantha noticed, walking over to him. "You want to take this?" She offered him her hand holding the potion of plant control.

"I don't need your pity, I have my hammer," Julian told her stubbornly, not wanting to be a charity case.

Sam shrugged and started to pull her arm back. "Suit yourself."

"No, no, I'll take it since you already have one," he said, taking the potion and slipping it into his backpack. As did everyone else with their own items.

From the back of the room, Aelric called out, "Good luck with life then, old wizard." Not one to care for standing around chit-chatting, he then left and headed outside.

Ailbe was about to follow him out the door when she asked the wizard, "What is the reason for needing to purchase these items?" Though he didn't give her an answer, nor even looked her way. 

Although Elsie realised what Ailbe was asking, and took a deep breath before retelling him the story and their decision to continue the quest of the luckless Bigleg.

"Uh yes," Yaztromo said slowly, rubbing his chin. "You mentioned a dwarf earlier. I heard that the good dwarfs of Stonebridge had lost their fabled war hammer. Without it, their king is unable to arouse his people, despite the fact that the hill trolls threaten their village." The old wizard leaned back in his chair. His tone had become less irritable and more gravelly. "Rumour has it that an envious king of another village of dwarfs sent an eagle to steal the hammer, which it managed to do. But as it flew back over Darkwood, it was attacked by death hawks and the hammer dropped into the forest and was lost. Apparently, two forest goblins found the hammer but couldn't decide who was to keep it, wrestling for hours until they gave up. That's when they discovered that the handle unscrewed and it was settled. One kept the head and the other kept the handle, and they parted, each happy with their new treasure." He heaved a sigh. "Who knows if they still have them. So I'm afraid your problems are doubled. I can tell you that the head is made of bronze and the handle is made of polished ebony, and they both have the letter G inscribed on them. But your task is not easy. I wish you the best of luck."

Curious by his words, Alibe asked, "How do you know all this? When did it all happen?"

"I do not get many visitors and it gets quite lonely. I am one of the greatest wizards in these parts, I have my ways to acquire information and rumours. I have... birds." He smiled at this comment. "However, I am not so lonely that you cannot outstay your welcome. You best be off or you shall be hopping out of here. Yes, yes, a frog shall do quite nicely." This last comment bemused him and chuckled to himself. 

"Okay, okay, I've got it. Geez." Alibe left the room to join Aelric outside. As did the rest of the group, who thanked all Yaztromo before leaving the tower as well.

Once outside in the bright light, rejoining Aelric and informing him about what Yaztromo had said, the group noticed the dead quietness again. 

Ignoring Aelric's frustration with the wizard's vagueness, Elsie looked around the clearing. She saw a narrow path that led northwards, from the tall grass surrounding Yaztromo's tower the path lead into the dense undergrowth of Darkwood forest. She pointed to the path and announced to the group, "We should go this way, this way is north." 

It didn't take much for everyone to be convinced about which way to go. Even Sam, who wasn't the happiest about it, but only because Elsie seemed to be the one leading them all down the path.

In just a few strides, the group were surrounded by the dark and tangled forest; stones and knotted roots seemed to hide in the shadows and Roxanne almost believed that they are trying to trip her up. The air became moist and unpleasant, the deeper and deeper they went, into the gloom. Eventually, the path forks on either side of a huge oak tree. Roxanne looked in both directions. "Which way? Should we go East or West?"

"How about both? We split up, cover more ground. Four go one way and four go the other," Ailbe answered.

"That's a good idea, we should do that," Julian said, not liking that he was agreeing with her. He couldn't even believe he was travelling with her, she was much too young and childish. Not to mention what his wife would say about her husband travelling with such a young girl. Although all of them, all seven of them were much younger than him, at the ripe age of 35. Turning 31, his wife told him it was time to settle at home; stop leaving his family and risking his life.

Elsie, however, did not think so and shook her head. "Splitting up is not the best idea. Firstly, we only have one map-."

"Map, Shmap, we all know to just head north," Samantha interrupted.

Elsie continued, not even looking at Sam. "-Secondly, what happens when we reach another crossroads? Do we just keep splitting up until we're all walking aimlessly down eight different paths?" 

A silence then fell over the group as they thought. The tension in the air could be cut with Faye's blade. Elsie and Samantha were silently staring daggers at each other. No one else knew what to think, nor what to say. Time seemed to pass.

Finally, words were uttered, by Samantha. She spoke to them overtly, "You can all stay here thinking and debating the ramifications of whether to separate or not, but I'm heading west, with or without a map. If no one wants to join, then that's fine by me."

"Yeah, well, my gut is telling me this way," Aelric said with a shrug, gesturing with his thumb behind him. "So I'm going to head east."

Faye nodded. "I'm with Aelric, east is best. The western path is giving me an eerie feeling, something I'd only go down if I were hunting."

"Well, I'll join you, Sam. I'm up for a challenge. No creature will get past us," Roxanne said, as she walked over to stand beside her and nudged her arm. Samantha tightened her mouth and subtly brushed her arm where Roxanne had touched it, like she was rubbing off a disease.

Not too sure about her reasoning, Desiree decided to speak up anyway, as she knew she had to make a decision, "I think that's exactly where these hammer pieces will be. Somewhere less travelled, hidden away, where they won't be found. Although having the map would be good."

"I guess you're not coming east with the three of us then, Dee," Elsie told her frankly. "I'm not surrendering the map to her." She glanced at Sam.

"Fine by me," Samantha retorted. "I don't need to follow some dwarf's map."

"That's not necessarily true," Julian piped up, directing his comment to Sam. He took off his backpack and pulled it in front of him as he knelt on the ground. "I'm sure I could replicate it if Elsie would be so kind as to let me see it."

Elsie nodded. "That'd work." She took out the map and unfolded it, placing it next to his bag, while Julian found a small, sharp rock, some twigs, and some wood. He managed to start a small fire with the wood and kindling, luckily the ground was reasonably dry; it wasn't the wet season. Then began etching the map with the rock into the underside of the flap of his leather backpack. With the rock, he finalised it by using the fire to burn out the lines; making a permanent map in his pack.

While Julian was recreating the map for himself, Ailbe was processing the decision and calculating possible scenarios in her head. "Gold," she stated abruptly. "We need to split the gold pieces that are left."

"I don't think so." Samantha shook her head, then flicked her head at Elsie. "She has the map, so I have the gold."

"Julian is copying the map for you now," Ailbe said exasperatedly.

"Uh huh, exactly, a copy. So should I copy the gold over for you? Damn it, I seem to have forgotten my forgery kit," Samantha said, her speech dripping with sarcasm. 

"Just split the gold, Sam." Ailbe was showing her lack of patience in so few words. 

Samantha gave a loud and exaggerated sigh, before reaching into her backpack for the pouch. Then walking over to Ailbe, she shook the pouch until three gold pieces fell out onto her palm. Samantha turned back around. "Ready?"

"Yeah." Julian was just finishing. He handed the map back to Elsie and put out the fire with a mix of dirt and the bottom of his boot. Everyone shouldered their packs and turned in the direction they'd chosen.

Desiree looked back and called out to the western group, "Good luck, guys. Come back in one piece."

Only one person turned, the one at the end of the line. "You too, Dee, you too," Aelric winked at her after he said it, and then everyone left the junction.