Maxim looked at Sir Gonagle shaking his head and then to Serna, "We don't gamble on the ship, young miss. The captain would have our hides."

"Oh! I'm sorry," Serna replied, "Captain Lion really runs a tight ship, doesn't he?"

Sir Gonagle rubbed his chin and produced a second playing card deck, "Well, if the lass wants to play hard ball why not Pinochle? That way the bets are harmless and we don't actually have to put any money down. I can have Spencer come in and we'll play two versus two."

"Well, young miss, are you game?" The first officer asked her.

"Sure," Serna smiled, "Although, one of you is going to have to teach me Pinochle. I've never played this game before."

"It's fairly simple really. We play with two decks of cards instead of one, two teams. You and Maxim versus Spencer and myself. You arrange your cards in the same suits. A marriage is the queen of hearts and jack of spades worth forty points. Four kings is eighty points, four queens is sixty, and four jacks is forty. A pinochle Ace, king, queen, and jack. The nine card is ten points. If you have double of say like aces they're one thousand points. Then there's double pinochle that's worth fifteen hundred points. The game begins with a bid of one hundred fifty and goes around the table until its between a player on each team. The team who wins the bid exchanges four cards to their partner in the hopes that can make the bid. Also, the team who wins the bid decrees what suit is Trump, Aces, Hearts, Clubs, or Diamonds. Those cards will win no matter what if a trump card is laid down on the table. When there are no more cards, you total all the face cards plus or minus the bid. The goal is stay above the bid score, otherwise you end up in the hole." Maxim explained the rules of the game while Sir Gonagle went to get Spencer.

"Okay!" Serna replied a little uncertainly, "I think I got it! However, I really won't know until we start playing, I guess."

********

The light from Madeous's aura lit up the inner cavern in a thirty foot radius. The place made his skin crawl and in the back of his mind, he could feel what Alyson felt being in the presence of this fiend. Looking at the river of blood, he pointed at with his weapon, "Stay clear of that! It's acting like an ooze, black pudding, or gelatinous cube."

"That's going to be tough to do," The Swordsman confessed, "Its kind of all over the place. And the last time I checked, I can never fly nor hover."

Captain Lion eyed the movement in the river of blood rising and then falling like a heartbeat. A gate guard, watch dog of sorts.

The mass in the river of blood stopped flowing and instead began to pool in around itself forming into what look liked a dire wolf only bigger. The creature growled at them the closer the party came to the blood rock and then let out an ear splitting howl.

Both Irzen and Birch covered their ears with their hands as the foul creature cut loose with its deathly howl.

"Can someone please shut that thing up?!" Irzen yelled above the din.

Seeing the both Irzen and Birch covering their ears, Madeous drove his sword into the ground. The thunderous smite echoed throughout the cavern interior and reverberated into a single focused blast effectively shutting off the creature's howl. It also sent it slamming back against the wall behind it. "Ask and you shall receive. Now if you don't mind we have a fiend to slay."

"Agreed!" Irzen uncovered his ears and shook his head fiercely, "Just as soon as that bell in my head stops ringing."

"I'm ready to go!" Prince Birch unclapped his ears with a smile, "Onward!"

Quake inhaled deeply and let out a blast of lava into the creature. It howled in pain as the side bubbled and churned from the intense heat. "Gah! I thought wet dog smell was bad! P.U.!"

"Not exactly hell fire and brimstone, Quake," Irzen smiled at the end result of the Elemental's handiwork, "But effective none the less!"

Captain Lion pulled out one his pistols and aimed towards the ceiling. The shot broke off a slender stalactite crashing down on top of the creature.

It pinned one of the hind legs to the floor and lashed out towards the platinum knight who was closest. It's jaws clamped down hard nearly biting through the plate armor only to taste divine radiant energy and was forced to spit him out. "A little help here!"

"On it!" Irzen charged forth, raised his sword and in one swift stroke decapitated the creature in the hope that severing its muscles in its neck would force it to loosen its grip upon Madeous.

The head of the creature hit the ground with a splash as Madeous scrambled back to his feet with the help of Quake. The body jerked and fell to the ground.

"That was too easy." The platinum knight muttered under his breath.

"Uh, guys," Quake blurted out before something sent her flying to the far side of the cavern.

Captain Lion moved so fast he was a blur when he grabbed both Madeous and Irzen from the jaws of not one creature but two. "Gentlemen our odds of getting past this guard dog just got a lot harder."

"Whoa!" Irzen looked around in complete disbelief over how fast they moved.

Prince Birch was able to leap out of the way with a cat-like grace.

Quake pulled herself out of the wall easily enough and ran back over, "When I hit it with my breath weapon it didn't multiply like that. What do you guys think?"

"It's made of liquid. It's not elemental is it?" Madeous pondered.

"Definitely not elemental. I should know I'm fire and earth put together. What about you, your highness, got any spells that might stop those things from multiplying?" The elemental looked to the prince.

"I have a spell that might work," Prince Birch offered to Quake, "But after I use it, I want you to strike these creatures with your fiery breath. Then I will repeat my attack and you will too until we finish these things off!"

The Elven Prince turned his attention to the monstrosities that were approaching him. With all of the flourish of a rock star at a concert, Prince Birch yelled, "CONE OF COLD!"

Instantly a cone of cold air erupted from his hand freezing the two creatures before him.

On que, Quake spit out a line of lava that hit simultaneously with the Cone of Cold spell. It worked. The combined subzero temperature mixed with the super heated liquid rock caused the creatures to shatter and melt away. The blood sizzled and churned releasing a sulfurous stench lingering in the cavern.

Madeous had to plug his nose from the smell but the creatures weren't reforming and getting back up. "Finally! I would hate to think if this creature was loosed up in the city."

"It would have been catastrophic!" Irzen turned his head away from the creature, "Dear God that thing smells rank!"

"Job well done, Lady Quake, you are truly a credit and a boon to your Elemental ilk!" Prince Birch patted Quake on the back.

Quake grinned and walked over to foul puddle of blood, "Hey there's something lying on the floor here. Looks like some sort of key."

Captain Lion was already and reached down. The last remains of the blood trickled down the cracks in the cave floor to reveal a strange looking key with multiple prongs on it, "A puzzle key? I wasn't aware they existed in the Realm."

"Explain." Madeous asked bluntly.

"Puzzle keys were quite common on my Earth. It made vault thieves really work for time and effort. By the time they had figured out to actually unlock a vault, the authorities were already to arrest them. The rulers of the vampire houses often kept powerful artifacts in vaults that could opened with a puzzle key." Captain Lion wiped the blood and examined the markings on it. Then turned to the prince, "Your Highness do you know who ruled East Port before time? Was it in your wife's name?"

"Well, yes, I know who ruled East Port before I married Cauladra and came into my own here," Prince Birch replied proudly, "My wife's family name is Eventide, she hails from House Eventide to be precise. Her family is one of the oldest Elven royal families in these parts. Sadly, it is also a dying lineage. My union with her was designed to preserve their future, you know."

Prince Birch waved them off, "But I digress, I dare say her lineage predates my own--the House of Bark. As for who predated House Eventide's rule of East Port, it was the Melniboneans. Some say the Melniboneans are the progenitors of the Elven race. Others say that they came from another world and ruled this one for over a thousand years. Either way, this entire area in fact was a part of their Dragon Empire and it was last ruled by Emperor Elric VII, the 428th Emperor of Melnibone who was also a summoner and a sorcerer. Why do you ask, Captain Lion?"