Sorry about that slow-loading thing, Karima. I hope that gets better for soon. The same thing applies to this segment about allowing the pics to fully load before reading.
Now I give you...
The message engraved into the plaque was so bone-chilling that it almost made Nellie turn tail and run, but she shook it off, stiffened her spine, and stood her ground. She had come too far in this to let a few words from a long-dead, bullying, evil warlord frighten her away now! As soon has she had turned and begun to move toward the door she must enter, she was firmly reminded of the dangers she now faced.
She cried out, startled, as she was engulfed in a vicious steam trap. The hot substance stung her skin, but only left her slightly pink, not causing any real damage. Muttering a few curses under breath, she pushed forward and stepped through the door.
She groaned inwardly as her eyes fell upon the many traps of some sort in the floor ahead. The woman knew it was not going to be easy, but she was determined to find the treasure, so she moved forward to inspect the first one.
The first trap was easily disarmed and she stepped across it, smiling to herself. Maybe the evil warlord, Dong Huo's traps were not as brilliant as he had thought. Suddenly, Nellie held no fear in her heart and her confidence soared through the roof as she stood at the 'cross roads', wondering which way to go.
She decided to go right first and walked a short distance to the wall. To her right was another long hallway, but to her left was a pile of ancient coins on the floor. She decided to take those first. The way seemed clear, so she boldly and briskly began walking toward the pile.
The most blinding, gut-wrenching pain Nellie had ever felt coursed through her body as suddenly a trap appeared from nowhere and surged electrical current into her. She tried to scream, but she had no voice. Just as she was about to lose consciousness, the current shut down and she stumbled back the way she had come. So much for her confidence. It seemed to drain away along with the electricity.
Nellie, disoriented, staggered and stumbled straight forward along the unexplored hallway straight ahead. Even though she was now injured and frightened, she pushed open a door she found there and was surprised to see a tiny room with two beds.
It could not have come at a better time since her energy level felt depleted and her fear had reached new heights. Luckily, she still had a supply of Shower in a Can, so she was able to clean herself a bit before slipping between the sheets. In pain and exhausted, her thoughts seemed to come to her in confused, erratic waves.
As she settled into the soft bed, her thoughts turned to Ho Sung and she wished he were here to wrap his strong, loving arms around her to bring her comfort and peace. He had tried to speak with her several times after she had left him in his shop a few days ago, but she either ignored his calls, or told him she was too busy to talk. Now, she wished she had made an effort to make things right between them again. What if the writing on the plaque was correct and soon, her ghost would be meeting that of Dong Huo, the evil warlord?
After a nice rest, things no longer seemed as glum as they had the night before. After a bite of delicious dried food, she felt ready to carry out her mission and see this adventure to its end, whatever that end may be. She headed out the way she had come and entered a new door. Nellie tripped over her own feet and nearly fell into the room, cursing her clumsy nature. Her eyes widened in awe as she gazed around at what this new room contained.
The room was filled with empty nectar racks, but several bottles of nectar were scattered about on the floor. Nellie's mouth began to water and she suddenly wished she had a corkscrew. After the fiasco last night and almost losing her life, she could certainly use a drink!
After gathering up all the bottles on the floor, Nellie noticed another strange place on the wall and began to inspect it. She was unable to find a trigger to open what she suspected was a hidden door, but then she remembered something one of her fellow explorers had mentioned back at the base camp.
Nellie moved toward the lamp on the wall and began to gently tug and fiddle around with it. Finally, she heard, with satisfaction, the familiar sound of a long-closed door grinding open.
If Nellie had been awed by the previous room, she totally blown away by this one! It was beautifully decorated and had an almost home-like feel about it, even though it seemed more suited to royalty rather than a regular sort like her. The thing she liked most about it, though, was that it contained a bar, and a corkscrew!
Making herself at home, Nellie went to one of the nectar racks, grabbed some glasses, and poured nectar into them. It smelled wonderful and she licked her lips in anticipation.
Seating herself at the bar, Nellie drank just enough of the sweet liquid to settle her frazzled nerves. She knew better than to over-indulge herself. She needed to keep a clear head to move through Dong Huo's maze of traps and find the treasure. After downing two glasses, she rose and turned toward the diving pool behind her. She mentally prepared herself for the cold dive by inhaling and releasing several long breaths before taking the plunge.
Nellie emerged dripping wet, but with a crescent keystone in hand. She was sure she would be making good use of it very soon. In her haste and confused state, Nellie had neglected to notice the crescent keystone on the night stand of the room in which she had spent the night. Little did she know that mistake may cause problems later on.
She left the room and went back to the intersection in the hallway where she had been before almost getting herself turned into a human Shish Kabob and stood for a moment wondering where to go next. She turned so that her back was to the door through which she had first come. The nectar had left her feeling relaxed and confident once again, so she started forward without much thought and immediately regretted her decision.
The agonizing pain was unbearable as darts pierced Nellie's tender flesh. She screamed in agony and began pulling them from her body as quickly as possible. The darts, she thought, must be laced with some sort of poison, because a wave of dizziness and nausea struck her that almost brought her to her knees. The confused and disoriented woman staggered backward and fell to the floor.
As Nellie lay fighting to remain conscious, she thought, once again, about the writing on the plaque. As darkness overcame her, she suddenly was certain her ghost would meet that of Dong Huo very soon.
As her eyes fluttered open, she knew not how much later, she heard the voice of a young girl speaking to her in a hushed tone, telling her she would be alright now. Nellie was more confused than ever when her gaze fell upon a little girl standing over her. As Nellie slowly rose to her feet, the little girl explained that she had been playing above when she heard Nellie's screams and had gone down to see who was in trouble.
While Nellie fiddled around to disarm the next trap in her way, the girl explained that her mother was a healer and had a special potion to counteract the effects of poison darts and that she had gone to fetch some from her nearby home. The girl had fed some to the unconscious woman and brought her back around.
Nellie thanked the little girl profusely, gave her a handful of the ancient coins she had collected, and hugged her warmly. The girl smiled up at Nellie and then hurriedly left the tomb, leaving the explorer to her work.
Nellie efficiently disarmed the next few traps between her and her destination and quickly moved further into the underground cavern. Soon Nellie was smiling again. She had found a place to put her crescent keystones to use.
The way ahead was full of various traps to prevent her passage, but Nellie soon figured out how to disarm them. As she put each keystone into place and then stepped on the floor triggers they produced, a trap would be disarmed.
When Nellie went to put the fourth keystone into its place, she suddenly realized she had only had three and her heart sank. What was she to do now?
She then remembered that in her haste to find the treasure, she had left several small rooms unexplored and she headed back the way she had come, searching the treasure boxes in each one, but to no avail.
Finally, she entered a tiny room and her eyes lit up like the stars in the night sky. A crescent-shaped keystone was in plain sight on a table! She rushed forward, snatched it up, and hurriedly went back and slid it into its place. The last trap had been disarmed!
Nellie groaned and sighed tiredly when she saw the row of heavy statues that had to be moved in order to open the last door. She waited a moment to catch her breath and then began to shift the monstrosities around. Finally, she heard the chains fall from the door behind her and she ran toward it.
At long last, she had uncovered the treasure that had been hidden away for so long! She collected it and delivered it to Jiang Lu, who was very grateful and rewarded her handsomely. The hour had been late, so she had gone back to base camp to rest.
The next morning, Ellie checked the adventure board for any new developments and was surprised to see a note for her from Jiang Lu tacked upon it. Her brow furrowed as she read the quickly-scrawled message:
"My dear Nellie, it seems if you are going to complete the prophecy you must journey to Champs Les Sims, France. According to the journal, I believe the Nectar Merchant at the Nectary there will know about Vaughan's keystone. You must speak to the Nectar Merchant to discover the location of the keystone!"
France? Now Ellie was more desperate than ever to speak with Ho Sung! She felt the need to resolve their issues before leaving the country, so she rushed over to the market to speak to him.
"Ho Sung!" Ellie called out urgently as burst into the Food Merchant's Shop, but gasped in surprise to see someone else behind the counter instead. "Hello Jiao" she said, forcing a bright smile at the young woman. "Where is Ho Sung?"
Nellie's heart sank and skipped several beats as she listened to Jiao Hong explain that Ho Sung had not been into the shop for two days and she had heard nothing from him. Now, more than ever, Nellie felt horrible about the way she had purposely avoided him and was even quite rude in her treatment of him when he had tried to speak with her.
"Is there something I can do for you?" Jiao smiled at Nellie. Fighting back tears of frustration and pain that threatened to fall, Nellie politely declined and headed next door to the General Merchant's Shop, to speak to Zhan. He always seemed to have a way of brightening her day.
"Hello, my friend!" she exclaimed as she embraced the best friend she had ever had. "I've missed you so!" Nellie's expression turned more serious as she asked, "Have you seen Ho Sung?" Nellie had been tempted on several occasions to confess her attraction for Ho Sung to her friend, but something, some instinct, had held her back.
"No one has seen him for several days!" Zhan replied. "It's very strange. You see, my brother, Shen, is dating Ho Sung's sister, who lives with him. My brother told me that Ho Sung came home a few days ago, packed a bag, and told his sister and his wife that he was leaving."
Zhan was so caught up in his story that he missed Nellie's sharp gasp at the mention of Ho Sung's wife. "Everyone knew that Ho Sung was not very happy in marriage. You see, Ho Sung has always wanted a large family, but his wife not only does not want children, but she actually dislikes them!" Zhan paused for breath and then added, "But, to just take off like that is very unlike Ho Sung. He is a good man!"
Nellie was crushed. A wife? So, the man with whom she had fallen so deeply in love was married. She had inadvertently become 'the other woman'. Now she understood why Ho Sung had been so elusive and distant. He had other obligations in another place. Now she was very happy she had never told Zhan of her affair with Ho Sung. It would had been humiliating.
"I have to go, Zhan" Nellie said, forcing herself to smile at her friend. "I am here for another few days, so I will see you before I go." She hugged him briefly and fled from the shop before her tears had a chance to fall somewhere other than in private.
Sorry about that slow-loading thing, Karima. I hope that gets better for soon. The same thing applies to this segment about allowing the pics to fully load before reading. 
. I really thought she and and Zhan would have a thing, especially when he appears to be so fond of her. Guess sim life is like RL, so many possibilities thrown at us. I can't wait to read segment six and follow Nellie on her next quest and her new handsome mystery man. Poor Zhan 
