Emmaline whirled in surprise, her staff whacking into Amal’s shins with a painful thump.

“Ouch! Easy woman!” he snapped somewhat irritabley. Emmaline blew a blond lock out of her face in frustration.

“Well don’t sneak up on me like that,” she responded before turning her attention back to the chest. There were five chests scattered around the room, four of them lay open, the locks that had sealed them melted into puddles of cooling iron that hissed and spattered. The last chest however had proved immune to her spell.

“Watch,” she instructed, and touched the end of the staff to the lock, whispering the words of the simple spell. It went haywire, despite being among the simplest cantrips a Gold Wizard was taught. Sparks gouted from the end of the staff and bluish electrical light sizzled for a moment.

“Let me try oh great one,” Amal responded mockingly, rubbing at his shins for a moment before sitting down on all fours before the chest. He drew forth a pair of metal probes and fit them into the lock, gently testing and turning until finally giving the larger of the two a firm twist. The hasp of the lock sprang open with a metallic click that bought a self satisfied grin to Amal’s face. He tossed the lock aside and pulled open the chest to be rewarded with the glint of gold and the sparkle of jewels. Unlike the other chests that had mostly been brass and silver, this appeared to be the pick of the bandits loot.

“Well what have we here?” Amal asked and reached for a ring of gold with stones of smokey gray set into the band at irregular intervals.

“Dont touch that it is…” Emmaline began but Amal already had the thing pinched between thumb and forefinger.

“Enchanted,” she finished in a flat voice.

“Is it dangerous?” he asked peering into the grey stones intently.

“Well it didn’t kill you when you picked it up,” Emmaline conceded.