Very well the proposal that won is
3): How about instead we empty our backpack in a defensive manner, in case someone slipped a centipede or something else in there. I'm essentially in favor of 1, but more defensive about other possibilities other than the metal shard. Also, don't tell the lord about the shard, don't tell anyone. Our parents wanted to keep it secret, and until we know their reasons for why, (ie, we need to read that fairy-tale book asap) we shouldn't let anyone else know that we have it.
Where 1) was 1. Poke, then touch, that piece of metal we've been carrying around. If it doesn't hurt or harm you, take it in your hands. if it does, bring it to the lord's manor in your knapsack.
50 – Moving flames and shadows
You decide to empty your backpack in a careful manner, by turning it upside down on the floor. You'll be particularly cautious in case a centipede or some other dangerous critter is inside. You actually thought about the irregular piece of dark metal for a second, but you can't imagine why it would hiss like that. Be as it may, the only way to discover it is to do it, and so you steel yourself and grab the backpack, dragging it on the floor until you are more or less in the middle of the room, all the while keeping it as far as possible from your body.
You will want to have free hands for this, so you light your lantern on the table and extinguish the torch. You certainly do not want to risk being without light. Then, you move to the backpack and with the left hand you slowly start to tip it over in order to spill its contents on the floor. Your right hand instead is firmly gripping your sword in case you need it. Your recent run-ins with centipedes have left you wary of anything unusual....
The contents of your backpack rolls over the floor, and you see nothing out of the ordinary. You are now sure that the hissing sound is coming from the bundle of cloth that wraps the irregular piece of dark metal. Why? It was just some scrap you found in your house. Sure you thought it unusual, but you would have never guessed it was something... more. Something that would hiss while there's an unnatural darkness outside...
But, you want to see into this more clearly. Just being sure that it is that piece of metal is not enough, you want to look at it. With your left hand you grab a piece of the cloth and give it a sharp tug, knowing the metal scrap will be thrown on the floor. And so it does.
The lantern is immediately snuffed out, and for a moment darkness fills the room. Then a blue, purple light explodes all around you as you cover your eyes. When you open them, the sight makes your heart flutter uncontrollably as fear of the unknown grips you. The scrap of metal is covered by... lines, that emit a strong blue and purple flame. But they do not seem random lines, more like a pattern of sorts. Signs, or maybe letters. This... artifact is covered by blue and purple flames arranged very precisely.
You realize suddenly that you do not feel cold anymore. On the contrary, you feel quite warm. But before you can wrap your mind around this change, something else happens. The flaming... patterns explode in an ever brighter light. All around you, in mid air, you see blue and purple flame dancing freely. You are paralyzed by surprise, fear and awe. The flames in the air are slowly moving, assuming shapes that resembles the patterns on the artifact, only bigger and all around you, filling the entire room.
After a minute you realize that you're hyperventilating, and trembling due to sheer agitation. You close your eyes and take a few deep breaths. Then you start to look around you trying to put some order in your mind. After the initial explosion, the flames are not moving anymore. They are just floating there, blue and purple, replicating the much brighter flames still present on the artifact. You look around and you notice that the shadows in the corners of the room are dancing wildly. Why is that? They flames are rather still, but the shadows are moving on the walls so violently!
You take another few, deep breaths. You are so scared you can barely move, but staying still would be useless, you have to understand what is happening. Slowly you get up, carefully avoiding the flames in mid air. Nothing seems to change, so you look around you once again. The shadows are still moving violently everywhere around the center of the room. You also notice that the water in the glass, that was starting to freeze before, is now perfectly liquid once more. You do feel warm, in fact almost too warm, you're starting to sweat a little bit. You take a couple of few, careful steps towards the window and look outside, but it's still very dark out there. Actually... you could swear you saw a few irregular shadows moving out there...
For a few minutes you wonder about what is going on, and what you should do. These flames seem to ward off the cold, but they also scare you. And no matter what you try, you can't seem to light the lantern anymore. But as things are, in order to move outside you would have to pass through the flames, and you do not want to do that. You turn around instead and move closer to the artifact, trying to study the lines a bit more, wondering whether or not it would be safe to touch it.
Then, after a couple of minutes the flames suddenly die out, and for a moment you're left in the darkness once again. Then the lantern lights up and the room is bathed in it's warm, yellow, comforting light. You look the dark metal artifact, and see that the lines are actually still there. Only, they are barely visible, giving out a faint blue and purple light. But no flame. Also, those dancing shadows from before are nowhere in sight.
You try to think what you should do, and go to the window to take a look outside. It's still very dark but you were not mistaken before. You think you see irregular, misshapen shadows lurking around outside, but always with the corner of your eyes. When you turn to look directly at one of them... it disappears, until you notice another one, always slightly out of sight so that you can only catch a glimpse of it.
What will you do Kyoss? You have been witness of extraordinary events, what are you going to do now? Open update once again. Stay here or move, grab the artifact or not, you can choose what course to take. Think well about it
Oh, and when (if 
) you get back to Bitak I will give you a chance to change the book you are reading. Assuming you don't want to try to acquire a different one of course.
