The next morning, we all assembled at the Guild. Jakyl still looked a little grumpy, but the smiles on Gilo’s and Mal’s faces seemed to be genuine. Mal took the initiative to approach me, even before Weise could speak up, to introduce the two groups to each other, or introduce the three unknown people who were present, their garb making me assume them to be the clerics. The simple, sturdy travelling clothes, combined with the singular, ornate torch-amulet each of them was wearing gave that impression.

“Good Morning. Jakyl agreed to the conditions we put on ourselves.” Mal quietly assured me. While I wasn’t convinced that I could trust either of them, the fact that they had given their word to keep my presence quiet in order to stay out of any forum-related drama gave me a bit of hope. Not enough to let them see all of my cards, but they would be allowed to see a few. In response to her assurance, I simply nodded, moving to stand next to her, the rest of my group following along.

“Wonderful, you are all here.” Weise, the Guild-Clerk, greeted us.

“Let me make introductions, before we go over the details of the quest.” he added, before giving a short introduction regarding each person present. The three I hadn’t met before were, as expected, the Clerics, all of them followers of Persephone. A part of me was interested how the three very different people had come into the worship of the same deity, they didn’t even share a race, one, their leader, a Halfling, while the two apprentices were what was likely a Daimon of some sort and a Caprakin. But any questions I wanted to ask would have to wait, until we were on the road. In my head, I could feel Lenore’s curiosity perk up, servants of a Goddess of Death might have some answers regarding her recently acquired Nevermore-trait and they might even be willing to share.

There was a slightly awkward round of greetings, before Weise went into the details. For that, he teamed up with Kirl, the leader of the clerics, who filled in some of the information needed. The outline was quite simple: travel to a location a few days' march away, make sure the clerics don’t get hurt on the way, clear away all undead and continue protecting the clerics while they perform a ritual, before returning back to Gaber. Nothing complicated, but as always, the devil was in the details. Or rather, the unknown, as the unknown variable that could turn the quest from a walk in the forest into a death-march was the number of undead that we would encounter and their strength.

With a soft sigh, I decided that not warning Weise and Kirl would be irresponsible and so, I spoke up.

“You will have to make a decision if you truly want us to join this Quest. During our crossing of the Dorrian Mountains, we might have been too effective. At least that is my hypothesis, after we destroyed a large group of Undead, special undead started to appear, not necessarily to kill us, but to drive us away. Skeleton Hunters, they were called, swift fighters, immune to any magic we could throw at them and relentless. Even more disturbing was that, no matter what we did, their attacks came regularly, twice a day, and always at the exact same time of the day. I don’t think I need to explain why that is troublesome.” I explained, noticing a quick glance passing between the locals.

“There have been reports of similar events.” Weise nodded, before letting out a sigh of his own. “There are quite a few unknowns about the Dorrian Mountains, and quite frankly, few have an interest in exploring the mountains too deeply, to try wresting their secrets from them. To my knowledge, none have succeeded.” he paused and Kirl spoke up, as if taking over.

“I believe having you with us will be advantageous, especially if those hunters aren’t after you, but simply a new variant, moving around for whatever reason. If nothing else, having you with us will allow us to survive, if we get attacked by such a threat and retreat to town.” she paused for a moment, before continuing to speak. “For your information, the current quest is necessary but it is not deeply urgent. The ritual can be done during any full-moon night, so we have five days to travel there and it needs to be done within the next four month, or there will be trouble. But if the undead are changed this month and we are forced back, it won’t be the end of the world, annoying, yes, but not catastrophic.” she explained, and I had to nod in understanding. It was refreshing to hear that the scheduling wasn’t tight, that the Guild was smart enough to plan contingencies.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“If Cleric Kirl decides that the quest needs to be aborted, it will still be counted as success on your record, if all three clerics are returned to town unharmed. The reward will be greatly diminished in that case, but nothing will be held against you. The survival of the clerics, and obviously your own survival, is the most important objective.” Weise added, getting nods all around.

After a moment to allow any additional questions, he nodded one more time and a blue window popped open before me.

Quest Alert! Purification of the Shadow-Cleft - Escort Quest Difficulty Medium Escort the three Clerics to the Shadow-Cleft before the Full Moon and protect them during their ritual. Quest Reward 5 gold-coins

Increased Merit with the Adventurers’ Guild

After a quick check, I nodded, accepting the quest. With nothing more to do, and a definite time-limit, we didn’t dawdle and directly set out. A few quick questions revealed that the daimon-cleric, Eronui, and Mal were the slowest in our group, meaning they set the pace. Curiously, keeping her comfortable pace was quite easy for Mal, apparently a dwarven trait that allowed her to march long distances with little effort, allowing us to chat and discuss Alchemy and Magic. We were joined by Gilo, who had an interesting outlook on the topic, mainly in practical questions and applications. Or, more generally, how to use the somewhat theoretical ideas Mal and I were discussing, to cause maximum havoc.

Her very down-to-earth outlook gave me some ideas for my own work, especially when it came to applying Ice-Magic at a distance. It was something I had seen in a video on the forum, another Ice-Spellcaster creating Walls and Shields of Ice, but not within an arm's reach, as I did, but at a distance.

It took us a few iterations, but after two days of testing and discussing, I had a working prototype, a shard of Hard Ice, internally engraved with a runic formation and set with Liquid Moonlight. It gave me enough Astral Power to work at a distance, while insulating the Liquid Moonlight and keeping it from dissipating. I had no idea if the other spellcaster was using the same method, and doubted it, but my new method allowed me to set up walls, only at a distance. I only had to move the shard, roughly the size of my hand, into position, focus, apply a bit of Astral Power and the wall froze into existence. It wasn’t anchored, with only it’s weight and my Ice-Magic holding it in place but it was a good first step. I had some ideas to incorporate the runes for Stillness into the next version, but that could wait until we separated from the other group.

Another offshoot of my vigilance against the other group was a bit of theatre with Lenore. Instead of our normal, swift changes when moving out of her Hallow, I made it appear as if I was summoning her, creating a cloud of Darkness in front of me, ‘channelling’ Astral Power into that cloud, before the Black Bird was emerging from the cloud. I even went as far as to activate Overflow and channel some Darkness-Magic, simply to give my eyes the ominous shine when I called her out. The idea was to make her appear as a simple extension of myself, not an independent entity, something Sigmir and Ylva mirrored.

Overall, the three different groups meshed together quite well. Other than the trio formed by Mal, Gilo and myself, interested in all things magical and alchemical, Sigmir and the two Daimon-siblings Mibo and Myra got along quite well, especially after a short sparring-match during the first evening. The few times I joined into their discussions, it was all about the best ways to fight and what to expect when facing the undead. Similarly, the three Clerics and Olivia formed another group, discussing lore and theology, joined by Jakyl more often than not.

Lastly, Adra and Rai stuck together, often-times moving ahead to scout, sometimes joined by Gilo when the discussion between Mal and myself turned too theoretical.

All in all, the first three days travelling through the forest were quiet and peaceful. No animal was willing to go after such a large group and the handful of undead we stumbled across were quickly dispatched by Rai.

And then, shortly before we reached the Shadow Cleft, things changed…