The party hadn't had enough time to catch their breath - yet the Death Knight stood before them again. Reassembled and standing anew, the metal plates of its armor groaning against rotting sinew. Kaelem felt a cold dread embracing him, this battle had only just begun.

Olrik planted himself in the monstrosities' path, his gaze fierce, he was the least fatigued of the group and as the leader it was only right that he gave them a moment longer of respite. He held his warhammer up like a barrier against the horror that was facing them.

“Everyone fall back,“ he commanded, his voice containing a harsh rasp. “I'll hold it off, find whatever is binding it here.”

The undead monstrosity advanced towards Olrik, picking up the enormous greatsword that had been leaning against the throne. It was old and ornate, the blade still held its edge perfectly. Not a single chip or scratch, as if it had been perfectly cared for or magically protected from the passage of time.

Olrik met the Death Knight’s heavy presence with sheer defiance, his biceps bulging as he hefted his warhammer. The Death Knight swung first, its blade slashing downwards towards their leader. Olrik sidestepped it with surprising agility, his warhammer turning to parry the blow. The clash of metal rang through the cavern, the echoes bouncing off the walls.

The Death Knight staggered momentarily, its balance thrown off by Olrik’s resistance. Olrik the opportune moment to strike. With a bellowing roar, he swung his warhammer down in an arc, smashing it into the undead’s side with brutal force. The blow dented its black chestplate, under its arm where whatever remained of its ribs were. A blow that would have killed a man, yet the undead creature barely flinched. Straightening its posture, a hollow gaze fixated on Olrik, it lunged forwards again quicker than he could have anticipated.

The undead’s sword caught Olrik’s shoulder, scraping along his armor before slicing down through the join between his shoulder and his chestplate. Drawing blood, Olrik gritted his teeth and forced himself to stand his ground as the right side of his body screamed out in agony. With a guttural shout, he returned the gesture in kind by slamming his warhammer down onto the creature’s arm. Dislocating its left arm with a sickening crunch, it now hung loosely as its side. Yet that didn’t stop it from continuing it’s pursuit for blood, undeterred it continued it’s assault and the two continued to clash.

Meanwhile, Kaelem and the others continued scouring the area for the source of the Death Knight’s power, hurrying to find it as they took turns flinching at the sound of Olrik’s ongoing struggle.

That’s when Kaelem felt it again, a pull of dark magic that pulsated against his core. As if it was glaring at him with an unquenchable thirst. He had felt that feeling earlier as well…

“The head, it isn’t just a weapon. It’s drawing power directly from it,” Kaelem said muttering to himself. He could feel the resonation calling to him, tempting the power buried deep within.

“A phylactery?” Vex asked herself, overhearing Kaelem’s mumblings. “Of course, the head must have belonged to the necromancer that created it!” The pieces of the puzzle seemed to snap in place for her, though Kaelem turned to look at her with visible confusion.

“Find the head! It’s a phylactery!” Vex shouted to Annara and Rod who were scouring a bookshelf together.

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Rod turned to look at the throne, scanning the floor before his eyes shot up at the crater in the wall where the Death Knight had been slammed into earlier.

Kaelem had looked at Annara and Rod when Vex shouted, his focus following Rod’s as Kaelem also noticed the source calling to his inner darkness was in the crater.

“It’s up there, in the wall!” Kaelem and Rod both pointed simultaneously, despite being at opposite sides of the room. The four of them regrouped beneath it while Olrik had maneuvered the fight away from the throne. Standing between the Death Knight and his companions.

Annara, whose face was pale but resolute limped forward, one of her blades drawn. “No matter who is protecting that thing, I’ll hack it to pieces if that’s what it takes,” she snarled.

Vex held out her hand, halting Annara as she advised “Wait, we need to destroy it with magic. But it’s probably going to explode when we destroy it. Rod, can you hit it?”

Rod assessed the distance and the trajectory he’d need to make to hit the head, after a moment he gave her a thumbs up. “Leave it to me. Just give me the magic I need.”

Vex nodded her head, performing a spell circle in the air made of light and another more unstable rune. She finished her casting and released the spell onto Rod’s quiver.

Rod took a few steps back, running his finger through the fletching of his arrows as if to decide which one to use. He then drew an arrow and nocked it against his bowstring. The arrow had a golden pearlescent shimmer to it.

Taking aim, Rod released the arrow into the crater. The arrow flew true, confirmed by the sound of a sharp squelch. Vex’s magic then activated as the entire crater filled with an explosion of golden light.

The light however was quickly extinguished by a putrid black smoke, it seeped down from the crater like blood at first before a waterfall of smoke gushed down the wall. An agonizing yell that sounded like the head’s voice when it had cast its incantation filled the room, carrying the same vile inflections in its voice. They had done it, they had destroyed the source of the Death Knights immortality.

In the moment of chaos, Olrik made his move. His warhammer drenched in blood and dirt, raised high over his head as he unleashed his fury. Summoning his strength in a primal roar that started in his stomach, he brought the hammer down on the Death Knight’s skull. It shattered like brittle glass, no longer protected by the necromancer’s magic. What remained of its body convulsed before collapsing under the weight of the critical blow.

As if refusing its own death, the folded corpse gave one final shudder before settling lifelessly on the ground. The dark magic rising from the body like pitiful embers that had just been extinguished.

For what felt like an eternity, the hall was filled with silence. The party stood with bated breath, on guard and posed to fight on. Nobody dared to move first, as if they couldn’t believe it was truly over.

Vex yielded first, dropping to her knees and letting out a weary sigh. “It’s finally over…”

Kaelem exhaled slowly, feeling the darkness settling and becoming dormant once again. His gaze drifted to Olrik who stood victoriously over the remains of the Death Knight, his chest rising and falling as he caught his breath.

“Let’s promise,” Olrik said with a smirk, wincing as he clutched his shoulder. “Never to fight this guy again.”

The group allowed themselves to feel a moment of relief. Each silently grateful for having survived the encounter with the undead abomination. They had literally faced death and successfully came out the other side. They gathered their strength before venturing out of the mine, Vex saw to Olrik’s shoulder injury and revisited Annara’s leg wound.

There was little of value in the dungeon, it had been abandoned for centuries before the goblins had decided to inhabit it. Anything of significant value had already been lost to time, while the goblins themselves had nothing valuable to loot.

Eventually they reached the surface, the warmth of the morning sun greeting them. The group solemn and exhausted, they rode at a casual pace back to Lordstone to confirm that the job had been completed successfully, despite the additional complication they had run into in the form of a Death Knight.