The rain was starting to ease off now, obnoxiously enough it was after they had completed their dangerous decent, but Delde took a little pleasure in it all the same. They trudged further down the valley, boots squelching in sucking mud towards where Baye had determined the crypt entrance to be. Thanks to being down at the bottom of Serpent Gorge they were out of the worst of the bitterly cold wind, but Delde was still starting to shiver. Soon they would at least be indoors and hopefully the bad weather would have passed by the time they finished the childish exercise.

Their prior marching order was gone now that they were so close to their goal and were free of threats for the time being. They all walked together in one tightknit group with everyone save for herself making some conversation to pass the time, mostly speculating on what sort of “trials” they would have to overcome once they got to the crypt. Delde couldn’t muster the energy to pretend to be invested in playing along with their excitement, but she also didn’t voice any objections to their enthusiasm either. She just wanted for the whole thing to be over with, and as they rounded the last bend before the crypt Delde thought that she would soon be able to return to her warm room filled with books and study materials that were at once advanced, yet less complex than dealing with so many strangers.

As they trudged on, the rain was now a light drizzle as they bore witness to the crypt of Kassen, letting them see it in all its humble glory. There was an archway of stone set into the side of a small hill at the bottom of the gorge and while weather, time, and moss had eliminated many details from it one remained clear. The keystone of the arch bore a carved flame symbol with a stylised rune in the middle of it that Delde didn’t recognise, but clearly marked this place as the Crypt of the Everflame. Beyond the archway was a short, darkened corridor of carved stone in the same style as the archway that ended in a pair of massive oaken doors, studded with dark metal. One of the doors was slightly ajar, but that didn’t concern the group as they approached.

What did concern them was the presence of animal corpses just in front of the crypt. Two horse and three pony corpses to be precise, each corpse still tied to a post set into the ground nearby. The mud before the crypt was stained a deep dark crimson from the blood that had flowed from the creatures and, while presumably they had dispersed during the rain a thick swarm of big black flies was lazily hanging above the dead animals.

None of them moved as they took in the bizarre and morbid tableau before them. There was no noise, the conversations they were having stopped as soon as they saw the bodies, even the air seemed to become still around them as the rain and wind finally abated. What they saw was unlike anything they had come across in their journey before, not the illusionary orcs, the starving wolves, not even the corpse of the mysterious traveller they had discovered. There was an undeniable aura of malevolence at the site, the act of butchering simple tethered animals for no apparent reason struck Delde as needlessly cruel.

All eyes turned towards her, but Delde was already performing her detect magic cantrip, hoping against her better judgement that what they saw before them was just another trick on Holgast’s part, something to give them a jolt of fear before they began their “noble quest”. But even without the cantrip she knew the truth, she could smell the blood and rot on the air, hear the drone of the flies, and when she looked close enough, see the writhing maggots in the corpses. She gripped her staff tightly and focused her mind, channelling her magic, giving it form and purpose.

The absence of any illusionary magic was as she expected, but what she sensed was not. As she stretched her magically enhance senses over the scene before her Delde was overcome with such shock that she dropped her staff and took an instinctive step backwards. If she was thinking clearly, she never would have done something that made her look fearful in front of the others but for a brief moment her lifetime of dedication to logic was overridden by her survival instinct.

She felt a hand on her shoulder and her head snapped over to see what it was. Adriana was holding her, and she realised that in her fear she had begun to lose balance, almost falling like her staff which she now silently picked up. Her mind returned to her and Delde chided herself for showing such weakness, such cowardness at such a time. Now more than any other time in her life she needed to be focused and in control.

‘…Delde, what did you see? Is it an illusion, some sort of trap, do you think it has anything to do with the deceased man that we found?’

‘No. I can’t detect any illusionary magics coming from it. Its real… But what I can sense is some necromantic magic emanating from it, just over there’.

She pointed towards one of the dead horses. Adriana drew her scimitar at once and held her holy symbol of Sarenrae towards it, as the others had their hands on their weapons, uncertain if the beast would rise as an undead.

‘It’s very faint over there, I imagine that it’s likely the aftereffects of a spell being cast… However, in there’ She pointed towards the crypt ‘The necromantic magic is…’

How could she describe it to them? It was utterly, terrifyingly, overwhelmingly immense. Delde knew what necromantic magic felt like while using the detect magic cantrip, Holgast had taught her how to identify all schools of magic in his lessons. But the sheer scale of what she was witnessing... She felt like a person who had only ever known fire to be the tiny flame on a candles wick, suddenly put in front of a raging forest fire with no explanation given. The magnitude was unlike anything she had ever experienced, the books she had read had described such things, but all the words seemed so inadequate when compared with the reality of it.

‘Significant…’.

It was a poor description of what she understood to be true, but Delde didn’t want to panic anyone. At this point the most important thing was to remain calm and rational. Getting hysterical or hasty would only doom them all.

‘We must enter the crypt of Kassen at once! We need to find any survivors that may yet be within!’

Adriana, it seemed had different ideas.

‘I don’t think I properly stressed to you the danger that is within the crypt. That much necromantic magic inside would be enough to raise countless undead. We need to warn the town and get them to bring in professional help or hire adventurers to deal with the problem. Rushing in there without a plan will only get us killed and leave the town defenceless against the threat’.

‘Then you can go and warn the townspeople! I am a cleric of Sarenrae, it is my holy duty to bring the Dawnflowers light to the darkness and destroy the foul undead that pervert the natural order of the world. And if there is a great force of undead within the crypt then it behoves me to go forth and rescue anyone that the undead may have taken captive’.

‘Mindless undead don’t take captives.’

‘Then I will avenge them and see that no others are harmed!’

‘Aw right, less aw us take a breath an calm doon. Afore we dae anythin’ hoo aboot we try an learn exactly whit happened here. If whit Delde is sayin’ is true, an am no sayin’ its no, then we need tae be very careful.’

‘Every second that we wait- ‘

‘Fir aw we ken the folk oot here fled away afore they were taken. If we run in there an they turn oot tae no be inside then we’d only be gettin’ in trouble fir nothin’. Worse, if there are folk oot there that need oor help then we’d be wastin’ time an’ effort that they needed. Ahm no sayin’ we’re no gonnie help them, but we need tae be smart aboot this. They need us tae be smart aboot this’.

Igmar’s words seemed to have mollified Adriana’s holy righteousness for the time being although she still had a zealous fire in her eyes that Delde had never seen before. Had she always been like this, as passionate and impulsive, prior to her conversion or had her connection to her new goddess inspired a newfound recklessness in her when she was so close to some of the most hated enemies of her faith?

Delde had to commend Igmar however. He seemed to have maintained his composure well in the face of receiving such grave tidings from herself. Perhaps it was due to his training in the town guard, he certainly appeared to be taking command of the situation well. Or maybe it was just his steadfast dwarven nature showing itself? In any case, he ordered Baye and Dal to examine the area thoroughly for any clues as to what exactly happened and where any parties involved may have gone. Adriana was to maintain a close watch over the door to the crypt to ensure nothing attempted to ambush them whilst they made their assessment. Delde mentally noted that it was a good use of her, as Adriana did not strike her as especially perceptive, but her dedication to striking down any potential undead attackers ensured she would allow nothing to escape her focus. Igmar seemed to have a good understanding on how to make the most effective use out of a person’s abilities in a group setting. She wondered how she would be utilised as she saw him call her away from the others and spoke to her in hushed tones.

‘Yie said that the necromantic magic in the crypt was significant. Could yie define that a wee bit more fir me? How bad is this?’

It also seemed that he had picked up on her attempt to mitigate the fear over what they had stumbled onto. Delde gave considerable consideration as to how to properly articulate the degree of what she could sense. She decided to be as honest and accurate as she could, Igmar appeared to be competent enough to understand how to behave in such a serious situation.

‘It’s… I’ve witnessed necromantic magic from spells being cast before… I’ve never seen anything on this sort of scale before, for any type of magic, not even my father can cast something like this to my knowledge.’

Her mind flashed back to her watching from a window as her father killed her brother, his son, with nothing more than a flick of his wrist and a flash of light. She had not been detecting magic at the time, but she knew that what he had cast had been powerful magic. But Delde was certain that the magic within the crypt of Kassen was far more potent than what even her father had cast that day.

‘An this… necromantic magic, dae yie think that it could just be the after-effect o a spell, or wid it raise the dead?’.

‘I’ll admit I’m not sure how such a vast amount of magic was brought to bear here, but it would definitely raise any corpses as undead if it reached them. The only reason the horses are still is because their outside of the crypt’.

Although that did spark a question in her head. Why hadn’t the undead brought the corpses inside, were they not concerned with propagation? Perhaps she would find out later. Or perhaps she wouldn’t want to know.

‘An hoo many undead dae yie think could be raised by it?’

‘I couldn’t say for sure, but it would be a sizable amount’.

‘Aye. An ah’d say there’s a sizable amoont in that there crypt. Aboot a smaw armies worth if whit they say in Kassen is true’.

Delde looked out towards the entrance to the crypt where Adriana stood vigilant, scimitar in one hand, holy symbol in the other. The doorway hadn’t changed since they had arrived, but it looked darker now, more foreboding. The entire place had an aura of maliciousness to it, as if there was some dread force that wanted nothing more than to see them all die in pain, and it was only that partially closed door that was keeping it from them.

She glanced towards Igmar and saw that he had not removed his hand from his long sword. She wasn’t sure if he felt the same oppressive atmosphere that she did, but she was glad that he at least understood the gravity of the situation, if perhaps not to the same extent that she did.

He headed towards Dal and Baye, gesturing for her to follow him. They walked over to them, next to the rotting corpses of the animals, the smell turned Delde’s stomach, but she did her best to maintain her composure. At closer inspection she could see what looked to be human bones beneath one of the horse corpses, they looked pale and brittle, far too old to be the remains of someone from Kassen unless they were killed with some spell. Admittedly, the bones were giving off a faint aura of necromancy, so it was technically possible, but Delde found herself doubtful. Dal and Baye walked over to them as they approached while Adriana maintained her vigil in front of the entrance to the crypt.

‘Rains washed away most of the tracks that were about. Looks like all the animals the townsfolk brought with them were killed though. Five posts, five animal corpses. Can’t be sure how long it’s been since they were killed. At least a day or so, a week at the most. As to how they died?’

Baye pointed at the deep gashes at the sides of one of the horses, its decaying organs bursting out of the wounds.

‘Looks like they were cut with crude blades, maybe sharp claws, though I don’t know of any animals in the area with claws like that’.

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She paused for a moment, not saying what she was thinking about, but her glance to the crypt told Delde where her suspicions lay.

‘I can’t see any sign that anyone’s fled the area and if they were attacked then they probably wouldn’t have time to hide their tracks. But like I said, rain’s been heavy, could be the tracks got washed away. But what I can see is somethin’ was dragged into the crypt from out here’.

She pointed towards some muddy streaks on the stone floor of the corridor before the door, preserved from the worst of the weather.

‘Can’t tell what it was, or how many, but it looks about as big as a person’.

Baye looked like she was about to add something else but appeared to decide against it, remaining silent and letting Dal continue.

‘I’ve looked through all the saddlebags that were left on the horses and ponies and it seems like the townspeople brough a lot of stuff with them. All the animals were kitted out to carry about as much as they could, but all the packs are empty now, except for one.

Dal gestured towards a small pile of goods that he had recovered and set on a large stone to keep the items off the sodden earth.

‘I’ve found about two days’ worth of rations, a couple of pints of lamp oil, two big pillows that would probably be pretty comfy if they weren’t soaking wet, and ten funny looking arrows.’

He picked one up to show them what he meant and Delde agreed that they were not typical arrows. While the shaft and fletching seemed normal enough, instead of the traditional arrowheads these arrows had more rounded, blunt heads to them. All eyes turned to Baye, and she took the one Dal offered her, turning it over in her hands before speaking.

‘I’ve seen arrowheads like these before. Some hunters use them for hunting small game like birds or squirrels. Anythin’ you don’t want to damage too much. Wouldn’t expect anyone to be doin’ any hunting out here though’.

‘Maybe it’s for some of the traps inside the crypt?’

Dal suggested as he put the arrow back with the others. Baye shrugged noncommittally. Igmar gestured over towards Adriana, and they all followed him to her. She was close enough to have heard everything that they had been saying but Delde figured that it would have been rude to just have a conversation with her over a distance. She also didn’t like the idea of making too much noise so close to the now quite likely very dangerous crypt.

‘Yie seen anythin’ Adriana?’

‘No, nothing. Have you found any sign that some of the people managed to escape?’

‘Naw, micht be that they got away an the rain washed away the tracks, but there’s just as much o a chance that their in there’.

‘Then that is where I will go’.

‘Now look, Ah appreciate yir wantin’ tae- ‘

‘Shh! Quiet!’

Baye sharply ordered and held out her hand to emphasise her point. She had a hard look on her face, the same kind she had when she was preparing them for fighting against the wolves the other night. Everyone obeyed her command.

Silence. Only the howling wind above them could be heard. But just beneath that Delde could almost pick up something, something just beyond her ability to make out.

‘Can anyone else hear that?’

It was faint. Very faint. But as the wind abated for a moment the sound grew clearer. It was coming from within the crypt. It was the sound of someone wailing.

‘There is someone alive inside! We must go help them!’

Adriana rushed towards the crypt entrance ignoring all protests and begun to open the door. Or rather she tried. Between the sheer weight of the door and the moisture of the rain making it swell she struggled to shift it. Igmar rushed over after her.

‘Wit in the nine hells dae yie think yer daen?!’

‘I am going to help whoever is trapped within the crypt! If you are not going to help me then get out of my way!’

‘Wit yer daen is goin’ tae get yer self killed! An then wit’ll happen tae the folk inside, yie’ll naw be able tae help them then!’

‘I will not wait aimlessly whilst there are people within my grasp who need my help!’

‘An ahm no askin’ yie tae dae that. But if yie go aboot this as recklessly as yie are then yie’ll only put yerself an others in more danger. Look ah respect yer loyalty tae yer holy duty, I do. But there’s a difference a’tween blindly rushin forward tae please yer goddesses, an followin’ her will. If yie open that door withoot us aw bein’ ready an we get swarmed wie the undead then all yi’ll have done is make a tragedy that much worse. If yie really want tae do this yie need tae be smarter.’

She stopped trying to force the door open, though she kept one hand on it.

‘And what would you suggest?’

‘Fir starters, yie see that wee gap through the door?’

‘Yes, what about it?’

‘Can yie see anythin’ in there?’

‘No, I cannot’

‘An dae yie have any light source on yie that yie could use once yie got inside?’

‘I can call upon the blessings of Sarenrae to imbue an object with light for a time yes.’

‘Right. An this spell, how long do it take tae cast?’

‘No more than a few moments in my experience’

‘An you were just gonnie wait in the darkness, where there micht be vicious undead aboot, while yie were castin yir spell?’

Adriana looked visibly deflated at his line of questioning, although to be fair to Igmar, he never came across as accusatory or belittling. Rather he seemed to be trying to present his reasoning to her in a clear and straightforward manner to help Adriana understand his objections to her actions. Delde had to admit she was impressed with his handling of the situation; she had always assumed that the town guards only duties were to deal with drunks and look intimidating when needed. Igmars actions though made her wonder if perhaps she had been too harsh in her prior assessment of them, in truth she had never had any interactions with them outside of what she heard from her siblings, which in hindsight she realised may not have been the most unbiased of sources. Many of her siblings enjoyed lording their magical heritage over others, something that likely brought them into conflict with the town guard. Of course, there was always the chance that Igmar was an outlier, and the rest of the guard met her low expectations for them. Once again Delde found herself caught off guard due to her isolation from the rest of Kassen.

‘You raise a fair point. I accede to that, but I maintain that I must go forth and discover the source of that wailing, even if it is a trap. I am not just doing this because it is within the tenants of my faith, I want to do this because it is right. If anyone you loved or cared for was trapped within there, would you not wish for someone, anyone to do everything within their power to save them. The person, the people in the crypt, they all come from our hometown. We pass them on the streets in the morning and wish them a good night in the evening. They have friends, families, dreams, lives. They deserve to be protected; they deserve to have somebody fight for them. If any of you were trapped within that crypt, wouldn’t you want someone to help you, to at least try?’.

She had turned to the rest of them as she made her argument for going into the dark and deadly crypt. Adriana was clearly pleading, but she was not some weeping girl begging others to go along with her plan. There was passion in her words, resolve. It struck Delde that she had assumed that Adriana’s goal for risking her life was out of some vague holy duty, or an effort to earn glory for her goddess and herself. The truth though seemed to be much simpler. Adriana loved her hometown of Kassen and all the people who lived within it. If they were threatened, she would act with all her power to see them saved. She perhaps lacked the appropriate restraint and wisdom (ironic, her being a cleric who were normally renowned for their wisdom) to properly temper her passion and enthusiasm to let her fully realise her goals. But Delde found her to be rather respectable? … honourable might be the term she was looking for. Dwarves were renowned for their honourable nature so it was possible that it may have been a point of commonality between the two that Igmar had used to get her to calm down and think rationally.

‘Aw right everyone gather up. Ah’ve a plan aboot whit tae dae just noo, but if onybody dissnie want tae go through wae it, then ah’ll no force yie’s’.

Everyone looked at him expectantly.

‘Right. Well, Adriana can cast her light spell on a stane or onythin’ that she can throw. Then we open the crypt doors up and she chucks it in tae let awbody see whits inside. If it looks too dangerous then we fall back and head back tae Kassen tae let the toon ken whits happened. If it looks awright though we go in. Me an Adriana up front, then Dal, then Delde and Baye at the back. If there a fight, an ah’ll be honest wae yie’s aw, there probably will be, me an Adriana will fight them in close range, Dal can try’n flank em’, an Baye can shoot arrows while Delde casts spells. If things start to look bad, we run. We’re gonnie need tae jam the doors open so we dinnie get locked in an aw. We’ll head tae where the moanin’s comin’ frea, find whoevers there an then bring them oot. If we can find anyone else, we get them an aw. Then we get oot o the crypt, shut the doors, baracade them if we can, an head back tae Kassen. Is everyone aw right wae ma idea?’

He looked around at everyone in response. Delde considered the options, her first instinct was to flee, head back to town and alert the authorities. However, that would take them at least two days of travel, then another two days for whatever response from the town to reach the crypt, and that was only if it was immediate. Delde suspected that it would take hours if not days of debating and ruminating before Mayor Uptal reached a decision. From what she understood the mayor was a fair man and good at his job, but he was cautious and disliked having to decide anything without all possible evidence available to him. Normally Delde would respect this sort of methodical approach, but she understood that there were times which required immediate action, and this was one such occasion.

She had no intention of risking her life on a foolish outing organised to let townspeople play at being adventurers, but Igmar’s plan seemed straightforward enough. At the first sign of real danger, they could retreat and head back towards Kassen to warn them about the grim events that had transpired at the crypt. While Delde wouldn’t consider herself to be close or friendly towards anyone in Kassen, save perhaps Holgast, her mentor, she still didn’t want to leave someone to die a horrible death at the hands of the undead. If she and the rest of their group could save some survivors, she was willing to attempt it.

There was also a secondary reason for her to enter the undead infested crypt. Delde wanted to know why. What had caused the dead to rise and attack the living? Why now? Was it the result of some ritual or spell, or was it just a slow build-up of negative energy that was known to occur in areas associated with death? Delde had honed her natural curiosity along with her thirst for knowledge and understanding in her pursuit of mastery over the arcane arts. Being presented with a genuine mystery was difficult for her to pass up. She had never seen anything like the necromantic energies she was witnessing before her, and there was a part of her that yearned to discover the reason behind it.

What’s more, were there other secrets to be discovered in the crypt? She might not have seen much merit in the “quest for the everflame”, but Delde was curious about some of the details of the story behind its origins. In the telling of the tale the bandit lord was operating out of the crypt, attacking the nascent township, but where had it come from? She found it unlikely that bandits had made such a structure. There was some sort of runic glyph above the entranceway, but she couldn’t identify it. Was it some sort of makers mark? A declaration of purpose or ownership? Delde had read that most of the continent of Avistan was once ruled over by mighty warlords and masters of magic known as the Ruinlords. While their civilisation had collapsed there were still ruined remains of those powerful empires that remained scattered across all Avistan. Was this crypt one of them? Was that the reason behind the mass influx of necromantic magic inside? What secrets could Delde learn here if given the opportunity?

Delde didn’t consider herself a callous person, but the prospect of learning true secrets of magic that might have been lost for generations was at least as much of a motivation for her to enter the crypt as the idea of saving some of the trapped townsfolk inside. She looked at Igmar and Adriana who were waiting to see the responses of the rest of them to the plan.

‘I think the plan’s a good one. We establish what’s immediately inside and progress from there. If we’re able to rescue any survivors we do so, but if we feel that we’re going to be overwhelmed we escape. So long as we all work together, I think we should be alright. But I do want to stress that I think we need to be very careful when we go in there. I don’t know exactly what we will find inside, but I’m certain that it won’t hesitate to kill us if it gets the chance’.

She was still apprehensive, how could she not be? She had gone from a comfortable, if isolated existence to breaching a dungeon that could be filled with monstrous undead. But the potential knowledge she could gain drove her onwards. And being able to help people escape a cruel and painful death was also a factor in making her overcome her reservations. Delde might not have shared Adriana’s love of Kassen, but that didn’t mean that she wanted its people to die.

‘Arrg! You all sound crazy you know that? We’re not soldiers or adventurers or anything like that! This whole thing is way bigger than us, we should be heading back right now to warn the town. It’s probably a trap anyway’.

Dal exhaled a sigh that seemed to be simultaneously frustrated, defeated and a tiny hint of manic.

‘But screw it!’ he clapped his hands together. ‘As much as I really don’t want to go wandering around a zombie infested crypt I sure as hells don’t want to run back to Kassen with my tail between my legs while you’re all away being heroes! So come on let’s do this!’

Dedle couldn’t quite work out why Dal seemed to be so willing to jump into the crypt with the rest of them. While he may have been telling the truth about not wanting to look like a coward in returning to town by himself, she couldn’t help but think that there was more to it than that. Perhaps it was just his nature to not back down from a challenge, or his gnomish sense of curiosity and adventure getting the better of him. In either case he seemed to be willing to go along with the plan. Everyone turned to look at Baye who had been silent the entire time.

‘Look, I’m not sayin’ that I’m happy about leavin’ anyone trapped in there’. She jutted her head towards the crypt doors. ‘But what you’re all talkin’ about, it’s dangerous. I know the forests, know what’s in them an’ how to deal with them. In there though? I don’t have a clue what we’d be facin’, none of us do. An’ if we end up getting’ killed or trapped ourselves then nobodies comin’ to save us, not for a long time.’

‘If we run into any unsurmountable problems we will return to Kassen and call for aid in rescuing the people trapped within, but we still must try.’

‘It’s easy to say that out here. When we’re in there, in the dark, in a literal tomb of undead? All it takes is for one of us to panic, to make a break for the exit in the middle of a fight. We’ve fought a couple of half-starved wolves and some illusions. Those were nothin’ compared to what we’re goin’ to face in there.’

‘I am aware of the magnitude of the threat before us. We all are and none of us are treating this lightly. If you do not wish to join us, then none of us will hold that against you’.

Baye sighed.

‘Look, I’ll go with you all in there. We’re safer as a group. Better odds of makin’ it out of this alive. But the second it looks like we’re over our heads? We leave. And if anyone decides to stay behind regardless.’ She gave a brief glance towards Adriana. ‘Then that’s on you. I’m not going to throw my life away to play hero’.

‘Aw right then, we’re aw in agreement then. We go in, we try to rescue who we can, then we leave. No heroics, no grand last stands. We’re aw goin’ tae get back home’.

Delde understood Baye’s stance. Strictly speaking they were not in any way qualified to deal with whatever calamity that had transpired within the crypt of Kassen. From what she had seen from her Baye was a practical person, she saw the risks they faced and didn’t like the odds. Delde personally agreed that what they were about to attempt was reckless, but the mystery and potential for knowledge spurred her forward. If she lacked such qualities though then she imagined that she would probably be openly agreeing with her. She suspected that her main reason for going with them was also out of practicality over moral obligations. Baye said it herself, they had better chances of survival if they worked together. But Delde figured that went both ways. Even if Baye did try and head back to Kassen by herself, competent as she was, she would have no support if she ran across something she couldn’t handle. And if the undead from the crypt had begun to leave and wander throughout the Fangwoods then there could be terrible horrors in the forest indeed.