At first the rain was sporadic, starting and stopping before it ever got bad, but after about three hours of constant walking at a hurried pace set by Baye the rain was becoming constant. All of them were wearing cloaks with hoods up, but the rain was already beginning to seep through Delde’s making the march through the Fangwoods all the more tedious. Onyx was secure in the backpack, the only one of the group who was dry and warm for this leg of the journey. The ground was becoming muddier as they travelled as well, slowing their progression. The constant sound of their squelching footsteps began to grate on her nerves. She fantasised of the day she would develop a mastery of magic to the point that she could cast teleportation spells, she would never need to deal with such dreary conditions again after that.

The trail that Baye was directing them through became narrower and more winding as they went on. The trail was far more treacherous in this part of the Fangwoods, with thorn covered bushes, precarious roots, and uneven rocks all around them, along with several steep ravines that had to be navigated around as well. Delde believed that she might have been able to locate the proper trail at the start of their journey given enough time, but now she was sure that if anyone but Baye was leading them they would all have become hopelessly lost by now. She certainly hadn’t been exaggerating when she told Adriana that she wouldn’t be able to just catch up with the rest of them if she stayed back. It made Delde wonder how the previous groups who had undertaken this “quest” had gotten to the crypt. Perhaps due to the nature of Kassen’s population there was always at least one competent woodsperson in every group, or maybe some people would mark out the path if they felt the group needed assistance? Questions for another day.

The main reason Delde was even thinking about this was to distract her from her present miserable circumstances as she was trudging up a hill following the muddy trail. She noticed that Baye and the others had stopped in a small clearing and wondered if this was another problem that would need to be resolved before they could progress, Baye’s instincts had yet to be proven wrong on their journey so far.

‘Alright. So that-’.

She pointed towards what looked like the other side of a steep valley, most of which was bare of foliage save at the top. The lip of the other side of the valley was twisted and ragged, with the still green plants on the top of it Delde could see how it could resemble a serpent.

‘-shows that we’ve reached Serpents Gorge. That’s the good news. The bad is that with all this rain its goin’ to be hard to climb down safely. And the crypt is marked as bein’ at the bottom of the valley on the map so we’re goin’ to need to get down there. This part of the valley is about as shallow as it gets so we’ll climb down here. Igmar’s got the rope and grapple, so what I suggest is that we tie it off up here and use it to climb down. Unless anyone has anythin’ else to add?’

Dal’s hand shot up.

‘I do! I think you should go down first with the rope, then I go down last and bring the rope down with me’.

‘What, why?! We won’t need the rope in the crypt. The reason they packed it in here was probably just for this part of the journey. You climbin’ down the slope is just a pointless risk. You just want to show off’.

‘Oh, come on. We both know that I can outclimb anyone here, you included, it’s not a risk for me, so I’m only showing off a little.’ He smirked slightly at that. ‘And besides we have no idea what sort of tricks and traps have been set up in the crypt, we might wind up needing the rope only to have to come all the way out and climb up to get it, then climb all the way down again. My way saves us time, and if we don’t end up needing it then I’ll climb up myself, tie it off and throw the rope down, deal?’.

She sighed.

‘Fine. You’ll just keep yammerin’ on about it anyway. Just don’t come crying to me if you fall and hurt yourself’.

Igmar produced the rope and grappling hook from his backpack and Baye tied it off to a sturdy looking tree. She then carefully examined the steep slope that she would be navigating down, presumably working out the safest path. Delde couldn’t really see any way down that wouldn’t be awkward, but Baye looked satisfied with what she saw when she began her decent.

‘All of you watch me and try to follow where I go. We’ll do this one at a time so if one of us fall we don’t bring everyone underneath us down. Just take your time and you’ll be fine’.

That last part was said a little quieter than the rest. Delde wondered if she was talking more to herself there.

Baye went down at a steady even pace, she never rushed herself, but she also never went especially slow either. She used whatever she could for foot supports like raised roots and large stones, while shouting out warnings to everyone above about things that she felt would give way if used to support their weight. Neither the cold nor the rain seemed to bother her at all, Delde wondered if this was the result of innate talent or a skill that she had carefully honed over years. It was probably both she reasoned.

‘Sigh… she is actually pretty good at this’ Dal said probably to himself but everyone else heard him. ‘Don’t let her know I said that it’ll just give her a big head’. He laughed it off, but Delde felt that there was something more to it than that, she just couldn’t work out what.

Baye reached the bottom safely and looked up at the rest of them.

‘Alright, I’ll stay here and try and guide you down. Try and go down the way I did. Don’t rush yourself, take as long as you need’.

The rest of them looked amongst themselves to see who would be the first to follow.

‘I’m the designated rope collector, so I’ve got to go last. Unless one of you want climb down without a rope? Because I’m willing to watch that, I could do with a good laugh to help forget about the rain’.

‘Gie me tha’ rope. Ah’ll heid doon next’.

Igmar took the rope out of the hands of a grinning Dal and began to progress down the steep, rain slicked muddy slope. He was markedly slower than Baye, walking step by step downward with his hands tightly gripping the rope. His earlier confidence seemed to have been tempered by the reality of making the climb. Baye had finished the descent in around half an hour by Delde’s reckoning, but after the same amount of time Igmar was only halfway down. Still, while he was taking longer, he didn’t run into any difficulty, even with the rain continuing to pour down. At least until he was around one third of the way down. Delde had grown bored watching Igmar climb down and was engrossed in her own thoughts and musings on arcane theory when she was jolted out of her musings when she heard Baye yell out.

‘NO! Not there! The dark rock the dark one!’

‘WOOAAHHHH! PISSFUCKBUGGERSHITPRICKBASTARDN! AAHHHH!’

She had missed what had happened, or rather what had started it as she just saw Igmar tumbling down the slope down to Bayes feet. The fact that she could still see him moving was a good sigh she figured, but at her current distance she couldn’t determine who badly he was hurt.

‘Is he alright!?’

‘Does he require my healing magics!?’

‘What happened!?’

Delde added her question at the end, feeling somewhat foolish at asking it as it was clear what had happened. What she should have asked was what was the cause of Igmar’s fall, but she felt such self-corrections would seem pedantic in such circumstances.

‘Ach, ah’m fine. Ah just stood on the wran stain and took a wee tumble. Ah’m no hurt that bad, just a few bumps and scrapes is aw. Aw wid yie look at that, I’m goin’ tae need tae hammer that dent oot ma armour when I get the chance’.

‘I told you to step on the dark rock! The sandstone started to crumble the second I stood on it on the way down. It was never goin’ to support your weight’.

‘Ach with all the rain every rock looks dark’.

Baye looked pensively up at the rest of them, the to the sky. She frowned then called up to them.

‘The rains only goin’ to make this more difficult. I think the best idea is for Adriana and Delde to climb down together, then Dal if your still insistin’ on bringing the rope with us. The quicker we’re done the better and hopefully you’ll be close enough to catch each other if either of you slip’.

Adriana looked at Delde.

‘I am fine with this if you are, although do you have a preference for going first or second? I do not so I am happy with whatever makes you more comfortable’.

‘I don’t mind either. I just want to get this done as soon as posable. I might not care for the whole “quest for the everflame” but at least in the crypt we’ll be dry’.

At this point Delde was quickly becoming soaked to the skin and she knew that soon she would be totally exposed on her climb down the slope. At the top she had the benefit of some minor shelter thanks to the trees surrounding her. There was however one consideration she was uncertain about. She brought Onyx out of the warm shelter of her backpack and set him on the ground.

‘Alright Onyx, we’re going to need to climb down that slope there to get to the bottom of this gorge. Would you rather stay in my backpack or have me carry you down? Keep in mind that you won’t be able to climb out of my backpack until we reach the bottom, and if you want me to carry you, you’ll need to stay still.’

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

‘Delde, I am not quite sure that Onyx can fully understand what you are asking him’.

‘Onyx is not a pet; he is my familiar. He is far more intelligent than other cats tha- Onyx no!’.

The black cat had while they were talking sauntered over to the edge of the gorge and leaped down. Delde, Adriana and Dal rushed to the edge to see if there was anything they could do to rescue him, but when they looked down, they saw him bounding down the slope with ease. He stopped, turned to look at his audience and meowed, then sat on a large rocky outcrop shaking himself as he was already becoming quite wet.

‘Show off’.

Delde muttered to herself, although she was happy to see Onyx safe from harm. This also meant that she wouldn’t need to worry about him as she went about this climb, only her own safety and wellbeing would be at risk here.

‘If your done lookin’ at the cat, could you get a move on?! The rains only goin’ to get worse as the day goes on. Oh, and Adriana, take off the armour. You’ll want to be as manoeuvrable as you can be and that’s only goin’ to get in the way’.

Adriana, somewhat unnecessarily nodded and went about the process of removing her armour, packing it away in her backpack. Delde in the meantime began to cast a spell on herself. Though not a spell of teleportation or flight which would have made the obstacle a non-issue for her, that kind of magic was still beyond her for the time being.

‘What sort of spell are you casting? Do you have some manner of magic that will make the journey down easier?’

‘Unfortunately, no. I’m aware of such magic but I don’t have the degree of knowledge to cast such spells yet. I’m casting a spell of mage armour upon myself, I don’t intend to fall and hurt myself like Igmar, but if I do at least I should be a bit more protected’.

‘I think that is an excellent idea. Out of curiosity, would you perhaps be able to cast such a spell on me, I would be appreciative of some additional protection without my armour’.

‘Sorry. I would but I can only cast so many spells per day and I was only able to prepare one casting of my mage armour today.’

‘That is quite alright, I am aware of the limitations of spellcasting as a cleric myself’.

Delde decided against starting up a conversation on all the many differences and similarities between arcane spellcasting and the more divine version that Adriana made use of. She wanted them both to be fully focused on the task at hand, but she did consider bringing it up with her later. She had never actually had much of an interest in the nature of divine magic, but she reasoned that it could help her own studies in matters of the arcane if she learnt more about it from an active wielder of such power. A matter for another time.

Adriana took up the rope first and climbed down a few meters before Delde followed her. Dal stood watching them offering them neither words of encouragement nor mockery, just silent observance. Onyx meowed impatiently and carried on with his own descent as Baye called out words of advice to them both.

Delde was not an athletic person, a lifetime of study and learning how to harness the arcane did nothing to prepare her for her climb. Once again she found herself cursing the fact she had to perform in such a foolish tradition that proved nothing except that she could spend a night in the woods and go down a rope. She kept such thoughts to herself though. One foot at a time she went down, gripping onto the rope as tightly as she could. Delde knew that her spell would protect her from some damage if she took a fall, but not all of it and she didn’t want to exhaust Adriana’s limited reserve of healing magic, nor waste their sole healing potion.

Take a step, lower yourself down on the rope, take a step lower yourself on the rope.

Over and over, she repeated this mantra to herself in her mind. Delde ignored the constant rain, the biting cold, the fact she was already soaking, that her favourite robes were becoming caked in mud. All of it was irrelevant. All that mattered was that she kept moving down safely.

Take a step, lower yourself down on the rope, take a step lower yourself on the rope.

She could hear Adriana below her moving at a similar pace. She was glad that she wasn’t being left behind. Delde hated the idea that she would be a burden on this journey, even if she did find it childish and pointless. She had spent years studying magic, proving to her family and herself that she was not powerless. That she had merit. That she mattered. She was not going to be defeated by a geographic obstacle.

Her legs ached. What little of her hands that weren’t numbed by the cold burned. Her breathing was ragged, and her lungs felt raw. She couldn’t tell if she was soaked more by rain or sweat now. The rain wasn’t letting up and it was making the descent even more treacherous as water ran past her like a shallow river. Delde paused for a moment to regain her composure and establish how far down she was. She estimated she was a little more than halfway down, and Adriana was further down than she expected her to be. When had she started slowing down? Onyx was almost at the bottom of the gorge but had stopped to watch her.

‘Don’t stop now! You’re makin’ good progress. Just a little bit more now’.

She rolled her eyes and carried on refusing to admit defeat or show weakness. Even if she privately wished that she could take a break for a few hours and carry on later. Or that she had some magic to make the whole thing easier. Anything so that she didn’t have to perform this climb.

Take a step, lower yourself down on the rope, take a step lower yourself on the rope.

Delde pushed everything down. Nothing else mattered. Not her physical pain. Not her frustration. Not the weather. Not the eyes watching her, judging her. Nothing mattered except for getting down this god’s damned gorge.

Take a step, lower yourself down on the rope, take a step lower yourself on the rope.

Delde wasn’t paying attention to anything. She lost track of how far she had progressed down the slope. She just didn’t want Adriana to get to the bottom too quickly before her and show everyone how slow she had been. How much she needed support, needed help, depended on it. Delde ignored her protesting body and forced herself to climb down faster. She could hear the roar of her blood rushing through her ears, her heart pounding through her chest, her still ragged breathing that she struggled to keep control over. What she did not hear was Baye warning her about her footing, or rather she did hear it, but it didn’t register until it was too late.

‘Delde! Slow down! You’re losing your footin’!’

She sounded so loud to her now. How far had she come now? She had lost track of time since she last checked where she was. But Delde immediately ignored that as she realised that the ground beneath her had given way and her hands lacked the strength to hold herself in place. She felt herself falling, rolling down the muddy slope that had tormented her for so long. Adriana looked in horror as she tumbled past her as she threw out her hand to grab Delde. Their hands reached out for each other and a small part of Delde noted the irony that she would spend her last moments alive trying to hold on to Adriana, a person she had always been so distant from before. She felt their fingertips brush against each other, but they were just too far apart, she was going too quick, it wasn’t meant to be. Delde tried to call out something, but the words wouldn’t come. She had never been good at talking, why should her last moments be any different.

Then as she fell looking upwards, she saw something shocking. Adriana let go of the rope and slid down the slope after her. There was fear in her eyes but something more, a resolve that she had never expected to see there. Then Delde stopped falling with a hard wet thud as she hit the ground.

She looked up and saw Adriana clumsily sliding down towards her, stopping just at her feet. She came close to falling but managed to stay upright. Delde judged that she had probably tumbled down about six meters before she reached the bottom of the gorge. Shame and embarrassment welled up in her as she realised in how little danger she was from that fall, despite what she had thought. She took solace in the fact that nobody knew that she thought she was going to die from that.

‘Delde are you injured? Do you require some healing or medical assistance?’

‘No, I’m fine. Just a little sore from falling, my mage armour took the worse of it. Not that it was that bad’.

She accepted Adriana’s offer of a hand up and rose from the cold muck of the ground. Her body ached but she was sure that this was just due to the climb, not the actual fall. She opened and closed her hands to regain any sensation that was not pain or numbness from them as Adriana fussed over her. Onyx came over to her as well and rubbed himself against her soaking robe in what she chose to take as an effort to comfort her.

‘Are they alright!?’

Dal yelled from the top of the gorge, apparently unable to see the precise outcome of what happened.

‘Aye thur fine! Just had a wee tumble at the end!’.

Igmar and Baye both looked somewhat concerned with her wellbeing, but with her insisting that she was fine they seemed content to accept her explanation and were now more concerned with Dal’s climb.

‘You can just leave the rope up there Dal! We’re goin’ to need to climb up there on the way back anyways! It’s too dangerous to go down this gorge with no support!’.

‘I’m not some bookworm who’s never climbed a tree in the rain before! No offence Delde! I’ll be fine, I’m a gnome, we’re famous climbers! I can even outclimb Onyx!’

Delde had never heard of gnomes being especially competent climbers in her studies, so she didn’t know if this was just bravado in Dal’s part or if he was naturally more talented when it came to athletic feats. Regardless, she found herself holding her breath for a moment as she watched Dal untie the rope and begin his descent unaided.

She had to admit, he was impressive. Dal made good progress down the mud slick gorge all the while collecting the rope as he went, wrapping it around him to keep it from getting in his way. He remined Delde of descriptions she had read of lizards in the jungles of the Mwangi Expanse, small but swift creatures that scaled great trees as fast as a horse would run a race. The bright shock of his red pompadour was his frill, the growing loop of rope on his waist his tail. Delde found herself becoming less concerned and more amused by the spectacle, forgetting her own unfortunate descent in the process.

Baye on the other hand seemed more concerned about Dal. She had been shouting advice to him as she had the rest of them, but Dal seemed to delight in actively ignoring it whenever he could. That wasn’t to say he always stepped wherever she warned him not to, but more a case of him always taking whatever other options were available over Baye’s recommendations.

‘Damn it Dal! I said the big root! That one’s too small to support you and you know it!’

‘It’s fine for me, maybe you’ve been putting on too much muscle? Eating too much jerky maybe?’

She growled in annoyance. He was clearly frustrating her.

By the time Dal was around two thirds of the way down though the rain began to come on even heavier than it had been. Onyx retreated to Delde’s backpack which she knew he would end up soaking with his presence but couldn’t blame him for escaping the downpour. She would have done the same in his position. The rain also made it more difficult to see Dal, if not for his red hair Delde doubted that she would be able to keep track of him. The tone of Baye’s advice also changed, there was a tension in her voice now that had been absent before, even when he was actively antagonising her.

‘Dal! This is getting stupid! Just go where I tell you! The water’s runnin’ down the slope and loosenin’ the ground. You need to get down soon or they’ll be a mudslide!’

Dal stopped climbing. Delde feared that he and his adoptive sister were going to get into an extended argument, which in their current circumstances was not advisable for anyone. But then Dal just carried on going down, he never said anything, but he followed Baye’s instructions to the best of his ability, stepping where she told him, grabbing hold of whatever she called out as his best choice. There was no backtalk on his part, no jokes, just working in tandem with his sister’s advice to reach the bottom of the gorge safely.

He slid down the last couple of meters of the slope and finished with an overly dramatic bow which made Delde roll her eyes. He had managed to get down in probably the shortest amount of time out of all of them though, Baye included, so she accepted that Dal was entitled to some degree of pride in his achievement.

Baye looked angerly towards him, but she just as quickly looked away and pointed off to the left of the valley that they were in.

‘The crypts that way. Let’s go and get out of the rain’.

They all headed onwards with renewed vigour. Even Delde with her distaste of the “quest for the everflame” was excited to reach the crypt. Just being able to get dry would be reward enough for her now, and the thought of being next to a warm flame to chase away the chill that felt like it had set into her bones seemed to her now to be a luxury.