As they exited the crypt Delde breathed in fresh air for the first time in days as she stepped outside the doorway. It was cold, crisp and clean, the faint smells of plant life and rain clinging to the air. No stink of rot, of mould, of dust, of smoke, of blood. It was clean and Delde relished in being able to experience it once again. She didn’t even mind that the sky was still overcast, and it was lightly drizzling, instead she washed her face with the rain that fell upon it beaming with joy at finally being free of the grime of the crypt. Onyx leapt from her backpack and darted around everyones legs, chasing shadows and leaves, clearly happy at being back outside again. Adriana in turn began to pray towards the midday sun, only barely perceptible behind the grey clouds in the sky as Igmar pulled the heavy wooden doors of the crypt of the Everflame closed. The deep THUD of the doors shutting struck Delde as being both profoundly final and relieving.
After all the difficulties they had in getting to the crypt, and the dangers they faced within it, the journey back to Kassen was positively banal in comparison. There was a little difficulty in getting Roldare and Dimira up the rope and out of the serpent gorge, but it wasn’t anything that Delde and the others couldn’t handle.
Baye took to the Fangwoods once again like a fish to water, hunting and foraging with aplomb to restock their rations with fresh produce. And with Dal cooking for them the journey back felt much the same as the journey to the crypt. It almost felt like a dream to Delde, the things they had seen, fought, experienced. If it hadn’t been for her own confidence in her mind she would have begun to question if they hadn’t all experienced some sort of group hallucination, it all seemed so surreal to think about what had happened.
There were of course also the things they had recovered from the crypt that stood as proof of what happened as well. While her friends looked after the two survivors of the slaughter that took place within the crypt and focused on their journey home, Delde busied herself studying what they had recovered, the magical items specifically. The sword and armour of Asar were both magical in nature although not especially powerful, the sword was sharper and better balanced than it would otherwise be, and the armour was enchanted to be more durable along with being able to fit its wearer without requiring a blacksmith to refit it. Neither had any trace of necromancy or malicious magics within them although no one was especially enthusiastic about wearing them, and as Roldare and Dimira both became uncomfortable around the items they were relegated to backpacks for the time being. The bracers that the robed graverobber was wearing were also enchanted with a similar magic that made them surprisingly effective as armour and wouldn’t interfere with spellcasting, so Delde laid claim to them. The rosewood wand turned out to be a well charged wand of magic missiles, holding around twenty castings of the spell within it, a potent magical weapon, even if it would need recharged eventually. The horn that the robed graverobber had was also a surprisingly powerful magical item, a horn of fog. Once blown through it would create an area of thick fog and could be used about once per hour. Perhaps not the most dramatic of powers, but Igmar pointed out that it would be a very useful tool for bandits to create ambushes. The bag that the spirit of Kassen had gifted them was also magical, a bag of holding to be precise. The simple looking leather backpack was not only sturdier than it should have been, but it was also larger on the inside than it was on the outside, a remarkable achievement of conjuration magic. That said it only held two other items within it when Delde first opened it. The first was a magical short bow, made of maple and stained red with no other embellishments, it was enchanted to be more effective in combat, with arrows fired from it flying straighter, and the bow being easier to draw. Baye happily took the bow and for the first time Delde had seen appeared practically giddy with her new weapon. The sole remaining item from the bag of holding was a single feather from what Delde believed to be a peacock (although she had never seen one in real life, only drawings in books), the shaft of which was golden and had a single rune inscribed on it. From what she could tell this was a feather token, a fairly common magical item that once broken would turn into a specific item. In this case it would transform into an open chest when broken, but once the chest was filled and shut it would turn into a key. When the key was turned in an imaginary lock the chest would reappear with all the items inside of it as well at which point it would permanently be a normal wooden chest. A good tool for infiltrators Delde noted to herself, though she didn’t think that anyone in the group would ever have need for such an item.
The most important thing that they had recovered in Delde’s eyes though was the spell book they had found on the body of the robed graverobber. She assumed that he had been a wizard, and judging from the book he would have been at around her level of power, possibly slightly stronger. The half elf greedily read through it whenever she had the opportunity, thrilled at having access to spells she had never had the opportunity to learn before. True, she knew most of the spells in the book, but she was able to learn the first level spells “ray of enfeeblement”, “feather fall” and “fear”, along with the second level spells “enlarge”, “false life” and “invisibility”. Sitting in front of a fire with Onyx curled at her feet, a warm stew in her belly, and a spell book in hand that she had earned through deed, not been given, later that first evening they exited the crypt was one of the most satisfying moments in Deldes life she mused to herself.
Roldare and Dimira both became much calmer the further away they got from the crypt of Kassen, though neither seemed to ever become entirely relaxed. In the day the pair were at their best, but when it became night, they clung to the light of the campfire and jumped at every sound. Delde hoped that the passage of time would help them recover from their ordeals, allow the memories to fade, but she wasn’t certain if what they had gone through was something that a person could forget about. In comparison to them she had suffered little in her time in the crypt, but it was something that she doubted she would ever forget.
As they strode through the Fangwoods, the bare branches and muddy trails were a welcome change to the dark stone walls of the crypt of Kassem. Delde enjoyed birdsong and the feel of fresh cold air on her skin. The woodlands that seemed foreboding a few days ago were now a relaxing backdrop to a refreshing walk back home. Even Dal who had been the least impressed over their journey through it on the start of their trip appeared at ease.
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When they caught their first glimpse of Kassen, Delde felt as though she had been gone from it for years. The buildings and people all seemed familiar but different, it wasn’t something she could put her finger on though. She couldn’t see any sign of anything having changed, but she reasoned that perhaps her perspective of it had. Delde had always thought little of the town when she gave it any thought at all, but after having spoken to the spirit of the founder she believed she had a newfound respect for it. Here, out in the middle of nowhere was a town that had been slowly growing and had lasted over one hundred and seventy years now, with no sign of it falling soon.
It had been founded by a man, who while perhaps a capable adventurer in his day and having plenty of funds, did not strike Delde as a great thinker. She would have typically looked down on such a person, but as she examined the town he founded with fresh eyes she found a respect for him. There were certainly advantages to the location but there weren’t many, certainly not enough to make founding a town easy. But Kassen had done so, not because he was ordered to, or because it would be easy but because that was what he desired, what he willed. The man had exerted his will and over a hundred years later the mans will remained, immortalised not in his crypt but in his town, his grand achievement. In a sense, to one such as Delde who prided herself in how she could exert her will over reality through her command over magic, Kassens accomplishment was both a powerful display of what a will exercised was capable of, and proof that a capacity to manipulate magic was not necessary to perform such feats.
The return of Adriana, Baye, Dal, Delde, and Igmar was not the joyous occasion that the people of the town had expected though. They were all excited to see them at first, but when they saw the gaunt figures of Dimira and Roldare trailing behind them people began to wonder what had happened. When they heard about the desecration of the crypt of their beloved founder, the massacre of the people who had gone to set up the “Quest”, their fellow townspeople, their friends, their family, the mood of Kassen quickly turned sombre and sorrowful. There was meant to be a grand celebration for the returning “Heroes of the Everflame”, but there was no mood for it in town. The feast that had been prepared for their return was still served, but the event was melancholy and had the feel of a wake for the deceased more than a victory party for Delde and her friends. There were many people who were drinking heavier than they otherwise would and many stifled tears, but there was a general opinion that as bad as things were it would have been much worse without the presence of Delde and the others. Plans were made up for a large group of townspeople to head over to the crypt to collect the remains of the fallen to give them a proper funeral. There was also talk among the town council over who to report the desecration of the crypt to, and what to do with the bodies of the graverobbers who had died. The town guard captain Gregor Wisslo interviewed Delde and the others extensively and had shown great interest in the evidence that they had recovered. The young wizard was glad that they were being taken seriously, but a small part of her wished that they would have been permitted to continue to assist with the investigation. They had already learnt so much, but there were still questions that remained unanswered. She wasn’t willing to press the matter though, recognising that the guard captain was the person with the most authority to carry out the official investigation. It didn’t stop her from hoping that she might get called up to assist in the future though.
And after the celebratory feast turned memorial was over Delde and her newfound friends went their separate ways for the first time in days. There were no tearful goodbyes, no proclamations of lifelong friendships, they just all smiled, waved and walked to their respective homes.
Delde returned to her family estate without seeing or seeking out any members of her family on her way back. She made her way back to her room, which was mercifully untouched in her absence, and dropped down her backpack out for which Onyx slunk out of, having retired there after eating his fill at the sombre feast. Then she walked over to her bed and collapsed onto it, her exhaustion both physical and mental finally hitting her as she finally reached a place she felt totally safe. She fell asleep almost instantly as she enjoyed softness of the feather filled mattress and pillows.
After the harrowing journey she had been on, the next couple of days back in Kassen were almost painfully banal in comparison. She cleaned her room as best she could, still rueing the fact she lacked the spell that would perform such mundane tasks for her, freeing her from the constrains of tedious chores. She saw some of her siblings around the estate but didn’t say much to any of them, and they in turn showed little interest in her experiences. Her father barely even registered her return, glancing at with all the interest a person might look at an item they thought they had misplaced.
Her meeting with Holgast was more pleasant as he showed great interest in her trials and tribulations, paying attention to her when she described the vast necromantic magics she bore witness to. Delde even told her mentor of the groups experience interacting with the spirit of Kassen, something they had avoided discussing, to not make their story sound utterly fanciful. Holgast took her at her word though and the two of them had an extended discussion on whether or not what she had interacted with was indeed Kassen’s soul returned in a moment of need, or a manifestation of the necromantic magics influenced by the presence of Kassens remains that mearly thought itself Kassen. They never reached a proper conclusion, but the discussion was riveting for Delde who appreciated the opportunity to examine what she had experienced under a more analytical eye.
Unfortunately for her Holgast’s time was soon taken up by the town council which wanted him to contribute to their official response to what happened. The fact that he was both being called for and remembered that he was called for spoke to Delde on how important the council was taking the matter. With no mentor to discuss things with she swiftly fell into old routines and began to once again read her mentors books in his library whilst he was otherwise occupied, but the act felt somewhat hollow now. Where before she would have read and accepted what the author wrote now, she found herself questioning what she would have done in a similar situation, or how such a thing she was reading could have been applied to the obstacles she faced on her journey.