Once they were all ready Igmar stepped forward and pushed the two doors with all his might. But if he had expected them to offer resistance he was greatly mistaken, they swung open smoothly, in complete silence stopping at a perfect ninety-degree angle into the vast chamber they protected.
The first thing that caught Delde’s attention was light. The first source of light they had found on this level, and outside of the small lanterns with Roldare the only one in the entire crypt. It came from the opposite end of the chamber; an ornate silver wall sconce was lit with a soft golden flame just strong enough to dimly light the chamber and no more. It had taken them days of hardship that no one could have anticipated but at long last they had found the Everflame.
Looking around the rest of the chamber Delde saw tall pillars marching down from the doorway they were entering from straight down to the other side where the Everflame rested. Just before it stood a dais atop which was a massive stone sarcophagus, engraved with trees, woodland animals and hunters. And lying on the dais before the sarcophagus was a single form, a comely young woman in tattered clothes stained with blood. Seeing the person that they had been looking for the group rushed towards her; Delde could barely make out the movement of her chest rising and falling. She was alive, but only just.
Then when they were halfway towards Dimira they heard it. A dry, mirthless laugh the echoed out from the shadows of the chamber and stopped them all dead in their tracks.
‘Heh heh heh. So… Kassen has sent “heroes” to fight me. You’ll make fine soldiers in my army of the dead. Come… meet your fate children’.
The voice was dry and merciless, it reminded Delde of the winter wind blowing through dead trees in the Fangwoods. She understood why Roldare had described it as the voice of death now. Every word spoken seethed with a cold hate that she had never heard a person speak with before. Out from behind one of the pillars stepped a tall, wicked-looking skeleton wearing polished mail that shined in the pale light of the Everflame and brandishing a long sword of dark steel, the tip of which dragged one the flagstones of the floor which screeched in protest. The features of its skull had become jagged, angular and hard edged, while teeth that once would have been that of a human were now sharp fangs that seemed locked in a perpetual mocking rictus grin. But it was the creatures’ eyes that chilled Delde’s soul, they were pale blue flames burning in its eye sockets and reminded her of the crushing coldness she felt when she made her deep dive into the key filled pool on the upper level of the crypt.
‘IN SARENRAE’S NAME I REBUKE THEE MONSTROSITY!’
Adriana had regained her senses first and stepped forward, holding her holy symbol of her goddess in hand and channelled positive energy throughout the chamber. The power flowed through Delde for a moment and in it the entire room felt a little warmer, a little brighter, the Everflame seemed to flare up in response to her. It also had an immediate effect on the skeletal champion before them; white smoke plumed from him and the sound of hissing, like molten metal being plunged into cold water, came from it.
‘Heh’.
But when the smoke cleared the skeleton, the voice of death stood before them practically unharmed.
‘I have waited over one hundred years for my vengeance girl. No prayer to a heathen god will stop me now’.
The monster then turned its face to the ceiling and cried out an awful shriek, more akin to the sound of breaking glass than any sound a living creature could make. At first Delde thought it was a war cry, or some shout of defiance, but then she saw the movement come from the shadowed depths of the chamber, where the light of the Everflame could not touch. She saw in response to the cry four more skeletons, like the ones they had fought when they first entered the crypt walking towards them, rusted blades raised to attack. It was a call to arms.
The skeletal champion then burst into a sprint without warning, charging straight towards Adriana. Igmar stepped forward and swung his dwarven war axe with both hands at the creature, but it swatted the blow away with its arm with undisguised ease. It stabbed at Adriana with its cruel-looking blade and pierced her lower abdomen, the sword seemingly unhindered by her splint mail.
‘Adriana!’
Delde hadn’t intended to call out but in her shock, instinct took over. Just as quickly as it came though she forced her emotions down and into her control. Now wasn’t the time for panic, panic would spell their deaths if they let it in. Now was the time for strong wills to prevail.
She glanced over at the skeletons shambling over towards them, they moved in a group and didn’t appear to be any more powerful than the ones they had fought before, but if they fought in conjunction with the skeletal champion Delde suspected that they would become overwhelmed quickly. She had a plan though, all it called for was her to cast the most powerful spell she knew. The one that she had only just learnt.
‘Baye and I will deal with the others! You all work together to defeat him!’.
She shot a look to Baye who was already firing blunt arrows at the skeletons approaching from the darkness. Happy knowing that Baye was on the same page as her Delde focused on the spell formula she had memorised in the morning. Everything else fell into the background for her; the sounds of violence, the stench of death, the feel of her own cold sweat on her skin, all of it slipped away. All that existed was her and the power she felt. The power she could control. Delde felt the magic around her bend and twist to her will, she shaped it, moulded it, to the form that she desired. And once the spell was prepared, she fired it at her target.
As the skeletal warriors slowly shambled towards the group their master had commanded them to kill, they found themselves struggling to move. All around them thick, ropy strands of what seemed to be spiderwebs (not that any of the skeletons had the mental ability to recognise it as such) appeared from nowhere and swiftly entangled them. The undead, without the order from their master didn’t even consider the idea of trying to cut away the webs constricting them, instead just constantly trying to force their way through the strange obstacle. And as they did so arrow after arrow slammed into the skeletons, the blunted heads of them splintering and shattering bone. With all her targets so conveniently grouped together and immobilised it was child splay for Baye to quickly return them to their permanent rest.
With her spell cast Delde turned to see how the fight against the skeletal champion was going for the rest of her friends. It wasn’t a rout, but it wasn’t going in their favour either. The skeletal champion with the voice of death was unlike any foe they had yet fought; it was intelligent as well as powerful and was an experienced fighter as well. Almost every strike against it the undead warrior either dodged or deflected, the few that did manage to find their mark wound up being mere glancing blows. On the positive side the monster could not easily fight off three attackers at the same time, every time one of them attacked the other two would look for openings to take advantage of. The creature seemed to be trying to focus on Adriana, but Igmar and Dal were relentless in their attacks to the point that if it exclusively attacked her, it would leave itself dangerously open to them. Unfortunately, when it did land a hit, it tended to be deep and painful. They weren’t dangerously injured yet, but if the fight continued to go in the way it was the skeletal champion would defeat them through shear attrition.
‘You think you can defeat me? I’ve stood against armies and left fields of corpses in my wake. You are nothing compared to what I’ve faced. Just children playing pretend’.
He took his time saying each word he spoke and gave Delde the impression that the skeletal champion enjoyed the sound of his own voice. There was no rush to speak, no tension discernible in his voice, only calm and measured malice that dripped from every word he spoke.
As the undead spoke he made a wild slash towards Igmars face, but it was only a faint to stab at his chest. The dark steel pierced the dwarfs armour just as easily as it did Adriana’s, although the wound didn’t look to be as deep as the clerics. Dal and Adriana both responded to the dread warriors attack by lashing out at him. The gnome slipped behind him, stabbing at him with his enchanted dagger in one hand, and slashing with his short sword in the other. Both blows struck true but did little more than chip at the exposed bone of the creature’s legs. Adriana looked like she was going to attack with her scimitar again, but at the last moment revealed her other hand holding her holy symbol of Sarenrae, firing off a bolt of bright light straight into the monsters’ face. The creature’s skull was charred from the spell, but only slightly as it turned to face Adriana once again.
‘Is this all you can muster Kassen? When their screams of agony turn to pitiable mewling will you come for them then? Or will you keep hiding?’.
Delde wasn’t sure what the undead was talking about, why it was speaking more to the town than to its opponents or why it had chosen to stay in the crypt rather than marching towards the source of its ire. Regardless she resolved to focus her efforts in putting it down first and deciphering its words later. As Igmar heaved his war axe overhead in a mighty cleave only for the undead to deflect the strike with a simple flick of its sword Delde concentrated on another spell formula in her mind. It had been a while since she had cast this spell before, but buoyed by her first ever successful casting of a spell of the second level and fully aware of the desperate need to diminish the threat of the skeletal champion she began her casting.
The spell held some underlying similarities with the web spell she had just cast, although it had been more complex. Delde allowed herself a slight smirk as she thought of the similarities between two spells that in essence had opposite effects. As she fired off the spell, she took great care to ensure that it was firmly locked onto one specific target, it was possible for the spell to affect a wider area, but if she caught her friends in the spell it could lead to disaster. As the magic travelled through the air Delde was confident that it would finds its mark. Not the champion itself, but its weapon.
Metal crashed against metal as Igmar stood between the undead and the cleric, axe and sword furiously clashing against each other as Dal flanked from behind the creature harrying it when he could. Adriana, from her relatively safe position was able to channel more positive energy throughout the chamber, healing the living and harming the undead. She, Igmar and Dal all stood a little taller as their wounds faded in the warm light whilst their foe flinched as the power scorched its form. It had hardly turned the tide of the battle, but things were looking more even now.
In response, the creature’s dark blade darted towards its dwarven opponent, only for it to twist around with unnatural agility and strike out at its gnomish one. Dal leapt to his right and out of the way of the sword, but as he did so a strange thing happened. The undead warrior’s sword slipped out of its deathly grip and skidded to the ground with a clattering stop. While the creature’s skull lacked any means of expression, if a skull could look confused it did in that moment. It looked to its hand and saw that it was coated in a thick, slimly layer of grease, just as its sword now was.
‘This is what you bring to bear against me? Parlour tricks, prayers and paltry swordsmanship? I have gazed into the darkest pits of the abyss and been unmoved. You are nothing before me!’.
The cold spite of its previous words was gone in its last statement, replaced by a burning hate that made Delde grip her staff tighter.
‘Yeah?! Seems to be working well enough for us to beat you down!’.
Dal rolled to the side of the now unarmed skeletal champion and struck out at it with both of his weapons. Once again, the gnomes’ blades scored bone and as the creature attempted to rake Dal with its claws Igmar took advantage of its distraction and slammed his war axe solidly into its back with such force that the undead struggled to stay upright. A blunt headed arrow smashed into the monster’s skull with an impact that shattered the arrow and left a significant crack in the skull. Glancing to where the other skeletal warriors were Delde could see that Baye had managed to destroy all of them thanks to their being trapped, now only the champion was left to finish off.
The undead threw back its skull and screeched its dreadful cry once again, Delde looked towards the shadows for any more reinforcements coming to their master’s aid, but from what she could tell there was nothing approaching.
‘Kassen! I won’t be denied! You will suffer! They will all suffer! Everything! Everyone! Will! DIE!’.
With that the undead monster became a flurry of vicious claws and fangs lashing out in every direction with no rhyme or reason behind its attacks. Gone was the efficient sword fighting and icy malice from before, now there was only rage and hate. It seemed to be that the undead was not any more dangerous now than it was before though, for all its homicidal desire to kill them it was far less experienced in hand-to-hand combat than it was in swordsmanship.
The others in the vanguard were pressing hard against the maddened skeletal champions attacks, Igmar and Dal were continuing to attack it whist flanking to make the most advantage of their superior numbers. Their attacks were no more effective than before, but without its wicked blade the creature couldn’t hit them as often as it had been, and when it did strike the wounds inflicted were far less damaging. Adriana, no longer the primary target of the monster’s assault, took a step back and began whispering a prayer to her goddess while she clutched her ankh with both hands. A golden flame manifested before her floating in the air, tiny at first but quickly growing and taking on the shape of a scimitar of golden fire. The cleric simply pointed at the skeletal champion and the blade danced towards it, slashing and hacking away at it, each blow striking true. Combined with Baye peppering it with her newly enchanted blunt headed arrows, the undead monster with the voice of death that seemed so overpowering moments before swiftly took more and more injuries.
It remained standing but was a sorry sight now. Its bones were chipped, cracked and scorched, the chilling blue flames within its eye sockets were dim and spluttered as if on the verge of being blow out by wind. The skeletal champion had tried to reclaim its sword, but every time it made a move for it the group lashed out with everything that they could muster, forcing the undead warrior to defend itself. The one time it came close to grabbing it Delde used her mage hand cantrip to pull it out of the creatures reach, the grease it was still coated with making it much easier to drag about.
‘Damn you Kassen… Damn you all! I will not be denied what is rightfully mine! I will reclaim it!’
With a speed and strength that would be impossible for a living creature with such wounds the undead lunged out towards Adriana claws and fangs bared as it sought to claim at least one life before it returned to its natural state. Igmar cleaved into its side as it passed by him, shattering its right hand but not stopping its progression. The monster took its remaining clawed hand and tore at the clerics face, ripping deep weeping rents into her once beautiful visage as she cried out in pain and it in vile glee.
Time seemed to slow to a crawl after that. Dal and Igmar both rushed to attack the undead whilst Baye fired off another arrow at its skull, shattering part of it. Delde herself began to cast an offensive cantrip at the monster, as the sole spell of the first level that she still had in her mind would have caught Adriana in its area of effect. But none of that seemed to matter to the cleric who looked up at the vicious undead before her through her ruined face. Blood ran freely down it, but no tears were present. With her ankh in hand Adriana thrust it into the skeletal champions chest and said in a loud clear voice:
‘In the name of all those whose lives you so callously ended with your butchery, suffer the Dawnflowers retribution!’.
A burst of positive energy washed through the chamber once again, but greater than any previous outpouring that Adriana had performed before. The skeletal champion with the voice of death screamed out in pain, in fury, in fear. It shook and smoked and burned until the broken bones fell to the ground, shattering on the hard stone floor. Adriana watched the bones fall with her holy symbol still held aloft, the wounds she had just taken already healed and the scars faded. If Delde hadn’t seen them caused she would have almost not noticed the scars, but they were there, faint but present.
‘It is done’.
Adriana whispered as she fell to her knees. Delde and the others rushed over to her thinking that she still suffered from wounds, or the exertion of her channelling had been too much for her, but looking at her they could see that she was deep in prayer.
‘Dimira!’.
Dal shouted as he rushed over to the young woman’s side along with everyone save Adriana. They hovered about trying to ascertain her condition with Delde, the least skilled in medical matters keeping the furthest back to no get in the way.
‘Hasn’t eaten or drank in a few days. Been cut up a bit, but not deep. Think Adriana’s healin’ magic helped stabilise her when it went out’.
‘I am glad that I was able to assist her’ Delde’s head whipped around to see that the cleric had re-joined them after completing a surprisingly short prayer. ‘I could not tell her condition from where I was, but I hoped that my magic would heal her as much as it would harm her captor’.
‘Is she awake? Will we be able to move her out of here soon?’.
‘She is still unconscious for now, but she should awaken in time. I believe we should be able to move her out of here now, I think that fresh air will do her a great deal of good, as will hearing her brothers voice again’.
‘Aye, ah’m glad we we’re able tae save a couple o people, even if we couldnae help the others’.
Igmar looked solemn as he lowered his weapon, all of them did. Delde thought back to the charred corpses they had found burnt to cinder, the torn-up bodies in the entrance chamber. How many people had been in the crypt, setting it up for them when the dead had risen?
‘We could not save them, but we have delivered retribution onto those who killed them. It will not bring them back, but we have ensured that no one else will have to fear their same fate’.
Adriana was correct of course, Delde knew that, and what they had achieved was nothing short of remarkable. They had fought through undead warriors, wild animals and deadly traps, not only surviving it all but growing stronger through overcoming the challenges they faced. Delde had thought that it would take her at least a year’s more study before she would be able to cast a spell of the second level, but here she had learnt and cast one in less than a day after acquiring a scroll holding one. She had to admit to herself that she felt rather proud of what she had accomplished, what they had all managed to achieve together.
Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.
So entranced with her success, her feelings of pride that she barely registered the sound of trembling bones. It was only when she saw the faces of her friends turn pale and fearful that she turned around and saw what had inspired such dread in them.
Where the broken bones of the skeletal champion once lay dead and powerless, they now vibrated and shook on the ground, and the pale blue fire that once lit the creatures’ eyes now consumed the entirety of the monsters shattered form. The fire grew higher and higher and Delde could tell even without the aid of her detect magic cantrip that the necromantic energies of the crypt had converged upon the remains of the skeletal champion.
The blue fire twisted in upon itself until it took on the shape of a human man. He was the same size and general build as the skeletal champion, wore the same armour and wielded the same sword, but this Delde realised was the appearance of the man when he was once living. He had a harsh, angular face marked with several small scars and short hair with a high widows’ peak. But the expression on his face was the most noticeable feature of him, a maddened furious look of utter hate that made Delde grip her staff so tight she could tell without looking that her knuckles were turning white.
‘I… Will take it! It is mine! I earned it, Kassen! If your too much a coward to go back, then leave it to me! No… No, you tricked me! You just want to return and claim it all for yourself! Damn you! Damn you, Kassen! ANSWER ME! SHOW YOURSELF! OR I WILL MAKE THEM SCREAM UNTIL YOU DO!!!’
With a deathly battle cry that shook the very walls of the crypt the burning spectre raised its sword and charged towards them. Delde didn’t know if he had a specific target, but she could feel in her bones that this creature was more than capable of killing them all, the only question was how long it would take to do so.
Delde readied a spell to throw at it, a hopeless act of defiance but something at least. She didn’t see what everyone else was doing but she imagined something similar. A sensation of warmth and clam came over her and she assumed that it was Adriana casting some kind of spell, but as the spectres charge faltered, she stole a glance behind herself to see what was happening.
It was the Everflame.
It too had grown, similar to the flames that had consumed the skeletal champion, into a raging inferno that covered the entire wall behind them upon which the sconce holding the Everflame had been held in. It should have terrified Delde, to be caught between an unkillable undead monster and huge fire of unknown origin, but for some reason the fire seemed benevolent to the wizard. She had no logical reason to assume this, there was every chance that this was yet another effect of the necromantic magics running riot within the crypt. Yet the warmth it instilled within her very core seemed so akin to that which she felt when Adriana channelled positive energy that Delde couldn’t help but feel safe next to it.
‘THAT’S ENOUGH ASAR! THIS ENDS NOW!’.
The golden fire that was once the Everflame condensed into a single point before transforming into the form of another human. He was of middling age, in well-worn leather armour with a short sword in hand and had a bearded face that at once projected resolve and anger as it stared at the wicked spirit before it. Delde was surprised to immediately recognise the man, but she had seen his face so often in the past couple of days that it would be imposable for her to not know how it was. It was a face she had seen on almost every statue and immortalised on the grand mural on the upper level. The founder and hero of the town that bore his name, Kassen.
Kassen surged forward in a streak of light that was almost blinding as he charged at his opponent, axes readied for combat. The creature, Asar apparently, raised his sword in response and resumed his charge, this time heading straight for the hero of old. A part of Delde’s mind told her that she should be doing something to contribute to this battle, but she found herself entranced by the scene before her. It seemed like something she would have read in a book, some grand duel of ages gone by, something that she would have dismissed as being an overly romanticised description of a fight that was too fantastical to be real. As the two spirits weapons clashed and light exploded out Delde rubbed her eyes to see what had happened.
The burning figure of Kassen stood alone, triumphant but instead of an expression of cheer, elation or joy he looked solemn in victory. The glowing spectral fire that made up his form began to fade and flicker as he turned to face the group behind him.
‘I’m sorry. For everythin’ that’s happened. For not bein’ able to do more to stop it. For not bein’ able to help you through all this wickedness y’all had t’ face… For everythin’.
‘Y-you saved us. W-we would have died had it not been for your intervention’.
Adriana stammered, the adrenalin from the battle and the shock of seeing and speaking to a legend from the past clearly being an overwhelming experience for her. A little part of Delde found it funny that someone who not five minutes prior had her face clawed at only to stare down the monster that did that, then calling forth the power to kill the creature in return would now be tongue tied and star struck.
‘Y’all saved yourselves. I just put down a rabid animal too far gone to realise it was already dead’.
The ghost began to fade more, becoming transparent, and as he dropped his short sword it disappeared as it fell to the ground. A touch of panic welled within Delde as this happened. She wasn’t worried about not being able to thank this guardian ghost for helping them, she was more concerned that the only being which might have had any knowledge on what happened within the crypt was going to vanish. There were so many questions that Delde needed to know the answers to that she couldn’t help but call out.
‘Wait! What happened here!? Who was that!? What made all the dead rise and why did you only now do something to stop it!?’.
That last question came off more accusatory than Delde had intended, but in her haste, she had ignored societal niceties. She didn’t have time to be polite, Delde’s studies into the undead weren’t extensive enough for her to be sure of how long Kassen or his ghost would remain in the world of the living, but she wanted to learn as much as she could while possible.
Kassen gave out a sigh of exhaustion, but there was no look of irritation on his face, rather he appeared to be tired more than anything else. He looked like a simple man who had had a long day of work and just wanted to rest. If he wasn’t made of glowing golden fire Delde felt he would have fit right in back at town in the evening. Just another farmer or ranger wanting to go home.
‘Y’all’ve been through a lot. Suppose you’ve earned some answers for what happened here. I’ll tell you what I know, though I’m not sure on all the particulars myself’.
Delde felt that Kassen’s gaze pierced through her, as if he was looking into her very soul. He may very well have been she mused, she did know that some ghosts had esoteric abilities, and she still was unsure as to what type of undead Kassen was, if he even was undead. A part of her wondered if the figure before them was some sort of angel or other type of planar outsider formed from the soul of a desired person. The young half elf quickly scrambled to pull out some paper and charcoal to jot down some quick notes of what the figure said regardless of its origins.
‘Suppose I should start at the beginin’. Back before… When I was alive, I mean, Asar and I were friends of a sort. Both part of a group of adventurers… They were good times. Our last adventure we discovered a forgotten city filled with gold, treasure… an death. There were six of us when we went into that city. Only three came out… We each had a fortune an we all decided to go our own ways. I wanted to retire. Saw too much in that forsaken city. Just wanted to settle down somewhere nice an have a peaceful life. Never had a home when I was younger, nowhere to go back to. But with all the gold I had I could afford to start a small place up. Things were goin’ good for a while, decent folks movin’ in, merchants stoppin’ by regular on account of the river. Then Asar turned up one day’.
Kassens face darkened, but Delde sensed there was sorrow in his expression as well.
‘Parently he felt that we’d “left money on the table” when we left that damned lost city. There was still plenty of treasure left back there an he wanted to go back for more. Fool didn’t care how many people would die tryin’ to loot the place. Just so long as he got more. I told him I didn’t want any part of it and that he’d get himself an anyone else he brought along killed if he tried to go back… Didn’t like that one bit. So, he took all the fortune that he had an hired himself the biggest horde of bandits an cutthroats he could muster, promisin’ the lot of em riches in exchange for followin’ him. So, they started attackin’ the town, raidin’ robbin’ people comin’ in or out. Tryin’ to draw me out. Ended up havin’ to lead a small army of townsfolk out here where Asar an his men were hidin’ out. After that… well I suppose that’s history now’.
‘Wait wait wait. Why did Asar even bother coming to you if he planned to go back to the lost city? Couldn’t he have just gone without you? And when you said no, he still could’ve gone, why bother hiring a bandit army to lay siege to Kassen?’.
‘Why’d he… lay siege t’ me?’.
‘I mean Kassen the town, not you. The townspeople renamed the town in your honour after your death’.
The spirit seemed to flicker for a moment and paused as if in shock before giving out a long weary sigh.
‘I told em not t’ make a big deal about it… Uh anyway, thing is the only way to even find the city let alone get into it you need a key. It broke down into three parts so the three of us that survived all took a piece of it. I felt that that damned city deserved to be forgotten, the whole place was one giant death trap. I didn’t want Asar or anyone else to die in there. But the damned fool thought that I was tryin’ to cheat him out of what he deserved. I ended up havin’ to kill him myself, along with a lot of other folks. The man swore with his dyin’ breath he’d get his revenge an the way he looked at me I knew he meant it. I didn’t want to be resurrected so when I got hurt bad in that last duel, I asked the survivors t’ take what money of mine they didn’t need to fix up an grow the town an turn this here place into a crypt. I was buried with my part of the key an Asar with his. I figured this way nobody would find them an a small part of me figured this way I’d always be watchin’ over Asar t’ make sure he never fulfilled his threat’.
‘So, then what happened? What brought back Asar and his mercenaries, and why now?’.
‘Like I said, not sure on the particulars, but from what I… feel? Sense I guess?, this’, he held up his spectral hand. ‘is all new an strange to me. Somebody broke in and robbed my body, took my part of the key. Did the same to Asar too. An a part of his soul just couldn’t let go of that key. So, when someone took it from him, well he came right back from the dead to take it back. An when he did, ol’ Asar brought a whole lot of power from the other side with him. Enough to make him a powerful undead and raise up a good chunk of his old army as well. Killed a couple of the graverobbers, but they got away with the keys. Don’t know what he was plannin’ after that, but a few months went by an then… well some folks from town came by an Asar had his monsters killed em. My soul didn’t care about the keys, I wanted people to forget about them for their own good, but if someone was fool enough to go through all that trouble to get em I wasn’t about to stop em. They’d still need to get Iramine’s piece anyway to find that damn city. But when the good folks of the town I helped build started dyin’ by Asar’s hands I felt myself called back to the world of the living. I was able to destroy most of his army, an I bound the rest of it along with Asar to the crypt. But that was all I could do’.
The ghost looked despondently at the floor, shaking his head slowly.
‘I couldn’t save a single person though. Just keep Asar locked down here. He kept the girl alive thinkin’ he could draw me out, that if I manifested, he could kill me an escape. It was taken all my power t’ just keep him an his forces trapped and weakened. I’m sorry I couldn’t help y’all more’.
‘W-were you the one who empowered the fountain down here to heal those that drank from it perhaps?’.
Delde was a little surprised to hear Adriana overcoming her awe to as a question to the legend, but she was curious as to his answer.
‘Yeah, that was me. Not that y’all needed my help much’.
‘Y-you are being far too humble! You were the one who struck down Asar when the rest of us could not! Had it not been for you we would have died!’.
‘Naw. Y’all did plenty yourselves. You were the ones to kill what remained of his army, an you broke his body. Once those were done, he was weakened an I didn’t need to worry about holdin’ any of his undead in the crypt. I could only go all out because of what y’all did’.
Adriana seemed to be struck dumb from the praise from the ancient hero, Delde had to admit that it did feel good to have their accomplishments acknowledged and respected. She kept such feelings to herself though, nobody liked or respected a blowhard or an arrogant winner.
‘So, what now then?’.
‘Now? Now I go back to where I belong. This world aint for me anymore, it’s for folks like you now. And y’all’ll do well from what I see’.
He paused and looked at them all thoughtfully. Kassen then turned and looked at his sarcophagus before giving a chuckle to himself.
‘I told em there wasn’t any point in buryin’ that with me’.
With a slight gesture of his hand a secret compartment from underneath the sarcophagus sprung open, and out from it came a leather backpack. It was an older design and was somewhat smaller than what Delde and the others wore, but it appeared to be in pristine condition for having been underground for over one hundred and seventy years. It had images of trees imprinted in it and the leather seemed as though it had only just been oiled.
‘This old backpack served me well back when I was an adventurer, it’ll serve you just as well I imagine. Might be a couple of things I picked up in my travels in there as well. It holds more than you’d think’ he said with a grin. ‘Y’all can take Asar’s sword and armour as well. I had him buried with em on as a show of respect when we last fought. That respects long gone after what he did in here though. Oh, an I think that there’s a body of one of the graverobbers down here as well’ He pointed out into the darkness to the left of the chamber. ‘Over by Asars coffin. I think he was the first to die. If he had anythin’ of value I’d say you’ve all earned it this day’.
With that Kassen turned from the group and began to walk away, fading as he did so.
‘Wait! Can you tell me what this building was? Who made it and how did Asar and his men find it out here in the middle of nowhere?’.
Kassen looked back to Delde and gave a slight grin before shrugging.
‘You remind me a lot of Iramine. She always had to know too… But honestly, I’ve no idea what this place was or how Asar found it. I figured that it’d make as good a burial site as any for me, Asar and the folk he led. Far enough away from town to not be an eyesore an well-built so nobody had do much work to it either. Never expected people to bother comin’ back here to be honest’.
‘D-does the Quest for the Everflame displease you then?’.
Adriana looked crestfallenly towards the ghost of the legend whom she idolised. The ghost just gave another shrug.
‘Y’all can do what you want so lon’ as y’all keep bein’ decent people. I just never expected to be remembered is all. But… It does feel nice knowin’ I helped make somethin’ good, somethin’ that lasted. If y’all want to keep comin’ out here t’ pay respects… I won’t be unhappy with that’.
Kassen then continued walking away, fading into nothingness by the time he reached the Everflame.
Nobody said anything for some time after that. They all stood mute, in awe of what happened, what they had achieved. It was something none of them, not in their wildest dreams had imagined would happen. To defeat the undead at the heart of the crypt was one thing, but to speak to the spirit of the man who founded their town? It was the stuff of bard’s tales. The oppressive atmosphere that had been so ubiquitous in the crypt was also gone now, if felt to Delde as though a heavy weight that she hadn’t even realised she had been carrying had been lifted from her.
Adriana was the first to move, stepping forward after having pulled something out of her backpack. It was the antique silver lantern that they had been given at the very start of their journey. With it in hand she walked up to the Everflame and as soon as she lifted it close to the magical fire a tiny spark of it leapt from it and into the lantern, lighting it with a warm golden light.
From what Delde could ascertain, the Everflame was nothing more than a continual flame spell. It was of the second level, something that she herself could now probably cast if she had the proper formula for it. But the way it had reacted to the spirit of Kassen and the positive energies channelled by Adriana made Delde suspect that there was something more to the Everflame than that. Perhaps it was cast by an especially powerful spellcaster, or perhaps there had been some strange interaction between the continual flame and the magics within the crypt, its proximity to the remains of Kassen might have even had something to do with it. In any case, Delde believed that even if she could cast the continual flame spell it would not be equal to the Everflame, whatever it was.
There was a small part of the young wizard that was frustrated with how things had turned out though. In the end they had gotten some answers about what had happened in the crypt, and some insight into the origins of the town and its founder; but there were still many questions remaining. She had no clue as to what the original purpose of the underground complex was prior to being turned into a crypt, nor did she know the identities of the individuals or the organisation behind the plundering of Kassens tomb.
As Delde saw Adriana and the rest of her friends going up to the stirring form of Dimira and help her up she couldn’t help but feel that it had all been worth it. She hadn’t gotten everything she wanted, there were still questions left unanswered, but when compared to what she had originally expected from the journey Delde had gained immensely from being a part of it.
‘Uh, before we leave this place shouldn’t we check out the coffin of Asar? Kassen, it feels weird saying this, he did say that there was one more body of the strangers there. Maybe there’s a clue with them as well? Also, what are we going to do about that there?’. Dal gestured towards the smouldering remains of Asar, the skeletal champion. ‘Do we leave him there or do we… you know, put him back in his box? Because I’d rather not touch them, just in case you know’.
Delde cast the mage hand cantrip and began to lift the bones in front of her. She didn’t think that there would be any harm in actually handling the bones now, she could sense that the necromantic magics that had infested the crypt were gone now, but she did want to avoid getting any dirtier than she had to.
‘I can lift the remains over so long as someone brings a light along with me. We did get told that we could keep the sword and armour, so I’ll leave them. Adriana? You might want to wait here with Dimira. I don’t think that seeing another body will help her right now’.
The cleric nodded and tried to keep the young woman awake and focused on her rather than her surroundings. Igmar gingerly collected the blade and armour, putting both into his backpack as Dal and Baye walked with her, light cantrip enchanted stones in hand.
Putting the remains back into the stone coffin was easy enough, and right next to it were the rotting remains of another person that clearly wasn’t from Kassen. That said, while it was another male human this figure was dressed noticeably differently compared to the other strangers they had found. He was not in black leather armour, but grey robes of good quality with an iron mask that had only recently started to show signs of rust over his face. He carried a well-made satchel of dark leather over one shoulder, inside of which was a small purse containing thirty four gold coins, another highly detailed map of the Fangwood area marking where the crypt was, a rosewood wand decorated with gold coloured enamel in the form of streaking comets, a large rams horn modified to be blown into that constantly glistened with tiny droplets of water like condensation, a pair of bracers that bore an enchantment though she would need to examine them in more detail to learn what they did, and what Delde quickly identified as a wizards spell book. She skimmed through it and although she knew all the cantrips within it there were several spells of the first and second level which she did not. She fully intended to study it in depth on the journey back home. They also found a written note in elegant handwriting on the back of the map stating that:
‘There are two amulets you must recover. One entombed with Kassen, the other with Asar’.
Delde thought back to the mural that depicted Kassen duelling with the leader of the bandits, Asar she knew now. Both were wearing amulets that looked similar, but different. Kassen said that the forgotten city needed a key in three parts to find and enter, but he didn’t say anything about what the key looked like. Judging from the note, whoever had sent the graverobbers to the crypt were very well informed. They had not only known how to reach the crypt, but also what the key components looked like and where to find them. It was clear to Delde that whoever was behind the graverobbers, the forgotten city was obviously their ultimate goal. How they knew so much was another question entirely.
With the remains of the graverobber thoroughly searched Delde, Dal and Baye returned to Igmar and Adriana and begun to make their way to the upper level of the crypt. As they walked through the shadowy stone catacombs, corridors and chambers they could see no sign of any more undead within the crypt. Delde even checked with her cantrip and found hardly any trace of necromantic magics, and what little she could detect she assumed that it would fade away quickly with the defeat of the spirit at the heart of the massacre.
The entire complex also felt less intimidating than it did when they first entered it, the shadows weren’t as dark, the statues not as looming, the stench of rot and death not as overpowering. Delde suspected that it was due to the absence of necromantic magic in the crypt now, she theorised that it had been so prevalent that it had subtly been influencing how they perceived things, or possibly even effecting the crypt directly, making it more malignant than it originally was. The other option was that after having gone through such a harrowing experience, walking through a dark crypt that they knew was empty was too mild a thing to scare Delde and her friends anymore.
They collected Roldare from the chamber in which he remained barricaded inside on their way out. He and Dimira had a heartfelt reunion when they met each other once again, and it seemed to soothe his rattled mind, although he remained jittery throughout their whole journey. Adriana made a point of ensuring that they didn’t look upon the covered remains of their friends Gerol and Vark as they passed through the entrance chamber; there was no need to upset them any further than they both already were.