Carefully packing away all the recovered evidence the group set out once again and after some more wandering through the underground catacomb they finally reached the exit Dal had told them about. There was no door barring the passage, it led straight into another chamber. It was a long and narrow, with a shallow reflecting pool filled with cloudy, stagnant water running down its length into the deeper darkness of the room. There were no monsters, no undead, no traps apparent, but Delde remained cautious as they approached. The oppressive atmosphere of the crypt grew ever heavier as they went deeper inside and as she walked to the doorway it felt as though there was a tangible weight bearing down on her. The condition of the walls also drew her concern as she examined them. It looked to the wizard that there had been a mural on the walls at some point, perhaps like the endless one that dominated the upper level. But here the walls were scorched and ruined, blackened by some fire that somehow spread through a stone chamber underground that also had a source of water running through it. Delde could also make out great scores across the stone walls, as though someone or something had taken a heavy blade to them to ensure the complete destruction of whatever the walls had displayed. The ceiling bore many cracks and rents in it as well, more than the previous rooms, making her suspect that she was correct in her theory that whatever had caused the damage in the lower level was located deeper within.

‘It looks clear, can’t see any signs of pressure plates, tripwires or anything else bad. Also, a pleasant lack of pus-filled zombies which I really appreciate’.

With their rogues flippant all-clear they slipped into the room and made their way down the chamber, silently studying the environment, waiting for something to try and attack them. In almost every room they had entered since coming into the crypt there had been some deadly threat waiting for them. For a chamber to be completely devoid of danger felt… unnatural. As if they were being lured into a trap.

As there were no obvious threat making itself apparent though, Delde looked around to see if she could discover some more insight into either what happened in the crypt or learn something about its original purpose. From what she had been able to pick up, it seemed that the townspeople of old had repurposed the underground complex and turned it into a crypt, but they themselves had no hand in its construction. The stories around it said that the bandit army had been using it as a base of operations for their raids against the town, but there was even less chance of them being involved in creating it than the townsfolk.

There was no ornamentation in the crypt other than the mural in the upper level and whatever had been in this chamber. There were also the statues of Kassen that were part of the crypt’s defences though. They were of remarkably high quality and seemed to be an original part of the complex, so why did they bear the image of the towns founder?

The only solution that Delde could come up with was that the townsfolk had somehow managed to alter the statues into the likeness of the towns founder and hero after his death. It would still have been a difficult task to accomplish, even in the unlikely case that they had access to magic to make it easier, but it was the best reason she could come up with.

As she pondered the implications of her theory Delde continued to look around the chamber as she walked through it with the rest of her companions. She glanced at the elongated pool of water in the centre of the room, lying so still it was like a murky mirror. In the light they brought along with them their reflections were quite clear though. She gazed at her reflected self and her newfound companions with some amusement and wonder. The introverted half elf wizard, the severe halfling ranger, the frivolous gnome rogue, the ever-professional dwarven fighter, and the richest girl in town who was also now a cleric were walking towards what was potentially an undead army. If someone told her a month ago that she would be involved in a scenario like that Delde would have assumed they were either drunk or their mind had been addled by one of her siblings as a joke. But not only was it real, she found herself… happy with the situation, content.

Not about the death and horror that had occurred in the crypt of the Everflame of course. But with the company she now found herself keeping, and the sense of purpose she had with their mission. At first Delde had felt apprehensive, fearing the dangers that lay within the crypt; but after overcoming them, being pushed to her limits and going beyond them, she felt a certain exhilaration that she had never experienced before. The same thing could be said about her traveling with others. Delde had thought that spending time with other people her age from the town would have been tiring and had fully intended to spend as little time mixing with them on their enforced journey as possible at the start. But as she had spent time with them Delde had grown rather fond of her companions. There were not as judgemental or small minded as she thought they would be, and she found it a pleasant change of pace to spend time around others.

Reading, studying, performing chores for Holgast, those had been the things that had dominated her life for the past few years, and even before then Delde had never been an especially social individual. The only people she associated with outside of her mentor were her half siblings, and they had never been close with each other.

She had taken it as a given that isolation was her natural state of being, but the past few days had opened her eyes to what her life could be. Delde was intrigued at the possibilities she was beginning to become aware of. At the start of their journey Adriana had mentioned intending to leave Kassen and travel, asking her if she would be interested in joining her. Delde had turned down the offer at the time, but now she was reconsidering it.

As the young wizard watched her reflection walk alongside her, she was about to talk to Adriana about her offer, but she noticed something in the water. Something about her reflection. She seemed… gaunt. Lifeless. She had never been one to worry herself about appearances much, but something about how she looked struck her as wrong. Was she unwell? She didn’t feel sick, but she certainly looked it. Why had nobody mentioned it to her? Were they worried about upsetting her? Normally Dal would have made some kind of joke about it, and Adriana’s compassionate nature would never let an opportunity to heal another pass her by.

Delde felt her pace slow to a shuffle as she examined her reflection in more detail. Everyone else seemed to match her stride but made no mention of slowing down. Delde didn’t pay that any heed, she was focused on what she could see in the pool.

Her skin was dry and taught, she looked like she had been starving herself for days if not weeks. Her hair ragged and patchy, when had it started to fall out? But it was her eyes which worried Delde the most, they seemed utterly unlike what she had known her own to be. There was no focus behind them, no flame of passion, no spark of intelligence. They were dull. Lifeless. Empty.

No. Not empty. There was something in her eyes. An expression on her face.

Hunger.

The hunger of the starving. Complete and all consuming.

An intense hunger that Delde had never felt in her life, but now looked to be all that kept her going.

With tear rimmed eyes Delde watched herself lunge at Adriana biting into her throat with her jagged, sharp teeth, ripping it out with unnatural strength. The cleric was caught completely off guard and slumped to the damp floor clutching what remained of her neck, quickly growing pale as a deep dark crimson puddle of blood grew beneath her. The other members of the group had no idea what was happening, looking around in a panic for the threat, not realising that it was their former companion.

Delde saw herself ripping into Igmars neck with fingers that had become closer to claws now, slipping past the solid armour he wore and into the soft warm flesh underneath. Without a word she tore out a lump of meat and voraciously devoured it, the dwarf falling to the ground as he went limp. Dal and Baye attempted to stop the monster eating their friend, with the gnome rushing towards her while Baye struggled to notch an arrow.

Dal paused for a moment before Delde, hesitation overcoming him as he saw her decayed and blood drenched form in its full horror. In that one moment’s hesitation Delde lashed out at him in a rabid flurry of slashes to his face. He collapsed lifeless onto the stone floor; a hideous grin carved onto his face by her vicious claws. An arrow thudded into her left shoulder, but she didn’t react to it. Instead, she went to the source of the attack with speed that belied her shambling gait, as Baye struggled to notch another arrow in her panic. The halflings shot only glanced Delde and she saw herself lift Baye up by her head, only to slam it into the wall, again and again until she stopped moving.

There was nothing left in the chamber now, nothing alive at least. And then Delde spotted him.

Onyx.

Her familiar squirmed out of the backpack that had been his home, his sanctuary for their journey together. But by the time he was free Delde had him firmly clutched in her hands. He wriggled and writhed trying to escape her crushing grasp, but he never scratched her, never bit her. It occurred to Delde that he had never lashed out at her in all the time that she had known him. That fact didn’t matter to her now though as she watched herself crush her faithful familiar with her bare hand before ravenously consuming him, his blood and organs pooling at her feet.

‘NOOOOOOOO!’

Delde heard herself scream aloud as tears ran freely down her face. The horrors that she witnessed her zombified self in the reflecting pool provoking a visceral reaction. There may have been other screams, she couldn’t tell. She didn’t care. Everything was infused with a profound sense of wrongness, there was no room in her mind for rational thought. There was only instinct now. Only fear.

She had to get out. She couldn’t stay down in the crypt any longer.

Movement. Running. Stumbling. Tears.

There was no order, no logic to her actions. Blind panic and horror were all that dictated her movement now. Delde wasn’t even sure what was happening, where everyone else was or what they were doing. The only thing that mattered was escaping, running away from everything. She could go back to Holgasts library. It was safe there. Warm and quiet, with so many books that she could lose herself in.

Something struck her on the head, but it barely registered to her. She could see the exit to the chamber now. She had to get out, she had to run. More things hit her now throwing her further off balance, if not for her staff she would have found herself on the floor. Tears blurred her vison, but she could still make out the exit and so moved with what haste she could manage. Nothing else mattered, not whatever was hitting her, not how much it hurt, not how her friends were. She had to get out.

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Another thing struck her. A large thing barrelling past her at speed bumped into her and almost threw her into the pool at her side. It was an armoured person with golden blonde locks of hair. Something seemed off about what was happening to Delde, but all such thoughts were pushed aside. She had to get out, she had to escape.

More figures brushed past her, but they were harder to see. Everything was harder to see now. There was something, no, a swarm of somethings that now engulfed her, whizzing and darting around, slamming into her at times, either on accident or as an attack. Delde felt something sharp dig into her every time they struck, claws or teeth in either case they still drew blood. Between the pain of the attacks and the flock of flying things surrounding her the half elf was becoming even more disorientated, she couldn’t even see the exit to the room anymore, just a mass of flying black shapes writhing around her like a living cloud. All she could do now was move towards where she thought she last saw the door, staggering through the mass, using her staff as a blind man would to guide herself through the room.

Delde reached the doorway, she could feel it with her staff even in the swarm of creatures buffeting her made it impossible to see. She made her way through but was continually assaulted by the creatures, dozens of cuts on her arms and face bleeding into her dark robes. There were sounds of moment ahead of her, grunts, shouts, the occasional clanging of metal on stone, possibly combat? Delde couldn’t tell, the catacomb that she was now it was of such an awkward shape that echoes distorted all noise inside.

She stumbled along, holding onto the wall for support and guidance, she knew that if she followed it long enough, she would find the exit to this chamber, then she would escape, she had to escape. Her breathing was becoming laboured now, all the small cuts and bites on her were bleeding freely now, she was becoming soaked in blood, drenched in it. The pain, the horror, her weakening constitution. Delde began to feel lightheaded, all she wanted to do was lie down and rest. To close her eyes and wake up in her bed at home, or on one of the overstuffed sofas in Holgasts tower.

Then something brushed against her leg. It wasn’t violent, it didn’t hurt, instead it seemed familiar to her somehow, a sensation she had experienced many times before. Looking down at her leg she saw Onyx, but as she had never seen him before. His back was arched, he spat and hissed violently at the creatures attacking her. With tiny claws drawn he leapt out at one of them, biting and scratching it with the fury of a loyal familiar.

He pinned one to the floor and slashed at its chest with his forepaws. It was a bat Delde realised, she was being attacked by a swarm of bats. Her mind was starting to return to her, but panic remained fresh in her mind, her hands still trembled.

Then another bat flew down to avenge its brother or sister, then another. And another. The sleek, black furred cat was swiftly overwhelmed with the number of flying rodents assaulting it and was soon bleeding as profusely as its mistress.

Something in Delde snapped upon witnessing her familiar being ravaged in such a manner. She didn’t understand what was happening, How Onyx could be defending her after what she saw herself do to him, how he could even be alive, she didn’t understand. But one thing she knew was that she couldn’t allow him to be harmed any further than he already was.

‘Leave him alone! Leave him alone!’.

Delde swung her staff through the air wildly, franticly swiping at the bats around Onyx to force them away from him. They did abandon their prey, but only once he lay limp on the ground. Seeing him in such a state, his tiny chest barely moving with his breathing only inspired more fury from Delde. Her lagging reserves reinvigorated with her newfound resolve as she flailed her staff about her in a flurry of blows. She didn’t know how effective she was with her attacks. She wasn’t even paying attention to where abouts or what she was hitting. Several times she overswung and struck the stone wall or floor with a loud THWAK! That echoed through the now bat infested warren.

‘Leave him alone! Leave! Him! Alone!’.

Her fervour was strong, but her body was lacking. Just as quickly as her second wind came it left her and she found herself lagging once more, and her wounds were beginning to catch up with her. Now it was blood that was blurring her vision, not tears. Or perhaps it was blood loss? Likely some combination of the two Delde reasoned, a small part of her mind laughed at the irony, the majority simply focused on staying awake and surviving.

Her breathing was ragged now. She had her back against the wall to help her stay standing just as much as to limit the number of directions her foes could come at her from. Delde understood that she was lagging now, she had come up against her limits so many times since she started this silly journey that she had no desire in joining. Every time she had managed to surpass them, but she could feel that she didn’t have much more to give now.

Why?

Why was this time any different to all the other times that she had managed to push herself further than she believed herself of going Delde wondered. But she already knew the answer to that. It was the others. Her companions. Her friends. She had never even called them that either to their faces nor in her own mind, had she? It was only in the horror of what she had seen herself do that the realisation dawned on her, and only now that it registered with her. Every time she had pushed herself, they had been there to support her, to guide her, to ensure that success or failure she would be safe. She didn’t have that now. She was alone again, just as she had always been before.

Delde had enjoyed having friends for the short time she had them. She was glad she had gotten to experience it before she died.

She wiped the blood from her face, dozens of tiny scars stinging as she did so and looked down at Onyx’s small frame lying limp at her feet. His breathing was so faint she could hardly see his chest move. The bats attacking him had abated, more focused on the larger and more dangerous threat of herself. Although she felt that she wouldn’t be a danger to them for much longer.

Her vison began to fade into black, and Delde felt her grip loosen involuntarily from her staff.

A burst of light and heat erupted before Delde, jolting her back to alertness. The gout of fire hadn’t originated from her, but it was clearly a spell of some kind. The wizard shook her head and felt the haze that had afflicted her mind lift. Yes! No! Stupid! Why had she been swinging her staff around like a fool!? She was a wizard, not a warrior! Regaining her grip on her staff and leaning on it to support her still weaken body Delde launched an acidic splash cantrip into the heart of the bat swarm assaulting her. A good amount of them had already died, burnt to foul smelling cinders by the mysterious fire spell, but her own did manage to kill a couple of bats, dissolving them into gruesome puddles of melted flesh.

Between the two spells the swarm of bats finally relented and scattered, most of them flying deeper into the catacomb. With their dispersal Delde was finally able to see whereabouts she was and what was happening. It appeared that she had managed to find her way back to the catacomb, but somehow in her panicked fleeing she had started running in the opposite direction from where she knew the exit to be. It also looked like everyone else had joined her in running away in terror from the room they had just come from. They were all accounted for, and all bore some injuries from the swarm of bats, although none of them seemed to have been as badly hurt as herself. Everyone appeared pale and haggard though, and Delde began to get a grasp on what had happened in the chamber with the reflecting pool.

Something hard slammed into Delde and began crushing her in an iron grip. Once her eyes adjusted, she could see that it was Adriana who had charged over to her and was now hugging her with great strength, her scale mail digging into her torso.

‘Delde! I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I’m so sorry!’.

The cleric cried out to her between emotional sobs, tears flowing freely down her face as she held her even tighter. Delde didn’t understand exactly why Adriana felt that she had to apologise to her, or why she was so relieved to see her, but in the moment Delde felt happy that somebody cared so deeply for her wellbeing. She returned the hug, although with significantly less force, but it still felt nice.

Eventually, after how long Delde wasn’t sure, they broke off their embrace and looked about. All of them looked exhausted, both physically and mentally. Igmar absentmindedly cleaned his beard of what seemed like torn fragments of a bat that had somehow become entangled in it while Baye and Dal looked around blankly both still gripping weapons tightly.

‘W-What happened in there? I… I thought… Then I… But… I don’t understand?’.

Delde could hear Dal start to mutter.

‘It wasn’t real’, She replied loud enough for everyone to hear and with more confidence than she really felt. ‘I don’t know exactly what it was, but I suspect that it was either a spectral phenomenon known as a “haunt”, or it was some kind of magical defence, a sort of magic trap’.

‘It wasn’t a haunt’, Adriana said, wiping her face clean of tears. ‘I haven’t ever experienced one before, but from what Father Prasst taught me they feel… different to clerics. Our attunement with the higher forces of the world gives us an insight into them that most people lack. A haunt is created from the soul of a deceased person that is somehow trapped or bound in the world. They tend to lash out or attempt to force others to experience their own death and suffering. I don’t know what everyone else experienced, but what I did felt more… personal’.

‘A magical defence then’ Delde acceded. ‘Someone, or thing, created an enchantment or hex linked to the pool. Whenever somebody looked into it…’ Her mind flashed to what she saw, what she experienced a few moments ago. The intensity, the realism of it. ‘They would be shown an illusion of something… horrifying. That illusion is combined with a spell that enforces a state of blind panic in a person, and together the effect is that whoever triggers it runs away with all their might to get away, ensuring that nobody crosses through the chamber’.

‘That… Makes sense. When it was happenin’ it aw seemed so real. But noo ah think aboot it, whitever happened through there’, he nodded to the exit to the chamber in question. ‘Feels more like somethin’ ah seen rather than somethin’ ah did – or happened’ he hastily added.

Delde suspected that they had all witnessed themselves in the position that she had been in when experiencing their vison in the chamber. It wasn’t something she wanted to dwell on or force others to think about. Instead, she knelt and picked up the limp body of Onyx, still breathing, but very visibly wounded. She wasn’t well versed in medicine, but she doubted that he would be capable of lasting much longer without proper healing.

‘A-Adriana, is there anything you can do for him? He was hurt trying to protect me while I was – ‘.

She felt the tears begin to well in her eyes again as she thought about what had just happened. Anger grew in her heart, at herself before anyone else. She should have been stronger willed, been able to fight off the enchantment. Hells, she should have at least been able to gather her wits quick enough to know that she should have been casting spells instead of swinging her staff around like a drunk farmer trying to knock down a beehive.

‘Onyx! Oh! Let me see him!’. Adriana examined him as Delde cradled her familiar in her arms, his blood seeping into her already bloodstained robes.

‘He is badly wounded, and I confess while Father Prasst did teach me a little about animal medicine, I viewed such things as being more under Erastil’s purview and was not as diligent in my studies as I should have been. I can bandage his wounds up, but I do not know what sorts of medicines would be most efficient, nor what quantities to use, or if certain ones that would be unsuitable for a cat. My healing magics would work on them, but I won’t be able to call upon them until tomorrow at the earliest. Perhaps a healing potion…?’.

Delde furrowed her brow. She knew that after what they had just been through, they should be more careful and conservative with their very limited supply of potions. But as she held her loyal familiar in her hands, she desperately wanted to do something, anything to keep him alive.

‘I think… we should head back towards the resting point on this level and see to his injuries there. We should probably set up camp for the night as well and take some time to recover. We can see how Onyx is once he’s had some medical attention’.

She felt cruel, heartless even, at not immediately dropping everything and offering anything to help her most loyal familiar. But Delde was not a child, she understood that difficult decisions had to be made and in the long run, if they were going to get out of the crypt alive, they would need to be careful with what they had. Her hope was that Adriana would be able to bandage him up well enough that he would survive until the next day, at which point the cleric of Saranrae could heal him with her magic. If his condition continued to deteriorate…

The half elf shook her head. There was no point in worrying about such things for the moment. They all needed some time to recover. With any luck the passageway leading to the resting spot might even have some healing potions or other supplies that they could use.