Autumn stood over the decayed body of Ithuriel the Rotten, letting her dark eyes roam over the corrupted angel’s broken form. Red devilish runes still burned across emaciated flesh while a sable-flamed halo of dread flickered within the cruel cage of black-iron. Even as sundered as it was, a fallen Seraphim, an Angelus, would provide potent materials for a necromancer’s craft.

Or in the making of a fantastically powerful wand.

Kneeling down, Autumn examined the crown nailed to the angel’s skull. The black-iron was held fast in place, but she didn’t need to remove it to harvest the dark angel’s halo, for it’d chosen dread as its weapon in its unlife.

Hot sweat accumulated across Autumn’s brow as she corralled the halo from its grim cradle. As it came free, the flickering nimbus grew unstable, but Autumn simply focused and cowed the fearful thing into a glass bottle she had on hand.

With a sigh, the witch stoppered the bottle and held it up to her eye. “Well, it’s no lightning, but I’ll take it.”

As she didn’t feel comfortable harvesting the bones carved with evil runes from the angel, Autumn instead opted to investigate its dark wings. Rot and blight had scoured them, leaving little for the witch to collect, but she still could pluck a handful of uncorrupted jet feathers free for her use. Four soft feathers now lay softly clutched in her fingers.

Autumn looked over the broken angel one last time before shifting her gaze over to the scattered form of the ancient necromancer.

She wondered to herself whether the nation of necromancers still lived in exile somewhere. Nelva had told her that the ancient Inferni had driven them across the northern sea and into a frozen wasteland that, given their relative position in the world, was likely in this world’s arctic circle. However, if there was anyone she’d bet on surviving where few others could, it’d be those who didn’t fear death.

And if they ever returned, this place would fuel their armies for a long time to come. It’d be a vast arsenal that’d drown the empire in blood and undeath.

So it’d be better for everyone if this place was gone for good.

While it’d suck to lose the vast wealth of dragon bones, Autumn hardly wanted to see those skeletons flying over Duskfields because of her greed. Of course, that plan relied on her figuring out how to blow the place up without killing herself in the process.

As Autumn pondered over that particular wrinkle in her plan, she made a note to herself to return to the laboratory below to steal both the massive alchemy still for Pyre and the black cauldron for herself.

A witch deserved a proper cauldron, after all.

“Double, double, toil and trouble;

Fire burn and cauldron bubble.

Double, double, toil and trouble;

Something wicked this way comes.”

“I hope you’re not talking about me?” Eme asked as she arrived beside Autumn’s elbow, having just overheard the witch’s quiet singing.

Jolting at being caught, Autumn blushed. “No, no,” she hurriedly reassured the catgirl. “It’s just a witch song from back home.”

“Ohhh, I see~” Eme winked, which just caused Autumn to sigh.

Hoping to ignore Eme’s misunderstanding lest she die of embarrassment, Autumn turned her attention to the angel’s halberd laying at her feet, still clutched by a severed arm. Despite going toe to toe with a mithril blade, there was nary a scratch upon the unadorned weapon. Autumn concentrated her senses upon the halberd, attempting to detect any enchantments it might hold to give it such resilience and sharpness, and as she expected, it glowed with magic before her darkened eyes.

It was the first magical weapon she’d seen and likely not the last.

After blinking away the darkness in her eyes, Autumn turned to Eme. “Do you think it’s cursed?”

Eme nodded. “It’s got good odds.”

“Hmm. Do you think it’s a named weapon liked Liddie’s blade? Hers isn’t even enchanted; this one is. I’m thinking Moonlit edge? Or Windcarver? Foe-sunderer?”

Eme shook her head. “Nah, it’s an Angelus’ weapon, so it probably is just named halberd of so&so, or so&so’s halberd, or has some really pretentious name like Blade of all things Good, or Edge of Sanctuary’s Trust.”

Autumn snorted. “Those are terrible names. I hope it’s not like that.”

Giggling to herself, Eme spouted more awful names for the weapon as they made their way over to the necromancer’s corpse. Stopping just before the dead, undead lord, they scoured the remains with keen eyes.

Thanks to being tossed unceremoniously by the angel, the body was naught but splintered bones and dust wrapped in torn robes. However, there were still some items buried amongst the bone dust that drew the pair’s attention, namely a crown, a ring, and the damaged robes themselves.

“Well, that’s definitely cursed.” Autumn said, as she used her knife to fish the crown out of the dust.

What she held up before them was little more than a circular band of razor-sharp black-iron spikes, jutting both upward and downwards. Stretched between the spires like gruesome sails were sections of flayed skin. Clearly, this crown wasn’t to be worn by someone whom still possessed their skin and flesh, either that or they were an extreme masochist.

After carefully placing it to the side to be packed up later, Autumn turned her attention back to the rest of the loot.

“Now, what do we have here?”

Using the tip of her knife, Autumn pulled the ring free of the dust and examined it. It was a rather simple ring adorned with a single large black sapphire. While it didn’t look all that impressive, its magical aura didn’t escape the witch’s notice, even if she had no clue as to its purpose.

Placing it aside, she turned back to the last item to loot; the robes themselves. They were of an ostentatious make, being hooded black robes trimmed in intricate deathly patterns with actual threads of gold. They’d evidently been a powerful enchanted item once as a necro-lord had chosen to wear them to confront the angel, even if he’d died in them. However, with the halberd having been driven right through both the front and back of it and then having languished here for over two-thousand years, they barely still clung to their enchantments.

Stolen story; please report.

“Perhaps someone back at Duskfields could fix it?” Eme offered.

Autumn hummed. “Maybe, but does it matter? They’re obviously necromantic in nature, which is illegal, right?”

“Enchanters can still buy them if they have a license. You know, to investigate them and learn how to make or unmake them.” Eme said unconcerned. “Either way, it’s something we can hand in to the convoy for some goodwill. We can’t just bring back bad news.” She nodded to the dead.

“Right. Well, come on then. Let’s wrap these up in cloth or something and poke around for a bit.” Autumn gestured around the hall as she stood up. “Judging by the size of the tower from the outside, there has to be another floor. We should find it before the others wake up. Find it, not enter it.” She stressed.

The pair idly poked around the hall, searching for a passageway hidden behind banners or tapestries. However, it wasn’t until they scoured the back of the throne ontop of the dais that they found it.

“Aw. It’s not even that well hidden.” Eme pouted.

Embedded into the bone wall was a thick-looking black-iron door, but that wasn’t what caught Autumn’s attention the most; that honor she gave to the pair of skeletal knights, each twice her height bordering it. Thankfully, whatever enchantment they’d held had dissipated after the necromancer’s death and now they were nothing more than elaborate decorations.

Still, she wasn’t going near them till the team was ready.

“Ok, enough exploring.” Autumn said to Eme. “How about we go back and deal with the bodies? Wrap them up in some of these banners or something? Are you good with that?”

“Yeah, let’s.” Eme nodded. “And you don’t need to treat me with soft paws; I’ve seen more than enough bodies by now. More than any adventurer would in their entire career, I’ll bet.”

Autumn nodded in commiseration, remembering how the bodies outside had congealed into actual terrain. The pair shivered.

“They’re still people we knew, even if we didn’t like some of them. It’s always hard to say goodbye.”

Eme swallowed heavily at her words. “Yeah, I know.”

Time went by at a slow crawl as the pair, soon joined by Edwyn, set about gathering up enough usable banners from around the hall to wrap up the fallen in their death shrouds, making sure to collect all the pieces into the right bundles. Autumn held a silent vigil for the fallen as she couldn’t find the words within herself. Not that the others minded.

After checking up on everyone’s injuries, including her own, and quickly jotting down some medical notes about the wounds, Autumn found herself a spare bedroll now that they had extra and settled down for a quick nap upon the first clean place she found.

Sleep found her so speedily that her dreams got whiplash.

However, she only got about an hour of sleep before a frustrated yell ripped her from her peaceful slumber. Autumn bolted up from her bedroll in a frenzy, heart pounding as she searched for what made the sound. Her eyes quickly landed on a now awake Liddie, who was staring despondently at a small hand mirror and feeling at her cut horn.

Idly, she noticed Eme spring up from where she’d fallen asleep at Autumn’s side, looking like she was ready to fight to the death.

Grumbling under her breath over her ruined sleep, Autumn gamely wandered over to the pirate with a catgirl trailing in her wake. Upon her arrival, Liddie cast a stricken look her way.

“How noticeable is it?” she gestured to her horn.

Autumn contemplated lying, but decided that ripping the bandage off now was better for the pirate’s confidence. Also, she was still annoyed with her for waking her up.

“Very.”

Liddie slumped in place, frustrated tears gathering in her eyes. Seeing how upset the Inferni woman was over the injury, and the stink-eye Edwyn was given her, Autumn reluctantly continued.

“However, it gives you a sort of lopsided, handsome charm to add to your mysterious, roguish vibe you got going on.” Autumn paused. “Is this helping?” she asked.

Liddie snorted, but she was looking mollified. “You know little about Inferni, don’t you? Well, here’s a little cultural lesson for you; our horns are a symbol of our virility, our bedroom stamina to put it bluntly. And, like all things sexual in nature; bigger is seen as better.”

Autumn’s gaze flickered between the small inch long horns atop the pirate’s head to the almost flat chest she sported before trailing down to the compact hips lying below. The only thing she had going for her was her height, but even then that was relative, as she’d found most Inferni to be taller.

Liddie flushed. “You don’t have to be so obvious with your pity! I’m plenty experienced in satisfying others!”

Behind her, Autumn heard laughter choking off as Eme tried to keep quiet. A flush crept up the catgirl’s face as they looked at her. Autumn turned back to Liddie as an idle thought crossed her mind.

“Oh, I guess that explains why people keep looking at Nethlia’s horns so much, I just thought they were surprised by her height.”

Liddie snorted. “That berserker is the epitome of bigger is better. I mean, come on!! Share a little! She’s got the height and the muscles, not to mention big breasts, butt, and horns.” She shook a fist at an imaginary Nethlia.

“Nethlia huh?” Eme muttered behind Autumn.

Autumn couldn’t help but wonder if the size of Nethlia’s horns truly represented her virility. With the size of them…. Autumn bit her lip. Hastily, she shook off her wandering thoughts and wisely changed the conversation, not really wanting to go into that kind of talk with Eme listening in. Given their history, it’d be far too awkward.

“You know what’ll cheer you up? Looting. Eme and I found the entry to the next floor. I bet there’ll be a lot of loot up there.”

Liddie perked up. “Hmm, I do love looting. You haven’t touched anything yet, have you? Do I need to remind you of rule one?”

“No, no. We’ve been careful. Currently, we’ve recovered and bundled up,” Autumn pulled out her notebook, “one enchanted halberd, one enchanted crown, one enchanted ring, and one damaged enchanted robe.”

Liddie rubbed her hands together. “Good, good. Too bad about that robe, and the fact most of it belonged to a necromancer, but still a good haul. Now let us see about that door.” She turned to Eme. “Do you mind taking over for Edwyn in watching Nelva, we’ll likely need them to get through any traps?”

Eme hesitated, but ultimately nodded. “Sure, I can do that. Let me know if you guys find anything good.”

Autumn smiled at her. “Don’t worry. Once we’ve made sure it’s fine and find somewhere to put her, we’ll get Nelva up there. It’s probably just the necromancer’s bedroom, and I doubt they’d like to sleep around too many traps.”

Liddie snorted. “I’d not be so sure. It pays to always assume your enemies are more paranoid than you think. Rule number five, or was it six? Anyway, that rule has saved my hide many a time.”

The trio chatted quietly as they moved over to the iron door, Liddie sharing stories as examples of not underestimating your foes, while Edwyn shared tales of never underestimating stupidity either.

“People can be far dumber than ye ever think. Juist ‘cause they’re dangerous doesn’t make them smart. In your career, you’ll eventually see something so dumb happen that ye’ll suspect it’s a trap, or a genius plan. Mark mah words. There was this one time…oh we’re here.”

Between the two of them, they practically melted the locks and wards from the door. Actually, they literally melted the locks at one point. And before too long, they were swiftly ascending the tight stairwell single-file, heading towards what they hoped was the last floor.

Autumn poked her head into the new room after Liddie and Edwyn.

Her hunch had been right on the money, seeing as she was staring at a small, personal lounge. Magic had kept this place clean for long, yet it still could not fully escape the ravages of time. The relentless march had peeled the fancy gold-trimmed wallpaper off the walls and turned the plush couches to naught but mold. A glance around the decaying walls revealed some of the many decaying paintings that depicted some necromancer of old or another. Autumn was more interested in the pair of doors leading away into other rooms.

After checking them too for traps, they peeked into each and found a bedroom with an adjoining bathroom behind one and a small study behind the other.

“Alright, looks like we’re clear of traps.” Liddie said. “Still, be careful what you touch. Let’s split up and take a room each. Any preferences?”

“Umm, I should take the study, right? Seeing as how I can read the ancient texts. If that’s alright?” Autumn offered.

Edwyn grunted. “Makes sense. Guess I’ll take the sittin’ room then.”

“You just want to do less work.” Liddie complained with a laugh.

“What of it?”

Autumn just shook her head at their antics as she walked away, heading towards the study and, hopefully, the loot within.