by Pirateaba
“Uh, okay. What’s the problem?”
Ksmvr nodded. Oblivious to the stares, he raised his voice and spoke calmly.
“I feel that this restriction on the summoning of undead is unjust. You are restricting our tactical diversity with such actions. The raising of the dead is a key facet to the [Necromancer] class, and I for one object to the crippling of one of my fellow adventurer’s abilities. I am sure my colleagues feel the same.”
He nodded around the room at the shocked Drakes, Humans and Gnolls. There was a pause and one of the Drakes, a short fellow with black scales stood up.
“Not I! I’m glad I don’t have to deal with a [Necromancer], let alone journey with one! Who knows if he’d turn me into a zombie after I died! Would you like that, Antinium?”
There was a great deal of hostility in his voice, which Ksmvr seemed to completely ignore. The Antinium nodded calmly.
“I would be insulted if he did not use my body.”
The black-scaled Drake paused.
“What? Are you insane? Why would you want that?”
Ksmvr clicked his mandibles together.
“Animating a fallen teammate’s corpse is the only sound tactical decision to be made in a combat situation. Or would you prefer to let your comrades lie where they fall?”
Ceria found herself edging away from the Antinium a bit as he turned and spoke. She and Yvlon were biting their lips. Pisces was staring.
Selys coughed gingerly.
“That’s uh—not what we want, Ksmvr. In fact, that’s sort of why Pisces isn’t allowed to animate the dead in the first place. No one wants to end up as a zombie or ghoul.”
The Antinium turned, looking somewhat irate.
“But that makes no sense. I object most strongly to this rule. Are you implying that my corpse has no tactical value in combat?”
He leaned over the counter, addressing Selys directly.
“I can assure you that my deceased form is quite operable in many situations so long as it has not been dissected, disintegrated, incinerated, consumed, possessed, liquefied, or—”
“Alright, thank you Selys! We’ll be going now. Come on, Ksmvr.”
Ceria dragged Ksmvr back. She desperately signaled to Yvlon, and the female warrior helped Ceria pull the Antinium to the door. Ksmvr was still trying to lecture everyone on the benefits of his corpse as a tool of utility. Pisces was trying not to laugh, and everyone was staring.
They made it out the door and it slammed shut behind them. In the snowy street, Ceria looked around. Yvlon met her eyes, and then both heard a grunting sound. They looked and saw Pisces, trying not to guffaw. Ksmvr looked at him, and then at Ceria.
“Is comrade Pisces alright, Captain?”
“Fine.”
Ceria sighed. She wanted to cover her face with her hands and get drunk. But she couldn’t. Instead, she pointed.
“Let’s go back to the inn.”
This was her team. Her terrible, mismatched, insane…team. She saw Yvlon smiling for a second as Pisces nearly choked on his robes and then how she caught herself and frowned at the [Necromancer].
Her team. Some days Ceria wondered if they were really a team, or if they would break apart. They were so fragile. Like glass. And they were so, so…weak.
—-
Later that day, around lunch, Ceria was sitting at a table eating and reading from her burnt spellbook when she looked up suddenly and shouted.
“I did it!”
Heads turned. The Horns of Hammerad were in the inn along with Ryoka and the Gold-rank adventuring teams. They were having a day off, and Ryoka had come by to tell Erin the Gnolls were having a huge party in her inn later that day.
“You did what?”
Pisces raised his head up. He had been drinking again. It seemed like he was determined to enjoy Erin’s hospitality as much as he could, and he was having a second plate of pasta. Ksmvr, determined to copy Pisces, was doing the same, happily scarfing down gluten thanks to his enchanted ring.
“I did it, Pisces. I learned the spell.”
Ceria sat back, her mind buzzing, staring in shock at the slightly burnt pages of the spellbook in front of her. And in her head was something else as well.
Knowledge. A…certainty. A revelation, the sense of a puzzle finally clicking into place. Certainty, in an uncertain world.
Magic.
“[Ice Wall].”
Ceria breathed the words. A sheet of ice rose in front of her table, cutting off Pisces’ robes and freezing then in place. It was a thin wall, but it was a wall, and as Pisces yelped and tried to free himself, Ceria felt the magic surging in her. She looked around and saw people staring.
“Ice magic!”
Jelaqua sat up, chortling and pointing. Erin rushed out of the kitchen and exclaimed when she saw the six foot high barrier of ice. It was cold enough that it wasn’t melting yet, despite the warm room.
“Oh! Wow! It’s that spell you told me about! The one your old master knew how to use! Did you learn how to do it just now Ceria? That’s amazing!”
“Amazing and cold! Free my leg, Springwalker!”
Pisces howled at Ceria and blew hot flames onto the barrier of ice before she could dispel the magic. The ice melted onto Pisces’ robes, drenching the young man. Ceria watched as Ksmvr helped kick the ice wall apart, grinning stupidly.
“It’s not as strong as some examples of the spell I’ve seen, but for a first time attempt it’s quite reasonable. Yes indeed, I am quite impressed.”
Typhenous smiled as he leaned forwards, hands on his staff. Jelaqua pounded the table.
“Hah! A [Mage] learning a spell’s another reason for a party!”
“Wait, so you just learned it?”
Erin looked at Ceria. The half-Elf smiled.
“I just did. Remember that spell I was working on? The one that that mage—Teriarch—showed me? It was [Ice Wall]. I knew how the spell worked and Illphres was beginning to teach me it but—”
There were tears around the edges of her eyes. The half-Elf wiped at them, feeling mystified and relieved at once. Pisces stopped brushing at the water on his robes and glanced up at Ceria. She looked at him and felt the past drawing at her.
“Ah.”
That was all he said. He eyed the wall of ice, half melted and broken in place and tapped it.
“Half a foot thick. As Typhenous has said, a quite passable first attempt. Useful in a myriad of situations I would imagine.”
“Yeah.”
Ceria grinned, still brushing at her eyes. She felt Erin hovering around her back.
“It’s—it’s great. I’ve wondered if I could master it, but I figured it out so quickly—”
“A Tier 4 spell. Worthy of any Gold-rank mage, wouldn’t you say?”
“Oh yes. Not my forte, but I know similar spells and have made use of them on many occasions.”
Typhenous came over. He nodded to Ceria, a smile on his face. Ceria was accepting his compliments, and Moore’s, when the door opened.
“Yvlon!”
The armored women came in, brushing snow off of her new armor. She had the enchanted sword and buckler at her side. When she saw the wall of ice she halted.
“What’s this?”
“A wall of ice. I just learned how to cast it.”
Yvlon stared as Ceria explained in brief. The human woman nodded brusquely.
“Good. Just in time. I’ve got a request for us at last. It’s just past Esthelm.”
“What?”
Ceria sat up as Ksmvr and Pisces both looked up from their position around the fireplace. The half-Elf frowned at Yvlon and opened her mouth. Yvlon looked grim, and a bit upset, although Ceria couldn’t have said exactly why.
Erin looked from Ceria to Yvlon with a slight frown on her face.
“You’re going on a request? Fighting? I mean, you’re going to hunt monsters and stuff?”
“So it seems. We talked, but I didn’t—”
Ceria realized t
he other adventurers were looking and coughed.
“Good job, Yvlon. What’s the request?”
“Bears. There’s three of them that have been bothering the people of Esthelm. Scaring [Hunters], going after people in their home—it’s not worth much, but someone needs to get rid of them before they kill someone.”
The other people in the inn clustered around Yvlon as she explained. Apparently the cave had already been found and it wasn’t far. The request was a simple extermination one. The only catch was that the bears were all adult. And male.
Ryoka frowned. She was sitting at a table as Ceria, Pisces, and Yvlon sat around the table. Ksmvr had gone into Liscor to find them a transport.
“I was under the impression that bears—especially male bears—hunted alone. Wouldn’t they kill each other rather than work together?”
Ceria shook her head. She was pondering over a map of the region and trying to eye Yvlon while she spoke. The other woman was ignoring her looks.
“When times get tough, even bears will work together to bring down big monsters. It’s a tough world.”
“Sounds like a simple mission. Better watch out, though.”
Halrac came over. The [Scout] didn’t speak much, but apparently he was familiar with this sort of request. He nodded at Ceria.
“Make sure they’re not Mothbears. It’s hard to imagine a [Hunter] mistaking one for the other, but it can happen. Also check to make sure they’re not rabid.”
Jelaqua nodded.
“Or infected with Brainshrooms! We had to fight through half a forest’s worth of animals controlled by fungi one time. Not fun! I got one on my head and I had to get rid of my body before the mushrooms got me!”
“We’ll do that. I guess we’ll see what happens.”
Ceria mumbled as she looked from Pisces to Yvlon. He was frowning and Yvlon wasn’t staring at either of her teammates. Both adventurers looked concerned, for different reasons. Ceria was too. But she forced a smile for the sake of the others.
“I guess we’ll see. It’s just bears. How hard—”
She paused as Erin and Ryoka winced. Ceria gulped and sighed.
“We’d better get moving.”
—-
“So, why did you decide to take the request, Yvlon? Without asking us?”
Ceria tried to keep her voice neutral as she covered herself with a cloak. She was sitting in a wagon as it bumped along the frozen ground. Pisces and Ksmvr both looked up from their seats at Yvlon. The armored woman glanced up at Ceria and shrugged.
“I got tired of sitting around. I’m as healed as—well, I’m better now, and we’ve got all these new artifacts. We want to be Gold-rank adventurers, right? We might as well start taking requests.”
“To hunt bears. Hardly an illustrious task, or so I feel.”
Pisces frowned. Yvlon glanced at him, and then away. Her regard for Pisces’ opinion couldn’t have been more plain. Ceria saw Pisces’ face harden and spoke up.
“That’s not what I mind. It’s just that we normally talk things over first.”
“We agreed Esthelm was a good place to look for contracts, especially since there’s not much work around Liscor or Celum.”
“Yeah, but—you know what? Never mind.”
Ceria sat back in the wagon. She wondered if this was how Calruz had felt when he was leading the Horns of Hammerad. He’d had to deal with annoying members of his group she recalled. People with strong opinions who made their own decisions. She’d caused him to lose his temper several times while they’d journeyed together.
“Still, I guess I was hoping our first contract would be bigger.”
Yvlon looked up and at Ceria. She shrugged.
“A Silver-rank team would have to prepare for a request like that. You think bears are easy to kill? I bet even someone like Halrac’d set a few traps before trying to bother them in their den.”
“True. I guess I’m too used to hanging around him and the other Gold-rank adventurers to think clearly.”
Ceria sighed.
“After seeing Regrika Blackpaw as well…I bet she’ll enter Liscor’s dungeon tomorrow, or maybe today. I can’t imagine she’d fear many traps and she has that Gold-rank mage with her. Did you see him? I could tell he was a powerful [Mage] across the street. The quests they normally take on…it’s humbling to think about.”
Yvlon grunted, which could have been an acknowledgement.
“Makes you wonder if we’ll ever hit Level 30, let alone Level 40 or higher. You just learned…[Ice Wall]? Is that a really high level spell?”
“No. Yes. It’s one that grows with the [Mage]. My master could make walls of ice several feet thick. I can barely manage a foot if I concentrate.”
Ceria sighed. She’d learned one spell. And while the rush of exhilaration still hadn’t left her, she knew that was one spell compared to the many Illphres had known. And her former master had still died. Put like that, she felt just as bad as she had that morning.
“We’re still Silver-rank. Even with all these artifacts. I thought we should remember that, and chose a request for us to learn our limits.”
The armored woman tapped her sword and the enchanted buckler which could create a force shield. Ceria nodded, but Pisces sat up, suddenly frowning.
“Silver-rank? I would tend to disagree with that assessment, Miss Byres. I consider our collective skillset to be equivalent to a new Gold-rank team. I certainly rate my own prowess at such a level.”
There was a snap in Pisces’ voice that made Ceria wince. He’d been angry all day and it was coming out now, possibly at the worst of times. They were all sitting on a wagon in the cold, and without space, it meant that he was too close to Yvlon to separate.
And Yvlon wasn’t being diplomatic today at all. She raised her eyebrows skeptically.
“Oh? You think you’re on the level of Halrac, or Typhenous?”
“Of course not.”
Pisces raised his nose and sniffed archly at her.
“Your flawed comparison refers to two veteran Gold-rank adventurers, who occupy a position at the higher end of the simplistic ranking system adventurers employ. However, I know my strengths. I am the highest-level individual in this association, whether in my main class or collectively. My Skills and spells have both been of invaluable service to the party, yet I am crippled by these restrictions placed upon my class.”
“Sensible ones, I’d imagine. No one wants their friend or family to become undead.”
“I hardly go around animating corpses of the recently deceased.”
“No, but some people remember Az’kerash and the havoc he caused. Or are you saying [Necromancers] are all different and that they don’t let their creations prey on the innocent?”
Yvlon sat up, eyes flashing. Ceria opened her mouth, but couldn’t find the words to interject in time. Pisces drew himself together and spoke gravely.
“I know what Az’kerash did. I do not endorse his beliefs or defend his crimes against the continents of Izril or Terandria. However, as a fellow [Necromancer], I admire what he has achieved. Is that so hard to grasp?”
“It is to me. Admiring anything about the undead. About zombies—”
The party was breaking down in front of her eyes. Ceria opened her mouth and saw Ksmvr sitting up, looking from Yvlon to Pisces with apparent concern. Pisces spoke, hunching in on himself, defensive, the same look in his eyes as when he’d been exiled by Wistram’s Council of Mages.
“Ah, so we come to it at last. I have noted your disdain for my profession and my school of magic, Yvlon Byres. Let us not bandy words. You hate me and what I do. Why conceal the truth? You would hardly be the first or last to feel this way.”
He glared at Yvlon, daring her to say it. And when she did, Ceria was sure, Pisces would disappear. Yvlon’s gaze burned. She took a deep breath, opened her mouth, and—paused. She stared at Pisces and then to the surprise of everyone, shook her head.
“I don’t hate you.”
“What?”
Pisces’ eyes widened. Yvlon sighed.
“I don’t hate you, Pisces. I think you’re annoying, obnoxious at times, and certainly rude. But I don’t hate you.”
That was the last thing Ceria had expected to hear. Yvlon went on.
“I hate necromancy. I hate the undead. You—you wouldn’t be my first dining partner or choice for a teammate, but you I can live with.”
“But necromancy is both my class and specialization as a [Mage]. How do you reconcile that knowledge?”
Pisces studied Yvlon intently, but without the guarded hostility he’d had a moment ago. Yvlon hesitated. She looked at him and then at Ceria. The half-Elf held her breath.
“I—”
“Hey you lot! We’re here!”
All the adventurers jumped. They looked up and saw the man driving the wagon they were sitting on looking back at them. Termin the [Wagon Driver] waved his hand and they saw Esthelm’s walls staring at them. They’d been so engrossed in their conversation that none of the Horns of Hammerad had noticed the city.
“Having a fine argument, were you?”
Termin grinned as they all dismounted the wagon. He was bundled up and stroking the back of one of his horses. He nodded to the city.
“There y’are. You’re looking for a cave, right?”
“That’s right. We’re only a few miles away. I don’t think there’s a road headed that way, so we’ll have to march through the snow to get there.”
Pisces grumbled under this breath, but quietly. He was wearing only his robes despite the freezing cold. He, Yvlon, Ksmvr, and Ceria had all had Erin’s special Corusdeer soup and were feeling warm despite the cold wind.
Termin sighed as he looked at him.
“You lot make me feel cold looking at you. I’d offer to stay around to give you a ride back, but…”
“We wouldn’t ask you to do that. Unless you’re planning on making a delivery from Esthelm to Liscor?”
Ceria looked at Termin. He shook his head and pointed down the road past Esthelm.
“I’m headin’ north as fast as I can. If there’s a Goblin Lord coming, I’d rather be closer to Invrisil than not. You adventurers take care of yourselves now. If fortune smiles, we’ll meet again one day.”
