Completed Fog on the Barrow-downs.

[Dianaimh Ui Muirgheal]

The Spine, somewhere northwest of Crobhear Lake.

It was a grey morning. The sort with a cold that seeped into your bones and was impossible to shake. The mist clung on with stubborn determination, swathing the ground with ethereal wisps of vapour.


Dianaimh was grateful for her furs. As they’d travelled north from the Allir Reach the climate had gotten grimmer with every mile. The Spine was a harsh land. The snow capped mountains of its lower peaks dominated the horizon while immense dark forests seemed to stretch on forever to all sides. Roads were few and far between, mostly the legacy of fallen kingdoms. Tribes were everywhere but permanent settlements dwindled in size.


This was the frontier. She remembered her maps. The orc city of Molthal lay to the north while the dwarven hold of Belgrath was to the south. Tribes of orcs, trolls, giants, goblins, humans, and worse, all eked out a living here, existing in a state of endemic warfare.


She’d made her camp in the ruins of an old building, it had still had most of its walls standing and part of the roof. Enough shelter for their horses and themselves, the cold increased once the sun set. It seemed popular enough for travellers, she’d noted several alphabets in the various graffiti scratched into the stone.


The sounds of shovels scraping increased as she neared the pit. A dozen thralls slaved at the dirt, moving with spasmodic awkward jerks. None of the undead were fresh, the most recent had entered death more than three years ago. They were slow but methodical, they’d work all night if the sound didn’t drive her mad. Others patrolled the ruins on preset routes or stood watch as silent sentinels.


She consulted her parchment again, if her calculations were correct than they should be within mere feet of the entrance. She looked up as the ground trembled, a large figure entering the courtyard.


The hill giant was an enigma to her. Dianaimh had been nervous during the encounter. Giants were hard to kill and even a sorceress of her skill might falter against one. It was hard to cast spells when your body was a bloodied mess on the ground. But instead the beast seemed content to sell her services. A native of the Spine, she was a useful guide as well as a protector. The one band of orcs who’d tried to ambush them had learnt that the hard way.


“Where were you Ragna?” she asked, careful to keep her tone civil. The giant followed her because she chose to, not because of fear. “Hunting” came the taciturn reply. The voice was as powerful and hard as stone. Ragna dumped two deer carcasses on the ground before sitting. Even then, Dianaimh still had to look up at her. The giantess spoke again after a moment. “And scouting”.


“I have scouts” the necromancer said, a little testiness in her tone. Dead birds were easy to raise, a single spirit could be split between many. All it took was one sword blow or arrow to destroy one but she had many. “They do not see all” was the cryptic answer. Dian bit her tongue against further questions, the giant’s tight-lipped nature was maddening.


“Thank you” she said but the hill giant was already ignoring her, focusing on the fresh meat. Turning on her heel, Dianaimh frowned as she looked for her other companion. “Esmeralda!” she called. Her other companion could be just as infuriating but in other ways. She realised in her frustration that she had cancelled her command to the thralls. She gave a wave with her hand and the corpses resumed digging. “Esmeralda!”

Esmeralda

 

[Esme]

Esmeralda stepped forward out of the mist, a slight annoyed quark to her brows as her name was yelled. "I am right here," she said, her annoyance not withheld. She was in a simple green cloak, the material was neither think nor thin and she seemed to never take it off. By all rights her lips should be blue and her body close to hypothermia, but as she approached the woman the air grew warmer, until she was just ten feet off of Dian's side and the small heat bubble that encased Esmeralda became permeable.

She carried nothing on her but a canvas pack at her back and a half sword at her hips, the woman unburdened by any other belongings. She had been standing off to the side, keeping her distance and observing as she tended to do. She had kept her distance from her employer and ... comrades, neither disturbed or impressed by their presence. She did her job and that was it, the woman nothing short of efficient.

"Everything still feels the same," she reported preemptively. "If there is a threat nearby, it is beyond my means."

 

[Dianaimh Ui Muirgheal]

Dianaimh glared at the other woman, her lips pursed. The necromancer was swathed in heavy furs and had her cloak tight about her. The other moved lightly, untroubled by the cold. She could feel the air warming as Esmeralda drew nearer but she didn't say a word of thanks. She put her hand on her hips.

"You are not to go off without telling me" she said, at least this one she had no fear of giving commands to. Her face twisted in a grimace, she sounded more like an annoyed farmwife than a sorceress. A slight sigh of comfort at the heat, the bubble restoring feeling to her fingers and toes. "The threat, if any, will be below" she added, biting her lip in thought. She'd hired Esmeralda to guarantee her safety, the small woman didn't look like much but she'd proven her skills on the road. Even now with Ragna in her employ, she was still of use. As powerful as the giantess was, she'd be no help to her once they ventured into the depths.

One of thrall's shovels scraped off stone. The second struck it, a sonorous gong was heard before flames engulfed several of the corpses. They still moved to clear off dirt while the fire spread, collapsing one by one when it became too much. Dian risked a look over the lip of the crater.

A flat stone slab had been unearthed with eldritch carvings on it. She could sense the power from it, it positively glowed.

 

[Ragna]

Dianaimh was reluctant to venture near the pit after several of her thrall had been turned to ash. The ancient magicks placed on the entrance would tax even a talented practitioner. She saw little glory in risking her own neck. Esmeralda wasn't stupid either. She might be in her employ but she wasn't going to obey a command that was suicidal.

"Ragna" she decided. A blunt instrument was of use here. "I need this open". The giantess rose to her full height, looming over the two mages. She scratched at her nose and squinted, peering into the crater while Dianaimh waited, trying not to stamp her feet in impatience. The giant wasn't going to be rushed by smallfolk.

The giant grunted and moved back, Dian scrambling out of her way. She ignored the two humans and strode towards one of the other structures. Her teeth gritted as she grabbed a block of masonry, pulling at it with two hands. The stone block was big enough to pulp either of them to a bloody mess or fling at a castle wall.

She staggered back, nearly overcome with the weight but rose up to her full height, hugging it to her chest. She moved back towards the crater. "Move" she commanded them, moving forward to the edge. She gave a roar as she hefted the stone up above her head and then flung it down with all her might.

A thunderclap sounded and there was a bright flash of light. Dianaimh cringed, shielding her face with her arm. Smoke rose from the pit but the giant seemed untroubled. Dian crept to her side and risked a look over. The slab had been shattered, showing steps that led down into the depths.

"Yes" she murmured before patting the giant's leg. "Thank you Ragna" she said, her voice genuine. The giant grunted and returned to the deer, the two mortals already forgotten. Dian's eyes met Esmeralda's. "Does everything still feel the same?"

 

[Esme]

Esmeralda's nostrils flared, holding back contempt at how she was spoken to. Money. Money. Money. And she could leave at any time. These facts kept her by the woman's side, withering her tone without so much of a comment.

She turned to tilt her head at the slab revealed, her curiosity softening her expression. She resisted asking the woman what she knew of the slab, the energy radiating off of it sending her skin crawling. It was nothing good, the thralls turning to ash verified that. She clenched her fists by her side, gathering the energy around her tighter to her. The air grew hot, the potential energy tangible.

Ragna picked up the door, sending both of the girls stepping back. The thunderclap was met by a white shield erupting over the woman's heads, protecting them from shrapnel and smock as the light burned Esmeralda's eyes. Esmeralda slowly straightened, the shield dispersing as Dian stepped through it.

"Does everything still feel the same?"

Esmeralda frowned, stepping forward and feeling out to sense the energy leaking out of the new hole. "...it is hard to tell," she admitted. "That magic was strong. It's still in the air. It's not beyond the door, though," she added, a creasing forming in her brow as she tried to feel deeper. "If there is a threat, it will be small and deeper in. ... Is there anything I should know about this tomb?" She asked, carefully studying her employer. She was right, Esmeralda would not take a mission that would result in her death. She observed the woman with well learned skepticism.

 

[Dianaimh Ui Muirgheal]

"It's old" Dianaimh cut in, "It's the only reason that option worked". At least the giant didn't seem offended. She frowned as the other woman pressed for details. A topic she too was ignorant on. "You know as much as I do" she said, trying to brush it off. "The parchment isn't clear on details". An attempt to pass the blame onto it.

A sigh now but she pressed on. "I imagine some of the previous...occupants might still be roaming around. And something this old...there's bound to be traps". She was edgy in case the other backed out. "I will be entering with you of course".

 

[Esme]

The creases in her brows deepened. She looked to the hole, her skepticism not reassured as she stared down its empty abyss. She snorted softly. "A fools task."

She kneeled down before the hole, sliding off her pack and cracking it open. She pulled out two vials from it and tucked them into a small pack at her belt. She was already prepping and primming her mind for the task at hand, trying to slow her breathing and lower her heart beat as she strained to stretch her senses further out around her. Sort of like a meditative state, it was always easier to see the flicks of magics in traps if she was calm.

She closed her bpck and stood up, her braid flicking over her shoulder as she turned to the entrance. "Let's go then, stay behind me." She crept into the entrance, a flash of excitement in her eyes.

Dian would find it no hard task to rally the woman into moving forward. Beyond her reserved and skeptical demeanor was overwhelming curiosity and a drive to experience. She had the girl's work, just not her trust. Esmeralda held out a hand to keep Dian from pushing past her as she scanned the ragged hall, trying to pick out bits of resonating energy that just didn't belong.

"Would you hazard a guess on what use to live here?" She asked, her whisper sounding louder in the confined space than she would have liked.

 

[Dianaimh Ui Muirgheal]

Dianaimh allowed her the snorted comment. She focused on getting herself ready, shrugging off the furs and checking she had her own pouches and concoctions with her. "Keep watch" she told the giant before following the other woman into the bowels of the earth.

It was warmer underground but Dian still kept close to Esmeralda for the comfort of her heat. The sudden silence of the grave seemed to engulf them as they entered the first corridor. She bumped into the other mage's hand and stayed back, bristling that she hadn't told her.

"These are elven work" she whispered back, wincing at how loud it sounded. "So either them or someone in their service. They ruled Arethil once, humans and others served as their vassals. A garrison this size...there could be anything".

Something moved in the dark and Dianaimh jerked. She screamed, the sound painful in Esmeralda's ear, blasting fire from her hand. The flames lit up the whole corridor and they could hear the skittering as it fled.

A rat. Dian's breathing was heavy, her face flushed with embarrassment. "I don't like rats" she muttered.

 

[Esme]

Esmeralda looked on with wide eyes, breathless in contained awe. It took everything in her to keep herself focused and remembering her tasks. Traps could be anywhere, magic or otherwise. She had to be ready to dispel them in all forms with no notice.

So when the woman screamed, she near lost her shit, a sudden force field erupting from Esmeralda's chest and jumping to a solid form around them. The flames were subsequently caught and contained inside the bubble, and near roasting them in its quick flash of heat. It danced back and avoided Esmerada's skin, at least, repelled and expelled as the energy was literally eaten from the flame.

Esmeralda turned, offering her employer a solid glare. "Careful," she ordered, just as incline to speak firmly to someone as Dian had been to her. " ... And breath, it's not like they're wererats." She blinked, then looked back to the woman. "Those don't exist, right?"

 

[Dianaimh Ui Muirgheal]

Dianaimh went from comfortably warm to scorching as the flames stayed trapped inside the bubble. They dissipated as quick as they came but both came needlessly close to being cooked by their own magic. Dian was still breathing heavily when the shock was over, taking a moment to catch herself.

"I thought it was something else" she said, shoulders hunched defensively. She was embarrassed to show weakness like that. "No...that's ridiculous" she said. She wasn't sure if wererats were a thing but if she refused to entertain the possibility then she might just be a bit calmer.

They came forward into a larger chamber. The brief display of magic had awoken some of the guardian's. Half preserved corpses and ghostly apparitions moved towards them, their silence unnerving. The corpses moved in a slow shamble while the spirits moved through stone, still clad in their old regalia and armour. They drew shimmering blades, blank stares fixed on the two women as they screamed a silent war cry.

"I can take the spirits if you take the corpses" Dian offered, this was more her type of thing. She felt calmer confronted with something somewhat tangible, something she knew. A ball of light began to glow between her hands.

 

[Esme]

Esmeralda eyed her employer for a long second, second guessing her judgment and wondering if the woman had a few screws lose. I mean. She did play with dead bodies. A small piece of her regretted entering a dangerous excavation with someone that nearly fried them at the sight of a mouse, but she withheld the comment.

It half reminder her of how she use to be. Dear god she hope the woman didn't get them killed down here.

"There are things more on heard of, trust me," she murmured dryly, setting into the next chamber and quickly grabbing at the hilt of her sword. She pulled the half sword out, her hand steady as the polished surface caught some daylight and scattered it back on the floor before them.

Esmeralda nodded at the woman order, a ball of energy also condensing in her free, left hand. "Stay close." The energy grew hotter, then burst into flames, not harming her hand as she withed a yell and chucked it into the nearest corps's approaching chest. It caught aflame easily, the clothes old and flimsy. The woman charged forward after it, bringing her sword up to slash and deal with the magicked undead.

 

[Dianaimh Ui Muirgheal]

The blast of energy set the first corpse alight before Esmeralda charged forward with her sword. Dianaimh sidestepped and blasted a ray of light at the first spirit that stepped towards her. It was engulfed by the spell and faded to nothing. She gave a squeal as a second moved by, its vorpal blade cutting the side of her arm. Her other arm blasted the spirit full force in the face with another spell.

She channelled a shield and focused it, gritting her teeth as a spirit's blade tried to cut through it, a shrill whine rising from where the two energies met.

 

[Esme]

Esmeralda slashed down the unfeeling corpse, twirling under the hands of another to cut behind the knees. It tumbled before her, giving her an opening to look back as the woman made a noise of pain. She threw out her empty hand, energy in the form of light bursting from it. It shot out, connecting into Dian's shield and strengthening it for her.

"What are you waiting for? Kill it!"

She rolled out of the way of another one's reach, gritting her teeth as it forced her to drop her magical help and dispatch of the next with a similar flair.

 

[Dianaimh Ui Muirgheal]

Dianaimh focused everything she had and the shield blasted outward, shattering the spirit apart. She fell back panting from the exertion. She let Esmeralda take the offensive to the remaining undead, the corpses easy meat now that their spirit allies had been blasted.

The chamber fell silent with only slight crackling sounding from the smouldering bones of their fallen adversaries. Dian examined her arm. The cut was shallow, another few inches and it would have been close to severing the bone. She stooped and picked up one of the blades. Despite its age there was remarkably little signs of corrosion or wear on it.

"Elven work" she said, it confirmed her suspicions. A moment's silence before she reluctantly decided on acknowledging her bodyguard's work. "Thank you".

 

[Esme]

Esmeralda pulled her sword out of the last corpse, crinkling her nose at the smell of the rotting gore left behind. "Don't... mention it..." She flicked off a large speck, wiping her hands off on her pants.

"You alright?" She glanced to the woman, lowering her sword and walking over as she realized on her own that the woman was injured. "Ouch," she commented, glancing it over. She grabbed the woman's arm without permission, enveloping the cut with her gore-covered hand and closed her eyes.

She remained painstakingly aware of the dangers she was watching for, but for the briefest moment she put them on hold, reaching out to use the woman's own energy to fuel a healing spell. A minute later, Esmeralda opened her eyes and released the woman's arm to show it healed over. Only the inner layers were left for Dian to heal naturally. The wound was closed off and healed to a degree that the pain would be minor and not get in her way. To their eyes, she didn't look injured at all.

"An elven tomb then?" She finally commented, turning around to survey the beautiful nature of the persevered hall. She tried not to gape, but it was hard not to. "There's magic everywhere..."

 

[Dianaimh Ui Muirgheal]

Dianaimh's nose wrinkled. The stench of death could be comforting at times but right now it was offensive to her nostrils. "Yes, it is just a mild-oh!" she squealed as the other woman grabbed her arm and put her hand over it. There was a flash of pain, then a wave of heat washed over her and she went weak at the knees.

"Fuck". She blinked away tears but could see through it that the cut had healed over. It still hurt but not to the point of incapacitation. Only the cut in her garments and paler skin showed that she had been cut at all. "Perhaps not originally" she said, focusing on the job at hand.

"Elven ruins can be like dwarven holds, there's always more beneath the surface. This could have been a garrison, a settlement, it's hard to say. But their spirits are still bound to the place".

She winced at the comment, "It is why I am wary of going further. Even after all these centuries, it still lingers. They have forgotten more about magic than we've ever learnt".

 

[Esme]

Esmeralda shifted her weight on her feet, growing uneasy at the suggestion that there was power here larger than she could comprehend. I mean, she felt it. She knew it was true. But it was another thing altogether to verbally admit you were magically outclassed in a dangerous situation. A look of wary concern seeped out of the cracks of her face, the woman turning to survey her employee another time.

"You are aware I am no elf? I am strong with magic, and there are things I can do that others cannot but-" she hesitated, loathing to admit it. "Even I have my limits. I can detect the magic as it comes at us but if it comes in a form I cannot influence..." She left off, giving the woman a fair warning.

It wasn't that she doubted her own skills. She doubted this squeaking woman.

 

[Dianaimh Ui Muirgheal]

"I'm aware. I don't think many elves are as short as you are". Dianaimh massaged her temples in an effort to think. "If it comes at us in a form you are unable to influence then I can safely say we will both be dead".

She looked back over the carnage they'd wrought and shrugged. "But who is say that we can't continue on once we're careful? This was only the first chamber. I didn't travel all this way just to come home with some charred bones and old weapons. Do you keep your valuables in the hallway of your home? The real secrets are going to be down deeper".

 

[Esme]

"You're the one with the doubts, Necromancer." She said the name simply, neither an insult or honorific. It was simply a fact. She didn't challenge the woman to make up her mind, nor did she give her employer a chance to waver in her decision any longer. Esmeralda shook her head and started striding across the chamber, paying much more attention to her enviroment than it appeared. The air around her felt thick and metallic with the potential energy she had gathered to her, ready at any moment to redirect a threat.

She abruptly curved around a spot in the floor for no discernible reason, feeling the presence of something coiled under the stone block below. A pressure plate? She wouldn't linger to test it out.

"So why grave robbing?" She asked, glancing back over her shoulder. "Seems a little cliche, don't you think?"

 

[Dianaimh Ui Muirgheal]

"Cliche?" her tone sounded a little outraged. Dianaimh nearly mistepped onto the stone block Esmeralda had pointedly avoided. "And it is not grave robbing. Those popinjays in Elbion and Alliria call it archaeology and venerate it as one of the sciences". She seemed scandalised at being compared to a common thief.

"What need have the dead of this knowledge? There were wonders in the first ages, ones that we cannot even come close to emulating". She huffed a little to herself. "If traipsing through old barrows and crypts is the price of progress, then it is one I shall gladly pay".

Her foot slipped. An ancient mechanism activated, blades swinging from either wall. Esmeralda felt a whoosh of air, another couple of inches closer and she'd have lost her nose. Dianaimh yelped as her cloak was sliced, pressing forward against Esmeralda's back. There was just about enough room for them to stand between the swinging scythes. "Do something!"

 

[Esme]

Esmeralda cursed, the small woman nearly knocked forward by the nudge into her back. There was an ear-thumping 'woosh' around them, and both the blades froze. Esmeralda gritted her teeth. Not because it was hard to hold the two death blades still, no. That was child's play to her. She gritted her teeth to stop herself from bitching out her companion.

She had nearly lost her nose.

"I had pointed out. Not. To step there."

She took a deep breath, double checked the ground before them, and then crept forward. The blades remained frozen in place, until they cleared it and Esmeralda released them to finish swinging out their momentum like a pendulum.

She turned, leveling her icy glare at Dian. "One should not traipse through a loaded crypt. Try to be more careful, if I die, you surely will too. Stay in my steps," she practically pleaded, more exasperated than anything. "Have you ever done this before?" While the words were condescending, her tone wasn't. She didn't mean to be a bitch, she just never checked her words.

 

[Dianaimh Ui Muirgheal]

Dianaimh's face was flushed but she was grateful her companion had stopped the blades long enough for them to creep around them. A wave of Esmeralda's hand and they were back to swinging. She met her icy gaze with a hard one of her own. The mage's tone screamed frustration. Dian knew she had made a mistake but she wasn't about to admit it to the other woman. Esmeralda looked like she'd have been happy to have her hands around her employer's throat.

"Well you should have made that clear at the start" was the sulky retort. The blonde had a good nose for magic, a skill Dian still needed to develop. She pouted in response to the question, "Well of course I haven't. I'm a sorceress, not a fucking tomb raider".

She gave a forlorn look back at her ruined cloak. If the blades had connected with either of them, they'd have cut through bone and muscle as easily as that cloth. She groaned and forced herself to be civil. Having a bitchfit at her down here in the bowels of the earth wasn't going to get much done. "Can you sense anything in this room? Or further ahead?"

 

[Esme]

Esmeralda took a long moment to release her own anger, which was truthfully more adrenaline based than not. She forced the tension to release in her shoulders, addressing her employer civilly. "At this moment, I only sense a few things in the floors and walls around us.Not many, I'm sure they think that little trick would have been more than enough," she commented dryly. "If there's something beyond this space, I cannot sense it. There's too much magic in the air," she said with distaste, her nose crinkling. "

She looked back to the woman and added with intentional civility. "I've I avoid something, avoid it with me. Best stay in my steps. Are you alright?"

She could figure well enough the woman was wasnt harmed from those blade, but the loss of the cloak was something to express sympathy over, she would know. And with the woman's naivety to these dangerous, she figured it wise to give her a chance to calm down and get her head back on straight. Stupid things happen when someone overreacts.

She would know about that too.

 

[Dianaimh Ui Muirgheal]

Dianaimh got a much less distinct feeling. She could sense there was powerful magic about it but not to the extent that Esmeralda could. "I understand" she said, her own tone frighteningly civil. "I'll make sure to mimic your steps".

She'd slowed her breathing down and nodded with an annoyed expression. "I'm fine" she insisted, her eyes roving around the chamber. She didn't want a nursemaid. "Look, I'm sorry alright? Just lead the way and I'll follow">

 

[Esme]

Esmeralda eyed her carefully for a moment, then nodded, relenting. The woman seemed to hear her. Now it was just her job to keep them alive.

She led them carefully through the room, around the small pressure plates that seemed to be laid at random. It all seemed easy enough, but she suspected this was just the start.

"So... what are you going to do with what you find? Sell it?" She hedged, a slight twinkle in her eye as she glanced back.