Completed Fog on the Barrow-downs.

[Esme]

Esmeralda stared, saying nothing. The air around her began to shimmer, boiling with the energy that she couldn't help but to influence with her emotions.

She looked ready to strike down the girl then and there. Instead, after a long moment, she turned on heels and stormed deeper, pushing into the next room. She stopped short, a swath of undead laying in parts on the ground slowly flickered to life and turned their skeletal heads towards them.

 

[Dianaimh Ui Muirgheal]

Dianaimh tensed as well, shoulders hunched protectively. The air prickled with magical energy as both women prepared. Her face was like stone, she looked ready to strike at Dian but with an effort, she forced the compulsion down.

Dian let out a breath she hadn't realised she'd been holding. Esmeralda stormed on ahead but came to a halt as she disturbed the next nest of undead. She groaned and stepped forward to take her place by the woman, "Ná bac leis!" she barked at the first four corpses. The undead seemed to freeze before the enchantment on them broke and they crumpled to the floor.

"That is my magic" she told Esmeralda with a smug smile. She frowned as her gaze caught a dark armoured figure still standing there. She swore and took a step forward, "I command you wight. Síos!" she snarled. The armoured figure froze there and Dian turned, flashing another cocky grin, "The dead obey whe-Aieeee!"

The wight had swung its blade at her. She threw up a shield in time but it was shattered instantly. The blast sent her flying forward to hit the ground hard. The wight took another step forward, its cold blade aimed squarely at Esmeralda.

 

[Esme]

Esmeralda stepped in front of the fallen woman, her gaze icey as she drew her sword on the wight and redirected his sword to the left of her.

"You're type of magic, huh?" She mocked bitterly. "Try it again!" She stepped further to her left, slashing haphazardly at the wight in an attempt to make him move with her and give Dian space. He was stronger than her, she could feel it. But that didn't mean she couldn't use magic to help her match him. She advanced on him, her blade practically glowing as she screamed and tried to slash him from shoulder to hip.

 

[Dianaimh Ui Muirgheal]

The wight's blade met Esmeralda's with shocking force, able to push hers back with its strength. It was a hateful, vengeful spirit that had been sealed away for centuries. Despising life in all its forms, it strove now to slay the young mage clashing with it.

Dianaimh rolled onto her back as Esmeralda bought her time. She fought with vicious, frantic skill but she was against an opponent far older and wiser than she. But she had distracted the wight long enough for Dian to channel her thoughts. Forming one coherent image, she blasted the wight with a word of command, freezing it in place.

Esmeralda's next sword blow shattered it into a thousand small pieces. Dian rose with a groan of pain.

 

[Esme]

Esmeralda panted, letting her sword clatter to the ground as she shook her her buzzing, aching hand. Too much power, she was sure she had fractured something holding the pommel alone.

"Took-you-long enough," she gasped. And when the woman looked to Dian, there was a sudden tiredness to her eyes. A drain that hadn't been there before. She touched her pendent, a spark of life returning to her features.

"What the hell was that one?" she asked, fully rounding on the woman now. "Why couldn't you disable it properly?!"

 

[Dianaimh Ui Muirgheal]

Esmeralda's shoulders sagged but she seemed to straighten up after touching her pendant for strength. Dianaimh wished she had the same thing to draw on. "A wight" she explained, tiredness visible on her own features. "Not one of the lesser undead. Stronger spirits with more hatred to draw on. It could command the others".

She shook her head, "It resisted my command, I was not strong enough to control it". She sounded embarrassed, "Are-are you alright?"

 

[Esme]

If Esmeralda was angry over the discovery that Dian could not hold her own even in her own magic, she did not show it.

The girl had long since become a master over her own temper, it had gotten her into more scraps than she could count. She was wise enough know this was now neither the time nor the place to vocalize just how much she wanted to shove the girl into a pit of stakes for her deception.

But she did.

She shook out her hand, mending the little bones with a soft glow of energy that encased her palm. "Fine," she grumbled. She looked up to the woman, her nostrils flailing as she leveled a threat, "If I see an exit out before we reach that bottom, we are taking it. End of story."

 

[Dianaimh Ui Muirgheal]

Dianaimh tensed but Esmeralda didn't seem to have the energy to fight with her. She focused on healing her hand, wincing as bones knitted together and accelerated a healing process of a couple of weeks into a few painful seconds. But she didn't back down as she made it quite clear that they'd be taking the first exit out that they found.

"I-oh fine" she conceded, not able to push the point. She needed her right now.

The next chamber was the largest yet. Steps led down to a vast hall with sarcophagi and other chests lining the walls. A vast wall stood at the far end, framing an altar on a raised dais. The air hummed with magic and Dian froze as Esmeralda's hand stopped her.

 

[Esme]

Esmeralda stopped short, slight nerves bubbling in her stomach at the level of magic radiating in the chamber around.

"...I think we found the crypt you spoke of," she breathed, mentally bemoaning the lack of preemptive exit. She was strong, but in truth, she didn't know how far that strength extended. It had been a long time since she had been pit up against the darker arts, and while there was a time she had managed to stand among them and hold her own, she feared her years of simple missions had made her grow soft.

Which surprised her, because she had thought softening was a good thing for her. Now she wasn't so sure.


She quickly scanned the room, locating the few closest traps with ease. At the end of the hall she could see a faint door, the magic leaking slowly out of it. An exit. But between them and it was a swath of traps they could trigger at any moment, and the creature she felt slumbering in the center.

Her stomach dropped. She took a step back, dragging the woman with her and going to prepare them.

"Step where I step. Stay behind me. And no matter water, if he tries to force us off our path, don't do it. He doesn't even need to kill us himself down here," she chastised, assuming its gender, if it even had one, while she literally pumped the woman with a round of revitalizing strength.

No way in hell was she letting them go in running on fumes.

 

[Dianaimh Ui Muirgheal]

Dianaimh gasped as a wave of energy went through her. Her knees went weak for a second but she felt...invigorated, stronger. Her body still ached but she was full of energy, not struggling to stand like she had been. It hadn't been asked for but it was needed. She let out a nervous giggle at the feeling, this felt good.

The main sarcophagus moved as they took their first step down. A spectral shape rose, solidifying into shape. A dessicated corpse, it glowed with a baleful blue light, its jaw speaking an incomprehensible tongue but the intent was clear. Other undead stepped from the side, silent sentinels holding dark halberds. The skeletons were a mix of elven and human. They still bore ancient helms and other armour on their dead forms.

Dianaimh pressed closer to Esmeralda, more for comfort than anything else. "What do we do now?". The liche barked a command and the undead began to press forward. Swirling blue light began to move around the liche.

 

[Esme]

Esmeralda grimaced, bending down to pick up her sword and bounce it in the palm of her healed hand. "You best hope you can command so many at once, princess," she leveled lowly, her whole body growing tense.

"Lead a few there." she pointed to a spot she felt was a massive trap, hoping the woman could have them trigger it and wipe out a good number. "And there." She pointed to another trap, already seeking out others. Could she use this against them?

Her eyes flickered back to the liche as he sat back for the moment, watching his army do his bidding.

 

[Dianaimh Ui Muirgheal]

"I-I don't think i can" Dianaimh admitted,her expression was pained. The force from the liche was palpable in the room. "I amn't a princess" she snapped back. The undead sorcerer watched them with eyeless sockets. The first undead stepped forward and Dianaimh lashed out. She focused her mind on it, breaking the hold of its master. She ordered it forward onto a tile, the rune carved into it glowing red before it incinerated it.

Dian was breathing heavily like she'd just done a sprint. "I can't do this for every one!"

 

[Esme]

"You have to," Esmeralda growled, forced to watch on. She was helpless, only able to watch the necromancer struggle to achieve the strength and mental composure to break the hold off one. Oh fuck, they were screwed.

"Breath. Concentrate. Narrow in your efforts, you are as strong as you believe yourself to be," she half lied, that statement only true for the mental fortitude aspect of the woman's struggle. Esmeralda was already putting her hand on the woman's arm, begrudgingly parting with more of her strength. There was no doubt in her mind that mission had become life or death. She treated it as so, risking the energy in the magic around them and trying to steal it form the lich's control and use it against him.

 

[Dianaimh Ui Muirgheal]

"Can we stop with the master and apprentice lectures?" Dianaimh's voice was shrill with the strain. She felt power course through her but her legs went unsteady at it. She pit her will against the undead sorcerer's managing through sheer strength of focus to shatter his hold on several of the undead. Some collapsed from the strain, others began to attack the undead on either side of them.

Dianaimh screamed, the effort almost too much. It staggered even the liche but he stepped forward, raising his mace and going for the blonde mage.

 

[Esme]

Esmeralda gasped, yanking her hand off Dian as the woman's pain flashed flashed through her mind in an emphatic burst. Esmeralda's magical efforts to impart her strength to Dian left Esmeralda more vulnerable to outside influences than normal, her skin stinging as the sensation faded.

She had no time to respond to her employer's distress, though if she had she surely would have been deeply frustrated. Esmeralda's attention was redirected to the lich as their efforts spurred him into an attack. Esmeralda glowered at the face of it, pushing away from Dian and dashing forward to meet the lich head on. At the very least, she could buy the woman space. The situation remained dire, forcing her to began to unwillingly entertain another unfortunate idea.

"Dian," she gritted, catching his mace with the side of her sword. "Do me a favor and cut your palm." She kicked at its stomach as the creature pulled back to parry another bone-shattering blow.

 

[Dianaimh Ui Muirgheal]

It would have seemed laughable to an onlooker. The liche stood nearly seven foot tall with a mace that looked ideal for splitting skulls. The sight of the small blonde woman rushing at him seemed to halt him for a second, more in puzzlement than anything else. Esmeralda's foot hit solid bone and metal, the impact enough to jar her foot.

Their weapons meeting would send a shock through her. There was inhuman strength behind its blow, one that could be felt even with the added strength of her magic. Dianaimh struggled against its mental assault while Esmeralda took it head on.

Dian screamed in frustration at the blocks but obeyed. A shaking hand cut her palm, blood dripping onto the blade. She forced her will against the liche's, trading blows in a mental duel.

 

[Esme]

Esmeralda felt the blood enter the air, her senses tingling to the potential magic in it. Blood magic was never a path she liked to take, but she knew of it. And currently, she had no other options.

As she kicked away from the lich she used a gust of energy to propel her back to Dian. Said energy buffered against the lich's body, leaving him stumbling for a moment.

She brought her palm across the edge of her sword as she flew, gritting her teeth as her blood spilled forward. She collided into Dian, her hand reaching for the woman's own. They grasped palms, their blood intermingling. Their minds flashed white, a shock of magic shooting between their bodies.

It was then that Dian would feel Esmeralda there. Not besides her, but inside her mind. Unlike the lich, the presence was nonthreatening, even bolstering as the woman scrambled to find her footing at the doorstep of Dian's mind. It would only be achieved with permission. It was an attempted partnership, not take over.

Let me in, I can break him, Esmeralda gasped hurriedly, already feeling the lich recover and step forward to approach the now immobilized mages.

 

[Dianaimh Ui Muirgheal]

Esmeralda blasted the liche with a gust to buy herself a second. She rode the energy back to her partner, cutting her hand open in one smooth motion. Dianaimh squealed as the blonde hit into her, planting bloody palm to bloody palm. There was a jolt of energy and then everything blasted white.

There was nothing and then her Voice. Dian gasped, appalled to feel another's presence inside her. Her head felt flushed, the warmth from another filling her mind. How dare you! she shouted back but there was no time to argue. She dropped the barriers, nearly overcome with the feeling as a wave of energy flowed into her. There was another flash, black this time.

Before her stood the imposing frame of the liche, moving with glacial slowness towards the two women who stood there frozen. They looked pathetic next to his towering height, soon to be crushed by the mace. Time seemed to have stopped, she was watching like a spectator.

The movement shocked her. An elf stood there to the side, his outline blurring as he moved. But he didn't look so imposing anymore, he seemed a height with Dian. He seemed reluctant to advance and Dian looked down.

It wasn't her body, it was that of a warrior. No longer a short, curvaceous brunette. No longer the pale little weak mage. She was taller, broader, stronger, clad in furs like one of the barbarians of the Spine. A glowing blade was in her hand and her body felt powerful and imposing.

She stepped forward to the attack, driving the liche back for the first time. It parried awkwardly but Dian was too quick. She'd never felt this fast or strong before. The counterattacks seemed weak and pathetic. Dian laughed and battered aside the elf's defences. Her hand reached out and gripped his throat, squeezing tight. Her other rammed her vorpal blade right into his chest.

There was a bright flash of light and Dianaimh stumbled back from Esmeralda, dropped back into the physical realm. Barely a second had passed, the blood was still fresh on her palm. The liche was screaming, blue fire coming from its skull and it clutched at its head, howling in agony.

 

[Esme]

Esmeralda slid to the ground at Dian's feet, her arms barely supporting her. The world tipped, blur fire swirling in her vision. Suddenly, she felt the cold ground against her cheeks, her strained heart slamming into her ear.

Too much magic. Too much magic. Out of practice, pushing limits...

These thoughts swirled in circles around her flickering conscious, struggling to stay present but fearing it was a loosing battle. But she couldn't, she couldn't. Dian needed her, her job was not done. She reached forward for the glint of silver in her blurry vision. She grasped her sword, using a pained burst of adrenaline to drive her to her feet, the tip of the sword pushing through the lich's chest with a burst of purifying energy.

 

[Dianaimh Ui Muirgheal]

Dianaimh swayed, unsteady now on her feet from the exertion. Esmeralda's steady hand held her before she ran forward to finish off the liche. The energy powered sword tore through the armour like paper, piercing it. The liche screamed and began to crumple apart, reduced to ashes and bone within a few seconds. The other undead collapsed like puppets with their strings cut.

"We did it. We actually fucking did it" Dianaimh sounded disbelieving. The silence was shattered by subterranean rumbling, the walls beginning to quake. She snarled, panicked now. "The altar! Grab what you can!". There was a staircase leading up from behind it.

 

[Esme]

Now as not the time Esmeralda wanted to be running. She wanted to be sitting, gasping, and preferably not making a mad dash to avoid collapsing floors.

Apparently all that would have to wait.

She sheathed her sword, obeying orders with a mindless drive. Her arms were loaded with what she could carry, the priceless objects that promised her a healthy paycheck, and she started darting out. Behind her, all the objected started to float, her own magic carrying them out with her.

It would be well worth the cost of magic if it assured she'd have the funds not to have to work again.

She ran, not thinking. Not feeling. She only felt the stitch of exertion in her chest as she pushed out the back entrance and kept. Running.

 

[Dianaimh Ui Muirgheal]

Dianaimh ran as fast as her body could propel her. The whole tomb was collapsing about them and they ran the risk of being buried alive. "Go faster!" she squealed, a call back to their earlier danger in the gas corridor. They couldn't die now, not after they'd come so far.

Light was ahead. Dian's lungs and legs burned, willing her body on for one last effort. Rubble was coming down all around them, something struck her and she went sprawling. Her vision swam in front of her, before the world went black.