With a shout of, “Well, you can get home from here. It’s straight up the well, and then you’re back on the surface,” Heledd vanishes into the darkness, leaving her charges to fend for themselves in the aftermath of the battle against the combined forces of shadow mage Godol and former Rat Efa. The merfolk take their fallen comrade and depart the way they arrived.
One last remaining ruffian stands by, hands raised. He nervously eyes Heppa as she retrieves her sword from the ground. “I was under duress,” he insists. “And I didn’t even hurt any of you!” Heppa glances over to Tric to handle this human matter.
Tric bears the fellow no ill will; he was just doing a job. “You might want to find a new profession,” he advises. “Look, if people know you took this job, and you’re the only one not dead or locked up, that means you ran away, right? Doesn’t matter to me one way or another, but you might want to think about it.”
The ruffian nods. “You’re right. It’s safer just to pick pockets up on the surface.” He leaves via the tunnel heading east since the white mage is no longer blocking it.
“Just mind you don’t lose a hand,” Tric calls after him. Then he stoops to recover his own fallen weapons.
In the center of the room, Rhaessa looks down at the Book of Rhys, now being guarded by a magpie who takes issue whenever she gets too close. “Can you call your bird off?” she asks Tric.
“I am fresh out of peanuts, Rhaessa. But if you have some piece of food or a trinket, I think he would be willing to trade.” Rhaessa produces a small reflective piece of glass, a shiny object that Mate happily takes in exchange for the dull, unwieldy leather that is no longer pulsing with light. The magpie grabs the shiny and runs over to Tric, then flaps up to the backpack to store it in his roost.
Rhaessa carefully lifts the Book of Rhys. “The recovery of this book is extremely important for containing the further spread of the threat of necromancy. Thank you both for participating in this. Please, keep the light vials as a sign of my appreciation.”
“Everyone all right?” Alric asks from the entrance to the well. “Haskel told me you all had headed here. Looks like there was a fight. One of the losers is at the bottom of the well over here, unconscious.” He is not concerned about Tric and Heppa knowing of his involvement. Of course they know; even if they did not see any of his knives, they certainly saw Aderyn flying around. Rhaessa is another matter, though. It does not suit the Parting Glass’s reputation for Alric to be involved in underworld turf disputes.
The new arrival is dressed to fight and in the area where the brutish thug disappeared; Rhaessa can put the pieces together. However, it is also clear to her that this man would prefer his involvement to be kept quiet. That is fine with her. The less this gets discussed the better, particularly with the Book of Rhys involved. “We don’t need to talk about what happened down here,” she assures the man clad in black with knives slung across his chest.
“Right, we don’t need to…” Tric begins. There is a good tale to be had here!
“Perhaps we could keep the sensitive details of what happened down here under wraps,” Rhaessa suggests, patting the book. Tric can agree to that much.
Tric and Heppa set about their usual clean-up procedures for after a fight with undead. With Alric’s help, they pile up what little remains are on hand—Rhaessa’s lightbeams were quite effective—and set them ablaze. With Godol dead and Rowan fled, the mists themselves should no longer be an issue; no one remains to work shadow magic in the tunnels.
Rhaessa suddenly realizes they are one person short. “What happened to our guide?”
“She completed the contract. She’s very precise in holding to terms. I’m not really in a position to argue, given the discount rate I negotiated. Don’t worry, this well leads up to the ruined estate by the river. We’re quite familiar with it.”
“You’ll be safe traveling through the streets with us from here, even at this late hour,” Alric adds, backing Tric up.
“That’s fine, that’s fine,” Rhaessa says, “but what about your support mage? The one consulting on this project?” There is no doubt in her mind about what type of magic she saw at the end of that fight. Fire missiles are a staple of arcane human magic.
Tric tries to deflect. “Ah, yes, I brought in some merfolk—you may recall they had the nets—I don’t think they actually had a mermaid priestess with them. Did you know that mermaid priestesses can make light vials similar to these?”
“And they can clear corruption!” Heppa adds, inadvertently aiding Tric’s deception in her eagerness to discuss the similarities between Aglana’s magic and Rhaessa’s.
Rhaessa turns her attention to Hepalonia. Tric is clearly attempting to distract Rhaessa with glib talk, but maybe this other elf will be more forthcoming. “That’s great that you’ve consulted merfolk priestesses on these matters. They are definitely a group who would know something about the issue of undead. That is exactly the sort of person you should be talking to—not human mages who aren’t white mages. Are you aware that this is not a safe thing for human mages to be dabbling in? But you are working with some human mage.” She is certain that was Kachen at the tavern. He may not have been seated with the elves, but he did try to claim the staff they had brought her.
“Why are white mages particularly suited to this?” Heppa asks, curiosity piqued. “We met a paladin, and he told me some things about his magic that I’d love to run past you. I’m also really curious what could possibly be in that book that helped Godol raise undead…” Heppa is so excited at the prospect of comparing notes that Rhaessa’s true concern does not even sink in.
“You know what? It’s late, and we’re all tired. I would really like to hear more about your experiences fighting necromancy alongside merfolk, but this is a creepy place to discuss such matters. Let’s meet up later this week to review what we’ve learned under the light of the sun,” Rhaessa suggests. The elves are agreeable.
They all leave the tunnels through the well, hoisting Efa up with the rope that Alric brought. The House of Light is right next to the tower, and they part ways with Rhaessa there. Alric hangs back while Tric and Heppa lug Efa’s unconscious form up to the guardpost in front of the tower. Henrick is on duty, and Tric ribs him a bit about having to recapture the thug. Henrick insists that he successfully delivered the prisoner to Weldyn, and Tric explains that the caravan was attacked closer to Carcyn. “The shadow mages broke free some of the prisoners, so I thought I’d bring this one back. It’s a present for my mom. Tell her I said hi.”
When they finally get back to the Parting Glass, Tric is a little surprised to find Kachen there rather than off at Heledd’s place—wherever that might be. He is still awake, waiting for Heppa since his hand is badly burnt. Heppa treats the injury and gives the usual admonishments about resting and eating. Then she slips back downstairs to join Alric.