Suggested Listening

"The necromancer's been here." Elruin drew her conclusion before they got in shouting range of the small Seyid town on the outskirts of Engeval's empire. Her bleak sight could spot the torn tapestry of life energy that came from the most blatant use of necromancy in combat, so long as the usage was fresh. All higher power spellcasting left such marks, but each was distinct and Elruin was especially sensitive to necromantic power.

Lemia asked the obvious question. "The necromancer, or any necromancer of sufficient strength?"

"The necromancer." The subtle but lingering hum of undeath clung to the area, singing of old death and impending sickness. "The whole city is covered in a small amount of taint."

"Sounds expensive." Ketak marched ahead, playing the role of the soldier she'd have to convince those of Seyid she was. "He can't ha'e done 'at wi'out a reason, got any ideas what he's playing at?"

"Terror tactics." Calenda considered what she would use such a field for, from the perspective of the undead. "First, if it's light, they gotta have exorcists who could cleanse it, but they're not. Were they killed? Does an attempted cleansing set off more surprise bombs? Second, even light taint should make it all but impossible to find actual undead via magic. Third, people have got to know it's there, and I can only imagine the effect that's having on the population."

Before they made it to city proper, the terrain began to shift around them. Spears of rigid purple and blue stone sprung from the ground, surrounding and trapping them behind beautiful but jagged walls. Elruin's eyes widened, because the stone was alive, a construct of living bone that looked like rock. She was a moment from hitting the wall with all her power, fearing they were the teeth of some strange underground dragon.

"State your business, outsiders!" Neither Elruin nor Lemia recognized the words, but Calenda and Ketak recognized the language of the Silvanesti.

"How much Sylvanesti do you know?" Cali put a hand over Elruin's mouth, to prevent the child from mentioning anything about the strangeness of the magical trap they were in, and thus accidentally revealing the wrong secret. "Because I only know enough to tell them I'm a priestess and basic ranks." Once, that was all she needed, but without a sigil of her Scout status, she had no authority to leverage.

"My apologies! We am Dwarf. Know little Silv." Ketak tried her best, which she had to admit was terrible, but it was better than Cali could do.

"Noble Stone-Sister, what brings you to this city of Klent?" Another voice, this one speaking silmid better than most in Sonhome could. She also managed to identify the sex of Ketak, which wasn't easy even amongst the silmid.

"My pardon, noble Leaf-Sister." Ketak slipped into the comfort of talking to one of her own in their native language, rather than the human tongue which had many sounds their mouths weren't equipped to make. "We visit in search of the maker of abominations."

"To what end?"

"That we might kill it, on request from the humans of Engeval." The year with Scratch aiding her in the slaughter of every goblin near Sonhome was the greatest compensation she could ever have asked for. Never before had she seen such beautiful slaughter. "Abominations have attacked as deep as Arila and Engewal, with here being the possible source. We see now the speculation was true."

"Then you have taken arms as a mercenary?"

"Never!" Ketak shouted, for it was amongst the greatest shame to be a killer for money, worse than any but traitors and those who exploit children. "I follow the Oath of the Flame, and work tirelessly to that end. However, it is human custom to pay those that kill in their name, and I see no reason not to gratefully accept all donations that go to the cause, even by those that believe it mandatory."

"Then we have much need of your sacred duties, Stone-Sister." If the silmid speaking had any doubts about Ketak's claims, she had no reason to voice them. If she had taken the Oath of the Flame, then it was a religious responsibility to allow her to act, within reason. If she was a mercenary from the human nobility, then it was still at the command of a ruling authority.

"Leaf-Sister, do you mind if we speak the human tongue? My companions are less familiar with the first-furs than we are with them."

"Yes, o' course, I wouldn't want to make our guests 'eel ignored." The silmid changed her tone, and slower speech for less comfortable syllables. "Yet I 'ear the city might not welcome your aid."

"We expected as much." Ketak switched to speaking human as well. "Howe'er, 'e longer 'ose in charge delay us, 'e more die to 'e necromancer's strange magics, including what 'e Arilans are calling bone runes. We bring a scholar to aid in teaching you 'eir defenses against such magics."

The walls of colorful jagged stone shifted and sank into the soil, where it returned to appearing no more than part of the environs even to Elruin's sight, while several soldiers waited for them outside. Two looked much like Lemia; people of dark brown skin, hair and eyes, though both were male. Another, the only woman, had the same soft blue tones of the boy whose zombie she had been forced to dispose of that morning, and one was a silmid of red-orange fur, with a white muzzle.

The silmid came forward, with the blue colored woman right behind her. "My apologies, but we must test you be'ore we allow you into 'e city. Rys will use a simple spell, it won't harm you, but it will re'eal i' you're one o' 'e necromancer's pawns."

The woman, Rys, held up a large, bright pink sarite crystal. With a flash of energy, the group felt a tingle of energy that almost tickled, save for Cali who thanked her lucky stars that her body no longer had reflexes to scream or flinch away from pain. She remained standing, only because it was no different than collapsing in her current state of unlife.

Meanwhile, three very angry squirrels hissed at the spell. "Shh, shh, it's fine." Elruin did her best to calm them down by petting them and holding her hands out as if to feed them, though she couldn't under the current circumstances.

Lemia stepped forward, choosing to be confrontational while her friends recovered from the experience. "You lied to us."

"No, 'e spell is harmless."

"For normal people, sure, but if any of us had runebones, that spell would have set them off." Lemia considered the residue of the magic, and how it might respond once it made contact with bloodmold. "Then it... saps taint in order to manipulate blood by separating salt from water? I guess that's one way to cure bloodmold. I bet it does a lot of damage to the undead, too. But it's still a killing spell."

The silmid closed her eyes, for them a sign of shame. "It is our best line o' protection. Li'es lost are a tragedy, but a greater tragedy is 'e li'es lost i' 'ey are allowed to continue on at 'e abomination's whims. Do you ha'e a better way?"

Now it was Lemia's turn to feel apologetic. "Uh, we're still working on it."

"Enou' o' 'at." Ketak stepped in. "Recriminations won't help anyone. We are here to 'ix 'e problem 'e best way, by bringing justice to 'e abomination and guarantee 'is ne'er happens again. Sooner we get started, 'e fewer ha'e to die."

"You're right." Lemia bowed in apology to the silmid. "It has been a stressful trip, and I fear our job has only just begun. Can you please recommend a good inn for us to set up for the night?"

"Yes, 'e silver spire, it's straight 'ataway." She pointed toward the southeast.

It hurt Cali to walk, but she wasn't like normal undead, and understood how to push her body beyond what the typical abomination could. She'd dealt with far, far worse pain in her life. Besides, the soft taint in the atmosphere was able to restore her body as she moved. Soon, it only felt like she walking on two broken feet, rather than breaking every bone in her legs with each step.

Suggested Listening

"You know, I thought she was giving us the name of the inn." Lemia looked up at tower of silver colored stone. It was both majestic and natural, like it had been carved by water rather than the work of hands or even magic. "It's beautiful work, and the magic is so intricate, like it's being powered from within."

"Their buildings are alive," Elruin said. Now that they were further along, she'd gotten a look at the rigid buildings of the city. She wanted to help Cali, but she had to be good and hide her magic. She comforted herself by noting that Cali's presence was enough to soak up the fragments of taint, so she didn't have to cleanse it outright.

"It's called coral," Cali said. "It's a plant that grows in the ocean, and there's plenty of sylvanesti water mages in Seyid who use it to shape buildings similar to how the silmid shape trees. Still trying to figure out how at Rys woman controlled it using blood magic, if you've got any thoughts on that."

"It's not a plant." Now that Elruin was close to the inn and had time to look, she was certain of it. "It's an animal. Or a bunch of animals, like ants, but they make their hive out of their own exoskeleton. It's like living bone..."

They all stopped as they came to the same realization at the same time.

"Good thing I wasn't planning to sleep tonight, anyway," Lemia said.