laneys.info Beware of Yankees, drunks, and loose women.

Unfortunately for the inhabitants of the city, their guests hated the one they worshipped. Sater had gained the ire of most of the world. Her companions did this in the name of justice, but Adgertesse’ held no such views. She only wanted to take out her frustrations on those who supported the one who had taken more from her than most. Lericanin had dedicated himself to the destruction of the Dark One and Tess was beginning to believe that goal may be realized as buildings around them burned and students of necromancy, magic and alchemy died around them.
Tess stood in the dimly lit hallway, surrounded by bodies of richly adorned students, now bloodied and cleaved as Selyria, Lita and Alandria entered the second building to the alchemical school, leaving Nicolas outside to protect the horses. She grinned knowing the horses were probably keeping an eye on the fifteen year old instead.

“Where’s everyone else,” Selyria asked.

“Finishing in the upper levels, they should be down in a moment.” Her eyes turned to their first casualty. “How you feeling?”

“Fine,” the attractive brunette nodded. “Quite a mess you got here.”

“It’ll all be a memory soon,” the dark elf stated flatly. Unaffected by the war around her, she turned back to Alandria as a fired arrow rose into the sky to the north. “We’re being called,” she motioned behind them. The prearranged symbol was the dwarves way of notifying the specialzed group of undead problems that they couldn’t deal with personally. “Alandria, tell the others we have to go,” Tess directed as the ranger then ran upstairs. Duty done here, she moved out through the main door as Nicolas patiently waited.

“Where you going,” Selyria asked as she entered the shrub lined walkway.

“Go see what they’ve found. I’ll contact you with any details so you can inform the rest.”

“Alright, we’ll be right behind you.”

She continued on past another flanking stone building which completed the three sided campus and entered a bordering avenue which soon led her towards a castle. Attached to the western curtain wall which protected the immense necropolis, the tall gatehouse and strong walls held more than the buildings which she could barely make out, peeking through the merlons.

“Might want to use caution,” a gruff, low voice belted out as a fireball lurched from the gatehouse. Dodging, Tess felt the heat from the passing ball which slammed into the corner of another apartment building, already belching black smoke. Landing hard, she rolled and leaped to her feet as orange eyes tried to gain a bead on the mage within.

“Told you,” he continued as she noticed the quartet standing behind their sheilds. At least he warned her. “We tried assaulting that but were told a lich is inside. Where are your friends?”

“On their way,” she informed as she studed the gathouse. No moat had been dug so this should be easy enough to infiltrate and open.

“Alright then, we’ll leave you to it.” They turned and headed west to rejoin their unit as she continued evaluating avenues inside.

A cold chill coursed through her veins as a dark voice infiltrated her mind. ‘What are you doing bound to dogs like them? I thought your kind fought with us.’

‘I’ve had enough of his lies. He’s unconcerned with the loss of this town and if I were you, I’d change my ways and forget this place. If not, you’re going to die in there.’

A dark chuckle echoed in her mind. ‘You’re quite confident in your ignorance. Too bad, you have a lot of potential. Remain with them and you’ll be the one who meets her end today.’

‘We’ll see.’

Soon, the small army approached her as she waited. “What’ve we got,” Lericanin asked.

“Entering won’t be a problem but, the main inhabitant is powerful. She’s a lich and knows we’ve come for her.”

“Well, let’s don’t keep her waiting.” He led the rest towards the gatehouse as Tess prepared to teleport to the rightmost tower as a wall of fire leapt from the ground, consuming her friends. They backed out, rolled and flailed as their clothing and gear burned until the fire dissipated. A trap unseen until it was too late. She ran over to them as Selyria stood and began rummaging through her pack as others patted out small fires on themselves and those around them. She produced her herb bag and quickly handed out a green leaf to each which they ate.

“This should take care of any further burn damage,” the resident medic informed as Tess kept an eye on the walls, surprised that no one else tried to take advantage of their disposition. Perhaps the discussion with the lich prompted a retreat by other means. Whatever happened, she was glad they weren’t taking further fire while already down.