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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 7184065" data-attributes="member: 143">Chapter 65Xeeta felt a cold fear clutch in her belly at the sight of the orc warrior standing over her, his mace raised to crush her skull.  But before the creature could strike the feeling was replaced by a sudden, furious rage.  It burned away the terror with its intensity, and with it came her magic, the full power of the Demon awakened by her brush with death.“Burn,” she said.And the orc burned.Flames erupted around the warrior, enfolding him in a deadly wreath of magic.  The orc tried to escape, to turn away from his fate, but Xeeta’s hellish rebuke clung to him, searing him until with one final staggering step he collapsed.  The mace that had been about to crush the life from her body fell harmlessly to the ground.Xeeta sucked in a breath and regretted it as pain exploded throughout her torso, scouring away the anger and everything else.  She decided not to try to get up, which probably proved wise as a soft cough a moment later awakened new spasms of agony.“Xeeta!  Xeeta, are you okay?”She turned her head—slowly, slightly—so she could see Bredan and the others rushing toward her.  She saw the look in the boy’s eyes as he took in the scene, took in the destruction and death she’d unleashed.  But she also saw concern as he knelt next to her.  He was wounded himself, a red stain spreading under his mail.“Don’t try to move her, boy,” Kosk said.  “Wait for the healers.”Quellan appeared a moment later, kneeling carefully beside her.  “Where were you hurt?” he asked.“Ribs,” she managed, though even that took an incredible effort.  It felt like several sharp knives were piercing her body, but a moment later the cleric’s magic entered her body and the pain evaporated.  She let out a relieved sigh, but remained where she was until the cure wounds spell took its full effect.“Better?” he asked.“Better,” Xeeta said.  “Bredan, help me up?”The boy offered a hand at once, and while she still felt a little unsteady, she was able to stand unassisted.  “Thanks.”“What happened?” Bredan asked.“I had to stop them,” Xeeta said.“That explosion of yours alerted them sure enough,” Kosk said.  “I wouldn’t be surprised if they heard that back at the village.”“It… they were… my magic, sometimes it sort of… exceeds my expectations.”The dwarf raised an eyebrow at that, but Bredan just nodded at the fallen orc and said, “Yeah, it looks like that guy found that out.”Glori had moved over to the dead leader, and picked up his mace.  “This looks unusual,” she said.  The weapon was made of a dark metal that shone dully in the bright sunlight.  “Better than the rest of their gear, anyway.”Quellan turned from delivering a second cure wounds to Bredan to examine the weapon.  “May I?”  Accepting the mace from Glori, he gave it a few experimental swings.  “It could be magical,” he said.“Keep it,” Kosk said.  “Nobody else here uses that kind of weapon.  We should check out that cave, make sure there aren’t any more of them skulking about.”After quickly checking the bodies they made their way into the cave.  The interior was dark, so Quellan paused to enchant his shield with light so that Bredan could see.Just past the narrow entry the cave widened into a cavern of considerable size.  It was immediately obvious that the orcs had been camping there for some time.  Their bedrolls were noisome heaps of rotting fabric and furs that even Glori with her eye for treasure wanted nothing to do with.  But there was another exit, a passage of clearly-worked stone to their right that extended deeper into the cliff.Kosk took the lead, though the passage only continued on for about fifteen feet before it opened onto another room.  This one was only a fraction of the size of the outer cavern, and was almost empty save for three more bedrolls spread out around a cleared space in the center of the floor.  It looked as though the passage had continued on at some point, though now it extended for only a few more feet past the room before ending in a complete collapse.  There was another exit in the back of the room, a narrow, low passageway that only Kosk would be able to negotiate without ducking.“Ugh, what’s that stench,” Bredan said.“Orc,” Kosk said.“No, it’s something different,” Bredan insisted, covering his face with his arm as if that could keep the odor at bay.“Look, money,” Glori said.  She pointed to a few gleaming bits of metal lying on the floor and went to investigate.  In addition to a few silver coins she found a pair of dice made of ivory that she held up for the others to see.  “Looks like we interrupted their game.”“Back luck for them,” Kosk said.  He’d moved over to the mouth of the cramped passage and sniffed at the air there.  “I think the boy’s right.  Something in here.”Quellan came over with the light, which revealed that the passage extended for about ten feet before opening into a tiny vault.  They could see the likely source of the smell: a pair of booted feet that turned out to be attached to a very dead man.The vault was far too small to fit all of them at once, but Glori accompanied Kosk to check out the body.  “Looks like the orcs killed him,” Glori reported.  “I think he might have been a cleric; he’s wearing the sigil of Laesil.”“Goddess of luck,” Quellan said.  “It seems that his patroness’s favor couldn’t help him here.”  He made a gesture of benediction and turned away, a dark look on his face.“Whatever he had, the orcs took it,” Kosk said.  He came back to the larger room but Glori lingered behind a moment.“Should we bury him?” Bredan asked through his arm, still trying to protect himself against the stench.“That would be a good gesture,” Quellan said.“Hey, look what I found!” Glori said as she returned with a look of triumph on her face.  She was holding a tightly-wrapped scroll.“Where did you find that?” Kosk said.  “I searched the body.”“It was in his boot,” Glori said.She unrolled the scroll and held it out so they could all see it.  It was immediately recognizable as a map of the ruins.  It didn’t show the interior of the cave, but in addition to the part of the exterior complex they’d explored it showed an additional structure atop the cliffs.  There was an annotation there, “Suspicious hole – should investigate.”The companions shared a look.  “What do you think?” Bredan asked.After a moment, Glori said, “I think maybe we should take our unfortunate friend’s advice… and investigate.”</blockquote>

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