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TastesLikeGreen
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Curse of the Shieldfall: The Shadow Below

[Commission] On the Beat
the_shadow_below.doc
Keywords male 1108895, female 998691, human 99888, fantasy 24418, monster 23483, magic 23409, clean 10220, adventure 5374, fight 5314, action 4136, raven 2520, wizard 2038, spear 1566, curse 1155, danger 654, mine 564, no-yiff 549, paladin 502, familiar 458, revenant 44, intrigue 33, rilodell 14
Curse of the Shieldfall: The Shadow Below
By Green



Ariella Taligre Shieldfall stood there, covered in cold sweat, gripping the spear in her hands as tightly as if it were her only anchor to the world, and letting go would send her flying off into the void between stars. Of course, at this particular moment, she reflected, that might not be the most unappealing fate; about fifty feet ahead of her, a cave entrance was disgorging no fewer than three revenants, murderous undead creatures draped in magical darkness, utterly lacking in mercy or compassion, and who were all the more horrific for the fact that they were once Human. Ari's family history made her especially terrified of the monsters, but even without that, being faced by supernatural beasts with razor-sharp claws and wicked fangs wasn't a situation anyone would want to be in. Excepting perhaps the man standing next to her, an impossibly stoic paladin named Jerroth, who had assumed a battle stance, glaring at the creatures as he held his morning star and shield at the ready. Perched on her shoulder was a raven who looked almost as unhappy as Ari felt, and he trembled against her, shaking his head at the sight before them.
        "Oh dear..." he murmured. The familiar, 'Mister Crow' as his wizard master had sarcastically named him, looked pretty deeply unsettled, but to his credit, he hadn't taken advantage of his wings to flee the scene. Of course, at the moment, Ariella was more focused on the monsters crawling closer with the promise of gruesome death burning in their eyes than she was on admiring the courage of her friends, so she wasn't really in a position to appreciate that.
        "Jerroth..." Ari whispered, stunned at how composed her voice sounded, "What's the plan?"
        "We do not have a lot of options," replied the paladin, his voice just as rigid as his posture, "They charge, we fight." Then, coming through the tiny magical charms she wore as earrings, Ari heard the voice of Crow's master, the wizard Thaniel, observing the situation from the safety of his distant tower.
        "I think I've got an alternative to that, ah, strategy, if you don't mind," he said, "Crow, could you raise your chest just a little?" The bird stretched up on his legs, puffing out his chest like he was proud, which adjusted the angle of the amulet he was wearing around his neck. Thaniel suffered from a terrible fear of open spaces, and almost never left his tower, but the amulet his familiar was wearing, a remote focus charm, not only allowed him to observe his friends and allies from afar, it served as a conduit that Thaniel could channel his considerable magical abilities though. As he began to murmur to himself in one of the many languages he spoke that Ari didn't understand, the heiress swallowed, hoping this was worth the danger. They had tracked the ancient gauntlet that had cursed her family to this area, and determined that it had something to do with the revenants who had haunted the forest and local countryside for the last fifty years. The problem was, the Midnight Hand, as some had called the darksteel glove, was likely to be right in the heart of the creatures' nest, lair, whatever you wanted to call the place that undead abominations called home. So here they were, facing an abandoned mine in the middle of the night, and the first of the 'inhabitants' were coming out to say hello.
        "Ah, Jerroth?" said Ari, as the murmuring began to speed up, "I don't know what he's up to, but Thaniel's about to try something magical, just a head's-up..." The paladin turned his head just a fraction, enough to glance back at her with one blank white eye, then looked forward again without saying anything or even nodding.
        "Now!" cried Thaniel, and with one more syllable, the amulet began to glow and crackle.

Suddenly, a distortion appeared in the air directly ahead of Ariella, a distortion that resolved itself into a man; a fairly average man that Ari didn't recognize, wearing the cheap but sturdily-made clothing popular with the common citizens of North Nolan, the nearby town which lived in fear of revenant attacks.
        "S-sir?" asked Ari, confused. Why in Rilodell would Thaniel bring a civilian out here into such danger? Ignoring her completely, the man suddenly took off at a dead sprint towards the woods, screaming at the top of his lungs and waving his hands in panic.
        "Sir, wait!" called Ari, alarmed, as the revenants hungrily followed the man with their eyes. Another distortion appeared, a middle-aged woman appeared out of thin air, and then she took off screaming into the night, and then a rather homely-looking goatman, and then a young girl, and then -
        "Thaniel, for sanity's sake, what are you doing?" gasped Ari, "The - the revenants!" Just then, the closest monster took off after the howling civilians, letting out a chilling snarl as it did so.
        "They're going to hunt down the loud, running targets, and ignore the people who are standing still," Thaniel said, calmly, "Which would be really terrible of me if those people actually existed."
        "Master?" asked Crow, confused, as he could also hear the wizard's voice thanks to the magical bond between them.
        "These are just illusions, Crow, big, juicy, distracting ones designed to make much more appealing targets than the heavily armoured paladin and the spearwoman with the magic weapon," said Thaniel, proudly, "Just wait for all of the beasties to take off, and make a run for the cave entrance."
        "Ariella?" asked Jerroth, who was not privy to the wizard's side of the conversation. He was looking back at Ari again, and he was frowning. Having seen him singlehandedly take on a revenant in a one-on-one fight, and the power of the holy light he wielded, Ari did not want to give him the wrong impression, so she quickly repeated what Thaniel had told her. Upon hearing they weren't actually sacrificing innocents for their own sake, the paladin nodded and turned his attention back to the revenants as a busty tiger woman materialized and ran wailing into the trees.
        "A peculiar strategy, but an effective one, it seems," Jerroth observed, as the other monsters took off after their own targets, "If only the Order had more spellcasters of its own... we could do a lot of good in the name of the Seven with such distractions." The image of Thaniel's boyishly handsome face briefly appeared on the amulet to reply to that comment directly.
        "As handy as it would be, there's a reason our social circles don't really mix," he said, "the sort of people that get into spellcraft are usually more prone to playing with the natural laws of creation than holy orders would prefer, in my experience." Point made, his image vanished so the amulet could go back to creating illusions.

Jerroth carefully slung his shield over his back and held his hand palm-forward towards Ari.
        "We must pick our moment carefully," he whispered, as the revenants hurled themselves into the woods after their imaginary prey, "We will most likely only get one chance at this..." As the stream of not-people came to an end, and the illusionary townsfolk began running in random circles amongst the trees, Jerroth waited until all three of the revenants had passed the treeline and then dropped his hand.
        "Now, Ariella!" he called, taking off as fast as his armour would let him. Crow alighted from her shoulder and took off towards the cave, though he looked back to make sure she was coming too, and follow she did, running as hard as she could, spear in hand, heart pounding in her ears almost as loudly as the snarls and howls of the revenants as they pursued their screaming 'victims'. They closed in on the mine entrance, which loomed large in her vision. Ari thought the air was getting darker as she approached, but realized she was simply moving too fast for the orb of light Thaniel had conjured for her to keep up, and the ball which normally orbited her like her own personal moon was lagging behind by about five feet, floating after her like it, too, was desperately trying to reach the mine. As they drew so close she could almost smell the dusty air, a revenant leapt out of a tree and slammed to the ground, claws-first, on top of the busty tigress, who let out one last shriek and vanished into a puff of steam, which quickly dissipated. Suddenly robbed of the satisfaction of a messy kill, the revenant's eyes lifted up and fell upon the next-closest moving thing... which was Ari.

Feeling those terrible, dead eyes focusing on her, Ari cried out in alarm, feeling for just an instant as terrified as she'd been not so long ago, witnessing her beloved Uncle Roderick in the throes of transformation into one of these horrible things. Hearing this, Jerroth turned and halted just by the entrance to the mine. Getting his shield back out, he started walking back towards Ari.
        "Keep running!" he shouted at her, and the spearwoman was in no mood to argue. As he continued strolling purposefully towards her, Ari could hear the revenant bounding after her; unlike the mortal beings they'd once been, revenants moved on all fours, like wolves, but with an incredible agility and ability to jump. Any second now, Ari expected to feel it knock her to the ground and bring her a horrible death, but she dared not look back, instead focusing on the paladin as he held his morning star out to his side and picked up the pace. The hand that gripped the handle of his weapon gave a twist, and with a loud click, the spiked head suddenly fell off, revealing that it was attached to the shaft by a retractable metal chain, which was now extending. With the head hanging down, Jerroth continued running towards Ari, reciting something to himself as his morning star - his flail, she supposed - began to glow a hopeful golden colour. When their paths finally crossed, Jerroth let out an angry bellow and stamped his feet to a halt, holding his ground and putting all his momentum into a single swing that arced the head of his weapon down towards the ground, and then up into the jaw of the revenant that had been right behind Ari. This single blow lifted the creature off the ground and sent it flying back the way it came, black blood spewing from an injury that wouldn't slow it down for long. Turning and putting his armoured self between Ari and the creature, the paladin encouraged her to keep going, to run for the mine, and she happily obeyed, gasping her relieved thanks to him as she did. The two of them made it to the cave as the creature got back to its feet, flicking its head to the side and forcing its jaw back into the proper position. Then it resumed chasing after them, snarling and hissing angrily. Ari and Jerroth turned to see the beast bearing down on them, as well as the head of a second monster, leaning out from the woods and peering curiously at them.
        "Stay behind me, Ariella," said Jerroth, confidently, as the head of his weapon retracted back onto the shaft, "If you see a spot where you can thrust your spear past me, take it. These wretches are not going to let us go that easily..." Thaniel buzzed in Ari's ear, and Mister Crow immediately repeated his master's message for Jerroth.
        "Thaniel plans to strike this one with a bolt of lightning!" he cried, "Clear the way!" Jerroth ducked to the side of the cave, but he looked at the raven in alarm as he did so.
        "Wizard, wait!" he called, but before he could get another word out, the revenant leapt at them, claws and fangs forward, with a horrible roar, and as Ari clenched her teeth and raised her spear, point towards the beast, Crow squawked in surprise and almost fell backwards off her shoulder. Unfortunately, Thaniel chose exactly that moment to unleash his incantation, and a blindingly bright bolt of pure electricity erupted from the medallion, searing upwards and slamming into the ceiling of the tunnel just ahead of them, which in turn exploded into blackened rocks and chunks of burned dirt as it began to collapse. Turning instantly, Jerroth hurled himself forward, tackling Ari further down the tunnel, and the ceiling just inside the shaft fell in on itself, sending tons of soil and stone cascading down and catching the leaping revenant in mid-air. Ariella closed her eyes and screamed, terrified out of her wits, but over the rumbling of the earth, she couldn't even make out the sound.

Suddenly, Ari was aware that the noise had stopped, and she could hear Thaniel's frantic voice in her ear, so she assumed that she'd passed out and some time had passed, but dazed as she was, she wasn't sure if it was five seconds or a week.
        "Ari! Ari Shieldfall, by the Green God, speak to me! Ari!" the wizard insistently cried. She groaned and carefully raised a hand to her forehead. Her arm felt alright, and aside from the ringing in her ears, so did her head... aside from what felt like her entire body being coated in rock dust.
        "Shit... There's a m-memorable way to start your first bloody adventure..." she muttered. Even now, even here, she automatically thought to herself that her mother would be horribly disappointed if she heard her daughter use such language. As she coughed, feeling her bruised torso protesting, Ari actually heard Thaniel sigh in relief.
        "Oh - oh Hermit's Cave, you're alright... I n-never would have forgiven myself if..." He trailed off, and after gritting her teeth, Ari forced herself to sit up. It actually went pretty well, she was pretty sure she was just bruised and nothing was broken. Additionally, the light orb had survived completely intact, but then she didn't think it actually had any physical presence, so that was unsurprising. At the moment, all she could see was rocks and dirt... and that the entrance to the mine was completely gone, covered up entirely by the cave-in.
        "Well, I'm alive," she finally replied, leaning against the wall of the cave, "I don't know about 'alright'... I did learn that getting body-checked by a grown man in p-plate armour is rubbish, I wouldn't recommend it." Immediately next to Ari came a groan, and as she belatedly thought to look down, Jerroth, who had landed on his chest, pushed himself up to his elbows.
        "I - I apologize for that, Miss Shieldfall..." he said, his voice tight and strained, "It was an - an instinctive response..." She waved dismissively and pulled her knees up to her chest.
        "Oh, Jerroth... no, no, I was just making a j-joke, you probably saved my life," she replied, "Are you alright?" He stayed in the same position, eyes closed, as he paused a moment before responding.
        "I am having trouble moving my legs," he admitted, "So either there is a large stone atop my calves, or I have been very seriously injured indeed." Ari looked, feeling a brief instant of terror just at the idea of having to go on without her armoured companion.
        "Th-there's a rock on you," she whispered. Finally opening his eyes, which no longer held the white, featureless appearance they took on when he was using his Holy Sight, Jerroth slowly looked over his shoulder, no more eager to discover hidden injuries than Ari had been. Upon looking at the stone, he sighed.
        "Ah. Well, that's good. May the seven gods be praised, for I do not find myself crippled," he muttered, before raising his voice and adding "That is an awkward location for me. If you could lift it just enough for me to get my legs out, I think I will be fine." In this dim light, Jerroth's brown eyes looked black, ominous, yet somehow she still found it more comfortable to hold his gaze like this than when he was using his sacred powers. She observed that unlike a torch, which cast a slight yellow pall to everything, the orb above them was emitting a gentle white light, and so Jerroth's skin was still the same chocolate brown, albeit now lightly coated in dust. Forcing herself onto her feet without standing up straight, Ari shuffled over to the rock somewhat dubiously.
        "Thaniel?" she asked, "It's a pretty big rock, for me anyway, do you have some kind of, ah, strength charm that you could -" she suddenly trailed off as that line of thought reminded her of a voice that remained silent, and gasped "Gods above, Crow! Where is Crow?!"

Ari looked around frantically, panicked at the thought of having lost a companion, even one who was a bird, and a rather rude one at that.
        "Calm down, Ari," said Thaniel, "Crow is still alive, I can still sense him. I would know if he had died. He's in there with you somewhere, he must just be unconscious." Nodding, even though Thaniel couldn't see her, Ariella looked around, peering into every pool of shadow to see if it was actually the black of raven feathers. Jerroth coughed and raised one arm at the elbow, pointing.
        "There!" Spinning around, Ari caught sight of the familiar, splayed out on his back on the ground, unmoving.
        "Crow!" she gasped, crawling over on all fours, tentatively reaching out to touch him. He was still warm, and his chest moved as he breathed, much to her relief. Logically, she knew that Thaniel was right, if Crow had died, the magical bond between wizard and familiar would have been severed, and Thaniel would know beyond the shadow of a doubt. And yet, actually seeing for herself that the bird still lived made her shudder with relief from head to toe, tears of happiness threatening to flow from the corners of her eyes. Leaning in closer, gently nudging at their little friend with her fingertips, she whispered to him.
        "Crow? Crow?" No response, and she thought a moment and tried again.
        "Siaro? Can you hear me? Siaro?" Whether he was stirred by the use of his true name, or just by all the poking, Ari wasn't sure, but he groaned and opened his beady little eyes.
        "Ohhhh, my... my everything..." he moaned, before focusing on the woman before him and asking, "Ari? Wh-what happened?"  Looking back at the entrance, Ari sighed, shaking her head.
        "The tunnel caved in, I think it crushed that revenant, and almost took us with it. The good news is, the ones outside can't get to us. The bad news..."
        "Is that we are now trapped inside the nest with however many other revenants infest this forsaken place," Jerroth interjected, "Are you injured, Mister Crow?" The raven wiggled a bit, and let out a squawk, shuddering hard.
        "My - my wing!" he gasped, his voice sounding like he was gritting his teeth, despite the fact that he didn't have any teeth, nor could he clench them with a beak if he did. "I remember now, a r-rock clipped me and I fell... I think my wing is b-broken! Ohhh, of all the places to be crippled, this is one of the worst!" Jerroth coughed again.
        "I would use the Light to aid you, familiar," he said, "but I am afraid this stone is beginning to hurt, and I am having trouble focusing..."
        "It'll be alright, Crow," said Thaniel, soothingly, "Ari, take the amulet off of Crow and hold it towards him so I can heal him." The spellcaster and the raven had an argumentative, almost adversarial relationship, but displays like this one had convinced Ari that deep down, they truly cared for each other, and not just as master and servant. Gingerly removing the necklace, she did as the wizard asked as he muttered to himself.
        "This isn't exactly my specialty," admitted Thaniel, "It's usually priests and clerics and such that get really heavily into healing magic... But this should do the job!" The medallion began to glow a gentle green, a light which floated languidly over to the bird, who writhed a little as his bones reset themselves and the broken pieces merged back into one whole.
        "Aaaaah!" cried Crow, "W-well, that felt... strange... but at least it didn't hurt as much as setting a b-bone the old-fashioned way..." Flopping over onto his feet, the raven carefully swung his right wing around, testing its extension, and then sighed in relief, folding them back against his body and hopping into Ari's offered hand.
        "...Thank you, master," the raven said, somewhat self-consciously. The amulet glowed slightly and a blueberry muffin popped into existence in the air in front of Ari, who instinctively caught it. Understanding what it was for, she held it up to the bird, who seemed surprised.
        "Thaniel?" The wizard's response was warm and gentle, which felt nice to hear, under the circumstances.
        "For being a good patient, my feathered friend." After that, they belatedly carried out the idea that had reminded Ari that Crow was missing in the first place; with the amulet once more around the familiar's neck, Thaniel channeled a simple strength charm through it, and with her arms tingling pleasantly, Ari found it relatively easy to lift the stone away from Jerroth's legs long enough for him to pull them free and roll over. With the pressure eased, he was able to concentrate long enough to recite his prayers and heal his own injuries with the golden light of his Order, and soon enough, all three adventurers were on their feet (even if Crow's feet were planted on Ari's shoulder, not the ground), trying to work out their next move.

The paladin looked only briefly at the cave-in, sighing and shaking his head.
        "It would be no good trying to move this," he muttered, "It would take hours even with the proper tools, and the ceiling may be unstable now; digging might just make it worse. As much as I would like to get extremely angry with Thaniel for this, he did just make it easier for us to proceed, and for all I know, the cave-in saved us from those revenants." His voice was the same composed, slightly tense deadpan he always spoke with, which didn't exactly help soften the blow he delivered as he looked to Ari and Crow.         "Unfortunately, we are well and truly trapped here, unless Thaniel can create a portal here or we find another exit from the mine..." Crow groaned unhappily.
        "There are few things I hate more than being trapped at ground level," he complained, glaring at the ceiling above them, "And being in a nest full of monsters isn't helping." Ari had retrieved her spear and was pleased to find that the enchantment had held firm, and it was completely unharmed. The weapon was properly named 'Zahk-Tumm the Unyielding', and it had once belonged to the famed adventurer Xander Shieldfall, the ancestor of Ariella's whose run-in with the Midnight Hand had gotten her entire bloodline cursed in the first place.
        "Well, we have access to limitless muffins, thanks to that ring of Thaniel's," Ari said, "But drinking water will be in short supply, so I really hope we're not s-stuck down here..." There was, of course, a bigger reason why she hoped they weren't stuck, but she was reluctant to voice it, lest one of the beasts take it as an invitation and suddenly appear.
        "In any event, it seems we have no choice but to continue with our original plan and descend into the mine," observed Jerroth, "May the gods smile upon us... I will take the lead." Swallowing nervously, cursing herself even as she breathed in to speak the words, Ari put a hand on his shoulder.
        "The light orb follows me, Jerroth, not you," she said, pointing a thumb towards the ball of magical energy that lazily orbited above, "shouldn't I t-take the lead so we can see ahead more clearly?" The paladin turned to look into the darkness, and when he turned back to her, his eyes were blank and featureless once more.
        "I can see well enough without it, Miss Shieldfall," he intoned, "And it will be far easier for you to stab past me with your spear than it would be for me to swing my sacred weapon past you." Ari swallowed and nodded. She was extremely glad she had Jerroth on her side, but the man wasn't exactly comforting.

With that, the three of them began descending into the earth, following the path down into what had once been a thriving iron mine. For a long while, there wasn't anything particularly noteworthy about their journey, just dirt and stone and darkness. When she found her attention lingering on a very old broken pickaxe lying against the side of the tunnel, Ari realized that somehow, despite her fear, she'd actually become sort of bored.
        "Uncle Roderick once taught me an old saying about war," she said, to no one in particular, "That it's long stretches of boredom punctuated by brief moments of terror." Jerroth didn't look back at her, his attention focused on the path ahead, and the dangers that could be waiting in the dark, but he nodded at her words.
        "The Order of the Light of Unity does not engage in traditional war, it is not our place to pick sides in battles between armies of men," he said, "But from what I have read and experienced of campaigns against evil, that seems an apt description. Your uncle is a wise man." Ari swallowed, the image of Roderick's terrified face flickering through her mind against her will. Closing her eyes tightly and shaking her head, she whispered a single word that sounded quiet even down here in the mine.
        "...Was." The paladin's response sounded subdued, for him.
        "My apologies, Miss Shieldfall. I did not know."
        "It's alright, Jerroth..." she whispered, opening her eyes again so she wouldn't be caught unaware. After a moment, she spoke up again.
        "Don't think I didn't notice you switching back to 'Miss Shieldfall'," she said, "I thought we settled on 'Ariella'." To her surprise, Jerroth actually sighed.
        "I told you, I have only recently been named a full-blooded member of the Order," he said, "And my training put a great deal of emphasis on formality when dealing with civilians." Extending her spear forward so that Jerroth could see it, Ari managed a small smile.
        "Well, I'm down here with you in the thick of it, remember?" she asked, "Just think of me as... your sister in arms." That was the most formal term she could think of, and he seemed to approve.
        "Hmm... You make a good point... Ariella." As before, he'd remained staring straight forward, but from the tone of his voice, Ari could almost swear he was smiling.

A few minutes later, Ari was trying not to think about the weight of all the stone above her head, and of how it had been relatively easy for them to collapse the entrance. So she tried to think of something else.
        "Thaniel?" she asked, as the wizard had been silent for quite a while now, "Can you hear me?" His response was immediate, which did a lot to reassure her.
        "I'm here, Ari," he said, "What's up?"
        "I was just wondering... We're going pretty deep now, is that going to interfere with the charms, make it harder to talk or for you to send spells through the amulet?" Thaniel actually chuckled, to her surprise. When he replied, there was an unmistakeable note of pride in his voice.
        "Oh, heck no," he said, "Maybe if it was one of those silly little gizmos the League of Engineers have been working on, there'd be a problem, but this is good old-fashioned magic. Once the spell's been set, you can go anywhere and it'll still work." A moment passed, and then he added "Well, I suppose you could wander into a zone of anti-magic, or a room lined with cold iron, that has unpredictable effects on magic, but, ah, I don't think you're likely to find either of those things in an old mine." Up ahead, Jerroth raised a hand to his temple and rubbed it idly for a moment.
        "Are you alright?" asked Mister Crow, speaking on his master's behalf. This time, the paladin did look back at Ari, and she saw that his forehead was furrowed, his eyes squinted slightly.
        "My Holy Sight..." he murmured, "This place..." He stopped walking and Ari stepped forward, putting a hand on his elbow.
        "What do you see, Jerroth?" she asked, quietly, not sure she wanted the answer. He looked around and shook his head.
        "Less than I would like... and more." Thaniel sighed exasperatedly, safe in the knowledge that Jerroth couldn't hear him.
        "Well, what the hell does that mean?" he muttered. Ari was about to voice that question herself, perhaps a bit more politely, when Jerroth spoke up first.
        "At the surface, I could see that this place reeked of evil, I knew this had to be the lair," he said, "But the deeper we go, the more... concentrated the shadow becomes. These forsaken beasts have been living here for so long, their darkness has soaked into the very stone itself. I can practically see them now, walking up and down this very path on their way to and from a hunt. But the further down we go, the more the darkness blots out everything else, until you and Crow are like blinding lights in a pitch black room..." Jerroth had previously said that he could actually see the evil of the curse inside of Ariella as a shadow, so that comparison didn't exactly fill her with hope for the area around them. Before she could think of something to say, Crow spoke up.
        "I'm sorry to interrupt," he lied, "But do you see this mark on the wall, master? I was just trying to work out if it was natural or not." Jerroth and Ari turned towards the wall Crow was examining and found a carving in the stone there, something like a heart with a horizontal line through it.
        "Revenants are mindless, brutal monsters. I cannot imagine one carving such a thing with its claws," observed Jerroth, "They would have no reason to." Tilting her head to the side, as if that would help her gain a new perspective, Ari frowned.
        "Perhaps one of the miners carved it before they shut the place down?" she suggested. A moment passed, and then for Jerroth's sake, she added "Thaniel says it's not a rune or glyph or anything he's aware of." After lingering a moment longer, the three of them kept going, the ominous air of the place weighing heavily on all of them.

A few minutes later, Ari nearly jumped out of her skin when Jerroth suddenly threw his arm back, palm out, clearly ordering her to stop, as he froze in place, morning star in hand. They stayed that way for an agonizing thirty seconds before the paladin finally let his breath out and he shook his head.
        "My apologies," he whispered, "I heard some pebbles skipping along the rock up ahead, but I see nothing, hear nothing now... Revenants are not known for stealth or ambushes, so it must be this place... I fear it is affecting my mind." Ari had to take a deep breath to calm her nerves a little, but then she tried to help.
        "D-don't worry about it," she said, "You're the most dedicated man I've ever met, if anyone c-can deal with this place, it's you. I'd m-much rather be safe than sorry, anyway..." He nodded at that, and they moved along, but barely twenty seconds later, they stopped again, as the passage suddenly branched off into three more tunnels. Two of them extended off into blackness, and the third, Ari could just barely see in the light from the orb, split off into two more passages of its own.
        "Well, that's not good..." she muttered.
        "I am actually a little surprised we did not come to any branches sooner," Jerroth said, calmly, "Miners will not abandon a claim unless they are absolutely certain there is no further ore to be found, the earth around us must be riddled with tunnels."
        "I bet they'd abandon it pretty quickly if they dug down and found a monster lair," added Crow. Ignoring or oblivious to his facetious tone, Jerroth nodded.
        "True. I have heard of such things happening, mainly in ancient Dwarven mines, but we already know that this particular mine had been abandoned for decades before the beasts made it their own." A long, silent moment passed, and then Crow spoke up again.
        "Well!" the familiar said, cheerily, "Only one thing for it, then! Ari, you take the left path, Jerroth can take the right path, and I'll take the middle path! When you find the nest or a dead end, just try not to die, backtrack here, and wait for the others!"
        "That is a terrible plan," said Jerroth, frowning. Crow seemed a bit taken aback. Usually, people who were annoyed by the things he said were annoyed for less practical reasons.
        "That was a joke," he replied, "Do they have jokes where you come from, or did the Order ban those?" Without batting an eye, Jerroth crossed his arms.
        "Of course I know what a joke is, bird. I also know that this is no time for humour," he said, direly, "Darkness envelops us like a blanket of evil. Our very lives are at stake, so the last thing we need is for some wizard's pet to -"
        "Did you say pet?!" squawked Crow, offended, "Say that again. I'll peck your holy eyes out!" Normally, this would be the part where Ari would step between two people, but since one of them in this case was a bird perched on her shoulder, she just reached up and picked Crow up, which did nothing to improve his mood.
        "Boys, boys!" she interjected, "We're all on the same side here!" She was desperate for something, anything, to focus their attention on other than a fight, so she was quite relieved when her eyes just happened to fall on something just next to Jerroth.

        "Hey, look there!" she said, pointing, "It's that same mark!" The paladin turned to the side and squinted slightly, as if his Holy Sight really was giving him trouble here, at a slightly less visible but still clearly legible heart shape with a horizontal line through it.
        "Well spotted, Ari," said Thaniel, "I probably would have noticed it myself if Crow didn't insist on jostling the medallion around so much." On that note, Ariella put the raven back on her shoulder, before his annoyance boiled over.
        "So it was deliberate, and not just a chance shape in the stone," observed Jerroth, examining the symbol up close, "But what does it mean? For all we know, it was just an illiterate miner, marking the walls because he could not write 'I was here'." There was a moment of silence, and then Thaniel cleared his throat.
        "Ahh... Ari?" he started, uncertainly, "I know it's not exactly a historical textbook, and I do feel silly for even bringing it up, but..."
        "But?" she said, curiously. Jerroth glanced over and then went back to the wall, having gotten used to the idea of Ari listening to voices he couldn't hear.
        "But, there's this bit in, um, one of the Xander Shieldfall novels..." Thaniel continued, sheepishly, "Where he's performing reconnaissance on a gang of thieves, and he finds the secret back entrance because - well, the narration mentions his knowledge that criminal groups often make up a series of symbols they can use to mark things, and no one else will know what they mean. S-so you put this symbol on a house where someone's on vacation, to show the rest of the gang that it would be a nice target to rob, or that symbol on a house where the owner is a guardsman with an enchanted sword and a vicious dog, to tell your buddies to stay far away, or this other symbol on a guard post where the captain isn't above taking a bribe to look the other way if you get caught."
        "So you're suggesting the gang of thieves who became the revenants might have carved these symbols?" Ari concluded, politely leaving Thaniel's 'source' unspoken to Jerroth. Crow turned and frowned at her, but said nothing.
        "Yes, exactly!" he said, gratefully. He chuckled nervously, and Ari smiled slightly as she imagined the wizard blushing fiercely at his desk, wiping off his forehead, smiling that cute smile of his... Her grin disappeared as that train of thought caught up with her. What an... unprofessional thing to think about the wizard. Even if he was kind of cute when he was embarrassed. As her eye twitched with annoyance and her cheeks darkened just a little, Thaniel kept talking, oblivious.
        "I must add that, ah, according to the book, every gang makes up their own code of symbols, so the city guard and rival gangs won't be able to recognize or read them," he said, "So I have no way of telling you what that one means. But if I had to wager a guess, since this isn't somebody's house, I'd say it's to help the thieves navigate the tunnels. As Jerroth implied, dead mines are almost always a maze of passageways, so putting those symbols on the wall would be a good way to mark the path." Even as she repeated this, the holy warrior frowned at the pictogram on the wall.
        "Then the question is, where do these symbols lead?" he asked, stroking his bare chin. Ari shrugged, causing Crow to flutter his wings, so as not to lose his balance.
        "Unless they left a helpful guide book lying around, I guess there's no way to know," she said, "It could be their meeting room, a pit where they stashed all their money, or even the bathroom. Do you want to follow it?" Jerroth's reply was a confident and immediate nod.
        "Since our alternative seems to be wandering around blindly, I say we follow it," he said, "Having any kind of goal, even an uncertain one, would be preferable to walking aimlessly in circles." Closer examination of the branches ahead revealed that the one on the left also bore the mysterious icon, so the three of them headed down that path. As they walked, Crow sighed heavily and muttered out loud.
        "You know perfectly well that I don't like it when you block me out, Thaniel," he said, "I can only assume you were talking about one of your embarrassing hobbies." The wizard said nothing in response, but the raven suddenly let out a squawk of dismay as his plumage turned bright yellow with green polka dots.
        "I'm sorry! I'm sorry, master! I didn't mean to insult your hobbies!" he cried, flapping about on Ari's shoulder agitatedly. As the colour leached out of his feathers and they resumed their normal black appearance, Crow sighed heavily again and Ari giggled. That little display had done a lot to make her feel better about her present situation, and she really appreciated that.

The path got grittier as they walked, and they went up and down and left and right until Ari was thoroughly lost and she wasn't certain they were even under the same kingdom anymore, but they kept finding the symbol carved into the wall, and they kept following it. They'd seen the occasional side chamber, mostly tool or supply storage alcoves, but once, they came upon a much bigger room carved out of the rock, full of broken furniture. Jerroth theorized that it was once where the miners had gathered to have lunch, but Crow was only interested in the necklace festooned with hawk skulls lying on the ground, surely a memento from one of the thieves. As he mumbled to himself about how barbaric these people must have been, Ari and Jerroth found a symbol further down the passage, and kept going. Ultimately, they were lead to a rather large room, a sort of makeshift office full of shelves and tables and chests of drawers, with paperwork all over the place. The symbol was carved directly over the doorway to the room, so there could be no doubt that whatever the heart with the line through it meant, this was where it had lead them. Pulling the top sheet from a random pile on the table nearest the entrance, Jerroth brushed off some dust and examined it closely.
        "...This appears to be a chart listing ore output from the mine over a period of several months," he announced, "I believe we have found the records office." Crow looked up from preening himself and frowned. At least, Ari thought he did, it was often hard to tell, with the default expression of a raven being rather harsh.
        "Why would thieves care where the mine records office was?" he asked, "Surely there's nothing they'd be interested in on any of these forms!"
        "Maybe the mine was really shut down because the miners found some kind of dangerous artifact in the depths!" Thaniel suggested, excitedly, "Maybe the thieves chose this place as their base because they wanted to get their hands on it, and they were using these records to try and figure out which tunnel it was buried in!" Smirking at his boyish enthusiasm, Ari gestured across the room, to another hole in the wall leading to a tunnel that sloped sharply downward.
        "Or maybe they marked the path here because they were interested in whatever's down there, not this office," she suggested. As Crow snickered, Thaniel cleared his throat, sounding embarrassed again.
        "...Right. Or that." Jerroth gave them a very strange look, and then turned to a big stack of papers.
        "I am going to search this side of the room for the most recent map of the mine, to see if I can locate a second exit we could use to escape." He paused for a moment and then looked over at Ari and Crow.
        "If there is no other way out, and we are trapped down here with the beasts, does your wizard have a means of extracting us?" Ari swallowed, shuddering with horror just at the thought.
        "...I don't know," she admitted, quietly. Crow coughed and looked away.
        "Master, you might want to get your reagents ready," he said, "You might have to figure out a way to use the portal chamber to come underground."
        "I'll, uh, keep that in mind..." murmured Thaniel, which didn't exactly fill Ari with confidence.
        "He's got a portal room in his tower," Ari said quickly, cutting off Crow, "I'm sure he can use it to save us if he needs to!" After a moment, she swallowed and added "I have faith in him." Of all people, Jerroth understood the value of faith, and he just nodded curtly and turned to the table, going through the many dusty papers and forms.
        "I guess I'll look over here, then..." Ari muttered, walking towards the opposite side of the chamber.
        "Crow, help them out, would you?" said Thaniel, "Check out those papers on the desk by the other doorway, uh, entranceway." Sighing exaggeratedly, Crow flapped off of Ari's shoulder and gracefully alit on the desk, poking at the pages there with his feet and muttering about the dust and grime. Turning away, Ariella moved on without him. The room curved in the middle, and she had to turn a corner to get to the other side, but she stopped dead in her tracks on the way there as the orb above her head lit up the dusty, forgotten corner.

There were books on this side, ancient ledgers where reports like those on Jerroth's end of the room had been collected and filed away. But that wasn't what drew Ari's attention, nor was it the truly impressive amount of dust and cobwebs that had built up over the last fifty years of neglect. No, her gaze was drawn to the revenant that lay slumped in the corner, a sword jutting out of its ribs and pinning it to the stone wall it lay against. Her heart immediately began racing as she stood stock still, staring at the thing. It wasn't clear how long it had been there, as there was no dust on the creature itself, but the dust on the floor and walls around it wasn't scuffed and disturbed. It was like even dirt didn't want anything to do with those monsters. Time seemed to stand still as she stood there, trembling, afraid to call the others over, to back away, to even breathe, in case it aroused the revenant. Then, taking a slow, deep breath, she focused on the beast's chest like the fate of the world depended on it. She shuddered as she realized that the thing had once been a woman, and its twisted, ash-coloured body still bore the breasts to prove it. That inspired a brief terror as she imagined what she would look like if the curse had its way with her, but she was able to keep composed, and determined that the monster's chest was not rising and falling, and it just sat there, still as the grave. She wasn't sure if they actually needed to breathe, of course, but it helped a little. In fact, as she continued to watch, a spider emerged from a crack in the wall and casually wandered over, clambering across the torso of the revenant like any other obstacle in its path. The monster didn't react in the slightest, and Ari felt a profound relief, setting the butt of her spear against the floor and sinking down into a squat, leaning on the weapon to support herself as her tense muscles suddenly relaxed, feeling weak and wobbly. She still wasn't at all comfortable, and something itched at the back of her mind just being in the thing's presence, but at least she wasn't terrified. Saying a silent prayer to the Seven Gods of Rilodell (all seven of them, in fact, inspired by Jerroth's faith in the Light United), Ariella let her head hang down, her long red hair cascading down to frame her face, and took deep breaths until she felt a little calmer. She could just stand up, walk back over to Jerroth, and ask him politely if he wouldn't mind taking that side of the room. But as she got back up, she found she couldn't move, still staring at the gruesome beast, unable to look away. She'd never seen one of the things from this close before, and when she'd watched the paladin dispatch the other monster in the streets the night before, she'd been scared witless, unable to do anything but watch passively. So Ari somewhat reluctantly examined the revenant more closely, unable to resist. Although its hands and feet were both adorned with wicked claws, and its limbs had grown strangely muscular to enhance the creature's running and leaping ways, it still looked horribly... Human. The face was clearly that of a young woman, with some kind of tattoo etched across her cheek, perhaps as a means of bragging about her affiliation with the gang of thieves. In fact, from the nose up, the only thing out of the ordinary was the deathly grey pallor to her skin. Below that, of course, the jaw bulged out grotesquely, expanded by the spell that had ended her life to make room for much larger teeth. The feminine shape to the thing's chest had Ari wondering, against her protests, whether the rest of the woman's body had survived the transformation intact, but fortunately, both of its legs were pulled up tight against its body, and she certainly wasn't going to go out of her way to check. It felt strange to see one of the creatures without the layer of magical shadows they draped around their bodies like a cloak, making it even harder to see the beasts in the night, but under the gentle light of the orb, Ari could see the misshapen thing as clear as a summer's day. Her mind was really itching at her now, the sort of feeling she'd get if she left her home without putting a cooking fire out, like she'd forgotten something. But unfortunately, as the daughter of a wealthy family, Ari had grown used to reassuring herself that if she forgot something at home, it would quickly be discovered and taken care of by the staff or a family member, so she put the thought out of her mind. Taking a deep breath, Ariella decided impulsively to reach out and touch the dead thing, to prove to herself that as terrible as the revenants were, they were still just monsters, they could still be killed, and that someday soon, no one in her family would ever have to worry about Xander's curse ever again!

Taking a deep breath, as the thought was easier said than done by orders of magnitude, Ari stepped closer and slowly raised a trembling hand, extending it through the musty air and reaching towards the shoulder of the creature that had once been a living, breathing person with hopes and dreams... even if it was a living, breathing person who got by in life by victimizing others, and whose hopes and dreams had probably revolved around stealing the wealth of innocents. And then... and then, things started happening in slow motion. When her fingertips were mere inches from the beast's flesh, the revenant's eyes flipped open, revealing orbs that glowed a pallid, sickly yellow, and which almost instantly swiveled to focus on her. At the same instant, Ari heard the voice of Jerroth behind her, crying out her name. She felt frozen, petrified as surely as if her flesh had been made stone, and she could only watch as the monster's face contorted in a grimace of rage and fury, seemingly the only expression these things could display. Seeing those eyes, those teeth, Ari realized she was wrong. The skin and the nose and the tattoo? These things were just window decor. There was nothing remotely Human about this - this thing, and any resemblance any part of it had to a member of her species served only to make it more horrible. Underlining the point, the revenant's body seemed to leech darkness out of the shadows around it, until the smoky, out-of-focus mass coated its body and obscured a view of anything except those horrible eyes. With that, it lifted one of its arms, claws raised, ready to tear her throat out without the slightest bit of mercy or hesitation, and Ari felt a hand close on her shoulder so hard that it kind of hurt. Then, with one, abrupt tug, Ari was yanked off her feet and thrown backwards, thumping to an ungraceful halt several feet away just as the monster's claws slammed into the wall next to where she'd been standing, the impact so hard that rock chips were sent scattering. As Zahk-Tumm the Unyielding, legendary spear of Xander Shieldfall, clattered to the ground like a broom someone had bumped into, Jerroth, who was responsible for Ari's new position, raised his armoured arm just in time to block a second strike from the beast, though his armour, as good as it was, was no shield, and he staggered from the blow. Fortunately, the revenant was still sitting against the wall, not exactly in a very tactical position, and before it could get its feet under it, the paladin raised his weapon - in its morning star configuration - and uttered a syllable that set the head to glowing, before swinging it with all the strength he had, straight into the monster's uncomfortably feminine chest. The impact let out a sickening crunch, caving in flesh, bone, and whatever else the horrible thing was made of. The monster gave a jerk and dust fell from the ceiling as the blow swung home, and then as Jerroth pulled his weapon back, ready to do it again if need be, the creature slumped even more limply against the wall, the glow in its eyes already fading and the darkness slipping off its body. If anything, it looked almost confused, which was unnerving, to say the least. At last, Ari realized what she'd forgotten; when Jerroth had killed the revenant in the streets of North Nolan, its body had evaporated into smoke, just as this one was beginning to now. She should have known it was alive - or at least 'still undead' - to begin with, since revenants don't leave corpses! As the monster's body began to dissolve and break up, Jerroth bent forward, his expression steely and grim.
        "By the Light of Unity, be judged," he intoned, "By the Light of Unity, be damned."

Ari stared at the disintegrating revenant until even the cloud of black particles had disappeared into the shadows all around them, wanting to know for sure this time that it was gone. Then she buried her face in her hands, humiliated at how close she'd come to death, at the way she'd practically offered herself up on a platter to the beast.
        "Oh, Sentinels, I'm so sorry, Jerroth!" she moaned, "I - I should have known it wasn't dead! I should have known better! I... I..." Ari tensed up as she felt a hand touching her arm, and reluctantly looked up, to see the paladin kneeling before her, not so much as a hint of annoyance on his face.
        "Are you alright, Ariella?" he asked, gently. She nodded, still feeling dazed.
        "Then that is what is important," he said, "You survived, and now you are wiser for it. That is what my mentor Reena said to me when I almost got myself killed in a training exercise." He offered her a hand, and helped her to her feet.
        "A-Ari?" came Thaniel's voice, barely above a whisper, "Are you sure you're okay? I'm s-so sorry that I didn't see that, Crow was over by the desk, and the amulet c-couldn't see you... If anything had happened to you, I'd..." He trailed off, sounding incredibly upset.
        "My, ah, rear kind of hurts from being thrown across the room," she admitted, "But other than that, I assure you, Thaniel, I'm quite alright... Jerroth saved my life." As the holy warrior retrieved Ari's spear from the floor, Crow flapped closer, alighting on the hilt of the sword that still jutted out from the wall.
        "I don't understand!" he said, his confusion clearly genuine, "I thought these things were dead, that they didn't need to sleep!" Thaniel spoke up again, sounding considerably more composed than before.
        "I have to admit, monsters aren't exactly my forté," the wizard said, "But I'm pretty sure skeletons and zombies never even appear to sleep... and they're not intelligent enough to 'play dead' and pretend to be corpses. I'm at a loss." As Crow conveyed this message to Jerroth, the paladin put his weapon back on his belt and nodded.
        "I am no scholar on the subject myself, though there are learned experts back at the librarium of my Order who would know for certain," he started, "But I believe this creature may have been lying dormant, if not truly slumbering, because there was no prey to murder in the immediate area, and therefore, nothing for it to do. Revenants do not need to eat, they kill out of unholy fury, not hunger, and it could follow that they simply lie down and do nothing once they have killed everything in the vicinity... though I realize as I say this that it would not explain their history of leaving the mine to prey on the people of North Nolan."  

As Jerroth scratched his chin thoughtfully, Crow spoke up to repeat his master's words.
        "The reason doesn't really matter right now, it just means we have to keep an eye out for more revenants lying dormant, as you put it," he said, before sighing even heavier than usual and rolling his eyes, adding "...Master Thaniel insists I mention that was something he said, lest I be turned some unfortunate colour."  Ari grinned slightly at that, and Jerroth nodded back towards the rest of the room.
        "Yes, well, at any rate, I came over here to tell you that I found a chart of the mine that seems to show another exit," he said, "It is simply good fortune that I found it and came over before it was too late." He gestured, and Crow flew across the room towards the shelves where Jerroth had been searching, but Ari put a hand on the paladin's shoulder and stopped him.
        "Jerroth? I just wanted to say thank you... for saving my life, I mean," she said, quietly. The ghost of a smile appeared on the warrior's face, and he nodded.
        "Reena would probably take that very professionally, say she was just doing her job, act surprised that you even thought to thank her," he mused, "Perhaps that comes with years in the Order, or the maturity of age, or perhaps she is simply built that way... but I find that it warms my heart to know you are safe, Ariella, as I have begun to think of you as a comrade in arms." She smiled at that and nodded back, but looking over to the dark corner for a moment, Ari sighed.
        "I have to admit, I'm still a little surprised it wasn't dead," she said, "I mean, it had a sword pinning it to the wall!" Jerroth raised one eyebrow.
        "Oh, the sword was not stuck through it," he said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
        "What?" she asked, frowning, "How can you be sure? It all happened so fast!" He glanced back at the sword and shrugged.
        "The thrust you would use to drive a sword through the chest of an opponent is not ideal for jamming a sword into stone," he said, simply, "even if the blade is made of a material that can pierce rock. If someone had run that monster through, the sword would have bounced back from the wall. I assume someone jammed a sword into the stone, the Seven only know why, and then the beast came by later and draped itself around the sword as it went dormant. Perhaps it was comfortable there." With that, Jerroth walked over to the shelves where Crow impatiently waited, and Ari wondered exactly how much the paladin knew about the physics of killing people.

Ari walked over to rejoin her companions as Jerroth brushed a number of books and charts off a small table, making room for a large paper map which he carefully spread out.
        "This map is, admittedly, fifty-three years old," he said, "so it will not reflect the ways the thieves or the revenants have put the mine to use, and it will not show any tunnels that have collapsed since then."
        "Or any entrances that have exploded," Crow added, wryly. Ari could perfectly picture the pout on Thaniel's face as he responded.
        "I said I was sorry..." he muttered, and then, after a pause, "At least I think I did... I meant to... Uh, j-just in case, I'm sorry I blew up the entrance." Ariella smiled, but said nothing, and Jerroth continued.
        "However, it does show two other entrances to the mine," he said, pointing, "This one I know is no good to us, as it appears to have been buried as the noble, Light-blessed men and women of North Nolan expanded its borders and built their wall in the last half-century. But over here, on the northeast, there is a small shaft listed as an emergency escape route, and it would lead out into the heart of the woods, so I am not surprised the townsfolk would have forgotten about it." Ari raised her hand to her chest, over her heart, shivering as she felt an immensely powerful relief at the idea that they weren't buried alive in a pit full of monsters straight out of her worst nightmares. Apparently, it was strong enough for Jerroth to notice without her even saying anything, as he raised a hand gently.
        "I warn you, this does not mean the shaft is still there," he said, "Someone could have built a home on top of the exit by now, for all we know. I am sure I can lead us to where it is supposed to be, though, if you wish to try it." Crow had been preening behind a wing, though his razor-focused eye had remained steadily on the paladin, but now he raised his beak and tilted his head to the side.
        "Why do you do that?" he asked, "You never use contractions, it's always 'I am' with you, never 'I'm', 'it is' instead of 'it's'." Jerroth frowned slightly.
        "Do I?" he asked, curiously, "I had not noticed. We did not speak English in Hasdun, I had to learn it from the Order when I moved to this region with Reena, I suggest you take it up with her."
        "Where is this escape shaft, anyway?" Ari interjected, "Once we find that bloody gauntlet, I say we get out of here as fast as we can!" Jerroth lifted his hand away from the map and pointed past Ari.
        "As it happens, it branches off from a tunnel leading away from a very large room just down there," the holy warrior said, "I believe the miners used it for meetings, assigning duties and warning the men of unstable tunnels and such." Swallowing, Ari nodded, though she wasn't terribly happy to hear this.
        "You know, I won't lie, that passage gives me the creeps for some reason," she said, "But if that's the way out, that's the way we'll go. Thaniel? Can you, ah, do whatever it is you do to detect the gauntlet?"
        "Oh! Yes, right, sorry," the wizard said, "Crow? Head's up!"

Suddenly there came a distinct popping sound, and a rather odd-looking object suddenly occupied the space directly in front of Crow without so much as a flash of light or a puff of smoke. Thaniel had claimed to Ari in a quiet moment once that a lot of spellcasters deliberately adjusted their spells to be more visually impressive, but she was never quite sure if he was kidding or not when he talked about magic. Politely obeying the laws of gravity, the object, a small wand-ish length of crystal that was forked at one end, fell to the dusty table with a clatter, making the surprised bird flutter his wings and squawk indignantly. Jerroth frowned, glancing to Crow and asking the obvious question with his facial expression, but it was Ari who spoke up.
        "Oh, I remember this from the museum - trip!" she said, adjusting her comment mid-sentence to avoid mentioning that they had technically used magic to break into a museum after hours. Jerroth was a nice guy and all, sort of, but from what little she understood, the most dedicated faithful tended to be sticklers for rules, at least when those rules were dictated by the kingdom.
        "That's a sensing rod," she continued, "Thaniel used it to trace the spell that was cast on the gauntlet that cursed my family, so it should lead us right to it, or at least where it was when it was here... Ah, at least I think so, he's the expert..." Thaniel chuckled in her ear, in a way that made her smile, just because he sounded so happy. She didn't dwell on that thought at the time.
        "You're right on the money, Ari," he said, "Ask Jerroth if he'd carry it, if you please. Since it's calibrated to a spell that's on you, there might be interference if you were holding it."
        "Oh, no need, master Thaniel, I'll just, you know, hold it in my hands," said Crow, rolling his beady eyes. It occurred to Ari that most people couldn't make that sentence sarcastic. She made the request of the paladin, who somewhat reluctantly picked up the rod.
        "I must admit, I am... unfamiliar with the practices of arcane magic..." he murmured, staring at the rod rather dubiously, "What exactly do I... do?"
        "Well, it can be used a lot more precisely, but for its simplest operation, you just point it around, forked end out, and feel which direction makes it vibrate the strongest," explained Thaniel, through his helpful companions, and as Jerroth pointed the crystal towards Ari and it began to audibly hum from how hard it was shaking, the wizard muttered "Oh right, let me just adjust that so it'll ignore Ari as a source..." As Crow turned towards Ariella, a puff of powder poofed out of the medallion, coating her hand.
        "Thaniel!" she cried, annoyed, but it seemed to do the job, even after she brushed the powder away, as Jerroth turned to point the rod, to no one's surprise, at the down-sloping exit to the room.

Ari frowned as the rod gave them the expected result, and then put her hands on her hips and shook her head.
        "Well, shit," she muttered, "I suppose it was too much to ask that it would be back the way we came, in that nice safe room with the wrecked chairs..." When Jerroth looked at her, it was almost apologetic.
        "I would offer to let you stay behind, Ariella," he said, gently, "Except I cannot guarantee that no revenants will enter this room the same way we did, and I feel like you would prefer not to face one alone." She nodded and made a dismissive wave.
        "No, no, you're right, of course," she sighed, "Sentinels, I would probably freeze on the spot... No, I'll come down there with you, I just... won't be happy about it." The paladin nodded and lashed the sensing rod to his belt, pulling his morning star free.
        "What are you doing?" asked Ari, as Mister Crow wordlessly resumed his perch on her shoulder.
        "You are not the only one who feels uneasy about the chamber beyond there," said Jerroth, nodding to the exit matter-of-factly, "My Holy Sight seems to show a more concentrated darkness emanating from down there. I... suspect it may be close to the heart of the nest." Ari shuddered and unconsciously moved her spear into a ready position.
        "Alright, you lead the way," she said, "Let's... let's just get this over with. Yeesh, just being down here makes me want to take a bath..." Ari felt Crow shudder on her shoulder, and then he shook his head.
        "I wholeheartedly concur..." he muttered. Suddenly, Ari jumped with a gasp as a very loud grinding noise suddenly sounded out.
        "Guys?" came Thaniel's voice, straining to be heard over the sound, "Sorry for the noise, I'm just having a bit of trouble with - dammit, not there, over there! Useless motes! Uh, I'm having trouble getting the portal room to target a spot underground, but I know it can be done, because of that time when I, uhh... never mind. Just, uhh... give me some time..." As soon as he finished speaking, the noise mercifully went silent, and Ari became aware that Jerroth was looking at her somewhat strangely, weapon at the ready.
        "...Ariella?"
        "S-sorry!" she said, blushing, "Thaniel just contacted me from, Ah, a very loud place, and the noise kinda... startled me..." She averted her eyes, trying not to feel like a scared little girl.
        "I'm good to go, I swear, let's just... let's just do this."

The path downwards was steep, but manageable. As they walked, Ari glanced at Crow and frowned.
        "So how come you weren't startled by the noise, huh?" she asked, poking at the raven with a single finger. He looked at it like he was strongly considering biting it, but apparently decided now was not the time or the excuse for in-fighting.
        "I didn't hear any noise," he said, "Do you see any charms on my ears?"
        "I don't see your ears at all, you twit, you're a bird!" she snapped back, irritably, then blushed as he smiled appreciatively. "S-sorry, Crow, I don't know what came over me!" He chuckled and winked at her, a gesture she had to take on faith with Crow, since his eyes were on opposite sides of his head.
        "Maybe there's some hope for you yet, Ariella Shieldfall," he teased, before he 'shrugged' his wings and spoke more seriously.
        "I'm a familiar, I hear Thaniel's words in my mind," he said, plainly, "They always come to me as clear as day, I don't hear any of the noise around him. He doesn't even need to say them out loud, as long as he directs them towards me. I mean, I suppose I could hear the noise if he wanted me to, but that sort of raises the question of 'why'." Ahead of them, Jerroth spoke up without turning around, his voice a low rumble in the silence of the mine.
        "Perhaps your unease as we approach this part of the mine is some kind of reaction between the vile curse on your family and the sorcery on the gauntlet, or the revenants," he said. The paladin hadn't struck Ari as the speculative type, but she just shook her head and sighed.
        "No, I'm afraid this is just regular old terror, plain and simple..." she said. She would have added more, but Jerroth abruptly froze in place and held up his free arm, straight out, elbow bent ninety degrees, hand pointing towards the ceiling. Ari had seen city guardsmen use this same gesture; it meant 'stop in your tracks, right now' without uttering a sound. As she peered past him, it wasn't hard to agree with him... there was another revenant lying sprawled across the narrow pathway, and the only way forward would be to step over it or go through it.

They just stood there for a moment, perfectly still, to see if the monster would react to them, and when it didn't, Jerroth slowly, slowly reached back and retrieved his shield from the straps on his back. Ari was genuinely impressed that someone in so much armour could move a limb so silently, but the feeling was mostly drowned out by fear. He moved to step forward, but Ari grabbed hold of one of those straps and gave a tug, stopping him - she was afraid to grab an armour plate in case her hand slapping against it 'woke up' the revenant. He turned his head to look back at her, and Ari picked up Mister Crow, who didn't look happy to be handled, and placed him on Jerroth's shoulder. Then she held up her spear in a ready position. The paladin raised his eyebrows and asked an obvious question with his eyes, and she mouthed the words 'I have to do this' at him in response. It was impossible to tell how Jerroth felt about this, and Crow looked legitimately worried and unhappy on her behalf, but the paladin stepped aside and Ari moved forward. If she was ever going to be free of this nightmare, she had to know she could do this... Slowly stepping forward, she raised her spear and took in the sight of the creature before her. It lay across the floor, limbs splayed out randomly, but the path wasn't wide enough for it to lie down fully, and its shoulders were pressed up against the wall, so its head lolled off to the side. The side away from Ari, which was what had given her the idea in the first place.
        "A-Ari?" asked Thaniel, clearly alarmed, "What are you doing?!" She ignored that, unable to respond in this silence anyway. Her heart pounding in her chest, each pulse thrumming loudly in her ears, she approached the revenant. Unlike the last one, she couldn't see its face at all, so there were no especially Human distinguishing features she could see, which was probably for the best. Her hands tried to tighten on the shaft of the spear as she drew near, only for her to realize they already gripped the weapon so firmly her fingers had gone white. Taking a deep breath, she counted to five in her mind and kept going. On four, the creature began to stir, moving one clawed hand down to lean against the ground. On five, before it could move its head, Ari acted on instinct, her mind too terrified for coherent thoughts, and lunged forward, putting all of her strength and all of her fear into the thrust as she drove the weapon towards the beast. Before it could get up, before it could respond to her presence or the wordless cry she unconsciously let out, Ari's spear pierced the monster under the jaw and effortlessly drove straight through the skull with a rather unsettling noise. The revenant tensed up once, made a quiet gurk sound, and flopped down again, totally still, as its body began to dissolve. Ari's first attempt to tug the weapon free just pulled the limp corpse towards her, so she just stood there, staring at the beast as it burned up and disintegrated into oily black smoke, disappearing without so much as a bloodstain on the stone or the spearhead, vanishing without a trace as if it had never been there at all.

Standing her spear up, Ari dizzily leaned on it again, using Zahk-Tumm to support her weight. She felt like she was going to cry, like she would be sick, but at the same time, she felt infinitely relieved. She gasped as a hand fell on her shoulder, and whirled around, raising her spear. The smile vanished from Crow's face, but Jerroth almost seemed to be expecting this.
        "Ari! Don't! It's just us!" the familiar cried, hiding his face behind his wings. Raising both hands and showing that they were empty, the paladin spoke, softly and calmly.
        "It is alright, Ariella. Have faith, for everything will be alright. You performed excellently. Am I correct in assuming that you do not feel as liberated as you expected?" Ari lowered the spear and nodded, blushing.
        "Seven gods, I f-feel so strange, but I d-don't know why!" she admitted, "It was a - a monster, not one good thing about it, but..." She'd averted her eyes, but Jerroth leaned over so that he was in her line of sight again. This time, she realized that he'd turned off his Holy Sight, and the eyes that looked at her were just as ordinary as hers.
        "But you have never killed before?" suggested the paladin. Feeling embarrassed as she threatened to lose her composure in front of her comrades, Ari nodded tersely.
        "It - it barely even counts as k-killing!" she insisted, "It's just a monster, a thing, and it would have murdered every one of us without feeling anything or - or even f-feeding on our bodies!" As Crow hopped back over to her shoulder, Jerroth held her gently by the upper arms and looked into her eyes.
        "But it was you that did it. Not me. Not a soldier, not a city guardsman, and not Thaniel using his magic," he insisted, "It was you that killed that revenant, and now you do not know how to feel."
        "Yes! Yes, alright?!" she suddenly snapped, yanking her arms away from Jerroth, "I - I d-don't feel guilty, I just... I wish I didn't have to do that... that it hadn't been there...  That Xander Shieldfall had been less of a cretin, and that my entire bloody family hadn't been cursed in the first place! I feel fucking terrible! Is that what you wanted to hear?!" She stood there trembling for a moment, wondering how she'd gotten so out of breath that she was now panting, and then she felt a warmth around her, a pressure around her torso, and looked around in confusion. Thaniel's voice came to her ear, sounding oddly subdued, for him.
        "I, um... I thought it sounded like you could use a hug," he murmured, "So I sort of tweaked a spell to give you one from here." Despite herself, Ari smiled a little, feeling genuinely touched at the gesture.
        "Thank you, Thaniel..." she whispered, sniffling. Jerroth nodded solemnly, and gave her a sympathetic look.
        "It does not matter what walk of life you come from, how much training you receive," he said, gently, "The first time you take a life of any kind is always hard. It gets easier, but it always starts out hard." He shrugged, and his normally icy, unreadable face took on an unmistakably apologetic expression.
        "It might get worse again if you move on to a person, that milestone lead to quite a few nights of reflection for me," the holy warrior added, "The important thing is that you faced your fears, and you helped protect us. We are here for you, Ariella." She nodded at that, silently demanding that she not cry.
        "...Thank you, J-Jerroth." At that point, she felt feathers against her hair again and saw that once more, Mister Crow was 'hugging' her head with his wings.
        "Crow?" She couldn't turn to look at him given his position, but his voice sounded uncharacteristically self-conscious.
        "Am I - Am I doing this right?" he asked, "I'm not used to this kind of gesturing. My parents didn't have arms, they just fed me worm vomit when I was upset!" Ari actually snickered at that, something she really needed at the moment, and reached up to pat the familiar on the head. For once, he didn't react like she was being condescending.
        "Thank you, Crow, you're doing just fine," she said, "Thank all of you... I don't know that I feel a lot better, but... but I can keep going now, so let's get that glove and get out of here." Nodding, Jerroth blinked, his eyes going blank as he reactivated his powers, and the soldier of light took the forward position again. As Crow balanced himself on his perch once more and Ari fell in behind the paladin, she couldn't help but turn to her avian friend.
        "I just know I'm going to regret asking this, but... how did your parents make the worms throw up?" she asked, innocently. She wasn't even sure she could tell which end of a worm was the mouth. An embarrassed Thaniel whispered something in her ear, and she coughed, almost gagging.
        "Ewww! That's even worse!" she groaned. Crow sighed heavily, sounding more like himself.
        "Humans. They never appreciate the finer things in life..."

There were no branches off this relatively short tunnel, and no more revenants 'napping' in the path, so before long, they reached the large chamber that had seemed so ominous to Ari. And, in what felt strangely like a huge let-down, it was completely deserted. She'd half-expected the bones of innocents piled to the ceiling, the gory remains of the most recent victims lying festering in the corners, and dozens of revenants prowling the blood-slick soil, itching for something to murder. The fact that it was just a really, really big cave with nothing in it except a shovel and a couple of pickaxes lying against the wall at one spot was a huge let down. Well, dozens of revenants would have overwhelmed them so fast it would be pitiful, so she wasn't sorry that hadn't happened, but... this was supposed to be the heart of the nest! Where the hell was anything interesting? Jerroth stepped out into the open space cautiously, flail and shield at the ready, clearly prepared for a fight. He just stood there for a long, silent moment, looking all around, and finally, seeming almost as perplexed as Ari, he retracted the flail into its morning star shape and tucked his shield onto his back.
        "We appear to be safe, for the moment," he said, and as Crow muttered something about his eyes working perfectly well, Ari stepped out, holding her spear like a walking staff, and sighed. In her ridiculous mental image of the crawling heart of the nest, it had all centered around a pillar in the middle of the room, proudly and obviously displaying the ominous Midnight Hand. She hadn't really expected it to be quite that easy to find the artifact... but she'd hoped. Jerroth pointed across the way; there were several tunnels leading away from the large chamber, but he clearly indicated one in particular, just left of being directly across from them.
        "That one should be the emergency escape shaft," he said, "Should we see if it is still viable first, or continue our search for the gauntlet down here?" Ari bit her lip. Despite herself, and despite seeing how embarrassed Thaniel got when he was called on his love of adventure stories, she couldn't help but remember the tales of her youth, tales of heroes in caverns full of treasure, who managed to get one important, usually magical item, only for the exit to collapse behind them on the way out, sealing the rest of the loot in forever. Because of this, she couldn't help but feel the irrational fear that if they walked out of the room, they would never get their hands on the gauntlet, and she and all her family would be cursed to a fate so gruesome as to make suicide an appealing alternative. Forcing her inner child to calm down, Ari made the logical decision, as much as it worried her.
        "...Let's check out that exit first," she said, "If we need to, we can even leave and wait for the reinforcements from your Order to arrive, to help clear the place out." Crow let out a distinctly relieved sigh, and Jerroth nodded impassively.
        "A sound decision," he said, simply, "This way."

The three of them set out across the room, Jerroth calmly looking back and forth, scanning the room for threats, while Ari nervously glanced around at random, her fear making her certain that at any moment, revenants would start boiling out of the walls. As a bird, it was hard to judge Crow's emotional state, but at the very least, he was discomforted enough not to make any smart-ass comments. Ari's attention was drawn forward when Jerroth suddenly stumbled.
        "What?" he asked, sounding genuinely confused. Ari yelped, afraid she would see an arrow or dart sticking out of his side.
        "Ariella," he started, his voice low, as if even the paladin was uncomfortable speaking out in the middle of such a large space, "the sensing rod almost pulled itself off my belt!" The heiress heard a rather unpleasant noise and realized that Thaniel had just done a spit-take.
        "What?!" he asked, "Without him holding it in his hand?"
        "You weren't touching it?" she asked, eager to know why that was important. Jerroth nodded, and Thaniel whistled quietly.
        "Ari, that means it's picking up such a strong source of the magical trace that it has no choice but to respond," he said, "Which means..." For an instant, every muscle in Ariella Shieldfall's lithe body tensed up at once, and then a shudder ran through her from head to toe as they relaxed.
        "The - the gauntlet!" she gasped, raising a hand to her mouth. Her companions weren't quite as shaken, but they were clearly aware of how important this was, as Jerroth's brows shot skyward and his pale, blank eyes widened, and Mister Crow made a uniquely avian nervous grumbling noise and fluttered his wings a little as he adjusted his footing on her shoulder. When the holy warrior glanced across the room at one of the exits, Ari couldn't help but look over there longingly. Rationally, she knew that just getting their hands on the gauntlet wasn't enough, that even if she had it right now, it would require a lot of work and research just to figure out how to destroy the thing and/or lift the curse. But seeing the crystal rod on Jerroth's belt twitching and moving of its own accord, those very irrational feelings that had made choosing a path difficult surged up again, more powerful than before. Thankfully, Thaniel inadvertently cut the tension of the moment before it consumed poor Ari.
        "...Crap, there's tea everywhere," he muttered to himself.
        "You're drinking tea while we're down here risking our lives?!" asked Crow, and for once the familiar sounded genuinely indignant, not just playing the grumpy card.
        "It's bad enough that you're safe in the tower while we risk our lives, but..." The raven trailed off and lowered his head, his next words sounding weak and embarrassed.
        "...I - I'm sorry, Thaniel, that was uncalled for."  For just a moment, Ari wondered if Thaniel had cut her out of the conversation while he threatened Crow with something terrible, but her thought that that seemed terribly unlike the laid-back Thaniel was rewarded as he spoke up, sounding even more self-conscious than his bird.
        "I'll have you know this is alchemical tea," he muttered, "It's got cloudroot extract in it, to force my nerves to calm, because I - I was getting so worried about you three that I was starting to get chest and stomach pains. Ohhh, this is why I work by myself, worrying about people gets you ulcers..." That, unexpectedly, settled it. Ari was suddenly, painfully reminded about how Uncle Roderick used to complain about ulcers all the time, to the point where his grumbling, and the various concoctions he would use to try and ease them, became a sort of playful running joke among her family... at least until he died, and people stopped talking about him.
        "Gods above, I - I need to know!" she cried, "P-please, Jerroth, the gauntlet, it's that room right there, yes? You go on ahead, but I've got to know if it's here!"

Ari was panicked, on the verge of sprinting full-tilt all the way to the exit the rod indicated, but Jerroth suddenly grabbed her forearm tight and leaned in close.
        "Ariella!" he hissed, his voice sounding dangerous but controlled, "If you lose control, you lose your life, and threaten the lives of your comrades. Calm yourself before you kill yourself, woman!" Turning his head just to the side, the paladin continued in the same tone.
        "Mister Crow! I presume those wings the gods blessed you with are not just for show? The situation has changed," he said, "Fly down this tunnel, as fast and as quietly as you can, and determine whether the escape shaft remains open. I will escort Ariella to the chamber the rod indicates, and we will discover what lies within."
        "By myself?" asked Crow, "But -"
        "He's right, Crow," admitted Thaniel, "You're faster than Ari and Jerroth, and unless a revenant knows you're coming in advance, they'll never be able to catch you before you're past them." The raven sighed and nodded.
        "Thaniel agrees with you," he said, "Very well, but I'll have you know, if anything happens to Ari while I'm gone, I'll claw your lips off!" With that, he took wing, flying down the tunnel. A beam of light immediately shone out of his amulet, lighting the way for the familiar, but even so he quickly vanished into the darkness of the distance.
        "May the Light watch over you, Mister Crow," murmured the paladin, making a practiced gesture over his chestplate, "Your dedication is commendable." Ari, who had just been taking deep breaths during that entire exchange, shivered and turned to face Jerroth.
        "...Thank you," she whispered, "And I'm s-sorry, I just got overwhelmed..." Jerroth turned, removing the rod from his belt, and they began walking across the room together.
        "It is alright, Ariella," he said, sounding a bit embarrassed, "I apologize if I... offended you in my zeal. Reena said the same words to a cadet on my team during my early training, but you are no cadet, and I am not your instructor." Ari waved dismissively.
        "No, no, I was panicking, I needed a bit of a... reality check," she said, "Thank you for intervening." A moment passed, and then: "Reena said that, huh?" Jerroth nodded, smiling thinly.
        "Word for word," he replied, "I never forgot that moment. Well, not precisely. She said 'man' instead of 'woman'... and she said 'Cadet Stuckord' instead of 'Ariella'." For a moment, Ari just nodded, and then she remembered, with a start, that Jerroth had mentioned to her that before he'd changed his name to the word in his mentor's language for 'sunrise', his name had been Angelo Stuckord.
        "You?" she asked, incredulously. He actually laughed, which was even more surprising.
        "I told you, I was not always as filled with the confidence that comes with  complete conviction in the Seven Gods and the strength of their united Light," he said, "I needed to be trained before I gained the will to venture into darkness, and I never would have gained that strength without Reena. Now... let us see, by the grace of the Sentinels, what we are being guided to..."

The two of them peeked dubiously into the chamber the rod was indicating, and as the light from the orb still circling over her head flowed into the entrance, Ari had a strange sense of déjà vu. The room ahead of them, although smaller than the other one, was also filled with papers and scrolls and documents of all shapes and sizes, though there was something different about them. There weren't any boring charts indicating fluctuation of profits from quarter to quarter, or studies indicating what rock samples indicated about possible future dig sites. A long table, up against the wall, went from one end of the room to the other, and looking down upon it, Ari picked up a paper at random and found herself holding the blueprints to a rather large house. Frowning slightly as she pored over it, she couldn't help but notice that the various windows and exterior doors were helpfully labelled as to whether or not they'd make good entry points, and certain nooks and crannies had little notations like 'blind spot' and 'hidden rune, avoid' on them.
        "These notes were made by the thieves, not the miners," she observed, "But it doesn't exactly look like they kept their, ah, loot in here." Indeed, as she looked around, much to her frustration, Ari didn't see anything that looked even remotely like a gauntlet, and she wasn't turning up much as she shuffled through the papers on the table, either, aside from an extremely rusty knife and an unpleasant something that had probably once been an apple. As Jerroth saw to the rod, trying to get it to reveal a more specific location, Ari vented her frustration into knocking over a pile of papers. There was a dull 'thud' as something substantially thicker than a sheet of parchment fell to the ground with them.
        "What do we have here?" she muttered, picking it up, "It's a little book." There hadn't been many books or records in here, which hadn't surprised Ari, as she'd always thought of thieves as being rather live-in-the-moment sorts, so she wasn't sure what this was. She examined the cover carefully for a moment, vaguely worried it might somehow be booby-trapped, and then Thaniel cleared his throat and spoke, somewhat stiffly.
        "So, ah, just so we're clear, Ari, with Crow flying down the shaft with the amulet - he's fine, by the way, nothing but rocks and a dead possum so far - I can't see anything you're doing." Ari got the distinct impression he felt left out. For a brief moment, she was irrationally tempted to tell him she'd been making out with the paladin, just to see how Thaniel reacted, but decided against it, partially because she wasn't much in the mood for pranks down here, and partially because for all she knew, Jerroth had sworn an oath of celibacy, and he would be genuinely offended by the idea. Suddenly, she realized she had assumed that Thaniel would act hurt, as opposed to being embarrassed at intruding, or annoyed that they were wasting time in a dangerous place. She wasn't sure why that was the case, but she blushed just thinking about it, not liking any of the possibilities. The heiress shook her head as Thaniel asked if the charms were still working, and, as her brothers liked to put it when discussing the games of sport they liked to play in the fields near their home, 'got her head back in the game'.  
        "Ah, sorry, Thaniel, it just had a latch I needed to figure out how to open," she lied, glancing at the holy warrior to make sure he wasn't looking. In reality, there was a latch on the leather cover, but it was a simple snap button.
        "Let's see..." she said, opening the book, "It says 'The personale thoughts and myusings of Geoffrey the Gentleman, Master Theif.' I do believe it's a private journal! I hope his coherence is better than his spelling..." She heard a rustling noise that she recognized from experience as Thaniel thoughtfully stroking his goateed chin.
        "Hmmm, sixty, seventy years ago, Geoffrey would have been a popular name around these parts, a beloved princess gave her son that name," Thaniel muttered, "I can't say I've heard of this 'Geoffrey the Gentleman' specifically, though, he's no Unseen One." Ari made a face, even though no one could see it.
        "You can't just name the most famous thief in history, Thaniel," she scolded playfully, "that would be like comparing everyone who uses a spear to my ancestor Xander. Anyway, let's see what it says..."

Ari poked through the first few pages, which described, in a self-centered, rather meandering way, how Geoffrey was a proud member in good standing of the Red Hooks, a gang of thieves whose name was really only chosen because it sounded cool, not because of shared mutilations or favoured weapons or something along those lines. It also became clear through the man's cheery descriptions of their antics that Geoffrey's nickname was ironic. Thaniel spoke up as Ari was getting frustrated with the descriptions of random carriages being robbed or stores being burgled.  
        "You know, we can probably just skip to the end," he suggested, "Since that'll be when... whatever happened here, happened." Almost every page in the journal was used up, so Ari turned to the back and moved until she found the last entry. And didn't like what she found. She silently stared at the words for a moment, frowning.
        "Uhh... I'm gonna need a bit more context than this..." she said, genuinely creeped out. She turned back a few more pages until she found the last 'normal' entry.
        "Here we are, this is it," she said, "the Red Hooks were contacted by a mysterious cult calling themselves the Seekers of the Forsaken - and if Geoffrey describes them as shady, they must be bad news - to break into the Historical Museum of Calastonia and steal what the Seekers called the Night's Right Hand." Glancing up at Jerroth, who'd turned to observe her, Ari added "It's definitely the same gauntlet we call the Midnight Hand, and Calastonia later renamed itself Calastor. This matches up with the curator's message we found in the museum in Calastor!" Ariella felt rather excited, like she was piecing together a mystery from a tale of intrigue.
        "The Seekers told them about the path in the tunnels below the city... they found 'some guy' trying to spirit the gauntlet away before the cult came looking, mortally wounded him, and took the glove. Oh, that must be that poor Artesh Hortmeyer, just like he said in his message!" She briefly took a moment to feel bad about the decades-old murder of the curator again, but quickly went back to the book, reassuring herself that their new friend, Ben Calhoun, who worked at the museum, had promised to set the record straight about Artesh, who had been believed responsible for the artifacts that went missing the night of his disappearance.
        "Let's see, there's some... unpleasant bragging about how easy the job was, ugh, he actually compliments the friend who stabbed Hortmeyer..." she murmured, as she skimmed, "Here we are, the Hooks took a vote and decided to betray the Seekers, keep the Midnight Hand for themselves and sell it to the highest bidder." Jerroth made a face like he'd bitten into something sour and let out his breath in a huff.
        "Vile brigands... murderers and scoundrels without honour," he spat, "Perhaps these vermin of the dark deserved their fate." Grimacing, Ari looked up from the book to give the paladin a dirty look.
        "As a man of the Light, can you honestly say anyone deserves to become one of the things we've seen here tonight?" she asked, bluntly, "At the very least, try and have pity for them." She expected Jerroth to become cross with her for questioning him - a trait she'd generally observed in the more devoted people who'd crossed her path - but instead he flinched for a moment and then bowed his head to her.
        "You are right, of course," he said, quietly, "I spoke out of anger and haste. Surely none deserve this awful fate... even if they were reprobates of the worst kind when they walked the path of the living." He touched his hand to the icon on his chestplate, the symbol of the Order of the Light of Unity. Although it had been dinged up in combat and rubbed with dirt, the image of the seven orbs combining their light into a single whole still shone through proudly.
        "I will... ask the gods for their forgiveness later, when our lives are not endangered," he added, even more quietly, "For the time being, I will serve as I have been." There was something strangely... endearing about Jerroth's overly-formal tone, and his certainty that their mission served a higher cause, so it wasn't difficult for Ari to forgive him.
        "That's big of you to say," she said, simply, suspecting he wouldn't want to linger on the subject. She resumed her examination of Geoffrey's journal, searching every line for clues.
        "Seems they were a tad arrogant," she observed, "Kept all their loot here, in a back room, and... yes, that's where they put the gauntlet."
        "Are you telling me that the chamber where we can find the glove is also full of bandit treasure?" asked Thaniel, incredulously, "I thought that kind of thing didn't really happen outside of stories!" Ari chuckled at the idea; in her focus to find the location, she hadn't really considered the money and goods that would no doubt have been ignored by the revenants all this time.
        "Maybe the tales of Xander Shieldfall are more accurate than I thought," she joked, before something caught her eye and she frowned.
        "Actually, maybe not, Geoffrey keeps writing about it, day after day, he can't stop thinking about the Night's Right Hand," she added, "Apparently he was there when their leader met with the Seekers, and he heard that it's supposed to be an artifact of dark power, so he keeps wondering what exactly it does."
        "I can't imagine that line of thinking ending well for him," said Thaniel, and Ari could practically hear him rolling his eyes.
        "You'd be right about that," she replied, then quickly explained that to Jerroth before continuing, "He finally decides to sneak into the loot room at night, when he's less likely to run into anyone, and steals the gauntlet. The last normal entry is the one where he talks about how it went perfectly, and now he's gonna try it on and see what happens."

        "Ariella, what do you mean when you say 'the last normal entry'?" asked Jerroth, squinting at her with an expression that suggested he wasn't sure he wanted the answer. Ari sighed and shook her head, staring down at the book unhappily.
        "Well, in the next entry, which he says is only twenty minutes later, he talks about how incredible it is, how putting the gauntlet on changed his entire world," she explained, "Goes on at length about how he 'can finally see, like someone has opened his eyes', but never actually says what it is the gauntlet has shown him. This is followed by some paranoid nonsense about how the others will want the gauntlet for themselves, how they'll never understand what he's seen, and how he can hear 'the power of the night' calling to him." Jerroth shook his head and turned side-on to Ari, staring down at the table, visibly uncomfortable. It was obvious he wasn't pleased with the idea of such dark magic. He silently gestured to her to continue when she paused, and she sighed and did as he asked, reading the entries slower and more carefully, searching for details that might prove useful amidst the increasingly mad rantings on the page.
        "This is quite unsettling," she muttered, saying what they were all thinking, "I once knew a man who grew quite ill and was touched by the Red Raver's madness, as they say. It made him savagely angry all the time, ranted about how everyone was trying to betray him... Somehow, this is worse, he's not just rambling because he's angry, he genuinely believes in whatever terrible message the glove wanted him to hear."
        "But would this same dark insanity not have consumed the mind of your ancestor before he brought the gauntlet to the museum?" asked Jerroth, still not looking her way, "It sounds like it destroyed Geoffrey entirely within minutes." Ari shook her head.
        "No, from what Xander's journal said, he had no idea what he found, he just knew that it was magical," she said, "and he never actually put the gauntlet on, he was cursed just for taking it from the altar."
        "What happened in the end, Ari?" asked Thaniel, politely trying very hard not to sound eager for the answer.
        "The other bandits began acting paranoid as well, even though they never touched the gauntlet... they all began having terrible nightmares... oh, here we go," she murmured, "It sounds like they started turning into revenants slowly, rather than all at once, so they were aware of what was happening as they hid down here for days before their minds completely gave way... Seven Sentinels, how terrible..." Thaniel muttered to himself in a dead language, and Jerroth shook his head and made a gesture in front of himself that distinctly struck Ari as a sign of warding. It looked like he'd figured out how to pity the bandits after all.
        "I'm not certain, Geoffrey's pretty incoherent at this point, but I think his transformation was different from the others," she continued, "it sounds like he kept his wits, even if he was totally out of his mind, as he turned into something else. Now he won't shut up about how the gauntlet showed him 'places', but he never gets more specific than saying they're far away, and now he knows how to get there. Says it wants him to go there..." She sighed and finally came to the entry that had greeted her when she skipped to the end.
        "The last page he's written on has drops of dried blood on it, no mention of why, and all it says is 'The glove... it tightens around my wrist... it whispers to me... it beckons me... find my brothers, it says, make us whole, it tells me... I must go... it will lead, and I will follow...'" As a sinking feeling took hold of her stomach, Ari closed her eyes in despair.
        "Oh no... oh, no... Thaniel, the - the gauntlet isn't here, Geoffrey put it on and left with it," she whispered, "He could have gone anywhere with it, as long as it's 'far away', and that was fifty years ago! Oh - oh Blue Goddess, we're n-never going to find it! I - I'm going to..." Once again, Ariella unwillingly imagined the horrific fate that awaited her, and all those of the Shieldfall line, and felt tears forming in the corners of her eyes.

Thaniel tried to intervene.
        "Ari, don't give up hope!" he said, "There's still something there giving off a strong signal for the sensing rod to track! Maybe... maybe we can find the bag they originally kept the gauntlet in, and we can use that!"
        "Thaniel, it's alright..." she whispered, her voice flat and calm as the tears rolled down her cheeks, "You told me when I hired you that you might not be able to h-help me. I'll pay you s-something for your efforts, go back to my family, and then I guess someday, I'll just... kill myself. Oh, gods above..." She was trembling now, but before Thaniel could try to reassure her again, Jerroth spoke up.
        "I dislike intruding on an emotional moment like this," he said, "But I think I have found something, here on the table." Ari forced her eyes open, and after wiping them off, she saw the paladin standing there with the sensing rod in one hand; it was glowing brightly as he pointed it towards a random stack of papers. He swept them aside with his free hand and then leaned in closer to a dark object that had been under the documents.
        "By the light, this is darksteel," he said, sounding almost shocked, "The last time I laid my eyes on some was during my training, Reena took me into the Order's Grand Vault and showed me a sample we keep in a sealing circle, just a jagged piece of metal hewn from a larger object we destroyed. Darksteel is quite a popular tool amongst the vermin who serve darkness, so we were expected to be able to recognize it and adapt accordingly." Intrigued now, getting a hold of herself, Ari wiped her face and cleared her throat before speaking.
        "Jerroth... can you tell what it is?" she asked, gently, sniffling just once.
        "Well, I am a humble soldier of the light, not a chapter quartermaster, but if I had to guess..." he trailed off, rubbing his cheek, before answering, "I would say it is a small number of rings from a set of ring mail armour. At that moment, startling Ari and even making Jerroth tense up for a moment, Mister Crow came flapping into the room, cawing as he landed on Ari's shoulder.
        "Master Thaniel says that the drawing of the Midnight Hand in Xander's little diary shows it as a plate mail gauntlet with a layer of ring mail underneath the plates," he said, as if he'd been here all along, "That's got to be a piece of the Night's Right Hand!" A moment passed and then he glanced back and forth between Ari and Jerroth.
        "Also, I'm back," he added, facetiously, "Hello again."  

        "Crow!" Ari said, relieved to see her little friend, "You're alright!" A heartbeat later, and she could resist no more.
        "The shaft, was it -" she started.
        "Clear?" interrupted Crow, who'd obviously been expecting this, "Oh yes, indeed, I've just been back from seeing the moon. I think it's starting to set, we've been down here a while now."
        "That's good," sighed Ari, thankfully, "We've learned one of the thieves caused all this..." Here she made a gesture so vague it encompassed everything around them - "...By putting the gauntlet on, at which point it lead him out of the mines on a journey to... something else."
        "Find my brothers," repeated Jerroth, ominously, "Make us whole." A moment passed while everyone chewed on that, and then Ari crossed her arms, something she did now and then as she thought.
        "I remember Ben saying something at the museum," she murmured, "That the gauntlet, the Midnight Hand, is part of a matched set, and the other one is called the Dusk Hand. Nobody's seen it in hundreds of years, and I dread to think what happens if you bring them together..." Jerroth shook his head slightly.
        "That may be so, but a gauntlet only has one 'brother'," the paladin pointed out, "Could there be more to this set?" Ari shrugged helplessly.
        "If there are, we don't know about them," she admitted, "You know almost everything we do. M-maybe the gauntlet was made for a different species, one with more than two hands, like the Naga. For all we know, it's a matched set of four gauntlets... or something." Ari didn't really believe that herself, so it was hard to put much enthusiasm into it.
        "Uhhh, Crow? Could you do me a favour and have the amulet face that big room outside?" asked Thaniel. The raven flapped over and landed on the table next to the exit. A thin, flickery light washed out in a rapidly-expanding radius before fading from view in the dark distance.
        "What was that?" asked Jerroth, dubiously.
        "That was a detection pulse," explained Crow, "Thaniel sends one out, and it washes over the surroundings and -"
        "Crow, as much as I love listening to explanations of how clever I am," interrupted the wizard, "We have a big problem. It's the revenants. They're coming. All of them."

Ari felt just a moment of blinding, all-consuming terror wash over her, and then somehow it was gone, replaced with a fear that heightened her focus instead of destroying it.
        "A-all of them?" she asked, "What - why?" There was a moment of silence, a muffled profanity, and then;
        "I'm shrugging!" Thaniel said, quickly, "If I had to guess, it's that piece of darksteel, they must somehow know it's their source, so even though they don't need it anymore, they might be driven to protect it... so they know you're here."
        "By the seven, we must reach the surface before they corner us down here!" said Jerroth, authoritatively, turning to the table and sweeping out a hand to grab the armour fragment.
        "No!" cried Thaniel, and a very small, somewhat measly lightning bolt shot out of a surprised Crow's medallion and struck Jerroth's own shiny gauntlet. The paladin fell away, grabbing at his stinging hand.
        "Gaah! You would attack me, an ally?!" he cried, stunned, "Have you no honour?!"
        "Jerroth, shut up and listen!" blurted Ari, "Thaniel - Thaniel's talking really fast, and it's hard for me to follow him, but he says we shouldn't touch that thing ourselves, it could be really bad. Crow! Get over there so he can - so he can do whatever and bring the fragment back to the tower and put some wards on it!"  
        "Yes ma'am!" gasped the raven, who looked almost as unsettled as she felt. By now, she could hear the monsters growling and slathering outside, and that was not a good sensation. Before Crow had even fully touched down on the table next to the darksteel ring, his amulet had begun to glow a soft blue, and the fragment disappeared in a tiny puff of smoke.
        "Alright, I've got it," said Thaniel, "Now get yourselves out, pronto!" That was one message Ari didn't have to repeat for Jerroth, for as soon as she nodded to him, the paladin - who had completely recovered from the stun bolt Thaniel had hit him with - drew his morning star, extended it into a flail, and reached back for his shield.
        "Keep your wits about you!" he bellowed, as Crow settled back on Ari's shoulder.
        "Hold on, Siaro, this is going to be a bumpy ride," she warned, and then, as the bird hunkered down lower, digging his claws in just a bit, Jerroth charged out into the main chamber, and Ari came right behind him.

There were three of the beasts hovering around the passage to the other room, and more were on the way, crawling out of every hole big enough, save the one that lead to the emergency shaft. Without hesitating, Jerroth stepped forward and raised his flail, which began to glow again.
        "Foolish scum!" he screamed, sounding almost as intimidating as the shadow-covered things glaring at him.
        "Even in your home, even surrounded by the taint of darkness, I feel no fear!" the holy warrior bellowed as he slammed a charging revenant in the face with his shield, throwing it back on its ass, "I stand here, filled with the strength of the Light of Unity, and I know that I will reach the surface, no matter how many of you malformed monsters try to stop me!" He began spinning his flail, building up momentum, and screamed his defiance to the stone around them.
        "I am Jerroth, Brother of Unity, and I stand for the Light!" he bellowed, "Now, feel the strength of my faith!" With that, he brought the flail down against the cool rock floor beneath them, and as it impacted, a tremendous golden light exploded forth to wash over the entire room. Ari just felt her skin tingling a little, but the revenants reacted like they'd been splashed with acid, as the intense light caused their shadow fields to vanish entirely, and the bodies of the monsters nearest to Jerroth sizzled and burned as they fell back, writhing angrily. The paladin called out Ari's name, and they both took off as the revenants were recovering, rubbing at their eyes and trying to walk on singed limbs. They made it almost all the way across the room, but more revenants had been hiding in the shadows outside the chamber, and now burst in unharmed to swarm towards the fleeing adventurers.
        "Ari! I've got an idea about the lightning rod trick we discovered!" Thaniel said, eagerly, but Ari cut him off.
        "Not now, Thaniel!" she cried, still making for the door, "That only works outside!"
        "Yes, but -" Ari interrupted him again, this time with a scream of fury and terror, lunging forth and driving her spear into the nearest revenant. Unfortunately, her aim was off, and she nailed it in the shoulder instead of the mouth. The beast stumbled over backwards, yanking Zahk-Tumm out of Ariella's hands and leaving the shaft of the spear sticking straight up towards the ceiling. The other revenants began to race past, ignoring their injured comrade entirely. Ari had just had a single coherent thought - 'I'm going to die' - when out of nowhere, the amulet around Crow's neck lit up bright, and a much thicker, much more impressive blast of electricity than before surged forth, making the raven caw in surprise and agitation. Raw power crackled through the air and slammed into the shaft of Ari's spear; although it was made out of wood, the weapon was enchanted from end to end, which meant its entire being was suffused with a magical field that made it perfect for channeling energy - and now that energy flowed down straight into the revenant still speared on the end, before instantly blasting forth from his twitching body to arc into each and every one of the fiends in that group. Ari raised a hand, as much against the light as against what she was seeing, since as helpful as it is, the sight of lightning utterly destroying a monster isn't a pleasant one. At least one of the revenants literally exploded before its misshapen remains boiled away into the traditional black smoke. The attack didn't kill all of them, but the ones that remained when the light faded were barely moving, and Jerroth effortlessly dispatched them with his flail as Ari ran forward and gingerly retrieved her spear; it was warm, but not painfully so, and if the last time Thaniel had tried a trick like this was any indication, at least the smell would pass quickly.
        "...As I was saying," Thaniel said, cheekily, "It's true that I can only call down real thunderbolts when we're under the sky, but I think you'll find that a good old fashioned chain lightning attack spell will work in a pinch."
        "You are amazing, wizard," she muttered, shaking her head in wonder and hoping he couldn't see the grin on her face from Crow's position on her shoulder.

The three of them didn't want to linger, as the revenants blinded by Jerroth's first attack already seemed to be recovering, and they could hear more of the beasts snarling and howling in the tunnels all around them. All but one, that is, and the paladin pointed to it with the shaft of his weapon.
        "To the escape tunnel!" Jerroth yelled, somewhat unnecessarily, "We must make it to the surface!" No one argued with that, so they took off for the end of the shaft. On the plus side, the slope was much more gradual than the one that had lead down from the mine's record room, and Ari's feet were thankful. On the down side, that meant this tunnel would take longer before it emerged above the surface, and the revenants were still clambering after them. Ari's heart was already pounding in her ears from terror, so she didn't much notice as her body began to tire. There was no way she would let mere fatigue hold her back enough that the revenants caught her. She'd rather run until she dropped dead, as it was probably a better fate than awaited her at their claws. She was worried she wouldn't get that choice, unfortunately, as she could hear them getting closer and closer. Thaniel cut through her deafening heartbeat with a yell.
        "Crow!" he bellowed, "Turn around!" There was a shifting on Ari's shoulder as Mister Crow, with some difficulty, managed to turn to face the other way even as the woman he was trying to hold on to ran as hard as she could.
        "Ari, I'm sorry in advance if I singe your hair!" Thaniel added, and then he started running through magic words in several different languages, launching spell after spell through the amulet and into the crowd of revenants that chased them. More lightning, to sizzle its way through the monsters. Ice fragments to pelt the creatures mercilessly. Fireballs that exploded with great force, the heat washing over the adventurers as they ran. Even a few spells that Ari didn't recognize, strange whistling and groaning sounds and lights of all colours reflecting off the walls around her. But she didn't dare look over her shoulder, partly to avoid tripping over anything, and partly because she was afraid she'd freeze in place at the sight of all those revenants chasing her. Suddenly, a high-pitched snarl came from behind, and before she could dwell on that, Jerroth spun and lashed out with his flail, smacking one of the beasts out of the air over her. He kept up the motion, pivoting on the spot and going straight back to running, so his momentum barely took a hit, though now he was encouraging Ari to go first. He held his shield arm out to the side, presenting a wall of metal to discourage the monsters from trying anything. After what felt like forever, Crow glanced back and yelled over the noise (well, it was more like a screech, given his species).
        "There! Just up ahead!" he screamed, "It's hard to see because it's dark, but you're almost there, Ari!" Ari groaned in pain but nodded, and Crow went back to facing the monsters so Thaniel could send them his regards.

Soon, they were close enough that Ari could differentiate the gap up ahead from the darkness around it; she could see stars, and she was suddenly filled with the hope that if she could just reach it, she would see the sun again too.
        "Ariella!" bellowed Jerroth, "We have angered the nest! I will s-stop to hold them back as long as I c-can, you must make it back to North Nolan, to - to warn them of what is coming!"
        "What?!" she cried, "You can't do that, I won't -" Suddenly, they burst out of the tunnel and into the sparkling starlight. They had come out of the side of a hill, and there were trees all around them. But Ari was so caught off-guard by their sudden emergence that her tired foot caught on a rock and she went hurtling to the ground.
        "Get up and run!" hollered the paladin, as he slid to a halt just in front of her and turned to face the beasts, "Here, I make my stand!" This situation was just so wrong to Ari; Jerroth may not have been as exhausted as her, but he was still breathing pretty hard, so there was no way he could possibly take on that many revenants and come out on top. But even if he was trying to sacrifice himself for her, every muscle in Ariella's body ached terribly. She was so tired, so weak, that all she could do was roll onto her back and cry out in horror as the monsters that hunted them appeared at the mouth of the cave.
        "Nooooo!"

As she watched - again, almost in slow motion - the beasts swarmed out of the cavern, completely oblivious to the light of the stars. The nearest of the shadowy things leapt out at Jerroth, fangs open wide, claws fully extended... only to be caught at the last second as an ornate broadsword swung through the air and effortlessly cleaved the beast in half. The black blood boiled away from the blade, which gleamed and shimmered even in the dim light, and its wielder raised it high into the air.
        "Now, my brothers and sisters!" she bellowed, her strong, confident voice filling Ari with an irrational hope, "Teach these wretches to fear the Light!" At that moment, two more armoured figures hurled themselves over the top of the hill above the mine shaft; one carried two preposterously thin-looking daggers, which must have been enchanted or made of some rare mineral, to be so narrow and yet not snap off in the hides of the beasts below as he dropped down among them. The other was a very, very large man, and after his landing killed one of the creatures dead, he began swinging a massive hammer with a shaft thicker than Ari's arm through the air again and again, smiting the beasts with single blows. At the same time, arrows and crossbow bolts began laying into the fiends, the blows not especially damaging, but perfect for distraction, catching an eye here, a nose there, rendering the creatures vulnerable to attack from the merciless onslaught of the armoured soldiers. However, a fair number of revenants had already gotten past the exit between the order being given and the two warriors intervening, and they were still closing in on Ari's position. It was then that Ari really took a close look at her saviour, and was rather taken aback by what she saw. The woman was a tall, middle-aged leopardess with a stern face and an air of dignity, whose engraved armour and military haircut, not to mention her position of obvious authority, meant that she could only be the Reena of whom Jerroth had spoken so positively. She had stood with her blade down at her side, as if she were ignoring the monsters still rushing them, her tail floating back and forth behind her with the utmost calm, and now she fell back into a comfortable-looking defensive posture, raising her shield at the last moment before the claws came in to test her. Where Ari had been stunned by the strength and power Jerroth had carried in battle, shrugging off attacks that would have maimed or incapacitated another man, and laying out crushing blows that made the ground tremble, this higher-ranking sister of the Order was on a whole other level. The revenants were lucky if their claws raked uselessly across her shield, as she was able to effortlessly deflect their blows with the flat side of her sword, throwing the creatures off balance so she could move in and take advantage of even the tiniest opening in their defences. The thing that struck Ari, once again, was that she made it look easy. Where Jerroth had fought off the single revenant almost as easily as if it were an angry dog, Reena acted like this - like facing half a dozen revenants at the same time - was effortless, like their every move was a dance she had practiced for years, and now could carry out in her sleep. In no time at all, the creatures were dispatched, and Reena turned to Jerroth, who had been staring at her, his expression totally unreadable.
        "Do you have enough strength in you to help me finish this, Brother?" she asked, using precisely the same tone of voice that Jerroth himself used in his 'take charge' moments. Jerroth nodded professionally.
        "My flail is yours to command, Sister."
        "What I need right now is your power, my son," she replied, "Those vermin are not going to stop coming any time soon." Jerroth actually grinned just slightly.
        "Even better." The paladins ran forward, towards the fray where the two warriors were doing a terrific job of holding their own against the revenants, which seemed endless. How many members had this bandit gang had? Had the revenants found a way to transform others and increase their numbers? These questions would go unanswered, at least for the moment, as Reena called out to her men.
        "Ready!" she screamed, as she brought her sword to bear. Jerroth's flail-chain retracted back into the handle just in time for the holy warrior to strike the head of his morning star against his mentor's broadsword. As the weapons clashed, the sound unusually loud, they began to glow so white that it hurt to look at them.
        "Down!" ordered Reena, and her two warriors hurled themselves out of the fray so fast it almost seemed to Ari like they were puppets yanked away by their strings. Reena and Jerroth's 'incantation' wasn't as descriptive or flowery as most of Jerroth's; even religious fanatics had their practical moments, it seemed. As one, the paladins bellowed 'Burn in the Light!' and pointed their weapons down the path towards the mine. Instantly, a light hotter and more intense than any Ariella had ever witnessed erupted out of the weapons and burned through the air towards the charging revenants and the cavern entrance, in a beam about the width of the tunnels themselves. As it reached the first of the revenants, they simply vanished, consumed instantly by the power of the attack, and that was all Ari saw before she couldn't bear to look anymore, and shut her eyes tight, afraid she'd go blind if she watched one second longer. She heard a long, intense roaring sound, and then suddenly, total silence, aside from the ringing in her ears.

When she dared to open her eyes again, Ari blinked a few times and then saw the paladins, standing there on the path, and they were alone. There was absolutely nothing between them and the entrance to the mine except for the rapidly evaporating smoke left behind by all those revenants. There weren't even any burn marks.
        "...C-Crow?" she whispered, feeling more tired than she'd ever been before.
        "I'm here, Ari," he said, gently, giving her shoulder a squeeze that reassured her a little. Reena seemed to catch this with her feline hearing, and turned towards the strangers she'd just saved, but before she could say a word, Jerroth groaned and fell to his knees, weapon and shield dropping out of his limp hands. He didn't topple over, he just stayed there, sitting on his knees and sagging slightly.
        "Brother Jerroth!" Reena said, surprised, "I did not know you were that exhausted, you should never have joined me in that sunburst, you could have killed yourself!" The Human soldier looked over at Ari for a moment and then back at his mentor.
        "To serve the Light... to save innocents... it w-would have been worth it, Sister."  Reena just shook her head with a sigh that sounded surprisingly motherly, and then looked up into the trees.
        "Brother Matthew, Sister Tel'shia! Dismount!" she said, before two more figures dropped out of trees on either side of the path.
        "Matthew, tend to Brother Jerroth here, make sure he is not injured," Reena continued, "Tel'shia, see to the people Jerroth was protecting." The lither of the two nodded and came to Ari, who had managed to sit up. The woman with the longbow had pitch black hair and she was so slender that Ari didn't need to see her ears to recognize that she was an Elf. Her armour was reinforced leather, but it was stained a light grey, and the chestpiece was engraved with the symbol of the Order just as proudly as Jerroth's plate mail. The other shooter, a Human with a crossbow slung across his back, wore the same thing.
        "Are you hurt? Can you stand?" Tel'shia asked, with a slightly more relaxed tone than Jerroth or his mentor. Ari took a deep breath and shook her head.
        "Yes and n-no... actually, mostly no," she said, "I'm n-not hurt, but... I've run so far... and I'm totally exhausted..." The archer nodded and knelt down.
        "Here, drink this, it will help you recover your strength," she said, pressing a bottled potion into Ari's hand, "Is your familiar alright?" Ari wasn't surprised by this, as Jerroth had also immediately recognized that the bird was no ordinary raven as soon as he saw him, thanks to his sacred abilities. Crow spoke up for her, sounding just slightly indignant, no doubt feeling less inclined to backtalk than usual with one of the people who'd just saved their lives.
        "I'm not her familiar," he said, snippily, "but yes, I'm unharmed. Your people will want to talk to my master. Ari, is it okay if I leave you?" The heiress was frankly surprised that the raven would even ask, and nodded, after taking a long drink from the potion.
        "I'll be okay, Crow, go help Thaniel talk to them," she said. As the bird flapped off towards Reena, who was still talking with Jerroth, Tel'shia knelt down closer.
        "Here, let me use my Holy Sight, to make sure you aren't injured," she said, pleasantly, as her eyes turned white and colourless, "Even if the wound is on the inside, I'll be able - by the Light United, what..." Ari sighed, realizing the paladin was seeing the curse within her, and wondering the same thing that Jerroth had thought the first time he laid eyes on her.
        Looking up at the sky, happy just to see it again, Ari murmured "It's a long story." She went to close her eyes, but a light caught her attention. Turning eastwards, Ariella was surprised to see the sun just beginning to rise over the horizon, its rays peeking between trees to get to her. And as the light from the sunrise washed over the group of paladins and the adventurers they'd rescued, Ari couldn't help but smile.

Sadly, Tel'shia didn't let Ari lie down and take a nap, and insisted on bringing the heiress to her commander as soon as Ari could stand. As they approached, Reena turned to greet the two warriors who had been battling the revenants at the mine entrance, now reporting in. The smaller one, who had used the twin daggers, turned out to be a woman whose form was hidden by her thick, though seemingly lightweight armour.
        "No creatures seem to have escaped, Sister," she said, matter-of-factly, "But I sense darkness below, and I'm sure there's more in the tunnels." Reena nodded curtly.
        "I concur. Brother Mortugar?" The taller paladin pulled his helmet off, and Ari was surprised to see that he was a Half-Orc. She supposed that people of all walks of life could be drawn to the path of aiding their fellow mortals, despite the stereotypes that existed about some species.
        "Yes, Sister Reena?" the large paladin rumbled, politely.
        "I saw you take that hit to the calf," she replied, "See the cleric for healing. Now, before the fighting comes. I want you on the front line." Mortugar pouted, his tusks poking out between his lips.
        "It's nothing, a scratch," he insisted, but Reena was unmoved.
        "Now, soldier, I don't need my hardest fighter moaning with fever and infection while the rest of us are risking our lives!" Sighing and pouting even further, the massive man nodded and headed off, slinging that enormous hammer over his shoulder.
        "Sentinels bless Mortugar," Reena muttered, watching him go, "I've never met anyone who can take a hit like him, but he digs in his heels every time he needs to patch up." Taking a step back, she turned to face Ari and folded her hands behind her back.
        "Complaining aside, I can vouch for all my men, that their dedication is as strong as their faith. The same cannot be said for you, however," she said, coolly regarding the woman with the spear, "Brother Jerroth, a soldier I know well, assures me that the darkness I sense within you is not of your own doing, that you were his ally here." Swallowing, determined not to look afraid when she hadn't done anything wrong, Ari nodded.
        "That's correct," she replied, bringing up her best 'noble family' bearing, "My name is Ariella Taligre Shieldfall, and I came to these parts accompanied by the wizard Thaniel and his familiar Crow. I... assume that Jerroth told you about my quest?" Ari glanced to the side, but one of the other soldiers, she'd already forgotten which one, was still tending to Jerroth, who looked totally worn-out. Reena nodded once.
        "He informed us of the Midnight Hand, and your quest to destroy it, but not of the history or nature of your curse," she said, carefully, "If your fear was of wagging tongues, you should know that Jerroth's loyalty is the rule, not the exception. None of my brothers or sisters will betray your confidence."
        "That's a relief, I'll admit, but I wasn't worried. I... thank you for saving us," Ari continued, slowly slipping her spear back into the straps on her back, "Without you, Jerroth, Crow, and I would have died, and..." Ari trailed off as Reena frowned slightly, tilting her head to the side and looking at her as if confused.
        "Defending the children of the Light is my job, Miss Shieldfall," she said, absolutely deadpan, as she gestured to the east, "You do not thank the sun for rising every morning, and so you never need to thank the Order of the Light of Unity for protecting you from evil."

With that, Reena turned away to go speak with her soldiers for a moment as they planned out an invasion of the mines, to take out the last few revenants and try and cleanse the place of the evil taint that had stained the dirt and stone for decades. Jerroth stood and walked over to the heiress, seeming well recovered.
        "Tell me something, Jerroth," Ari said, "I remember in the mine, you told me exactly what happens when you give thanks to Reena. When she turned away from me, was she smiling?"
        "From ear to ear, Ariella" he replied, grinning thinly himself, "From ear to ear." Ari chuckled at that and accepted Jerroth's extended hand, shaking it warmly.
        "Thank you, Ariella Shieldfall, you have been a worthy ally this night," he said, "I am pleased that I was able to safeguard you and Mister Crow from darkness, and that we survived in such conditions until reinforcements arrived. This will not be an assignment I soon forget."
        "You're welcome, Jerroth, and I thank you too," she replied, "But tell me, where is Crow? I thought he would be with Reena." The paladin nodded.
        "And he was, giving her Thaniel's side of the story, but as soon as she was done with him, he vanished into a cloud of smoke and light, saying the wizard desired his presence." Ari was about to ask, purely rhetorically, why Thaniel would draw his familiar away, when suddenly there was a loud booming sound and a bright flash of light behind her, and she whirled in fright, expecting a previously hidden revenant, only to find Thaniel's tower there where it hadn't been a moment before, and the smell of orchids in the air. As every paladin in the clearing fell back into a defensive posture, and even Jerroth took a couple of steps back in surprise, Ari turned and waved her arms, getting everyone's attention.
        "Sorry!" she cried, blushing, "That's Thaniel's tower, the wizard that Mister Crow told you about! He's a friend, I promise!" Jerroth had already recovered from the shock, but the other holy warriors looked to Reena, only putting their weapons away and relaxing once their commander had nodded. Meanwhile, Crow flew out of a window that normally wasn't there, and flapped down to Ari and Jerroth.

        "Ah, there you are," the bird said, landing on Ari's shoulder as though nothing out of the ordinary had happened, "Ari, Jerroth, Thaniel would like to meet inside to discuss our next move." Jerroth sighed heavily and shook his head.
        "With respect, Mister Crow, your path is not mine," he said, almost reluctantly, "Though it is a noble goal to try and break this terrible curse upon Ariella's family, the Order has decreed that for the time being, my destiny is to wander the land by myself, lending aid and assistance wherever I can." Ari was genuinely disappointed to hear this, and that surprised her a little bit. The paladin had grown on her more than she expected. The bird sighed and nodded understandingly.
        "Ah well, I suppose it was a bit much to ask that the large man with superhuman strength might want to stick around in case things got hairy again," he said, and then, after staring off into space for a moment, "If that's the case, then Thaniel would like to see you by the front door to the tower. So he can say his goodbyes in person, you see." With that, the raven took off and flew back to his home. As they started walking over, Ari turned to Jerroth curiously.
        "So you're just heading off on your own again?" she asked, "Even though Reena and her men are here?" The paladin nodded.
        "It is my duty to wander alone until I have proven myself worthy to serve as part of a team," he acknowledged, "But not just yet. There is still darkness in that mine, and Sister Reena agrees it would be a shame for me not to see this incident all the way through."
        "You're going back in there?" Ari boggled, "Really?" Jerroth nodded again, and this time he was actually smiling.
        "For one member of the Order, it was practically suicide, even with you and Crow helping me. With an entire squad of battle-brothers and sisters accompanying me?" He didn't answer his own question, just grinned, and Ari couldn't help but smile back.
        "They won't know what hit 'em," she promised.

As they reached the tower, the door opened from within, and Thaniel stood there, obviously delighted to see them.
        "Ari!" he cried, stepping forward and sweeping her into a hug, "Gods above, I was so worried! I never would have forgiven myself if -" Self-consciously hugging him back, Ari interrupted.
        "Let's not torture ourselves with ifs," she insisted, "We got back fine and dandy. You might not have been down there, Thaniel, but we couldn't have done it without your insight and the spells you sent through the amulet." Leaning back, Thaniel had an endearingly genuine look of flattered bashfulness on his face.
        "You really mean it?" he asked, chuckling as she nodded.
        "Well, thanks, Ari," he said, and then as Crow descended from above to land on his shoulder, Thaniel took two step backwards, taking him just inside the safety of his tower. It would only occur to Ari later that the wizard had defied his own fears to step outside and embrace her.
        "Meanwhile, Crow tells me that you're leaving us, Jerroth," he continued, "I won't lie, I'm sorry to see you go. Our quest isn't going to get any lighter, so it would be nice to have someone along that the dark was afraid of." He extended his hand, and the wizard and the paladin shook amicably.
        "You are quite a formidable fighter, Jerroth," observed Thaniel, "Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for keeping Ari and Crow safe down there." Jerroth bowed his head politely.
        "And I reply that it was my honour serving the same noble cause as you three, for as long as our paths converged," he said, reaching inside his armour. He withdrew two small objects, carvings of the symbol of the Order.
        "Here," he said, handing one to Ari and one to Thaniel, "Both of you, take one of these." Before the raven could say anything sarcastic, Jerroth added "I would offer one to you, Mister Crow, but alas, no hands and no pockets." Crow snorted and nodded approvingly.
        "Just when I was starting to like this guy," he muttered. Jerroth looked back to the wizard and the heiress and continued.
        "These icons are spiritually attuned to my holy aura," he said, "If you break the seal, anywhere in the world, I will know about it, and be able to respond. I make this offer truly, as a token of... friendship, and battles well weathered together. If you ever find that your quest for the gauntlet, or any other undertaking for that matter, requires my aid, merely say the word, and Jerroth of the Hasduni, Battle-Brother of the Order of the Light of Unity, will fight at your side in the name of all that is good!" Pocketing the icon politely, Thaniel bowed back.
        "Thank you, Jerroth, that... that means a lot to me," he said, "I haven't had many friends, not in a long time. Ah, here." He snapped his fingers, and something that looked an awful lot like an acorn appeared in his hand.
        "This is, ah, this is basically the same idea," he said, "It's not my family symbol or anything, sorry, didn't know I'd have a reason to make a special, meaningful gift. So, yeah, just smash this on the ground, and I'll know you are asking for our - I mean my - aid, and I'll move the tower as close to your location as I can."
        "Then I thank you for this, noble wizard," replied the paladin, slipping the acorn-thing into the same hidden compartment where he kept his treasured Ring of Scripture and closing it firmly, keeping the token close to his heart, "But for the time being, my mentor has requested my assistance," he said, simply, "and I relish the opportunity to lend it!"

Ari chuckled at his obvious enthusiasm; it was like he was talking about a camping trip or a vacation with an old friend, not marching into a monster-infested labyrinth to finish cleaning out the hornet's nest they'd already kicked.
        "Feels good to see Reena again?" she asked, gently. The paladin's face hardened for just a moment, and then he relaxed and nodded.
        "Yes, I admit it," he said, "It felt good to have Sister Reena recognize how hard I have been working since we last met. She is... almost like a mother to me, so I have always worked to make her proud." Ari and Thaniel jumped slightly as the leopardess spoke up from just behind them, having somehow snuck up on all three of them without being detected.
        "What you should be working for is the safety of all people and the destruction of the darkness that threatens them, Brother Jerroth," she said, severely, but then her face softened just a bit, and she smiled thinly. "...But for what it is worth, it is good to see you too, my son. And for the record, Jerroth..." She lifted her arm and held out an ornate helmet.
        "I have always been proud of you, ever since that first morning we met," she said, "Here, take this, I saw that you lost your helmet."  
        "Actually," interjected Thaniel, "He didn't wear a helmet down in the mine." Actually blushing slightly, Jerroth stood up even straighter.
        "Not wearing a helmet allows me to channel my holy powers more effectively," he said, before belatedly adding "...Sister." Lowering the helmet, Reena shook her head and sighed.
        "I wonder who taught him that fool strategy," she mused, while very deliberately reaching up and scratching at an itch behind one of her ears, which were just as exposed as the Human soldier's.
        "That being the case, my son, the assault is ready. Matthew and Tel'shia will be useless underground, so I have sent them to the known entrance to the mine, to keep watch for revenants trying to slip out that way. The rest of us will be going down that shaft behind us and killing anything that moves, and I would appreciate your knowledge of the tunnels when we do." Saluting smartly, Jerroth went stiff as a board.
        "It would be my honour, Sister!" he replied, instantly, and after crisply finishing the gesture, he started walking off with her towards the soldiers gathering around the exit to the escape shaft. Ari called out, causing both paladins to turn around. Reena's tail flitted back and forth in minor annoyance, but Ari still made the offer.
        "Hey, uh... maybe we could help?" she suggested, "Crow and I have been down there too, and Thaniel's got some pretty wicked powers..." Holding his hands out towards them, Jerroth shook his head.
        "I must insist against that, my friends," he said, "Your path takes you further on your quest to break that curse. Leave this battle to the Order; this is what we trained for. This is what we were born for." Reena nodded approvingly, but said nothing.
        "Then in that case, goodbye, Jerroth, take good care of yourself," she said, "I hope that when next we meet, there isn't a drop of darkness to be sensed in me!"
        "Farewell, friend," said Thaniel, bowing at the waist, "May the Light guide your weapons in battle and your feet on the path." With that, the paladins saluted the wizard and his companions, and then turned back towards the mine, ready to make this region just a little safer for all who lived within it.

A few minutes later, the paladins of the Order had confidently headed into the mine, and Thaniel, Crow, and Ari retreated into the tower.
        "Oooh... I feel like I could sleep all day," Ari groaned, "And maybe all night, just to be sure." The wizard reached out a hand and patted her on the back supportively - and then, just as she realized his hand was glowing, Ari felt a small amount of her fatigue leaving her as a little jolt of energy flowed through her.
        "Heh, you looked like you could use a quick pick-me-up," he said, almost teasingly, "I just wanted to show you what I've been working on before you went to rest. Oh! Oh, Ari, I'm sorry..." He stopped right there on the stairs and gingerly reached out to touch her brilliant red hair.
        "It looks like I did singe some of your hair with all those fire spells on the way out of the mine..." he said, flinching. Ari reached back and touched it; the burn didn't feel bad, but touch and sight were totally different things.
        "How does it - oh!" She decided that at this point, she probably shouldn't have been surprised when a large mirror appeared on the wall next to them. The heiress breathed a sigh of relief as she took in the sight; it was only a few stray hairs along the edge of her mane, she wouldn't even have to change her hairstyle.
        "No, Thaniel," she said, evenly, "Even if you had totally ruined my hair and I had to shave my head bald, it would be worth it. There were so many revenants, if you hadn't been slowing them down with your spells, I don't think we would have made it to Reena's ambush at all." He seemed to perk up a little at that, and she smiled slightly as the mirror vanished.
        "Next time I'll just wear a ponytail, or something," she said, "Say, I was wondering..." The wizard smiled curiously.
        "What about?" She gestured around them.
        "The tower made a pretty loud boom when you moved it here, scared the crap out of everyone in the field," she said, "I was half-convinced that Orcish fellow was going to charge the building with his hammer."
        "Oh dear," replied Thaniel, "How embarrassing." Ari smiled knowingly.
        "And yet," she continued, "I distinctly remember that the first time I saw you move the tower from the outside, it was dead silent." The wizard blushed, and Ari chuckled.
        "Okay, maybe I just wanted to be dramatic," he admitted, "Please don't tell Jerroth when we see him again?" She patted him on the shoulder reassuringly.
        "My lips are sealed. What about the orchid smell, though?"
        "Oh, that," he said, almost dismissively, "That actually is part of the spell, funnily enough. It's a long story..." With that, they continued climbing the spiralling stairs until they reached the very top of the tower, where Thaniel's magical laboratory was kept. Ari could swear it didn't take as long as it usually did, but had no way of proving it, and of course when she looked over the railing, the tower sure looked as tall as ever.

Stepping into the lab, Ari was immediately struck by the pillar standing just to the side of the centre of the room, a pillar with four pointed protrusions emerging from the corners of its smooth upper surface, upon which nothing rested. These protrusions were aglow with arcane energy, rising upwards and forming a sphere that floated above the pillar, and which was empty aside from...
        "The gauntlet fragment?" she asked, curiously. Thaniel nodded.
        "Mmm-hmm," he confirmed, "It doesn't have much power by itself, but I didn't want to take any chances, not while it's in my home, so it's in the most powerful containment I could conjure that wouldn't prevent me from taking readings or tapping into it for the guidance spell." Ari turned to him sharply.
        "Guidance spell?" she asked, "You mean..." The heiress dared to feel a moment of intense hope. The wizard grinned proudly.
         "It was hard to trace the curse energy from you, since it's barely there at all until it kicks in," he said, "But this is an actual piece of the gauntlet that cursed your family, Ari. With this... Hmmm, how do I describe this...? Have you ever heard of a detection spell? You know, 'detect undead', 'detect evil', that kind of thing." Ari impatiently nodded.
        "Yes, you wave your hand and the magic tells you if there are any undead creatures or whatever you're detecting in a given area," she said, "Isn't that how we were tracking this curse in the first place?" The novice spearwoman blushed slightly as Thaniel looked hurt for a moment.
        "I'd thank you not to dismiss the studies I've dedicated my life to as 'waving your hands around'," he said, evenly, "But yes, that's basically how it works. In this case, we were being a bit more specialized than that, sort of a 'detect gauntlet' spell. It mainly worked because we could follow the gauntlet's path to the museum and then to the mine, we already knew the trail would be somewhere around there." He reached up and rapped a hand against the sphere of energy, which bobbed away before slowly floating back to its original position.
        "But this thing gives us a much stronger connection to the gauntlet, which means our 'detect gauntlet' spell now has a much higher range." Ari forced herself to breathe in.
        "...So we're back on track?" she asked, "We - we're going to find the Midnight Hand?" The wizard held his hands up.
        "Well, I don't want to get ahead of myself making promises," he said, "but assuming it's not at the bottom of the ocean, it should just be a matter of time until we narrow down the signal and catch up to wherever the glove actually is. I'll need a bit of time for calibrations, and then it would help to do some triangulating, but very soon, I'll have a compass direction to follow, and by the time you finish resting up, I should have a few potential destinations that will help us narrow things down even more."

Feeling that hope blossoming inside her, Ari grinned and leaned in to give Thaniel a quick peck on the cheek. She was delighted at how hard he blushed after that.
        "Oh, Thaniel, thank you so much!" she exclaimed, "Ever since my parents told me about the curse, I've felt like I was living on borrowed time, but now, I might have a chance to live my life free of the fear that's held my family for so long, to die a happy old lady instead of turning into a monster and hurting people!" She threw her arms around Thaniel's shoulders, displacing a surprised Crow, and hugged him, beaming at his embarrassed face.
        "And it's all thanks to you, wizard," she said, gently, "I simply don't know how I'll ever repay you." Thaniel swallowed audibly and shuddered against her.
        "A-Ari, I... we... uh..." he stammered, and it was only when Crow cleared his throat from the table he'd relocated to that Ariella realized exactly how forward she was being.
        "Oh!" she gasped, leaping backwards like Thaniel had suddenly become a revenant himself, "Thaniel! I'm s-sorry, I didn't mean - I was just so excited, getting good news after being scared for so long down in that bloody mine, I - I..." The wizard slowly raised his hands, palms forward.
        "It's okay, Ari," he said, carefully, "I get it, you're tired and happy, you didn't mean anything by it... Don't worry about it." Settling on the wizard's shoulder again, Mister Crow tilted his head to the side thoughtfully.
        "You know, from where I was sitting, it sure looked like she meant it," he said, in as innocent a tone as she'd ever heard come from his beak. Ari blushed again, though not quite as hard as Thaniel had when she kissed him, but before she could think of a witty comeback, the wizard calmly snapped his fingers and the raven's midnight black feathers turned a festive orange with a pop. Squawking in dismay, the bird almost fell off his shoulder perch as he gazed upon himself.
        "Thaniel!" he gasped, "You bastard!" Another snap, another pop, and the orange was complemented with dark blue stripes. Spreading his wings and gazing upon himself in utter despair, the bird sagged down a little and looked beseechingly to the wizard, who was now smirking slightly.
        "I - I didn't mean that, master," he said, looking about as happy as Ari expected he would be to have to grovel, "You know I have nothing but the - the utmost respect for you and, uh, your clients..." Ariella almost laughed; Crow looked like he'd bitten into something incredibly sour, and the taste was lingering on his tongue.  

Stepping back, Ari stretched out and forced her smile to remain small and polite. She couldn't threaten Crow with ridiculous plumage, after all.
        "Well, you two seem to have all this spellwork well in hand, so I'm going to go take a very, very long bath, and then I'm going to sleep until I don't feel like death warmed over," she said, cheerily, "Thank you again, Thaniel, for all your help." He bowed his head slightly, ignoring the loudly sighing bird on his shoulder.
        "You're very welcome, Ari, I'm so glad to be able to help." She turned to leave the room, and the wizard turned towards the gauntlet fragment, ready to get back to studying it, but the heiress lingered in the doorway, turning back somewhat self-consciously.
        "Thaniel?" she said, "I... really appreciated having your voice in my ear down in the tunnels. It was... reassuring. Kept me from panicking more than I did. So... thanks for that, too." When Thaniel replied, his smile was a little wider, and there was a little twinkle in his eye that Ari liked.
        "That, you're even more welcome for," he replied, "I was happy to be there for you, even if I couldn't be there with you."  Ari nodded, and then she turned and left, catching herself humming about halfway down the stairs to the living quarters. She couldn't wait to leave the weight of Zahk-Tumm and the chainmail armour under her clothes in her room, or to put on fresh clothes and sleep, but right now, the prospect of soaking in warm water and getting all the grime off her skin was almost as appealing as the idea of breaking the curse. It felt so strange to remember how afraid she'd been the first time she entered the tower, how nervous she'd been meeting Thaniel. By now, the tower almost felt like home, and the wizard... well, he'd rapidly proven not only worthy of her trust, but her friendship. At one time, the curse had felt like it was robbing all the hope and joy from her life, but now, with Thaniel and Crow at her side, Ari Shieldfall felt like she could do anything.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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Curse of the Shieldfall: Into the Dark
Curse of the Shieldfall: The Lord of the Swamp
Somehow, through a series of events she never could have predicted, Ari Shieldfall finds herself accompanying Jerroth the paladin on a quest to venture into a nest of revenants and find the evil source that created them, which may or may not be the elusive gauntlet which cursed her family. The mission isn't starting off that well, though, as there are monsters already coming out of the caverns to greet them...
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A full year after I finished the previous chapter (which I only posted online in May, so for you guys it's been seven months), I present the continuation of Curse of the Shieldfall. My bad for leaving a cliffhanger that long. :B

Just like the last one, this one was a Christmas present for my mother, a nice, clean story of mine for her to read. This one's rated mature because there's a bit more violence in it than usual, but since I literally handed this to my Mom, don't expect anything shocking or risqué. :B

Merry Christmas, friends, I hope you enjoy it! n_n

Keywords
male 1,108,895, female 998,691, human 99,888, fantasy 24,418, monster 23,483, magic 23,409, clean 10,220, adventure 5,374, fight 5,314, action 4,136, raven 2,520, wizard 2,038, spear 1,566, curse 1,155, danger 654, mine 564, no-yiff 549, paladin 502, familiar 458, revenant 44, intrigue 33, rilodell 14
Details
Type: Writing - Document
Published: 8 years, 3 months ago
Rating: Mature

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Furlips
8 years, 2 months ago
I most certainly did.

Thank you for writing this and sharing it.

Bunners
TastesLikeGreen
8 years, 2 months ago
You're very welcome, friend. :-)
Blackraven2
7 years, 3 months ago
I just realized that faving stories is a convenient way to keep track which one I have read already :) I fell behind in reading the past few months and need to catch up ;)
TastesLikeGreen
7 years, 1 month ago
Clever use of the system, here's hoping you've found some spare time since then. n_n
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