Among the topics we had discussed were growing up, different places and people that we had known, and we had also compared our magics. I hadn’t mentioned Cervie but when he showed me his spellbook I told him that Witches didn’t keep spells in books. He hadn’t asked for an explanation, but did offer to help me if there was magic that I needed that he could help me to learn. To prove himself he had shown me a spell to identify magic powers on things. He was fairly certain that it was a spell that I could use if I had an item with magic that I didn’t already know. I felt a little guilty then and had to show Evilyn’s ring to Alice. I had forgotten about it after the battle but I did know that it had magic on it. Alice confirmed that it was magical but she wasn’t at all concerned or jealous about it. She had never seen it so didn’t know anything about it. She also said that it was fair for me to have taken it as spoils of the battle.
I returned that evening to Rialto’s house with the ring, a flask of wine and owl feathers that Rialto had instructed me to bring, and a bit of trepidation. I hoped that I would learn a new spell and learn how to use Evilyn’s ring, but I would have to show Rialto how my magic worked.
The house was lit by many candles and smelled wonderful when I arrived. Apparently Rialto is actually a great cook when he wants to. He set aside all discussion of business or magic immediately by handing me a glass of wine and directing me to the table. The dinner was delicious, conversation was casual and fun, but I had a feeling that there was more on his mind.
After dinner we retired to a study and Rialto proved that he was right about the magic. He was able to teach me, and Cervie, the spell and I was able to cast it and learn how to use the powers of the ring. It didn’t have any offensive power, but allowed me to live without eating and only require 2 hours of sleep to be fully refreshed for a night. I would have to wear it for a full week before it would work. I slipped it on my finger immediately with a smile. Rialto was interested in the story behind my having it without knowing what it was, so we relaxed while I relayed that story to him too. When I mentioned the other Witches, and Alice, his eyes twinkled with humor. He explained that if the guild had known about two Witches at our house they might have completely passed on the ‘protection fee’ and negotiated for ‘other’ services instead.
That brought him to the more that was on his mind. The guild had a request and he thought it would be best if I accepted it. They were dispatching a team to ruins that had been broken into by some goblins not too far from the city. The goblins had been controlled by a rival mage. He apparently had used charm extensively to keep the goblins from their usual raiding ways, and had been using them to explore until they found the ruins. Rialto didn’t explain how the guild knew all of this, but did explain that when the ruins were found the mage had died and the goblins had ‘left the area’. Now the guild wanted to send a team into the ruins to see what could be found. The guild wanted me to lend my magic powers to the group, and Rialto wanted me to understand that my part in the trip would consist only in watching for magical auras, warning of and examining any that I found, and staying out of the way if the group found any monsters or mundane traps in the place. If I could provide any other help without risking myself, well, that was great too…. I agreed to join the guild’s group and then changed the subject matter to some more enjoyable pursuits. This was my first experience with an ‘adventuring’ company, and the beginning of my adventuring career.
The group turned out to be a pair of rogues from the guild and some hired guards. Having had my bad experience with hired guards I was not impressed with the group. I guess the group wasn’t happy having me along either as they mostly just grunted when I introduced myself. The two trained rogues led us in to the ruins. They responded with smiles when I introduced myself and replied with names, Raul and Ferd. I think they were brothers. I kept an active orison for Detecting Magic and activated my Ioun Stone with Continual Flame as we descended in to the place. The light got additional smiles from the rogues and further scowls from the guards. One of the guards still lit his own torch. I had to assume that he didn’t trust magic.
Raul found a trap on the first doorway that we came too. Both men examined the area and they thought that they could disable it. They were mistaken. The trap caught Raul and almost killed him. The men (other than Ferd) just shrugged and wanted to continue on. I had cast Stabilize the instant that I saw what was happening and then moved forward to help with binding Raul’s wounds. Seeing that he was so near death I decided that maybe it would help if the men knew a little more of my powers. I used my healing hex on Raul, waking him and almost completely restoring his health. Raul and Ferd were even more impressed but the guards seemed to dislike me even more!
I discussed my magic with Raul and suggested that I could cast a Guidance spell on them before they attempted anything dangerous like that again. I explained that the spell wouldn’t protect them but it might help them successfully clear a trap. With that in mind we continued on.
I wasn’t sure why the first door was trapped. After the drama we did enter and search the room but found nothing of interest or value. The second and third likewise held nothing but at least they were not trapped. The last doorway for the hallway was trapped but the brothers were able to bypass it. The door opened into a large chamber that seemed to be a dead end. There were burial niches all along the walls, and this apparently was what the men had been told to search. I scanned the walls, floor and ceiling for magic but didn’t see any aura so I stayed in the doorway.
I found out then why the men were hostile to my presence. As they started breaking open the graves, all of the valuables were piled in to a heap by me. Ferd took a break and explained that he and Raul had lied and told the men that I was the leader of this group, and would be dividing the spoils between all of us. The guild was actually only interested in one piece, and all of the rest was actually supposed to be split, ‘evenly’, spoils as payment for this trip. The guards must have felt that they could fool the rogues, but didn’t want to risk trying to sneak anything past a mage!
With the search complete we had a fairly large pile of loot, but Raul shook his head. The important item wasn’t in the pile. I had guard number one bag up the pile and carry it as we returned to the previous rooms. I hadn’t been informed what we were looking for, but since Raul said it wasn’t in the pile, we must have missed something. On a hunch I had the group return to the first room. The trap might have been a clue. I had the guard leave the bag in the hallway and everyone start searching the walls. I explained that maybe the stuff the men had found was the lesser treasure and the real cache was behind a hidden door. It amazes me sometimes what some men will do for coins! With that explanation, the men started scratching, scraping, and generally pounding the walls trying to find any anomaly in the construction. It turned out that my guidance was a very successful failure, at least for them!
Guard number two actually found it. He had a mace and was pounding on the walls with it. He located an area where the wall sounded hollow. That attracted all three of the money grubbers and soon they did find the outline of a door. While they weren’t smart enough to figure out the right way to open it, brute force does eventually do the job! With much pounding and prying they broke through the door and released the guardians behind it.
If I were a Cleric this story would be over with a simple statement of “I called on the power of my Deity to turn the skeletons”, but I’m a Witch. As the monsters attacked the men I remembered Rialto’s words. I was to stay out of the way and not risk myself, but doing so probably meant that the treasure, whatever it was, would stay in this place or be found by the next group. I called on the power of my magic to form magic armor around me and then started lobbing sling stones at the skeletons. One of the monsters stepped past the men toward me and I reached out to touch him with a healing hex. That was on a hunch. I don’t even remember where I heard that healing magic harms undead, but it was the best weapon I had against them.
The battle ended with one guard alive but severely wounded, Raul wounded slightly, and Ferd and I unharmed. Raul wanted to stop me from healing the guard but I told him that we might want him around just in case there was anything else. Truth was that I just didn’t want to be responsible for another death. I healed the man and helped him back to his feet. He saw his friends and thanked me, then picked up the treasure sack. As we moved into the final chamber I cast my Detect Magic again and was pleasantly surprised. There were several items around the room with auras of power on them. I pointed them out to Raul individually, asking if any of them was the item that the guild was looking for. He nodded to a necklace hanging from a hook on the wall. Examining it, he also realized that the hook was trapped.
We gathered up the rest of the items and left the room. From out in the hallway, I summoned an unseen servant and directed it to enter the room, take the necklace from the hook and bring it back to me. Since the servant is a mindless force I wasn’t concerned about what the trap might do to it. My precautions saved the lives, but almost caused the mission to fail. The ceiling of the room collapsed dispelling my unseen servant and burying the necklace. The guard took off at a run with the sack of treasure. Maybe he was trying to save it and himself. Or maybe he was trying to take it all for himself. Ferd didn’t seem to care. He called out for him to stop, twice, and then put a crossbow bolt through his neck.
It took us two days to dig out the room and find the necklace, but that also gave us time to split the treasure up. I was happy to let most of the money go to the men when they let me keep two of the magic items. The first item was an Ioun Stone that would let me recall one of my first level spells after I had cast it. The second was a true joy, a pack that magically held much more than it looked like was possible. Maybe I could carry an alchemist’s lab with me now and work on creating things while I journeyed?
We headed back to town with the necklace. I didn’t ask and wasn’t told what the necklace did. I guess that was best since the guild seemed happy with my work. Rialto was only upset that I had risked myself a little, but since I did survive he wasn’t too upset. He did his best to show me how much he wasn’t “too upset” later that night….