Return to the Necropolis: Chapter 9 (Day 2)
Following is Chapter 9 of the long-awaited sequel to the Skirmisher Publishing LLC fantasy novel Swords of Kos: Necropolis!
Herein our companions contemplate the irony of having a drink in a tomb bearing the same name as their favorite tavern and the applications of particular spells to looting ...
Join alchemical rogue Paros, Elven barbarian Parthenia, wizard Pumayo, and moon priestess Selene in their Return to the Necropolis!
Read "Return to the Necropolis: Chapter 8"
Back in the Anemoi family tomb for the night, the companions discussed by candlelight what they would do next. Pillaging the individual vaults was a lot like real work and, if they kept collecting treasure from them at the rate they had thus far, it would probably take about a month to collect the four backpacks full of loot that they had expected to walk out with right away. The payoff for that month would, of course, be pretty good, and allow them to turn their attentions to less lucrative ventures for six months or even a year thereafter, until their purses grew light or boredom weighed too heavily. They could increase their haul and decrease the amount of time they had to spend in the catacombs by focusing on larger sepulchers, like the one they were in now, but these were also more likely to contain traps, guardians, or other hazards. A combination of both less hazardous individual vaults — that being relative, of course, as some of those were trapped or contained the odd ghoul — and more rich family tombs would thus seem to be the best course of action.
In order to proceed in this manner, however, they would need to stretch their already-waning rations. The companions therefore decided that in the morning they would first visit the sinkhole-cavern and replenish their water from the spring that trickled into it. They resolved, however, to under no circumstances eat any of the pomegranates or asphodel that grew there, as they had come to believe that consuming them had both made it more difficult to muster the will needed to cross out of the virtual underworld and hastened their transformation into shades. After filling their waterskins, they would return to the surface to hunt and forage for a few days worth of food, and then either spend the rest of the day tomb raiding if time permitted or ensconce themselves for the night and turn their attentions to it once again the next morning.
When the group discussion was done, Paros and Pumayo sat down together against the wall on one of their bedrolls and started munching on cheese, olives, and pieces of flatbread, washing it all down with wine from the wizard's wineskin.
"Why didn't we bring our game?" Paros asked. "You always say you're not going to have time for stuff like that but you almost always do."
"Heh, heh, heh!" Pumayo chuckled, taking a swig from the skin bag and then passing it to Paros. "Even when we leave Kos it's like we're drinking at the Four Winds! We'll have to tell Cratinus that we've set up an extension tavern for him. Yes, having our game would make it perfect."
Paros smiled at the irony of drinking in the tomb of a family named for the Four Winds, the Anemoi, if not at the wizard's joke about it, and took a sip from the proffered wineskin.
"I like those panels," Pumayo continued, looking at the large engraved brasses in the corners. "I think I'm going to take them ... Cratinus might pay a pretty chalkoi for them and, if not, I am eventually going to need some appropriately striking looking things for whatever tower or other place I establish for myself."
"How are you going to take them?" Paros asked with a laugh. "They must each be seven feet tall and weigh a ton. They are also not worth that much for their weight when compared to jewelry and statuettes."
"Not nearly a ton ... " Pumayo said contemplatively, refuting the rogue's hyperbole. "At a half-inch thick, one probably weighs about eight-hundred pounds, give-or-take. Heavy to be sure, but I have got a few tricks up my sleeve. Observe!"
Paros grinned in spite of himself at the wizard's melodrama and got up with him and followed him over to the nearest panel, depicting Eurus, God of the East Wind. There, the wizard assumed a formal stance, extended his hand and placed it upon the panel, and uttered a short string of arcane words. As he completed the incantation, the large panel rapidly shrank, detaching itself from the wall and flapping like a flag as it changed in size and composition and receded into Pumayo's hand. When the spell's effect had fully resolved, Pumayo held up what appeared to be a tiny, brass-colored cloth tapestry, about as large as the palm of a hand and perfectly emblazoned with the image of the meteorological deity.
"Wow!" said Paros who, along with the women, was duly impressed. "So you can turn that back into a door again? And can you do it with the others?"
"It is a potent transmutation," Pumayo said gravely. "I cannot use it again today, but could do so twice if I knew I needed to and planned accordingly. And yes, certainly, I can restore it to its original form when I choose. I cannot keep it so transformed indefinitely, however, and before we are done here it will likely revert. I will have to cast the spell again just before we leave if I want to take it and the others with us."
Paros and Pumayo chatted with each other a bit more before finally settling down to sleep, and the women did the same on the other side of the room. As he drifted off, Paros stared up at the shadows cast by the flickering light of the candle and contemplated to what other uses the wizard's most impressive spell could be put.
