Heather the Necromancer

Heather stared at the painting, amazed it had been made so quickly. It was nearly as tall as she was and showed the pocket of land between the mountain in amazing detail. Her mother had it commissioned immediately after Heather's request, and now it hung in her tower dining room.

“How did she get it done so fast?” Quinny asked as she clung to Heather.

“I don’t know,” Heather remarked. “I only told her about it two days ago.”

“She must know a player who is a painter as a secondary class or has it as a highly trained skill,” Breanne suggested as she studied the image closer. “What's this dark area in the rock.”

“A narrow canyon into the mountains,” Heather said. “Frank said it goes to a small alpine desert area.”

“Hmm,” Breanne replied and stepped back to stand beside Umtha, who looked impressed with the image.

“So you will start building now?” Umtha asked as she held Webster in her arms.

“I don’t see why not,” Heather said with a shrug but then had another idea. “I know this is going to sound crazy, but we never did explore all the lower tunnels.”

“You mean the tunnels here?” Quinny asked.

“Yeah,” Heather replied as she thought back. “We got as far as that stairwell, and then the water washed us out. We never did go back to see what was up there.”

“Probably just the trap that fills it with water,” Breanne suggested.

“Don't you think we should look?” Heather pressed. “I mean, considering all the important things we have found in this mountain, should we really leave a section unexplored?”

“It does seem wise to check,” Umtha agreed. “But how will you avoid the traps?”

“Hmm,” Heather said as she looked at Breanne.

“Oh, is that all I am good for?” Breanne asked.

“Oh, common,” Heather pleaded. “You can walk through walls and not set off pressure plates or tripwires. You can probably fly right up it and see what's there without setting it off.”

“If I must,” Breanne grumbled and folded her arms. “But maybe we should have Legeis on hand to disable the trap?”

“I can get some of my goblin engineers to do it,” Umtha offered.

“Are they as good as a player?” Heather asked, then realized that they probably were players, just from another world. “Never mind, just get a couple while I look for Frank. We can meet in the lower tunnel of my tower and go from there.”

They parted ways as Heather took Webster and went to find Frank. He found him in the graveyard sitting on a tombstone as he spoke with Viylah. Today, she was shaped like a human woman with long red hair, which made Heather pause. Frank had a thing for red hair. Did Viylah know that, and was she playing on it? She put the thought out of her mind and walked up to lean on his shoulder.

“Sweety,” she began with a big smile.

Frank twitched and met her smiling gaze as she leaned into him tighter. He asked what she wanted, and she played with one of his clawed fingers as she told him.

“You want to explore the lower caves?” he asked.

“Shouldn't we?” Heather pressed. “Not only did we not go up those stairs, but we never explored the doorway on the other side of the hall. For all we know, there is another treasure room down there.”

“More likely, it's full of golems,” Frank corrected as he jumped down from his gravestone. “But we can look if you want to.”

“It will be fun,” Heather insisted and pulled at his hand.

“I like her spirit,” Yiylah said. “Boldly walking into certain danger is fun.”

“You should come with,” Heather insisted and smiled at her. “Spend some time with us.”

“Hmm, a dangerous adventure to climb a flight of stairs,” Viylah surmised. “I am not sure I am up to the challenge.”

“Oh, don’t be so boring,” Heather insisted and spotted movement out in the yard. It was a woman with golden blond hair and a lovely black dress trimmed in red. She was walking along with a basket in one arm while pointing to plants with the other hand. A single imp was scurrying along to pick the plants she pointed at and handing them to her to collect.

“Chandice!” Heather called and waved to the distant woman.

Chandice looked up and waved back before making her way across the graveyard. She arrived with a basket full of grave moss and other ingredients Frank said she could collect before the group.

“Well, hello,” Chandice said with a big smile. “And how are the king and queen today?”

“Please don’t call us that,” Frank begged as he flinched at the titles.

“Only Umtha addresses us like that,” Heather added. “Though not recently. We had a very productive conversation a few days ago, and I think we have reached an understanding.”

“That's good to hear,” Chandice said with a nod. “Gisley tells me you have picked a site for your city.”

“We did, Heather replied with a happy smile. “Oh, we can tell you all about it if you have time. We were just about to go on a little adventure if you want to come with us.”

“And adventure? Where?” Chandice asked.

Heather filled her in on all the details about the lower halls and the various traps. She explained the stairwell and doors they never went back to and how they wanted to check them now.

“Sounds like it could be fun,” Chandice said. “I'm in if you need a warlock enchanter.”

Heather turned to Viylah, who shook her head and said she would rather stay outside where her size wasn't such a hindrance. She tried to convince her to come anyway, but Viylah urged them to go and have fun. Heather promised to come back and tell her what they found, then headed off with Chandice in tow to meet the others.

“So, how has your building been going? Heather asked as the three walked across the yard.

“Great,” Chandice said. “Gisley's pond is beautiful, and Roric has his village set high in the hills. My magic shop is amazing and full of places to explore. Evalynn grew a giant tree for me and built the shop into the trunk.”

“I have been meaning to see your shop,” Heather said. “In fact, I wanted to ask you if you were interested in some books.”

“Books?” Chandice repeated.

“Yeah, like magic books,” Heather said. “I have a book store in my mother's city, and players have been selling me all sorts of the basic magical stuff. I must have ten copies of some books, and I can't get rid of them.”

“Sure, I would be happy to take some,” Chandice said as they neared the large double doors into the tower. Just inside was the mass of skeletons set to guard the inner doors. Breanne, Quinny, and Umtha were waiting by the door, as were two goblins with packs and belts covered in tools.

“Chandice,” Breanne said in a delighted tone and hurried over. The two exchanged a quick hug and then some pleasantries about how well Chandice looked. She thanked Breanne and commented on how regal her natural appearance was, highlighting the noble elf features.

“Can I leave my basket here?” Chandice asked as she set it on the floor.

“Nobody comes in here,” Frank said sorrowfully. “They never leave Quinny’s forest.”

“Oh, Frank, don’t be upset. People will come soon enough,” Heather insisted and took one of his fingers. “Pretty soon, you will be sick of the players crawling all over your graveyard.”

“Shall we begin?” Breanne asked and motioned to the door. Heather nodded and ordered the skeletons to pull at the metal rings, opening the inner double doors. It revealed the tunnel they followed into the mountain all those weeks ago and the deep caves beyond.

Chandice summoned a magical light that floated over her head as Heather explained their first adventures here. Frank led the way with Quinny at his side while everyone else trailed behind in one big pack.

“So the wolves are gone?” Chandice asked.

“Yeah, they kind of poofed when we took over the mountain,” Heather said. “But we think there might still be dangers lurking down here.”

“There are traps for sure,” Frank said as they reached the intersection. “It was right, wasn't it?”

“Yeah, we go right,” Quinny said and pointed down the dark tunnel.

“Wow, it really must have been a long time ago if you don’t remember the way,” Chandice remarked.

“It feels like it was a lifetime ago,” Breanne said. “Sometimes I can't believe all the places we have been and the things we have done in so short an amount of time.”

“But now your home,” Chandice said. “And we have a home beside you. Oh, that reminds me, your friend Blackbast is talking to Evalynn about building a home in the forest. I believe she said she might move her temple here.”

“She will?” Quinny asked excitedly.

“Don’t get too excited,” Breanne cut her off. “You can’t work for her anymore.”

“Oh,” Quinny groaned and folded her arms. “I never got to work for her at all.”

Chandice laughed as Heather cleared her throat and suggested they press on. Umtha asked what they expected to find ahead, and Heather described the bridge with the lower graveyard. They passed the tunnels that led to the side caves once inhabited by those strange spider creatures. Now they were silent, and nobody wanted to explore their empty lairs. Chandice suggested they spawn something in these tunnels for when players did come to keep the adventure interesting.

The tunnel finally banked to the left and opened into a wide causeway lit by magical torches. Heather introduced Chandice to the underground bridge and lake as the woman took it all in. The cave roof soared above, giving an almost cathedral-like feel. The bridge itself was as long as ten cars and a good ten meters above the dark water fed from a falls.

“This is very impressive,” Chandice said. “And you don’t know who built it?”

“It was inhabited by a wizard and rogue when we got here, but we don't think they built it,” Heather said.

“They did not,” Umtha cut in. “But I am not sure who did. It was here when I got here, and Hathlisora knew about it long before I ever saw it.”

“So it was a hideout,” Chandice surmised with a nod.

“A warren of traps to kill curious players,” Breanne corrected. “The bridge rotates to drop people into the lake, and a hydra-like monster attacks from the water.”

“That sounds interesting,” Chandice said. “So, how do we get across?”

“You walk right down the center,” Frank said and led the way. He went directly across without a hitch, and the girls followed in a narrow line. One by one, they reached the far side to find the door to the inner room open. They crept inside the room with a ramp in the floor that went to drains in the wall.

Heather explained that water washed you out of the drains and into the lake when the trap was triggered. Chandice remarked how it was a good use of the lake monster to have multiple ways to dump players into it.

The next set of doors took them into the hall where the mysterious stairway waited, beckoning them to try again. The door on the far wall was solidly locked, so Frank asked which way they wanted to explore first.

“I vote for the door,” Breanne said. “At least let me look through it to the other side.”

“Being a ghost has its advantages,” Chandice noted.

“It gets me into trouble with this group,” Breanne remarked. “I am always asked to look for secret rooms or hidden dangers.”

“Why don't we try the door,” Frank agreed and moved to stand before it. Breanne faded into her gaunt ghostly image, her feet floating inches above the floor. She leaned over, so her head and shoulders went through the barrier and stood there for a moment.

“I can’t tell you how handy that power would have been for us in some of our earlier adventures,” Chandice said.

“I wish I could do something like that,” Umtha agreed.

“I think I can, eventually,” Heather said. “I get all sorts of undead powers as I level up.”

“You may get it if you marry her,” Umtha pointed out. “We all might.”

“Now that would be impressive,” Chandice said. “Imagine how dangerous your group would be if you could all walk through walls.”

Heather paused to consider that idea and how handy it would be. It would make them very dangerous to tangle with and require magic or magic weapons to hit them. What prison could hold them? Or who could bar their entrance? She was just about to comment on it when Breanne leaned back and announced there was another brick passage beyond.

“It took you that long to see a tunnel?” Quinny asked.

“It's a well-made and lit tunnel,” Breanne remarked. “I lingered to see if I could spot any obvious signs of traps, but you are welcome to walk ahead and find them instead.”

“Ha, ha,” Quinny replied sarcastically as Breanne took her noble form again.

“So we open the door,” Frank said, tugging on the handle. When it failed to open, he pushed his palm against the wood as timbers cracked and splintered. In a few seconds, the door crashed in, falling to the floor and opening the way to a tunnel.

“Do you think this was a usable space?” Heather asked as Frank took the lead again and headed down the passage. Heather picked up Webster, clutching him like a security blanket as the girls followed after him. They stopped at an intersection with three passages to choose from a minute later. Frank drew their attention to the floor that had writing on it in necromancer.

“Only the dead walk beyond here. Those who seek riches and reward will be added to the collection instead,” Heather read.

“Oh, it is going to be an adventure,” Chandice said excitedly. “I almost feel bad we didn't have time to get Roric and the others.”

“That's an ominous warning,” Breanne suggested. “And written in the necromancer's code. It could be very dangerous to explore these passages.”

“It could be,” Heather agreed. “But that's what cannon fodder is for.” She lifted a hand and ordered the dead to rise and serve. The stone of the tunnels cracked and buckled, and a dozen skeletons clawed out and rose to stand before her.

“You restrained yourself?” Breanne asked. “You could have summoned a lot more than that.”

“The tunnels are tight, and I can always call more,” Heather replied before pointing down the left tunnel and ordering her undead to go that way. They marched off ahead of them as Frank followed, and the women trailed after, waiting for something to happen. The tunnel made a slow bend and went through an archway decorated with a skull at the top. There was an odd pattern of lines to either side and a few strange runes.

“Can anyone read those?” Frank asked as they paused to study them.

“I can’t,” Breanne said. “But we have an enchanter in the group.”

“I can certainly find out if it is magical,” Chandice said as she drew out a slender tan wand. She waived it in the direction of the archway, producing a small trail of golden light. The skull and symbols glowed briefly, indicating they were magic.

“What does that mean?” Heather asked.

“The archway is enchanted,” Chandice replied before working a second spell. This one was meant to reveal the nature of the magic, and it showed a shimmering mirror-like surface in the archway. “It's detection magic,” Chandice said as she saw some of the invisible intent. “A detect life spell.”

“Why would they put a detect life spell here?” Quinny asked.

“Only he dead walk beyond here,” Frank said as he quoted the earlier inscription. “And now a detect life spell on a doorway. Do you think it causes something to happen if a living person passes through?”

“That would explain why the skeletons went by unhindered,” Breanne suggested.

“But what about us?” Umtha asked and motioned to Heather and Chandice.

“If it is set to do something when it detects life, then we will cause that effect to happen,” Chandice replied as she dared to move closer. “I can try to remove the magic, but that might just set it off as well.”

“So there is no way for you to know for sure what it does?” Heather asked as she watched Chandice inspect the archway.

“I can detect magic and then determine surface facets about the magic,” Chandice replied. “But an intricately woven chain of magic events is harder to read. All I can tell is the archway is looking for living beings that pass through it. What it does when that happens is any ones guess.”She paused to consider her options, then hit on an idea. She had a spell called restrain magic that nullified a magical effect for a short while. She could place it on the archway to block the life detection long enough for them to pass.

With nothing to lose, Heather told her to try, and Chandice began a spell as she waived her wand around the arch. Eventually, it pulsed with a red light, and she said it was done but couldn't be sure it got everything. Heather knew they had a short window, so she volunteered and walked through the archway. When nothing happened, the others came through, heading down a short hall that opened into a larger chamber.

“Now this looks interesting,” Heather said as they filed into the room. It was another hall, ten meters across, with a ceiling arched in a gentle curve. Every dozen steps or so was a pillar connected to the wall made from what appeared to be bones. Chains hung between the pillars holding up bronze lanterns that glowed with a soft light.

“Where are your skeletons?” Umtha asked as they entered the room.

“I don't know,” Heather said until something crunched under her feet. She looked down to see shattered bones littered the floor, most broken into tiny pieces. “Never mind, I found them.”

“What?” Frank asked as he went to step closer. Suddenly they heard a faint clicking sound, and Frank ran for Heather and Umtha. The two women looked up just as the walls to either side of them began to move.

Heather and Umtha grabbed one another as they screamed, the walls rushing in like hammers. Frank suddenly appeared between them with his arms out, catching the walls and then starting to buckle.

“Get out of the way!” he grunted while falling to one knee, his arms straining to hold back certain death. Heather and Umtha ran for the safety of the hall as Franks's arms began to tremble. He looked up to see Breanne rush in, her ghostly face worried as she reached out to grab him.

The walls slammed together in a cloud of dust as Heather and the others looked on in stunned silence.

“Frank?” she muttered and took a step toward the walls. They slowly started to recede to reveal Frank being held by Breanne, both incorporeal and unharmed.

“Oh, thank goodness,” Chandice sighed. “I was about to regret agreeing to come with you.”

“I will have my engineers figure out to disable that,” Umtha said nervously as she trembled from the shock. She spoke goblin to the two men, but Heather understood it now. She told them to find the trigger and disable it, then look for more like it. The two goblins drew small devices and began to sweep the floor, and surrounding walls as the rest of them regrouped.

“You big dummy,” Heather said as she threw herself into Frank’s arms. “You scared me half to death.”

“You were the one who set the trap off,” he replied. “What was I supposed to do? Let it squish you?”

“He’s very heroic,” Chandice noted with a smile.

“Frank is the best tank you can have,” Quinny said and ran to join the hug. They took a moment to recover their nerves and waited for the goblins to say they had found the trigger. It was a pressure plate, and they quickly disabled it. Heather decided to look for more traps by summoning another dozen skeletons. She sent them down the room, and sure enough, a second trap, this one a pit, opened up beneath half of them. They cackled as they fell into a deep shaft, breaking into a pile of bones when they hit a damp floor.

“You were right about this place being full of traps,” Chandice noted as they moved close enough to look over the edge.

“There is a hallway above us that had a trap every few steps. It took us an hour to disable them all, and then we were nearly killed by a giant stone roller,” Breanne replied.

“Who would build a maze of tunnels full of traps?” Chandice asked.

“Somebody who didn’t want visitors,” Breanne suggested.

“A monster player with a quest,” Frank interjected. “I bet all this was to keep players busy.”

“So there might be more treasure down here?” Quinny asked.

“I dunno,” Frank said with a shrug. “But it is possible.” The moment he finished his statement, the goblins found the trigger for the pit and got too close. They took a moment to disable it and then assured the group that it would not reopen. Heather tested it with her remaining skeletons then Frank went across to prove it was safe.

They entered a dark tunnel on the far side that curved gently to the right. It reached an open portal that emptied into a natural cave. They could hear the faint rumble of water in the distance as they crept into the larger space and began to look around. The air felt moist, and stalactites hung from the ceiling dripping with the occasional drop of water.

“It’s a dirty cave,” Umtha said as she peered into the darkness. “But why is it so wet?”

“It’s dripping,” Quinny pointed out.

“We must be under the stream that feeds the waterfall,” Heather said. “I bet that rumble we hear is the falls itself.”

“The cave must open someplace near the falls,” Frank suggested. “We did see other tunnels before you reshaped the land for your tower.”

“I buried them all, though,” Heather said as they rounded a bend. “I connected them to my tower or filled them in with a wall.”

“You must have missed one,” Frank said.

“I did not miss one, Heather asserted and pointed out that they had stood before her tower a hundred times. None of them could point to a cave opening anywhere on the cliff face.

Frank suggested that the opening might be small as the rumble got louder. They cleared a pile of rocks to see a gray sheet of water flowing fast beyond what appeared to be the lip of a wide cave entrance.

“That’s not small,” Quinny said.

“It’s behind the falls,” Frank replied. “You can’t see it from the outside.”

“Well, that explains how it got missed,” Heather said as they approached the curtain of water. “But how high up is this?”

“It can’t be very high,” Frank replied as he tried to see through the curtain but couldn’t make anything out. “We basically stayed at ground level until that last tunnel.”

“So if it's close to the water?” Heather asked as she turned around to look back into the cave. She let out a shriek when she saw it coming their way. It was a mottled gray and brown with a broad flat body that filled the tunnel. A wide gaping mouth spread across the lower half of the face with hundreds of little barbs for teeth. It had two pink eyes the size of a fist to either side of a face that was flanked by what looked like fins. There was no nose to speak of, and it appeared to be walking toward them on two short barbed fish-like fins.

“Is that a catfish?” Quinny asked as Heather backed away.

“That’s the biggest catfish I have ever seen,” Breanne said. “It’s as big as a minivan.”

“Bigger,” Frank said as he ran to the front to face the monster. No sooner was he clear of the others than a rope-like tendril lashed out from under the monster. It wrapped around his body and tugged to pull him into that gaping maw. Frank used his powerful strength, tugging back as Heather sent her skeletons rushing in.

Breanne launched a shadow blast as Umtha hurled balls of lightning. Chandice produced a long black staff capped by a red glowing horned skull. She fired a searing line of flames at the creature, but it only made a blood-curdling warble and kept coming.

Quinny rushed to Frank's aid, hacking at the tendril with her magic sword. One good hit was enough to cut far enough through it to make the monster let go. However, four more tendrils reached out and began to lash at skeletons.

Frank took his feat and charged in, putting his claws to use. He went right for the face as one of Heather's rotting bolts burned a hole into the creature. For a second, he looked like a heroic knight facing the monster; then, to everyone's horror, the creature opened its mouth and gulped him down in one bite.

“Frank!” Heather screamed and reached for her scythe. It formed out of smoke in seconds as blue electricity began to crawl over her skin.

“Woah!” Chandice said as Heather blazed with blue light and floated into the air.

“I command you to suffer!”” Heather shouted and pointed her scythe in its direction. A ray of black ink shot through the air, striking the creature that wailed as the substance seeped into its skin.

[lvl 32 Necromancer skill: Magogs horrible substance] Spray a creature with black oil that seeps into their skin. Causes the creature to suffer by losing health that comes away as rays of blood-red light. Damage is equal to caster level and reoccurs every five seconds for thirty seconds. Undead in the vicinity of this light are healed for an amount equal to the level of the spell caster per ray they are struck with.] [Essence boosted, the effective level used 66]

A hideous red light began to stream from the monster's skin as it thrashed in pain. It opened that wide jaw and warbled another disgusting cry before lashing out again. Heather raced in; her scythe raised high as the others continued to rain spells on it. She cut through a tendril as it tried to grab her and went directly for the wide face. The creature went to bite and swallow her like it had Frank, but she swung the scythe down, slicing through the upper jaw and pinning the mouth closed. Quinny leaped onto the face behind her, clawing at the monster as her fingers cut deep rotting gouges.

[lvl 1 Zombie Skill: Clawing grasp] Your fingers can easily claw through flesh, tearing long cuts. No cost to use.

[lvl 5 Zombie skill: Rotting touch] Your clawing grasp causes additional rotting damage equal to your level. Requires a small amount of stamina]

“We have to get Frank out! Heather yelled as Quinny started to tear at the beast as if planning to dig a tunnel. The monster managed to get a tendril out and battered Heather aside before wrapping another around Quinny. She was yanked off to collide with the wall before being dragged to that hungry mouth. Heather rolled back to her feet and tried to dash in and cut the tendril before she was swallowed. Suddenly the fish thrashed and rolled to one side while dropping Quinny. It seemed to be in pain as a bulge appeared in its belly. Red light continued to pour out, causing a grotesque scene when Frank's black claws appeared in the bulge. He cut his way out in a spray of blood and stepped into the tunnel, dripping with gore. The fish twitched and rolled to its back as the sudden rupture of its stomach ended its life.

“Frank!” Heather cried and ran to him, only to stop short and look away. “Oh, umm, Sorry, but I am not hugging you.”

“I understand,” Frank said, shaking his arms to fling blood away.

“How did you survive being in that thing's stomach?” Breanne asked as the others came closer.

“Something kept healing me,” Frank said as he turned to consider the fish. “And it kept getting weaker, allowing me to attack from inside.”

“That must have been my life leeching spell,” Heather said as she tried not to notice how horrible Frank looked.

“What did you do with it, though?” Chandice asked. “You were glowing with so much power you floated into the air.”

Heather smiled nervously as Frank gave her a disapproving glare.

“What else was I supposed to do?” Heather argued. “It was the only way to heal you while you were inside it.”

“We can talk about it later,” Frank said and walked passed them. He went to the falling water and carefully stepped into the stream, using the flow to wash the gore away. While he was busy, Chandice asked if this was another of Heather's secrets, so Heather explained the essence stat.

“You seriously have a stat that nobody else has?” Chandice asked in awe. “And you can spend it to boost any of your other bars?”

“Well, I have used it to boost health and overcharge spells,” Heather said. “I don't even know for sure how it works, but it comes in handy.”

“I bet it does,” Chandice remarked. “But I will make sure my family knows this is a secret. Nobody else will find out unless you tell them.”

“Thank you,” Heather sighed as Frank returned. He suggested they follow the tunnel in the other direction and led the way. As they walked, Umtha explained that the creature was called a mud fisher. They often hid in the mud along the edges of swamps and used their tendrils to pull prey off the shore into their mouths. They had spiny fins that allowed them to cross the land for short distances and were known to croak at night like a frog.

The cave twisted a few times before descending into a small pool of water that drained to one side. This must have been the fish's lair, and Frank began to poke around. Quinny joined his side, the two wading into the pool and searching the sides as the others waited by the shore.

“Does he always take the lead like that?” Chandice whispered.

“Always,” Breanne replied. “Frank just goes ahead, headless of the danger.”

“He has things he is careful about,” Heather added. “He is wary of paladins and other holy classed players. He has had bad experiences with them, and I am not sure he has told me the true depth of his past encounters. He prefers to focus on the good side of players and forget the bad ones.”

“He really is a good man,” Chandice replied with a nod.

“He is noble,” Umtha agreed. “Brave, strong, and caring. A perfect king.”

“I suppose he is,” Heather agreed and took Umtha’s hand.

They waited a moment longer until Quinny announced they had found something and began to drag stuff out. Heather was pleased to see gold, silver, and gemstones as Frank and Quinny pulled the treasure from the bottom of the pool. It was a surprising amount for a wild animal and came with some items of armor as well. It really became exciting when Frank announced there was a locked chest, intentionally hidden at the bottom and hauled it to the shore.

“Who would hide a chest in here?” Chandice asked as they considered the size of the box. It was large enough to hide half a body inside and bound by iron bands that hadn't rusted. Chandice suspected magic, so she waived her wand over it, and sure enough, the whole chest was magical.

“What kind of magic?” Breanne asked, so Chandice cast identify magic to determine the type.

“It's a preservation type of magic,” Chandice announced. “I suspect it is to keep the chest from rotting away. Somebody knew it was going to be underwater for a while.”

“Could this be a random world spawn?” Heather asked.

“Magic items down spawn randomly, as do chests,” Frank said. “But this seems almost too perfect.”

“I would wager somebody placed it here intentionally,” Breanne agreed.

“So, it isn’t magically trapped or anything?” Heather asked.

“Not that I can detect,” Chandice said. “If you like, I can try to unlock it.”

“You can unlock it?” Heather asked.

“It's a simple enchantment,” Chandice explained. “It's called unlock and works on most mechanical locks that are fairly simple.” She pointed her wand at the keyhole and commanded it to unlock. The mechanism flashed with white light, and they heard a clicking sound.

Frank reached down and pulled it open, revealing a soft white interior padded with silk cloth. Inside was a collection of golden items suitable for a queen.

“Wow,” Quinny said as Frank lifted an ornate armor made of shining bands of pure gold. It was decorated with blue and white stone and included small shoulder plates, a belt, and a short skirt. The chest plate was obviously designed for a woman, with ample space to be comfortable. Golden coils like snakes were underneath, as were a collection of beads, sandals, and a crown with a star-like crest at the center.

“That is impressive,” Chandice said and waived her wand at it. “It's heavily enchanted. I am detecting protection enchantments layered over life and holy spells.”

“It’s a protection from life and holy armor?” Breanne asked.

“It seems to be,” Chandice replied. “It also has some properties of shadow and necromancy. Something to do with movement, touch, and control.”

“What is this?” Frank asked and picked up a thin wand crested by the cobra's head. It was made out of gold, like the armor, with blue bands of glass-like stone. Chandice waived her wand again and announced it was a wand of snakes. It should be able to summon snakes to do the user's bidding.

“Why would this be here?” Heather asked. “This is amazingly good loot for a fish.”

“Somebody hid this hear intentionally,” Breanne said. “They didn’t want it found easily.”

“So what should we do with it?” Heather asked.

“We give it to Quinny,” Frank said as all heads turned his way. He explained that she was the only woman present who could wear armor, and its protections were perfect for her. She was weak to both life and holy, so this was almost tailor-made for her use. He offered the wand to Chandice to sell, but she refused, saying it belonged to the armor and she didn't want to break up the set.

“You mean I can have all this?” Quinny asked with a glow in her eye.

“Why not?” Heather replied with a shrug. “You never get anything anyway. You deserve something flashy.”

“Thank you!” Quinny cried and rushed to Heather to deliver a warm hug. She then bounced to Frank and hugged him as well, the happiness evident on her face. They dug out a few more items, including some potions, which Chandice did agree to take, then decided to haul the rest back to the bridge room. They were well on their way out, with summoned skeletons carrying the chest now stuffed with loot, when a gong went off, followed by howls and screeches. It echoed from the tunnels behind them, coming closer as Heather looked up and saw their mistake. Above her head was the archway with the skull, and Chandice's nullify magic had faded.