Danica Pt. 16

"Did ye feel that?" Celes quietly asked.

Danica shivered from the touch of the magical probe that had touched them. "Yes. Something knows we're here. The magic alerted it. Quickly, do you see any traps?"

"Nothing magical, no runes," Celes answered.

"Nothing that I can see, if your magic is working right," Telanor agreed while drawing his weapons.

Danica waved her hand and banished the clairvoyance spell, "Let's go. This narrow passage will funnel anything that comes after us."

Celes reached out and the other two took her hand. Concentrating on a ring she wore, she moved all of them through the false door.

"Warding runes, at the end of the hall," Danica revealed.

"Stay off the diamond shaped stones. There are several near the door I can see now," Telanor warned.

Sounds emerged from below. "Get ready, something's coming," Danica said and raised her wand of fire. Celes did the same, but Telanor had already dropped into a crouch with his weapons at the ready.

Two forms appeared in the room below, backlit by the magical torches. As the shadowy forms moved forward into the doorway, the torches revealed them as mummified men wielding swords and dressed in hardened leather armor.

All three expected the appearance of the mummies, but none of them expected what happened next. The mummies suddenly leapt forward at a run, moving with great agility toward the three intruders with weapons at the ready. Celes and Danica both fired their wands, and the one on Danica's side actually dodged the flaming bolt that erupted from it. The mummy Celes fired at hurtled backwards in the passageway and caught on fire.

The creature Danica had missed reached them in moments. Telanor lashed out with his blazing sword at the same moment Danica discharged the wand again. The creature erupted in flame the same as the one Celes had blasted.

"What the fuck? I thought the walking dead were supposed to be slow. What in the hells is this bullshit?" Telanor cursed.

Danica noticed a faintly shimmering aura appearing above the two mummies, which had ceased their twitching and now lay still. In a few moments, the shades took on a vaguely manlike shape.

"Oh no," Danica cried out and immediately cast a spell. A burst of spray erupted from Danica's fingertips and extinguished the burning mummies.

"What the hell did you do that for?" Telanor asked.

"Don't destroy the bodies. Use the positive forcebolt wand Celes. Telanor, try not to set them on fire. Their Ka spirits were coming to avenge the desecration of the bodies. We aren't ready to deal with intangible enemies at the moment. The Ka is very powerful. We're going to have to give the corpses a proper burial when this is all over."

The mummies straightened as the magic animating them seeped away, the corpses taking on the natural shape the mummification should have left them in without the dark magic that animated them.

"Great, more complications," Telanor grumbled as Danica and Celes changed wands. Hearing nothing for the moment, the group advanced down the hallway toward the room at its end. "Don't forget the stones," Telanor hissed.

The three slowly moved down the corridor, carefully listening for more of the tomb's guardians. When they neared the doorway, Danica and Celes both cast spells to counteract the runes of warding so they could safely pass through the doorway.

While the women worked their magic, Telanor spread some sort of paste in the joints between the diamond shaped floor stones and the stones surrounding them. As he finished sealing each stone, he tapped the paste with a tiny wand of bone, causing the paste to harden. Checking his location and that of the women each time, he pressed on each stone, slowly and steadily putting his full weight on it. Each held, proving that the traps were disabled. Only one remained when the two women finished rendering the runes harmless.

Celes looked down to see what Telanor was doing and he said, "Little present from the boss. This stuff seals up the trigger stones so they can't set off whatever nasty things would come out of those holes in the walls. You never know when we may have to be running back this way."

Suddenly Telanor spit out a curse and brought his weapon in line with the door. Celes only had time to turn and see another mummified warrior as it completed a leap toward them. Danica raised her wand, but not quickly enough.

The creature parried Telanor's strike on its curved sword, and the action brought its weapon in too close to Celes for her comfort. She sidestepped and realized her mistake just a fraction of a second too late.

As Telanor brought his weapon in line for a strike and Danica aimed her wand, Celes' foot came down on the diamond shaped trigger stone.

Telanor's flaming weapon forced the creature to parry, the last action it would take, because Danica's wand discharged and the mummy instantly slumped to the ground. Wooden spears erupted from the holes in the walls and Celes screamed, bringing her hands up in front of her in a defensive gesture.

The sound of clattering greeted Celes’ ears as the wooden spears dropped harmlessly to the floor somewhere in the room beyond the hall. Celes stood with her arms still raised, looking at her hands as if they had betrayed her.

"That was too close. Let's get out into the next room where we have more room to maneuver," Danica suggested.

Celes lowered her hands, looking down at them one last time. "We should put up missile shields," she said without her put upon brogue.

Danica nodded her agreement and the two women cast the spell. Telanor alternated between looking at the stiffening mummy and Celes with equal curiosity.

The three moved out into the room, seeing every inch of the walls covered with paintings and inscriptions. The roof was covered in carved stars from one end to the other. "They're spells and rituals to help the deceased enter the afterlife. Why would they expend the effort when they intended to become walking dead?" Danica said while examining a painting of soldiers standing before a god.

"Ain't no assurance 'twas gonna work, or keep ta workin'. Makin' sure they was covered if'n anythin' went wrong."

"That accent comes and goes, doesn't it?" Telanor said with a chuckle.

Celes turned and stared at Telanor with a look that could have melted stone.

Telanor backed up a step and said, "Hey, just an observation. I'm supposed to be keeping my eyes and ears open, remember?"

Danica pointed toward a rectangular spot that was a slightly different color from the rest of the Eastern wall. "There are wards on that sealed door over there."

"This could be bad. There are ways to hide traps in the plaster of sealed doors like that. They are hard to find, and even harder to disable," Telanor grumbled.

"There could be warding charms embedded in the plaster that would be hard to see as well," Celes added.

Danica thought for a moment and then said, "I don't think that just shielding ourselves and blasting it is a good idea. I really think we're going to need this tomb as intact as possible when we're done if we don't want to fight the Ka."

"Isn't this just a perfect little crawl," Telanor sighed sarcastically.

Danica raised her eyebrows and stared hard at the doorway. "Wait a minute, why would it be sealed?"

Telanor laughed and said, "Stinking illusion, I see it now. Damn good one though. Tripwire at the bottom of the door."

"I'll get the wards. Keep your eyes open for company, Danica. I don't want them sneaking around the corner on me again."

Celes cast the spells to remove the wards while Danica cast a spell of clairvoyance to keep an eye out around the corner. "More warrior mummies, but they're just standing there stiff as boards in a room connected to the one beyond the doorway," Danica warned the others.

Celes finished disarming the wards. "What about now?"

Danica shook her head. "Nothing, they may as well be statues."

Telanor bent down and carefully disabled the tripwire trap. "I don't know what this was going to trigger, but I can tell you it was probably nasty. This is the biggest tripwire I've ever seen. Without the illusion it would have been so obvious as to be useless."

Celes approached, wand ready in her hand. "Why disable it then?"

Telanor rolled his eyes and snorted, "Same reason as the last bunch, just in case we have to run back this way. Never leave a working trap behind you."

Celes nodded, understanding the logic. "The warrior mummies must have been animated for nothing except guarding. They probably don't move until you move into the zone they're warding. They may as well be golems."

"Turn right when we enter and they’re straight ahead. I see two, but there could be more. Let's try to take down the first two before they get a chance to move."

Celes raised her wand to indicate she was ready, and both women stepped out into the room beyond. They turned and fired on the two mummies, dropping them before the creatures had a chance to do more than twitch.

Telanor entered behind the women, scanning the room. "Now this is more like it."

The room was filled with funerary goods. Danica saw the glint of gold and gemstones everywhere she looked. Every stick of furniture was covered in gold leaf. Small statues made of pure gold sat in niches in the wall. Gem encrusted ceremonial staves stood in racks. The room held a king's ransom in gold and precious gems.

Danica turned toward Telanor. "I said the tomb needs to remain intact, and that includes all this."

"Seems a damn waste to leave all this down here with moldering corpses," Telanor snorted as he continued to drink in the sight with obvious avarice.

"Tell Zoraster to send you back to get it then. You can fight the Ka for it," Danica snapped.

Telanor snorted and changed the focus of his observations, looking for traps and their triggers.

"There are wards all over this stuff. It would take us days to disable them all and get this stuff out if we even wanted to," Celes revealed while scanning the room.

Danica looked toward the doorway where the mummies had stood guard. "Wards on the doorway again, with a hallway beyond."

"There are physical traps on most of this stuff too, and stay off the square stones near the doorway. They're smoother than the ones around it, but you'll have a hard time seeing them unless you're careful."

Danica cast the first of the spells to disable the wards. "This is going to take forever if we have to stop and disable wards on every door."

"Especially if we just keep coming to treasure troves. We need to find the actual crypts," Celes agreed and then stiffened.

Telanor noticed Celes' reaction, "What's your problem?"

"I'm not sure, but stay behind us."

Celes cast an elemental shielding spell between the three of them and the door, holding back from finishing the spell until Danica completed her spell casting.

As soon as Danica completed her spell, Celes completed hers. Magic immediately assaulted the shield, but it held firm against the onslaught.

The mummified priests appeared, seven carefully wrapped corpses in all their holy regalia, continuing to hurl dark spells at Celes' shield. Danica aimed her wand and the mummies started to drop. Celes, finding that she had little trouble maintaining her shield, did the same. Within a minute, all the corpses lay still upon the floor.

Danica lowered her wand when no more enemies approached. "Something is seriously wrong here. Why would the priests of the Necropolis waste so many resources to seal this place if this is as dangerous as the mummies are?"

"I doubt we’ve faced the high priest yet, or the wizard for whom they were all sacrificed," Celes noted as she lowered her wand as well.

"Don't look a gift horse in the mouth," Telanor grunted as he moved to disarm the traps.

Telanor had nearly finished sealing the trapped stones in the floor when the hair on his body stood on end. He rolled away from the door, hearing the two women begin to chant at the same time.

A lightning bolt crashed into the shield summoned by Danica and Celes, scattering into tendrils around its protective globe. The high priest, wearing an ornate funerary mask decorated with gold and precious metals and wielding a serpent tipped staff, stepped into their view, beseeching his dark god in a hollow tone once more.

Celes aimed her wand, but the serpent staff the mummy held flashed and her spell's ray scattered into motes against its protective magic.

Danica raised her wand, but dropped it quickly to chant and bring a globe of invulnerability in place around herself, Telanor, and Celes. The mummy had summoned a poison cloud, and the existing magical protections would have allowed it to seep around the edges to affect those the shields protected.

Celes ceased chanting the spell she had begun to cast, her eyes widening with surprise as she considered the speed with which Danica had summoned the powerful globe of invulnerability. "We've got problems. I don't know what kind of magic that staff has on it, but it's protecting him without intervention."

"We're also stuck in here until that poison cloud dissipates. We can't even attack through this shield," Danica said and stomped as she tried to study the mummy through the green fog outside the globe.

A voice arose in Danica's mind. What about getting that staff away from him with your mind?

Danica thought back, I can't see well enough through this mess, and I'm not sure it's a good idea with him here. Her emphasis on the word him carried with it images of Telanor, leaving Celes little room for doubt.

I wasn't thinking. You're right.

An idea occurred to Danica then. Maybe he can be the solution rather than the problem, though, she thought to Celes.

"Have you taken steps to resist poison, Telanor?" Danica asked aloud.

"Hazard in my line of work – so yeah, I've built up immunity."

"How about magical poison?" Danica continued.

"I've got some protection from Zoraster too," Telanor replied.

"Think you can get that staff away from our adversary?" Danica asked him.

"Probably, if I survive getting there."

Celes stepped forward, peering through the poison fog, "I can see the thing well enough to teleport him there, and the wards here shouldn't prevent it."

"But you don't have his immunity," Danica said and then stiffened as another lightning bolt slammed into her magical shield.

"I don't need to go with him. I can teleport him there alone if I can see where I'm sending him," Celes explained.

Danica looked at Celes with obvious surprise. "I didn't know you could do that."

Celes shrugged. "I'm good with teleports, just not much use for doing this usually."

Danica turned back to Telanor and asked, "Can you handle a teleport right on top of it?"

"No problem. Just get me the fuck back here as soon as I get it away. I'm not really keen on testing Zoraster's charms against dusty there for long," Telanor requested.

Danica asked him, "Ready then?"

Telanor nodded and Celes chanted. Telanor vanished and Danica heard the sounds of metal clashing. Both women peered through the poisonous cloud, trying to see what was going on. They could make out the two combatants, but not much else.

Celes heard Telanor scream, “Get me the fuck outta here!" She concentrated on Telanor to teleport him back inside Danica's invulnerability globe as soon as she heard him request it.

When Telanor reappeared, he was wearing a wide smile, holding his sword in one hand and the staff in the other. He laughed and said, "Dusty obviously never trained much in weapons. I managed to knock it out of his hand and catch it before it hit the floor."

Danica shrugged off a fireball exploding against her protective magic. "Its keeping that poison cloud in place. It realizes it has us pinned down, and its obviously protecting the crypts."

Get ready to drop the globe of invulnerability and strengthen the shield spell, I'm going to conjure up a wind wall, Celes thought to Danica.

Danica smiled and thought back, It's too bad he doesn't breathe. I'll blast him as soon as I can see him.

Celes turned to Telanor, "Get behind me."

"Whatever you say," he replied and moved as she had indicated. He examined the serpentine staff as he did so.

Danica listened carefully to Celes' chant; ready to drop the globe of invulnerability the moment Celes completed her spell. She also held her wand at the ready.

Celes completed her spell, Danica dropped the globe, and the cloud sped away, borne on the gust of wind from Celes' spell. Danica concentrated and poured more power into her shielding spell, just in time to block a ray of energy hurled at it by the mummy.

The cloud soon blew away and scattered enough for Danica to see her adversary. Aiming her wand, she discharged it. The mummy collapsed to the ground and stiffened.

Telanor moved forward to disarm the traps near the doorway. "If it weren't for all the traps, we could have already been out of here. I think these things’ powers are as dried up as their bodies."

Danica examined the wards on the door in preparation to remove them. "They're using strong magic, but it hardly seems powerful enough to warrant all the precautions the Necropolis priests have taken."

Celes noted, "I'm willing to bet the care is mainly due to the wizard who is responsible for all this, and the thing we've been sent to steal."

"Wonderful – we're probably handing a madman another deadly weapon. I hate this," Danica said before beginning the chant to disarm the wards.

Telanor looked at Danica curiously. "You don't work for Zoraster?"

Celes turned to scowl at him. "Not willingly – not that it's any of your business."

Telanor chuckled and finished disarming the last of the traps in the floor. "Sure can't tell from where I'm sitting. That's what happens when you get attached to people, they get used against you."

Celes was not amused that Telanor had read them both so well. She scowled at the thief, and he chuckled once more before moving off to a corner of the room to examine the serpentine staff.

Danica rendered the wards powerless a moment later, and she entered the hallway beyond with Celes right behind her. Danica saw no more wards here, and knew that this was the crypt they sought.

Telanor announced there were no mundane traps on the doors or inside that he could spot. He then went back to fiddling with the serpentine staff. The two women examined the crypts, determining that they were those of the priests and the warrior mummies. A larger crypt was obviously that of the high priest, having its own offering nave and treasure trove.

"We've missed something, obviously," Celes noted when they didn't find the wizard or the prize they sought.

"Probably another sealed door covered in illusions back in the first room," Danica agreed.

Telanor let out an explosive laugh and the women turned to see him holding out the staff proudly. The device had collapsed into a small rod about the length of his forearm. "I knew this damn thing was too unwieldy to drag around like that most of the time."

Danica walked back toward the doorway of the crypts. "Let's go back to the first room and find the rest of this tomb so we can get out of here."

Telanor slipped the rod into his belt with a wide smile and followed the two women back to the central room.

{*****~~o~~0~~o~~*****}

Zoraster paced, somewhat frustrated that he was unable to track the progress of his pawns in the tomb. The magic that sealed the crypt also blocked his ability to scry within. Celes had also learned the Hellgate spell, something he had quite specifically withheld from her and Danica. There were too many probabilities with that spell for him to conscience allowing them to learn it. Now, that decision was taken from him.