CHAPTER: On the Streets of Vasselheim

Having never used a teleportation circle before, Cassandra wasn't quite expecting the circle to drop them in the middle of a ruined street. The halfling they appeared behind whirled around, and took a menacing if defensive stance with a familiar, gleaming, and blood-soaked greatsword.

"What the hells? Cassandra?"

"Lady Kima! It's wonderful to see you're alright." Cassandra replied as she let some of the tension drain from her shoulders at the sight of her little friend and martial mentor.

"That felt awful," Kaylie spoke up before vomiting up the last undigested pint of ale she had had that morning.

Cassandra cringed while Lady Kima of Vord chuckled at the young gnome's misfortune. Upon Kaylie laying down a murderous glare, Lady Kima replied, "It's nothing to be ashamed of kid. I remember the first few times Allie dragged me through transportation circles. It fucking sucked. But when your wife's a wizard, you learn to get used to it. Does Dimension Door not fuck you up? I'm not sure if the difference between Bard spells and other spells would matter that much, or if it's just magical travel wrecking your stomach."

Kaylie finished puking and Cassandra promptly handed her a handkerchief Kaylie almost felt bad about wiping away the remnants of her stomach's contents from her mouth and chin. "Dimension Door doesn't feel anything like that. Maybe it's a distance problem? Whatever. I'd rather travel normally from now on if possible."

Cassandra shrugged, "Maybe if we can get Keyleth to open up a tree for us? Otherwise it would take a considerable time to return to Whitestone."

Kaylie let out a sigh and shook her head, "Gods damn it."

Cassandra awkwardly bent down to pat the much shorter girl on the shoulder and said, "We can worry about that tomorrow. Lady Kima, what's the situation here?"

The Paladin of Bahamut grinned as she pronounced, "We won the war with Vecna. But some of his army is still scattered around the city, so I've basically been wandering around killing everything that doesn't belong."

"Sounds sensible," Cassandra said.

"Sensible? Rich tit, it sounds like a blast!" Kaylie said with an enourmous grin. "Can we help you?"

"I don't see why not. You both look armed," Lady Kima nodded appreciatively to The Singing Dawn Blade clipped to the bard's back. She then properly looked the Lady of Whitestone up and down. "What the fuck happened to you? You're taller, your hair's longer, and I'm sensing a divine presence clinging to you. Also, that's Vax's armour. Vax is dead."

Cassandra had to take a few breaths before responding. She looked at Kaylie, and the normally flippant gnome also seemed reluctant to talk about the circumstances relating to why Cassandra was visibly different now. "We were killed, when–,"

Lady Kima held up a hand halting her, "I know that. We had a short drink to honour Vax before your brother and sister-in-law basically dragged them all to the nearest tree to return to Whitestone. Neither of you need to rehash the details, I know how fucked that is, talking about your death."

Both younger women paused while processing the implications of what Lady Kima had just admitted to them. Neither the Bard nor the Lady's pride would allow them to say aloud just how relieved they were that Lady Kima wasn't at all interested in them retelling the terrible tale of how their makeshift family had killed them.

"You've died then?" Kaylie asked with a level of tact her father could be proud of.

Lady Kima leveled Kaylie with a look, and the bard had the decency to flinch.

"Yeah. When My, Drake, and Allie's adventuring group imprisoned Thordak. Our Cleric sacrificed a spell slot that may have saved her life to revivify me instead. From what I understand, Pike made a similar choice. The difference is that Vox Machina is way stronger than we were back then."

Cassandra briefly shuffled where she stood like she wanted to kneel down and embrace her occasional sparring partner, but her upbringing prevented her from acting on her instincts. Kaylie didn't have any such indoctrinated emotional constraints and hugged Lady Kima.

After a few moments Lady Kima coughed awkwardly and said, "I'm glad you both made it. But Cass, I noticed you didn't answer my question. One of Pike's resurrection rituals wouldn't change you the way you've obviously been changed."

The Lady of Whitestone nodded before saying, "That's part of why we're here in Vasselheim." Cassandra took a short moment to gather her conviction before continuing, "The Matron of Ravens is responsible for my uh, physical changes. She told me to come to her temple here and seek out Warden Lieve'tel Toluse. So I'll know more about this," she gestured to herself, "after I find this Warden and talk to her I suppose."

"I've met her a few times actually. She's hot, for a woman a few times my age." Lady Kima said without a hint of shame. Kaylie raised an appreciative eyebrow while Cassandra's cheeks coloured involuntarily.

Lady Kima continued as they turned a corner onto a slightly more ruined street. "You have divine energy about you, have you tried to I don't know, use it yet?" Lady Kima asked.

Before Cassandra could address the idea of calling on the 'divine energy' Lady Kima spoke of, they saw four of Vecna's Cultists wandering the street, blades bloody.

There was a moment when the Cultists of Vecna looked at the trio of women before letting out obscenities and two of them starting to charge. The third and fourth hung back as they drew a crossbow and short bow respectively and aimed at Lady Kima. Cassandra couldn't help the snarl that nearly escaped her as she reached for her blade.

Lady Kima laughed as she brought her Holy Avenger to bear and Kaylie drew Singing Dawn. One of the cultists fired a crossbow bolt that sailed right into Lady Kima's torso, only to be deflected without a wince upon her breastplate. The arrow aimed at her whistled past her ear harmlessly. "You're gonna have to try harder than that, assholes."

Cassandra drew her rapier. She took a dueling stance and was prepared to wait as the rest of the cultists got within striking distance. But there was something whispering at the edge of her consciousness. A feeling she'd never had before. As she saw the crossbow-wielder knock another bolt and aim it at the considerably squishier Kaylie, Cassandra raised her hand.

Once again, the voice of the Matron of Ravens echoed in her mind, "Do my Wonders."

What Cassandra did next felt strange because Cassandra had never had an ounce of magical potential. Something Delilah Briarwood had exhaustively check for and was quite disappointed with. Cassandra shook the memories of those experiments from her mind as she raised her left hand at the crossbow cultist.

Because Death Walker's Ward covered her body, none of the combatants could see it, but the Residuum scars covering Cassandra's body all began to glow. The Lady of Whitestone pointed her fingers in the mocking shape of Percival's hand cannon. The words just came to Cassandra as she sneered at the cultist trying to shoot her friend, "Eldritch Blast."

With a sound to match the firearm hand cannons that her brother utilized, six sickly Residuum-green lances of light streaked towards the offending cultists.