She awoke the next morning feeling better than she had since before she'd started having her visions at home. For the first time in weeks, she'd had no dreams. She was at peace with herself, and she was at peace with her teammates. And that's what they finally were, a team. They had made a pact with one another that night to work together and to never range out of each other's sight.
Cain caught them at breakfast. He had been up all night trying to remember something about the Black Marsh. He met with Akara and they went over her books, finally discovering the tale of The Countess in her forgotten tower. Cleaning out this tower was now their priority.
They returned to the marshes and searched the entire morning until the fog finally cleared and the ruined stone walls appeared in the distance.
There was nothing left of the tower above ground but the ruined walls. An ancient ladder reached down into the old cellars. They descended down into the level below.
They immediately climbed down a second ladder into the lower levels, and unfortunately these halls were clearly not uninhabited. The soft groans and shuffling of reanimated dead could be heard echoing to where they stood.
The floors and walls were slick with decay, and the smell of it was almost unbearable. The air clearly didn't circulate down here, and there was very little oxygen left in it, making it almost impossible to breathe. So they ended up inhaling more deeply of the putrid, thin air than they'd like.
They stepped through the doorway out into the hall. There was no actual door left anymore, the timbers having completely rotted away long ago. This was a good thing, as it allowed them the opportunity to sneak through quietly. Uncertain what to look for, they just started following the maze of open doorways.
Torches flickered here and there, reflecting dimly off the rows and rows of bleach-white skeletons lining the walls in their final resting places.
"A necromancer's dream?" Asked Martenus when Thane had stopped to gawk.
The man simply gave a sly smile in response as he lightly caressed the top of a stone crypt.
They encountered a little resistance as they moved through the passages, but nothing they couldn't dispatch easily. They were amazed how well their powers worked together when they were forced to fight in the small confines of the cellar. Martenus had cast his Thorns aura, and as long as they stayed close, Thane's minions picked it up too. Thane stayed slightly back with Meize, casting his curses and covering Martenus' back, while she threw ice and fire at the demons. They had never been so efficient before, despite the slight lack of power in Meize's fire in the thin air.
Meize could feel herself relaxing as they worked on different combinations of attacks, realizing that she would probably never have to battle alone again. She had to admit, she was even starting to like Thane. He had a quirky sense of humor and a quiet way about him that she had previously taken for arrogance. And it helped that he had finally warmed up to her, too.
By the time they reached the bottom level, they had cemented their dependence on each other's powers.
Here they entered into a wide hall, completely barren but for a few barrels in a corner. There was a definite finality about this place. If the countess did still exist in these rotten ruins, she was only a breath away.
Martenus quietly led the way to the closest doorway. But for two surprised goatmen, this room was completely empty of monsters. It was not empty, however, of treasure. Gold coins lay scattered all across the room, and Thane wasted no time in starting to clean them up. Martenus and Meize jumped in while there was still gold to be had.
When they were finished, they made their way back quietly across the main hall and through the doorway on the opposite side. As luck would have it, this room was just as full of gold, and with nothing guarding it.
There were only two doorways left from which they could choose. They knew the levels above had been much larger, so behind one of these doors, or both, was sure to lie the countess' chambers.
Using an old, childhood game to make the decision for them, they stepped through the opening on the left. Thane's minions went first and the three adventurers followed carefully after. Aside from their ever-present companions permanently asleep within the walls, the room was completely devoid of anything. There was another doorway up and to the right. With a great feeling of foreboding, they crept up to the entryway. Thane waved his minions through… nothing happened. They quietly followed after, and suddenly a wall of flame flared behind them, cutting off their escape.
"Well, well… What have we here?" A throaty, feminine voiced asked.
Immediately they were rushed at by at least eight or ten corrupted rogues. Martenus and the skeletons held them back, but one, who was different from the others, got through to Thane and Meize. Thane switched from his wand to his sword and met her head on, but she merely pushed him aside into the rest of the fray, heading straight for Meize.
"Pretty thing… You'll make such a nice pet." She suddenly threw a chain around the sorceress' neck and yanked her in close, wrenching the staff out of her hands.
Anger took over the sorceress' controls, overcoming the numbness of fear. "I don't need my staff to hurt you." The countess screamed as the fireball tore into her stomach, and was followed by a second, and a third. The fourth blast was ice, and the countess was almost completely immobilized. Seizing the opportunity from behind, Thane cursed her and Martenus brought his sword swiftly down at an angle, slicing her straight through from shoulder to opposite hip, and she collapsed into two cold, gory pieces. She didn't even bleed.
Before Martenus could get there, Thane was beside Meize, helping her unwind the chain from around her neck, gently detangling the links from her hair. "I think we'll call it a day here and take a town portal back." Suddenly a large chest at the back of the room popped open and treasure started pouring out of it. "Yahoo!" The necromancer cheered as he grabbed her hand and ran over to the chest. "Now this quest was certainly worth the effort."
Laughing, the three pocketed all the treasure they could. What they couldn't personally carry, they strapped to the skeletons.
Martenus handed Meize back her staff. "Let's finish checking this last doorway and go home."
The countess and her ladies were the last of the beings they encountered, and they found just a little more gold in the next room. Meize opened a portal and they went back to the camp, jingling their way over to Cain to have him identify some of the items.