Chapter 6

"Why did you do it?" Lafayette demanded.

Vivificus looked up at the eladrin. She always had a fire burning in her eyes, but Vivificus would swear that the flames were leaping out at him this time. He silently cursed the sorceress; couldn't she have waited until he was healed? He was leaning against one of the bookshelves that survived their group, resting and recovering. Orion had helped his convalescence greatly. On one hand, Vivificus had to admit that the Lathanderite did know his herbs and remedies; on the other he cursed the fact that he owed the deva a favor. Orion, the fool, and the other companions were huddled around a campfire that Godric had started, but apparently the smoldering sorceress had made her way over to check up on him. How pleasant.

"I'm afraid you'll have to be more specific, I've done a lot of things in my life," the swordmage spat. Most of which I can't remember, the elf thought angrily as an afterthought.

"Why would you put yourself in harm's way in order to save my daughter?" Lafayette spat back with equal venom. She countered, "I've been watching you Vivificus. You may think no one notices when you slip a dead man's coin purse into your pocket or a shaman's ritual staff, but I have. Everything you've done since you've joined us has been to benefit yourself, this hasn't bothered me but you made one mistake. You involved my daughter. So I want to know. What angle do you have in saving Godric?"

At that point Vivificus was reminded of the goddess of magic, Mystra. Lafayette was stunning and dangerous, Vivificus was over matched if a fight started and he knew it. If only he had more time to rest.

Vivificus looked back at the three around the campfire. Treks apparently just said something humorous, because Godric threw her head back in laughter and even Orion managed a wry smile. Vivificus could barely stand looking at the deva. He sat so rigidly, unmoving, as if he could sit there for a thousand more lifetimes. It made him feel uncomfortable. But apparently it didn't bother Godric and Treks. They sat with him, joked with him, and listened to his orders while they fought side by side in battle. Didn't they see how pure, rigid and just inhuman he was? Vivificus hated to admit it, but Orion was shaping out to be the leader of their group, which would just make it harder for him to sway things his way.

As he studied Godric's face, he had a feeling of… pride? Why would he feel pride in this little shifter? She barely mastered her own weird brand of magic, he should feel distain or pity, but pride…?

He turned his attention back to Lafayette. "She, and you, owe me a favor now. I'm all about favors," he lied. Truth be told, he didn't know what came over him at that moment.

"You're lying. Tell me the truth." The angry elf responded without a second's hesitation. Flames now licked her fingers and her hair began to sway in the ever autumn winds of the feywild's untamed magics.

Vivificus hesitated, contemplating what to do and ultimately deciding to tell the truth. "Do you know I have amnesia?" He asked, pausing for an answer. None came. "Do you know what it's like, not knowing who you are or where you've been? I don't know why I saved your precious daughter, maybe she reminds me of someone I once knew."

Lafayette hesitated, her anger slipping away slightly. An awkward silence passed before she asked, "Have you ever looked for your home? Asked around in Cormantler for any who might know you?"

Vivificus didn't answer. Truth be told, he didn't. He was scared of what he might find out, of what his life might have been.

But he would never admit this to anyone else.

Lafayette waited, but when no answer came, she turned her back to the scarred elf. "Thank you," was all she said as she walked back, taking her seat by her daughter's side. Only then, when she was next to the one person she would trust with her life did she release the pent up magic and the pent up fear that the thought of losing her daughter had brought about. And only did Vivificus start to breathe a little easier.

***

After a short rest, Vivificus joined the group by the fire. "Feeling better?" Orion asked, concern barely crinkling his perfect forehead. The elf nodded curtly. "Are you ready to fight?" Orion asked again, getting another nod as a response.

Orion rose to his feet, and four sets of eyes of very different turned to him. There was hope, concern, admiration, and hatred. The deva hoped that Vivificus wouldn't end up being more trouble than he was worth. Orion had always remembered once being a general in King Dragonbane's army, two lifetimes ago, issuing orders to hundreds of troops. As he spoke, his companions noticed that his voice rang strong and true, with no sense of nerves. The oration shook them to the core.

"We now know the face of our enemy. We have seen her, and some of us have crossed blades with her," he nodded to the Dragonborn. "She is a strong opponent, there is no doubt about that, and her devotion to her fell deity is no doubt fueling her quest in this crypt. However, the next time we face her, we will be prepared. She held her own against Treks and myself, but with all five of us ready and her own goblin troops depleted, thanks to Godric's abilities," Godric held her head high, beaming at this, "she won't know what to do against our might." He looked each of his companions in the eyes, and then smiled. "Follow me if you wish to put this foe to rest. Let's show her what we are capable of."

He abruptly left the library, following the path that Azara had taken, Treks close by his side, asking him about battle strategies in Draconic. Godric scrambled, putting out her contained fire before leaving after them with her mother close to her side. Even the ever alert Lafayette did not notice the new gleaming sword on Vivificus' side as he left the room. Vivificus noticed the blade on the goblin that Lafayette battled before, and it was too fine of a blade to let rust in this tomb. It would serve him well in combat, of that he was sure. Even as they walked he braided the subtle veins of sword-magic into his new wicked blade. It would cut deep into his opponents, although whether his opponent was to be the Deva or the Banite, he hadn't decided.

***

"Is this another statue of Lathander, Orion?" Godric asked as the two of them stood before another marble statue.

"No." was the only response Orion gave. At the end of the hallway they walked through, they came into an open room. The room was only about 20 paces wide and contained only two statues on opposite ends of the room, looking at each other. Past the statues was another door leading to a similar narrow hallway. Orion would admit, from a distance even he would think that these statues were of Lathander, it only made sense, seeing as this was a tomb to his followers, but he could easily tell that was not the case.

The first clue was material. The statue on the left was that of a cloaked figure, hands outstretched as if reaching for something. The only part of the feminine face uncovered was the mouth, which was turned up into a smirk. It was carved of dark purple marble. Orion had no clue what deity this statue was depicting, and running through the pantheon of Lathander's allies helped none. No friends of the Dawnlord were viewed as a cloaked figure. What deep secret did this statue contain?

Godric ran her finger along the base of the statue. "There's something written here." She said. "'Give me something that was never yours and I'll give you something that was never mine'." She hesitated. "What was never ours?" She asked, baffled, turning to face the others. She noticed Vivificus walking the perimeter of the room, tapping on the stones. The other faces were just as puzzled as she was.

"Who's this of?" Lafayette asked reaching towards the other statue, not having an answer for her daughter's question. The statue was pewter gray and depicted a sincere bearded man dressed in heavy metal plate. A greatsword was strapped to his back.

The group turned, and this time Orion had an answer. "Kelemvor, Lord of the Dead."

"An evil god, here?" Lafayette asked surprised, quickly pulling her hand away as if burned, but Orion was already shaking his head.

"No, Kelemvor is more of a…judge. When you die, if you don't believe in any god, you go to his realm, the Fugue Plane. From there he decides where you spend your afterlife, based on your actions in this world." As if to accent Orion's point, Kelemvor was holding a scale in his hands, signifying the balance of good and evil. Orion wondered what verdict the Judge would pass on him this lifetime. He had dealt with Kelemvor personally in other lifetimes.

Unbeknownst to the group, one of the goblins survived Godric's fiery attack. While the group was recovering and making their plans, Pachulisk played dead and waited for the group to move on. He was about to dart up the stairs and save his own hide, when he realized that if Azara ever found him she would kill him for his cowardice. This was the motivation he needed to follow the group. If he could sneak up upon them and take one of the companions down, Azara was sure to reward him.

Or at the very least, she wouldn't kill him, which is what he was truly afraid of.

"There's nothing here." Vivificus said. "I've examined the room corner to corner; there are the statues and nothing more. Let's find Azara and finish this."

Godric and Treks nodded in agreement and started towards the exit, leaving Orion and Lafayette staring at the statues.

"Correct me if I'm wrong," the powerful sorceress started, "but isn't it odd that there would be statues of two different gods in a tomb of Lathander?" The Eladrin extended her hands probing the statues for latent magics.

"Indeed." The deva mused. "There must be some connection between the two, and the riddle that Godric read. If we could obtain something of Kelemvor's, it would be something that was never ours. Are we to remove the scale from his hands?"

While the duo contemplated, Pachulisk crouched behind the cloaked statue, dagger in hand. The deva and mage were inspecting the statue opposing him, while the other three were nearly out of the room. The goblin pulled his puny dagger out of its scabbard. It was impossible to think that he stood a chance against the party of five, but goblins aren't known for their intellect. He jumped from behind the statue, and closed the distance between himself and the unsuspecting companions with all the speed he could muster.

Lafayette, luckily, turned at the last second. "Look out!" she screamed, pushing Orion out of the way. Pachulisk swiped his dagger forward but hit nothing but the empty air where Orion stood seconds before. He changed his target to the next closest target, the eladrin, and was faintly aware of the Dragonborn rushing towards him. Even if he got lucky enough to kill Lafayette, he wasn't sure how he would stand against the seven foot tall beast.

Unfortunately for him, he never got the chance to find out. Lafayette spread her fingers wide and bursts of flame shot out of each of the gaps, engulfing the goblin, which had a second to contemplate the fact that he survived the druid's flames only to fall victim to the sorceress.

And that was the last thing poor Pachulisk ever thought.

As his charred body fell to the ground, Kelemvor's eyes flashed to life, and his scale that stood in perfect balance seconds ago suddenly tilted heavily to one side.

"What's happening?" Godric asked, timidly.

It all made sense to Orion in that moment. "He's doing what he does best. He's judging the goblin's soul." He didn't know much about goblins or their deities, but he hoped for a fleeting moment that someone would find pity on the creature's soul.

But that thought ended as abruptly as the judgment did. Kelemvor's eyes returned back to the lifeless stone and his scale readjusted itself, Pachulisk's trial was apparently at an end. As it ended, a panel slid back on the pedestal that Kelemvor stood upon.

Sitting inside the statue laid two ornate weapons. First was a stone dagger, which was beautifully crafted and contained the holy mark of Lathander, the setting sun, on the pommel. Treks was more drawn to the other weapon. It was a great two-handed sword, a true warrior's weapon! He moved forward, through his friends, and picked up the sword in his claws. He was amazed at how light it felt considering its size, and when he first held it he felt a chill flow through his body. To test out his new blade, he swung it forward, scraping against the stone wall and as it made contact, blue sparks flew out from the blade. As he finished his swing, the path this sword took on the stone left a layer of frost.

Treks liked this sword.

The rest of his companions barely noticed Treks and his new weapon. Vivificus had been proven wrong; there was a point to these statues. He hated being proven wrong, but he knew what he was to do with the dagger; and he knew that Orion would feel the need to discuss with the group whether it was a good decision. It was a conversation that Vivificus did not, frankly, want to sit through. He grabbed the dagger from its resting place and rushed over to the statue of the cloaked figure. Into her outstretched hands, he slid the ornate dagger.

As he did, the magic in the statue brought it to life just as its companion statue had. This time, her head lifted up, giving the group a better look at it, and causing Orion to curse.

"Shar, goddess of secrets and lies." He looked at Lafayette, who indeed knew who Shar was. She was surprised that there was a god of death here. Now, however, there actually was an evil goddess in this tomb. The deva looked sickened by the idea of Shar desecrating this holy place.

Shar's smirk seemed to become bigger as her panel opened. Vivificus rubbed his hands together excited, expecting to find more weapons that he could sell back in town, but instead a wisp of black smoke flew out of the statue and enveloped the scarred eladrin. Vivificus yelped in fear and brought up his magical wards. They were of no avail, the smoke sped through them without pause.

"V!" Treks yelled, running forward, drawing his sword.

Orion wrapped his arms around Treks, and shouted in draconic to get the dragonborn's attention. "Stop! Your sword would go right through that smoke and hit Vivificus."

As suddenly as the smoke flew out, it retreated into a new home, Vivificus' bag. Seconds after it settled into the thick leather satchel, the bag started rattling.

No one moved, afraid of what was going to happen. Vivificus slowly slipped his bag off of his shoulder to the ground, where it continued to shake. He grabbed his sword, and used it to slowly pull his bag open, and as soon as the opening appeared, the totem that Vivificus took from the goblin shaman fell out, rattling on the ground. The human skull that was topping this idol began to bite and click with uncontrollable intensity.

"You took that staff?" Godric asked, surprised and hurt. After the battle she commented on how elegant that staff was, and how it would complement her evocations greatly. Vivificus was the one who told her it would be wrong to take the staff from the dead. Now she realized that Vivificus didn't want to have to split his earnings with the group. How could anyone be that selfish, she thought.

Vivificus chuckled. The totem would've fetched him a decent price. Now he was wondering who would buy a possessed totem. He's sure whoever he could find would pay even more. Perhaps Jackie would be interested in this. He reached down to the rattling stick. "I'm going to call you Rattles." He said smugly. As he grabbed the base of the staff, the head suddenly reached around, something he would've said was impossible seeing as it was wooden and rigid, and the mouth of the skull bit into his arm. He screamed, dropping Rattles back to the ground, and it continued to vibrate across the room, a few drops of blood leaking from its mouth, giving the macabre idol an even more grotesque smile.

Orion rushed forward, looking at the bite wound. "How does it feel?" He asked, concerned for his companion.

Vivificus pulled his arm back, his ego bruised. "It's fine, forget it." Orion stared at the swordmage, doubting his answer, but eventually moved his attention back to Rattles. Vivificus stomped across the room, scooping up his bag on the way, and threw the bag over the demon stick. He slid the staff back into the bag, tied his bag closed, and threw it back over his shoulder. It continued to shake, but Vivificus ignored it.

"Now let's go," he said, annoyed.

"Wait." Lafayette said, looking deeper into the slot from which Rattles emerged. "There's something else in here." She pulled out of a piece of parchment and opened it up.

"What does it said?" Godric asked, excited. The last time her mother had found a magic scroll they were able to fly for a couple of hours. It was one of her favorite memories, one that would be engraved into her memories forever.

"I… don't know." The worldy mage answered. "It's written in Abyssal, the language of demons. It is a language I have neglected in my studies." The others, besides Vivificus, crowded around her as if doubting her words, but all agreed after a glance. If the langue was Abyssal or not they weren't sure, but they all agreed it was unreadable. Lafayette slid it back into her bag, hoping to find a translator after they returned to town.

As the group left the room, Vivificus inspected his new wound. It looked like a simple bite mark when Orion inspected it, but it was quickly puffing out and he felt a chill through his body. He almost said something to the deva, but knew that the cause of this wound was outside the deva's herbs and poultices.

He just hoped it wouldn't get any worse.