"Anything?" Gahoole asked as she looked over the book, Horlander's Guide To Mass Curses (Scholar's Edition), that had just arrived via magical delivery that morning. One of her old associates had sent it along to her when she'd mentioned that she was dealing with a rather nasty curse. The nice thing about it was that the book came with its own enchantment that allowed Gahoole to ask it to 1 to 1 translate itself into any language she wanted, which was nice because the original text, while readable, was utterly dense. And sometimes seeing words change between languages helped one understand better what the author had been trying to say.

"Nothing," Ernesto said as he shut his copy of Befuddlements, Bewilderments, and Bewitchments (3rd Revision). "There is a lot of talk about curses and the like but nothing that matches what we are dealing with. Closest is a household curse but even that doesn't match up to what we have. You?"

"I have a few ideas but they don't quite fit what we are dealing with. It might work if this is a homebrew that someone made." Gahoole sighed. "I hate homebrews sometimes."

"We can't be sure of that," Ernesto warned. "The homebrew, not your hatred for them."

"Preaching caution again, fearless leader?" Anton snarked as he entered the room. But there was no real heat to his worlds and from the way he nearly collapsed into the chair beside theirs it was clear he was utterly worn out.

"God, Anton!" Ernesto said worriedly, hurrying over and offering him a cup. "Drink this!"

"I'm fine... just give me a moment to rest."

"You are certainly not fine," Nocci, the final occupant in the room, stated. He looked away from the heavy stone tablet he'd been studying and shook his head. "You are clearly suffering from magical exhaustion."

"Yeah well... screw you."

Nocci though merely stared him down. "In your current state I believe that would reduce your bones to dust."

"It's just a saying, Nocci," Anton said with a groan.

"I know," the war forged said, a bit of laughter in his words. "Now drink from the cup. Gahoole and Ernesto have been partaking from Dryft's special blend."

THAT made the warlock blink. "Fuck, seriously?" He quickly downed the contents of the cup and shook slightly as his entire body trembled. "By the pits how did you convince the doc to give you guys magic replenishers?"

"He's that worried about the curse," Ernesto explained to him. "And if you don't want to be on bedrest you need to be careful how much you drain yourself."

Anton though shook his head, getting out of the chair and stretching. Dryft's Magic Replinishers were a godsend (literally... he'd learned to make them thanks to his godly parents) that would instantly give any magic user full top up on depleted stores. It was like getting a full blessing from his husband and it had Anton buzzed. "It was worth it even if I hadn't gotten that potion," he stated. "Bureau needed the help."

"He's still lending Casita magic?"

"Yeah," Anton said, his good mood falling. "Guys... I think she's dying."

Nocci spoke up. "Has Bureau prepared a new wing for her essence to go to?"

Anton sighed. "Yeah but she's refusing. She's worried about her family. And Bureau... when I was pumping him up with magic we talked. He thinks that this curse is tied to her existence."

Gahoole frowned. "It created her."

"No. More like she is… helping hold it back. Or keeping it in line. She's worried if she leaves it will cause a backlash."

"All the more reason for us to figure it out," Gahoole said, shutting her book. "So let's go back over what we know."

"We've done that already," Ernesto complained.

"But sometimes we get lost down the rabbit hole," Gahoole reminded him. "This is a maze... sometimes the only way out is to start at the beginning again rather than constantly wander about.

"Right," Nocci said with a nod. "So we know that this curse is separate from the Encanto."

"Correct," Gahoole confirmed. "Dryft was very clear he wasn't sensing the Encanto. That was sacrificial blood magic."

"That's some dark shit," Anton commented with a shudder. It always bugged him when they ran into cults or mages that practices those kind of spells.

"Not if it was given willingly and out of love," Ernesto stated.

Anton though shook his head. "Focus on it, old man... that spell might have love in it but there is just as much despair. This was one not done with a smile."

"Which is to be expected," Nocci said. "Pedro Madrigal gave his life to try and save his family. He knew he was doomed to die. That he was never going to see his children grow up. But that doesn't mean he met his end happily... sometimes one can despair about the situation but be willing to accept it if it means other escape."

"We're getting off topic," Gahoole stated. "The curse is different from the Encanto. We know that it covers the entire valley; Dryft said he can feel it going to the mountains."

"We should drill into the mountains, get a sense of their age. Mirabel said that her abuela always said the mountains rose up from the ground… if that's true they might be soaked with magic."

"I'll see to that." Ernesto sighed. "The curse… it's something so strong yet subtle that only a being that is nearing ascension could feel it," he pointed out.

"But otherwise all our attempts to determine what the curse is have failed," Anton stated. "Every scrying spell just locks onto the Encanto. It's like trying to find a particular glass of water in the middle of a lake!"

Nocci looked down at the notes he had been taking. "Have we determined what the curse does?"

"We just said we can't," Gahoole said softly.

But Nocci shook his head. "You misunderstand. You are trying to determine what the curse is... how it was cast, focal point, so on. But most times one does not simply discover that a curse has been cast because they find a bewitched item or perform a scrying spell because they are bored."

Gahoole's shoulders dropped as she realized what the warforged was getting at. "Most curses have a purpose! You see it! You notice the change! A man made into a monster, a castle covered in blood vine, a fog of poison over some vineyard! Of course!"

Nocci turned to Ernesto. "Do you notice anything different about the valley?"

"No... it is the same as it always is. Honestly life just keeps going on."

Anton huffed. "Suppose it would be too much to hope that the bruja Mirabel calls 'abuela' used to be much nicer?"

Ernesto considered that. "She wasn't so... direct... with her hatred of people." He held up a hand to stop any comments the others were about to make. "But that doesn't mean much. Growing up I didn't see much of Alma. She was... there... but I was a child and just knew to be respectful to her. So might have been nicer than she is now but I doubt it."

Gahoole pondered that. "So nothing has changed?"

"No," Ernesto said. "It's the same as its always been."

"No," Nocci chimed in. "It's the same since you've been alive."

"...you think the curse is older than me?"

Anton bolted out of his chair and began to leaf through The Mage's Guide To Spells and Enchantments (Now With Illustrations). "That's why only Dryft could sense it! If the curse was cast shortly after the Encanto occurred then they would have blended so much that it would be impossible to tell one from the other!" He jabbed his finger at a section. "Damn it all, we made it too complex! Yan's 3rd Law of Magic: If two spells are allowed to linger amongst each other they will blend!"

Ernesto quickly began to nod. "Of course... enchanters try and cause that when they place two different kinds of spells on swords and axes. That's how you get Frostflames or Shadowbolts. Two spells linking until they become one. To most people they look like a single complex spell when they are a pair of simpler spells woven together."

Gahoole was feeling excited. "And most wouldn't notice a very old one... unless their blood was magic itself."

"Like a prince born to two gods," Nocci finished.

"So what now?" Anton asked.

"Now?" Gahoole said. "Now we find out exactly what life was like BEFORE the Encanto for Alma Madrigal and the people of this village." She leaned forward in her chair. "Because I have feeling, if Bruno is right… that the people of this family are far more magical than they were allowed to know."