The death in the room feels like it’s permeated everything in the cavern. The soil has taken on a sickly purple hue, the air is hard to breathe, the light feels like it’s been chased back into the forest. The gang follow the slight glow from the little minions and Bones’ scythe, which he holds up as a beacon. They say nothing.
Beau breaks the formation first, moving in with Blink hovering over his shoulder, turning in the air with a look of concentration. The silence hangs; Beau’s steps are almost nonexistent as he moves forward.
Halfway through the room, Blink swivels toward the wall, pupil expanding, and Beau launches himself sideways just in time, and they watch as a dark burst of magic blasts into the ground where he’d been.
The lich stands on a ledge above them, fully channeling the spirits with darkness pouring out of it, completely out of control. It yowls, and the room again quakes as the purple and black seeps across the floor. It’s inky and almost tangible, and the group dances away from it.
“Some assistance, please?” Beau calls to the group, and that’s enough to snap them out of their hesitant trance. Bones follows his guildmate, pushing magic into his minions who transform into wild cats, and slicing away the magic that rushes toward them.
Tuff races to the front and blocks a wide splash of dark magic that follows. Fluff backs him up, while Gray and Abitail defend the group as best they can. It seems to be at a stalemate - physical attacks making no real dent in the lich’s power.
Abigail makes a sound of surprise, before pulling out a wand. She runs to Fluff and pushes it into her paw. “Take this - pour everything you have into it. It’s a Wand of Sacred Flame.”
Fluff understands, channeling as much holy magic as she can into the spell, and sends blue flame dancing across the room. Like fire following oil, it eats up the darkness until it consumes the lich, immobilizing it on the spot. Beau sends an arrow flying, and it meets its mark, the crystal on its forehead cracking.
They stand in silence as the sticky dread ebbs slightly. It should be over, they all think, but no one feels like a victory has been won.
Abitail is the first to question it. “Okay, so…. Why didn’t the lich summon anything?”
Gray narrows his eyes. “Are you trying to curse us?”
“Just being logical.”
The cackling breaks through the hall, and they all slowly look up. Near the top of the cave, a giant cat lich looks down at them. It’s calm. Collected. Watching them with curious eyes, it plays with a pile of bones until one falls, dropping from ledge to ledge until it hits the bottom near them with an echoing thunk.
“Oh,” Abigail starts, backing up a step. “I think you spoke way too soon.”
Bones narrows his eyes, and his minions take shelter behind his legs, reverting back to their small forms. “That first little guy was a minion of this guy... I guess the real fight starts now.”
