Kassadi stared at the chest with glee, inspecting the object carefully. Madrona quirked a brow as the blond woman arched around the top of the box, then crawled on her hands and knees to stare at each side. She then proceeded to lay on her stomach and peered at where the chest met the floor, seemingly searching for gaps or… Ah. Madrona realized the woman was searching for traps! Perhaps she had some sense after all. Once satisfied with her inspection, Kassadi pushed herself off the ground and say cross legged before the chest, rubbing her chest where she had laid rather uncomfortably directly opon her breast. She beamed and produced the key.
“Well come on, you ought to see what’s in here too!” She
called out, Madrona made her way carefully over but maintained a good seven foot
distance just in case this woman’s inspection wasn’t as thorough as it seemed.
Kassadi
slid the key into the lock, it fit perfectly. She seemed to almost vibrate with
excited energy as she turned it… and found it wouldn’t. She frowned and bit the
side of her lip in frustration.
“Come on now.” She said, and then proceeded to wrench the
key hard.
She
strained for a moment fighting against the mechanism. Madrona peered over the
woman as she struggled, she was an odd sort. When Madrona imagined a Wizard she
saw pictures of, well, frail old people. Spindly limbs and shocks of white and
wild hair, bookish and crotchety. As if being able to wield the power to alter
the very fabric of the universe was something that removed your ability to
crack a smile. Not this girl, no she was brighter than the noon sun and not in
any way frail. Broad and with weight behind her, the sound of ancient and
rusted tumblers screamed in protest to the Wizards ministrations. The lock eventually
relented, and the key made a full rotation. Kassadi let out a breath, haggard,
and drew the back of her palm across her forehead to wipe away the forming
sweat. Pulling the key free, Madrona could see that it was bent at near a 20
degree angle! This wasn’t a Wizard, this was a bear in a human costume!
“There!” She shouted, tossing the key over her shoulder and
reaching for the lid. She cackled in her triumph and threw the chest open… It
was empty. Kassadi made a squeaking noise that was somehow part whine, grumble,
and growl all at the same time. She threw her hands up in frustration and fell onto
her back, her bangs fell into her face, and she blew them out of her eyes with
an angry puff of air.
“Come on now! I’ve been in this blasted maze for like a week
and I finally thought I found something! It’s not fair.” She said, pouting.
“Perhaps the Goblins already took it, they did have the key…”
Madrona suggested, leaning over slightly to meet Kassadi’s gaze, staring at the
woman up side down.
“Noooo.” Kassadi said, a little defeated. “While I was
scoping them out I saw that one lady goblin, the one with the wand? She was chastising
some of them for taking it, said they weren’t allowed to go near the chest,
said it was dangerous.”
“You speak Goblin?” Madrona tilted her head.
“Yeah I speak lots of languages.” Kassadi said. “I speak
Goblin, Sylvan, Draconic, a little Halfling… Uuuh, my Elvish is a little rusty
but I can muddle through. Oh and I can speak Dwarvish but they always make fun
of my accent when I speak it so I try not t-“
“Okay yes that’s nice. They said it was dangerous. And you
decided to open it anyway?” Madrona frowned, her opinion of the woman slipping
back down after it’s very brief increase.
“Well yeah but they were probably just talking about the
enchantments. I already took care of those.” She sat up and spun around so that
she was sitting facing up at Madrona. “See I found this room first, it was
super cool and hidden behind like three locked doors, sealed with a series of
puzzles. Got through those pretty easy, but then I found the chest. I cast a Magical
Detection spell and saw instantly that
the chest would kill anyone who tried to open it, even with the key! There were
a few goblin skeletons in front of it… I moved those cause it was kinda creepy trying
to dispel the enchantment with them right in front of my OH WAIT!”
Kassadi’s
shout caused Madrona to leap back and go for her dagger. After slowing her
heart back down to a normal rate she stepped forward t admonish the woman, but
Kassadi just shushed her. Madrona’s eye twitched at that. She then tried to
explain that she would not be shushed like a child… but Kassadi shushed her
again. Madrona took a long, drawn out, breath and tried to shoo away the
thoughts that told her that no one would ever find her body.
Kassadi,
on the other hand, was getting to work. It was so simple! Why would you only
enchant the outside of the chest? She reached to her skirt again, lifting the
opposite side to the one with her component satchel, there rested a book in a
special harness. Unlatching it she pulled it free, the book was very exquisitely
crafted with soft brown leather and paper white as snow caps. A Wizard’s Spellbook,
the most important possession in the world to one who had to teach themselves
to store magic in their minds. The thing about Magic is that it must come from
a source and taken in to the caster, and it cannot be held onto forever. This
is true of all forms of magic wether it be Clerical, Druidic, or the Arcane.
The Cleric is gifted their magic
through their faith, taking in their magic each day through daily prayer. Druids
draws magic from a primal connection to the earth, asking through communion with
nature access to the magic. The Arcane traditions, however, come from the self.
Sorcerers are born with inherent knowledge of the Arcane and regain it through
rest. Bards craft the arcane into song, and play their magic, limited only by
their endurance and ability to perform. The Wizard though? The Wizard learns
Magic, studies it, and makes it their own. Taking their spells down into books
to be read and learned again and again. Kassadi peered over her book and read a
handful of pages, and then went back and read them again. She nodded and stood
up.
She raised her hands and positioned
them so she could see the box framed, her thumb and forefinger extended to form
L shapes. She whispered those strange words again, the language of the Arcane. She
did it quickly, a flurry of seven syllables and a ripple of energy appeared
between her fingers. It formed into a seven sided geometric shape and launched
forward, passing over the chest. Madrona peered over Kassadi’s shoulder; it
didn’t seem to do anything. It just moved through the chest like a strange
ghostly image. After a few moments though something did happen, Madrona noticed
there was something in the box now! One moment there was nothing and now it was
just there. A red satin pillow untouched by time, with two golden bangled
resting atop it.
“Wait… there was nothing there before.” Madrona said,
staring at the bracelets.
“Yep!” Kassadi said with a triumphant hop, walking to the
chest. “Pretty tricky, a locked chest with a spell trap cast over it and then
when you open it there’s an illusion of an empty chest overlapping whats
actually inside? Like… wow!” Kassdi seemed genuinely impressed with the
combination, despite her ability to overcome it. “Powerful magic,” she said, emphasizing
the word ‘powerful.’ “Traps can last forever, but an illusion? That’s more
complicated than just making something shoot death rays, for it to still be visible
after this long.” She whistled to punctuate her point.
“Very impressive of you to circumvent it.” Madrona said, and
meant it.
“Aw, thanks!” Kassadi turned back to look at Madrona,
smiling wide enough to make her squint at the compliment. “But I never woulda
figured it out without you here. Mama didn’t raise no dummy but I uh, well, I
can get a little scatter brained sometimes?” Kassadi rubbed her cheek
sheepishly as she spoke. “Sometimes I just need someone with me so I can work
the problem, but I feel silly just talking to myself.”
“Uh-huh.” Madrona said, moving foreward to stand beside
Kassadi. “You didn’t use one of your components this time.”
“Uh, yeah?” Kassadi said, glancing to the woman as she squatted
down next to the chest. “Wait you’re serious? You don’t need components for
every spell, a disenchant spell doesn’t require too much energy, so no need to
sacrifice any material goods, I can handle the energy required myself. I mean…
You must have spells that don’t require you to use your dagger, right? Sorcerers
are supposed to be able to feel the way their magic works.”
“Let’s just say my magic has only come to me recently and
leave it at that. I’m new.” Madrona said with a bit of hesitation… and annoyance.
“Oooh, mysterious. Alright tell ya what I’ll try to answer
any question you got about your magic over drinks when we get outa here!” Kassadi
said, wiggling her fingers as she reached down to her satchel and pulled a
small lensed object out, she whispered more arcane words and waved the lens
over the bracelets. “I’m not a Sorcerer, but plenty of em went to school with
me.” She said as she worked
“Drinks?” Madrona asked… Bit forward to assume she would join
this woman for drinks. Then again, Madrona gathered there wasn’t much about
Kassadi that wasn’t forward. She smirked. “Are you asking me out on a date,
Kassadi?”
“No.” Kassadi’s head perked up and turned to Madrona. “Unless
you want it to be a date. I mean, you’re very pretty so that’d be nice.” She
smiled.
Madrona was taken aback, what was
with this woman? Nothing seemed to rattle her. Madrona turned her gaze away.
“Just drinks for now, Kassadi.” She said aloofly. She was a
little too distracted by the ‘pretty’ comment, something she rarely heard due
to her devilish appearance, to notice Kassadi slip one of the bangles over her
arm. “Hey what are you doing?!” She shouted, grasping at the metal.
“What it’s yours.” Kassadi replied. “Like I said I wanted to
offer you a reward and there were two bracelets, so…” She said as she slipped
the bangle over her own wrist. “One for each of us!”
There
was a sudden thrumming noise, a crackle, and the room shuddered.
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