Madrona glanced back at her free
arm, which was extended back behind her. She found herself at the end of her
leash, as it were. She was thankful she didn’t find herself taught before reaching
the goblin as that would have really put a damper on the frightful presence she
was going for. Another thought came to her, a worrying thought. If Kassadi had
been struck down would the magic of this curse still work? Would she have to
drag Kassadi’s body out? Madrona was not weak but the Wizard was, well, a big
woman. That was a thought she would have to put away, however. She turned and headed
back down the hallway.
Kassadi’s
eyes fluttered open slowly as she felt her body being lifted and a pat at her
cheek. She groaned as the world came back to her because the world brought pain.
Her whole body ached but her ribs screamed in protest to being handled. She
shifted in the arms that had her and that was a mistake as a new wave of pain shot
through her side, she reached over to where it hurt and felt tender and
blistered flesh, hot to the touch. She hissed and drew her fingers away,
blinking away the tears. Her gaze slowly focused and she found herself looking
up at Madrona.
“Oh hey.” Kassadi croaked. “Ow.”
“Come on now…” Madrona said in a soft voice. “You’re the one
that knows the way outa here. Can you stand?”
“Uh, against my better judgement, yeah. My pack… third
pocket to the right, grab one of the vials.” Kassadi shifted until her back was
against the wall, she grimaced.
“Third on the… Ah!” Madrona found the pouch quickly enough,
pulling the fasten open she saw four vials filled with a red liquid, as she
pulled one free she noted how the liquid seemed to pulse gently and emanated a
faint glow. Her brow raised. “Healing potions?” She glanced at the wizard.
“Well yeah, can’t rightly be an adventurer without healing
potions. Otherwise you get all sorts of messed up.?”’ She winced as she raised
her hand for it, Madrona handed it over.
“They’re pricey, though. Not everyone can afford that.”
Madrona said flatly.
“Oh?” She blinked as she started to uncork the vial, lifting
the vial as she drank it down. She blanched at the taste and wiped her mouth
with a sleeve. “I guess I didn’t know
that, how much do they cost?”
“How much do they-“ Madrona felt her brow narrow. “They cost
like twenty five gold pieces, more money than most people see in a season!”
“Oh wow.” Kassadi was already seeming in better spirits,
glancing down at her ribs the blackened and blistered skin started to dissipate.
Days, weeks, months of healing seemed to happen in an instant, leaving unblemished
and pristine skin in it’s wake. Kassadi poked it and winced, still tender. “Guess
I shoulda probably saved the ones I had.”
“Exactly how many did you have?” Madrona pulled away from
the woman now, crossing her arms.
“Uh like… twelve? I think?” She said starting to push
herself back to her feet. She wished she stayed on the ground when she saw
Madrona’s face. “Wh…what?”
“You had twelve healing potions on you?” She shouted,
throwing her arms out. “I’ve not seen wealth enough to buy twelve healing
potions in my entire life!” She let out a breath to calm herself. “You haven’t
been out in the real world for very long, have you?” The question was less of a
question and more of an accusation.
“Uh.. No.” Kassadi said, rubbing her fingers together. “Been
out of school for like…” She hesitated. “Six months?” She grinned.
“Welcome to the real world, Ms. Weaver.” Madrona said
mockingly, turning on her heel and walking away. “You’ll be expected to
actually work for a living here.”
Kassadi’s
brow furrowed, she looked down at the pouch and noted that there were only
three vials left. Three more chances to defy death and that was it. Though it
seemed a lot she could only frown at the realization that she had already used
up nine chances in six months of being on her journey. She let out a worried
whimper but felt the tug at her wrist as Madrona reached the end of their
collective tether and had to move on.
From
that point on the journey went on without much of a problem, the women did have
to inch their way passed a false floor trap, but they managed to break into the
surface before the evening sun dropped below the horizon. Madrona never thought
she’d be happy to see grass and dirt but here she was. She let out a long sigh
and felt her mood lift somewhat. Kassadi looked releaved to be out in the fresh
air as well, though she showed it not with a breath of relief but by dramatically
twirling and colliding with the dirt, giving the field itself a very loving
hug. Madroa stared at this display with some confusion before ushering her, now
apparent, companion along.
The Halfling,
Gilbert, was adamant that the apartment was out of the question as Madrona had
failed to return to him all of the items that the goblins had stolen, but that
the bag of wands wasn’t worth nothing, it would net him enough profit to get
new stock in and get himself back on his feet. He offered to put Madrona, and
just Madrona, up for three weeks in the local inn. He tried to smooth things
over with the very annoyed Madrona by telling her that the inn was just across
the street from that café they had met at! And she could now have all her meals
there. Madrona sneered, but didn’t push the issue. Not like the little man wasn’t
wrong, she didn’t exactly complete the job. So Madrona and Kassadi found
themselves sitting across from each other at the café.
“I mean, it was nice of him to get us a room.” Kassadi said.
“Though if you wanna we could go back down and try for the rest of it.”
“No, I have no interest in being in that tomb any longer.”
She said, tapping her finger against the table. “And what do you mean us, he
got me a room.”
“Do you think this place has two rooms that both fit within
a fifty foot radius?” Kassadi asked, sipping from her cider. Madrona felt a
wave of aggravation roll though her extremities. She drank her tea.
“Yes, I suppose you have a point.” She said, clacking the teacup
against the saucer with a little more force than intended. She raised her hand,
signaling their waiter she wanted another cup. She sighed, and drew two wands
from her pocket and placed them on the table. “Here, tell me what these are.” Kassadi
choked, and ended up spitting her cider into the road beside the café.
“You stole wands from that bag?” The wizard hissed in a whisper.
“Why?”
“Because I knew he was going to try and roll me. I wasn’t
about to walk away with nothing. Now come on, you said you can magically detect
what magic items do.”
Kassadi
quirked a brow to the Inferni woman, having figured her as a little… stiff to
have lifted magic wands like that. But her condemnation was clearly more
surprise than moralistic as she grinned widely and slid the wands over. The
Wizard produced the lens again and began the process of casting the spell that
would unlock the specific magics that were imbued into these wands. She did it
once over for each wand, and it was actually somewhat of a timely process.
Eventually she let out a little cackle and lifted both wands.
“Okay so this one” She began lifting the one in her left
hand. “Is a Wand of Flaming Missiles. You got seven missiles, flick your wrist
while thinking of a number and flaming balls the size of a grapefruit will
launch from the tip. You think one and one shoots out, two and two will shoot,
three, four etcetera etcetera all the way up to seven. But if you use the Command
Word Meteor, they’ll all fire out combined and twice as powerful!” She was explaining
this with ecstatic glee. “But that’s all you get, seven shots or one big one.
Then the wand is tapped till the next dawn.”
“Facinating.” Madrona said, accepting her tea from the waiter.
“And the other?”
“Wand of Flight!” Kassadi nearly bounced out of her chair with
the exclamation, some of the other patrons glanced over to the strange pair of
women. Madrona glanced back and they all stopped staring, letting Kassadi continue.
“Point this at something and for ten minutes it will fly. If you point it at
something sentient they control the flight, if you point it at an object you control
it. Six charges, so you can give one person or thing an hour of flight, two a
half hour each, three twenty minutes, etcetera.” Kassadi was so excited Madrona
could swear she was wiggling. “So which one do you want?”
“One? Who said they both don’t go to me?” Madrona said,
smirking.
“Awww come on.” Kassadi said, a pout appearing on her face. “I
totally helped you out of that Maze there.”
“Give me the missile one, thank you.” Madrona extended a
hand and Kassadi gave her the wand. “Now, these bracelets, you want to go over
what our plan is? Cause I’m not interested in flipping a coin to see which one
of us needs to lop our hands off at the wrist.
“I mean that could work.” Kassadi said, a little maudlin and
fiddling with a napkin. “But yeah not exactly my first idea.” She sighed. “What
a stupid curse anyway!” She threw the napkin at the table and slumped back in
her chair. “I was thinking we just find a Cleric or someone who knows how to
remove curses, but I imagine if Healing Potions are expensive…”
“Yeah, so is hiring a cleric.” Madrona finished, eyes
glancing over the woman. “How much money do you even have? I imagine if you
walked out of a school with twelve potions you have some money.”
“Look…” Kassadi began, sitting up somewhat. “I grew up in a
place where magic was as common as air, spell slinging is dangerous, so the
school kept a heavy stock of healing potions, I didn’t realize they were so
valuable. But yeah I left with some money, I had 100 gold when I left.”
“That’s not insignificant.” Madrona stated.
“Yeah well now I have 73.” Kassadi instinctively went for
her coin purse, tied to the back of her belt so her skirt covered it.
“You went though 27 gold in six months?” Madrona balked.
“Well yeah… Six months of traveling, of nights at an inn
every night, meals every day… Also I think I got pick pocketed by a very rude
Dwarf Bard back in Seacrest City about two months back. How much do you have?” Kassadi
asked.
“I have Fifty gold and that is my life savings. Whether or
not it’s enough to pay for a Cleric I’d prefer not to be destitute after this.”
She sighed and looked down at her tea, the dark liquid provided her no insight
as tea is a stubborn drink that rarely imparts its wisdom to others. “Though I
suppose we have little choice in at least seeking a Cleric out. Don’t think
this town has a church or temple large enough to warrant a Cleric.”
“Sooo… Road trip?” Kassadi perked up, Madrona resisted the
urge to dunk the tea on the Wizard’s head.
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