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A few months after the defeat of the living city in the Astral Sea, Caleb was relaxing in his temporary bedroom in Rexxentrum. It felt odd being back in the city that had started him on the path to becoming an adventurer in the first place, especially given the reason for his presence there.
Ikithon's trial.
It had been hell so far, touching on so many things that Caleb had tried his best to bury within himself. Beauregard had been helping as best she could, as had Astrid and Eadwulf, but Caleb knew that he would not truly feel better until it was over. Once the trial was over and Ikithon was locked away, he was sure they would all breathe a sigh of relief.
The anxiety of the day slipped from him as he returned to the small flat he had rented for the duration of the trial. Once it was over, he would begin to look for more permanent accommodations, if he decided that he still wanted to remain within the city. It had been nice, being so close to Astrid and Eadwulf again after such a long time apart.
Beauregard and Yasha had been discussing making Rexxentrum their permanent home as well, so perhaps Caleb would too. He liked the city well enough, despite the painful memories tied to it.
He entered his temporary dwelling, removing his coat and scarf, before he went to curl up on the couch with a book on history, which Beau had recommended to him. It had been fascinating so far and he was very much looking forward to reading more about mages long since passed.
Just as he was beginning to relax for the evening, a voice in his mind gave him pause. Thankfully, it was not his former master this time. No. Ikithon would never be able to do that again. To Caleb or anyone else, for that matter.
This time, the sender was one Caleb would usually have been glad to hear from. And he would have been, if not for the pained rasp and slight slurring of words as the drow on the other end of the Sending spell spoke the message.
"Caleb. Heading back to outpost. Magic failed. Landed in water- I don't know where."
Caleb waited for several moments before he was certain that Essek would not be using all of the words of his spell. This was rare. Essek usually used most, if not all, of his words when casting Sending.
"I will try my best to find you. Stay where you are, it will make it easier to locate you. Stay warm," Caleb replied, already beginning to pack up as many supplies from his flat as he could. He threw several bandages, a few extra blankets, and a beautiful indigo cloak into his bag of holding. The cloak was something he had been hoping to gift to Essek when he eventually made his way back up to the Vurmas Outpost for their private adventure into Aeor. But it sounded as if the drow would be needing it sooner rather than later.
Teleporting to the frozen north was dangerous, but he had to try. Essek clearly needed him. No matter the danger, he had to lend his dear friend whatever aid he could.
Caleb pulled one of the rocks he had collected from Eiselcross during his travels with the Nein, using it as a focus for the Teleport. He hoped it would be enough to negate some of the risk.
Thankfully, when the spell landed, he seemed no worse for wear. He found himself in an area that was mostly unfamiliar, though some of the mountains surrounding him looked vaguely familiar. He seemed to be in the right spot.
Once he had gathered his bearings, he cast Locate Creature followed by Polymorph. Of course, the Locate Creature spell faded as soon as he took on his new form, though it had at least given him a direction. As he flew, now in the form of a snowy owl, he kept a close eye on the ground below for signs of his drow companion.
He flew for what felt like forever, searching the vast, white expanse beneath him for the familiar form of Essek. Several times, he had landed beside what he assumed to be his body, only to find that it had been a rock which had caught his avian eye.
He cast his Polymorph spell three times before he found something promising.
He passed over what looked to be an ancient ice field frozen over a long forgotten body of water. He saw what appeared to have been some sort of impact zone, as the ice in one area was shattered— there was no other way to describe it. It wasn’t cracked as it would have been if this had been a natural occurrence, but clearly broken apart as if by magic. Some of the pieces littering the snow were blackened, which only added further credence to Caleb’s hypothesis.
Not only that, but as he drew closer, he saw a dark shape, seemingly still partially in the water. Gods, it had to be freezing.
He dropped the Polymorph the moment his taloned feet met the icy ground. From this close, there could be no mistaking it. This was Essek. The elf laid mostly out of the water, apart from his legs and a bit of his lower abdomen, and there were clear marks in the snow from where he had partially dragged himself out from the hole in the ice. How did this even happen? Caleb would have to ask Essek once he was well enough to answer.
As much as Caleb wanted to rush to Essek’s side, he knew that he needed to keep himself from falling into the ice as well. He pulled a bit of rope from his bag and carefully crawled across the surface of the ice to where Essek lay. Once he had carefully tied the rope around Essek, he crawled back away from the hole in the ice, pulling on the rope to get him as far from the water as was possible, given Caleb’s lithe frame and the water that weighed down Essek’s heavy clothing. The moment Essek was within reach, Caleb rolled Essek onto his back in order to get a better look at him.
Essek wasn’t breathing. After several attempts at finding a pulse, dread settled firmly in Caleb’s stomach. He continued to try, hoping that maybe it was just very faint. But as he got a closer look at Essek, he was sure that he was gone. The elf’s form was terribly twisted and horribly pale. His lips were tinged blue. There was frost in his hair. He had been like this for a while before Caleb had located him.
Why had he not attempted to Teleport? Was he unable to?
Magic in Eiselcross was known for going awry. Perhaps this had something to do with how twisted and broken Essek’s body seemed to be as Caleb continued to pull him away from the hole in the ice. Gods, just about every bone seemed to have been broken. What had
happened
to him?
Caleb debated for a moment before deciding on his plan of action. He had his Transmuter’s Stone with him. And a diamond that was compatible with the spell’s requirements. He could at least attempt bringing the elf back with the Raise Dead spell. If it didn’t work, he would attempt to risk the teleport in order to get Essek to one of the clerics. Likely Caduceus, as Jester was out at sea currently.
He bundled Essek securely in his coat and scarf, feeling wrong for not at least providing Essek with some small manner of comfort while he set about casting the Nein Sided Tower.
Once the Tower was cast, he tried to carry Essek inside. However, he was only able to drag the elf a few steps before he realized that this wouldn’t be a good idea. Instead, Caleb polymorphed himself into a snow leopard. With this form, he was able to easily pull Essek inside. Once inside, he carefully maneuvered Essek upright before crawling under him, supporting him on Caleb's furry back, and thought “up”. It took a minute, as his new form was significantly less intelligent than his true form, but he was eventually able to get Essek up to the bedroom that he had chosen for the drow.
Still in the form of the leopard, he carried Essek into the room, only forcing the drow off of his back once they had come to a stop in front of the room’s fireplace.
He dropped the Polymorph, pulling Essek’s clothing off of his still form as quickly as he was able. He stayed focused on his task, paying Essek’s body little mind as he worked. Especially given just how broken it was at present.
At last, the wet clothing removed, he was able to bundle Essek within the warmth of the blankets he had brought from his home. They were made of thick wool, so they would be nice and warm. Slowly, he pulled Essek nearer to the fireplace within the room, now adding the thick cloak he had purchased for the elf to the growing pile of blankets. He pulled more blankets from the bed, adding those as well.
Once Essek was thoroughly bundled, Caleb set about casting Raise Dead.
Caleb’s last casting of the spell hadn’t gone well, so this time he was even more nervous. He hated that it was Essek he was casting it for. He hated that he needed to cast the spell at all. After Mollymauk, he had never wanted to attempt it ever again. Even after Jester had brought him the diamond “just in case”.
“Please, Essek. Do not do this. I am so sorry I did not find you in time. I am so very sorry, my friend. Please come back,” Caleb pleaded, watching the drow closely as the spell came to completion.
Seconds passed between the shattering of the stone and the diamond, and Essek’s first intake of breath. To Caleb, it felt like hours.
After several moments of waiting, Essek groaned weakly, his eyes opening slightly. Caleb could have cried in relief.
A faint smile settled itself upon Essek’s lips as he took in the sight of Caleb leaning over him. He had found him. Thank the gods. Had one of his Sendings gotten through? He wanted to ask this of Caleb, wanted to thank him for coming to his aid, though all he could manage was a rather poor attempt at Caleb’s name. Perhaps speaking could wait until he had recovered a bit more.
“Shh, it is alright. Save your strength. You are safe now,” Caleb assured, softly stroking Essek’s cheek.
Essek leaned heavily into the touch, the pain seeming to ease thanks to Caleb’s presence alone.
Caleb gently lifted Essek’s head, helping him to drink one healing potion and then another. A third, larger potion followed the second soon after, despite Essek’s feeble attempts at protest.
They did help him to feel better though. He could feel his bones mending themselves. He felt almost whole again.
“Thank you…”
Caleb simply shook his head. “You do not need to thank me, Schatz.”
The other man paused for a moment before asking what Essek was sure he had been wanting to ask since the moment he had found him.
“What happened to you?”
“That, dear Caleb, is a rather long story indeed,” Essek said, chuckling weakly.
The two of them spent the next several hours discussing what had happened. From the attack within Essek’s home, to his Teleport to the Brenatto’s home, to his failure of a Teleport back to the outpost. Essek had also handed over the documents he had retrieved from his home in Rosohna, which had been safely secured in a hidden pocket within the lining of his cloak. They had remained dry, thanks to the magical nature of their hiding place, which rather resembled that of a Bag of Holding.
Even after four hours of talking, Essek was still shivering quite a bit. The shivering was a good sign, though it still pained Caleb to see it. Caleb pulled his coat from where it rested beside the fireplace, the wet fabric now dry. Carefully, he draped it around Essek’s shoulders, quickly wrapping his scarf around the elf’s neck as well.
“Here, Thelyss. Take my coat,” Caleb offered, pulling the mound of blankets more securely over Essek’s legs as well. He was sitting up now, his back leaning against one of the plush chairs in the room, so the blankets had fallen down a bit.
Essek pulled the coat tightly around himself, burying his face into the soft fabric of the scarf a bit. “Thank you, Caleb.”
When Essek still seemed cold even with the addition of Caleb’s coat, he carefully pulled the cloak he had purchased for the elf from within the pile of blankets. He then draped it over Essek’s shoulders over his own coat.
Essek eyed the cloak with curiosity. “This is beautiful. Though it is a little different from your usual color scheme.”
Caleb chuckled softly, clasping the cloak for Essek, as his hands were still rather shaky compared to Caleb’s own. “That is because it is for you. I was going to wait to gift it to you, but it seemed like you needed it now.”
“Caleb— this is beautiful. Thank you…” Essek murmured, his elegant hands gliding across the front of the cloak.
Essek now tended to, they continued their discussion. Caleb voiced several of the questions that had been on his mind since he had stumbled upon Essek’s body in the snow. The most pressing of which was why hadn’t he teleported?
The answer? He couldn’t. Essek had tried, numerous times, but magic just didn;t seem to be working. Nothing high-level, at least. He had teleported and found himself beneath the ice , though he had managed to escape with a few castings of Shatter before finally Misty Stepping to the surface. Those spells had worked, as had Essek’s Sending spell. So why hadn’t his Teleport spell worked?
It rather reminded Caleb of what had happened within the ruins. Any high level magic seemed to make odd things happen. Perhaps something like that had happened here? But they had been nowhere near the ruins.
“Essek— is it possible that there could be ruins beneath that ice?” Caleb asked, his curiosity piqued.
Essek’s head snapped up at that suggestion, his violet eyes alight with curiosity.