Chapter Text
Morgana dies. Maria falls to her knees, and Bran rushes to her side. They whisper to each other, and Thelo watches with Morgana ’s pinky in his hand.
“Everyone here is so dramatic,” he huffs under his breath. “I wish we could all just say what we mean.”
The pinky glows for a moment before returning to normal. Thelo stares at it with wide eyes.
“I’m sure that’s fine,” says Chi Pin.
☼☼☼
Chi Pin wakes up one day to the sound of Bran playing his lute.
It ’s a beautiful day, they think as they exit the inn and shield their eyes as they look up at the sky. “Lovely morning!” Chi Pin says optimistically, and Bran stops playing his lute to smile at them.
“Yes, it is. I hope that waking to music was more pleasant than being shaken awake by Abra?” he asks, raising an eyebrow.
“Oh, yes, it definitely was,” Chi Pin laughs, stretching their arms toward the sky with a yawn. “Are Maria and Yorsog still asleep?”
“What about Amros?”
“I know he’s still asleep,” Chi Pin says, rolling their eyes. “He’s lazier than me most days!”
“Don’t let him hear you say that,” Bran jokes. “Yorsog got up early to go hunting, but Maria is still asleep. You might be able to get breakfast ready before she comes out of the inn..?”
“Ah, no, it’s a Chi Pin day,” Chi Pin says. “You know I can’t cook.”
Bran makes a face. Oh, does he know it.
“In that case, I believe we can leave the cooking to the tavern across the street,” Bran says. “I’m sure someone will want to buy the hide of whatever Yorsog brings back.”
“We do still have a few coins left if not,” says Chi Pin. “I’ll go get us a table, you wake up Amros and Maria.”
“I’ll try,’” Bran says wryly, and Chi Pin laughs as they walk across the street.
The tavern is a nice one, well-kept but not extraordinarily expensive. The barkeep waves to them as they walk through the door, and they wave back politely. “Just saving a table for when the rest of my party gets here,” they call out, and the barkeep nods in acknowledgment.
Only a few minutes pass before Yorsog joins them, and only a few more after that before Bran, Maria, and a very sleepy Amros do as well. They each order a small breakfast (and an ale for Yorsog) before setting off for the day towards a nearby cavern that ’s rumored to be cursed by the gods. They’ll be paid good money to clear it out of whatever monstrosity makes its home there.
After stepping only a few meters into the mouth of the cave, the darkness consumes them. Chi Pin glances around at their crew, laughing when they remember that each one of them has darkvision.
“What? What’s so funny?” Maria asks.
Well, all but one. “We all have darkvision, and it’s dark as shit,” Amros says. “That makes us better than other adventuring parties.”
“And what am I, chopped liver?” Maria asks.
“You have magicvision, the point is that we can all see better than a human in darkness,” Chi Pin says.
Maria rolls her cloudy eyes. “You’re lucky your magic is so bright,” she says, and Chi Pin lights up.
“Well, then I’ll lead the group!” they chirp, walking to the front. Jokingly, they add, “Just follow my undeadness.”
As they walk deeper into the cavern, the darkness gives way to sparkling light cast from blue crystals scattered around in the rock walls, ceiling, and floor. The crystals give off an otherworldly glow, and they must be magical, because Maria immediately walks up to one and runs her hand over its smooth surface.
“What are these?” Maria asks curiously.
“Crystals of some sort,” Bran replies. “Blue, shining. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“Nor have I,” says Yorsog, “and I’ve been in many a cave!”
“Well, let’s hurry on,” Bran says. “If we don’t know what they are, we probably shouldn’t be spending too much time around them.”
They move further into the cavern. Eventually, they come to a steep cliff, not far below which is a large, open cavern. In the middle of the cavern is a large, bear-like creature with the blue crystals sticking out of its back. Maria whispers, “Is it asleep?”
“I think so,” Chi Pin replies, equally quiet. “Should we try to catch it unawares?”
“Way ahead of you,” says Yorsog, already nocking an arrow.
Bran sighs. “Alright, here we go.”
Yorsog looses his arrow, and Chi Pin and Amros jump down into the cavern to get closer. The bear roars in pain, picking its head up off the ground and swinging it around to face its attackers.
Chi Pin summons Nibbles and sends him towards the bear while Amros casts a spell that catches the bear on fire. Maria summons lightning from gods know where and aims it at the bear ’s head, and Bran plays a quick song on his lute to make sure her blast hits.
They fight like this for a good while, with Bran, Maria, and Yorsog safely on the ledge while Amros and Chi Pin do big damage up close. The bear seems to be flagging slightly, which is great news in Chi Pin ’s opinion. Nibbles rips a chunk out of the bear’s leg, and that seems to be too much for the creature. The bear falls to the ground with a big thump, and the crystals in its back fly out in every direction like shrapnel.
“Duck!” Chi Pin screeches, pulling Amros down with them, and Bran and Maria and Yorsog shout in surprise. Once there are no longer magical projectiles flying through the air, Chi Pin stands back up and looks up at the ledge. “Everyone alright?”
“Fine.”
“Ayup.”
“Good- Maria!?” Bran chokes out, and Chi Pin’s eyes widen. They scramble over to the cliff and up onto the ledge, where they can finally see Maria—she’s on the ground a few feet behind Bran and Yorsog, a giant blue crystal pierced right through her chest.
“Shit,” Chi Pin says. “Bran, can you heal her?”
“I’m trying,” he says, picking at his lute. His musical magic fills the air, but… Maria doesn’t look to be getting any better. Chi Pin leans down and touches a hand to her shoulder, using necromantic healing instead, but even that does nothing.
“The… crystal,” she slurs. “Stopping… the healing.”
“Well, get the damn thing out, then!” Amros says, reaching to pull at it.
“What? No, you don’t take out a thing you’ve just been stabbed with!” Chi Pin argues.
“Then what are we supposed to do, leave it there!?”
“Uh, yeah! Do you want her to bleed out-“
“We need to heal her somehow,” Bran says, interrupting their argument. “And clearly what we’re doing now isn’t working. We need to get rid of that crystal.”
“I’ll count down from three,” says Yorsog, “and then you two start healing as soon as I pull out the crystal.”
Bran nods, and Chi Pin prepares for another round of necromantic healing. “Three… Two… One!” Yorsog shouts, ripping the crystal out of Maria’s chest. Maria cries out in pain, and Bran plays a wrong note, but the magic still fills the air…
And does nothing.
Now Maria is bleeding profusely with a giant hole in her chest, and her head is starting to slump. “Why isn’t this working!?” Bran cries, and Amros kneels beside Maria to help her hold up her head.
“Not… gonna… make it,” Maria whispers.
“Don’t say that!” Chi Pin says. “We’ll figure something out, we’ll get you to a cleric, we- we’ll-“
“Love you all,” says Maria, and then her eyes flutter shut.
It ’s silent for a moment.
Then the group bursts into action. Yorsog hauls Maria over his shoulder with no regard for gentleness, only for speed. Amros and Chi Pin follow behind as Yorsog sprints for the cave ’s exit with Bran right next to him all the while. They run and run, making it all the way into town to the local doctor before they finally stop to rest.
Chi Pin and Bran are panting heavily as Amros busts down the hospital door and Yorsog forces his way in and lays Maria down on the nearest table. “Doctor!” Bran calls out between pants, and soon a cleric potters into the room with zero sense of urgency.
“Why, yes-“ she begins, but her eyes widen when she sees Maria. “Oh, my…”
“Just help her!” Chi Pin pleads.
The cleric looks regretful as she draws closer to Maria. She puts two fingers to Maria ’s wrist, and the party waits. Nothing happens. The cleric frowns and puts two fingers to Maria’s neck instead.
“I’m so sorry,” the cleric says after a moment. “She’s dead. Has been for a while, by the looks of it.”
Bran lets out a cry not unlike that of a dying animal. Chi Pin slides down against the wall of the hospital. Yorsog closes his eyes as silent tears fall, and Amros slams his hands on the check-in counter.
“No,” Amros says. “No, that can’t be it! There has to be something we can do!”
“You can get her revived by a higher-level cleric,” the cleric offers. “I’m sure there’s one in Corodun.”
“But magical healing didn’t work on her,” says Chi Pin worriedly. “What if resurrection spells don’t work, either?”
“She was resistant to magical healing?” the cleric asks, looking concerned.
“We tried two spells on her, twice. Normal and necromantic,” Chi Pin says.
“If that truly is the case, then I’m afraid you won’t be able to revive her without fixing whatever it was that made her resistant in the first place,” the cleric says. “Again, I’m so sorry for your loss.”
“We will figure it out,” Bran says. Chi Pin looks over at him to see that his expression is firm, but his cheeks are streaked with tears. “Whatever it takes, we will do.”
“I agree,” says Chi Pin, jumping to their feet. “We can do this! For Maria.”
“For Maria!” Yorsog and Amros shout, though both of them look more resigned than determined.
“Where… Where should we keep her body?” Chi Pin asks after a moment.
“You can store it here, with me,” the cleric offers. “I won’t charge you. Of course, you’d better work fast if you want to revive her before the rot kicks in.”
Bran ’s carefully-molded expression almost cracks at that, but he just sniffs and nods sharply. “Thank you for your hospitality,” he says, and then he walks over to Maria’s body. “We will come back for you,” he whispers, brushing her hair out of her eyes. “This isn’t the end.”
“They’re too optimistic,” Qiro says glumly in Chi Pin’s head.
“Don’t crush their spirits, Qiro,” says Magella.
“I’m just being realistic. Whatever that crystal did, it stopped her from being healed—it will stop her from being resurrected, too.”
Chi Pin squeezes their eyes shut, trying to will away their voices. It doesn ’t work.
The party spends the rest of the day going from building to building, asking people if they have any work that needs done, collecting payment for the bear kill, doing anything they can to raise funds. By the end of the day, they don ’t have nearly enough, and they haven’t even started the journey to Corodun to look for someone who would be able to perform the spell. They retire to the inn, feeling depressingly hopeless.
“We’ll get her back, Bran,” Chi Pin says softly as they head up the stairs to their rooms.
“I know,” Bran says, but he doesn’t look them in the eye. “I know.”