As the group traveled through ghe forest Jasmine stayed towards the back. Her head was down as she read the book they found. It did turn out to be diary, Corvus's diary.
The journal was pretty normal at first, detailing Corvus's daily life. However the further she read the more deranged and scattered the entries became. Eventually there wasn't even writing on the page at all, just random scribbling.
"Gods, this guy was actually insane."
"What did you expect? He was a dark mage that turned himself into a lich. Of course he was crazy."
Desmond turned back to her with a smirk before turning back around. The group had reaxhed their destination as morning came around. Beyond the trees they could see a huge cliff face with a crevice leading into a cave.
"We're here. This is where I first saw him, right in that cave."
Ian led them to the opening in the rocky wall before cautiously walking inside. He led the group through the dark clearing, past bloodied altars. There, in the back of the vast cavern, was a simple wooden door.
Ian stood in front of the door with his eyes focused, looking for any foul play. He stared at the door for a few moments frore turning to the other players.
"Any of you detect any traps or anything? Cause I'm really not seeing much of anything here."
Jasmine stepped forward as the only magic type class in the group. Her hands stretched toward the door glowing light green. She wore a focused expression as her mana made contact with the door, scanning it.
The glow dimmed as her expression returned to normal.
"Nope, nothing. Just a simple lock, no magic traps at all. The diary did say Corvus wasn't talented in magic much."
"Yeah even as a lich he only used dark bolts and spheres. No high level spells like curses unlike most other liches."
Ian added from the side.
"Well if it's just a lock just leave it to me!"
Desmond stepped forward with his thieves tools ready. He kneeled in front of the lock and carefully inserted his tools into the narrow lock. A focused expression showed on his usually sly face.
In a couple seconds a click resounded as the door was unlocked. Desmond stood up with a proud expression and looked at the players.
"What did I say?! Easy peasy!"
Ian gave him a thumbs up before approaching the door once more.
"Alright, let's head in."
He opened the door without hesitation and a dark interior was revealed. It seemed to be both a lab and bedroom. A makeshift matress sat in the corner of the room surrounded by lab tables and bookshelves. Materials lay strewn around the various tables and shelves.
Most of what he kept were monster and human body parts he deemed impressive. It seemed to be plans for a chimera. Other precious magical materials were stored in the shelves. Things like plants and crystals were bundled up hastily and lay in half organized shelves.
Jasmine was the first to start snooping around the room. She zipped straight for the bookshelves, searching for the so called [Tome of Summoning]. If what the diary said was true then with that book she could learn to summon spirits. And that was just cool in her mind. Plus the jump from druid to spirit mage isn't that big. She could summon plant spirits.
The others quickly followed her lead. Morgan began to look the various crystals and metals stored. There weren't many magical ores and the few he had weren't so good either. Except for one of them, a blue ore seemingly shining with lightning energy.
Desmond turned to the monster parts. Good leather could sell for extremely high prices. His expression was slightly disappointed but the results weren't bad. A couple troll parts, a griffon, and a premature basilisk. And those were the good things, the other stuff wasn't even worth looting.
Ian turned to the lab tables. Papers were scattered across the area. Theories on kmproving ones talent theough sacrifices were detailed in deranged handwriting. Some of the papers were a bit more reasonable in their topics though. One in particular stuck out to Ian.
A paper detailing a buffing skill with darkness type magic. A skill that shrouded the user in dark mana, enhancing their strength and size. This skill if actually possible could be super useful for Arrow.
The hawk did have a darkness affinity, it could definitely learn the skill. Ian was smiling just imagining it, a huge dark bird with him on the back of it. He would ride around on the dark hawk while firing off arrows from above.
He turned toward his bird companion with a strange smile on his face. The hawk turned to him with a confused bawk and slowly backed away.
"Don't worry buddy. This is gonna be great!"
Ian quickly tucked the paper away, was this technically stealing? Sure, but who would want the deranged mages old notes. Nobody at all, but him.
Jasmine came skipping back from the bookshleves, holding a beautiful antique book.She wore a smile while cradling the grimoire in her hands.
"Did you get something good?"
Ian turned to her with a smile.
"Yup. I got exactly what I came here for. And I'm taking it. If that other mage wants it I'll make her a copy."
Morgan dumped a spatial sack on lab table before turning to the other players.
"This spatial bag should hold everything we want to take back. Just put everything here for now. We'll meet up with the others and split everything back in the city."
The players packed away everything valuable from around the lab into various into the artifact. The various plants, ores and monster parts all fit into the sack with ease. Morgan swung the bag over her shoulder as they left the cave and headed back to the city.
A long few minutes later they stood in the wrecked western district. The sun had now risen high in the sky, its light blaring down from above. They could see many players and NPCs working to clear the roads and restore the city as best they could.
The group headed toward the tent they met the lord in. There they could see advisors and staff running frantically as the lord barked out orders. Ty and Raiden quickly approached them, covered in bandages.
"Hey guys! You did it! How was the fight?"
Ty had a bright smile as he stepped up.
"It went pretty well. Just ask our druid, she dealt the last blow."
Ian met him with a handshake before pointing to his side.
"Yeah, things went great! Now it's time to rake in rewards."
Desmond had a smirk as he chimed in from the side. The fox was clearly satisfied with himself.
The players decided to split the loot before meeting with the lord. They all headed to 'The Knight's Rest', up into Ty's room. Morgan put her spatial sack on the floor before turning to the others.
"Alright,let's get to the spoils y'all!"
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Chapter 25! a but of a slow one but let me know your thoughts. as always feedback is appreciated.