Heroes of Veritas: Bardic Inspiration (Book 2)

Chapter Nineteen: Just Add Fireball

A short while later the party was off, trotting down a dusty, rutted road leading toward the Agrona  mountain range. After the necrotized Rhaesyn was slain, hordes of undead creatures - now wild without their dragon leader to control them - had begun ravaging the mountainside. They seemed to be coming from a necromantic temple, which had previously been hidden by a shroud of dark magic, but which was now abandoned.

With the necromancers gone, adventurers were sent into the temple from time to time to clear it out. The lingering dark magic was quite strong, and despite being undirected it still managed to infect a swathe of the land and wildlife in its vicinity. 

When the party emerged from the thick forest that stood at the edge of the agrona foothills, Ichigo held his hand up, his tail twitching uneasily. The party slowed, and then came to a stop. Before them, the tumbling hills - which rose and fell much more unevenly than the ones near the village of Pounce - were a scene of utter devastation.

In other places, the snow had melted and the grass was just turning from brown to green. Birds sang in the trees, and crystalline snowbells were pushing their way up from the dirt to tinkle and chime faintly in the warm near-spring breeze. That was not the case here. Here the ground was a charred black, the air hung thick with choking smoke, and the only signs of life were the mounds of moldering flesh strewn all about. Occasionally, those mounds would twitch. Elise was fairly sure she saw an eyeball in one of those mounds, and had the feeling that it could see her. Beyond the stomach turning cesspit that rolled ahead of them, the troubadour thought she could make out a black marble structure built into the side of the closest mountain. That must be the entrance to the dungeon.

“You really bring us to all the best places, don’t you Ichigo?” Mercenades said, patting the catton on the back when he sputtered a little.

“This is a good dungeon for our composition and level.” Ichigo grumbled a little, readjusting his glasses. The pat on the back had nearly shaken them right off of his nose.

“Do we want to fight our way through...that...or should we try to travel with stealth?” Echo asked, gazing impassively at the rolling hills.

“I think it’s time for our fearless leader to give us a show.” Ellise said, nudging Ichigo. “Isn’t this your wheelhouse? Why don’t we cleanse a path through. It’ll be good experience.”

Ichigo nodded a little, and nudged Wordsworth forward. The horse bird clucked, and took a reluctant step forward as Ichigo reached to his chest for his holy symbol. The catton cleric whispered a prayer to the Goddess, and the star on his chest emitted a burst of light that rippled forth, rolling over the curves of the hills as they walked slowly forward.

Ichigo’s eyes glowed brighter with each pulse of light that the star emitted, and all around them the various undead creatures that had been littering the landscape burst into searing white hot flames that disintegrated to ash within seconds. After the wash of holy light faded, there were only a few enemies left - which the rest of the party quickly dispatched.

“Well, I thought it was going to be good experience anyway,” Elise grumbled, snorting a little as she stabbed one of the offensive undead blobs right in its horrible staring eye with her rapier. “Good Goddess, Ichigo. Are you sure you need us? I bet you can one-man this dungeon.”

“Ah-ha...well, as you say, this is my wheelhouse. I’m sure I’d be far less impressive when encountering any other kind of enemy.” the catton said, tilting his head to the side as he smiled at her. “But no, I don’t think I could one man this dungeon. I doubt that there are only undead threats inside...and even then, I am only one man.”

As it turned out, Ichigo wasn’t wrong on either count. They approached the imposing black marble temple entrance feeling confident after having so easily dispatched the field of enemies guarding it. They were, unsurprisingly, immediately set upon by some very alive necromancers. 

“It seems reports of the necromancers having abandoned the place were not entirely accurate! Ichigo shouted as he dove from Wordsworth’s back, rolling behind a cracked boulder as dark energy ripped through the air around them. The horse bird fled back toward the safety of the woods, along with the other mounts - aside from Hissabelle who stayed by her mistress’s side. 

“Ideas?” Ichigo asked of no one in particular.

Elise squinted through the haze of smoke, trying to get an idea of how many enemies they were facing, but even with her improved perception she was having a rough time making them out. They looked like flickering shadows in the dark entryway. She yelped and ducked back down when one of the necromancers took a pot shot at her, sending her ridiculous plumed hat flying back off of her head. The troubadour scrambled to grab the hat, and grumbled a little as she dusted it off. Much to her displeasure, the end of her lovely plume was melted.

“I mean...isn’t the answer always just add more fireball?” Jasper said, smiling cheerfully.

Ichigo blinked at the cute ginger haired wizard, thought for a moment, and found that he had no reason to object. “Er...I suppose in this case...a fireball would be an appropriate solution.”

“Ellie, can you play anything to give me a boost? I think the entrance is right on the edge of my range. I need to get a little closer, but you know...I’m kinda papery...” Jasper called to the troubadour, who was a few rocks away from her.

“I got you, Jas.” Elise said, summoning her guitar to her hand. She started strumming a jazzy little ditty that had an improvisational feel.

Jasper nodded along to the song, peeked out from the side of her rock, then dashed forward, dancing a bit on her toes, her black robes swirling almost artfully around her. As she swayed and span, her feet taking her forward and back with unnatural ease, tiny red balls emerged from the tip of the wand she was holding.

“Fly! Fly my pretties!” Jasper cackled, her high voice sounding a little reedy as she laughed and danced.

Not one of the bolts of necromantic energy managed to find their target, but the same could not be said for the fireballs. Though, fireballs weren’t exactly single target spells to begin with. They had too much spread for that.

The yellow and orange flames that exploded from the entrance of the temple, accompanied by the horrific screams of their enemies, only seemed to give the troubadour’s song a bit of accompaniment. At least, that’s how it seemed to the rest of the party, who watched in shocked silence as the jubilant wizard danced, backlit against the fiery devastation of her own making.

“Hot.” Echo said, smirking a little at Ichigo’s mildly perturbed expression.

“What?” Echo said, lifting an eyebrow at the catton cleric. “Are my puns not good enough? You would have laughed if Elise or Mercenades said it.”

Ichigo shook his head, his black tail lashing out as he pushed himself to his feet. “Well, that was...fun, but I think one fireball probably would have done it. I need you to conserve mana from here on out, Jasper.”

The petite wizard had stopped dancing, and nodded in acknowledgement of their party leader’s chastisement. “Sorry. I got a little carried away.”

“Keep in mind that this is a bit of an exploratory dive. None of our guild has attempted this dungeon yet.” Ichigo continued, dusting off his robes a bit. Elise thought this was a wasted effort;  the white and blue robes were now so imbued with grimy black ash that he’d probably end up having to buy new ones. “We don’t have a lot of information about what’s in there, so if it ends up being too hard we’re going to bail. Ellie, that means you always need to have enough mana to play a retreat march in the event that we need one.”

“Aye aye, Number One.” Elise replied, coming up alongside the rest of the party, who had gathered around Jasper. He’d told them all this the day before, but it was good to have it reiterated, especially when they had a noob like Jasper with them.

“Enough chit chat.” Mercenades said, stepping up to the dungeon entrance, bloodlust shining in her eyes as she looked up at the enormous, black marble edifice. “Let’s dive on in.”