Chapter 2: One Bad Apple

Wolfram tries to break the skeletal bones by hurling his dagger at it.

Tzal screamed in pain as he stumbled backwards from the evil magic striking him. However, he rested his weight on his staff and conjured another jellyfish to send towards this unholy creature.

Some of R3N-L3's armor turned to pitted and rusted scrap at the touch of the dark energy, revealing grinding gears and intricate machinery. The clockwork didn't make any noise of pain, however, simply shrugging the blow off.

Shimmering in golden light of her heavenly raiment and the High One's blessing, the priest takes a willful step toward the unholy enemy before her. In a fluid and powerful motion, she rears the axe back and hefts it with her full might at the undead.

Tzal panted heavily, but as the skeleton got shattered, he felt relieved. "A powerful undead spellcaster with dangerous magics and magical resistance! What else is there waiting?" He started tearing up book pages to collect the papyrus scroll and offered them to others who wanted to collect the other weapons.

He sat down on the tomb floor and started unpacking the healer's kit. After sorting the necessary ingredients and bandages, he started treating the wounds. He then tended to R3N-L3 trying to fill the areas that had rusted away with bandages and sticks. He wondered whether it was really helping the clockwork. He remembered that there were orders who practiced clockwork technology and crafted curious innovations. Maybe they would have done a better job here.

Lauretta cranes her head to the side and spits on the floor of the tomb before giving a satisfied smirk. More bark than bite, huh? Where's your false god now? She turned away from it to look over her companions with a particular focus on R3N-L3.

"Didn't seem too powerful to me, but I guess I wasn't the one who took the brunt of that blast, huh? We did good though. And Renly's got the gem, so let's not take too much time getting it to that damned faerie. Victor needs that cure as quick as we can get it."

Eyeing the treasure left behind by the skeletal mage, the priest warily watched Tzal take the scroll. The dagger found its way into her hand, looking it over with slowly raising eyebrows. After a minute, she'd offer it to the others.

"Be careful with that paper, Indigo. Don't know what kind unholy knowledge or magic that thing may have left behind. I'd burn it. This blade though... This is something real special. Masterful workmanship. It feels real good to wield. Too small for how I fight, but I'd be hard-pressed to say you'll find a better dagger than this."

Tzal wrapped the scroll inside his backpack, "I agree with you that it can have unholy magic inside, but I simply can't burn all this arcane lore without knowing what it speaks of. If I find something unearthly and blasphemous, I will personally take it to you so that you can burn it down."

"I am still combat operational. Relatively optimal." R3N-L3 announced. The bandages didn't appear to have much effect, rust spilling from the cloth, and R3N-L3 unwound the dressing to hand back to Tzal. "I am somewhat more difficult to kill than a living being, so I would recommend making haste back to the suspicious fairy, so he may enact out his scheme and then I may rip off his limbs for the betrayal." R3N-L3 didn't sound particularly emotional about any of it, almost like he was simply reading out the docket for their day's schedule.

"What else is waiting, Tzal? Hopefully nothing. If you hold onto that paper, though, it could go badly for us. Are you sure you want to keep the scroll? If you find it contains the stuff of evil, it might be too late to do anything about it."

Tzal grumbled dismissively, "Nothing will happen to you all. You are not handling these arcane matters. It is simply an academic pursuit, and I can't accept that I go around destroying arcane scrolls while you get to keep your fancy weapons of war. I have to at least see what these scrolls say, and like I said, if I find them abhorrent, I will give them to Lauretta, and she can burn them."

Lauretta struggles to keep a straight face after Tzal's "fancy weapons of war" comment. However, a part of her still struggled to completely trust the mage with the scroll. After all, what drives a mage to become like Pyram Peek or this foul priest? A lack of morality or the corrupting nature of these powers? Either way, she kept her internal questioning to herself. R3N-L3's commentary had her too focused on the task at hand to draw any further away from it.

---

The meeting with Salty Lemon elicited even more bewilderment from Lauretta, but she was glad that the creature at least upheld its end of the bargain. It made sense why orc plague could be such an issue still if the ingredients for its cure were so rare. After returning the village, the priest was immensely relieved to find that not only did the cure work, but they were able to save Victor after all. The competency and success of her band of adventurers was starting to instill notions that the ragtag group might be able to do more good in the long-term. Traveler's Rest and Two Forks exist as proof of that. She graciously accepted the Elder's payment and began to look to the future.

---

Lauretta received back word from the holy order of Templars. Acceptance. Why was it now that she doubted joining? Was protecting the people and the faithful not what she wanted? No, that wasn't it. Thinking back on the challenges she faced, she wondered what would have been different if she was stronger? If she was a better protector? It seemed nothing. The evil that stalked people in this land could be stopped with force, but force could only help so much. Whether it was trying to figure out what happened to the missing in Traveler's Rest or the orc plague upon Victor, it was a matter of finding clues and asking the right questions. Lauretta couldn't help but feel somewhat frustrated at how little help she was when they had to confront the puzzles of that foul temple.

It didn't matter how strong or good of a protector you were. Evil hides in the darkness. Pyram Peek hid it within his heart. The treacherous faeries hid in the forest. Even now, a part of her wondered if Tzal would carry it in the scroll he took. A shield could prevent a blow, but only one it could see coming. A light to illuminate the darkness would have been able to uproot these evils before they claimed others. Lauretta put down the letter, realizing that it wouldn't have made a difference. Instead, a new piece of parchment made its way into her hands. The words scrawled did not address the Templars, but a different order.

The Hammers of the High One. The Preceptors. Inquisitors.

Their reputation was unlike that of the holy figures she admired, but that merely meant she would have to carve her own path than follow in the footsteps of others. The evil in the Borderlands would no longer be allowed to hide.