The Book! Where's the Book?!

Reise Hund was in fine fettle as he travelled the road down to Osilon. After enduring a freak blizzard in the Dalen Alps and a severe thunderstorm following their encounter with Soularous, the weather had finally improved and the feel of the warm sun on his skin felt good. Since they had parted ways with the man in the armor, there had been no undead creatures or windbag demon lords or anything else to ruin his day. Beside him, Orla mirrored his excellent mood and was plainly enjoying the pretty scenery of the Karavossian countryside that shone beautifully on a perfect early spring afternoon.

“This would be a nice place to live,” Reise commented. He licked his wind-chapped lips as a gentle breeze pushed his light blond hair away from his young and handsome face.

“'Tis very lovely,” Orla agreed. Her silver-shot blue eyes were relaxed and a soft smile lit her elfen features. “And very quiet too.”

“Quiet, but hopefully not too quiet.” Reise took out a small piece of papyrus, consulting it. “Okay. So....” he pondered for a moment. “We should be getting close. Are you sure Severos will be there?”

“He will be unless he went to live elsewhere, and I can't imagine why he would,” Orla said, quite taken with the peaceful beauty of the surrounding meadows and forest.

The pair came around a bend and saw a small, lone hut nestled between the trees. Reise stuck the papyrus in his pocket that had directions written on it. As the two approached the structure, he could see the door was left wide open. “I know it's out of the way and all, but you’d think he’d close the bloody door. Bugs, wildlife, anything could just walk right in on him. And here I thought wizards were clean freaks.”

“He has magical wards to keep out such things I expect,” Orla replied, a little puzzled as she looked at the door with her faerie sight. “But the wards seem to be disabled....”

“Disabled?” Peering in and letting his eyes adjust to the dim interior, Reise called out, “Severos, you home?” When he heard no response, he let himself in, Orla right behind him.

A handful of steps took them to some overturned furniture. “Looks like everything decided to jump all at once in here and didn't have a good landing,” Reise observed, stepping gingerly over everything strewn all over the floor. He noticed one thing in particular. “Hey, isn't that the chest in which...”

“In which Severos kept the Mortith,” Orla confirmed, her voice falling into a whisper.

Reise checked inside the leaden chest and his heart sank. “The damn thing's gone...”

“But 'twas buried beneath the ground, cloaked, and protected by spells,” Orla said, not wanting to believe it.

“The spells must be disabled like the ones at the door.” Reise stepped back and his foot caught something that moved with a dead weight. Turning his gaze down, he saw Severos lying prone on the floor. “This just keeps getting better…” He leaned down close to check if the man was still breathing. With a sigh of relief, he stood back up and glowered at the young mage. “Wake up,” he said, nudging him hard with his shoe. But when Severos didn’t stir, Reise rolled his eyes. “Orla, be a dear and watch him for a moment.” He went and grabbed a big stew pot from the kitchen, as well as a couple of buckets, before heading back outside in the direction of a nearby creek.

Orla knelt down and ran a hand across Severos's cheek. She felt her skin tingle with the residual magic that permeated his person. The magic was foul and wrong, and with a chill she recognised its unique signature as belonging to Kelmoran. Had the infamous arch-necromancer emerged from the book once again like he had on that horrible night in the village of Warfall?

As she contemplated the frightening possibility, Reise returned with three full and heavy containers of water.

“I’d stand back if I were you,” he told her.

Orla's eyes widened. “What are you... oh no -- !”

When she quickly got out of the way, Reise threw a bucket of icy creek water onto Severos, causing the young mage to bolt upright from the shock.

“The book! Where’s the book!?”

The moment Severos failed to immediately answer, Riese heaved the second bucket upon him with a torrential splash. “Who did you let take it?! What possible reason could you have for showing the thing to a stranger?!” Reise glanced at Orla and saw she was trying to follow his line of reasoning. “Yeah, it's the only thing that makes any sense here. But it baffles me why Severos would do something so boneheadedly stupid.”

Sputtering and gasping, Severos looked up at Reise with eyes dulled by incomprehension. This time Reise didn’t demand an answer nor wait for a response before assaulting him with the third bucket, the force of the water sending Severos falling onto his side on the wet floor, shivering from the cold.

Seeing Orla’s shocked expression, Reise gave a half shrug as he set the bucket down. “What? I filled three.”