Vakdragnar head swam as the distant, muffled voices spoke around him. They felt necessary. A part of him felt like he should listen to what they were saying, but the promise of sleep felt easier. He could care about the voices some other time, couldn’t he? Then his entire body felt a rush of cold water dumped on him. His eyes flew open.

He was back in the room with the demonic circle. Shattershade all stood around him. Anka’s amulet was spinning, but as he watched, it slowed down. Then it stopped altogether.

“That,” Anka told him, “is coming out of your wages, Rag.”

“Thank you,” Vak said. His head still felt slow somehow, like he was intoxicated. It was hard to focus, and if he moved his head too fast, he felt nauseous.

“You must be careful, Rag,” Braid said.

Was that a touch of concern for me?

“Most of the treasure you find is a trap, and I don’t want to have to carry all the loot out of this cave myself.”

I guess not, Vak thought. He smiled, regardless.

“Now if you’re feeling better? We really should be moving on.”

“What… about the circle?” Vak said, moving his head too quickly. He looked over toward the tapestry, and it was blank, as though never marked.

“You have been out for a while,” Cassie said, and Vak noticed for the first time she was on his other side holding his hand.

He pulled away instinctively. Standing was difficult, and it took a minute before he felt like he could walk. Shattershade waited while he collected himself and Anka motioned toward the pack.

Right.

Vak slowly heaved the enormous thing on his back and told them he was ready to continue. Truthfully he felt a bit embarrassed at the need to stop on his behalf.

Shattershade walked back toward the large central room with the chasm. Without discussion, Braid continued their descent towards another natural opening in the rockface. Cassie hung back to walk beside Vak.

“You know I was anxious when I saw you hit the ground like that,” she told him.

“I am sorry to have worried you.”

“It made such a sound,” She said shivering. She looked up to him, and Vak fought against the impulse to comfort her. After a moment, she looked away with an annoyed expression on her face.

“What is with you, Rag?” Cassie demanded.

“My head is still a bit foggy. It is hard to think right now.”

“Not that.” She said without an ounce of sympathy. “I mean yesterday you, and I seemed to be getting along well. I opened up to you, and since then you have been avoiding me at every chance. I thought maybe at-first you were getting to know everyone, but earlier when I asked you to sit with me, you completely ignored me.”

“What do you want, Cassie?” Vak asked, feeling very tired again.

“I think you know? You fascinate me, and I find myself drawn to you.”

“Cassie, I do not think that is a good idea.”

“What: for adventurers to sleep with their pack men? Trust me, it's fine. I’ve had plenty of our hirelings fall for me, and it's never interfered before.”

“I thought they all died.”

“Yes, but not because of their feelings for me.”

“That is not comforting.”

“Ugh. Can’t you allow yourself to stop holding back? You can let down your guard around me.”

“No. That is something I can never do,” Vak told her truthfully.

“Excuse me?” She demanded. Her usually fiery red eyes slowly faded to a more natural blue tone as her nostrils flared angrily.

“You are right. It is dishonest to avoid you, and cowardly to not address this directly. For that, I apologize.

“What are you talking about?”

Cassie, I am not interested in pursuing anything romantic with you.”

“What? Why not!” She demanded.

“We do not hold the same values.”

“I thought you said you respected me so much? That you thought I was what a hero should be? Was that all a lie?”

“No, at the time, I did not see clearly.”

“And you do now?”

“Yes.”

“So, if I'm not a hero, what am I?”

“You told me you broke when you were young, and I think you still are. I saw behind the mask you put up in front of Captain Lance, even in front of your team. When you burned those two men alive. I think that was the real you.”

“They were bandits! They tried to kill Anka. They would have come after us again.”

“They might have. They might have gone a different route. You stole that choice from them.”

“In this line of work, you sometimes have to kill.”

“I accept that. If that is true, however, the reverse must also be true; that killing is not necessary for every situation.”

“Of course… within the city walls, there are laws you have to follow. Scorching a person can get you in a lot of trouble.”

“See, that is where we differ. You hold back only because of the threat of punishment. The lives of the people you kill do not weigh into the decision at all. You chose the easy path, and it did not bother you in the slightest. I could never be interested in you.”

Cassie stopped as though slapped. She shook with rage. Vak decided it was best to keep moving; she would need some space.

The rest of the party had come to a standstill. Anka had mistakenly stood on a pressure plate that started a trap. Flames shot out of the ground at irregular intervals in different places each time.

Beyond them, there was a large obelisk protruding from the floor, as well as a door shut tight into the cave wall.

“Alright Dam,” Braid said. “This is your wheelhouse.”

“Uh, are you crazy?” Dam said, looking at the geysers of fire. “I can’t make it through that. They’ll burn me alive.”

“Oh come now, You aren’t scared of a bit of fire,” Braid said. “I bet there is a way to disarm them on the other side. You just have to get through.”

“I ain’t scared. I’m also not a complete idiot. Have Cassie do it, she could freeze the air or probably just ignore them flames altogether.” Dam said.

“I’ll go,” Vak said quickly, setting the pack down.

“Now wait just a minute.” Dam said, holding up a hand, but Vak had leapt into the room. He wasn’t sure he wanted to be around Cassie doing any more magic.

The torrents of fire kicked up as soon as he neared, and almost engulfed him moments after entering the room. He ran to the side as the flames erupted just in front of where he would go.

Is this fire sentient? He wondered as he again was forced to retreat a step. There was a potent odor in the air. It smells almost like metal to Vak. It was hard for him to put into words, even in his head.

The smell seemed to be the most concentrated right before a column of fire erupted from the ground.

There was a sound as well. His feet were slightly depressing into the ground, and there was a sort of click right before the flame trap disarmed. He took a few moments to study if the sound and smell were indeed connected. He leapt to the side, and as his foot hit the ground, the column in front of him lit up.

“Hey Rag,” Dam called after him. “Stop wasting time! This isn’t the local dance festival.” Dam laughed as though he told the funniest joke, but Vak ignored him. He was sure he only ever saw five columns ignited at one moment. The only reasonable way to get through this would be to jump in a sort of zig-zag pattern.

I really hope I am right about this. He thought as he backed up and leapt forward at an angle. A column erupted in front of his foot placement, but he had made progress with his diagonal jump.

He turned on his heels as he landed then leapt back the other way.

On the third attempt, he lost his balance. His arm broke the area where the flame would appear, and the fire jumped to his bright orange shirt. The entire garment ignited in an instant. He quickly disrobed and tossed it to the side.

He corrected his balance and continued leaping in this pattern until he moved across the floor, eventually making it to the other side. He took stock of his person, his right arm was a bit red from the heat, and his chest hair was a bit singed, but otherwise, he was unscathed.

“Amazing, Rag!” Braid called after him. “Truly exceptional.”

“It was alright.” He heard Dam say.

“Is there any sort of mechanism to turn the trap off?” Braid called.

Vak looked around, the strange black obelisk had some etchings in it, and there was the treasure chest, but he saw no levers or strings to cut on this side of the room. The only exits were back across the fire, the wooden door, or down the cliff behind him. He peered over the edge and saw nothing but darkness.

“I do not know,” Vak called back. “It is possible there is a release in the obelisk or perhaps the chest.”

“Be careful with the chest,” Braid called back. “There might be more traps inside. If you are poisoned over there, I’m not certain there is anything we can do to help.”

“Understood,” Vak said, moving to the chest. He studied its exterior, in the same manner, he saw Dam do earlier.

“Also, don’t ruin what’s inside!” Anka called.

Vak ignored her; she is obsessed with money. If she is so worried, she can leap across the room. Satisfied there were no apparent traps, he slowly tried the lid. It was unlocked. It opened smoothly, and he could see the glitter of gold inside the case.

It was filled to the brim and looked like more wealth than the last one. He stared for less than a second when he heard a dull hiss noise. He closed the lid again just as a purple smoke arose from within the chest.

The smoke began billowing out of the latch. It was, indeed, a trap, and Vak looked around frantically for a solution. There was only one option to keep from inhaling whatever the purple smoke was. He picked the chest up and heaved it over the cliff’s edge down into the darkness below.

“NOOO!” Anka said, running over to him. She ran to the cliff’s edge, and for a moment, Vak thought she might leap after it. “What did you do?” she said, looking back at him in anger.

“It was trapped again. A purple smoke, I did not think it was worth losing my life over.”

“Well, think again! We don’t pay you to make those kinds of decisions. You are our packman, nothing more! You shouldn’t take a step without checking with us if it’s the right decision. You stupid, brainless, barbarian!”

Vak looked around. Where the chest had sat was a loose rock out of place with the rest of the floor. It must have been a release for the trap in the room because Shattershade was all around him. Cassie’s eyes stilled burned with rage, and Dam looked like he was considering stabbing Vak in the back. The only one not currently pissed at him was Braid.

“I say we tie a rope around Rag, and send him after the chest,” Anka snarled.

“Here here!” Dam said in chorus.

“Hold on,” Braid said raising a hand. I understand you all aren’t happy, but we aren’t going to murder a man because he made a mistake. Everyone calm down.” The rest of Shattershade grumbled in reply and slowly walked around the room, inspecting it.

“Thank you,” Vak told him after they were standing alone.

“It is alright. You’re still new to this. Everyone makes mistakes at first. I’d stay out of their way for now.” Then he raised his voice. “Anka, what do you make of this obelisk?”

“More damn demonic stuff.” She said with a sharp, annoyed tone.

“Anka?” Braid asked.

“Alright, blast it. They’re prayer offerings to an ancient evil. An entity called Karkazes.”

“What in four of the hells is that?” Dam asked.

“I’m not especially familiar with it myself,” Anka admitted. “It’s old, judging from the etchings in this monolith. This thing is mostly just singing its praises. It speaks of rising and devouring…”

“Devouring what?” Cassie asked.

“Everything,” Anka said with a concerned tone.

“Anka?” Braid asked.

“Yeah, sorry. Not a lot more here. I don’t want to study this much more. I’m getting an incredibly evil aura from this whole thing.”

“Then let’s move. The goblins must be further in.” Braid told the group.

They ventured into the next room, not even waiting for Vak to grab the pack and catch up with them. When he walked down the long corridor to catch up, he saw Shattershade watching another trap. This time it was three swinging pendulum blades swinging back and forth at different intervals. They moved quickly and judging from the sound made as they rushed past there was a lot of force behind them. It was as though they split the very air.

“Who wants to tackle this one,” Braid asked.

“I have it.” Dam said all too quickly. He spared a glance back at Vak. “I could have made it across the last room too. No reason the wildman needs to do any more than carry the pack.” He said and spat as he said it.

To his credit, Dam swiftly moved along the floor using his knife to sever the ropes as he went along. They came crashing down as they broke free. The first two made him cocky, however, as he timed the third poorly. It slid past his outstretched arm with a sickening thwaaap. He began screaming bloody murder as he pulled back his arm, and the hand was now completely severed from the middle of his forearm.

Vak rushed over pulling Dam out of the path of the blade. Anka was right there beside him as Dam was going crazy. She reached down, and her pendant began spinning, and a white light rose from her. Vak left Dam to her care and quickly broke the third trap slicing the rope in two.

By the time Vak returned to Dam, the bleeding had stopped, and Dam was still sobbing. Anka healed the wound to the best of her ability, and the jagged torn flesh was now a stump. It seemed there were limits to what these miracles could accomplish.

“This is his fault!” Dam was hysterically shouting. He pointed to Vak. Vak took a step back reflexively.

He’s just upset. Vak told himself.

“Dam, calm down. You’re going to be alright. You aren’t even left-handed.” Braid tried to assure him.

“Doesn't mean I don’t use the bloody thing! AHHH.”

“There shouldn’t be any more pain,” Anka said, confused.

“The only pain is that bastard.” Dam said, pointing to Vak. “If he’d never come along…”

“I did not…” Vak began.

“Rag, please,” Braid said. “Could you give us a little space.”

Vak nodded his head in acceptance and continued into the next room without a word. It opened up again into a large circular chamber. Statues of various people lined the walls and behind them were wooden coffins. Both looked worn and ravaged by age. It was a burial tomb.

The chandeliers above his head were lit and gave off a surprising amount of light as he walked along. Something stirred from the center of the room, and he reflexively jumped back. A human woman looked back at him.

She was frightened and seemed just as surprised to see Vak as he was to see her. This woman had been through something. Her sleeping gown was ripped and covered in strange black scorch marks. It was very reminiscent of the goblin he saw killed outside.

Her hair was what stopped Vak in his tracks. It was a shoulder-length brown hair near the roots that slowly faded into a blonde.

“Excuse me, miss,” Vak asked. “You wouldn’t happen to be Nina Hale?”