The group reached the tower as the sun was starting to set. Jolen turned to Lewlyn. “Are my eyes playing tricks on me or is this tower made out of bones?” he asked.

Lelwyn shook his head. “Your eyes do not deceive you, my friend. The tower is indeed constructed from bones.”

Bewr placed a hand on the tower. “There’s some strong enchantments on this tower,” she announced while drawing some runes in the dirt.

Kirel looked over the runes that Bewr was drawing. “Are you sure about this Rune Matrix?” At Bewr’s look of annoyance, he continued. “Okay, you’re sure. Among other things, there’s a spatial compression spell on here.”

Bewr turned to Jolen and Rikel. “In non-mage speak, that means that, while the tower only looks a dozen or so stories tall, it’ll probably be much larger inside.”

Lelwyn walked up to the tower. “Should we attempt to dispel the enchantment?” he asked the other mages.

Before Jolen or Rikel could ask the obvious question, Kirel turned to them. “If we dispel the spatial compression spell, everything, and everyone, inside will be destroyed. As well as everything in the vicinity.”

Jolen turned to Kirel. “How big a vicinity?” he asked.

“It’s proportional to the strength of the compression spell on the tower,” Kirel answered.

Jolen looked at Kirel. “Meaning what?” he asked in annoyance.

Lelwyn pulled back Kirel. “In simpler terms, the bigger the discrepancy between the inside and the outside of this tower, the larger the area of destruction once the spells is ended,” he explained.

Jolen nodded in understanding. “So we won’t know for sure until we do it,” he summarized.

Bewr stepped back from the tower. “There’s more to it. If we dispel the tower, any prisoners that might be in there would die. Also, we’d lose our best chance at finding out what the Necromancer was up to. There’s also no guarantee that it would even lift the curse on Midway. Finally, the necromancer may not even be here. I vote we leave the enchantment alone.”

Lelwyn and Kirel nodded in agreement. Before either Jolen or Rikel could vote, Lelwyn turned to them. “My friends, I cannot ask you to accompany us any further. Should the spatial compression spell be broken or ended while we remained inside, we would experience a most gruesome death. None of us will think any less of either of you if you elect not to proceed,” he assured them.

Jolen grasped Lelwyn by the shoulder. “I would never be able to live with myself if I let you risk your lives for my home while I did not. I’m going,” he promised.

Before Rikel could answer, Lelwyn turned to her. “Our contracted agreement was for you to escort us to Midway so we could aid with their blight. Fighting a necromancer goes well beyond that,” he informed her.

Rikel shook her head. “While I was in the army, there were some things that I did that I’m not exactly proud of. I’ve tried to console myself with the knowledge that I was merely obeying orders. This,” she paused pointing at the tower, “is why I joined the army in the first place. To protect those who could not protect themselves. You would have to render me unconscious to keep me from coming along!” she concluded.

Lelwyn nodded and addressed the group. “Then we have another conundrum ahead of us. Do we make camp for and likely be ambushed or do we head inside now and risk exhaustion? Both choices are wrought with peril,” he advised.

Kirel spoke first. “I say enter,” he offered.

Bewr nodded. “Enter,” she agreed.

Rikel hopped off of Snowhoof. “I agree, enter,” she added while securing her equipment.

Jolen pulled out his dagger. “I concur. Entering now is our least bad option,” he concluded.

Lelwyn started tying the horses to a tree. “Then we are in accord; let us be off!” he ordered while handing out backpacks to everybody.

The group each put on their backpack and entered the tower, Rikel going first.

Waiting on the other side of the door was a small group of ghouls.

Bewr hastily pulled Rikel back as Kirel cast a fire wall.

Lelwyn threw up a light spell. “Do not allow the ghouls to touch your skin!” he ordered. “We can ill afford to succumb to Necrotic Corrosion. The healing process is both painful and will cost us time we cannot afford to spend!”

Jolen threw his dagger past Lelwyn into the forehead of a ghoul that was getting through the fire. “You can explain to us what that is after we win this fight,” he grunted.

Bewr grabbed Kirel’s hand and the fire wall grew in height and temperature.

Jolen summoned his dagger back to him and threw it at another ghoul. “How long will this fire wall hold them back?” he asked.

Lelwyn looked back and saw the look of concentration on Kirel’s and Bewr’s faces. “Not long enough,” he admitted. “Even with Bewr’s help, Kirel will not be able to maintain this spell much longer. We must dispatch these ghouls quickly.”

Rikel walked up to the flames and looked back over her shoulder. “Can you open a hole just big enough for me to fit through?” she asked.

Bewr and Kirel looked at each other, then nodded. A moment later, the flames in front of Rikel spread apart, leaving just enough room for her, or a single ghoul, to fit through at a time.

Rikel stayed in the front, stabbing any ghoul that tried to enter the gap. Meanwhile, Jolen threw his dagger at any ghouls that tried to brave the flames directly. Lelwyn cast a spell that pushed the ghouls back. Using this tactic, the group was able to easily dispatch the ghouls before Bewr and Kirel ran out of energy.

After the battle ended and Kirel brought down the fire spell, Rikel turned back to them. “Do you need to rest or can we press on?” she asked them.

Bewr panted and help up a hand. “We can press on,” she gasped between pants. “Just, not quickly,” she amended.

Kirel started walking forward. “Also, if we get into another fight, don’t expect the two of us to be able to contribute for a while,” he added.

Rikel nodded. “Understood. We’ll proceed slowly for now,” she assured them.

Lelwyn cast a simple healing spell on the group. “Let us be off,” he ordered before heading into the tower.

Bewr looked down and gasped in shock. “Wait!” she shouted to the others and pointed at one of the ghouls. “This ghoul! This is the poacher that Rikel killed at the cottage!” she shouted in recognition.

Jolen ran over to the ghoul. “Are you certain?” he asked her while glaring at the ghoul.

Bewr nodded her head with tears in her eyes. “I’ll never forget this face for as long as I live,” she swore.

Jolen sighed. “On one hand, I want to make him pay for my sister’s death,” he admitted. “On the other hand, is there anything I can really do to somebody who’s already dead?” he asked rhetorically.

Lelwyn walked over to Jolen and placed a hand on his shoulder. “If you would like, I can easily cast a spell on this corpse that will keep it from ever being able to be animated again,” he offered.

Jolen nodded his head in answer and Lelwyn began casting the spell. Once the spell was finished, the remains of the ghoul dissolved. Lelwyn turned to Rikel. “Where does the direction spell compel you towards now?” he asked.

Rikel drew her sword and held it even with the ground. “Very strongly towards the west,” she reported.

Lelwyn nodded. “Once we are done here, we had best investigate that reading as well,” he announced.

That detail deal with, the group finally entered the tower in search of the necromancer behind all of these events.

As the group entered the tower, they found a hallway with several closed doors along the sides. Rikel walked up to the first door and quietly opened it.

On the other side of the door she discovered a room full of various torture equipment, fortunately not currently, but obviously recently, in use. She quickly closed the door and turned to the others. “No reason to go in there,” she informed them while trying to keep her food. “Trust me on this one.”

Lelwyn raised an eyebrow. “If you think that best,” he acceded. “Let’s try the next one.”

Rikel nodded and opened the next door, revealing several buckets, mops, rags, and other cleaning supplies. Bewr blinked slowly. “The necromancer has a broom closet in their tower,” she observed in disbelief. “I… don’t know how I feel about this,” she admitted.

Kirel playfully shoved Bewr. “If this is the scariest thing in the tower, I’d be pleasantly surprised,” he joked.

Jolen walked up to them. “I agree with Bewr,” he added. “It seems odd that a mage devoted to a foul art such as necromancy would have something as mundane as a broom closet in their domain.”

Lelwyn nodded. “Aye, especially given that spells that can clean are extremely simple,” he agreed. “Any student in their first year of study would be more than capable of such.”

Rikel closed the door. “Could it have been a leftover from a previous occupant?” she theorized.

Bewr shook her head. “This tower definitely required necromancy to create,” she countered. “The necromancer had to have created the tower with the broom closet. For some reason...” she added, still perplexed at the closet’s existence.

Kirel scratched his chin. “The longer I think about it, the worse it gets,” he commented. “Necromancer’s aren’t exactly known for caring much about cleanliness in the first place. Why is this here?” he demanded in confusion.

Lelwyn cleared his throat. “As bizarre as this may be,” he interrupted the conversation. “We have loitered here long enough. We had best continue on,” he ordered.

The others nodded as Rikel went to the next door.

As Rikel opened more of the doors, not finding anything of note, Bewr turned to Lelwyn. “So, what strategy do you think we should use when we fight the necromancer?” she asked him.

Lelwyn rubbed his beard stubble. “That is quite the conundrum,” he admitted. “Without more knowledge of the necromancer’s talents, making precise plans now would be an exercise in futility.”

Bewr nodded. “Besides, no plan survives contact with the enemy,” she quoted.

Rikel paused and turned around. “That’s a rather astute observation about battle for a mage,” she admitted, impressed with what Bewr said.

Kirel glared at Bewr. “It’s a quote from a general,” he quickly explained in an attempt to derail the conversation.

Rikel raised an eyebrow. “I already gathered that it was said by an experienced warrior,” she pointed out. “I was just curios as to which one.”

Lelwyn raised his hands. “That is not important right now,” he interrupted.

Bewr giggled. “What is important is who had fish for dinner,” she joked.

Kirel and Lelwyn both glared at Bewr, causing her to stop giggling and raise her hands in supplication. Lelwyn turned back to Kirel. “Back to strategy, do either of you have anything of actual use to add?” he asked in annoyance.

Kirel shook his head. “You and Bewr counter the necromancer’s curses while I blast him with elemental magic?” he shrugged.

Bewr stepped forward and blushed. “My usual jokes aside,” she offered in apology. “I don’t think there’s really all that much planning we can do for now.”

Lelwyn sighed. “I suppose you are correct. There is little planning of use we can do at the moment,” he lamented.

Jolen cleared his throat. “If the three of you are done,” he interrupted. “I believe I found something.”

The three mages walked over to him and saw a discarded necklace. Jolen gestured to it. “I thought that this might be magical,” he explained.

Bewr picked up the necklace and quickly scanned it. “It’s clean,” she announced while holding it up for the others to see. “No enchantments on it at all.”

Kirel shook his head and laughed. “It’s just a practice necklace from the Academy in Elrlith,” he explained. “The kind we practice casting enchantment spells on for class or for experimenting with. Not sure why the necromancer would bother keeping one around though. There are easier, and less tacky looking, options for making magical jewelry,” he mused.

Bewr shrugged her shoulders. “Could the necromancer have thought that using an item so common as a practice necklace make it blend in better?” she pondered.

Rikel scratched her chin. “Hiding something among a group of visually identical objects has merit,” she pointed out.

Kirel cleared his throat. “And what if it had gotten lost among real practice necklaces?” he asked. “Would it have been able to have ever been found again? Or, better yet, what if it had been taken to the Academy itself and been found by one of the instructors? Any one of them would have instantly recognized the evil magic cast by a necromancer on sight,” he pointed out mockingly.

Bewr gently grabbed Kirel’s arm. “We get your point,” she told him with waning patience. “You can stop now.”

Kirel pulled his arm from her grip. “Have I? He asked her rhetorically. “Ugh! This is like the broom closet: the longer I think about it the odder it gets!

Lelwyn sighed in annoyance. “It matters not,” he declared. “Let us proceed to the next door.”

Jolen pinched the bridge of his nose. “I’m sorry I found the thing,” he lamented.

Lelwyn shook his head. “It is better for us to be alerted to nonsense than for us to not be made aware of something of importance,” he objected.

Jolen nodded. “I suppose so,” he acknowledged.

Rikel opened the next door and turned to the others. “I found what appears to be a library or a study!” she shouted out to them while waving them over.

The others all entered the designated room and discovered bookshelves and lit candelabras along the walls, open windows along the outer wall, and a fireplace in the corner. As the three mages started examining the books, the door and windows loudly slammed shut with solid coverings while the fireplace turned on and the flue closed.