A Bored Lich

The last day of travel took the group across a forest, a plain, then finally to a mountain range to the east, where they continued on foot. The Wyverns would have been too flashy so they sent them back to the Mech residence - a decision they soon came to regret as Kilot guided them to the base of a mountain. Hundreds of ancient, stone stairs ran up the mountain like a spine.

"Have I ever said how much I hated stairs?" Elero asked, looking up at it all.

Doevm shrugged: "We might blend in with the dense population, but that is once we are inside the mines. We cannot afford to make a memorable entrance and stand out. The Wyverns had to go."

"I was speaking in the past tense," Elero said. "I'm much better now." To demonstrate she skipped to his side, her jet-black hair bouncing behind her as if caught off guard by the sudden shift in her mood.

Doevm simply stared back at her like he always did when he didn't know what to say. Humans were strange creatures after all. Of course Elero no longer hated stairs. Her legs were fixed, he had seen to that himself.

She seemed to have someone else in her head. Before she could voice it, Thomas butted in: "In that case, do you want to race?"

Elero opened her mouth to rebuke him, but paused. She looked from Thomas to the stairs and shrugged. "You know what, Thomas? Let's make this interesting: the first one to the top will get their new equipment made first."

Thomas extended his hand. "Sounds like a fair deal."

Elero reached for his hand, which Thomas retracted before bolting up the stairs. She cursed and hurried after him, life essence flaring.

Doevm sighed. "It's like I'm dealing with children," he said aloud.

"Oh brother. Give them a break, will you?" Kilot grumbled, already falling behind the group. "It's boring to be traveling all the time. We can't stare into space for the entire day like you can."

Frey looked down at Kilot with a slight smirk. "We can slow down for you if you want, old man. If we're attacked at this rate, you'll pass out before the fighting even begins. Stay alert."

Kilot scrunched his lips and picked up the pace.

"I can help if you want," Olpi said, but Kilot waved her off.

The steps were, quite literally, an uphill battle. Smog, the byproduct of the mine's hearths, reached into the clear sky. If any vegetation survived the lack of sunlight, the constant ashfall would squeeze the life out of it, leaving white bundles of roots in the blackened soil. Doevm imagined that his lungs would end up in the same state if he stayed for too long.

Frey walked up to Doevm as they ascended: "What's the plan?"

"Get ourselves some weapons, courtesy of our new blacksmith," Doevm said.

They both turned towards Kilot, who struggled to keep up with them. Olpi kept insisting, but he was still stubborn.

"I mean after we get our weapons, what then?" Frey insisted. "Isn't it time that we go after those legacies you talked about? Isn't that why we went through so much trouble to get Maximus Draken's map?"

"Leave that to me," Doevm said. "I can handle it."

Frey shook his head: "Usually, I'd get mad when you leave me out."

Doevm raised his brow at him. "But…"

"You look tired, that's all." Frey concluded. He started back up the stairs without another word.

A few stairs down, Kilot practically pushed Olpi away from him. "I said I'm fine! Leave me be."

"Ok fine," Olpi digressed. "Do it yourself. I don't care."

By the time the group slogged up to the gates, a red sun fell behind Vilbar's horizon. Four watchtowers stood watch and, although they were carved from the same, ancient stone as the damnable stairs, they almost seemed to welcome the travelers - almost.

Elero and Thomas were waiting for them. Thomas relaxed on the last step while Elero examined fresh wounds on her knees and shins.

"Guess who won?" Thomas exclaimed.

Elero gave him a friendly punch in the arm: "You're lucky I'm not adjusted yet."

"Adjusted to what? The altitude?" Thomas asked. "What a crappy excuse."

Doevm gestured to Elero's bruised knees. "Need adjustments? I want to refine my process if possible."

Elero shook her head. "I'm good. Anyway, where's Kilot?"

Frey chuckled and gestured behind them. "He'll get here, eventually."

Sweating, coughing, and wheezing, Kilot's legs wobbled with every step. His old back, however, was not the problem. It was what he carried: Olpi. "I warned her…" he gasped. "She should have been more worried about herself…stupid, cocky Elves. They're all sticks and bones."

As everyone (Kilot and Olpi) stopped to catch their breath at the top of the stairs, a stern voice yelled out: "Six snakes!"

Frey drew his weapon, leaping in front of Olpi: "We got company."

Thomas and Elero had their backs to the voice but, seeing Frey's reaction, they dashed to the front of the group without a thought, weapons drawn.

Doevm stood at the center of the formation, facepalming. "Six snakes means he wins the hand, you idiot."

"The hand?" Frey asked.

Circled around a card table to the side of the gates was a squad of armored Dwarves, holding cards. With ash obscuring his vision, Doevm vaguely made out sigils of the Platinum Hammer, and that the guards hadn't noticed the group's approach.

Doevm put a hand on Frey's shoulder, and felt the man's tension fade: "We came here to lay low, not antagonize the city guards."

Frey lowered both his weapon and his head, trying to ignore the light chuckling behind his back. "Sorry."

Elero was much less sympathetic than Doevm. She walked up to Frey and poked at his chest: "Look at you, leaping in front of damsels in distress. I didn't think you had it in you."

Olpi scratched the back of her head. "Damsel in distress?"

"I-I didn't…" Frey stammered. He took a breath to calm himself. "I'm sorry."

"No harm done," Doevm said. "We weren't noticed."

Kilot, however, couldn't contain himself; his jeering laughter echoed throughout the mountain range as if to hammer in Frey's embarrassment. It wasn't his usual, sarcastic chuckle but full-blown laughter - an infectious laughter at that.

It could have been Kilot's red, beady face, or the way he held his belly, or his strange laughter, or any combination of them; Elero and Thomas found themselves laughing just as hard as he did. Frey shrunk back even more. That made Kilot, and subsequently the others, laugh harder.

The cycle of hysterical hysteria reached the ears of the guards, who turned to see a bunch of red-faced, teary-eyed, ash-covered travelers…and Doevm.

"What the fuck is with these people?" one of them asked. He set his cards down, stood up, and cleared his voice. "Oye, who are you guys? What's your business here?"

Doevm stepped in front of the group and held his empty hands up to show he wasn't armed. "We wish to enter the Polyglint Mines."

"Well, you've come to the right place," the guard replied. "Now state your business."