Not too long after the cataclysmic event that is the explosion and eruption of Mount Drakolt, Astrid finds herself battle worn but in good spirits after a hard-won fight with the god of rebirth, Vulcadreaus. She’s barely had a moment to rest since her bizarrely intense village defense session with Red and then fighting an actual god only a few days later. Astrid doesn’t recall seeing Red at the battle with Vulcadreaus, so she hopes that he’s doing alright, especially with the whole of Darkveil in absolute chaos. More chaos than normal, anyway.

While taking a break from helping recover people from destroyed buildings, she stands on a pile of rubble in a blocked street, tinkering on the joints of her eight foot metal golem, Buttfellow, who has been a tremendous help getting rubble moved around. Scratching at her forehead with the edge of a wrench, the half-dwarf’s face twists in thought, wondering what exactly she did wrong in crafting him to make his leg stick like it has been for the last couple of days. Finally, she takes another look from a different angle and identifies a piece of shrapnel stuck in the joint, to which she exclaims, “AH HA!” and pulls that sucker out.

Finally, she doesn’t have to worry about him lagging behind when she goes looking into these ashy undead that locals have reported.

---

Quest details:

SPOILER: Click to show

Quest Name: Burned Memories
Participants: Two or more
Location: Anywhere
Post Requirements: 6 post per person, 200 words per post
Reward: +1 Renown, +1 Fire Catalyst, +1 Earth Catalyst
Description: Mt. Drakolt's recent eruption and the arrival of Vulcadreaus has caused hundreds of unique, spirit like creatures to venture out into Charon, causing mayhem and havoc. The Charred are spirits of those who have been burned or scorched to death, with these specifically belonging to those who were sacrificed to the volcano. These Charred have now be forcefully pushed out and wander Charon with no purpose, other than to inflict the same pain they felt in their lives to others. We need you to help deal with a small group of Charred (5 of them) by finishing off the creature and allowing its spirit to finally be free of the pain and suffering.

This trip had been for almost nothing. Zarius's bar that he'd told Xalmann to find him at was a pile of rubble and he hadn't been told anywhere else to possibly find the Fellblood. He couldn't ask anyone in the city where to find him. On top of simply being horrible at speaking, he couldn't trust anyone here. The only people criminals could trust less than guards was other criminals. They'd sell him out and try to capture or more likely kill him for a chicken leg. He'd killed for less. The one thing he'd accomplished from this whole journey was witnessing the rebirth of a gigantic dragon in the distance. He would have wanted to get a closer look, but with all the adventurers there to fight the massive creature, he definitely would have run into some familiar faces he didn't want to see at the moment.

It was too much of a risk then, but now it looked to be clear. It had been a few days since the battle had concluded and he felt a strange pull to the site of the battle he couldn't ignore anymore. He walked down alleyways, toward the edge of town and the crater where Mount Drakolt used to stand.

Turning the corner of one alleyway, Xalmann stopped as he heard and saw someone that he was surprised to see. He probably shouldn't have been though. She had pretty much told him when they'd last seen each other that she was also headed to Darkveil. He was actually more surprised that she had... a golem? It wasn't like the ones he'd made of stone and roots. This one was metal.

With her “repairs” finally complete, Astrid stands upright, gives Buttfellow a good, hollow smack on the arm, one that sounds like slapping a metal pan, and hops off the pile of rubble. To her surprise, she sees a familiar creature down the street. “Is that…? Aye, it is! Heya, Red! How are ya doin’? I was hopin’ ya were safe after the whole…” Astrid turns around and motions to the suspicious lack of a landscape centerpiece on the horizon. “...that happened.”

Dusting herself off, she gleefully approaches him. “Don’t s’pose ya’ve seen anythin’ suspicious around?” she asks. “Erm, I mean, more suspicious than yer typical suspicious folks a’ Darkveil anyway. Lots a’ plunderin’ happenin’ here an’ there, folks takin’ advantage of stuff fallin’ apart or folks bein’... ah… dead.” To say it so lightly feels weird when the words flow off her tongue. It’s a tragic event that happened here, but she did everything she could about it and hasn’t stopped trying to help in the aftermath. She’s doing her best and definitely looks just as road-worn as the last time Red saw her, and that was after three dangerous threats in a matter of an hour.

“Oh, did ya fight the big dragon with us? I don’t recall seein’ ya there, but lots a’ stuff was red glowin’, so I mighta just missed ya.”

Then she notices him eyeing the large metal “man” sitting beside the rubble behind her. The metal of its legs and torso are noticeably singed and dinged from the fight with Vulcy. “Oh, that’s a golem I was workin’ on! Made ‘im meself, but he weren’t ready fer a test run in the desert. Callin’ ‘im Buttfellow fer now.”

Buttfellow... That's... A name. He looked away from the mechanical golem toward Astrid who had thrown a lot of questions his way in a very short amount of time. It would be rude to ignore her after they'd fought such a fierce battle together.

"No." He answered both questions simply. He hadn't seen anything more suspicious than there already was in Darkveil, and he hadn't been involved in the battle. He was interested to hear more about it though. From his vantage point in the city, he'd been able to watch the battle take place, but it had been from a distance. It was obvious even from that distance though that there was an incredible amount of fire coming from the red dragon. It had deeply impressed Xalmann. He was slightly annoyed at this, really. He had a bit of a bad relationship with a dragon that made him feel a bit of disdain for the entire species. Vulcadreus could be an exception though.

Xalmann walked past Astrid, toward the crater in the distance. It had been interesting to see the metal golem, and not as horrible a reunion as he'd had with others before, but he had somewhere to go. He didn't know Astrid's plans now and didn't feel the need to ask. He could still feel the pull toward the crater.

But, as he walked near the golem Astrid called Buttfellow, he heard a small noise right beside his head. Xalmann stopped and hissed in annoyance.

"Oooh." A wispy flame spirit floated up out of his wooden shoulder whose branches and roots had opened up to reveal a fiery cavity within. The flame spirit floated over to Buttfellow and circled it curiously. Xalmann spoke to it in the Lizardman language like an annoyed pet owner trying to get a rambunctious kitten to come back to them. He pointed at his wooden shoulder with his opposite arm, coaxing it to return so he could be on his way.

As much as he tried, the spirit just didn't listen. Xalmann crossed his arms in front of him and let out a sigh, a bit of flame coming out of his mouth. The spirit was just like this sometimes. It would come back eventually.

---

Ghastley Lantern
Pet Pocket

“Well, that’s too bad,” Astrid says thoughtfully. Though it occurs to her that she isn’t exactly sure which question he’s responding to. “Never one fer words, are ya, Red?” she jokes, looking at him as he walks by. Odd that he seems so focused on the crater, but then again, he is tied to earth domain magic, so his magical senses must be going absolutely wild given the fact that a big fiery god exploded out of the volcano.

Following his steps back toward Buttfellow, she asks, “Do ya wanna check it out? It’s pretty intense over there. Still real hot, but since ya can just become fire, I’m sure that won’t bother ya at all.”

To her surprise, a little fiery wisp emerges from the glowing spot on his shoulder and flies around to check out Buttfellow. The golem remains largely inert, though its head turns to follow the movements of the little wisp. Red seems annoyed by the sprite’s appearance, but Astrid is intrigued. “Well, hey there, little fella!” she says excitedly. “That’s Buttfellow! Do ya have a name?” She glances to Red for an answer in case the wisp can’t speak the common tongue.

The fire wisp floated over to Astrid and made more sounds like a flame being blown about in the wind. It was obvious it was trying to respond to her question, but any words it was trying to convey were completely indiscernible. It turned to look at Xalmann who stood with his arms crossed, watching it and waiting. Xalmann was usually the one in need of an interpreter, but now the little flame sprite gave him a pleading look, asking for his help speaking with Astrid. Xalmann let out another sigh and looked at Astrid.

"Ash."

Ash looked back to Astrid with a smile, his name now given. Ironically, Xalmann hadn't even considered the implications of the name having anything to do with fire. As the wisp was the source of his wooden arm's energy, he'd simply named it after the translated name of a tree native to his swampy home. It wasn't as if he'd ever take the time to try to explain his naming choice to anyone though. That'd be too much work unless maybe they spoke the Lizardfolk language. Hardly anyone did though, leading to people thinking the same as Astrid had, that he was never one for words.

"Let's go already." Xalmann hissed to Ash in the Lizardfolk language, which sounded less like words and more like a series of hisses and grunts. Ash finally stopped circling around Astrid and flew back over to Xalmann, but didn't go back into his shoulder he held forward for it. Instead the flame spirit plopped onto the top of his head and sat there, like a flame atop a big red candle. Xalmann just looked emotionless as he turned and kept walking toward the crater, pretending not to be embarrassed.

“Ash?” Astrid repeats back, looking at the little flaming wisp. “Well, that’s just on the nose, ain’t it? Seems a common theme with ya, Red.” She giggles as she watches the wisp float around her in circles, the small mote of light full of life and energy. After hearing Red hiss, Astrid looks a little surprised only to realize that he’s saying something that she simply can’t understand. She watches intently as Ash sits on his head in a very cute way. Decidedly, she likes the way that Ash changes the mood.

Seeing Red heading toward the crater, Astrid thumps her hand on Buttfellow’s metal hide. “Let’s go check it out! Place is all grassy now in some places, I think.” She quickly climbs up on top of Buttfellow’s shoulders and directs him to follow Red. With heavy steps, the golem does as he’s told and proceeds forward to the crater that was once a battlefield against an impossible enemy that somehow his big metal ass survived, though he’s still worse for wear since Astrid hasn’t had a chance to really get him repaired while they’ve been helping get things settled in Darkveil.

“Surprised ya didn’t come join the fight,” she says to Red. “It was a real doozy. Bet ya would’ve had fun.”

Xalmann looked over his shoulder as he walked. It seemed Astrid would be following him to the crater. Well, fine. He wasn't much for conversation, but she was at least giving him some information. Even eager to share, in fact. He didn't know the area had been covered in grass. Curious, given the fiery powers of the dragon. There must have been more to it than he thought.

He held back a grimace as Astrid brought up why he hadn't been present at the fight. Of course, that wasn't information he felt comfortable sharing. How would she react if he told her he didn't go there because he was technically a criminal and he was trying to avoid people who might recognize him and try to bring him in? She wasn't a member of the Fighter's Guild anymore, she'd told him that herself, but he wasn't trusting enough to believe that meant she was his friend. Loyalty was easily swayed by rewards, and he wouldn't be surprised if there was a bounty on his head.

"Busy..." Xalmann answered her question with a sidelong glance. Technically not a lie. He was busy trying to find Zarius and stop being a criminal at the time. Still was. He just took a break from that during the fight to watch it go down from a distance. He wished he could have joined the fight though. Helping those damn Mudworms had been a terrible decision.

The group exited streets of Darkveil and headed out into the ashy wilderness between it and the crater formerly known as Mount Drakolt. The loud, heavy footsteps of the metallic golem provided a white noise as they walked, Ash floating off of Xalmann's head and landing on top of Astrid's at some point. The little spirit was a lot more friendly than its owner, and more talkative despite none of its words being understandable.

“Busy? Ah, that’s too bad,” Astrid laments, crossing her arms over Buttfellow’s head and leaning on them. “It was real excitin’. There were some folks from the guild there too. Well, really, all the guilds if I’m bein’ honest. I didn’t have much of a chance ta chat with Shaa afterwards. Hope he’s doin’ alright. Seemed fine after the fight though. At the rate stuff’s happenin’ around Charon, I’m sure somethin’ else will show up that ya’ll get ta help kick its butt.”

She continues chattering on while they walk, telling Red all about the things she saw and experienced during the fight with Vulcadreaus, including whatever she can remember from the god of rebirth’s monologues. She’s not really sure what that guy’s problem was, but he’s just dirt and flowers now so it doesn’t matter much to her.

Her eyes catch a glimpse of movement in the field, something like a dark humanoid that’s floating. It almost looks like a ghost from here. Then she sees that there are a handful more wandering in a group. “Hey, look at that,” she says, pointing them out. “Wonder if that’s the ashy creatures I heard about.”

Xalmann listened with interest to all of the details of the fight and the dragon that Astrid would give him, but at the mention of Shaa's name, he narrowed his eyes and unconsciously placed his hand on his wooden arm, remembering losing it to that damn Minotaur. Adding insult to his injury, he'd even used some spell to summon some kind of giant sand bug that had eaten his severed arm, leaving no chance of recovering it and possibly getting it magically reattached.

If Shaa had been there, it was a good thing he hadn't gone to fight the dragon. In the middle of all the chaos and fire the dragon was throwing at everyone though, maybe it would have been a good chance to make Shaa have an accident. No, there would have been too many witnesses. There would have been a much higher likelihood he would have been attacked after the dragon fell. Shaa had too many friends, and he was sure many of them were probably involved in that fight. From the sounds of it, even Astrid was still Shaa's friend after leaving the Fighter's Guild. Now he knew he'd need to be careful around her.

He was brought back from being deep in thought as Astrid pointed out something in the distance. He looked to see several figures that looked as if they were made from floating ash. Ash, the little fire spirit, floated back over and settled back into the hollow in his shoulder which closed up again with the spirit inside. His wooden arm suddenly felt more energized, its source of power returned. He clenched and unclenched his wooden fingers. Finally. Why was this arm designed so its power source could freely leave it?

He readied his weapons in each hand. His axe in his right hand and his obsidian blade in his left that Astrid would recognize as the one he took from the Naga leader when they first met.

It looked like the ashen figures finally noticed the group as they suddenly burst into motion, letting out screams of agony and rushing toward them, arms outstretched as if they were attempting to grasp their necks and orange light emitting from their centers and where their mouths and eyes would have been on a human.

When the creatures spot the group and charge them, Astrid bops Buttfellow on the head. Magical runes along the golems body light up as the construct enters an active combat state.^[1] She drops off of his back and whips out her hammers. “Given these suckers started poppin’ up after the volcano exploded, they’re probably pretty hot!”

Buttfellow steps forward then rushes at the group of approaching Charred. Blue runes along his arm glow bright and manifest a whip of water^[2] that gathers in his hand and flows while he runs. When he gets closer to the group, the golem lashes out at the closest Charred, slamming it with water. Being a creature of ash, the water solidifies some of its more smoky elements, but the fiery aura of the Charred makes the water start to boil. That one will be held briefly, at least until the water all boils off.

Two of the Charred turn on Buttfellow and start beating the metal golem and wrapping smoky tendrils around his legs to slow him. Some of the runes on his surface flicker as the etchings begin to melt from the heat.

Dumping a tincture of silver oil on her war hammer,^[3] Astrid charges ahead to fight the undead.

---

1. Arcane Activation [post 1/4]
2. Mana Bulwark [cast 1/4] - Water Whip
3. Silver Oil

Xalmann didn't waste any time waiting for the enemy to rush at him. Running forward, he swung his axe for the nearest spirit trying to grab at him with its burning, ashen hands. His axe went right through it, followed by a second axe made of smoke that trailed behind his axe as he swung it. What seemed like a completely ineffective attack judging from the lack of any resistance from the spirit suddenly proved the opposite.

The spirit's pained screams grew louder as its hands crumbled away. The flame in its chest and eyes dimmed and then extinguished before its screaming was cut off and the ash making up its body collapsed to the ground. The spirits had underestimated Xalmann's new weapon. With a blade made from what looked like glass with smoke drifting inside it and a handle of charred wood, the axe was capable of damaging his enemy's souls directly. The spirits hadn't expected a solid weapon to so easily dispatch them, but now they were more cautious of the Lizardman.

It was lucky for them that Xalmann's other weapon had no such ability. It would likely be useless in this fight, but he kept it in his off hand more for intimidation than actually swinging it. He also doubted his fire magic would have much if any effect on these creatures made of ash and flames. A majority of his arsenal was useless, but the one thing that worked looked to be more effective than he imagined.

Xalmann looked back to see several more enemies ganging up on the metal golem and starting to melt it. Those two hadn't been paying attention to him when he offed one of their friends. He reeled his arm back and threw his axe at the two spirits who were distracted assaulting Buttfellow.

---

Dagon's Demise

Buttfellow makes some attempt to slam the Charred with his free fist, but his arm passes through them. If a golem could be annoyed, surely he would be, but instead, he doesn’t do much more thinking for himself. Astrid rushes up and slams one of the spirits attacking Buttfellow with her hammer coated in silver. Luckily, the concoction from the WEF proves effective against undead especially, so rather than passing through, her hammer smashes into one of their sides and explodes the spirit into a cloud of ash.

With its master around and a flying axe unexpectedly taking out the second Charred attacking him, Buttfellow drops the water whip, which keeps one spirit coagulated enough for a physical attack. Punching his fists together, Buttfellow manifests a frosty net across his body that he then peels off and throws it at the last Charred that ran past him.^[1] The net inflicts icy burns and freezes the Charred in place, but the heat from the undead’s body starts to melt it, which ultimately makes the frost into water and messes with the undead’s body makeup more.

There are three Charred left, one under the net between Xalmann and Buttfellow, one in the remnants of the water whip, and one still charging at Xalmann.

---

1. Mana Bulwark [cast 2/4] - frost web

The remaining spirit lunged at Xalmann, the Lizardman now defenseless after throwing their only weapon known to be capable of harming the spectral beings. The spirit called his bluff, deciding the obsidian blade in his other hand wouldn't be able to harm it, and it was correct. However, it didn't count on the axe Xalmann threw suddenly reappearing in his hand after it extinguished one of the ghosts assaulting the metal golem.

Too late to dodge back, the spirit's burning eyes widened in surprise as the axe blade and its smoky double slashed right through it. Its form crumbled, the ash collapsing to the ground as its fire went out.

With his closest enemy dispatched, Xalmann turned and started running toward the next closest, the charred trapped under the icy net. With it bound in place, a chop to the neck with his axe was easily enough to end the creature's unlife. The ash collapsed, leaving a humanoid silhouette on the ground below.

Only one enemy remained, the one having a rough time as water solidified parts of it and dimmed the flames glowing through the ash that made up its torso. Xalmann almost felt sorry for these spirits. He felt oddly as if he could relate to them, though he didn't know why. Defeating them actually felt like a mercy.

Buttfellow raises a fist to slam down on the Charred trapped under the net only for Red’s axe to fly through it, cutting the net and destroying the spirit underneath. It takes a long second for the golem to process where its target disappeared to before it turns its attention to the last remaining, waterlogged but recovering, Charred. Coating its arm in another web of frost,^[1] Buttfellow balls up his fist and slams it down on the Charred, crunching its crusty form beneath his might.

Then… things settle. Astrid glances around, ready for anything else to jump out at them. Luckily, there doesn’t seem to be anything else heading their way. Not that she trusts that given her last encounter with Red being quickly followed up by more encounters. Finally letting out a held breath, Astrid relaxes and sets her hammer down then goes about inspecting the damage done to Buttfellow’s formulae inscriptions.

“Well, that ain’t too bad,” she says, dusting ash off of the more melted parts of his body. “Ya still need a fixin’ from the first test run, but yer goin’ strong enough. Wonder what those spirits were. Might’ve been the undead I heard about. Some folks said they’re spirits brought back ta life after Vulcadreaus rose up.”

---

1. Mana Bullwark [cast 3/4] - Frost Web