A Witch's Trial

 "To be a witch is far more than to be a female magic user. It is to be a mage, a soothsayer, an alchemist, and an expert flyer. In fact, "witch" may be the hardest-earned title one can think of." - Unknown

Lynn Laurence is my OC.

Tags: sfw, witch, dungeon, undead_army, dracolich, archpriest

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Despite the sunny weather that shone across Asmana, there was a dark undertone to the more recent days. Something was wrong-very wrong-and anyone tuned to the land could feel it. There was something dark rising in the future, like a storm cloud before a downpour.

Lynn Laurence had been tasked by Wakeeda to find and eliminate the source of this. The witch doctor had isolated a unique point of energy coming from this cave. The spreading corruption was undeniably coming from within; a small group of adventurers were standing guard outside, surrounded by a number of skeletons, already slain.

A swordswoman among them noticed her approaching "Hey there. You're the witch girl I've seen in Agliophilia a couple times. Lynn, right?"

Lynn smiled at the fact that she was recognized "Yeah, that's right."

"What are you doing here?" An elf ice mage asked.

"I intend to find the source of this evil and kick it so far up the arse it'll be tasting the polish I put on my toenails this morning." Lynn replied.

"You're going in there alone? Are you insane?!"

"I might be. But I'm also determined." Lynn answered.

Without another word, she headed inside. The cave wasn't that different to others around Asmana. But there was a dark presence within-Lynn could sense it. As if it was watching her.

A skeleton appeared before her, lazily clutching a sword. It's armour was rusted and cracked. A torn banner hung from it's shoulders like a cloak, or a cape. With a silent battle cry, the skeleton lunged for her, but a blast of fire turned it to ashes. She'd been scared of those, once. No longer.

She came to a room that looked like a hallway, with faded stone carvings on the walls depicting things Lynn couldn't make sense of. She then saw an ancient wizard sat in a chair, his skin taut and grey, his robes faded. His head turned to her, eyes opening, mouth forming words "Identify yourself..." he croaked. His voice sounded as if he'd long since lost the habit of using it.

"I'm Lynn Laurence. Witch, adventurer and help-giver. Who are you?" Lynn asked.

"I do not recall my name... It has been so long..." He answered "I sealed the... the great evil... in this place... many moons ago.... I even applied the... the art of necromancy... to myself... So that I may... guard this place forever... to keep it... contained."

"But it's breaking it's containment."

"Yes... thank you, Miss Obvious..." the wizard snarked, his voice starting to return "I have grown weaker and weaker... and the seals are breaking... I haven't been able... to apply them with the... same strength as before."

"Did you not notice the skeletons getting by you?" Lynn asked.

"No... How many?"

"I counted 7. They were killed by adventurers guarding the entrance to this place, though." Lynn answered "There was one more that I killed in the hallway back there."

"Then I've got less... time than I thought... Someone else will soon have to... bear the mantle of guarding this place..."

"Bear the mantle? Why not just send someone down there to kill the evil permanently?"

The wizard paused "...You ask a simple question... so I will answer it as simply as I can... The evil within this place... was too strong for a legion of... Asmana's finest warriors... What makes you think a single mage can fell it?"

"Clearly you've never heard of power creep. The magical energy in the air is far more potent that it was centuries ago. Even an amateur could stand a chance." Lynn replied confidently.

"So you think you can defeat it? End the threat forevermore?"

"I know I can."

His eyes narrowed, and Lynn prepared a retort to any comment he made. He sighed and spoke "Okay, but you'd better not fuck this up."

"I won't." Lynn stated. It wasn't a promise-it was a fact. She walked past the old wizard and down the huge passageway of stone.

As she walked, Lynn wondered what evil force she'd be facing down here. Certainly, it'd throw as many undead at her as it could. Probably another idiot who greatly valued quantity over quality. Her caravan of thought was derailed when she came to an opening into a vast cavern. Drawing her wand and stepping through, she was struck with wonder at what lay before her.

A huge army of undead stood before her. Skeletons rattling, half-dead corpses groaning, dressed in various armours and robes. One of them noticed her and pointed. The others all turned to her, and began shambling towards her, gripping their weapons tightly.

Then one charged forwards, a rusted axe raised. At the same time, a row of mages in the backlines fired upon her. She backstepped away from the axe wielder and rolled under the barrage of spells from the mages. With a flick of her wand, the skeleton with the axe was blasted to a pile of bones. But a dozen or so more skeletons charged towards her.

They were fighting as an army would. Whoever or whatever had brought them back to life was smarter than she realized. But she'd fought armies before.

With a wave of her wand and a cry of "Catena Fulgur!", a spark of lightning bounced between 7 of them, turning them to dust.

The witch sent three more arcane arrows ricocheting through the army of undead. The mages in the backline had to sidestep the spells to stop them getting hit.

Lynn pointed her wand at the floor as a dozen skeletons charged at her "Glacias Trabem!" The ice froze the floor and the skeletons all fell, creating a pile of mismatched bones. Were this not a fight, Lynn would have laughed at the sheer cartoonism of the display.

The skeleton's numbers were thinning out.

Lynn sent out five curses to the sturdier looking among them. The weakening symbols burned into their armours, exposing their weaknesses. With five well-placed blasts of arcane magic, they were felled. A skeleton lunged at Lynn. She dodged to the left and let loose an ice spell, turning it into a frozen statue that shattered as she pushed it over.

Now for the annoying backline mages. Lynn smirked as she raised her wand and began sending out fire arrows towards them. Then she finally lowered her wand as the last skeleton toppled, dead.

She moved onwards through the tunnels, wondering. How old was that wizard? More pointedly, how long had the evil in this place gathered strength? Maybe she was in over her head, but she didn't care; she had a job to do.

She came to a huge, cavernous chamber. Big enough to fit all of Bluegrass in. Within the center of the room was a huge mass of flesh and scales. She tentatively approached, wondering what this could be.

That's when the mass of flesh and scales started to move, and Lynn's mouth dropped. It was undoubtedly a dragon. An undead one. It opened it's eyes and looked directly at her.

Thinking fast, Lynn conjured her trusty broomstick and took off upwards. The dragon's roar, followed by the wash of sudden heat, told Lynn she'd made the right choice. She flew directly upwards before turning around. The dragon remained on the ground; perhaps it had forgotten how to fly, or maybe it's wings had decayed too much. Lynn was grateful either way.

Another roar and stream of fire that Lynn dodged, this time with a loop mid-air. An idea formed in her mind, and Lynn sped through the chamber, forcing the dragon to follow after her with it's fire breath. She could feel the warmth at her back, and hoped that it didn't hit her broom.

The dragon roared at her loudly, but she was unshaken. A huge ball of fire suddenly shot from it's mouth, but Lynn was able to dodge it with a burst of speed downwards. 

Three blasts of fire. Three movements to dodge them; a burst of speed left, a loop in mid-air, and a barrel roll. 

She noticed the dragon starting to tire. The blasts of fire were becoming shorter. She supposed it hadn't been in a fight like this in centuries, if at all.

The dragon suddenly hung it's head, catching it's breath. Seizing her chance like a cute guy on a beach, the witch dove, the wind whistling in her ears and the air hitting her face. At the last second, she pulled up and leapt.

As planned, Lynn landed on the dragons back. Before it could attempt to throw her off-before it even realized she was there-she began to circle her wand above her head and shouted at the top of her lungs "Arcane Furor Tempestatis!" 

A huge purple energy field engulfed Lynn and the dragon, and the creature roared in agony as it was made the epicentre of more arcane power than any singular being could possibly withstand. The pain swamped Lynn's figure too, but she kept up the motions of her arm, waving her wand as through she were about to throw a lasso, knowing she'd only have to keep it up for a few more seconds.

The dragon slumped over and Lynn stopped the spell, jumping onto her broom and landing in front of the dragon, ready to continue the fight if she needed to, despite the burning agony in her veins. But it made no movements. No sounds except the rustling of it's corpse.

That was when Lynn noticed it's scales healing. It's eyes opened again, and Lynn bent her knees, ready to kick off into the air-

"You... are worthy..." the dragon wheezed.

Lynn paused, but still prepared to take off, incase this was a distraction "Worthy of what?"

"For thousands of years I have lain here dormant at his command... waiting for someone able to defeat me... and him..." The dragon continued "The archpriest... The lich... He was once my best friend. Now he is a power-hungry despot, keeping everyone here leashed to this false imitation of life... Kill him, and we can finally die... If you promise to kill him, I will grant you 2 spells, learned through centuries of meditation here."

Lynn raised an eyebrow "Why don't you kill him yourself?"

"Because he tied both mine and his soul to the same phylactery... I cannot destroy it. But you can."

"...I promise to kill him, and destroy the phylactery."

The dragon sighed gratefully "What spells do you wish to learn?"

"Hmm..." Lynn pondered. Her first thought was of a spell to give herself a huge hermaphrodite penis, but she knew she'd scarcely use it. Plus it might scare some guys away from her. Then her mind turned to  a memory of a foxgirl. A foxgirl guys couldn't seem to take their eyes off of. She smiled as her first wish escaped her "Could you give me a spell that let me transform into a kitsune?"

"I cannot grant you the magic of the kitsunes, only their form." The dragon replied.

Lynn answered "I only want their form. Or the ability to turn into their form."

"Very well. What is your second spell wish?"

Lynn had her answer ready this time. "A spell I can use to obliterate my enemies and make them understand that I'm the wrong person to pick a fight with."

"I can grant you such a spell. It is used by dragons when we are rendered unable to use our fire breath. It is a powerful spell, though. Are you sure you can handle it?"

"I was able to defeat you, wasn't I?"

"You speak no lies. Very well."

The dragon lifted it's head upwards and Lynn felt the rush of magic through her. Of a power that she hadn't yet felt the scalding touch of. Lynn's scream of pain was forced from her; the blood in her veins felt as if it were boiling her from inside. But then the pain stopped. 

The dragon spoke once more "I think... I would like to rest, now... I hope you can make it a permanent sleep..." then the dragon closed it's eyes and the deep rumble of snoring made the floor tremble slightly.

Lynn continued onward through the cave. Deeper and deeper. Her wand remained in her hand, and she was struggling slightly to focus on the path before her.

She came to another cavernous chamber. In the centre was an alter, with somebody stood in front of it, reading a book. The archpriest, no doubt. Lynn walked forwards, her footsteps echoing slightly.

His voice, clear as crystal, sounded out "So... you've come. Just as I suspected somebody would." He closed his book shut with a snap and turned around to face her. "You don't need to be my enemy, you know. If you join me, you could-"

"Save it. I've no interest in whatever horseshit you're trying to peddle." Lynn spat at him.

"So be it." The archpriest pointed his scepter at Lynn and fired a blast of force that knocked her back "You will answer for your arrogance!"

Lynn retaliated with an arcane arrow, but it simply bounced off of him like rubber. The smugly smiling archpriest floated from the ground, his hands behind his back and his scepter floating at his side. 

Meanwhile, another army of skeletons were rising up from the ground. But Lynn noticed that none of them were armed, or armoured. They were all black as shadows, and there seemed to be some kind of smoke drifting from them towards the archpriest.

Lynn worked fast. The skeletons may not have been a threat, but she knew that leaving them alive was a bad idea. Volley after volley of arcane arrows flew into the black skeleton army, bouncing between them and lighting up the spaces between them purple.

Meanwhile, the archpriest was too busy trying to resurrect the skeletons to fire spells at Lynn. They were locked into a stalemate. Something, Lynn knew, had to change.

Her next spell sent a blast of lightning right at the archpriest, and he reacted on instinct-floating downward rapidly to avoid it. Lynn seized her chance to repeat the spell-chaining a barrage of lightning throughout the skeleton army. The archpriest sent a burst of fire directly at the witch, but Lynn was able to dive out of the way. Lynn's next spell was a rain of icicles that pierced through many of the skeletons, destroying them. The smoke drifting from them was getting thinner.

The archpriest conjured another fireball, bigger than the last one. Lynn hopped onto her broom and took off straight upwards, the heat washing over her back. Once she'd landed, she answered in kind, charging her broomstick with volatile energy and throwing it into the remaining skeletons. 

The explosion was enough to engulf the room with arcane energy, but Lynn was unaffected. She knew a thing or two about basic safety with magic, after all. She cleared the smoke out with a blast of force and glared at her foe.

The archpriests's entire shield began glowing bright golden. Lynn's memory was cast back to a game that featured that very same gold glow, used to indicate a weak spot to shoot. "This... this isn't possible!" 

It was Lynn's turn to smile smugly; "Apparently, it is."

Lynn pointed her wand forth but said no words. The new spell she'd learned from the dragon welled up inside her before she let it loose: a blazing hot beam of solid fire that stuck to the archpriest before exploding in a chain reaction. The shield was burst like a huge pimple and the archpriest was stunned. Staggered.

Concentrating with all that she could, Lynn let loose a torrent of arcane energy. The archpriest matched her spell with a beam of his own, but his eyes went wide with unbridled fear as he realized how outmatched he truly was without his minions to draw power from. Lynn forced her hand forwards and the magical energy overwhelmed his own spell and hit him directly. The scepter fell to the ground, along with it's now-dead owner.

The stumbling, screaming archpriest's remains collapsed into dust. Lynn walked over to the pile, then stomped on it as a final insult. Then she grabbed the porcelain vase he was using as his phylactery and threw it into the air, shooting it with an arcane arrow. The broken pieces trained onto the floor with a pleasant tinkling sound. She then picked up his scepter and started heading back the way she came.

On the walk back, Lynn noticed the dragon's still-intact corpse, curled up as if still sleeping. But no deep rumbling emanated from him. Lynn took a moment to place a hand on his snout and thank him for his gifts, and wished him peace. Eventually, she came to the first chamber, where the wizard still sat.
"He's dead, and his phylactery is in pieces. You can rest now." Lynn told him gently.

The wizard nodded "Well done, Lynn... Now I can accept Messorem's embrace... May you be blessed with new battles."

Lynn returned the nod, and a second later he slumped over in his chair, his withered body turning to dust. 

The witch staggered out of the cave, panting heavily. "It's done... and so am I... Phew..." She bent over, exhausted. "Wakeeda... you owe me big time for that..."