Andra paced back and forth in her cell for a few minutes. This was all Kaylen’s fault. The idiot had gone charging in as usual and didn’t even bother to use the divine powers that could have easily collapsed the zombies by the dozens. Fiona was supposed to keep an eye on her. This was her fault, too.

“Alright, Andra. I think this is your area of expertise,” Maxim called from his cell, right across from Andra’s. “Can you get these doors unlocked for us?”

Andra froze. This was supposed to be her area of expertise.

“Uh, of course,” she said, trying to stall as she desperately looked around her cell for something useful. “Just give me a minute here and I’ll have us out of here.”

Maxim’s blank mask stared at Andra. “You have no idea what you’re doing, do you?”

“Of course I do,” Andra snapped back.

“She doesn’t,” called Riven, from somewhere down the hall.

“Alright, how about you, Atworth?” Maxim asked. “I think the necromancer hung the key on a hook by the stairs. Can your squirrel friend grab it?”

“I’m afraid not,” Atworth replied. “He ran away as soon as the fight started.”

“Great, wonderful, because why would our tamer keep their animals nearby?” Maxim said, becoming frustrated. “What about you, Riven, want to magic these cells open?”

“Oh, can’t you use your alchemy to make a bomb out of moss and rat turds?” Riven shot back.

“Just do it, please,” Maxim groaned.

“The thing about that is, I kind of used up all my power fighting the zombies,” Riven explained.

“Of course you did. Because you, like all mages, are completely worthless. I suppose your grimoire was confiscated too?”

“It probably would have been,” said Riven, “if I had brought it. It’s really heavy, though.”

Maxim growled. He seemed to be reaching the end of his patience. “Bessen? Fiona? Please tell me one of you is strong enough to break out.”

Andra could see Fiona from her position, testing the bars, one by one.

“I’m afraid not,” said Bessen. “I’d only hurt myself if I tried.”

Fiona shook her head, though there was no way Maxim would be able to see it.

“Kaylen, please, tell me you have something.” Maxim’s voice was growing desperate.

Kaylen moaned. “I don’t know. My head is really hurting right now.”

“Wait, why haven’t you healed yourself?” Riven asked. “You’re hurt. You’re a priestess. You can heal yourself.”

“But what if someone gets more hurt later?” Kaylen asked.

The response was a chorus of “Just heal yourself!”

A moment later, Andra thought she could see a glow coming from somewhere down the hall.

“Ah, I feel much better,” Kaylen said, sounding much more aware. “But I don’t think there’s anything I can do to get us out of here.”

“Unbelievable,” Maxim said, his voice quivering as he began to panic. “My first time adventuring and I’m going to die. There’s nothing we can do.”

“I wouldn’t worry about it too much,” said Andra. “It’ll work out one way or another.”

“How? How could it possibly work out now?” Maxim shouted. He sank down to his knees and made a sound Andra thought might have been crying.

Andra heard footsteps coming down the stairs. Could the necromancer be done with his preparations so soon? But there wasn’t the plodding of zombies following him, just a bouncy step of someone strolling cheerfully. Soon, the source of the footsteps came into sight.

“Nightingale!” Maxim called, with the gratitude of a starving man being offered food. “Nightingale is here to save us. We’re going to live.”

“Yay! Nightingale is here!” Nightingale replied, clapping her hands in mock excitement. She picked up the key from its hook.

“Yes, that’s the key,” Maxim said. “Now just unlock our cells.”

Nightingale examined Maxim in the corner of her eye. “You got caught. I didn’t get caught. I think that deserves a bigger share of the reward.”

“Yes. Absolutely. Whatever you need,” Maxim said desperately.

“You mean absolutely not,” Andra snapped.

“Then I guess you’re staying here,” said Nightingale.

“No! No, don’t listen to her,” said Maxim, grabbing the bars. “She doesn’t get to make that call.”

“Maxim, I’m assuming we’re discarding our bet so that we don’t all, you know, die here?” Andra asked.

“I don’t know. I guess. Who cares about that anymore?” Maxim replied.

“Then I’m not giving up any of my share to an elf trying to hold us hostage. Especially one who doesn’t realize that it’s in her best interest to take an equal share.”

Nightingale gave Andra the same side-eyed exam she’d given Maxim.

“You see, if you demand more money now that your allies are in danger, they’ll do the same next time you’re in danger. The entire trust of your team will fall apart and soon you’ll be deliberately sabotaging each other to the point where you won’t be able to get anything done. You need to be able to trust your teammates.”

Nightingale considered this for a moment. Finally, she said “Point taken,” and proceeded to unlock Maxim’s cell.

One-by-one, each of the party members were freed, and once the final cell was opened, they had their equipment back. Nightingale led the way back upstairs, crossbow in hand. The ground floor was almost entirely dominated by a single room. This room had no furniture, only a huge sigil painted onto the floor in red, about twenty feet in diameter. There were no windows, but the room was well lit by rows of light potions hanging from the ceiling. The necromancer crouched on the far side of the room, his back to the stairs. He appeared to be making alterations to the sigil to prepare it to convert the living into liches instead of the dead into zombies. Nightingale took aim with her crossbow, waving a hand over the bolt to enchant it, and fired. The bolt soared through the air, past the necromancer, and exploded on the floor nearby. Shocked, the necromancer looked first at the spot where the bolt had landed, then in the direction it had flown from and spotted the party. He began to whisper an incantation.

Not hesitating, Nightingale drew her sword and dashed forward. She was just preparing to thrust at the necromancer when he finished his spell and sent a thin needle of black energy through Nightingale’s chest, which continued through her to hit the wall near Andra. Nightingale crumpled onto the floor.

The others prepared to attack, but Kaylen was the first to move. She traced a circle in the air as she focused. Once the circle was complete, a beam of light shot from it to blast the necromancer in his chest, knocking him off his feet. He spun in the air, landing with his back to the party, and seemed to sink into the floor of the tower, becoming nothing more than a shadow. Kaylen rushed to Nightingale and knelt at her side. She touched Nightingale’s wound and her hands and Nightingale’s body briefly glowed as the wound closed itself up.

Nightingale looked up at the priestess, her eyes bleary. “Kaylen, you saved me,” she said.

Kaylen looked up at Andra, who had just caught up. “That is what I’m always saving my power for,” she stated firmly.

Meanwhile, Fiona and Bessen had just reached the black splotch on the floor where the necromancer had disappeared. Fiona poked at it with her weapon, now in the form of a longsword. “So, is he dead or what?” she asked.

“That looked like an escape spell,” said Riven, catching up and examining the splotch. “Quick, easy to cast, but not exactly pleasant. It’ll take him some time to recover.”

“Then after everything we failed to complete the job?” asked Atworth.

“I wouldn’t go that far,” said Andra. “We stopped the necromancer’s evil plot. We can just tell people that we killed him.”

“But if we just leave, won’t he just move back in and pick up where he left off?” Fiona asked.

Maxim adjusted his mask. “I could destroy the tower. You all saw how precarious it was. A few well-placed explosions and it’ll be a pile of rubble.”

“What about the zombies?” Atworth asked. “There are too many for us to kill. Do we just let them roam free to attack more people?”

“What about them?” Andra replied. “Our job was to kill the necromancer, not the zombies. The zombies are someone else’s problem.”

“Okay, well, have fun blowing up the tower, then,” said Atworth. “I have a tiger and a squirrel to go find.”

After that, the two parties finished up their business at the tower and returned to town semi-triumphantly. Andra wouldn’t exactly call it her greatest success, and she would have strong words for her allies, but at least she got to blow up a tower. Maxim even let her light the fuse!