Taking the Treasure

Celessarae slumped onto the soft sand floor of the dank cave, breathing a sigh as the weight of her plate armor was supported by the ground instead of her upright body for a moment. She slowly unbuckled her helmet and dropped it, wincing as it stuck to the wound on her forehead. She shook her golden hair free of its constraints, and allowed herself a moment to just breathe.

"This little adventure has turned into a disaster from the moment we set out," she thought to herself. And it had! From the moment the Eversong's Revenge had sent its landing parties to the dismal island where she now was, they had encountered nothing but outright ruin at every turn. The cursed island off the shores of Tol Barad was rumored to contain a wealth of treasure and magical artifacts, but it had also been the source of ghost stories, tales of shipwrecks, and very real missing person reports for years now. Abandoned by Kul Tiras long ago, the island was wreathed with shipwrecks, and some had said that the ghosts of the dead guarded the wrecks and the treasures hidden within the island's cave system.

Of course Celessarae and the other pirates on the Eversong's Revenge had scoffed at such notions. Usually people made claims about ghosts when they didn't want others trespassing on their territory, and many of the pirates agreed that it was worth the risks to investigate. The captain of the Eversong's Revenge had disagreed, but wasn't about to try and stop his entire bloodthirsty crew from going on their adventure. Of course Celessarae had tagged along for the voyage. Why miss out on the fun?

She rolled her eyes and laughed slightly. Some fun. She could still hear the screams as others in the landing party were slaughtered by the undead guardians of the cave systems. Some of them had already risen in undeath as the wraiths that guarded several of the passageways used foul necromancy to bring them back in servitude to the island's curse. It was unlikely that more than a handful of the landing party lived even now, and the number dwindled by the minute. A complete disaster indeed.

She shrugged and forced herself back to her feet, looking around at the alcove where she found herself. This was the deepest recess of the cave system, and she had found her way here after quite a few fights with the undead guardians in other corridors and openings in the caves. All that greeted her for her efforts  though was the skeletal remains of what was probably once a human, the bones of his arm outstretched before him and clutching a sword. No treasure. No magical artifacts. A waste.

"Fel!" Celessarae cursed. "Why the fel did I bother with all this? I'll not be gettin' rich off of a pile o' bones, and now we'll be needin' more men to recrew the Eversong's Revenge as well as my own ship!"

She stalked over to the skeleton, eyeing it with disgust. "Nothin' to show for all this work..." Her voice trailed away as she studied the sword the skeleton clutched in its death grip. Runes sparkled along its blade, and her Sin'dorei senses could feel the magic emanating from it.

"Well, maybe not entirely a waste," She purred as she knelt beside the corpse and began to untangle the fingerbones from around the pommel. With a few quick movements the sword was free and in her hand. It glimmered with its own light, obscuring the small lightstone she kept in an amulet on her neck for illumination in the dark cave. The blade cut through the air as if it were made for her to wield it. The balance was perfect, and no sign of age or decay marred the enchanted item. Finally, she had found at least one piece of treasure to make the trip worthwhile.

"The blade is cursssssed!" A horrific voice hissed at her from behind. "You have tressspasssed in a placcce that you should not be!"

Celessarae turned to see the horrific sight of the skeleton she had taken the blade from standing behind her, a finger outstretched and pointing in accusation at her. She rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, that's great 'n all, but I don't really give a fel," She responded to the undead creature, bringing the blade up to a ready position. She could see little malevolent glows forming behind the skeleton; more undead coming down the passageways, attracted by the sword's magic perhaps or just the creature that was speaking to her now.

"The souls of the dead will hauuuuuunt you foreverrrrrrr," the creature hissed again. "You will seeeeeeee them forever moreeeeeeeeeeee and join us!" It began to lurch towards her.

Calm and collected, she smirked at the creature and replied, "Honey, they already do. As fer yer offer, I think I'll stay livin' for a bit longer. Allow me to help you with yer undeath problem though!"

She lashed out with the sword, and to her amazement it blazed with power as it struck the creature, neatly shattering its bones with almost no effort. It was truly a powerful weapon, possibly once belonging to a paladin or warrior of some renown. The undead creature was hurled to the ground in ruin, and the glowing eyes further up the passageway paused, staring at her. She could feel their hatred beating against her like a wave of malevolence.

"Time to go I'm thinkin'," She muttered. She quickly dug into a pouch at her waste and pulled out a small white stone with a blue swirl design on it. With a smile and mocking bow at the undead just out of her sight, she breathed on the surface of the stone. It sparkled and a flow of magic took to the air, swirling around her as she slowly faded from view. Stealing that hearthstone was one of her better notions as of late it seemed.

The cave faded back into darkness again, the pirate and enchanted blade having been whisked away by the magic of the hearthstone. The dead resumed their unending watch, adding some of the fallen pirates to their ranks. The Eversong's Revenge would have to sail without them, and without the treasures they had hoped to claim.