With the arrival of the boss-man, Seph, and the death of the young mage, Cassandra extinguished her protective ward. One man down wasn’t bad for the group’s first mission, and Cassandra had played her part well. Counter magic, in her not so humble opinion, was a witch’s greatest weapon, and she had utilized her skills to the benefit of the team, even managing to save one of her coworkers from bleeding out. For a moment, she was overcome with emotion, a strange internal mix of excitement, joy, and belonging. 

[i]”What are you doing?”[/i] she gave herself a mental kick, returning to her normal, flirty, sarcastic self. She nodded at Mithias as he relieved her of Jaklo and entered the portal back to W&R. She stood up, brushing off the snow from her bare knees. With all passing from this place to the next, Cassandra quickly followed suit, the Pit of Creation in tow. It’s wide mouth threatened to strand it within the frozen wastes of their previous location, but after a moment, it had successfully passed through the portal, which closed in response. 

Cassandra took a moment to examine the new collection of teammates who had arrived via a separate portal. They were as interesting a lot as her own team had been, and just as diverse in terms of age and ability. One of them brought out a nice brandy.

"Well, here's to the first of what I hope will be many successes. I feel honored to call you co workers." 

Cassandra stepped forward, taking up one of the glasses he had poured. 

“Falling into a drunken stupor after a successful mission? Cheers to that,” she exclaimed in her usual sultry tone, downing the dark liquor, wincing only slightly at its bitterness. As she moved, so did the Pit, bumping into desks and boxes in its path, taking up a lofty amount of space in their immediate area. 

“Whoops, almost forgot about you,” she turned back to the Pit and tapped on its side. “Blessed vessel of pitch and tar, if far be near, if near be far.” 

The Pit seemed to dissolve into nothing, its fine brass exterior absorbed briefly in mystical flames. When they subsided, the Pit went with them, back to wherever it deigned to reside between uses.