Clarabella nods. "I will Consent to Assist. I have been Raised Right!"

Voshrelka could reply to that, but has the wisdom not to, and instead just has a briefly pained expression on her face, followed by a nod. "Thank you for your assistance and time. We will do our utmost not to waste it."

Okay, her offer of macabre assistance to her at least temporary allies is complete, on to actually attempting to disentangle... this. "Clarabella, what was your method of Awakening? Were you Awakened and then raised, or was it the same spell that did both?"

Clarabella looks up at her, and tilts her head.  "I do not Remember it. I was Asleep. Eriape says it happens Nearly Concurrently, as that's how it's Best for Us."

Undeath would certainly be more comfortable without context of how life can actually not be filled with constant suffering, yes. It also prevents inconvenient preferences from forming.

"I see. Have you witnessed this process in other badgers?"

"Yes, Many Times. I do not have Arcane Sight, so I don't Know as much as the Wizard-Badgers. The Candidates are always asleep when she gets them from Badger Island."

'Badger Island' is noteworthy and will be touched upon later. For now, she has her priorities.

"How many badgers have been Awakened? Were all of them then made into undead?"

"I have Seen Twenty Awakenings, and all of Us were Thus Made Undying."

Not as awful a number as it could be, really.

"And have any of them subsequently died?"

"Not before You Came."

Nod.

"Could you identify the bodies of any newly deceased Awakened badgers?"

"It would be Sad! But Yes."

.... She should probably ask an empathetic question here that shows she cares about feelings or something. There's a paladin that might still be in earshot. They care about that sort of thing. She thinks. She hasn't met many paladins, they're just extremely themselves about what they are.

"Would you consent to performing such a grim task? If one of them has died, the most reliable way to check the state of their soul would be by Scrying." Which she can do now. It will be her first one, since she's been spending all of her non-domain fourth circle spells on feeding the hungry.

"It is Important Work, and if Any of them Are Sadly Dead, this way you will Learn their Names, in case you want to Meet them in the Afterlife to Talk to them There!"

Nod. "I would be honored to hear of your Awakened companions."

Well, irritated, but it's useful information for both a scry and for the general investigative work of figuring out the state of the souls of the subject, so. It rounds up to honored. Same difference, really. And they can trail after the various adventurers clearing out the lair to see about identifying the dead.

"So to Summarize, only One of the Animals seem to have been Awakened, our Friend, the Skilled Wizard Montserrat. The rest were the Old Badgers, from Before The Great Lady Eriape Learned the Trick to Awakening us, From Before She was Herself."

"... You mean when she made herself a lich?" clarifies Voshrelka, as she efficiently gets to retrieving a focus from Montserrat's body. (A bit of shed fur; she has the sense to respectfully give him a brush instead of doing something distasteful, like taking a tooth or claw or something. She will be a fetching newly dead undead monstrosity.)

"She was a Different Person before she was a Lich! much Less interested in Badgers! Montserrat is Sure to Become a Great Afterlife Person, like an Archdevil or an Archon or Something. She was Very Effective!"

"That is often the case, with liches, though the focus upon badgers is as I know it unique." Lock of fur: acquired, and carefully tied together with a length of twine and packed away in a bit of stray cloth. "The work of the arcane Awakening was entirely after her undeath, then?"

"Yes! She got it from a Druid! I am Glad she Did. Being an Animal that Cannot Think is Scary."

"It often is, yes. Higher reasoning comes with its own downsides, though. A druid helped her? A living one?"

"I would not say Helped. I understand the Druid went Back on Her Word after she got the Money. Eriape was Thus Forced to Extract the Spell from her By Force!"

"I see. Is the druid now dead, then?"

"I do not know Her Name, but from what I Heard it was a very Final sort of Encounter. She came from some Forest here in Cheliax!"

Nod. She’ll want to investigate the details of that, which will probably mean going through the lich’s notes.

“But you don’t know which one, and obviously weren’t there to witness it. Regardless, thank you.” There being a druid’s involvement somewhere has implications for the quality of the Awakening, though. This creature’s soul might not be in horrific tatters after all, and she might even make it to judgement.

“Do you know how many years its been, since your Awakening?”

"Yes! We had a Special Event for it Every Year on the Anniversary!  It has been Sixty Five such Events! You are an Elf I think, so you must be Older!"

At least seventy years since the mysterious druid tried to trick a lich and failed, then. And long past the point of resurrection by means besides the archhealer. Which is a pity, she would have liked to give Clarabella some time to actually be alive with her sapience.

“Three hundred and sixty four.” Head tilt. This probably isn't relevant to her investigations, but she’s now curious. “A special event? Of what kind?”

"You Know, A Party! Eriape would Spend all her High Level Spells to Scry an Inn with Good Musicians and we would Sing Along! And there would be a Prize Draw! And then we would Sing the Anniversary Song! And all the Wizards would Use their Spells to Make a Better Party!"

"I... see. And. You all had fun?" That is better than the alternative but also much more bizarre. An undead badger party, headed by their wretched lich overlord that Awakened them to immediately shackle them in the horrors of undeath.

"Yes! It was the High Point of the Lair Calendar, other than Eriape's Ascension Day- For that All the Badgers put on a Play- and Armasse, when we have Feats of Badger Strength!"

"Feats of. Badger strength," repeats Voshrelka, still bemused.

"Yes! Long Jumping! and Speed Burrowing! And Crossbow! I am the Best at Crossbow!"

"Congratulations on your skill." This conversation is surreal and Voshrelka thinks she would like it to cease now. She's having feelings and she doesn't like it. "You mentioned a Badger Island?"

"Yes! Eriape Arranged an Idyll for Badgers! She found this Large Forested Island with Only these Peaceful Flightless Birds living there, and Imported Badgers! There are No Predators there except for the Badger! That's where her Supply of Badgers used to Come From!"

That would absolutely cause ecological collapse and very many of those flightless birds dying horribly. Why. Why would you do that. What about everyone else that lived on that island. Instead of picking a fight, the druid sighs. Not worth fussing over, especially since it sounds like this happened a century ago, but: sigh.

"Did she change recently, or is 'used to' in reference to how she has been captured?"

"In the Last Few Years, she has a New Secret Badger Arrangement! I cannot Tell you Of it, as it is a Secret!"

"Ah. Of course." Why stop with just one ecological disaster, when you could have many, some of which are secret for arbitrary lich reasons. Eugh. Not her forest, not her goblins. She has enough to do as is, and the lich is now handled. "Do you recall where you were Awakened? Was it in this lair, or somewhere else?"

"It was Here! What about You? You were Born I think! A Mortal!"

"I was born, yes, though I don't have any memory of the experience. Were you Awakened in the - space of green plants in here?" Because it implies good things about the Awakening, if so. The druid version of the spell requires a connection with nature to work, after all.

"Yes! On that Stone Altar in Front! Those Plants are all the Herbs needed to Awaken! I hear that Druid Spells are Strange! Lots of Natural Ingredients"

"Yes. When spellcrafting requires materials, we try to aim for things that are renewable, instead of something finite, like diamonds or spellsilver." One of the many ways druids are the best.

"Gosh! you are A Druid? Have you Ever awakened Anyone?"

"I am, yes. And - no, I haven't." It's fifth circle, for one, but also more relevantly: "It's a large responsibility, like parenthood. If I were inclined to parent I'd aim for making another elf. For the lifespan."

Unspoken: she is not so inclined.

"I have a Very Long Lifespan! Do you need an Animal Companion? I am a Very Good Lieutenant and I could get a Splendid Reference!"

... That's surprisingly sweet. Not that she'd want a reanimated animal as her companion, but. It's very sweet of Clarabella to offer.

"I've no doubt you would be a fantastic animal companion," says Voshrelka, uncharacteristically gently. "But I - had one. Long ago. He died." To save her life, she doesn't add, because that only matters to her, now. "It felt... crass, to replace him. So, I haven't."

"I am Sorry for your Loss! If you Tell me His Name, I can Say Hi to Him in Heaven after you Kill Me!"

"Lenthos. He was a raven." She doesn't dispute that she's probably going to kill Clarabella. Judging by how much this Awakening seems based on druidic foundations, her soul is probably perfectly whole. Clarabella won't realize the pain she's in until it stops. Resurrection is untenable, for one so long dead. So: the best way to end her pain is to send her to her afterlife, and. From this conversation Voshrelka thinks she knows who will win the case in that Judgement.

It will be a nice place to go.

She leans her head against Voshrelka in sympathy for a moment.

"How did you come to Participate in this Invasion if I may Ask?"

"I was a wizard's plus one for a noble party. I didn't expect it to be for this purpose, but I've no complaints." Voshrelka: still very impressed that Lisandro figured out it'd be a lich lair raid! Quality wizarding, right there.

"Interesting! What do we Do Now? Do you want me to Show you the Lair? I imagine your Wizard Boyfriend will want Eriape's Spellbook, and it is in a Secret Place!"

She would not describe her relationship with the wizard that way, but whatever.

"Is that the sort of Secret Place you're willing to share?" wonders Voshrelka, archly. She expects not, but it's worth asking.

"I think I Would. Firstly, If Eriape Escapes, she would Not come back here, it would be Stupid. Secondly, I think that Man who Teleported Away might be the Person she promised to Share her spells with Anyway. Thirdly, she has a Spare, and Fourthly you would Find it Anyway."

"Hm. Sound logic. And the nobility will be astonished and impressed if I manage it, which will be very entertaining, and if I die here to traps I expect to be resurrected. Very well. Lead on, Clarabella."

(She's going to use her healing spells on herself, first, though.)

So Clarabella begins giving Voshrelka a tour of the Lair, the place where eriape the badgers made magic items to sell, the place where she stored urchins, the place where they copied-and-stamped the Badgers, the place where they sang, the place where they watched things happen when scrying. The lectern where eriape would teach them from, when they were just raised to sentience- and for each place she has a story- and in each place she shutters the lanterns that illuminate the room, making it darker and darker as she goes along.

And at the end they come back almost to where they started, next to a blank piece of wall.

"Can you close the shutter on your lanterns? It needs to be fully dark."

Sure, she can persuade the various people present to please cover their lights for a little while. The druid is doing obscure druid things, don't mind her.

(This takes a little more persuasion than this narration implies, and is met with even more suspicion and careful preparation in case of traps, but. They are willing to, eventually, humor her and her temporary undead badger companion. It's to get the spellbook.)

When it's dim enough, a part of the iron wall becomes grey and transparent, and inside the little pocket, there's a key.

Clarabella coughs, once, twice, and then a tiny round thing comes out of her mouth. 

"It's a [Secret Coffer]," she says. "Touch it with the key."

Ah, so the spellbook was inside the badger all along. What a wizardly thing to do. Yes, they certainly would have found that eventually, though the key to it in the wall would have been a bit harder.

Anyway, she'll do so. Spellbook, or death explosion?

The secret coffer returns from the astral plane with a Whoomph, and, indeed, inside, there's some papers. A tiny bit of spellsilver. The deed to the Mas Blanc Farm. Some letters from Eriape's sister. And a spellbook, clad in pale leather, and strangely soft to the touch.

Clarabella looks at Voshrelka. 

"I hope your wizard likes it." 

Spellbook! The wizards will be very impressed, probably. She sends a whispering wind to the nervous and dubious nobles who all think she's gone completely mad, and inform them that: yep, she has a spellbook. You can argue with her methods, sanity, and decency, but you cannot argue with her results.

"Thank you," she says sincerely to Clarabella. "I expect he will."

Everything gets carefully checked for traps, then handed off. She was tempted to try to figure out the arcane version of the druidic Awakening spell, but the spell itself is both beyond her, and she doesn't have the head for arcane magic anyway. Best to just hand it to the wizards and continue being a good pet druid. It would be extremely hostile to destroy the spellbook here and now in the hopes that it'd get rid of the possibly-botched-but-likely-not spell, here in front of all of these people. And it would upset Clarabella.

Clarabella then walks back to where they started, and curls up at the foot of Eriape's Throne, on the iron plate worn smooth and bright with the passing of decades. 

She looks at Voshrelka.

"I'm ready whenever you are."

Voshrelka sits nearby, but apart. Out of range of whatever traps are likely associated with the throne. It's unnecessary to ask what she's ready for.

"I'd like to wait for tomorrow's spells, to scry on Montserrat and be sure your soul is whole and will survive the journey. Until then, would you like to tell me about your existence?"

The undead don't sleep. There's no reason she should be bored while they wait for the world to catch up to their needs.

"Okay! Let me tell you about the Time we went to Absalom! So Eriape was disguised as a Living Person, and this was just After we Awakened Haria, and both her and me were Disguised as little Yappy Dogs. I don't think you've Met Haria, but she's very Responsible, and she will be in Command after Today- anyway. We were in Absalom, and we were looking at the Old Ruined Golems-"

It's a long story, and it describes Eriape's Grand Tour across Golarion.

It turns into another story, and then another-

and eventually, it's morning

Voshrelka gets her spells, spends an hour scrying a badger's soul, and gets her answer. The long night of storytelling assuages her concerns of Clarabella's eternal fate.

Her time on the Material Plane ends here, though.

And the little spark of arcane fire goes out in Clarabella's eyes.

She is not any way afraid of what comes next. She was a good badger.