"What if we run back out and funnel these creatures
through the corridor!" shouted Theryn as he swung his staff at an incoming
stirge. His staff made contact, crushing the creature's hollow bones and
sending it flying across the cavern, where it landed against the rock wall with
a wet splat.
"Then again..." the monk said, eyeing the gore on
the end of his bo staff.
Erwen-Bear roared and tried to crush the stirges that were
latched onto his back by rolling over on the floor. The stirges managed to
scuttle to safety as he did so, their long probosces still embedded into his
flesh.
Who the Owlbear was in a similar situation, swiping
fruitlessly with his claws as he tried to catch the creatures that were sucking
his blood.
Varien felt woozy as the stirges attached to him began to
feed.
Bob felt a stab of pain on his forearm as a stirge attached
itself.
Radegast shrieked as a stirge drove its sucker deep into her
shoulder, slurping greedily.
Xylon tried to duck and got a stirge's proboscis in his neck
for his trouble. He yanked it out painfully.
Bob also pulled the stirge free, gagging as blood sprayed
from the wound on his arm.
"That's it!" Radegast shouted, rushing into the
centre of the cavern and slamming her hand on the tiled floor. "Take
that!"
The rest of the party shouted "No, don't!"
The bard cast thunderwave .
A nova of thunderous energy radiated out from the bard's
clenched fist, pulverizing mosaic tiles and sending a shockwave through
throughout the cavern, the stirges, and her fellow adventurers.
Xylon, Alec, and Theryn tumbled headlong from the force of
the blast, scraping themselves against rough stone. Who howled and was bowled
over as well.
Even those with the fortitude to withstand the force of the
blast began to bleed from the nose and ears.
As for the stirges, most of them exploded on contact with
the shockwave. Those that had had a chance to feed on fresh blood became
fountains of gore that splashed the cavern walls.
The cavern grew silent.
Then stalactites began to fall from the ceiling.
Erwen-Bear took a stalactite between the shoulder blades and
roared in pain while Varien dodged another stone missile that shattered on the
floor, eradicating the last of the mosaic.
Again, the cavern grew silent.
Except for Radegast's nervous cursing. "Crap, crap,
crap, crap," she said in half a dozen languages as she wrung her hands.
"So sorry. So, so, sorry."
"Don't worry, we're used to it by now," Theryn
said, casting a dark glance at Xylon, who was dusting himself off.
Well, now that that's over with, let's push onward,"
Varien said. "There's a tunnel to the south."
The party fell in behind him.
The southern tunnel ended in a rubble-choked dead end, as
though the ceiling had caved in on itself. Here and there the bones of
long-dead warriors lay strewn about. There were heavy stone doors to the east
and the west.
"West is best'," Varien said. He turned and eyed
the stone door, which had been forced open.
He closed his eyes, uttered a brief prayer to Sune, and cast
divine sense .
The stench of evil assaulted his nostrils.
"Careful," he whispered to his companions.
Bob and Alec hung back. "I"m sure you've got this
under control," the sorcerer muttered.
Splintered stone benches and heaps of rubble from a
partially collapsed ceiling filled this room. A stone statue of a stern-looking
dwarf was half-buried in the collapse but was otherwise intact. Amid ruined
stone bunks and toppled weapon racks were the bones of several dwarves and
orcs.
"Anyone else feel a chill?" Xylon said from the
doorway.
Radegast strode confidently into the room. "Well, aside
from the collapsed ceiling this place is actually pretty homey-"
The sound of bone on stone interrupted the bard.
Varien set his jaw. “No,” he whispered. “No, no, no…”
There was a scrabbling sound as the bones underfoot began to
stir and knit together.
Nine skeletons stood to their feet, pinpricks of red light
dancing in their eye sockets.
"Lorelei will have its revenge, you fiends,"
Varien whispered through gritted teeth.
Two skeletons charged at the paladin, who stood firm and
blocked their attacks with his shield.
Radegast danced out of the way of two skeletal sword-swings
but found herself impaled on a third.
Erwen-Bear took a sword to his flank.
A skeleton swung a corroded sword at Who, but missed. Who
roared in pain as another skeleton's sword found its mark.
"I've got this," Theryn said, spinning his staff
as he stepped to a skeleton. He struck the undead creature, knocking teeth from
its exposed jaw, and then followed through with a flurry of blows, shattering
ribs and splintering limbs. His target stumbled back, coming apart at the
joints.
Radegast, heedless of the blood running from her sword
wound, shouted "Say, Xylon, didn't you mention you had a girl back in
town? Nothing would get her hotter than seeing you wave your hands!" She
cast bardic inspiration .
Xylon grinned. "Burning Hands it is, love."
Careful to create pockets of safety for his companions, he cast burning hands and set the room alight.
Four of the skeletons crumbled to ash in an instant, and the
rest were turned into ambulatory torches.
Varien swung his sword and sliced through a skeleton,
sending it crashing to the stone floor.
Who and Erwen-Bear's claws put paid to the rest.
Radegast smiled as the last skeleton turned to dust.
"Give a man a fire, and he's warm for a day. Set a man on fire and he's
warm for the rest of his life."
The party searched the room, finding a handful of gemstones
and a few rusted weapons. The statue, which was holding out an mug of beer
carved so realistically they could see bubbles on the head of the drink, bore a
plaque on its plinth that read in Dwarven, "Work Hard, Drink Hard, Guard
Hard."
"So, where to next?" Varien said.
There was a crashing sound as Who and Erwen-Bear beat down
the door across the hallway.
"No problem," said Varien. "When I say I
won't rest until the necromancer who created these undead is dead himself, I
mean I won't rest."
The chamber Erwen-Bear found himself in was once an office
or a storeroom of some kind bisected by a large stone counter, atop which were
three dusty balance scales made of iron. Cubbyholes carved into the north wall
were stuffed with paper scraps. several long-dead corpses - gnomes and orcs by
their look - were sprawled across the floor.
"Oh! Primary documents!" Radegast said as she
reached for a rolled-up scroll. It disintegrated at her touch.
"Whoops." She bent forward to look instead of touch at some other
scraps of paper and could make out the faint markings that recorded weigh-ins
and disbursements.
"Hey, what's this?" Theryn had walked around the
counter and spied a locked strongbox. He pulled it out. "Heavy, that's
likely a good sign."
"Anyone have any thieves' tools?" Varien asked.
Radegast shook her head.
"Too bad Ragnar wasn't here, I bet he could-"
Varien said and then stopped for a moment, lost in thought. "Hey Bob,
didn't Ragnar leave you his favourite crowbar?"
He ducked as Bob threw the crowbar at him.
"Okay Ravenclaw, don't let me down." Varien jabbed
it into the space between the box and its lid and hauled on it with all his
might. The hinges and lock mechanism squeaked in protest and then gave way in a
shower of coins.
"Pay dirt!" Varien said.
As the paladin counted the loot, the rest of the party
settled in for a rest. Xylon cast alarm out in the hallway, and they barricaded
the low stone door as best they could.
Hours passed.
Rested and recharged, the adventurers headed back the way
they had came. They examined the tunnels in the cavern and determined that the
western passage would likely lead them straight back to Gundren's encampment -
a good escape route if necessary. The tunnel to the east bore a faint green
glow from its twisting depths.
"I'll check it out," Xylon said. He crept carefully
into the tunnel.
The winding tunnel opened into a cavern that glowed with
ethereal light. Dense carpets of weird fungi covered large sections of the
cavern's floor. The growth included puffballs a foot across, weird shelf fungus
growing on stalagmites, and large stalked and caps a good five feet tall. Some
of the puffballs glowed with an eerie green phosphorescence.
"Don't worry about it," Xylon called back to his
companions as he stepped into the cavern. "It's just some local
flora-"
A puffball exploded under his booted foot, sending a cloud
of spores rocketing upwards. Xylon inhaled a breath of them despite himself and
immediately doubled over, wracked with coughs. He stumbled, "Damn it, I
think..." he slurred.
He shook his head to clear it.
"What's wrong?" Varien asked.
"Oh, just a cavern full of deadly gas-emitting fungi,
is all," Xylon said. He pointed an unsteady finger and cast fire bolt .
The fiery bolt of arcane flame sizzled into the centre of
the cavern and ignited more puffballs, motes and spores catching fire in
mid-air. It was an impressive light show.
Xylon took a deep breath, held it, and dashed across the
cavern.
"What are you doing!?" Varien shouted.
Xylon ran headlong through the cloud of gas and skidded to a
stop at the other side, pumping his fist in victory.
He turned his attention to a tunnel that snaked north. He
could sense a subtle aura of magic from the cavern ahead.
The rest of the party followed suit, holding their breath as
they ran across the fungal cavern.
“This is all Xylon’s fault,” Bob said between coughs.
Xylon scouted ahead. The tunnel opened up into the largest
cavern they had yet discovered.
Glittering minerals in the ceiling caught the faint light of
the fungal growths and sent it back to create the impression of a starry night
sky. Dozens of skeletons, many crushed under fallen debris, were scattered
across the floor.
The cave was large enough that it contained two freestanding
structures. Each of those buildings was proportioned for human or elvish use,
as opposed to the dwarf-sized doorways elsewhere in the mines. Both structured
had battered and blackened masonry walls, their double doors cracked and
scorched. The cavern itself was divided by an escarpment, into which a
flight of stairs had been cut. Passages led out of this area to the north and
west.
Xylon cast detect
magic and could almost see the shimmer of a magical aura in both buildings,
the closest one weaker than the one across the expanse of the cavern. He snuck
over to the door of the ruined building, which looked like a cottage or workshop,
and listened at the door.
Radegast snuck up behind the wizard and cast
prestidigitation to tickle Xylon’s shoulder with a cold snap.
Xylon whirled about and glared, letting his fingers ignite
with menacing flame.
Radegast grinned sheepishly.
Varien joined Xylon at the door. The pair listened.
They could hear whispers inside.
The words came like air forced through the dry husks of an
autumn field. “Turn the page, Martius.
Yes, turn the page.”
Varien edged the door open.
“Yes, all mine. Mine.
For all time, mine.”
Dust, ash, walls blackened by fire, and heaps of debris
beneath the sagging ceiling show that this room was damaged by a destructive
blast. The furnishings, which included tables, chairs, bookshelves, and beds,
were charred and splintered, but were otherwise well preserved. A scorched iron
chest stood near the foot of one of the beds.
In the northwest corner of the room was a writing desk of
fine woodcraft, and before it sat a withered, desiccated figure, one hand
hanging limp at his side, the other draped listlessly on the open page of a
thick tome. The figure’s forefinger was worn down almost to a nub of bone, and
was blackened with ink.
In the corner of the desk was a small candle, lit with a
flickering black flame.
“The hell?” Varien whispered.
He, Xylon, Radegast, and Theryn crept into the cottage.
The man in the chair did not react to their intrusion.
Suddenly the room grew cold, and an apparition floated up
from beneath the floorboards. It was an incorporeal humanoid figure wreathed in
tapering ribbons of black mist.
The creature spoke in grave whispers that chilled the
adventurers to the bone.
“Your presence is offensive to me, your lives forfeit!” It
said. “My treasures are mine alone, and not yours to plunder!”
Varien whirled around, his expression darkening. He drew
Talon from its scabbard. “Back the hell down, Foul One.”
Radegast frowned. “I am a woman of letters, but even I know
when a book needs to be destroyed, not preserved.” She pointed at the book on the
table.
“On it!” Theryn said.
The wraith glided across the room towards Theryn and
Radegast. “You foolish mortals, you shall not possess Mormesk’s life’s work!”
It stretched out a withered claw at Radegast and cast life drain.
Radegast felt a frozen bolt of agony strike her where she
stood, necrotic damage radiating from the point of impact, blistering skin and
scarring her flesh. She stood frozen, feeling her life force weakening.
The wraith laughed cruelly.
“No!” Varien shouted. He strode forward and slashed the
incorporeal creature through its midsection. The sword passed through the
wraith, but in its wake left an open gash from which grey smoke roiled.
The wraith hissed and spun about. “Fool! I, Mormesk, have
already died once. Do you think I still fear death?”
Theryn swung his staff and cracked the zombie sitting at the
reading desk, knocking it to the ground. He picked up the book, slammed it
shut, and tossed it to Xylon.
“Idiot!” Mormesk shouted. “It took me centuries to train
Martius to sit there and turn the page!”
Radegast stumbled, still reeling from the wraith’s draining
attack. “That hurt,” she said. “But so will this!”
She cast shatter .
The northern section of the cottage exploded outward from the force of the
magic blast. The zombie’s body convulsed from the shockwave, and Mormesk’s
shape blurred under the assault. The reading desk turned to splinters and books
and scrolls took flight in a hail of confetti.
Xylon stepped out the cottage’s front door and flipped
through the tome. It was written in Abyssal, and just deciphering the
characters was enough to send his head spinning. This book contained dark
secrets that warranted further study, but now was not the time for research.
Outside in the cavern, Bob, Alec, and Erwen-Bear heard a
raspy moaning sound from the darkness. Four figures slowly dragged themselves
to their feet and began shuffling towards them, their jaws slack and arms
grasping and outstretched.
Bob cast chill touch
on the nearest zombie, freezing it in place. The creature moaned and tried to
lift its foot. The frozen foot snapped off and remained immobilized, and the
zombie continued on its stump.
Who bounded ahead and bit down hard on another zombie.
Varien cast vow of enmity
on the wraith.
The zombie in Who’s job fell to the ground in two pieces.
Then it moaned and began to get to its feet. It picked up its severed arm and
tried to swing it at Who as a club, only to have his swinging arm fall off and
hit the ground.
“Completely armless,” Bob said.
Xylon ducked back into the cottage and cast chromatic orb at the wraith, missing it.
Radegast slumped to her knees. To Varien, she said. “Burn
that bitch down!”
Mormesk stabbed a claw at the paladin, trying to cast life drain again, but missed.
Buoyed by the bardic inspiration, Varien cast thunderous smite and delivered a mighty
blow to the wraith. His eyes flashed with holy fire and his sword glowed with
righteous, radiant energy. The sword passed through the wraith once again, but
this time, radiant energy began eating away at both edges of the wound.
“No!” Mormesk
gasped in surprised fury as he felt the force of the paladin’s holy strike.
“After all this time,”
Mormesk said, almost to himself. “All
this time…” he faded into nothingness and the wraith was no more.
Outside the cottage, the four zombies suddenly slumped to
the ground.
Radegast and Xylon tussled over the surviving tomes in the cottage,
recovering five. As Radegast flipped through one of the books, she discovered a
map sewn into the inside cover of the magically-preserved book.
“Huh,” she said.
Theryn and Erwen, who had dropped his bear shape, popped
open the lid of the chest. Coins and gems glittered in the semidarkness.
Erwen drew out a wooden pipe adorned with a fine platinum
filigree. “I’ll be taking this,” the Halfling said.
Varien took a moment to collect himself, and then strode
through the hold that Radegast’s shatter
spell had made to the north section of the cottage.
“Where are you going?” Xylon asked.
Varien looked over his shoulder. “I told you, I will not
rest.”
He walked into the midnight darkness of the starry cave.