Episode 11

Having fled the rough caverns to the east of the keep's main main entrance, the party headed to the only doorway yet to be explored — Spug's "dead things" area. They pushed open the doors and Walf activated one of his sunrods as he descended the shallow, discoloured stairs into pitch darkness. An overpowering odour of stenchrot filled the air, and the darkness was absolutely silent except for the distant, regular plink of water dripping into a pool.

Walf took the first turning, to the right, and explored the dank passage with care. Some way along his sunrod illuminated a large, strange design inscribed on the floor. Aravin, following close behind, sensed that it would trigger some effect if touched. Rather than risk contact, Walf turned down a side passage and continued to explore.

Meanwhile, John — still carrying a sunrod from earlier — and Flinch decided to explore straight ahead from the entrance. Immediately to their left a doorway opened on what appeared to be a large chamber. They stepped across the doorway and peered in. Flinch saw several pairs of glowing blue lights floating in the space. John, however, saw "argh! Eyes!" and quickly stepped back from the doorway, dragging Flinch with him. A shuffling sound came from the room, and suddenly a horribly decomposing corpse appeared in the doorway lurching towards them, its eyes glowing with an unnatural blue light.

Walf, hearing John's cry, turned down another passage and found that he could see the others, but another rune on the floor before his feet made him reluctant to attempt to reach them unless things seemed desperate. Dexter and Spug, who had followed him through the passages, gathered behind him and kept watch as best they could into the darkness behind.

As the rotting corpses emerged from the room, most of the party attacked them without hesitation; Aravin's blasts of arcane fire tearing some of the more severely decomposed to pieces. However, mindless of their own preservation, the zombies lurched on, one of them wrapping its arms around John and squeezing him with supernatural strength. Seeing this, Walf dropped his sunrod, took a few steps back, and leapt over the runes, charging to John's aid. Surrounded and being hammered on all sides, the zombies' lights were soon extinguished; Flinch, firing two arrows in one draw, hit with such perfect accuracy that two of the hideous corpses were torn to pieces instantly.

Meanwhile Dexter turned to watch the action, and didn't notice Spug suddenly run back down the passage along which they'd come. At the end of the passage, though, Spug gave a little squeal and came running back. At that, Dexter turned, and noticed for the first time more eyes emerging from a passage to the north. He carefully picked up the sunrod, then silently backed down the long passage, failing to notice that a few zombies had circled around that way and were now behind him.

When the first lot of zombies were dealt with, Walf looked to where his friend was, and noticed that Dexter was no longer there. "Dex?" he called out in a hoarse whisper that would probably have been heard back in the excavation room. "Zombies" came the reply, so Walf took off at the run again, leaping back over the rune, then stood catching his breath beside his dropped sunrod as the zombies shambled towards him.

Meanwhile Aravin began blasting at the third group of zombies, keeping them distracted from engulfing Dexter. Thus engaged, the mindless abominations lurched towards him, smashing their supernaturally strong limbs against his unprotected body. Feeling a slight buzz from killing the first lot of zombies, and seeing one of his allies being beaten down, Xagoth instantly ran to Aravin's aid, stepping between him and the zombies, completely mindless of his own peril. Artin, too, ran to their aid, as fast as her short legs could carry her.

Facing four determined heroes, the zombies switched from crushing destroyers to defenseless targets, and were decimated throughly, while Walf held the passage to their rear and fended off most of the assault from that direction, dismembering the animated corpses with his sword until their fell eyes were darkened and the evil spirits possessing them fled into the darkness.

Aware that Dexter was under attack, but not overly troubled at the fact, Flinch lead a small party south through the room the zombies had apparently been guarding.

Walf asked Aravin to cast a magical light on his longsword, then holding it like a torch, jumped another rune and continued exploring north, followed by Dexter — who bounced agilely from the walls and thus passed over the rune unharmed. Unwilling to attempt the leap themselves, and not wanting to be left alone in the dark, Aravin, Xagoth and the rest followed Flinch and John southwards.

Beyond the room, another doorway opened onto the western end of a wide hallway. To the east the hallway widened, and from that area a silvery light shone. Ten massive granite sarcophagi, five on each wall, lined the crypt — each bearing the carved image of a human warrior in plate armour. The more quick-eyed of the group noticed draconic script adorning the sarcophagi. Artin informed the party that the sarcophagi and the draconic script on them indicated a temple devoted to Bahamut the Platinum Dragon, whose name is often not be spoken, out of respect; and that the way of the Platinum Dragon is pure and good and bound by the laws.

In the north, however, Walf and Dexter each thoroughly explored most of the passages they could reach without having to leap too many more runes, and met up in a corner. They aimlessly began probing at the walls, "Just in case", when suddenly a hidden doorway opened before them. If the small room beyond had ever held treasure, it had long since been emptied. Dexter detected the sound of faint moans somewhere beyond the room, but their origin was unclear. Just as they were about to turn and leave, Dexter noticed a slight shimmering on the far wall. Walf, shield at the ready, moved forward until his glowing sword was up against the wall. Then his sword passed right through the stone, without any resistance, and its light was lost until he drew it back again. He glanced over his shoulder at Dexter, then stepped boldly through the wall, ready for anything. He found himself face to face with a zombie, with three others in the room staring at him with their dull, lifeless eyes. "Uh, Dexter..."

To be continued...