Alazandaru enters the darkened room, making hardly a sound. Stopping to listen, his own silence is echoed by silence from within. Without noise, he continues into the room, exploring as able. Suddenly, more than a few feet into the room, coming from within a horrible shried suddenly erupts causing a moment of pain in the ears. The shriek echoes off the walls, throughout the dungeon, and possibly even to the top floors of the mansion.
"Hm. Interesting. And unbearably loud. Hopefully he finds something of use."
"Hush!" Tatya urges Morthos. "It's trying to get him to expose himself ... I hope. No matter what, no lights." She peers anxiously into the dark room. At least if Alazandaru is suddenly cut down like Beatrix was, she won't have such a good view of it....
Dubious about the plan, Alazandaru clutched his quarterstaff tight and kept his eyes peeled, continuing on through the room by memory...
Morthos turns his head toward Tatya, an expressionless look upon his face. After a moment, he then turns his vision back towards the room, waiting.
Continuing forward, Alazandaru suddenly notices the stone takes on an earthy feel, providing less resistance as his foot steps down. While the noise reverberates throughout the room, he can feel the source coming from directly ahead of him. Though he cannot see it, he can almost feel the noise ahead.
The young warrior froze at Bostarg's words but realised that to turn back now would likely mean getting attacked in the dark. As quietly as he was able, he lit his hooded lantern upon the floor to gain a light source all around him. As his flint and steel struck the oil and lit the lantern he shouted-
As Alazandaru's lantern flares to life, revealed in front of him is the largest mushroom any of you have ever seen. From the way the edges seem to shimmer, it appears to be shaking at a very high speed. It also appears to be the source of the loud whine. It sits in the center of a pool of dirt in the floor itself.
Aedorn cautiously explores the rooms in this dungeon, trying to make as little noise as possible until suddenly the entire place erupts with a loud piercing noise. Figuring that must be where the trouble is, he makes his way towards where the sound seems to be coming from.
You see an adult halfling man dressed in finery slinking in the shadows down the hall towards you. He carries a bow at his side, eyes darting this way and that, as if he's very nervous about something.
Morthos moves in immediately, prepared for the oncoming battle. "What is that thing? I say we kill it just so we can shut it up."
Morthos destroys the mushroom with a single strike from his blade, silencing it. With the noise gone, the sounds of the undead further over can be better heard. It seems they have begun to assault a doorway out by the beatings that can be heard, though it may take time to get through.
Tatya chuckles bitterly, giving the gnome a sidelong glance. "Apparently, the way we went before we slept was the easy way." Summoning her dancing lights, she spreads them throughout the mushroom's chamber. "Quickly, take a look for the pendant, and then we will retreat and shut the door behind us. If they all break through the side door, we may be able to slip through the door we used yesterday and search the remains of their caskets for our prize."
Alazandaru moved to guard the others while they searched.
The mushroom destroyed, the room is searched. Alas, even with light, nothing is revealed during the search aside from a large area of dirt from which the mushroom rooted itself.
The sound of the undead can be heard coming from the west, beyond a doorway leading out of this room. Several loud thuds resound, the sounds of wood splintering as a heavy weight descends upon it, thwack, thwack, thwack. For how long, it remains to be seen.
"Get out; shut the door," Tatya urges, following her own advice as she joins Bostarg in the corridor. "When we hear them break through here, we dash to the other room to see if the pendant is visible. If not, we can at least hope to retrieve Beatrix's belongings; she had potions, did she not?"
"Let me know when you hear them break through. I will look for the pendant as quickly as I can. And as you mentioned, fair Tatya, if nothing else, I shall grab Beatrix and pull her out." Morthos immediately heads toward the other door, awaiting the signal.
They're coming back this way! Deciding it'd be a better idea to let his presence be known rather than be discovered and thought an enemy, Aedorn steps out from around the corner. He is an adult halfling man dressed in finery and carries a bow at his side as he waves to get your attention. "Hello! I say, uh...the lord of the manor sent me to aid you. Aedorn, at your service," he says with a bow and a flourish.
As Morthos pauses to take in the newcomer, "Quiet down, they'll hear you," he commands without the slightest expression as he immediately resumes his way toward the opposite door.
Thoroughly taken by surprise by the halfling's appearance, Tatya jumps as he speaks, and her hand fumbles for her dagger before his words register in her mind. "If you wish to stay alive," she hisses angrily, "do not creep up behind armed people fighting the undead." As she thinks about his words and the timing of his appearance, she frowns. "The Cardinal knows she is dead," she says half to herself. "He knows we are failing! Quickly," she tells the newcomer, "are your eyes as deft as your toes? We must find a silver-and-sapphire pendant before the draugr cut us down. Follow Morthos."
Aedorn's eyes go wide, but he lowers his voice. "Undead? Well, yes, I have sharp eyes. Lead the way."
The halfling falls in behind the much taller warrior, now feeling slightly unsure about his decision to come down here.
As the halfling follows in step, "Listen and listen well, I'm only going to say this once. Once Tatya gives word that the undead have managed through to the room she is watching, we will be going in this room." He motions the room with a nod. "You are to look for a pendant that is silver and sapphire colored. That will be your only objective. I would suggest you find it, and find it quickly, just in cast there are more of these creatures within that have yet to exit their sarcophagi. If there are more that happen to arise, I suggest you leave. Immediately. Any attempt to take them on will result in your demise. But the choice is ultimately yours. I will be busy grabbing Beatrix and getting what's left of her out of there. Understood? Good." He says, uncaring of whether or not he does. He then turns his attention to Tatya, awaiting her signal.
Tatya pushes the door almost to and peers nervously through the gap, keeping her dancing lights active in the room as she watches for the connecting door to splinter. She stands ready to scream a confirmation down the hall to others and to slam the door.
A little color fades out of Aedorn's face, but he nods and follows closely.
As Tatya awaits the undead, the door beyond can be heard to splinter apart. The sound of the undead moving forward, can be heard, followed by their axes hammering upon the next door.
As Tatya watches, the door takes blow after blow from the undead. The door holds fast at first, but alas the axes take their toll, the door collapsing. At the signal the room beyond is searched, four coffins have been splintered open, no signs of the a pendant beyond. Four other coffins remain intact. Upon opening, they do indeed hold bodies, but not ones that rise. The pendant is still not to be found.
Alazandaru was clearly not happy with the sneaking around and yearned to take his fury out on the remaining undead. He looked even less pleased at the arrival of the newcomer and appeared to be scowling frequently.
What now?
Tatya backs quickly away from the door after she slams it shut and retreats a little way down the north passageway, hoping that the draugr aren't intelligent enough to go looking for what they can't see. If she doesn't hear them coming out after her, she'll quickly follow to see what the other have found in the room with the standing caskets. Frustrated that they still have not found their prize, she nods to the eastern door. "It's the only way we haven't searched, but we will have to fight our way back through the undead if there is no egress back to the main floor on the other side."
The sounds of the undead can be heard attempting to penetrate the door closed by Tatya, axefall after axefall.
"But first I fear we need destroy the walking dead... as I would not wager it wise to leave them with the potential to come upon us while we were not prepared..."
"And how do you suggest 'we' do that," Tatya asks testily, "considering that the last time we tried it ended with one of our warriors dead and the other insensate? Or have you some great personal physical prowess you have chosen not yet to reveal?"
Aedorn's face looses even more of its color as his eyes dart nervously between Beatrix's body and the direction the axe sounds are coming from. "Uh...dead? Who died, and what exactly are we facing down here?"
Bostarg is right. Halfling, we lost one of our number fighting the Draugr. Now we shall avenge her, for what good it will do her... he declared, producing a potion and quaffing it.
"Draugr," Tatya explains off the halfling's blank look. "The animated remains of sailors drowned at sea that His Eminence has dredged up from somewhere for our betterment. Very hard to stop, as we have learned. Merely piercing their flesh avails little; you must slice them into pieces, as they did Beatrix, or crush them with blunt force. They killed her with axes, but they will strike even weaponless and their rancid touch can make one sick and helpless before them." As she speaks, she rifles through the dead woman's blood-soaked pack, looking for the potion vials she had placed there.
After pulling Beatrix out of the room, Morthos listens to the conversation between the others. Realizing they've little choice, he re-arms himself with his sword and shield. "One way or another, this will end."