"Don't worry so, Dashil. No heroes here!" This last statement actually draws a cynical laugh.
Brogol's attempts to damage the holy symbols is completely ineffective. The chains that bind the corpse did seem to take damage, as one would expect normal chains would be damaged, but it will take a whole lot of hacking to cause any serious harm.
----------------
The northeast wall of this room has partially fallen, revealing the dark, murky waters of the pond outside. Moldering training dummies and other similar equipment hint that this room may have once been a training area for the guards. In the northeast part of the room, the floor around a dark, jagged hole is surrounded by black scorch marks.
As the party enters the room, a shriek begins to sound. Suddenly, three skulls leap up into the air and catch fire.
1st: Brogol, Radag
2nd: Skulls
3rd: Aduard, Dashil
"Well, that's new" Muttered Aduard.
There were no skulls last time - possibly they moved? Possibly the aura of this place, now unbound, is animating the dead faster that we can destroy them?
"Watch out! These are the same nightmares that killed Dimitri!" Radag says as quickly as he draws his weapon and confronts the closest skull.
Brogol grunts, drawing his axe. Radag was right - these were deadly foes; they had seen it. Stepping next to Irefist, the boy swings his hatchet at the creature.
Too focused on the creature, Brogol slips on a puddle as he swings, his attack going wide.
Aduard braces against the oncoming storm.
Radag steps into the room, swinging his greatsword at the nearest skull. He lands a solid hit, and the bones flare into a small fireball before falling to the ground as ash.
Brogol moves up and swings the axe a the nearest skull, but his blow slips under its flight path, missing cleanly.
The two remaining skulls fly at the two attackers, shrieking horribly.
Neither one hits anywhere close to its target.
1st: Brogol, Radag
2nd: Skulls
3rd: Aduard, Dashil
As soon as Radag has his balance again, he swings his great sword back around to meet another of the skulls and then presses the parties numbers to his advantage trying to flank.
Dashil steps up and swings her scimitar at one of the skulls.
With a wave and a word Aduard zaps one of the skulls with a burst of necromantic energy, doing his best to render it inert.
Ducking as the skull flies at him, Brogol snarls with rage and tries to return the favor - his swing missing just as wildly as the skull's previous attack.
Dashil is able to smash another of the skulls to pieces, while Aduard summons a burst of energy to destroy the remaining enemy.
The jagged, soot-caked hole in the floor was once the location of the lift that connected the two floors. It is a 20 foot drop to the floor below. The edges of the hole appear unstable, but after careful prodding, the party discovers that any unstable portions have long since fallen away, leaving the remaining rim solid.
"Well. Much better. I was worried that we might have a repeat of Dmitri."
Aduard carefully paces and measures around the hole, sketching it in his book. "Hmmm" he mutters at the end. "Stockl, could you look at my design? I'm thinking a simple pulley system might work, if we lash it to the rafters over there and there?"
Brogol smiles, delighted in being asked for advice, something the Doctor rarely did. In fact, the apprentice monster hunter can't recall one time that his missing mentor had done so.
Rubbing his chin, Brogol peers at Aduard's work. "Aye think its a fine plan, Master Bookman. Perhaps Aye can assist you wit tha building?"
Between Aduard and Brogol, the group manages to put together a serviceable hoist system that will allow one person at a time to climb either up or down into the basement.
This cavernous chamber may have once been an underground cell block, but it has long since collapsed. The crumbled walls are thick with mold and stained with soot, and heaps of fallen stones and charred wooden beams line the area. Water drips and seeps along the walls, collecting in a dark, murky pool in the middle of the room. To the north, the twisted remains of a wood and iron lift lie in a heap in a shallow portion of the pool. A jagged hole in the roof yawns twenty feet above this ruin. To the west, a partially blocked opening seems to open up after several feet into a dark but stable tunnel.
"So - I think we could probably move all four of us in well under a minute - good work Stockl!" Aduard nods to the younger man. He picks up a pebble and with a few murmured words causes it to burst into light - then pitches it down into the pool below.
"Are we then to continue today? This appears to be an excellent place to dispose of us. Destroy the hoist and trap us below. Attack us on our way out, injured, when only half of us are up. I confess I'm unsure how to secure our avenue of retreat."
Dashil smiles, grimly, and gestures meaningfully at their surroundings. "If you want security, you're in the wrong place - you're in the wrong country. Hesitation will just get you killed. Let's do this."
So saying, she takes hold of the rope.
"Finally speaking my language! Let's go." Radag rolls up to his feet to follow after Dashil."
Aduard hesitates long enough to see if Dashil has dived feet-first into a trap.
The group lands safely in the cavern below the prison. Strange whispers seem to fill the air.
Dashil lands quickly, catlike, drawing her scimitar in one fluid movement.
"OK, form up. Aduard, get behind someone solid. Radag, you know what to do. Brogol, look sharp."
Shaking her head to dispel the whispers in the dark she looks around, warily, as far as her darkvision will penetrate the gloom.
"This is such a terrible plan." grumbles Aduard as he shimmies down.
Dashil cocks an eyebrow at the wizard. "If you have a better plan, please, fill me in. It's not as if I particularly want to be doing this, you know."
There's a pause. "It's just that in the absence of anyone more competent, it looks like it's down to us to stop whatever it is that's got loose in this prison. But like I say, if you've got a better idea, don't hold back."
Brogol snickers, a high-pitched twitter that evolves into a cough, as the boy blushes green with embarrassment.
"Only one competent monster hunter in town, an he went an got a statue dropped on himself."
Blushing further, Brogol tries to rally the group. "Wer doing OK so far though. Only one dead an one blinded this week."
"Hear tha'? Something's whispering..."
The kid's snicker catches Dashil in the gut - the Professor was more than her friend and mentor, he has for the last few decades been her rock, the person who has kept her sane. His loss has shattered her world in ways she's still coming to terms with.
Eyes flaring, she opens her mouth and-
Brogol's just a kid, ok? He's scared, and this is his way of dealing with it. He didn't have to be here, there's no deity making sure he stays on the straight and narrow, he's here of his own free will. Now cut him some slack and act like the paladin of Sarenrae you once were!
-forces a rueful smile. "It's true, we have taken casualties. But we've had our successes, too - the Piper banished, the stirges offed, the skulls too; looks like that Friar Charlatan got his too, or at least decided we're more than he can handle. Now, let's get the rest of them; then we can get after the Whispering Way, make them sorry we were ever born."
"The problem is this: none of our lives are worth all of theirs. Every death of ours is a tragedy. This is not some epic story where 'sacrifices must be made'. This not a business with cost-benefit analysis. This is not some Edda where a saviour dies to stop evil. This is revenge. This is an extermination. Were they alive it would be murder. Assassination. I am not interested in dying for a good cause, and I see no reason to hurry unnecessarily. If we do this cleverly, cautiously, and competently, then we can destroy them without cost."
"Yes, yes, cleverly and competently. We're all over it." Radag says out the side of his mouth as he takes in his surroundings and the maddening voices. "I see why they took the name Whispering Way."
The manages to make their way safely down to the dungeon level, and move around the stagnant pool. As they do, the whispers grow stronger, when suddenly, two forms rise up out of the pool. The slimy, shifting masses have the shapes of humanoids, but are made out of what appears to be some form of sticky rope or cloth. The bodies lurch jerkily, struggling to maintain their horrid forms.
1st: Dashil, Radag, Brogol, Aduard
2nd: Enemies
"Sorry for all the noise, they were building a lift." Radag speedily draws his weapon and hopes that its ordinary build is enough to harm them. "Give me a moment and I'll let you know if we are going to regret this."
Dashil shrugs. She's seen these before. "Ectoplasmic humans, a type of undead composed mostly (but not completely) of spiritual energy. Slash 'em, or do anything that works against other undead."
Hefting her scimitar, she swipes at the one Radag isn't attacking.
Aduard starts to talk, then stutters to a stop.
"Damn you Fean." he muttered instead.
Brogol steps next to Dashil, and grunting, swings with his axe at the amorphous, slimy mass. "Hnng. Ghost people. Read about 'em in one o' tha Doctor's tomes. Slash 'em is right."
Too enmeshed in his own memories, the boy's axe is greatly off-point, slicing nothing but air for inches.
Dashil approaches one of the creatures, swinging her scimitar at the thing. It passes through the apparition, becoming covered in a glowing ooze, diminishing the substance of the creature.
Radag attacks the other one, his greatsword slicing the abomination in two, leaving behind only a puddle of goo.
Brogol's attack swings wide of the remaining form, and Aduard's fear of losing his spells renders him ineffective for the round.
The remaining creature flings itself at Dashil.
She is able to nimbly dodge out of the way.
1st: Dashil, Radag, Brogol, Aduard
2nd: Enemies
"Did you see that?! One swing from the mighty Radag! Good thing fear is the first thing these undead lose, save me the trouble of having to chase them down." Radag says sloshing through the water.
Aduard leaves the fighting to the fighters, stepping away and looking for anything that might have been seeking the distraction.
Dashil continues her attack against the thing, assuming that Radag's greatsword left anything to be attacked.
Stepping forward, Brogol swings his axe, working in concert with the others, a bead of sweat running down his jaw. This time, the axe finds its mark, slicing through the ectoplasm with a satisfying snnnk.
Dashil's next swing manages to finish off the thing.
A quick search of the area reveals nothing further of interest. The group heads through the tunnel to the west.
Four dark hallways exit from this large empty chamber, each striking out in one of the four directions of the compass, and each decorated with a soot-caked brass nameplate affixed to the ceiling just above the entrance. A rubble-choked stairway leads up in the middle of the room, while eight skeletons dressed in scorched prisoners’ robes lie on the ground.
As the party moves into the room, the bones start rattling, rising up from the floor!
Initiative:
Switching back to her morningstar, Dashil strikes at the nearest skeleton.
Aduard stepped forward, pushing past the fear. A single word and a spell zipped through the room.
Right through the room, past the skeletons and into a black smudge on the opposite wall.
Swinging his axe at the nearest set of bones, Brogol grunts, happy that the Bookman has overcome his fear.
Radag moves to try and break the rising bones with his silver-etched morningstar. "Form up a line or fall back, don't get outnumbered or overwhelmed."
Move
Dashil and Radag both land solid blows, smashing each of their skeletons into powder. Brogol also hits, leaving a deep gouge in the rib cage, but the pile of bones continues to animate. Aduard overcomes his fear and manages to cast a spell, but the unease he feels fouls his aim, sending the bolt of magical energy spinning off into the darkness.
1st: Aduard, Radag
2nd: Skeletons
3rd: Brogol, Dashil
"Fall back, you say?" Aduard falls back, letting his better armed companions lead the fight, leaving one last farewell bolt of energy for the dead prisoners.
"I've got this one here!" Radag says doubling back and over to the other side of the room to crush another skeleton before chancing its vengeance.
Aduard moves out of direct line of combat, firing a bolt of magical energy as he moves. It hits the skeleton in front of Brogol, damaging it further.
Radag crosses the room, and handily smashes another of the skeletons into dust.
The skeletons move up, engaging Radag and Brogol.
Brogol takes a claw to the arm, while Radag is hit a couple of times by the group ganging up on him.
You notice that the bones of the skeletons are starting to give off faint wisps of smoke.
1st: Aduard, Radag
2nd: Skeletons
3rd: Brogol, Dashil
"Careful, lads."
"Gods damn you Fean!" Aduard strives to turn his fear into anger, but fails to overcome the curse. Furious he throws the book at the nearest skeleton.
Dashil wields her morningstar again, turning another undead skeleton back into the just-plain-dead sort.
She looks back at Aduard with a mixture of annoyance and concern. Mainly annoyance. "Is the term 'wizard' a translation of 'utter liability' from some ancient language that I'm not aware of...?"
Dashil moves up, supporting Brogol in his struggle with the undead. She lands a solid blow, sending another skeleton back to dust.
Aduard's irrational fear overtakes him once again, rendering him unable to cast spells.
Radag swings his morningstar at another of the abominations, splintering its bones, sending them flying across the chamber.
1st: Aduard, Radag
2nd: Skeletons
3rd: Brogol, Dashil