"There was no life here, just its mockery. The Life Force is grateful for your service... What is this place?..."
Somonti gingerly edges around the room with Nil, careful to remain within his guard.
Much to his pleasure, Nil assumed a much sturdier form, Switching his Bow for his Earthbreaker and increased strength.
" An altar of sorts, likely one which our kind was not supposed to venture towards by its hidden and guarded nature. One seeped in evil and necromancy I would gather by the name of Orcus, Lady Somonti. "
"Well? What do we...do with it?" says Neil, jabbing his finger at the alter.
The altar itself is mostly unremarkable excepting the black stone adorning the top of it.
The sarcophagus of the Wight is made from simple stone and seems equally mundane.
Despite being the Wight being vanquished however, the evil presence remains within the chamber.
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Nil felt weak still but noted the materials were of some use, desecrated as they were.
" The Aura still sickens me. If not attached to the creature could it be the room or altar itself? One of orcus does not seem in good standing with life, should we rid this place of it? I see no other passages here. "
"Smashing unholy altars is a bad practice, methinks. Who knows what curses could be brought down on you."
" Are you saying that the unholy relic is something that you should fear. Progress Ptolem "
Ptolem scoffs.
"Pff. The altar itself is a mere lump of rock. But it represents the interests of an actual deity, the only beings above the Pharaohs themselves. Angering one just because of some mild discomfort is a poor choice."
"So we just leave it here? Undisturbed?"
Somonti seems almost flustered
"Those... Things are anathema to life. What if they simply reform? We need to deal with this surely."
"We've dealt with it. If they reform, then someone else gets to wave a sword at them."
"We'll leave it for later then. Where to next?"
"Back to the fork, then?" Ptolem says, and moves to head that way.
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He looked to Somonti, " The logic in his words are accurate Lady Somonti. Even if we were to destroy the altar there is no real way to know if there was a backlash or worse. Enough resources have been suspended not to test it. "
Nil nods, " Lead on then Ptolem as you are clearly qualified to do. That glaive-work has felled quite the amount of creatures this day. "
Nil's runic armor shifted once more as he drew his bow, the man was glad to get out of here.
"We will be back here, life's spiral draws us all. But if we are done for now let's get out of here."
Somonti joins the others, heading back the way they came
The group arrives back at the wailing cavern with little incident, leaving the only unexplored area in this branch of the cavern to the north.
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"To the north, then!"
Nil paused looking back at the unholy room once more.
" Very well then "
"Aye, north is fine with me, too."
Moving to the north the group follows the tunnel chamber into a small cavern, perhaps twenty feet wide and fifteen feet long.
The cavern ceiling in this room is very short and the tallest of you all may even need to keep your head bowed to avoid hitting it.
On the left side of the chamber is a small tunnel only big enough for all you to the crawl through, on the right side of the chamber, five rotting wooden coffins are haphazardly propped against the wall.
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Nil Fires an arrow at one of the coffins, it alights with flame on the way to it.
" To make sure "
"Excellent thinking, armored minion."
Ptolem waits to see if anything happens.
The arrow hits the coffin, but the wood refuses to ignite, likely due to the timber being too damp.
The extremely poor condition of the material however still causes the area of the coffin to shake loose from the rest, revealing the apparent corpse of a man in a very advanced state of decomposition.
The man's bleached white skin indicates he likely expired via drowning sometime in the past few months.
The smell of damp and decay reaches the group as the damage to the coffin is dealt.
Despite its sleep being disturbed however, the body of the man shows no signs of life, or unlife?
The more perceptive amongst you may pick out amongst the wailing behind you, an almost imperceptible whispering begin as the coffin is struck, as if something has only just now taken notice of your presence.
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Neils moves to examine the body but, having nothing in the way of medical expertise, simply concludes "This man is dead"
"Well, that doesn't sound good.. that whispering sound... something is aware of us now and knows we're here... what? you can't hear it?"
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Somonti glides over to the now exposed corpse and bends down to investigate. The white, palid, engorged flesh is a clear sign...
"This man drowned, his souls drifts in the water now. But not long ago... Months, no longer..."
Nil looks to Varian somewhat confused.
" No, I do not, my ears are normally very keen so it may be all the wailing instead. The Coffins hold no ill tidings it seems. "
"Well lot's go find whoever that is. I'd wager they're up to no good."
From the walls, ceiling and floor of the cavern, arise three dark shadows around Nil, the whispering growing to be quite audible now.
These creatures are Shadows.
Choice of knowledge between their strength sapping or incorporeal nature.
For each 5 exceeded you can learn about their strength sapping, incorporeal nature, or the fact they create spawn, or that they tend to guard certain areas exclusively.
"SHadows! Ugh! They are incorporeal, hard to damage. They also tend to guard certain areas... they might not follow if we flee.. just sayin'"
Varian pulls out one of his special arrows and awaits his chance to shoot at one of them if 'fight' is the group's choice.
"Well, sounds like it's time to leave then." Ptolem says, and does so.
"We'll carve a path through the shadows!" shouts Neils, gripping his iridescent sword with renewed vigor. He moves to the closest of the shadows and swings, parting the creatures misty body with little effort.
"Yeah...that's awesome. Right, guys? These things can't stack up to the heroes!"
"Have fun with that!" Ptolem calls from 60 feet down.
"There is a story in the north of a mad man who spends his day fighting his own shadow in the dark. There is no place for life here, no place for us."
Somonti is hot on the heels of Ptolem
Nil narrows his eyes and simply backflips away from them ending up a swift 80ft from the spirit-creatures but much weaker than he originally was, " This place is cursed. "
His speed is well known at this point overtaking hte rest.
Varian shoots at one of the shadows with a ghost salt blanched arrow (which should do normal damage to incorporeals).
Then, if he's the last one left (ie if everyone else ran), he'll back up 30'.
Alianne will channel her divine energies to injure the remaining two shadows, before also moving away from the undead.
Other targets having withdrawn and the only apparent real threat in range, the two shadows converge on Neils.
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Neils feels his strength sucked away and, with it, his will to fight. "Wait, where is everyone going?" he shouts as he races after the group.
Nil begins to hum as the runes on his armor begin to flare and shift his body seemingly more apt.
" I was not prepared I am doing that now. "
A series of inscriptions begins to replace his previous one as his body begins to glow.
Ptolem keeps running.
Varian backs away further and fires another ghost salt blanched arrow
Gliding to a halt Somonti pauses to assess her situation. She can still feel all her companions around her, they are all alive at least.
With everyone away from the chamber, the remaining two shadows quickly fade away, leaving the group alone again.
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