(G12 - KT)
After all that unpleasantness, Raz pulled a corpse out of the water. It bore a tattoo of a dragon
and a lotus. Intriguing, but we couldn't stay down here all day so Shifty and Raz
began to open all the doors that where in this chamber.
Myself and Nobby stood and had a whispered chat while they did this, by the doorway we had come
in. We were discussing the career options open to druids and clerics when more zombies came
at us in the darkness from the opposite direction.
Nobby suddenly remembered she could 'turn undead' and sent them back. Raz and Shifty joined us
and we went back the way we had come to another door which lead to yet another chamber. More
zombies, more fighting and more turning. Mr Badgerington was getting a bit tired of undead at this
point. I think he prefers his victims to be fresh.
Something other than a zombie loomed out of the darkness at some point, but Nobby swiftly turned it
and it slunk off again.
The next section below I did not write. I was too ill, so I told Taeghen what happened and he
wrote it down for me. His use of grammar is not what I would call perfect, but I present it
here un-edited as it tells the tale perfectly well!
(Story continued by Olaf)
... after Nobby turned the two undead and the undead cleric in the big room to the east with the two
columns you noticed that the double door to the south was still swinging slightly. Raz had chopped
the 7th undead to pieces and Shifti looked through the hallway connecting the two big rooms via the
small room in the north.
All of you sneaked up to the door in the south of the corridor. Raz pushed it open and was quickly
attacked by two ravenous zombie pirates. One of them letched on to his neck, biting and splattering
blood everywhere. Nobby realised that the undead cleric had bolstered these undead, tried anyway to
turn them but finally gave in to the fact that her turning attempts were all repelled by the new
found resolve of the foul beasts. You stepped in to attack the other zombie in the doorway, but quickly
found that this zombie also letched on to your neck and was sucking you dry.
However while you managed on the second attempt to break free from the foul undead on your neck, Raz was
struggling. You could see his eyes going all in rage, but still the undead would not be parted from him.
Litres of blood were flowing from his wound.
Shifti had thrown two alchemistic fires on the undead cleric, which looked a bit burnt but quickly put out
the flames. You could see him healing himself.
After you broke from the undead you cut it with your scimitar, then stepped away seconds later to summon a
flaming sphere and burn it to the ground. Raz finally also managed to break free when the last blow with
his handaxe was splitting the undead. He looked hurt though. Nobby patched him up quickly, then stepped
forward to let a cone of fire from her hands burn the cleric. You all started to attack the undead cleric.
Shifti realised that his normal dagger was useless against this foe, you yourself were just bringing you
in position to direct the flaming sphere on to the cleric when Raz sprinted through the room and fell the
final foe with one mighty blow. "You don't need silver weapons" he said ..."brute force will do the job as well".
DAY 13
You rested for the night with some simple cooked crab meat for dinner. However you realised that you were
ill prepared for staying down here for the night. Only two of you had brought waterskins, nobody had
rations and most did not even have a bedroll or blanket. Shifti was skulking out the further way to the
west, but when you woke up the next morning you realised that Nobby and Shifti was suffering from the
damp and cold. They looked pale and were shivering slightly. You made a note to yourself to better prepare
yourself for the next time...
Shifti was taking the last door to the far west. Behind there were sea caves with sloshing water. The walls
and floor were all covered with patches of purple and red sea urchins. The sloshing water made it difficult
to go forward. Shifti had to balance carefully to not loose his footing. A few times he slipped, fell into
the water and onto the sea urchins. Dozens of spines he had to remove from his arms and legs and he felt
the sea urchin's poison running through his veins. He puked the crab meat dinner out, but refused to turn
back. Slowly he made his way forward, weakened by dozens of tiny wounds and poison he found a bigger cave
with deeper water. He took a deep breath and dived down to allow his darkvision to see a 5ft wide tunnel
underwater heading northwards.
Shifti almost wanted to head back to the others when he spotted a little landing on the other side of this
bigger cave. He made his way to the landing and was standing in front of a door barred from within.
Shifti realised that his skills at opening doors were of no use here, so he headed back. After a grueling
long and slow balancing act back through the sea caves, the half-drow was marked with more spines and weakened
by poison. He made his way back and quickly succumbed to sleep under his thin blanket.
The next morning Shifti awoke to find that the damp and cold of the caves had taken their toll. He was feeling
weak, ill and was shivering all over his body.
Everybody discussed what to do and the solution was quickly found. Raz, Rollo and Shifti could walk through
the sea caves. Rollo had a look and decided to wait for low tide. This should make it easier. You all waited,
then you tied your gear which would unnecessary encumber you to an old wooden door which was used as a float.
You put Stanislav Badgerington and Nobby on the door as well to make it easier for the two of them. The sea
caves are no place for small land rats...
The way was still harder then imagined. All three of Shifti, Raz and Rollo were suffering wounds and were
marked by poison. But at the end by shear will and determination you made it to the barred door. The loss
of some daggers which must have slipped from the improvised float seemed like a small price to pay.
Raz tested the door but then decided to make short work of it and got out his big choppy axe. As soon as the
door was cut down the overwhelming stench of rotten flesh was filling the air. Shifti carefully sneaked into
the 10ft x 10ft room and was careful not to bring the bloated corpse to burst open. He noticed a tattoo on
the mans shoulder of a dragon clutching a flower. The corpse was wearing a good studded leather armour which
just needed some cleaning. Also he was having a good dagger in a boot, a golden ring on one finger and a
crumpled note in one hand. Shifti took the note just as Raz was giving the corpse a good poke with his axe...
SPLASHHH !
Shifti was covered with stinking flesh, pus and other dead matter. He looked at Raz who was almost
pissing himself...
After he cleaned himself in the pool as best as possible, Shifti took the loot from the corpse and handed
out the note from the corpse's hand identifying him as Penkus. Lavinia will not take it well that this
clearly incriminates her brother.
Raz knotted the 3 silk ropes together and roped his armour and weapons on one end. He fixed himself onto
the other end, took a deep breath and dived into the pool. Only to reappear seconds later for another
gulp of fresh air. "Just practicing!" he said and dived again. After some very long seconds Raz almost
felt the dark hand of the abyss taking his will to live away he finally came out of the seabed between
Parrot Island and Shadowshore. He dived the last 20ft up to sea level, took a deep gulp of air and
swam to shore. Unfortunately the wrong one ...
After Raz bought a raw boot from a trustful looking character he rowed back across to Parrot Island. He was
not sure why some guy shouted about his boot and took two shots with a crossbow at him. But when the second
bolt hit him into the shoulder he memorized the other ones face...
Back on the island he quickly made his way to the stone trap door, cleared away the boulders and was
shouting for the others. They had made their way back through the sea caves and were at the end of their
determination. Dozens of spines and poisonous wounds were finally driving all three to despair. They made
their way back to the shaft, took a last look at the corpse of Shefton Rosk and climbed up the rope with
Raz's help. The way back to Lavinia was quick and she was shocked and despaired to learn of Vanthus
involvement with thieves. She asked to capture him alive if possible ... and if not to be quick and
merciful. "It will always be quick" Raz said looking at his axe. Another day had passed...
DAY 14
One the next morning you all woke in the Vanderboren manor house. But all of you are looking pretty down.
Nobby and Shifti are still effected by hypothermia, Raz was healed by Nobby, Rollo and Badger still have
some wounds and could use something to restore the strength. Also Shifti was shivering badly.
Nobby looked but could only determine that it was something beyond hypothermia. Rollo had another look
and concluded that Shifti had contracted "The shakes" ... a nasty disease which lingers in dead things.
