The group made their way out of the corpse dump and through the remaining exit of the room they were in. Viera tossed an empty potion vial aside as her wounds healed. They entered a hallway with the walls lined with skulls that had their jaws open wide. The priestess eyed the walls closely, unsure of if the skulls were inanimate. She followed closely behind Alexander and Duke, who led the way, with the others falling in behind them.

However, before they could reach the end of the hallway, the skulls spat acid from their open jaws. Alexander was swift enough to raise his shield to protect himself but the others were not so fortunate. Takota was shielded mostly by his cloak and Duke was sheltered by Alexander but even they were singed. Viera grimaced as she lifted her arms, blocking the acid from striking her face but they were burned by the acid. Falenas and Griffin were likewise injured but it was minor damage at best, nothing that would leave marks with proper treatment later.

"What kind of trap is this?" Falenas frowned. "What if one of the derros that worked here needs to get through?"

"Perhaps it's triggered by magic," Griffin shrugged. "I certainly didn't see anything that could have caused the trap. We should continue on."

Viera flicked some of the acid off of her forearm and continued on with Alexander to a door that led out of the hallway. The group was urgent in their departure out of the unspoken fear that they would be assailed by more acid. They stepped into a room that had two wooden tables with one that held vials, beakers, and other alchemy tools that Falenas looked at with wide, eager eyes. The other table leaned on a wobbly leg and the vials upon it were broken. There was a hole in the far wall and a small hallway nearby led to a room. Three cauldrons were placed against the wall by the hole with one spilled over with its liquid contents on the floor.

A derro dropped the mop by the spilled contents and gasped in surprise. Alexander and Griffin both took advantage of its shock with the latter jabbing his rapier into his chest while the former knocked him down with his flail and shield. Duke charged forward with his fangs bared and bit on the derro's neck, ending its life. With the enemy dealt with, the group looked around the room, taking a moment to figure out the situation.

"This is incredible!" Falenas said, his eyes gazing over the intact alchemical tools. "These are mine now. I'll be able to set up a new lab when my clinic is restored with these."

"If you can carry them out, they're yours," Griffin told Falenas. "Between what you can dig up in the mud and what we could potentially find, we might come out of this with some treasure to divide."

"Be that as it may, our priority remains returning the rest of Gaekhen's remains and, if possible, bringing Rolth to justice," Viera pointed out.

"Of course," Griffin nodded in agreement. "That should be the last of the derros at least. Should we continue on through the caverns, or check the door?"

"Let's see what's behind the door," Alexander said. "There could be something important behind there."

"Perhaps even more tools I can add to my arsenal," Falenas couldn't stop himself but grinning.

Alexander led the way to the door and tried to open it. When the door didn't budge at first, the warrior forced it open with a grunt to reveal what was once a pantry, but the crates and shelves within were shattered on the ground. A large corpse-like creature within roared as it charged toward the open door with the adventurers getting out of the way. It clutched a severed arm in its hand that it swung out wildly. Viera wondered why the alchemy lab they found was in a mess and knew the truth when she gazed upon the monster before her.

"It's a carrion golem!" Griffin called out. "I'm not sure if we can best it."

"We have to try," Takota shook his head. "Look at the arm!"

Viera looked at the arm the carrion golem clutched and saw what Takota meant. The arm was tattooed just as the legs they had found, meaning that it belonged to Gaekhen. She doubted that the carrion golem would give the arm away so it would have to be dispatched for their quest to succeed.

"Come and face me!" Alexander called out to the golem, banging the pommel of his flail against his shield to get its attention.

The warrior charged forward along with Duke while Takota fired an arrow that the golem swatted out of the air. Alexander struck the carrion golem with his flail followed by a shield bash but started to cough from the stench that it emitted. Duke tried to bite the creature and Griffin jabbed at the golem but their attacks practically bounced off the reinforced flesh of the golem. Viera wouldn't let the golem's defenses scare her away and charged forward.

Falenas tried to sneak up behind the golem while it was rampaging but the elf bursted out into a coughing fit and held his hand over his mouth. Viera pushed back the rotting smell so that she wouldn't fall victim to it as Alexander and Falenas had and slammed her longsword into the golem's chest. The creature slammed a beefy fist against the priestess' face that nearly knocked her off of her feet. However, this left the golem exposed as Takota shot it through the eye from a safe distance. Griffin followed up on the archer's attack by jumping up and jabbing his rapier into the creature's throat.

The carrion golem collapsed backwards. Griffin grabbed the arm from the ground and quickly ushered Falenas away so that he wouldn't be nauseated. Viera tried to help Alexander but the warrior recovered enough to move on his own. Falenas slowly stopped coughing and took some deep breaths, shaking his head in disapproval at the carrion golem.

"Is everyone okay?" Griffin asked. "I think my mask kept me protected from its smell."

"I'll manage," Alexander said and coughed. Falenas nodded in agreement.

"What of you, Viera?" Griffin turned to her. "That blow looked like it hurt."

"It did, but aside from some bruising, I'll live," Viera reassured her companions. "We should continue on."

The group nodded, weary but able to keep on. Falenas took the arm and forced it into his bag of holding to join the legs they already had. They climbed through the hole in the wall by the cauldrons and into a tunnel. Alexander once again led the way, and when he came across a crossroads with one path leading left and the other right, the warrior took the right path. Viera followed with the rest of the group, ready for battle should they come across a foe.

Given the foul-stench that grew stronger, they assumed that they would come across trouble.

They finally emerged into a cavern with pits bordering the walls. Standing guard by the pits was a large, deformed ogrekin that looked like the carrion golem that they fought earlier. Although he wore armor, parts of skin and fat poked through the leather vest and one of his eyes was completely swollen. The ogrekin raised his beefy fists in the air, ready for battle.

"You go in pit now!" the ogrekin yelled. "Me feed you later maybe!"

"I don't think so," Falenas said and threw one of his bombs.

While Viera expected fire, she was surprised to see that when the alchemical bomb smashed against the ogrekin's chest, it burst into shards of ice instead. The ogrekin gasped and nearly fell into one of the pits, and while he regained his footing, he held his head, covered partially in ice, in pain. The attack was enough of an opportunity for the others as Takota fired an arrow that struck the ogrekin in the shoulders. Alexander ran forward and slammed his shield into the ogrekin's gut. When his foe reeled over in pain, the warrior bashed his head in to end the miserable creature's life.

Although Viera and Griffin didn't have the chance to join the battle, they heard cries of anguish coming from the pit. The two looked over one to see a woman in rags who was pale. While the priestess reached down to pull her up, Griffin went to another pit to rescue a man in a similar state. Although there was no sign of any other piece of Gaekhen, Viera was thankful for the chance to rescue people in need.

"Go down this tunnel and take a left," Griffin explained to the two prisoners. "Run as quickly through the hallway with skulls as you can. I believe the trap there activates after time passes so if you're quick enough, you should be safe. Afterwards, take the furthest tunnel away and head up the stairs. You'll make it to the Gray District afterwards."

"Thank you!" the woman said, fighting back tears of relief. "I'll find a way to repay you."

Viera watched as she and the man quickly fled through the tunnels. "Are you sure that we shouldn't go with them?"

"I'd rather not split us up knowing what else could await us in the Dead Warrens," Griffin answered. "We've killed everything between here and the exit. I have complete faith that they will make it."

"As do I," Viera nodded, seeing reason in Griffin's plan.

By now, the rest of the group had finished searching the prison with Alexander speaking to the two. "I think we're good to leave. There's no sign of Gaekhen's remaining body parts."

"At the very least, I was able to test out my new bomb," Falenas said, tapping his chin in thought. "You no longer have to worry about me accidentally burning the city down."

"That's a relief to hear," Griffin said with a quick nod.

"I'll still carry some of my fire bombs with me though," Falenas quickly informed the group, dashing some of their hopes. "You'll never know when we have to encounter something that doesn't care for the cold."

With the prison secured, the group went back through the tunnel they came through and took the path Alexander didn't take the first time around. After a minute, they emerged from the tunnel and into another room with two freestanding bookshelves. Falenas took note of the different tomes and scrolls, and although some involved necromancy, others focused on diseases, plagues, and anatomy. The alchemist expressed interest in these for his work, but with no enemy around, the group pressed on. Between two tunnels to their left, they chose to go through the one with a door that was easy to open when compared to the pantry.

The large room contained a nauseating sense of decay along with strange chemicals unfamiliar to most of the group. Giant saws, stitching needles, and other tools belonging to a surgeon were organized neatly on shelves by the wall. A sturdy and wooden table stood at the center of the room with a single corpse. However, upon closer inspection, the group was quick to realize that the corpse was an abomination of stitched-up body parts and was easily seven feet tall. They were fortunate enough that it was inanimate and even more fortunate enough that the head had a scar on his cheek.

"That's Gaekhen," Takota commented with a frown.

"Yes, but the torso isn't his," Viera said with a sigh. "We're missing that along with one last arm."

"No sign of Rolth either," Alexander frowned. "He continues to find ways to sicken me with his experiments and I have yet to meet him."

"I'm starting to think we should be careful if we do find him," Falenas looked over the golem. "He's twisted, yes, but his work shows remarkable intelligence as well."

Griffin looked over the surgical tools. "It's not my specialty but I could see about neatly removing the head."

"Let's not waste time," Takota shook his head.

Without waiting, Takota took out one of his handaxes and brought it down on the experiment's neck, severing the head from the rest of the body.

"You're right," Griffin admitted with a nod. "Falenas, grab the head and let's head down the open tunnel we didn't take before."

Takota handed Gaekhen's head to the alchemist who placed it in his bag of holding with a disgusted expression on his face. The group went back to the library and went to the tunnel next to the one they came through. There was no door that stopped them from entering a chamber that held a bed, a writing desk, and a simple mirror against the wall. A single carved out hole led further in but the group remained focused on the room they were in now. Viera was quick to realize that given this was nicer than the straw pallets they saw before, the room served as Rolth's chambers.

Takota frowned at the bed. "Recently made. He was here but left."

"And there's hardly anything personal here," Falenas shook his head. "He must be ready to leave at a moment's notice. I'll take a closer look when we're done with our body recovery task."

"Could we not set a trap for him?" Alexander asked. "We could put an end to his evil today."

"That is if we're in condition to do so," Falenas shrugged. "I am of the opinion that we're not getting paid to bring down a dangerous individual and should leave as soon as we have the rest of Gaekhen's remains and all the treasure we can steal from Rolth."

"Duly noted," Alexander said, his tone showing his disappointment at the alchemist's pragmatism.

Viera noticed that Griffin's attention was on the desk, or specifically, a broken dagger on it. "Is something wrong, Griffin?"

Slowly, the noble took up the dagger, and while the blade had broken in half, the weapon was shaped like a key. "There may be, yes. I can explain another time."

Before Viera could press the matter further, a maniacal laugh came from the hole at the other end of the room. A derro flew out from the next chamber, levitating near the ceiling with magic. He wore robes with stitched bones that showed he was different from the derro they fought before, although his skin was as sick as his fellow workers. He had an untrimmed mustache and a large, round purple nose. A moaning corpse emerged after the derro, shuffling in misshaped pieces.

Viera could only look with wide eyes in alarm as she recognized the maimed head was that of Gaedren Lamm, stitched together to the rest of the corpse.

"Fools!" the derro called out from the air, out of reach of most of their weapons. "Master Rolth will make you into his minions when I bring your bodies to him!"

"Shoot him!" Alexander ordered Takota.

The archer already had an arrow nocked on his bow and fired at Alexander's command. He struck the flying derro in the shoulder and he gasped out in pain. The enemy flew out of the way of Falenas' bomb which shattered into flames against the stone wall harmlessly. The derro showed that his flight came from his own spells as he fired a beam of darkness from his fingers at Takota. The archer gasped even when it looked like he wasn't harmed and the wizard flew out of the room and towards the library.

While Falenas and Duke, who barked at the derro, followed him, the rest turned to bring down the zombie. It proved resilient to Alexander's flail and shield bashing and even shoved the warrior back with a shoulder slam, earning a gasp of pain from him. Griffin jabbed his rapier at his chest ineffectively but Viera came in with her longsword. With a grunt, she cleaved the zombie into two from the right shoulder to the left side of its torso, ending the zombie's animation

Alexander turned to Takota, who had his hand outstretched towards the wall. "Why aren't you with Falenas?"

"I can't see!" Takota called out, his normally quiet voice now loud with worry. "IT was that spell!"

Viera gasped. "I'm sorry but I don't think my magic is powerful enough to heal you of that!"

"He must have realized that you were the biggest threat since you could hit him in the air," Griffin thought out loud. "Falenas could be in danger now!"

"Takota, stay here," Alexander told the archer firmly. "We'll bring that derro down and restore your sight."

Hesitantly, Takota nodded, and held out his longbow and quiver of arrows. After the trio glanced at each other, they silently agreed to let Alexander claim the archer's weapons to use against the flying wizard. They were able to follow the booming sound of an explosion from another one of Falenas' bombs. When they entered the library, Viera was surprised to see a skeleton stopping Falenas and Duke from chasing the derro into the surgical room if only because there was a lack of corpses. Still, the surprise wasn't enough to stop her from destroying the skeleton with a swing of her longsword.

Falenas nodded in thanks to Viera and tossed another bomb unhindered down the hallway. The vial smashed against the derro and he was consumed in flames, screaming in pain. Alexander fired a stray arrow that missed the wizard, who fired the same ray that blinded Takota toward Falenas. However, Griffin stepped between the ray and the alchemist and took the magical hit. The elf ignored his companion and chased after the wizard. Viera quickly rushed to Griffin's side.

"Griffin!"

"It's fine," Griffin assured her, motioning to his eyes. "I can still see. Keep going!"

Viera set aside her worries and chased after the wizard along with Alexander. They entered the surgical room in time to see Falenas strike the wizard with another bomb. As more flames consumed him, the derro landed on the ground and started to roll in a futile attempt to put out the flames. Duke barked at his enemy, knowing better than to bite a flaming man. Alexander tossed aside Takota's bow in favor of his flail, and with a nod to Viera, the two charged the derro together while they could hit him.

The derro tried to call upon his magic to protect him but it was too late. Viera's first swing cut off his arm and the derro screamed even more in pain. Alexander swung his flail into the wizard's chest, sending him crashing down to the ground. Finally, the priestess raised her blade up and impaled it downward toward the burning derro, finally ending his screams. She pulled the blade free and sighed in relief now that their foe was defeated.

The trio of adventurers and their dog let the wizard burn as they left and returned to where they left Takota. Griffin had beaten the group back to the archer and searched the room where the final derro came from. When he emerged, the noble tossed a tattooed torso with the right arm, the final pieces of Gaekhen's body. With their task completed, Viera turned to Takota, testing his sight to see that he was still blinded.

"Can you heal me?" Takota asked slowly, as if he was afraid of the answer.

"I'm afraid not," Viera said but quickly placed her hand on Takota's shoulder. "Worry not. Someone at the Pantheon of Many will. I'll guide you there."

Takota sighed in relief. "Thank you."

"It's no problem," Viera smiled warmly.

Alexander returned Takota's bow and quiver to him before addressing the rest of the group. "The rest of us should head to Citadel Volshyenek so that Gaekhen's body can be returned to his people."

"We will have to wait for me to search the rest of the Dead Warrens for anything of value," Falenas told Alexander. "This is an opportunity we may not get again."

"Are you still serious about that?" Alexander asked.

"Completely," Falenas answered.

Griffin held a hand up. "Alexander, you can take his remains by yourself. Perhaps you can find a wheelbarrow to help. I'll stick with Falenas and keep an eye out in case Rolth returns. We'll take any loot back to my estate to sell and distribute at a later date."

"Are you sure that is a wise decision?" Viera asked, unable to mask her concern.

"Probably not," Griffin admitted with a shrug. "But I can tell that we're not going to be able to convince Falenas. We'll be fine."

"Very well," Viera sighed. "Stay safe, the both of you."

Falenas started to reach into his bag of holding to give Alexander the body parts he carried. Viera grabbed Takota by the wrist and led him out of the room, only glancing back at her companions. It was disappointing that they weren't able to find Rolth, and even more so that some of her friends could be in danger. However, Takota needed help and the priestess was the only one who could arrange it. She could only take pride that they were able to set back Rolth's plans, whatever they were.

A/N: And with that, we are out of the Dead Warrens. However, the story has a little bit more left. We move into the final chapters coming up next. I know what to expect and am very excited to work toward the conclusion.

Until next time.