029: The Moaning Dead

With their rest complete, the heroes laid their plan for the day. Grandsilver Tongue wanted to investigate the gigantic carven statues standing to the south. The inquisitive bard remembered one of the statues had a carven black-tipped wand thrust through its belt, and he was interested to learn more about it.

Setting off south, the party easily reached their goal. Horsa detected magic on the statues, and found nothing. Luther then commanded his magic rope to secure itself to the statue's neck so Artur could scale it. This the heroic paladin did. He discovered the wand tip was a smoothed shard of obsidian. He worked industriously to pry it loose, but slipped while doing so. The gem flew through the air, plummeting towards the Murkwater's salty depths. Horsa tried to grab the flying treasure, but missed. Luckily, though, Grandsilver Tongue's reflexes were quicker and he snatched it from the air.

The party's explorations of the other statues proceeded without excitement and so they returned to the Wailing Citadel. As they did so they heard a gravel-like screech or roar coming from the direction of the Dripping Span. Deciding to push on upwards and investigate–having seemingly abandoned all hope of finding Dennan–they snuck back up through the citadel.

Luther, scouting ahead of the party, was the first to reach the gargoyles' lair overlooking to the Dripping Span. The ranger was not surprised to see a new "statue" squatting on the bridge. As the ranger's companions drew closer, the gargoyle stirred and Luther unleashed a barrage of arrows at the foul creature.

By the time the rest of the party arrived, the gargoyle–badly injured–had once again fled northwards. Muttering about cowardly foes, the party pushed onwards–keen to investigate the pit trap that had almost spelled Artur's doom the day before.

The pit was closed–as they had left it–and Luther believing it was disabled walked across it. The lid inevitably opened, and the ranger dropped into the pit. Luckily, though, the adventurers had left the iron door in the pit open. As the lid slammed shut and the pit began to fill with water, the canny ranger dashed up the stairs. Remembering that the pit has stayed shut last time it had been activated, the rest of the party quickly crossed and the heroes continued north.

Northwards, they discovered another small network of chambers and corridors. Advancing cautiously, the heroes discovered what could be a choked-up well in a side chamber. Investigating another side chamber, Artur encountered a rotting corpse standing upright in the entranceway. It stirred at sight of him, and the paladin hewed it mightily. The thing was destroyed, but not before the party's lights and the sound of battle, alerted other undead beasts. Pushing northward, Artur discovers a room filled with shambling, moaning corpses while Caiden discovered a chamber in which lurked two black-skinned,
red-eyed undead archers. The archers were merciless in their barrage and badly injured Luther while Caiden escaped injury thanks to Horsa protecting him from evil. The archers then retreated to the north.

As the battle raged, Grandsilver Tongue–not to be outdone by his companions–decided to investigate every room in range in hopes of discovering more undead. His luck was in. As he advanced north ahead of his fellows, he encountered the two undead archers who were moving to outflank the party. Injured in the ensuing (brief) melee, the bard made a precipitous retreat toward his friends. Meanwhile, Artur and Caiden were enjoying much success against the zombies the paladin had found. Artur, calling on the power of his god, destroyed several of the abomination while Caiden merrily set fire to the remainder.

Things seemed to be going well! Clearly these undead were no threat, and would be soon destroyed.