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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Medriev" data-source="post: 4526346" data-attributes="member: 21864">Chapter 17 - Hunters in the Dark (Part 1)“We know now that there is a deeper level and that whatever is being planned by Kalarel is near to its end,” said Erlmoor. “We must therefore try ways we have not tried before. I say we go south from here.”They stood at the bottom of the stairs beside the pit that still housed the vicious rats that had dwelled there when first the group had come to the Keep. They were six again now and a letter carried by the elf who was known in Winterhaven as Ninaran, had given them a new sense of urgency. It had instructed the elf to stop the companions from interfering with the plans of Kalarel, mentioned a second level to the dungeons beneath the Keep and that Kalarel was close to completing whatever he undertook in the dark tunnels.“Why not,” said Dulvarna. “We are hunting in the dark anyway.”Double doors led to the west from the goblin barracks to the south of the pit room, opening onto discoloured stairs that led down into cold darkness. Slowly, the companions started down the stairs and at the bottom found a branch in passages, one continuing to the west, another branching north and a third opening to the south. Dulvarna moved ahead along the eastern passage but looked south into the southern opening. The passage there opened almost straight away into a chamber and within, she thought she saw shadowy figures begin to shamble forward.“Thira, light!” she called back and the tiefling came forward with her stave. Within the chamber, terrible figures, seemingly half-rotten corpses began to move, disturbed by the intruders and the light that they had brought. Thira reacted instinctively and lowered her staff, calling flame from its tip to fill the chamber. Three zombies fell to the searing flames but more lurked in the deeper shadows of the chamber and came forward to battle the intruders.  “What is it?” called Lavren, rushing forward as he saw Thira unleash fire. He stopped in the chamber entrance and drew forth his wand. Striding forward and cursing the creatures for the foul abominations they were, he loosed black, crackling energy at the nearest zombie and blasted it back against he chamber wall. It slumped down and did not rise again. One came at him and backhanded him with its fist, slamming him against the wall of the entryway. The elf staggered but then pushed himself upright off the wall. Enlishia appeared beside him a moment later and began firing arrows into the shadows at the far end of the room and then Erlmoor charged into the chamber to join the battle. Two more creatures emerged from the shadows, one with an arrow protruding from its shoulder and both promising death to Lavren as he put away his wand and drew his sword.“More this way,” called Dulvarna then as she saw a zombie enter the eastern passage from a side passage that led north. She charged the creature with her blade held before her as Thira loosed a silver bolt from her stave. Missile and blade struck home, halting the zombie in its tracks and forcing it back a step. Another zombie shambled forward to aid the first and more came behind it. Dulvarna panicked then as she thought of being overwhelmed by foul undead.“Aid me!” she called back to the others but they still battled enemies of their own.Lavren drew his sword and beheaded the zombie before him, exulting in the flow of life energy that he felt as the creature died. Lifestealer, he had named his blade after the battle in the graveyard, though he had shared this with no one, not even Thira. He saw Enlishia duck back around the corner into the eastern hall, apparently moving to aid Dulvarna while the others surged forward to attack the remaining two zombies. Kel pushed past Lavren, leading with the fiendish foot while praying to Lolth. A burst of blue energy assailed the zombies then, hurling them back across the room and into the shadowy passage entrance from which they had emerged. Erlmoor roared and charged across the chamber after the zombies, breathing acid from his mouth as he ran. The zombies came forward to meet him but he ducked their clumsy blows and raised his blade to cut them down.In the eastern passage, Dulvarna slashed out with her blade, splitting open the chest of the zombie before her. The creature reeled away but did not fall and as it reeled, it evaded a silver bolt from Thira’s staff that burst against the stone wall instead of its intended target. Enlishia had felled one zombie with her first arrow when she had come to aid Dulvarna but now more were coming forward and Dulvarna was worried. Her eyes focused just as much on the growing band of zombies behind her foe as on her foe itself and it was almost a fatal mistake. She did not see the fist that backhanded her into the tunnel wall but saw only blinding light as her head hit the stone. She reeled backwards, her sword tip falling to the floor as her grip weakened. The zombies surged forward sensing that their first victim was about to fall but as they advanced, Dulvarna shook her head to clear it and raised her blade. A fist flailed at her from the left and she deflected it with her sword hilt. She looked up and saw less enemies behind the two zombies who she now faced and wondered what the lessening of pressure portended. Suddenly, she realised.“Watch the north tunnel,” she called. “They’ll try to circle around us.”Kel rushed to aid Erlmoor, drawing her morningstar as she ran. She swung it as she reached the zombies and struck one on the shoulder. Erlmoor looked around to see the source of his aid and gave a hint of a smile when he saw the drow. He stabbed his sword into the belly of his own foe and drove it back from him but still it would not fall. He roared again in anger and Kel added her own feral cry to the sound. The two shared another glance and then turned their attention back to the battle before them. Just as Erlmoor turned back around, a two fisted blow struck him in the jaw and sent him reeling backwards. Kel looked back at him, concerned that she could not fight the two zombies alone if the dragonborn fell. Thankfully, he rallied, raised his sword and charged back into battle.Dulvarna ducked another flailing arm and then swept her blade across the bellies of both her foes. The rotten flesh split open and spilled black blood and rotten entrails onto the corridor floor. Both zombies spent horrifying moments trying to shovel their insides back into them until they realised they were dead and collapsed amidst the gore.“The north passage,” said Dulvarna desperately and she turned away from her fallen foes to rush back the way she had come. Sure enough, as she rounded the corner of the northern passage, two zombies emerged from a side passage a few yards ahead of her. Thira rushed after her, leveling her staff at the zombies and unleashing a silver bolt into the lead creature. It jerked back as the missile struck but did not fall. In the southern chamber, Lavren moved out to one side until he was close to a wall before raising his wand to loose a spell. He cursed the zombie first to add power to his magic and then unleashed black energy that struck the creature that Kel battled. The blast seared the flesh of its side and shoulder and it staggered where it stood. Kel seized her chance and with a huge blow, shattered the creature’s ribs and felled it. She looked down at it, expecting it to rise again but it did not and then she felt a strong hand on her shoulder.“They are slain,” said Erlmoor. “And I could not have done it without your help.” Erlmoor’s foe lay next to Kel’s with its belly and chest split open from navel to throat. Together, the two turned back towards the chamber entrance and the battle that still raged beyond.Enlishia felled the first zombie to shamble down the corridor with an arrow to the throat but the second and third reached Dulvarna. She ducked and parried their blows easily before slashing her blade across high and beheading both with one blow. Dulvarna held her ground before the next zombie as Thira loosed a silver bolt into it and Enlishia readied another arrow. The ranger loosed her arrow when the creature was only a few feet from Dulvarna but her aim was true. The shaft drove straight through the creature’s skull from front to back. It stopped, staggered and then fell as the realisation of death took a hold of its dim spark of life. No more zombies followed this one. The battle was won.</blockquote>

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