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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Milo Windby" data-source="post: 1705" data-attributes="member: 202">Keep of the Borderlands -part twenty-four (session 6)Before they left the room Brigit kicked apart the skeletons and dismembered the medusa.  They certainly didn't need an undead medusa chasing after them.  They left the prison cell and returned to the main passage.  Brigit was ready to crack some live skulls after her experience with the medusa.  They decided to check out the staircase beyond the 'guestroom'.  At the bottom of the long staircase they learned what the guestroom was for.  It was a visiting station for the torture room below.  Torture racks lined the far wall.  An iron maiden stood in the corner, open wide with its rusty, bloodstained spikes ready for another victim.  Torches were guttering in brackets at random points along the walls.  Various torture tools hung from the sidewall.  In another corner sat a low bed with a very large man.  He wasn't sitting still either.  As soon as the four entered the chamber he was up and charging with his battleaxe.Milo reacted quickly, he shot a bolt at the fast approaching bulk of the torturer.  The missile skimmed past his head as he charged on.  The burly man reached Mazi first.  He brought his battleaxe down on the slight elf, cutting a shallow wound in her arm.  She danced back as she stowed her bow, readying her longsword for melee.  Jeremiah and Brigit moved up to engage the dealer of pain.  He dodged quickly out of their range.  His dexterous movements were startling for his size.  Milo stashed his crossbow while he circled behind the large human.  He drew his shortsword and approached the torturer from behind.He was attentive and he caught on to Milo's game.  Down came the battleaxe, this time wounding Milo.  He took the vicious blow to his side, sparks flew from the axe as it sliced into his chain shirt.Milo's distraction was enough to allow Mazi's sword to bypass the torturer's defenses.  Her grace belied the deadly accuracy of her blade as she cut through the torturer's armor.  Blood appeared from the wound she inflicted under his arm.  The large human whirled around.  In a freak happening his battleaxe tangled with Jeremiah's incoming great sword.  The two wrestled for a split second before Jer's sword was flung from his hands.  The large blade clattered to the floor and skittered to a stop next to a torture rack across the room.The torturer was about to follow through on his advantage against the weaponless barbarian when Brigit's axehead emerged from his chest.  Brigit had swung from behind and buried her axe in the torturer's back.  She had learned another of Milo's maneuvers, taking advantage of distracted or unaware foes.  Brigit kicked against the body, pulling her axe out as it fell to the floor.Milo congratulated his apt student.  Brigit caught on to his lessons quickly.  He was very impressed with how far she had come in just a couple of days.  He stooped over the body of the human and looked through his person for valuables.  The torturer carried nothing but his battleaxe.  Jeremiah had retrieved his great sword and was sheathing the weapon when he spotted a coin bag on the torturer's bed.  Inside were well over a hundred gold and a finely crafted golden bracelet.  The only other thing they found in the torture chamber were the tools of the grisly trade the dead man had plied.  Brigit once again butchered the body, feeling vindicated knowing the atrocities the torturer had likely practiced in the macabre room.Luckily there were no current victims in the room.  All of the tables and devices were empty.  A slow day in hell perhaps, Milo thought as they left the chamber.The resolved to clear out the other dungeon behind the bolted door after they saw what that staircase revealed.  The party moved back to the original passage and approached the door.Brigit once again slid the bolt off and opened the door.  Before they began down the stairs she rigged the bolt to remain open.  They didn't like the idea of being trapped with whatever was down there.At the bottom of the stairs the tunnel opened into a long room.  They emerged in the middle of one lengthwise wall.  All along the walls were coffins, dusty and old.  Milo immediately thought of undead creatures, crawling out of the coffins and reaching for him.  He gave an inward shudder before bracing himself.  He was going to clear out all of these coffins, dead or undead.Milo moved to the nearest coffin and heaved at the lid. He had a hard time reaching the lid from his precarious perch on the coffin pedestal.  Brigit moved to help him and they managed to pry the lid up and back.  Inside was a withered corpse, long dead and completely undisturbed.  Milo shrugged and moved to the next coffin.  Brigit went with him and helped him lift that lid as well.Half expecting another undisturbed body, Milo and Brigit jumped back as a grey decrepit humanoid sprang out of the coffin.  It bared its fangs and claws at the two and made to attack them.Milo felt a surge of divine power and holy inspiration.  He stood to his full height of three feet and raised his hand.  A bright light shone from his outstretched palm that seemed to sear the undead creature.  It wailed in a pitiful voice and cowered in the coffin.  Brigit had her axe at the ready, she hacked down at the undead abomination.  Her weapon chopped clean through its arm, severing it from the body.  It wailed again and turned to flee.  The only way it could turn was to the foot of the coffin as Mazi and Jer had taken up position on the other side.Mazi struck out at the aberration as it tried to slink away from Milo's outstretched palm.  Her sword bit through the grey, tough skin and hit the creature's backbone.  It severed the spine and the beast fell into the coffin.  Dead for good this time.Milo explained that the creature was a wight.  He had learned about them in his studies at the Keep's chapel.  They were particularly nasty undead that could actually turn a living being into undead after it killed.  The group was a little taken aback by his display of light.  Milo couldn't explain that phenomenon as easily as the wight.  He tried to tell them more about the power that seemed to infuse him at the time and the sudden insight, but couldn't quite convey his meaning properly.  He gave up after looking into their blank stares for a few moments and turned to examine the coffin the wight had sprang from.  The wight had been on top of a false bottom.  Milo lifted out the plank and gazed down at the trove of gear.  Inside was a polished helm, a great sword, a scroll, and a silver dagger encrusted with gems.Jeremiah had his hands on the great sword before Milo could turn to tell him.  He was admiring the beautiful craftsmanship of the blade and the amazing balance.  He turned to look at the helmet and would have reached for that too had his friends not stopped him.  "How about we find out if these are magical and what they might do before you use the sword or helmet, Jeremiah?" Mazi said to the eager barbarian."Aye laddie, that helm er that sword mayhap is cursed.  We wouldna want ya down 'n out when we need ya tha most, now would we?" Brigit further explained.Jer looked crestfallen, but understood the need for caution.  He put the sword back with the others.  Mazi chanted a brief cantrip and looked across the gear.  She pointed to the sword, the helmet, and the scroll, indicating that they each had a magical aura.  She picked up the scroll and looked over the text.  Unable to read it properly she figured Milo might have more luck.  Milo glanced over the parchment.  It was definitely divine.  He recognized it as a ward against evil.  He told the others about its effect and stowed it with his other evil protection scroll.  Jeremiah put the helm and sword in his pack and Brigit put away the jeweled dagger in her gear.After all was accounted for they moved to the next coffin.  Surrounding it, they heaved open the lid.  Underneath lay another withered corpse, nothing special.  Each of the remaining coffins revealed the same.  It appeared there were no more undead for Milo to hate in this room.They trooped back up the stairs and into the corridor.  Nothing seemed to have disturbed the door or bolt.  Brigit returned the door to its original condition and they carried on.</blockquote>

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