Session #44
Part Two: How many zombies? As many as it takes…
Kazrack held the knotted end of the rope between his feet, as he held the length tight to his chest. Derek and Jeremy grunted as they lowered him into the rent in the floor of the main chamber, and the rope bit into the earth underneath the tile, sending a rain of pebbles and soil down on the dwarf. The other end of the rope was fastened to one of the large pillars. The earthen area between the floor of the chamber above and the ceiling of the chamber below was just nearly fifteen feet. Kazrack tensed as he felt his feet go past the threshold of the misshapen shaft and into the room. A moment later he was hanging in the room, the floor a little more than six feet below him. The chamber down her was about the same size as the one above, and the column above seemed to have been anchored down here. There were four round shafts into stained white stone that led off to the left and right (adding up to eight), and he could see the flailing limbs of zombies sticking out the earthen ceiling. There was movement, and suddenly three more of the undead things dressed in dirty white servant’s clothing came lumbering towards the dwarvish bait.
“Natan-ahb! Fill me with your divine might so that I may turn these abominations from your sight,” the dwarf bellowed, but the zombies did not halt. The dwarf closed his eyes and brought a hand to his bag of runestones about his neck, and called to his god again. He heard the things turn and scramble away, and he was lowered the rest of the way on to the dirt floor of this lower chamber. There were empty sconces on the columns, and the zombies were climbing back into the shafts, which were about five feet off the floor.
Jeremy swung over the side and began to make his way quickly down, only occasionally using the rope to steady himself. Above, Beorth awkwardly climbed over the side and tried to shimmy down the rope, while using his feet on the shaft wall to steady himself. A little more than halfway down, he lost his footing and the rope burned through his hands. He slammed the back of his head in the dirt and a cascade of stones preceded him as he tumbled down. Jeremy hugged the wall as the clumsy paladin scraped past his back, just barely avoiding getting knocked down as well. Beorth slammed into Kazrack, and knocked them both prone, winding them.
Jeremy halfway snickered, but the sound of the low moaning of the undead and the shuffling of their feet came to him from below when the sound of the falling dirt had settled. He dropped down and nimbly swung out of the way of Kazrack and Beorth. The dwarf was already on his feet, but Beorth was stunned, trying to stand and swooning, as he would collapse again.
“Natan-ahb! This place is overrun with evil! Again, I implore you to fill me with your essence so these thing may flee and let us do your good work!”
Jeremy swung down to the floor to avoid Kazrack and Beorth. The paladin’s helmet glowed with the light of a spell, so Jeremy could see that while two zombies were fleeing, one more was coming from his left. He did not see that one was emerging from the darkness behind him, ignoring Kazrack and Beorth to mindlessly go for the closest target. It reached out to grab Jeremy’s neck. The Neergaardian was unaware of his danger, when suddenly there was a grunt and the sound of something falling behind him. He turned quickly to see Derek had dropped from somewhere further up the shaft and landed on a zombie. Now the young huntsman and the animated corpse struggled to get back to their feet.
“You’re almost as crazy as I am,” Jeremy said mouth agape.
Beorth cleared his head and stood, and with a quick motion of his long sword lopped the head off the prone zombie. It convulsed for a moment and then stopped moving.
There was no time to relax. There was rumbling sound and more dirt began to fall from the ceiling. There was a cascade of stones and soil, as five zombies dropped in the chamber from the ceiling, knocked loose by the slight tremor. Dust filled the air, and even where the magical light emanated vision was hampered.
Below, Jeremy had both of his blades out in a flash and chopped at one of the zombies than fell near him (widening the shaft at the bottom). It looked up and the blonde warrior buried his longsword in its forehead. It fell back down and stopped moving.
Above, Ratchis began a frantic, but measured descent, wanting to help his companions but worried he might fall and let loose more zombies and or even collapse the whole ceiling on those below.
Beorth wiped dust from his eyes and chopped weakly at a zombie reaching out at him. It had a few wiry strands of black hair coming from its head, where the cracked skull was visible under a thin gray scalp. The thing raised its fists to slam the paladin, but suddenly Derek was on his feet and chopping down with his battleaxe. The zombie was now pieces of inanimate decaying meat on the ground.
“Again, I call on thee, Father of All Dwarves to cascade from me like the mighty waters of your cup!” Kazrack bellowed, again trying to turn undead, but it failed.
The newly arrived zombies got to their feet, while another came lurched from the darkness and fell towards Beorth, who moved aside easily avoiding the awkwardly moving thing. This one had been a woman in life and her flaccid shriveled breasts were thick with black veins.
Ratchis finally jumped down.
Jeremy hacked at another zombie with the tip of his long sword and was forced to yank it back as it got stuck in the thing’s breastbone. It did not fall.
Beorth called to Anubis to enchant his blade, while Ratchis and Kazrack moved forward to meet the coming dead.
Blodnath climbed down and jumped to the floor, to find them all engaged with zombies.
Black ichor was spurting weakly from the stump of a zombie’s wrist, as Jeremy’s blades whirled magnificently in the bobbing light of Beorth’s helm.
The chamber was filled with the sound of the hacking of dried decaying flesh and the cracking of bones. The dirt floor was soon sopping with ichor and blood as the Fearless Manticore Killers spread out, calling to each other when more zombies were spotted in the dark corners. More zombies were emerging from the horizontal shafts on one side of the chamber.
Blodnath was creeping along the walls, finding the cowering zombies that had fled from Kazrack’s display of divine power, as sliced their hamstrings. When they fell, he’d hack at their skulls over and over with a wood-cutting hatchet, as his short sword was not as effective against the corporeal undead. (1)
“Beorth, when you are done there are three more in the corner on your left,” Kazrack called to the Paladin of Anubis, as his dwarven vision allowed him to see where the magical light could not reach.
More and more emerged from one of the set of shafts, and Jeremy moved directly in front of one, hacking limbs as they emerged, creating a nasty pile of flesh and limbs at his feet. Soon, he and the rest of the party were covered in slimy black ichor. Derek wiped the stuff from his eyes, and suddenly noticed a zombie lurching towards him. Instinctively, he swung his axe, and he felt the resistance of the thing’s neck for a mere moment, and then giving way. The zombie’s head flew across the chamber, but its body kept moving, for it could still seek out life to snuff even without its head. It slammed black fist into Derek’s face, and the young huntsman groaned.
“No need to lose you head!” Jeremy quipped, and this time everyone groaned, but the Neergaardian had grown cocky, and as he rushed forward to rip out the headless zombie’s guts, he stepped on the head and lost his footing as it rolled away. Jeremy tried to turn his body to slow his fall, but his head struck a pillar and he was stunned. The headless zombie fell over and twitched for a moment and then stopped.
Kazrack hustled over to the deep niches the zombies were emerging from, and cut the arm from another that was emerging. It fell awkwardly from the round passage, and he chopped down on it. It stopped moving, but the dwarven rune-thrower was so involved in slaying that one that he did not notice one emerging from the shaft immediately next to him (the bottom of it being at about shoulder level. He turned to look too late, as undead arms reached out and grabbed hold of him and starting dragging him up into the shaft with the strength of a dead laborer’s limbs.
Kazrack roared and broke free of the grip and nearly tripped as his booted feet touched the ground again. He stepped away and whirled around. Behind him, he could hear Ratchis calling to his goddess to heal the many scratches and bruises he was suffering from.
Jeremy got up to all fours, and the stumbled to his feet shaking his head.
Derek’s arms began to throb from swinging his battle-axe back and forth relentlessly, and Blodnath having finished the turned zombies crept back to the rope.
But there was no time for rest, more and more of the black-haired zombie with graying skins stretched taught over their skulls, and dressed in dirty workman’s clothes, some with leather aprons that still held rusty chisels, shears, spades and other things continued to emerge from the shafts. Already over a score of hacked zombies lay on the chamber floor, but there seemed to be no end of the source.
“Anubis, preserve us,” Beorth said under his breath.
End of Session #44
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Notes
(1) Corporeal undead are resistant to damage from piercing weapons because the piercing of organs does not hinder their evil animate force.
