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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lars Frehse" data-source="post: 766355" data-attributes="member: 1674">The tomb of Marilvaz the sage- part 3 of 4The floor of the gaming room was covered with black and white tiles, giving it the look of an oversized chessboard. The only furniture in it were four tables and some chairs positioned around them.On one table, there was the inevitable heavy tomb, on another several hands of cards lay facedown across from one another, and on the two other tables, there was a chessgame and the dwarvish game "brunholk". Curios about the cards, Niklas picked up a hand, and immediately, he felt the need to play a game.He sat down and immediately the other hands of cards levitated up, as if held by invisible players. He played a card, and the other hands played themselves- and soon he forgot the strangeness of the situation and let the fascination and concentration that came with the game guide him. However he lost, and as he played his last losing card he felt an invisible fist punching him in the stomach, taking him by surprise. Breathing deeply for air and holding his stomach, he got up, as already Torn sat down, saying:"I wonder what happens if a game is won.".The cards reshuffled themselves in the middle of the table, and as he picked up his hand of cards, the other hands went up and hovered over the table just like before. Unlike Niklas, however, he won the game, and as he got up, he felt that he was now slightly swifter than he had been before.The game room was connected to another room by a short corridor. That room looked like a barracks in a normal stronghold, full with beds and even fake windows that gave a "view" to a training field. Immediately, three Chardun-slain, undead of the kind they had encountered near Hor'Kung, rose and attacked them. However, since they shied from Jan who channeled the divine power of Corean, they posed no real danger and were quickly dispatched.Now, however, they had a problem: All of them were wounded and Trepat had spent his arcane energies for the day. After a quick exchange they took a look at the spell that was hidden in the picture windows- it's magic was intended to literally "salt the earth" for years and then, after bagging a tome on warfare, they went back to the game-room, where they set up camp.Fortunately for them, their rest remained uneventful and so, after having taken care of their wounds, they doubled back to the last fork at which they had originally gone left. There they went straight ahead, and at yet another fork, that lead ahead and left, they turned left again.For the third time since they had entered the tomb, they found themselves in a natural cave again. This time, however, it was obvious right away that there the cave had been manipulated.In this massive cavern, several scraggly trees were clawing at the ceiling, owls were calling out from among the branches, while there was the howling of wolves somewhere in the distance and a pale moonlight filtered down from the cavern's ceiling. Rows after rows of of headstones were jutting out of the earthen floor, forming a stereotypical gothic graveyards.They walked up to the gravestones, and for a moment they were set back: Each of them saw the names of their friends, family and even themselves on the graves! However, after they told each other, they soon figured out that it was merely a tasteless illusion. There weren't any names on the tombstones, but rather fragments of the language of magic.As they examined the fragments on various gravestones, Trepat found out that it was actually a large, elaborate puzzle which, when put together, produced a spell that helped in the creation of undead minions. "Now that we have the spell, I wonder where the book is.", Trepat said."I think...", Niklas started, never to finish the sentence. Suddenly, all their attention was captured as from all graves but one, several bone fragments flew towards the center of the cave, close to them, making them feel as if they were witnesses to an explosion in reverse, in which cause and effect had been replaced with each other.Within a few seconds, the pile of bones had the form of a giant-sized humanoid with several heads and limbs. Immediately, it lashed out at Niklas, hurting him dearly, and while Trepat shot acid arrows at the undead abberation, the others entered the melee.Even though they hacked away at it with all their might, it didn't seem bothered by the attacks. Indeed, with every moment that passed, it grew yet another limp that lashed out at the heroes, making it more deadly with every second that passed.Each time it hit, they felt an immense force behind the bony claws tearing through skin, muscles and sinews. Niklas was tossed back a few yards, leaving behind only Jan and Torn close to the thing, and both were heavily wounded. They kept on coming at the thing from two sides, but with it's several heads it was able to keep them in check even then.Then the thing found a gap in Jan's armor and rammed it's claws into his flesh. As it pulled out, the blood came shooting out of his shoulder in a burst. Everything turned black for him and he heavily sank down on his knees. Trepat shot even more acid at it as Torn hit it square in the centre and the skeleton fragmented into many small bones again. Finally, it was defeated.They took care of their wounded, and then they recovered using one of Ben's wands of curing. Then, they set of to a square room with a single spiral staircase that lead up. They climbed the stairs and entered a massive chamber. It's walls were inscribed with infernal letters, and there two alcoves with seven odd looking mirrors in each of them. In an angled niche in the middle of the west wall lay a stone sarcophagus that was adorned with the symbols of Chardun.At last, they had reached Marilvaz’s final resting place.</blockquote>

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