Nightbreeze said:
Awr....I remember this trap (as looked at the first 3 levels after they passed them), but I didn't remeber anything about the skeletons
This is their second time through the mausoleum. The skeletons are a new addition (I think there was one in there before, IIRC).
* * * * *
Chapter 88
A RATHER ABRUPT RETURN
The mausoleum was filled now with a terrible grinding noise, which echoed off the walls. The floor shook, and the huge slabs of stone began to inexorably rise, driven by some incredible mechanism concealed below.
Zosimos turned back to the doors, ready to blast his way out. The wizard seemed nonplussed by the dire situation, but then again he was the only member of the group who could
dimension door outside of the deadly chamber at any time.
“Hold them off,” Varo said to Dar and Valus, as he calmly walked over to the location of the stone plug. It too was rising, along with the rest of the floor.
Valus held up his holy symbol, calling upon the power of the Shining Father. A brilliant white radiance erupted from the sigil of the burning torch. Two of the skeletons fell back before that sacred light, but the other two charged toward the priest in a violent frenzy. Dar was quick to meet them, delivering a two-handed strike from his club that knocked one of the skeletons violently back. The undead monsters did not hesitate, hollow shrieks sounding from the depths of their skulls as they counterattacked. Both Dar and Valus took gashes from the faintly glowing swords wielded by the skeletons, but both resisted the fell power of those blades that tried to steal the strength from their bodies.
Talen and Shay rushed forwad to join the melee, sweeping into the skeletons from the flanks. Their cutting and thrusting weapons had little effect upon the monsters, but they did distract them, giving Valus and Dar the opportunity to press their attacks to better effect. The priest
turned the skeletons a second time. This time he only affected the one facing him, but it became a moot point a moment later as Dar smashed the other again, causing it to explode in a shower of bone splinters.
The fighter started after the three
turned skeletons, which had retreated to the far corner of the mausoleum, but Varo’s voice drew him about. “This way, now!” the cleric said. Varo had used a
stone shape spell on the slab covering the shaft, and was already slipping down to the ladder below. The stone floor of the mausoleum had already risen a foot, and was continuing to ascent at a slow but steady pace.
“Do not linger... remember the bars that come out to block the shaft,” Varo said, starting down the ladder. The elf was only a pace behind him, dropping into the shaft, nimbly catching the top run that was now three feet below the lip of the opening. The other companions hastened over to the opening. Dar and Talen helped Shay and Valus down to the top of the ladder, and they started down after Varo. Zosimos, seeing that his arts were not needed against the door or the skeletons, came over to them, but as the warriors started to help him into the shaft, they could see the fat steel bars begin to emerge from the surrounding stone; within seconds the way out would be blocked.
“There’s no time!” Talen yelled.
The Guild mage looked up at them. “Jump,” he ordered them.
Dar and Talen shared a look, and obeyed.
The three fell into the shaft. Valus looked up and let out a surprised yell to see over six hundred pounds of rapidly-descending mass plummeting down toward him. But a split second before a bone-crushing impact, the mage uttered a word of magic, and their violent descent slowed rapidly as a
feather fall took effect.
There was still no place for Valus to go to avoid being struck, and as the four collided, the cleric lost his grip on the ladder. Talen lunged and seized Valus by the edge of hs cloak, while Dar latched on to the nearest rung of the ladder, arresting his fall. Valus, clinging to Talen with his free hand, thrashed his legs through the shaft, unsuccessfully trying to find the rungs again. The heavily armored cleric dragged Talen down rapidly despite the mitigating effects of the wizard’s spell, and the two landed hard at the base of the shaft in a tangled jumble of limbs. Shay, who had shot down the ladder at the first hint of trouble, stepped aside just in time to avoid being crushed.
Zosimos, drifting gently down behind Talen and Valus, reached out and snagged a low-hanging rung, and used it to smoothly avoid the fallen pair, jumping to the side to land lightly beside Varo.
“Dar?” Varo asked.
“He’s on his way down,” the wizard replied. “I believe he is a bit... suspicious... of the magic.”
Shay helped Talen and Valus to his feet. The cleric limped slightly, but both that and the wound he’d taken from the skeletons faded as he channeled a
cure wounds spell into himself. “Quite the plan,” he said.
Talen drew his glowing sword and moved into the passage that led into the dungeon. Behind him, Dar reached the end of the ladder, and hopped down to join them.
“Not much of an ambush,” he said.
“Still, a very impressive trap,” Zosimos said. “I could see how it would discourage casual visitors to this place.”
“Yeah, a bunch of the Duke’s soldiers found that out the hard way, last time we were here,” Dar said.
“I wonder how the mechanisms are arranged?” the wizard continued, peering up the shaft. “Just the counterbalances alone would have to be
huge...”
“We’re here for a mission, not to sightsee,” Shay said.
“Understanding how this trap works may help us to avoid others,” Zosimos said, speaking in a tone as if addressing a small child.
“We are inside, and again the way is blocked behind us,” Varo pointed out. “Let us focus on the objective. We are committed; we cannot relax our guard for an instant.”
They started down the passage after Talen. Light was not a problem for them this time; in addition to Talen’s sword, both Valus and Zosimos carried items that had been enchanted with a
continual flame.
“By the Father’s light, this place is foul,” Valus said, as the stench of the passage rolled over them.
“It’s going to get a lot worse,” Dar said. The fighter glanced back at Varo, who nodded in understanding.
Talen led them without incident to the end of the passage, and the pit at its end. Dar and Varo had briefed them on what to expect, so they secured ropes and lowered themselves down to the secret door below. The portal was jammed, but Talen was able to force it with a bit of effort.
They made their way into the dungeon level. The stink was overpowering, stronger even than the original group had remembered. Zosimos lifted a cloth to his face, and Valus’s face twisted with revulsion with every step he took.
“Nice, huh?” Dar said to Valus. “Just remember, you sent us down here, last time. Payback’s a real bitch, isn’t it?” Before the cleric could reply, the fighter turned away and walked ahead.
Shay moved to the lead, replacing Talen at point. They continued steadily but cautiously ahead, the scout scanning every inch of the floor, walls, and ceiling as they crept forward. They veered right at the first fork, and made their way into the first room. “Don’t touch anything,” Varo said. “Last time we were here, there was some green slime... and other things that weren’t as they seemed. Dar and I will point out anything that wasn’t exactly as it was on our last visit.”
“Let’s just get to the river, and get out of here,” Talen said.
They crossed the room to the far exit. The way forward was open, with all of the doors they’d encountered before shattered from their hinges. The place had been scoured clean, and none of them had any question as to the reason.
The next room was likewise barren; the smashed coffin that had been here last time was gone, and there were only a few scattered bits of debris around the edges of the room. On the far side of the room, their light indicated the stairs down that had caused Dar considerable grief on their last visit.
“Watch for the traps we remember, but note that they priests may have set new ones as well,” Varo said.
“We are all of us veterans,” Valus said. “These constant reminders are not necessary.”
“They cannot hurt,” Talen said. “Varo and Dar have been here before... and Malerase, of course,” he added, with a nod to the elf. Thus far, the elf had seemed to fade into the background, blending into the shadows without any apparent effort.
Valus opened his mouth to respond, but was cut off as Shay hissed a warning from over by the stairs. “Hsst! Something’s coming!”
They drew back into a wary semicircle around the top of the stairs. “What is it?” Talen asked.
“Listen.”
They stood there in silence for several loud seconds. They passed in slow accompaniment to the pounding of seven hearts.
A sound reached them... a sickly slurping noise, instantly familiar to Dar and Varo.
“The dung monster,” Varo announced.
“I hate it when I’m right,” Dar said, grimacing.