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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 3239001" data-attributes="member: 143">Nope, it's because you guys know these characters now, that I put that little ending in there.  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /> The rest of this week is one of those, "Oh, just when you thought things were grim now..." sequences. Building to a nasty Friday cliffhanger, of course. Those of you who have read the module and know what lies beyond that secret door will know exactly what I mean.  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" /> * * * * * Chapter 64INTO BANTH’S LAIRThe secret door, in actuality a slab of iron cleverly disguised to look like the surrounding stone, pivoted on a central axis.  It had been locked, secured by some unseen mechanism, but Dar was able to wrench it open, revealing a plain straight corridor beyond.  Talen had his bow out; they agreed that if they encountered the wizard again, Varo would silence an arrow and Talen would try to put it either into or near her, to block her spellcasting.  Dar had handed over a fistful of his magical arrows to the captain, to better his chances.  While the mercenary still had Argus’s shortbow among his cache of weapons, he was far more effective in melee.  Allera and Varo were still carrying the elf.  Dar had suggested leaving “the baggage” in one of the crypts, but Varo had refused.  For some reason that the fighter couldn’t fathom, the cleric seemed almost fanatically dedicated to the well-being of their former companion. The passage extended as far as they could see, into darkness.  They cautiously made their way forward.  There was no way to mask their approach; they needed the light of Talen’s sword and Varo’s staff to see. “Shh... do you hear that?” Talen said, lifting a hand for silence. “I don’t hear anything,” Dar said after a few seconds. “Sounded like... buzzing,” the captain said. “Remain alert for traps,” Varo said from the rear of the column. They continued on, and saw that the passage bent slightly to the right before opening onto a room up ahead.  The chamber was much wider than it was deep, and extended as far as they could see to their right and left.  Stone statues placed at regular intervals formed two rows across the room, facing the center, forming a hallway thirty feet across between them.  The room was occupied.  A disorderly knot of humanoids were gathered in the middle of the room to the right, and as soon as the companions entered they turned and started shuffling in their direction.  The creatures were clad in battered suits of archaic plate mail armor, and carried halbards. “Zombies,” Varo said.  He and Allera put the elf down in the shelter of the passage, and joined Dar and Talen.  The captain lifted his bow and put an arrow square into the chest of one of the creatures.  The missile pierced its armor, but the shot did not appear to have any effect.  “Save your ammunition,” Varo said.  “These must be hacked to pieces.”“Not a problem,” Dar said, drawing out Valor.  He swallowed as the power of the sword settled over him, but he held onto the hilt of the weapon tightly as the undead monsters closed to attack. The fighters met the surging undead with a violent assault.  The zombies, too slow to react, took devastating hits that ripped them apart, their ancient suits of armor offering little protection against the powerful attacks.  Dar slammed Valor through a zombie’s torso, from its left shoulder to its right hip.  As the monster fell apart, he swung his sword around in an arc that took a second creature’s head from its shoulders.  Talen was only slightly less effective, delivering a pair of cuts that sent a zombie tumbling to the ground.  Allera stood at the ready, knowing that her involvement in the melee would only add to their risk, while Varo held back with a deep frown on his face, scanning the surrounding darkness.  Finally he lifted his divine focus, and called upon the power of Dagos.  Four of the zombies tottered back and withdrew from the melee, swayed by the call of the cleric’s god. Talen and Dar continued to tear apart the zombies, suffering only minor injuries in turn from the undead monsters’ crude blows with their awkward weapons.  The zombies weren’t putting up much of a fight, and none got past the two defending warriors. “We are being delayed,” Varo said.  “It’ll just be a few seconds more,” Dar said, pushing a zombie off him, and sweeping his sword through its lower body, almost severing it in two.  The zombie toppled over backwards, flailed about a bit, and fell still. “I don’t think we have a few seconds,” the priest said, as a light appeared on the far side of the room to their right.  The light was coming from a door that opened in the center of the wall; it looked like a roaring bonfire had been placed directly behind it. That appearance was just an illusion, however.  As the companions watched, the roaring fire moved through the doorway, expanding as it came into the room until it brushed the vaulted ceiling twenty feet above.  As it fully entered the room, the flames took on a semi-humanoid form, with huge “arms” of fire materializing out of its core.  It was fully fifteen feet from one side to the other, and the way that the flames splayed out over the ceiling, it looked as though the peaks of the fire could have extended far higher than they did.  Trailing lines of black char on the stones, it started moving toward them.</blockquote>

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