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Message: <blockquote data-quote="spyscribe" data-source="post: 1926609" data-attributes="member: 5808">Part the Eighty-SeventhIn which: at least the zombies do not appear to be anyone’s friends.In later days, Lira will turn to Anvil and ask him, “When the bodies in the cave started coming at you, why didn’t you just turn them like you did Amelia’s zombies?  I mean, they were pretty obviously undead.”To which Anvil could only reply, “I felt like hitting something with my sword.”###And hit them he does.  As soon as Anvil sees the mold-covered zombie shuffling towards him, he draws his blade and sinks it right into the creature’s shoulder.  The strike sends up a grout of slime and spores, but does not otherwise seem to have much of an effect.Eva stabs at the zombie closest to her, slicing into it with her rapier, then flinching involuntarily as two magic missiles go streaking by her sword arm to strike the zombie full in the chest.  The missiles do their work, spraying mold and rotting flesh from the creature’s chest… right onto Eva.“Lira!” Eva protests, coughing on a lung-full of spores as the zombie crumples at her feet.“Sorry!” Lira calls, then lets out a small yelp as for once magic missiles (Annika’s this time) go streaking by her head.  Despite the chaos of the fight she has a second to register how strange the sensation is.  First the light appears in her peripheral vision, then a split second later it’s followed by a rush of air, but with no heat at all.  It’s bizarre.She is just about to share the weirdness by casting at the zombie currently attacking Benedic when she sees one of the giant roots reach down from the ceiling and wrap itself around Anvil’s throat.  The cleric struggles, but the root only tightens its grip, lifting Anvil off the ground by his neck.  Reyu, still clinging to the capstone, watches the melee breaking out around her in horror.  Still, no one is attacking her yet, and hoping that it will make a difference, Reyu lifts her feet from the ground, putting her entire weight onto the capstone.Unfortunately, Reyu doesn’t weigh all that much.Benedic skewers the zombie in front of him and runs through the resulting cloud of spores and flying goo straight for the root throttling Anvil, sword raised.  He is just about to strike when all of a sudden, the room… hiccups.Just for a second, the zombies freeze in their tracks, the roots stop their twisting in the air and then… they start right up again.  The pause is just enough to send Benedic’s swing awry, and he slashes inches from the root.  It is also, fortunately, enough to allow Anvil a quick gasp of air, before the root regains its choking grip.“What was that?” Eva yells.Reyu, still clinging to the end of the stalactite, answers.  “The capstone.  It gave for just a second.  If we can get it down—” The rest of her words are lost as a zombie fist connects with her kidneys.  As the air flies out of her lungs, Reyu looses her grip on the stone.  She gets her feet back under her, and turns to deal with the more immediate concern.As Lira continues to cast magic missiles at the root throttling Anvil, and Kiara shifts into hybrid form, allowing her to hover in the passage and shoot arrows over the heads of her allies, Annika suddenly gets an idea.  She doesn’t have any more offensive spells prepared for the day, but has memorized levitate.  And it would stand to reason, she theorizes, that if the spell would allow her to lift 400 pounds straight up and then down again, there is no reason why she can’t use it to pull something down without lifting it up first.And if a slight move from the capstone caused the vines and zombies to stutter…  Annika concentrates, then casts levitate on the capstone and pulls down with as much force as she can channel through the spell.  At first, she’s afraid that it isn’t working.  Then, she feels the tiniest bit of give.  The zombies shudder, and the rest of the party redoubles their efforts.  Lira sends another set of magic missiles into the root choking Anvil.  Benedic and Eva position themselves back to back to avoid being surrounded by the remaining zombies.   Reyu realizes what Annika is doing, and—finding a relatively secure bit of ground—casts soften earth and stone on the stalactite above the capstone.  “Try now!” she calls.Annika concentrates again, and with a mighty >crack< the capstone separates from the rock above.The zombies abruptly drop in their tracks, like marionettes with cut strings.  The roots go slack, dropping Anvil to the ground, senseless.  Reyu quickly goes over to him and casts cure light wounds which is enough to get him back on his feet.Lira casts detect magic again, checking the cave.  Although the capstone itself is unaffected by its change in location, the rest of the cave has ceased radiating magic, although the mold and roots still show signs of taint.“So,” says Lira, “we’ve got ourselves a big, magical rock.”“A big evil, magical rock,” Kiara adds.“I thought Anvil said it wasn’t evil.”“Okay, a big not-evil magical rock.”“Well what are we going to do with it now?”Anvil shrugs.  “I’ll carry it.”Eva looks at him incredulously.  “It must weigh fifty pounds.”Anvil merely shrugs again and shoulders the stone.  He’s not particularly forward about it, but the fact is, that strength is one of the domains of Kettenek’s power in which Anvil is particularly versed, and he is actually almost as strong as Thatch is.  Fifty pounds is by no means a crippling burden.That settled, the party turns and heads back to the surface.###It took some searching among Lord Agasha’s men, but eventually Thatch found what he needed.He spent the morning talking to Bob.  Just talking, reassuringly.  Speaking soothing words and calling him by name.  After a while, he offered Bob an apple. >snap<!  Bob bit at him to get it.Thatch let him have it.  And, as Bob ate the apple, Thatch talked soothingly to him.  After a few more hours, he gave him another apple.  This time, Bob took it gently from Thatch’s hand.Now, Thatch keeps up a quiet running monologue as Bob allows him to curry the hair underneath his mane.  It’s slow, but it’s progress, Thatch reassures himself, I can take as much time as I need.  After all, it’s not like I’ve got anywhere else to go.Then, he hears the sound of footsteps at the cave’s entrance.  Oh, that must be the others returning from the cavern.“Hey guys!” he calls.  “Did you find anything interest--?”The rest of the question dies, unasked.  His friends emerge, blinking into the fading rays of the afternoon sunlight.  Eva, Benedic, Reyu, and Anvil are all covered in moldy zombie goo.  Anvil is also carrying a very large hunk of rock.  None of them look particularly happy.“Umm… What happened down there?”</blockquote>

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