Autumn 1372

Ashara grimaced but shrugged her shoulders. Opening those enormous stone doors right now wasn't exactly a quiet activity so it wouldn't afford them the element of surprise.

"I don't especially like the thought of having only one open escape route," she whispered to the companions, "but Elric's got some tricks up that metal sleeve that should be able to push a couple of those doors open in an emergency. If it comes to it...if we need to get out a different way, he should be able to provide us a new path to the exit."

Steeling her nerves, the young priestess looked toward the yet unexplored southern hallway.

"But it won't come to that. Not this time! So lets go get this done... I'd like us to be able to report our success to the Abbess before lunchtime," she grinned.

"mmmm Lunch." Elric said distractedly. "Good deadline.

"Sooo Everyone's ready now..." The warrior looked at the eager band around him. "What are all of you using anyway?"

"Iglesdale has never let me down yet." Tirtero said confidently as he brandished his gold and silver edged sword.

"Magic?" Elric said with a hint of doubt. "You know it won't work right now..."

"I do." the warrior admitted reluctantly. "But the edge is still sharp, and I believe you fought some non-demonic enemies down here did you not." Seeing Elric nod he added in confidently. "Those I can handle with or without the magic."

"My arrows are forged of silver. They should still be of some use. If not, I did acquire some iron arrows too."

"Cold Iron seemed to work pretty well last time..."

"That's what my mace is," Mairlen interrupted. "Should do the job."

"Ok then... " Elric said as he contemplated the weapons before him. If we see massive demons, I'm heading for the biggest one. Those with iron, help where you can... Tirtero, You get the hobgoblins and ogres... trolls... Who knows whatever else!"

"Right... ummm... yeah." The warrior gulped audibly and Elric stifled a chuckle. Slapping him on the shoulder, he turned toward the door. Adaldo already had a gleaming arrow stretch tight in the bow.

"Let's go!" and slammed his shoulder into the heavy wood door. It was unlocked, and with little effort he was able to shove it open.

"WELCOME, Welcome, welcome...." a Chittering voice came from the open room. Elric gagged as the stench of sulphur wafted over him. The creature before him was huge, almost insectile. Definitely Segmented... Four arms that ended in angry looking pinchers, two of which grasped a wicked looking trident. There was no doubt it was a demon of some sort.

"Welcome to your doom... You've been expected!" the mezzoloth stuttered out. As it rose to it's feet and leapt forward, an arrow shaft drove deep into it's shell. Grinning Elric leaped after it as he heard the bow creak for another shot.

Elric spun into action, ducking under a blow from the vicious trident, and narrowly dodging a grasping claw. His hands moved in deft unison and snapped out working against pressure points and flex points and within moments the foul creatures weapon was sliding across the floor.

With a hiss of frustration the mezzoloth struck toward the mostly unarmored warrior only to be intercepted by the shining sword of Tirtero. A segment claw snatched it from midair and the others could hear the metal creak as the deamon bent it near breaking. As expected Iglesdale didn't have any bite to it, but Tirtero had known that going in. He released his grip on his precious sword and slammed his shield hard into the shell of the monster.

The Mezzoloth rocked back a moment, but the man simply wasn't that strong... As Elric watched the weaponless warrior's courage, and heard the steady strum of arrows cracking the shell and hissing with effectiveness he decided that maybe... just maybe, this group would do alright.

The two priests at the center of the line, Jorelon and Mairlen, wasted no time pressing the attack, hoping to keep the attacker on its heels from the vicious retaliation.

At first, Ashara wasn't entirely sure what it was... She'd done a good deal of research recently but this was neither devil nor demon...well...not technically. Upon seeing it, the Seekers immediately reached into their stuffed pouches for vials of holy water and Ashara followed suit.

"Holy water it is!"

Glass smashed against abyssal exoskeleton, splattering the caustic liquid over the mezzoloth's face and chest. It hissed in fury, echoing the sizzle of its damaged hide.

"That or silver," Adaldo called out beside her as he loosed another silver-tipped arrow. "Nothing much else down here will harm a yugoloth!"

At least that's something, she thought as she plunged her hand into the Haversack this time and called forth the silver sickle the Everdawns had found on their first day. Not for herself, but for the human warrior that was meeting the huge insect-thing head on! With no weapon!

Ashara pushed the sickle's hilt into Mairlen's hand as she cursed her poor aim with her vial.

"Give this to Tirtero," she insisted. "It'll do more good in his hand than mine!"

With that, the braided priestess dropped back to her place beside the ranger to keep an eye out for anything that might come up behind them, and pulled out another vial of holy water to throw. She was carrying more of them than she had in a long while, in preparation for this excursion. It looked like they'd be coming in handy!

As Tirtero tried valiantly to hold the monster back, Mairlen rushed to his aid.

"Ashara sends gifts!" She said as she slammed into the Mezzoloth, bolstering Tirtero's shield. With a grin, the warrior grasped hold of the silver weapon.

"Nice... " he grunted as the razor sharp claws dug into his shoulder. Whacking frantically, he heard skin sizzle as the claw dropped away and infernal screeching erupted. "Very nice indeed... Makes me wish I was a farmer!" Tirtero joked as he kept hacking away with the awkward weapon.

Elric dodged and twisted past the reaching claws. They came close, and more than one scratch may activate the regeneration when he finally left this hole, but so far the deamon seemed more concerned than his group did. Adaldo's arrows kept peppering around the half-elf, some glancing off hard shell, most seemed to find chinks in the armor. Silver was the answer. He didn't have any silver though... Of course that thought only made him grin all the more. After all, he knew something the demon didn't...

Hands gripped firmly on his longsword. Solid Iron. Created to fight the Molydeus and it's kin. Apparenlty Mezzoloths were something 'else.' Iron wasn't going to work on it. and the beast knew that. A screech filled the air as the blade sank deep into it's side with a crack like thunder. Ichor washed over Elric's hands, and the still operational 'Power Arm of Valor'.

"HOW!?!?!" The creature screamed out... "What did you DO!?!" Seeing the half-elf just grin as spun the blade up to parry a waiting claw. It simply hissed. "Enough... I'll get your secrets if I have to peel open your skull to get them..."

"See now, it's just that kind of overconfidence that's going to send you on a one-way trip back to the Abyss," Ashara taunted back over the din of battle as another holy water barrage burst over its chitinous plates. "I'm sure they must miss you after all these centuries, so let's not keep them waiting any longer!"

The priestess loosed another vial. She was not surprised to see that the guardian demon was ignoring her but what did take her slightly aback was the fury with which it launched itself at Elric! The power of the Arm of Valor MADE that currently useless cold iron long sword magical... Even here in the dead magic zone! It was hardly a wonder why the mezzoloth was shocked. In here he had little to fear. Or so he thought...

With wide multi-faceted eyes, the demon came on in a rush, shoving both Tirtero and Mairlen back a step in its eagerness to get its claws into Elric. It wasn't entirely unsuccessful either. True to form, the salk-sirra master deflected and parried expertly, but his opponent wasn't without skill and one of the pincers tore a gash into his thigh. Sure he'd taken worse, but every nick made Ashara wince. This was just the beginning of the day and there were some much larger threats yet looming before them....

The half-elf grimaced as a thin streak of blood welled up on his leg. He had the creature's full attention. That was what he wanted wasn't it?

He ducked back and swatted a claw away. Something about the demon seemed 'wrong' somehow. The way it moved... the way it struck... Elric couldn't put his finger on it, but he was unfortunately experienced enough in fighting demonic opponents to realize SOMEthing was off here.

Speculation for another time! His weapon was magic, and the mezzoloth wanted to know how. Rage flowed through the beast and rage was making it sloppy. Spinning quickly to the side the magic weapon slashed a deep gash through the creatures midsection. Ichor and insides poured through the opening splashing on the ground before him.

"YYYYou will ddddie here..." The mezzoloth croaked out. It's eyes filled with hatred, though it seemed to know the battle was over. "You will die slow, You alllllllllies, They will serve the master, but you.... you will reveal your secrets and pay for what you've taken from...."

A cold iron sword ended his rant quite dramatically.

"Well fought." Ashara congratulated the team as she dropped her readied vial back into its pouch. "Unfortunately if there was anything in these ruins that didn't know we were here, they certainly know now! We should move quickly."

Grabbing her bandaging kit, the priestess moved toward the front to see what she could patch up, only to find that Mairlen was already treating a nasty gash to Tirtero's shoulder. By the way the warrior was watching her as she worked, Ashara wondered if there wasn't a very specific reason that he'd stayed so long at the Dawnspire...

With a grin she quickly stepped up to Elric to see how he'd fared and was pleased to see that the blow he'd taken from the mezzoloth wasn't so bad. A paper cut compared to some of the wounds she'd seen him take!

"I don't think he liked you, Melamin," she chuckled as she stuffed the wound with a minor poultice to stop the bleeding and kill the pain.

Looking back, she saw Tirtero wincing as he practiced rotating his bandaged shoulder, but he thanked the priestess and took up his shield once more. He was no stranger to injury. None of them were.

Ashara squeezed Elric's unplated arm before stepping back in line. "Ready to go when you are, chief!"

"Anyone know what that was?" Elric questioned as the last of the corpse slowly dissolved back to it's home plane.

"Yugoloth.' The archer said as he examined the few arrows he was able to recover. "Mezzoloth if I'm not mistaken."

"You seem certain enough.'

"I've been here a very long time... Mezzoloths are the professional soldiers. The warriors of the mercenary demons. They were quiet plentiful during the Weeping war. Yugoloths were the ones in charge of the 'Fall'...." Seeing Elric's mouth gape open, he quickly winked.

"No... I haven't been here THAT long... but my grandfather fought and died here. I've always loved the stories..."

"Understandable, I do too. How... mmm.. Dangerous do you rank Mezza... Mezzoloths?" The elf raised an eyebrow.

"Well... Honestly. They're nearly immortal and they fight all their lives. They're extremely dangerous."

"That's what I would have thought... This one... Do you think we just got lucky? Or was that way to easy?"

Mairlen piped up in response. "I've seen mezzoloths attack before and this one didn't fight like he'd been doing it all his life. It's not an indictment against your skill, Lord Everdawn, but there's no way you should've been able to disarm it that easily!"

Ashara just smirked. Elric had disarmed demigods before after all, but the Seeker had a point.

"Now that you mention it..." The braided priestess furrowed her brow as she pondered what the evidence might mean. "It certainly didn't seem to have any qualms about being sent back to the Abyss. Apathetic about it even... And considering he's most likely been here since the Fall, being that devils and demons can't gate in or out, either it was homesick...doubtful, or it wasn't in its own mind."

She looked up at the half-elf as a queasy feeling settled in her stomach. "On our first day in Myth Drannor, we were in Uuveran's Legacy when Elric was possessed by the Lorekeeper. We were attacked by an abashai, and the Lorekeeper...though inhabiting the body of a warrior, had no idea how to use it properly, fighting like a librarian, not a salk-sirra master.

"There are spells," she continued, "that could allow the alhoon to possess the mezzoloth's body. If that's what happened here, than our enemy already knows more about us than I feel comfortable with..."

"I've heard... of Demon's possessing people... but people, and I use the term loosely, possessing demons?!?" The half-elf's mouth gaped in disbelief. "Is that really possible??" The others looked at one another with uncertainty. Finally Jorelon stepped forward.

"I... have never heard of anything like this before. I mean, I know that demons can sometimes 'SERVE' a mortal master... at least till it finds a loophole and guts the mage... but this... This would be 'bad."

Elric bit his lip as he considered all the implications. He was sure there was more to it than he could see... but he didn't immediately agree with Jorelon's assessment. After all, if he had to fight a demon... he'd rather a mage be driving.

"Are we sure... 100% sure that we're in a dead magic still?" The question came from Tirtero as he looked around the darkened room. "How is it that this thing is possessing [i]anything inside a dead magic zone? I've seen Anti-magic shatter the strongest compulsions before... "

Mairlen reached out and touched his wounded shoulder. She called out a prayer to Lathander, and watched as nothing happened. "I'm certain. Our spells aren't working."

"I meant... what if... Ummm..." the warrior stumbled for a moment awkwardly as he tried to put the words in the least offensive way possible. Elric saw where he was going and quickly came to his rescue.

"Is it all magic or just Clerical." he grinned as the warrior nodded his thanks. "That's... an interesting question. Or to go further, Is it possible that perhaps only Lathander has been blocked from this place?"

"Hmm... Well, I'm not entirely sure one type of magic could be blocked and not the other. I mean everything is filtered through the Weave, so no magic should work. Obviously though that's not the case unless there is a psionic equivalent to Magic Jar or the other Weave is being employed by our enemy. Both are possibilities.

"But nothing is as it seems around here so we should certainly test it!"

Ashara did a mental inventory of her gear and realized that none of her items utilized arcane magic. That made her smile a little... It was hardly helpful though so she thought back to their first descent into Gemblaunt.

"Kaldric's cantrips winked out when he entered the dead magic zone," she murmured, not completely impressed with the meager evidence. Then her eyes lit up. What was more arcane than a wedding gift given of Mystra's own Silver Flame after all!?

With a chuckle, Ashara turned away from the group and partially covered her mouth to mask the attempt at a Whisper.

Adaldo was standing close enough that his sharp elven ears picked up her nearly inaudible message and he turned toward Elric with raised eyebrows. The elf awkwardly cleared his throat and shifted his weight to the other foot.

"Nope," Ashara grinned as she turned around and saw no reaction from her husband, "I'm quite positive that arcane magic isn't working either."

"I.... have the feeling I missed something there..." Elric said as he saw that familiar grin on his wife's face. "Feel like sharing?" As the grin got wider, and the elf looked more uncomfortable he quickly changed the subject.


"Later then!" He'd pry this interesting information from her at a later time... Oh yes. That was a promise. "If this is 'possession'... then I hope it's psionic in nature. That means the arm should protect me... If it's 'shadow-weave'... I don't know WHAT we'll be able to do." He remembered the Abbess' story about the Shadovar. They came and waged a war on the Phaerrimm.... What ELSE did they do here?

"I don't know about the rest of you but if that were the case, I think I'd find putting Dawnspeaker through it's squid-face just that much more enjoyable. And that's saying a LOT," she added through clenched teeth.

"Fact is, we simply don't know what's going on here yet, and I'm afraid we won't until we come face to face with it..."

Ashara stepped back into line and confidently brought her shield to bear.

"We've got to press on. Even without the element of surprise, I believe we're equipped and ready to meet this challenge. We must! The fate of the Dawnspire depends on it. We can't allow the one beacon of light in this fallen city to be snuffed out!"

"Two doors then... Any preference?"

"It was just a guess that had us looking south... " Tirtero offered. "But, that doesn't mean we're right about that."

"Your right... South sounds good to me." Elric said as he pushed open the door. For such an old place, the hinges swung easily. Inside stood two suit of ancient Elven plate, poised as if ready for action. Elric swung instantly to a defense stance and waited... but nothing happened.

"Looks like whatever magic animates these two doesn't work either..." He said as he slowly moved between them to the opposite door.

"You're assuming that they're supposed to come to life and squash you?" Mairlen said with a snicker.

"Ummmm.. Yeah. Yes, I am." He responded with a grin. There were few things that adventurers just 'knew.' One: Rainbows hurt. Two: Statues and armor are going to try to kill you. Guaranteed.

The next door opened just as easily leading to a hallway. Neither direction headed southward. To the Right it seemed to head toward a solid wall just a few feet from the door... to the left it stretched on to the darkness.

In a very short time the group turned back toward the north, and were surprised to see 'nothing'. The passage ended at another stone wall.

"Yeah... I don't believe it." Elric said as he stepped forward. "This guy loved his secret doors." There were strange indecipherable writings on the stone.

"Wasn't there another one back up by the study? Do you think this is where they meet up?" Jorelon question a bit eagerly.

He closed his eyes and tried to think about the layout. If this didn't match up here... then it should have matched up with their origianl room. Didn't really matter though.

"Let's find out!" Elric said as he reached for the wall. "Anyone know what this says?"

"Too old, but it doesn't look like a spell or anything... " Jorelon said as he stepped up to help examine... and push. "I'm really not... " A sudden shift in the floor shut him up immediately. "ELRIC, LOOK OUT!"

The half elf was already in motion as the stone floor they were on gave away. Leaping for all he was worth, he slammed heavily into the priest and carried them both to safety.

"I think it said 'bait.' The half elf said as he look downward at the 10' pit in front of him. "That could have been unpleasant..." A second rumbling caused him to turn pale and a little nauseous as a ceiling block, about the same size as the floor pit slid heavily into place squashing whoever would have been in there to a pasty death.

The color slowly returned to Ashara's face and she breathed an audible sigh of relief.

"Seems that magical traps were not the only type that the master mage relied on..." Her voice tremored slightly. "Particularly nasty ones too. Could really use a pixie about now!"

"Pixie?" Mairlen asked quizzically.

"A very skilled trapfinding pixie who hates demons and undead as much as we do."

The Seeker turned and looked down at the deadly pit trap and shook her head in agreement. "Yeah," she sighed. "Yeah we could use one of those about now..."

Elric just grinned as they made their way back to the armor room, though it did slip a bit as he saw the other dead end. None of his sharper senses detected any hidden doors here either. This whole hallway was simply a place to die.

"That's the way the gem mage wants to play.. " he muttered to himself as he tried the next door heading south. His nerves were on edge now. He quite honestly hadn't considered mundane traps being used in a wizards tower... Stupid on his part. He'd have to be more careful...

He HAD to ...

A loud buzzing sound caught his attention as he pushed the door open, and four large reddish-brown insects came flying out, their long proboscises eagerly seeking blood.

They died disappointed.

"Anyone recognize these..." Elric said as he and Tirtero wiped the blood from their blades.

"Stirges." Mairlen said confidently. "Generally annoying, Once they get ya, they have to be killed to be removed... You may not realize it, but we've found a few victims drained dry by the things."

"Stirges huh..." he kicked one of the bugs over. It's two foot wingspan had been impressive for a moment, "I've heard of them before... Never saw one though."

The room looked to be lab of some sort. Nothing of consequence was left, and the group gave it a thorough looking for any hints of what may come... whatever the mage had used it for, was lost to the ages... or the Dead magic.

"Choices again..." Elric sighed as he looked across the room. I suspect that door will lead us to the hall where we fought the Molydeus last time... and we've got the hall behind us heading the same way... Though it only looks like one more door there...

"Any preferences?"

The thought of meeting the molydeus again loomed heavily over her upon hearing Elric's comments. She hadn't forgotten the terrifying experience of fleeing for their lives while her husband held the demon off... An experience she would not live twice.

"Well..." Ashara spoke up, lifting a finger to point back toward the hall they came from. "I do so hate leaving things unexplored behind us. Why don't we check out that last room and then if it's empty as well, come back up here and take this door next?"

The edge of the torch light was just able to reach the end of the hallway as they stepped out of the ancient laboratory. It ended in a solid wall. Supposedly... Ashara figured it was either a secret door or perhaps another horrific trap! Of course the door the wished to check out, stood at the corner of that 'solid wall'.

"Just...watch your step please," she implored the warriors at the front.

Elric winked in response and headed carefully down the hall. The wall seemed as solid as the ones before it, and thankfully so did the floor.

"Do you see anything?" He asked as he saw the elf studying the ground around him.

"Not much..." the ranger admitted reluctantly. These halls aren't abandoned... but it's hard for me to tell what or how recent the dust here has been disturbed... So, nothing we didn't know going in."

"Lovely..." The warrior said as he pushed open the next door carefully. The room was empty with another door leading ot the opposite side, just like the one before it. There was one difference though... This room had no floor.

"Whoa..." Elric said bracing his hands on either side of the door frame. This... is not the route we want..."

"What in the world..." Tirtero said trying to see past the others. "ohhh...."

"Yeah... somehow... I'm thinking this room once held a clever if insubstantial illusion." He looked back with a peculiar look and shook his head. "I'm starting to change my opinion on this whole 'dead magic' thing...

"Let's head back to the other hallway... "

With more caution and silence than she would have believed possible from a group so heavily armored, they made their way back to the ruined laboratory. The eastern door was inspected with much suspicion. Understandable considering the circumstances! Ashara fidgeted in anticipation but she kept reminding herself that there was no rush here, in spite of her eagerness to be away from this dark dungeon. She'd had quite enough experience in impenetrable darkness in her time as an adventurer, and frankly being down here brought back some unpleasant memories from not that long ago. A few pleasant ones too...

After the elf and the two warriors checked the door over thoroughly, the group passed through into a 'T' shaped intersection and the familiar hallway from which the molydeus and his crew attacked them a few days before. Adaldo confirmed it.

"There's definitely been more activity here than in the last hallway," the elf muttered as he knelt to the floor briefly. "Hard to say what exactly, or how long ago... Is this about where....?"

Ashara nodded and pointed to the north up the hallway a few paces into the blackness. "Just up that way if I remember correctly. Plus, something probably came this way to shut those stone doors that Elric and...and Durlan worked so hard to open." Hearing their fallen companion's name aloud caused her to wince and she reached up to place a comforting hand on Jorelon's shoulder.

"Let's not just stand here, okay?" Mairlen's tone had a distinctive, pleading edge to it as she gazed into the unknown darkness that reached out to them in front and to each side. "We're way too exposed in this spot."

The group crossed the hallway and took the passage west, directly across from the door they'd just exited, and found another door. Whatever room this one led to, was hard to tell. Not much of anything was left here, though the walls were blasted black from some sort of great explosion hot enough to have started to melt the stone before it was extinguished. No smell of an inferno remained though and the tracker agreed that this must have happened a very long time ago.

Another door stood at the far side of the room, warped and burnt, but serviceable and they group passed into another north-south hallway with as much stealth as they could muster.

The next room was a disaster. Similar in design to the room with the Gem-mages body they'd discovered days ago, this room also possessed a broken and scattered skeleton. Once fine funeral garments lay tattered, torn and scattered. There was no casket, yet there was an old faded marker stating the mages name.

"Here lies Hazziman. Even in death his power is immeasurable. Leave now or face the consequences..." Elric read aloud. Raising an eyebrow he looked back to the others. "Any idea what I'm looking at?"

"Dead magic." The elf said softly. "I've seen before where great and powerful wizards chose a different type of tomb. They're magically preserved, and tend to just... float above the table here."

"Gahhh.. Why?" The half-elf said with his nose curled in disgust.

"Pride.. arrogance... Some simply can't stand the thought of being locked in a box." He looked at the crumpled skeleton with trepidation. "With wizards... sometimes they expect to come back!"

A chill rolled down Elric's spine as he stared at the body with Adaldo. Thankfully it stayed where it was.

"I don't think we have to worry about him... " Mairlen said with snicker. She pointed at some old, worn runes. This protects from necromancy... This mage didn't want to come back... "And THIS..." She said tracing another directly where the body should have lain... "This would redirect any magic cast in this room back at the caster. VERY powerful... The warning wasn't an empty boast.

Ashara breathed a prayer and knelt down to pick up the ancient wizard's skull. In death his power may have been immeasurable, but dead magic stripped away all that power...and any dignity his resting place had previously held. This was something he hadn't counted on.

"If someone here has figured out a method by which to move dead magic zones, then I fear none of the elvish tombs are safe in spite of their wards and guardians." The priestess blew a gentle whorl of dust from the bleached skull and set it gently back on the stone bier. "Between that and the ability to dominate, the illithilich may have discovered the way to plunder all of Myth Drannor with minimal risk..."

The thought settled uneasily on all of their shoulders. This was more than just about the Dawnspire, she realized. What they accomplished here could affect all of Myth Drannor and beyond into the Realms! As it was with the artifact that Elric now wore on his arm, there was magic in these ruins that could win wars and turn kingdoms on their heads. Such power in the wrong hands could be devastating.

And there was nothing good that could come from an alhoon possessing that kind of power...

"I don't think our friend here would mind if we cleaned the vermin out of his home before composing his resting place," Ashara said, turning back to her companions.

Elric looked back with a grim set to his jaw and glared down the hall they came from. "Let's see if we can raise the stakes from 'minimal' to something else entirely."

Despite the brave words, the half-elf's left eye twitched a bit. They had searched a LOT of this place... and the resistance had been minimal. MUCH more minimal then the last time... But he knew there was something... and he was beginning to fear that the Alhoon, Molydeus and every other big bad nasty was going to be waiting for them all at once. He barely defeated the Molydeus last time... in fact, he had a hard time counting that as a victory. What happens this time? With more backup? Barely tested allies... Ashara had made it perfectly clear she wouldn't leave him this time...

As the dark thoughts flooded the warrior's mind they made their way back down the hall. Various glyphs and markings hid amongst the stone walls, and Adaldo was quick to point them out. As dead as the light on Elric's holy symbol, they walked past without issue. Soon they found themselves on familiar ground. They had walked through two rooms to get to the crypt... but this hallway took them to the starting point.

"Which way next..." Elric said as he looked at three doors.

"Did you hear that?" Adaldo asked as he looked ahead of them.

Elric shook his head. "I can feel a tremor in the stone.... but I'm not a 100% on where it's coming from."

"There... Ahead of us." The elf pointed to the solid door. "It's been opened recently, and I can hear something on the other side... Something... Strange."

As the elf pointed it out, Mairlen was next to hear it. "He's right... there's some kind of... humming...and..."

"Whirling." Elric finished for her. He wasn't sure he liked this idea. Somehow it felt off to take the middle path and leave the two outer ones to surround him. Logistically speaking any one path left two others to surround him... but the walls were starting to make him more uneasy.

"Let's do this then!" He said as he kicked at the door. Old wood splintered and fell away and Elric stopped fast in his tracks. There before them was... something. Obviously a machine of some kind, with lights, wheels, levers and... who knows what else. It easily filled the side of the room, and inside the buzzing and whooshing was much more dominant. Near one of the wheels was a sickening puddle of blood and scraps of cloth which served as a warning of what might happen if one got too close...

Elric took all that information in with a glance. It was all the time that he had. The machine was not unattended. Five former adventurers were maintaining the machine with a handful of elven skeletons. Dead decaying flesh filled the room with a horrific stench. How long the adventurers had been dead, it was hard to tell... but they were still hard at work under the watchful glare of two skeleton's in ancient elven armor. Dark skulls turned their hateful glare at the intruders. Red dots of hatred, burned deep in the eye sockets.

As the simple skeleton's and their zombie minions turned their attention almost mechanically towards battle, the two skeleton warriors that seemed to be in charge moved with more purpose. One picked up a two handed sword and started barking orders to his minions. The other picked up an ornate elven sword and a shield shaped like an eagle's wing.

Elric's heart plummeted as he recognized a symbol on the ancient rotted tabard. A white Hawk on a field of brown.

The symbol of the Hawksongs....

At the back of the line, Ashara had little idea what it was making all that racket within the room, but there was no mistaking the stench, groans and familiar clatter of bone that accompanied the presence of mindless undead. The three men in the front stepped into the room to meet the attackers.

"Mair?" Jorelon called out to the Seeker behind him as he brought up his shield and reached for a vial of holy water.

"I've got these guys," she answered simply, and pulled out her rose-quartz holy symbol to begin the turning.

Skeletons and zombies were not an issue. Skeleton warriors however were an entirely different matter. A much more powerful form of undead, they were controlled by the being that possessed a circlet into which their soul had been trapped. Nasty business and immune to turning. Even worse... They were immune to damage by anything other than magical weapons and thankfully...holy water.

This was not the first time they'd encountered skeleton warriors. Down in Dagadar, CoRD had to fight off a handful of them that were being controlled by a dwarven martial artist whom Elric later broke in a one on one combat. Ashara could still hear the cringe-worthy cracking of bones as the two masters faced off against each other. Not something she especially enjoyed remembering...

The braided priestess reached for a vial of holy water at that point, and called out to her husband.
"Elric, the one controlling those red-eyed skeletons can't be too far away and he's seeing through their eyes right now! Yours is the only weapon that can hurt them down here."

With that, Ashara hurled the vial over the heads of front line as Jorelon threw his as well. Both aims were true, his striking the approaching skeleton warrior in the ribcage, and hers in the right eye socket, where it splattered holy water into the thing's skull, hissing furiously as it corroded the evilly enchanted bone.

Adaldo arched a delicate elvish eyebrow. "Nice shot..."

"For a human?" Ashara retorted with a grin as she reached for another vial.

The ranger simply smirked and drew back his bowstring to show her how it was really done.

Whoever was behind this... All of this... Robbed the crypts of elves not only of their magic... their treasures... but also apparently their very bodies. As Elric stared at the familiar crest of the Hawksongs, he trembled with rage.

A quick nod to Ashara let her know that he had heard her. He had the only weapon to hurt these guys... it was all him.

"You wage war against the Priests of Lathander..." He growled through gritted teeth. "And now you desecrate the ancestors of my friends? You're just doing everything wrong today!"

The hawksong skeleton stopped and tilted it's head. Ashara was right. Whoever was controlling this had heard and understood him.

"Today?" a whispery voice reached out all around them. "My plans have stretched for decades... You're the ones who are new... and today your interference ends!" The undead horde moved in to attack.

Elric didn't care. He leaped in arm and sword blazing. Every swing seemed to crack and send bone shards flying. Within moments, two ribs, and the jaw were broken off, but the undead creature didn't stop swinging Elric grunted as a thin line of blood appeared on his cheek. Without magic he was slower than usual... easier to hit. Still a strategic twist as the blade swung out had kept the strike from being more than a nuisance.

Tirtero wasn't as lucky as the half-elf was. Unable to hurt the other Skeleton warrior, the swordsman thought to try a different approach. He bashed hard with his shield and cut straight with his sword, hoping to send the skeleton's weapon spinning... at least that was the plan. The reality of the situation happened quite differently.

The skeleton seemed to sense his intentions, and despite his physical similarities to his soon less useful cousins, Skeleton warriors were a whole different breed of undead. One that still maintained all the skills and speed they possessed in life.

As Tirtero's sword came sweeping in, the skeleton's two handed sword swatted the warrior's sword out wide and threw the human off balance. Spinning fast and swinging with both hands, he cut hard against the warriors back, cutting deep, and sent him sprawling into the horde of undead.

Down but not out, Tirtero swung wildly and parried one or two of the grasping claws as they sought his soft flesh. He screamed as one claw found its way through the recently damaged armor.

"A little HELP here!!" the warrior cried out to the chanting morninglords. His cry was answered as two arrows buried themselves deep into a zombies face and he felt the claw go limp.

Additional aid came to Tirtero as the mindless undead that were closing in on him, suddenly fell to ash. Mairlen looked quite pleased with herself. Her grin lasted only for a moment though as she saw the skeleton warrior with the two-handed sword approaching the prone fighter.

Ashara saw it too.

Making a mental note to congratulate Adaldo on his excellent shot at a later date, she palmed the vial of holy water and pushed her way into the room, trusting the well-honed senses of the ranger to keep an eye out behind them.

She rushed to Tirtero's aid, leading with the heavy shield she'd found after the Xavers had eaten her magical one on the Everdawns' first day in Myth Drannor. Already it must have saved her a dozen times. Now it may just have saved Tirtero as well. Metal shrieked against metal as the skeleton's sword met with dwarven made steel instead of the flesh it had hoped for and it turned to regard her with surprise and annoyance which flickered in those burning red eyes.

"You wanted to pick a fight with Lathander's faithful?" With a grunt of exertion empowered by fury, Ashara used her shield to shove the descending blade out left and then drove her gauntleted hand up between skeletal arms, crushing the vial of holy water into it's jaw. "Then you've got it!"