Chapter 4

In which the party learns about mercy

Following a very productive rest, during which Frelik actually seemed to get more attractive, the group re-instated some light sources and sallied forth, progressing from their camp down the hall towards a pair of double doors.   The doors were massive and bore the sigil of the seven pointed star, which the group could easily recognise as the symbol of the Runelords of old.  It was disappointingly locked.

Akura and Frelik threw their shoulders into the door a few times, to no avail.  After much pounding against the doors, Frelik stepped back, announcing, “My shoulder is sore, outrageous!” 

They agreed to move on and try the doors at the end of the corridor behind them.  These doors opened freely into a mostly round room which contained nothing more than a deep pit surrounded by a broad ledge.  Valeria moved to the edge and dropped a rock down the opening, listening for the impact.  It was very deep. 

On the wall opposite where they stood was another door which they passed through with caution.  Upon opening the door they were greeted by an entertaining array of scents; a carnival of blood, bones and rotting flesh.  Yuri noted the sloppily drawn runes on the wall, they were done in something that looked suspiciously like dried blood.  The gnome’s nose wrinkled, “I hear something scrabbling and scratching in the darkness beyond.“

Cautiously, Frelik advanced, holding a light-source aloft, illuminating a pair of part-dog part-human creatures of ghoulish appearance.

Davros piped up, “Beware these creatures, they are festrogs, if you strike them with slashing or piercing weapons they emit a spray of disease-ridden fluid, do not let yourselves get hit by it.”

Akura pushed to the front, “I’ve got this.” He blustered, swinging at one of the creatures with his fist.  In retaliation, both creatures advanced, one sinking its teeth into the monk’s flesh.  The monk retched one and swayed on his feet, skin graying.

Seeming to ignore the half-orc’s advice, the barbarian swung his scimitar in a mighty arc at one of the creatures, slicing it cleanly in half.  As a spray of vile black goo flew at him he turned his head at the last moment, narrowly avoiding a fate similar to the monk’s.  This was followed closely by a softly cursing Davros pushing his way through the knot of people surrounding the remaining creature, swinging his Morningstar with hesitation in an attempt not to cause the spray.  He failed, taking a jet of viscous good straight to the face with a groan.

Olivine managed to strike at it with her spear, sending yet another spray in Davros’ direction.  With a growl, the monk kicked the creature once in the chest, spun and struck the creature in the head, knocking the head clean off to smash against a wall.

But before the party could celebrate their victory something resembling a snake made entirely of bone reared up behind Magpie.  Yuri yelped and jumped back as the bird man cawed, whirling to swipe at the creature with his katana in a slashing streak.  He scored a solid hit, but the bone only creature merely shrugged it off.  Frelik’s swing missed narrowly as Davros’ bomb bounced off his shoulder, splashing the creature with alchemical fire.

With a sigh and roll of her eyes, Valeria popped a round into her chamber, levelled and fired, blasting the creature’s head to dust.  She turned, beaming, “Did you see that?  I ass-ploded that bone snake!”

Davros frowned down at the floor, at the odd rune carved there, “This bears a strange resemblance to the destination of a teleport rune.”  He muttered, “How odd.  Why would anyone want to teleport here?”

When no one had an answer to that, they decided to follow the new corridor they’d found back towards the chambers they’d already explored.  As they moved down the hallway something white and bone-like appeared in the distant gloom.  As they neared they could make out that it was a group of skeletal archers.  Akura wasted not a moment in bellowing with rage and charging forward, though Yuri could not see if his strike connected – until the barbarian came up beside him and doubled over with a groan, receiving a monkish elbow to the groin for his trouble.

Davros, through his tears of mirth, hurled a bomb but missed, his creation landing behind the back skeletons, the flaming burst putting down the back two.

The remaining skeletons swung at Frelik and Akura, injuring both – Akura apparently seriously. 

“Don’t worry!” Magpie called, “I’m right behind you Akura, kick it!”

The monk, in spite of his weakness, listened but unfortunately missed with his attack, falling unconscious for his trouble.

Frelik roared and inserted his blade into the creature’s neck bones, popping its head off and sending it ricocheting off the walls around the corridor.  Davros sped in, stepping onto the monk and swinging his Morningstar, crushing the final skeleton’s skull with a mighty crunch.

Once the danger was passed Magpie stepped forward, hands glowing as he reached out towards the monk’s wounds, which disappeared beneath his touch.

Skeletons defeated, the group pushed through into a room surrounded with heavy black curtains.  There was one door in the wall opposite where they entered and another hidden behind the drapery.  Valeria peered at the door behind the drape, “Well, it looks good.” She said, shrugging.  The party stared at her, she stared back, “Well, I’m not going first.”

Sighing, Frelik pushed past her and shoved the door open.  An arrow flew from a concealed slot in the wall, embedding itself in the man’s shoulder as the door fell open.  Frelik grunted, snapping off the arrow and complaining loudly about how much it hurt being shot by arrows – Yuri couldn’t help but notice that most of his complaining seemed to be directed at Valeria.

The purpose of the small stone room beyond was lost to the mists of time, but it was not empty.  Two shambling creatures, one skeletal, one more substantial lumbered out of the shadows.  After a rousing round of misses on behalf of Frelik and the creatures, Davros hurled a bomb into the room, flame splishing onto both creatures.

Leaning her hands around the doorframe, Olivine let loose a splash of viscous green acid, sizzling into the neck flesh of the zombie-like creature.  Taking advantage of the weakened flesh, Akura delivered a spinning kick to the creature’s cheek.  The head bounced across the floor and up, seeming to leap up into Magpie’s rucksack.  Yuri blinked in disbelief, had he really just seen -?

Magpie squawked, reaching into his sack and hunting around, clearly chasing after the head – which was clearly evading his grasp.  Finally grabbing a handful of its hair, he yanked it out of the bag and hurled it towards the corner.  It almost seemed to scurry away from him, laughing as it went.

Equally creeped out by that, the entire party elected to move on.   The next room was long and full of alchemical equipment; glass, tubes and wires.  Three large vats line one wall, each filled with a rotting, bloated corpse suspended in green goo with tubes and wires coming out of them.  A hunched figure was darting to and fro, tweaking and managing the various bits of alchemical equipment.  As the group entered the room, the man turned to face them with a hiss.

With a cry Valeria cracked off a shot, which bounced off the wall.

Akura followed, hands held up before him, “Who are you and what are you doing here!?” he demanded.  Yuri rolled his eyes.  Young pups; no good with the softer skills.  He could’ve told the monk a more subtle approach was necessary when dealing with someone as unstable as this.

The man shrieked, “Mr. Marrow!  Kill them!”

A large bloated creature burst forth from one of the glass vials, goo dripping from its limbs.  It lumbered forward, swinging at the monk.  Yuri leapt back, grateful he hadn’t been voted to speak for the party.

As the monk scurried backwards out of combat, Davros did something which managed to truly baffle Yuri – he quaffed a potion and shrank suddenly to half of his size.

Valeria hurled her vial of holy water at the bloated creature, but the tiny glass vial went wide, wasting itself on the floor.

Path before it clear, the zombie ambled forward – straight into a blast of flame from Olivine’s hands.  Frelik managed to knick the creature’s kneecap just enough to distract it and cause its roundhouse punch to go wide. 

The humanoid figure yelled, “Mr. Marrow, minion!  What are you dawdling for!?  Kill them!”  and quaffed a potion which the plague doctor identified as a potion to assist with his ranged attacks.

Olivine raised her hands once again and hurled another blast of flame at the two creatures who were truly beginning to show their damage.  Frelik took advantage of the opportunity to step up and swing his scimitar, halving the fat zombie across the midriff, top half falling over to gush rainbow coloured fluids all over the floor.  Davros hurled a bomb with a grunt, its burst of flame putting a quick end to the second creature.

Both zombies dispatched, Magpie strutted into the room, facing off against the alchemist and decreeing, “If you know what is good for you, you will cease and desist immediately.”

The alchemist merely laughed, hurling a bomb which exploded in a burst of frost, surprising the group as the man fled down the corridor opposite where the group had entered.

Without a thought Frelik took off down the hall after him, skidding on a patch of fluid and broken glass at the last moment, his scimitar swing going wide as a result.  Davros, miffed by encountering a fellow alchemist, hurled another bomb at him which hit him squarely in the chest, exploding in a burst of flame that nearly hurled him off the ledge.  After tottering briefly the man regained his balance with a sneer, shouting, “Pharasma take you!”

Valeria’s bullet once again went wide, failing to knock the man into the pit he balanced on the edge of.

Retreating further, the alchemist ran over the pile of body parts the party recognized from earlier as the pile from which they had fought a handful of animated hands, shouting, “To me my love!  Save me from these interlopers!”

Three figures appeared around him, clearly not friendly.

Frelik launched himself over the gap, swinging his scimitar wildly at the alchemist – and missing horribly.  And not only did he miss, he now found himself alone on the other side of the gap with the enemy.  Not knowing what else to do, Magpie cast a spell which gave the sound of charging warriors next to the barbarian. 

Valeria reloaded her pistol and called to Frelik, “I’m sorry!  I tried!”

One of the zombies swung, punching the barbarian in the chest.  The big man weezed once and collapsed, which opened up a line for the evil alchemist to hurl a cold bomb at the people on the other side of the bridge.

Olivine, not knowing what else to do stepped forward, attempting to hit one of the zombies with a ranged attack, only to miss.  Leaning around the corner with a cry, Davros tossed a bomb dead into the centre of the group.  Flame leapt up to engulf the four enemies, obliterating the two zombies and singeing the alchemist and his beloved.

Levelling her pistol on her forearm, she squinted one eye and fired, sniping the alchemist between the eyes.  He went down in a heap of robes as the woman screamed, “No!  Svilennius!”

Dashing forward, the woman held out her hands, flame belching out in a cone-like shape to engulf the group.

“Oh no you don’t!” Olivine shrieked, stepping up next to Akura and raising her own hands in turn, “That’s my spell!”  The woman attempted to roll with the attack and failed, taking a full singeing.

Inspired by the gnome’s attack, Davros leaned out and threw another incendiary bomb, further burning the distraught woman.

Popping a glowing bullet into the chamber of her gun and fired, hitting the woman in the shoulder.

With that hit, the woman dropped her weapons, begging, “No, please don’t hurt me!”

After a moment’s hesitation amongst the group, Davros stepped forward, “We accept your surrender.”