Swen wiped the black goop off his sword, wishing he'd left it by the blacksmith yesterday for some proper sharpening. The undead generally don't bleed, so he'd put it off as unnecessary. However, so far what his party had encountered had been mostly ghouls: small yet grotesque humanoids that obsessed over dead stuff. They bore a disturbing resemblance to premature babies, and Swen was thankful their bodies decayed so rapidly upon death. He grimaced as he checked the edge for cracks.
"Ye know, if ye'd listened to yer barmates more, ye might have known better than to come in here with a blunt blade." That was Gary, who was both the oldest member and newest addition to the party. He was somewhat abrasive and had a shady background, but in the end he was always reliable. "I'm afraid his skull's so thick, even what reaches his ears has no hope of sinking in." came a light chuckle. Like most female adventures, Melaine could more more than handle herself, but Swen still couldn't help getting in the way of any danger near her. Well, that was his job as the meat shield anyways, so it worked out in the end. "Shouldn't the ghouls be bringing in plenty of 'parts', though?" Teja was only 14, but had a good head on his shoulders. Swen had already resolved to get him into a university if there was ever a chance.
The four finished checking the room they were in for secrets or valuables, then continued their delve into the dungeon's depths. Swen took the lead followed by Melaine, while Gary served as rearguard. Their corridor took them to a major junction with several others, as well as a large and ornate doorway. "This must be it," Teja cried, "the entrance to the next stage!" "Hold on young'n, lemme check fer traps first." Gary held Teja back as he switched places with the leading pair.
"Hrmph, it's less of a door than a seal... prob'ly'll need to bash it down..." After checking the frame for suspicious gaps, he took out a drill and carefully made a small hole about waist-high, then quickly covered it with a tiny cup with a lens for a bottom, which he then looked through. "I can see the wall and a bit a'floor on th'other side, but the light in there's damn eerie. I think I see some ghouls in there too. Pass me that flame now, boy." He took out a miniature oil lamp with an odd smell to it, and put it against the hole after lighting it. It burned with a pale blue light. "Air should be good." He finished up with lightly tapping of the door in various places and listening to the sounds that were made. "Unless there's something magic, we're in the clear." The party then stacked up for entry.
With his sword sheathed, Swen put all his weight behind his trollhide shield and rammed the door. It burst into splinters almost as if made of glass. Two crude spears and an arrow embedded themselves into the shield's surface. A few ghouls were crushed Swen's weight, but many more were slaughtered by Melaine who followed in his wake. She wielded her halberd with a fluid motion that she'd learned from a traveller, and the two had practiced this tactic many times before. But she wasn't prepared when a new foe appeared without warning behind her.
It looked human and was dressed in fine (if somewhat decayed) cloth, but its skin had an unnatural pallor to it, and its hair and nails were long and unkempt. It grabbed Melaine and tried to take a bite out of her, but was interrupted by a dagger in its chest. The creature reeled and turned towards towards the would-be rescuer with a threatening stance, and then a small iron club crashed into its gaping jaw.
Gary spat at the spasming corpse. "Damn deadite." "I think that was a vampire." interjected Teja, whose job in this situation was keeping the doorway clear in case a hasty retreat was needed. "Like I care?" When the room was cleared of the ghouls and a few more vampires, he examined the writing on the wall adjacent to one of the crypts which had recently been broken open from the inside. "It says here that they were bound for 'giving villainous counsel and leading their lord astray'." "So, they were turned into vampires for that?" asked Swen, at which point Melaine muttered: "Or maybe that was just their nature all along..." No one responded to that.
Unlike the ghouls, the vampire's corpses didn't instantly dissolve, and Teja got to work looting. Unfortunately they lacked any jewelry, but he still cut off a bolt or two of the cloth they were wearing. It was probably cursed, but that didn't mean there wouldn't be someone who wanted it... It was wise not to take too much, though. The door opposite the entrance was the only way out, and Gary spent a bit less time checking it for traps. It opened to a dark stairway leading down. But at the bottom they were greeted by an impossible sight.
The ceiling and all walls save the one they come out of were completely out of sight, and the room seemed to stretch on forever - although in practical terms, darkness totally engulfed anything more than ten meters out. The majority of what could be seen was turbulent black water, and a narrow path leading along the wall (or should it be cliff?) to an identical doorway. But on the far shore could be seen several indistinct figures, almost like living shadows. The slowly wandered about as if lost in despair, and emitted an aura of hopelessness. "The Land of the Dead," whispered Gary, "We'd best make haste. Don't touch the water." The party nervously shuffled along the wall in their usual file.
Suddenly, Swen froze in his stride, bringing to a halt his party members who were behind him. "No... It can't be....." he muttered under his breath. The others followed his gaze to a certain spot upon the far bank. There was a shade there different from the rest, smaller yet more distinct, with an aura that somehow seemed closer to light than shadow. Its figure was too hazy for any to recognize, except... "Elsha! Is that really you?!" With Swen's shout, the others could see the resemblance of a young girl in the apparition. She remain unmoved upon the water's edge, gazing back upon Swen with an unreadable expression.
Elsha was the original reason Swen had become an adventurer. She contracted a serious illness, so he had set off on his own to collect enough money to hire a doctor. Unfortunately, being young and inexperienced, he not only failed miserably, but nearly died himself in the process. "Elsha! Hold on, big brother is coming for you!" Swen suddenly tossed aside his shield and moved away from the wall, apparently intent on fording the river to reach his sister's spirit. "Swen!" The others shouted in unison. "Ye twice-damned fool! That obviously ain't who ye think it is!" Gary struggled to move past Teja without knocking the latter into the waters, in order to assist Melaine who was only barely managing to keep Swen from plunging himself in.
"Swen, if you cross this river, you'll never be able to return." Melaine spoke in a soft voice. "Would your sister really want that?" Swen ceased his frantic attempts to break free of her grasp, and reluctantly turned his head back towards his companions. All three showed worried expressions on their faces. "N- No..." Swen whined, as he quietly began to shed tears. Melaine shifted to a more gentle embace and whispered to him. "It's okay, we're still here, we aren't leaving you." Swen called out to the other side one last time: "Elsha! I promise I won't let it happen to them too! I'll see you again one day!" With that, the figure of his sister faded away.
Gary grabbed Melaine's shoulder for her attention. He said nothing, but motioned towards the exit. He then took point, while Teja clumsily carried the shield and halberd of the grieving Swen and consoling Melaine. There was another set of stairs leading up to a small landing with a circular slab of stone set in a track on the floor; obviously a door that needed to be rolled aside to open. A Statue of a praying, or perhaps mourning maiden abutted each wall. The group rested there for a few minutes to recover from their emotional ordeal.
It took the combined efforts of both Swen and Gary to shift the stone door, while Melaine stood ready to impale anything that might jump out from behind it. The room beyond was imposing, built similar to the interior of a gothic cathedral with two aisles and a nave. Unlike previous rooms, there was a notable absence of the malign aura that typically provides basic visibility in a dungeon, so Swen lit a torch off Teja's lantern. The party immediately noticed a suit of platemail in tattered robes kneeling at an altar at the center of the room beneath a glittering dome.
They approached warily, but when prodded it fell over to reveal but a skeleton inside. Gary began stripping the armor down for transport; it was quite the haul and would probably pay inn fees for weeks if it wasn't cursed too badly. Meanwhile, Teja picked up a book that was on the floor nearby, almost dropping it when a few fingerbones fell out. Although it was nearly unreadable, he could tell it was an old scripture, once held open to a passage regarding the importance of keeping oaths. "There's a note here in the margin. It says, 'loyalty before honor'." It was often important to pay attention to clues in a dungeon, to avoid traps and solve puzzles.
Clues such as the faded murals on the chamber's walls. Though there was much water damage, several parts could still be made out. The common element seemed to be a nobleman wearing a crown, although how he was depicted changed between panels. In one, he was given a halo like a saint while many knights and peasants kneeled before him, but in another his brilliance had diminished as he listened to the whispers of several ugly men and even a demon. A third panel saw it replaced by an equally imposing aura of darkness while all but one the former knights approached with drawn swords. In the final panel, the remaining knight carried his corpse towards what was unmistakably the entrance of this dungeon. Swen voiced what they all were thinking: "If the armor was the last knight, then that means..."
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There was no more ignoring it. What the knight had been kneeling at had been revealed upon closer inspection to be a sarcophagus. But that disturbing it bore a terrible risk went without saying. However, the party had already pillaged everything else in the room, finding some grave goods like silk or talismans carved from stone, and one silver chalice from which the knight had probably drank from. They were approaching the limit of what they could carry easily, but they also knew that they were now deeper than anyone else had gone before. A short council later, and the three decision-makers agreed to take one last risk before heading back.
The sarcophagus' lid was massive, probably intended to be carried by no less than eight porters, and had to be lifted nearly ten centimeters before it could be pushed aside. Thankfully Swen had learned a trick for getting his body to exert extreme force for a very short period of time, and managed to get the lid off the lip. From there, the other two used ropes, hooks, and leverage to shift it the rest of the way off while Swen took a brief moment to cool down. From inside the now-open sarcophagus came a soft blue light and the reek of ozone.
The inside was lined with enamel, and a moat of quicksilver enveloped the coffin - itself made of steel, but with a transparent top. The cadaver was extremely well preserved, partially mummified and dressed in ornate battle armor. There was a deep gash in the crowned helm and skull beneath it, leaving little doubt as to the cause of death. But perhaps the most striking feature was the gemstone upon the former prince's chest. It was nearly the size of a hen's egg, and dichromatically dark green with a bit of brown near the edges. Thin strands spread from it throughout the coffin like a spiderweb, cocooning the occupant in its silky sheen. But the very air about these strands seemed to glow brightly, while the main gem itself pulsed with light from within.
Suddenly, a wave a crimson issued from the gem and spread throughout the room. In a sadly less surprising turn of events, the corpse's eyes flew open. From its mouth came an unholy screeching sound so hideous, a claim that it could kill through sound alone would not be taken lightly. Gary suddenly yanked Teja, who had been the closest, backwards. Something fast and sharp moved through the air where he had just been a split-second ago.
Above the coffin, not as much seen as it was perceived, an apparition. It seemed to be a man, but partially transparent such that its bones and to a lesser extent organs were visible. None of the witnesses knew what an x-ray was, but if they did they would have described it as such. It gave off the feeling of something that only existed when one was looking for it, like seeing shapes in the clouds or the moon, but the sword it wielded was all too real.
"Crap! This is no good!" Swen was thankful he had been holding a torch instead of his sword, for the latter would have been useless against this foe. But while the figment avoided the light source, it swiftly skirted the shadows and attacked from another angle. To make matters worse, the torch was already old and threatened to extinguish with every motion. Melaine immediately took charge of the situation. "Withdraw!" But it was too late; the muffled screaming (which was still going on) had obscured the sound of the door being rolled back into position. She turned back just in time to catch a glimpse of one of the maiden statues in motion. And then all hope of retreat was cut off.
"Damn child, ye forgot the door again!" So Gary griped, but he knew full well that Teja probably wouldn't have been able to do anything to stop it. He was merely venting his fears. Odd shadows kept coalescing in the corners of his vision, and though they dispersed when he swung at them, the lack of resistance left nagging doubts in his mind. Worst of all, he was starting to recognize them as bits of his past that he'd rather forget.
Meanwhile, Swen endured in great pain as his already overexerted body felt the pummelling through his shield. The sword was well-made and well-honed, and left deep gashes in the surface without getting stuck. Swen's biggest concern was that he'd soon become too tired to dodge a thrust with enough force behind it to penetrate. But so far Melaine had managed to deflect the most threatening blows. There was even a glimmer of hope when the spirit felt the need to block one of her counterattacks, even if that might have been residual instinct. However, both knew that a battle of attrition was heavily in the opponent's favor. As usual, Melaine had a better grasp of what had to be done. "We must cut off the source of its power. To the coffin." Their enemy redoubled its efforts to stop them.
"Wait, don't!" Suddenly, Teja interrupted her. He was the only one not fighting so far, not because he was afraid (though he'd be lying if he said he wasn't) but because he'd only get in the way if he tried. Usually, he'd take potshots with a miniature crossbow, but that wouldn't help this time. In exchange he was given more time to assess the situation, and reached an important conclusion: "We aren't fighting the Prince, but the Knight!" In both the mural and the coffin, the prince had not a sword but a scepter. On the other hand, on the body they had just looted both sword and scabbard were missing.
Melaine shuddered when she realized that she might have been about to release something far more terrible than what they were already facing. She could still hear that thing screaming under the glass. "What can we do to stop the knight, then?" "I'm not sure..." It was at that time Swen decided to try something different, and took a deep breath. "Loyal Knight! We swear to disturb your lord no further if we may leave in peace!" To his amazement, the knight's ghost actually paused its attacks. Seeing this, Gary nervously chimed in. "We'll- we'll even warn others not to bug you two."
There was no sign if Gary's additional words had any effect, but after a few moments the knight shifted to a less aggressive posture and pointed to an innocuous spot on the wall. There was an audible click, and sure enough the section pointed to slid back when pushed. The party wasted no time in rushing through. Swen, being the last, bowed his head before leaving. It may have been his imagination, but the coffin's wail seemed to have shifted from rage to grief at some point. Gary slammed the door shut behind him, and there was silence.
After a short tunnel, Swen stepped into a room different from all that had come before it. 'Abnormally generic' would be the only way to describe it. As soon as he crossed the threshold, two large flames appeared in copper bowls with no apparent fuel source. In the center of the room was a large chest, and behind that a stone plinth. While the others checked the chest, Swen picked up one of four small disks which sat upon the plinth. It was exceptionally heavy for its size, made of a dark metal with gold inlay of a crown with a sword next to and beneath it. While the crown was broken, the sword was whole. He flipped the token over, and could only stare as text began to appear before his eyes.
Swen Geyer
Conquerer #1 of the
Grave of the Fallen Prince
Rank: Veteran
Grade: Mortal
Par: 1 Day
He was about call the others over when Melaine called to him. "Here's your share of the treasure." She held out a bracelet with jade beads of various colors. Swen accepted it with a raised eyebrow, and glanced back at the others. Gary was inspecting a fine knife, while Teja was making a charcoal rubbing with some paper he'd found. "What did you get?" "Oh, just another of those bracelets..." True to form, Swenn noticed neither her blushing nor the shortsword hidden behind her back. The chest also contained a smaller box with ingots of gold, silver, and high-grade tin in it. The sudden and drastic reversal of fortunes left everyone relieved to the point of hysteria, and it was some time until one of them noticed the obvious problem: "Wait a sec... How are we getting this home?" But before what Gary said could sink in, bright light began to shine through the cracks in the room, and the world disappeared in a flash.
That night, the men celebrated their triumph in the tavern. Much of what they'd taken from corpses had vanished when they were teleported out, but the treasures in the final room more than made up for it. The other patrons were regaled with their tales of horror from the dungeon, although many scoffed even at the parts they didn't make up. To keep him out of trouble, Teja was put in the care of a travelling wise man, whom he was now showing his his rubbing. "This symbol was on the side of the chest. That's the brand of the Architect, right? The one which makes the greatest of dungeons?" The sage smiled as he nodded. It pleased him to know that even in a backwater realm such as this, the quality of his work was well known.