Carver waves the torch over the pile of rubble and dirt blocking what he’s now beginning to think of as ‘the entrance’ as opposed to ‘the cave’. The reason he’s made this distinction is that after only twenty minutes of shoveling and [Slide] spells moving dirt and rocks out of the way, it became immediately obvious that what they were digging into is a room, roughly rectangular, ceiling about ten feet off the ground, with what looks like bunks carved into the wall, and an empty weapon rack as well as some stone tables prevent the floor from just being flat stone.
Carver thinks he can see an iron door to the left on the other side of the room, but his torchlight doesn’t reach far enough to know if it’s open or closed. He examines the progress of the excavating, then the progress of tossing the removed material to the opposite side of the tunnel. His plan for digging their way into whatever the place is was simple. Dig out the left side of the cave-in, throw the removed material to the right. His logic was assisted by Skivs, who said that as long as they don’t remove the actual load bearing parts of the rubble, it won’t collapse again.
It takes the men a total of an hour and half, plus the hour-long trek down here, to dig an entrance big enough for the smallest of them to make it through. Carver orders them not to go through until all of them can make it, no sense in sending someone in if no one will be able to go help them. Carver does the last bit of digging himself, prying free a large stone chunk that was blocking the path for men larger than average, like Bruce and Cuts. He waits for Mace and Bruce to throw the large stone onto their pile of dislodged material and draw their weapons before he starts barking orders.
“I’m going first, then Cuts, Shotty, Case, Skivs, Sunner, Seka, Jeet, Lucky, Bruce, Mace, Barb, and Pidger. We fan out once we enter, and clear the room completely before we even think about touching that door in the corner, got it!?” Carver shouts them into order, and nods in satisfaction as not a single one dissents. He sighs, inhales, and wonders to himself for a moment. Why the fuck are we doing this again… “On me, go!”
The men file into the room one by one, torchlight and Case’s [Light] illuminating what is now obviously some sort of abandoned barracks. Being actually in the room now, with only one small exit back to a place they know, Carver had expected it to feel claustrophobic, or maybe feel a little pressure in his ears from how deep underground they are, but he doesn’t. He recalls something from when they first got here, and turns to Skivs as the rest of the boys poke around the room.
“Do you still have that map of the area?” Carver asks, and Skivs just nods and pulls out his pack. “No, I’ll look for it in there, just turn around.”
Carver looks through Skivs’s pack full of papers, ropes, and miscellaneous but potentially useful items for the map, until he finds it. He pulls out the rolled up map, undoes the string tying it up, and rolls it out on the stone table.
“Case, bring that [Light] here.” Carver demands, and soon enough Carver, Skivs, and Case can all read even the faintest ink on the map, and Carver starts trying to mentally trace the cave above to where they are now. “Skivs, what’s your take, where are we?”
“If I had to guess, boss, I’d say we’re under the opposite hill from the river that runs through the village, probably by the other road.” Skivs speculates as requested, and Carver stares at him blankly. Sunner, whose opinion was not requested, walks up behind Carver and gives it anyway.
“Wouldn’t that mean we’re only a couple hundred feet…” Sunner points directly to the wall to the left of the iron door. “From where they thought that old dungeon is? What if this place is an abandoned or unused section of that?”
Carver wonders in amazement how someone so dickbrained managed to put that together, but decides not to give him shit for it, since that is a legitimately good observation regardless. He gives Sunner a kick to the shin, and turns back to the nerds.
“Pack up the map, I think Sunner’s right, but that also means this is a good escape route, since all dungeons have at least two exits.” Carver shares one of the few pieces of sage advice he picked up from his short stint as a dungeoneer way back when, and picks his sword back up from the table. “Alright, form up, everyone, we’re going through the door. Lucky, Shotty, take either side, I’ll take point.”
Carver lets the two men open the door, and steps through with Bruce and Mace at his sides. The first thing he spots is the construction of the chamber, which is a long chamber hallway, with another hall to the right, and a closed door on the far side of the chamber. The second thing he realizes is that there are [Permanent Light] spells floating above torchstones in the walls. Not too alarming, but definitely disputes the ‘unused’ theory, since even the ancients wouldn’t waste magic on putting lights in unused areas.
His men fan out behind him, and they move as a unit, inspecting the two piles of what looks like bone chips in front of the hallway leading to the right. He turns, and spots two closed doors at the end of that hall, but decides quickly that they won’t be walking down any hallways until they’ve fully cleared this chamber. Case waves him over after pushing through one of the piles of bone chips.
“Boss, the pattern, only magic makes it.”
“Any theories?” Carver asks the sorcerer, hoping for something better than ‘magic makes it’ to come out of the man’s mouth. Instead, Skivs is the one who answers that.
“Probably some sort of anti-undead spell, since there’s a bit of ash around the piles.”
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“Alright men! On guard, there could be some undead in here we’ll have to fight through before we find the exit.” Carver calls out the information, and all of the boys ready their weapons and torches a little more seriously. He looks to the doors down the hallway, then at the door on the far side of the chamber, and makes a choice. “We’re leaving the hallway for later, Bruce, Mace, on me.”
--
They clear the next chamber without incident, only finding clear signs of more stone bunks, and more light spells illuminating the chamber. They line up next to the room’s only door, which opens to a room that ramps downwards slightly. Carver pushes through it, and his men follow him, all preferring to get down the ramp as quickly as possible in case of some sort of trap. The bottom of the ramp is another chamber similar to the one with the hallway, with two doors on the far wall and another at the end of the ‘hall’.
Lucky whispers that he hears something, so Carver has the boys silently fan out, and presses his ear to the door at the far side, while Lucky and Skivs do the same with the other doors. Carver recalls that there was supposedly a cult in the area, and signals for Case to convey that knowledge to the rest as quietly as he can.
Carver hears what sounds like shuffling feet and the muffled but distinct sound of something hard repeatedly tapping against stone, and signals all of the men to form up. Nodding at the men who hear Case’s whisper and pass it along, he signs that there’s movement on the other side of the door, and silently orders them into combat ready positions.
“If it's a cult, then they’re the reason for the destroyed undead back there, we’re going in swinging. On my mark.” He whispers as quietly as possible, before counting them off. “Three… two… one… now!”
Immediately opening the door, sword drawn, Carver spots the entities he heard. Three zombies moving what looks like crates and barrels, a couple skeletons, and what looks like an elf quietly ordering them around.
“Target the cultist first, the undead’ll lose cohesion when the leader is gone! Take em’ down, boys!” Carver shouts, and rushes towards the elf in the center of the chamber. He slashes at a skeleton that deflects away from its task of moving what looks like a basket of clothes to intercept him, scoring a clean hit on its ribcage and allowing him to pass unhindered.
"Sera, don't panic! I'll be over to you soon!" Is shouted from somewhere behind Carver, but he ignores it and presses forward.
Carver hears Mace scream in pain as he takes a hit for Lucky, who apparently almost got himself killed by one of the skeleton spearmen Carver ran past judging from their mid-combat argument. Carver gets locked in melee with a skeletal swordsman the elf apparently commanded to block him, despite how surprised and scared she looks from here. Carver turns around in the midst of his duel, and notes how all of his men are doing in their fights, and turns back while aiming a kick at his adversary’s legs.
The skeleton tripped, he sprints towards the elf, who apparently took the time Carver was briefly distracted to draw a sword from her side. The fear and anxiety in her eyes signals to Carver that his assumption was correct, she’s just the one commanding these undead, and doesn’t have much experience actually fighting. He raises his sword, darting around the last zombie bodyguard the elf had commanded to intercept Carver when he wasn’t looking, and swings his sword at the girl.
She manages to block his sword with hers, deflecting it to the side and taking a step back while Carver adjusts his grip and stance. Carver looks at the brawl unfolding around the two of them. Mace is on the ground, but Barb has managed to pull him out of the fight. Most of the undead are either tied up by the melees or dead to Case’s [Firebolt] and Skivs’s crossbow sniping. He sees Sunner slip away from the melee, staying low to the ground and nodding to Carver, and Carver grins.
“Hey, girly? What’cha doing with an Undeath cult? Men like us not enough to satisfy?” Carver taunts, and launches another attack with his sword, fully expecting the girl to be able to parry it. She does, but it leaves her perfectly exposed to Sunner’s sneak attack. Or, as Carver flinches and jumps backward instinctively. It would’ve.
“[Mage Armor].” A voice says calmly, coldly, from within the melee, and Carver’s eyes go wide as a barrier of bluish-purple force deflects Sunner’s axe without even scratching the girl’s skin. “Sera, don’t hesitate. Kill him. I’ll be right there! Alacritous Cogitation, Layered Augmentation.”
Carver tries to dash forward to stop what’s coming, but isn’t fast enough to close the distance in time, as the elf brings her sword around at her chest height, the blade perfectly leveled at Sunner’s exposed side. Carver watches as the blade tears through Sunner’s fur armor, and the girl follows through, spraying his fellow bandit’s blood all over both herself and the ground.
“You fucker! I’ll piss in your eyes for that!” Carver shouts in anger as he rushes forward at the girl, bringing his sword down to strike at her again. The girl falls backwards, a look of apparent fear and shock on her face, and Carver hesitates for just a moment, but starts bringing his sword down on her all the same. Until he hears a scream from behind him, and turns.
One of the skeletons that had been helping the zombies carry stuff is still alive and standing-no, not standing-still fighting, and Carver spots the reason for the scream immediately. Said skeleton has Lucky’s head in his right hand, not attached to his body, and has his other arm embedded in Cuts’s chest up to the elbow. Carver immediately turns, dashing to help his friends, when the skeleton tosses both to the side, holding an arm out to point at Skivs and Case.
“You want to play, let’s play. Overcast, [Scorching Ray].” The skeleton speaks, and Carver traces the path of its pointing to his companions, then registers the two streaks of orange light and heat lances towards them.
“Case, Skivs, dodge!” Carver’s warning is too late, as while Skivs manages to orient his body to only get his in the shoulder, Case’s momentary hesitation offers him no such opportunity. Carver, as well as all of the remaining men fighting for their lives, wince at the sound of flesh melting, Case’s skull exploding, and Skivs screaming in agony as his body starts burning alive as the flames spread from his missing arm.
“Now.” The skeleton says calmly, and Carver switches his focus back to the undead, and tries to take a step forward, before he sees the skeleton immediately turn to catch Bruce’s spear on its arm, and drives its other hand through his skull from under the man’s chin. “Step away from the girl.”
Carver swallows, and drops his shortsword, moving slowly, and putting his hands above his head, the same way he would if it were a platoon of soldiers or a couple dozen guards threatening him. He spots Shotty break away from the zombies and rush at the skeleton with a cry of ‘I’ll fuckin-’ before the skeleton whips around and crushes the man’s head between both of its hands in a sort of horrible, brutal clap.
“You fucking bastard! Like hell I’m letting some random fucking skeleton kill me!” Seka shouts, and raises his mace as he charges, Carver desperately wants to shout for him to just run, but can’t build up the courage once he spots why Seka is charging in so recklessly. The body of Jeets skewered to the floor by two of the skeleton spearmen.
“You’re nothing.” The skeleton taunts as it turns its body away from Carver once more, and Carver takes that as his opportunity to try and rush the undead down. Barb and Pidger evidently have the same idea as they break away from their melees. He makes it barely ten feet closer when he hears a horrible, horrible sound, like a church bell being run over by a carriage, come from the skeleton. “[Death Knell]. Sera, look away."
--
Lifetime Achievement earned: Human(Common) Killed: 1
Lifetime Achievement earned: Kills Via Tamed Monster[Evolved Skeleton]: 12
Congratulations Sera!
You have leveled up, your available class options are: Barbarian(BRB), Bard(BRD), Fighter(FTR), Hexblade(HEX), Rogue(ROG), Ranger(RGR), Spellblade(SPB). Some of your options have been overwritten by statuses: Non-Chaotic, Evil, Str<14, Int<13. Would you like to level up?