They sloughed out of the flooded chamber and back to the slightly less flooded hallway, a foots difference in hight being between Baye and Dal swimming or walking with the rest of them. When they eventually reached the junction between the path the frog chamber and the other route, they could have taken they eventually decided on going down the unknown path. It was partly to look for survivors and partly to looks for more clues into what happened in the crypt. Delde didn’t know who the dead strangers that they had found were, but the presence of one of their bodies on the way to the crypt and the other in the lower level of it could not be a coincidence. If they discovered more of them, perhaps even a survivor, or at least someone with the decency to keep a well updated journal on them then they might learn what person or group had done this and for what reason.

The new corridor led them to a smaller room than the others they had been to on this level, though it was still large enough to hold more than twice their number comfortably. It was square in shape and the only design feature of note were four narrow cylindrical pillars holding up the ceiling. Of more interest to Delde and the rest of the group was the presence of four corpses in the chambers foot deep water, one a giant frog and three rodents of unusual size, all of them had strange looking scorch marks on them. The other noticeable feature of the chamber was that all the walls, pillars and most of the ceiling were all coated with a thick azure fungus, wispy strands of which stretched out twitching and swaying in a breeze that was not present.

There was some talk amongst the party over whether they should turn around and go back down the way they knew was safe rather than travel through a room that was apparently trapped and held nothing for them. Baye though, spoke with a voice of certainty, assuring the rest of the group that she knew exactly what they were dealing with and how best to deal with it.

Apparently, she had seen some of this azure fungus in her excursions through the Fangwoods in the past and her mentor in the ways of the ranger, Arnama Lastrid, had warned her about its danger. From what Baye told them this fungus was magical in nature, and when something came into physical contact with it, the fungus would emit an electric shock capable of killing small animals and insects. An ability that Delde reasoned would be an effective way to ensure a means to gain access to decaying matter on which to feed from. Of course, she also realised that the room being flooded with water about a foot high made this power significantly more dangerous, the presence of four large dead animals floating in the centre of the chamber was proof of that.

Baye’s mentor hadn’t viewed the fungus as being worthy of much concern as it was a static (Delde didn’t know if the pun was intended or not, but let it pass by unmentioned, nobody else seemed to notice it) threat, one easily avoided. But she had mentioned to her student that it was rare for it ever to grow to significant size as it was very sensitive to cold, and it was not uncommon for large patches of it to die after a night of hard frost.

All eyes turned to Delde, and she fought the urge to break into a proud grin.

It took her only a few minutes to erase all trace of the azure fungus from the room with tactical applications of her ray of frost cantrip, as Baye had said the fungus crumbled away into grey dust when it was struck with intense cold. By the time Delde was finished the room was barren of all life, the only hint to something being off with it the light coat of frost on the walls and small amount of ice that formed on the water next to the walls. The group walked through the room with ease and Delde felt a great sense of accomplishment, even though a small voice in the back of her mind reminded her that she had done comparatively little and their progressing through the room didn’t mean much when they could just have easily walked back down the way they came.

They returned to the junction that they first arrived in when they descended to the lower level. Delde made judicious use of her prestidigitation cantrip to wring the fetid water out from her and her companions’ clothes. They were still slightly damp, but it was much better than continuing to walk through the crypt soaking wet. Delde could still make out a faint whiff of stagnant water coming from her robes though, she would need to have them thoroughly washed when she returned home.

‘So, everyone, whats the plan now? Are we heading down the other way to see ol’ Kassens bones and probably fight a bunch more undead, or do we take a break for a bit first?’.

Delde looked around at her companions. They were drained from their excursion through the eastern passage and she herself still lacked access to her most powerful of spells and Adriana had expended most of her channelling ability for the day, but in terms of their physical condition they were all doing well. Out of all of them only Igmar had suffered any wounds in combat and those were dealt with through a healing potion, of which they still had several more.

Personally, Delde would have preferred to take some time to rest and recover her spells, and perhaps read over the scroll that Holgast had gifted her. She doubted that she would be able to memorize it for now, but after her battle against the Shadow she felt that she had surpassed the limits she thought herself bound to. Perhaps she would be more able than she believed.

On the other hand, they had already made significant progress in the lower level already and still had the ability to press on. From a purely logical standpoint it would be wasteful to stop and rest only for the benefit of herself and Adriana to regain access to their more potent magics. Both could contribute to combat and outside of it without their more advanced powers, the fight against the giant frogs and helping save Igmar in the flooded chamber with the wheel proved that. And if that was the case then shouldn’t they press on further until they truly needed to rest and recover? There was at least one young woman whose life was potentially on the line if she was not already dead, and if turning the wheel had opened or activated something then there was a chance that they were now operating on a time limit.

No. As much as she would have preferred to take her time and rest Delde believed that it would be in their best interests to continue.

‘I… Think that we should carry on down the western passage rather than resting. At least until we reach a point where exhaustion starts becoming a problem for us. I feel… a bit tired right now and I don’t have access to my more powerful spells, but I’m not hurt and I’m still able to fight. We don’t know what condition Dimira is in, she might need immediate care. And if that’s the case it would be better for her if we kept moving. Plus, we don’t actually know what it was we triggered by turning that wheel, or if it’s on a time limit. I’d rather not go through the western passage only to discover we need to swim back through the eastern way to turn that wheel again’.

‘We push ourselves too hard, we’re just goin’ to burn ourselves out before we get to the Dimira.

‘I agree. That’s why I’m not advocating that we rush through the western passage. We just need to carry on as we have been, with Dal carefully scouting out ahead of us to see what threats we’re coming up to. If it looks like it’s something that we’ll need to be fully prepared for then we can head back here and rest up, otherwise we can press on’.

‘Thanks for pushing me to the front where all the danger is’.

Dal said sarcastically.

‘It’s what you’ve been doing throughout most of this crypt and you’ve been doing it well. None of us have stumbled into any traps or the like. Actually, the only time any of us came into danger outside of a fight was just now there where Igmar almost fell in that flooded pit’.

‘Tae be fair, ah couldnae see it an Dal would’ve just swam over it if he’d been oot ahead’.

‘Probably. But the point still stands; Dal is best at scouting and so long as he does that we should manage to avoid getting in over our heads’.

‘You’re getin’ pretty invested in this. Figured Adriana would be the one pushin’ for us to keep goin’.

Adriana was simply smiling away, quite pleased in Delde’s enthusiasm for pressing on. It was clear she agreed with her but chose to let her argue in favour for it. She might have realised that the others would see any effort on her part to advance through the crypt as being motivated more out of religious duty rather than reason or tactics. If that was the case, then it showed a certain social canniness on her part to let Delde argue for her.

‘It’s not that I wouldn’t like to rest, but its smarter to keep going, if only for a little while. What’s more, if we keep stopping after every fight to take a rest and recover then we’re going to be down here for a long time. And, if I’m being perfectly honest, I’d like to get out of here as soon as possible. The lower level especially. There’s a kind of… malignant malaise down here. It’s almost palpable. I suspect whatever happened to create such an influx of necromantic magic in the crypt originated here’.

‘Is it safe for us to be down here?’.

‘You mean aside from all the other monsters, traps and general dangers? It won’t kill us, it won’t even hurt us, but I suspect that Roldare’s present condition has probably been exacerbated due to the presence of such magical energy. It isn’t permanent, but it also isn’t healthy; hence my eagerness to leave this place with all due haste’.

‘Delde?’. Adriana finally spoke up, looking introspective towards the wizard. ‘Do you perhaps have an idea as to what exactly was the cause for this desecration? I have felt a… disquiet since we reached this level. Do you believe that we are closing in on its source?’.

The half elf carefully considered her words. She didn’t know what had brought on this curiosity in Adriana, but she didn’t want to flame her holy passions to the point where she would charge headfirst into danger in the name of her goddess. That was precisely what she was trying to avoid. Having said that, the cleric seemed more introspective rather than aggressive, as if the enthusiasm that had pushed her forward was tempered by something. Maybe it was the dire pall that hung over the lover level like a funeral shroud.

‘I think that whatever happened most probably happened down here, yes. What’s bothering me is that I can’t work out what exactly took place here though, or for what purpose. There is substantial structural damage throughout this level, but it doesn’t look to be older or more poorly made in comparison to the upper level. That makes me think that whatever created the upswell in necromantic magic also caused significant destruction to the nearby area. But a properly performed ritual wouldn’t have such results. Unless something went wrong during the casting, or the ritual was somehow flawed? And then there’s the question on why this was done? There doesn’t seem to be any order to the undead. No order or purpose to them, they just stay in whatever chamber they rose in and attack all living things that approach. The two bodies of the… mercenaries? cultists? That we found would suggest that there was some group behind this, some reason. But I can’t work out what their motivation could be’.

‘Perhaps the goal of the perpetrators will become apparent once we reach the resting place of the crypt? Another reason in favour for pressing on; we don’t want to allow potential clues to be lost or destroyed’.

Delde agreed with Adriana in principle about searching for more answers as to what transpired, but she doubted that any potential clues were in danger of leaving the crypt. That said, if other parts of the lower level were as badly flooded as the eastern side was then any documentation was in danger of being ruined. The cleric may have been more astute than Delde gave her credit for.

‘So, whit are we aw thinkin’? Are we pressin’ on or restin’ up?’.

They had a little more discussion among themselves and decided on exploring the western passageway before going to the designated resting place on the level and taking time to recover. Strictly speaking they didn’t know what sort of condition it was in, but even if it was badly damaged or occupied by some guardian they could always head back up to the upper level and rest with Roldare in the upper resting chamber.

Perhaps it was because the southern passageway lacked the incessant sound of dripping water of the eastern passageway, and the stench of rot that the western passageway held, that made Delde feel that the promise of a safe place to rest was real. Of course, it would be illogical to base her decision purely off emotion, Delde also wanted to avoid going to the resting place in case once they reached it inertia set-in to the group and they just decided to set up camp as they were there.

They walked through the western archway and down a long, meandering passageway, the cloying stench of rot overpowering the typical smell of mould, dampness and stale air that they were used to from being in the crypt for so long. In truth the smell of decay shouldn’t have seemed out of place in a tomb, a place designed to hold countless dead bodies, but it concerned Delde. After all, the dead that this crypt held had died a long time ago, more than a hundred years ago. Any flesh that they had would have rotted away many years before any of them were born, save perhaps Igmar. They had even seen for themselves in the undead that had attacked them since entering the crypt, all the physically manifesting undead were all skeletons. So, if there was nothing left of those originally interred to rot, what was the source of the overpowering odour of death that they were walking into?

After some walking through the plain stone corridor the party finally arrived in a cavernous chamber, large yet winding. There were several freestanding walls in the middle of the room, the purpose of which confused Delde until she got closer to them. The were not walls but rather internment places, even the actual walls of the chamber were covered with deep recesses where the corpses of the fallen would have been resting. Would have being the operative word.

Every recess that Delde could see was empty.

Perhaps empty was not entirely accurate. They held cobwebs, dust, tattered remnants of cloth, perhaps once funeral shrouds or clothes. But there were no bodies, no bones. An empty catacomb. The stench of rotting flesh was overpowering to the point where Delde was forced to cover her mouth for a moment until she fully acclimatised to it. But the source remained suspiciously elusive.

Dal was ahead of them as usual, but Delde couldn’t spot him, he had been about twelve meters in front of them in the corridor and had gone into the catacomb as soon as he reached the doorway. Delde noted that there was no door to this chamber, no way of barricading it shut if they needed to. She and Baye stood close to the entrance with Igmar and Adriana standing before them, serving as protectors until Dal returned with the lay of the room.

They stood there waiting at the cusp of the dark, barren catacomb. Time had no meaning, there was no sun, no clouds, no way at all to properly judge the passage of time save for one’s own senses. And in the oppressive atmosphere that dominated the lower level a minute felt like an hour.

Out of the shadowy darkness of the chambers Delde saw some movement, or at least she thought she did. She gripped her staff tightly. It was difficult to be sure of anything, the odd shape of the catacomb, with its countless alcoves for the missing dead made sound travel strangely. There were times she was sure she heard some muffled noise, but working out where the source was impossible, she wasn’t even sure it she did hear anything or if it was just her own nerves getting the better of her. Then she did see something, a low shape darted out of the shadows right for them.

It was Dal. His face was pale, but he looked calm, though Delde noticed that his palms were resting on the hilts of his weapons. He spoke in a low whisper, just loud enough for them to all make out but not much more.

‘I found an exit to this room, just need to hug the wall to the left and keep going until you reach it. It doesn’t have a door either, so I saw a little of what’s inside, looks like it’s a long room with an extended narrow pool of water inside… But… I don’t think we’re alone in here. I could see some… things moving around. They’re slow whatever they are, and they look humanish but… Not. It’s hard to describe, maybe it’s just the shadows but their outline is… wrong. Twisted. I didn’t get close to them, so I don’t think they spotted me, but if we go through here, they’re going to notice us, and I doubt they’re just going to let us go with a wave and goodbye. So, do we want to try fighting them off or rushing past them? They seem slow enough that I think it might work’.

‘Ah think we should fight them. Whitever they are ah’d rather deal with them the noo rather than have’n tae deal wae them on the way back. If we have tae retreat later we cannae count on bein’ able tae sneak past them again’.

Delde agreed with the dwarven guardsman’s assessment of the situation. She would have preferred to avoid a fight were possible, but in this case, she believed that an aggressive stance was necessary. They couldn’t be sure that they would be able to destroy the source of the necromantic magic in the crypt, she wasn’t even sure if it could be destroyed. And if they did, there was no guarantee that it would wipe out the undead remaining within the crypt. It would be a bitter irony if they managed to overcome the deadliest of threats in the crypt only to fall to some lesser undead because they were injured from prior battles.

‘I think Igmars right. We don’t know for sure if these things’ll follow us or not if they see us rush out. Only thing we know for certain was stuck in its own room was that Shadow. Everythin’ else we’ve killed before it got the chance to escape or follow us. Better to deal with them now and be sure’.

Delde nodded in agreement with Baye and Igmar, as did Adriana. Dal shrugged and gave an exaggerated sigh.

‘Well, if that’s what we’re doing then that’s what we’re doing I suppose. At least you can’t say I didn’t warn you about whatever we’re going to be fighting. Like I said, I didn’t get a good look at them, but I think there was about four in total maybe? So, do you want me to lead you all to one of these things, to the door, or are we just going to wait for one of them to show up?’.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

‘Actually, maybe you should show me where one of them is. I can fire off an arrow or two and lead it over to us. Adriana can enchant some stones with light about here so we can see fine. Let’s us start the fight on our terms’.

Baye looked to Igmar to see if the more experienced combative had any objections to the suggestion, but he seemed on board with it. The halfling ranger spirited away into the shadows with her gnomish brother whilst Adriana set down the lantern she was holding and enchanted some loose stones with her light cantrip. The improved illumination didn’t do much to improve the atmosphere of the catacomb, but it did let Delde get a better view of it. She noticed that the alcoves carved into the walls of the chamber were not as smooth and cleanly cut as the rest of the worked stone in the crypt, looking more like they had been dug out as opposed to being a part of the original design. The freestanding walls in the middle of the catacomb that likewise held recesses for the dead also appeared to be much cruder in construct than the rest of the architecture in the crypt. The stone blocks that it was made up of lacked the smooth, almost seamless, interconnectivity that the rest of the walls had. They instead reminded Delde of the walls that made by local farmers to divide fields; made of stones that were unworked and held together due to the convenience of their shape along with simple mortar. With all this evidence she suspected that while this chamber was a catacomb now, it was not the original creator’s intention for it to be so. Most likely the surviving townspeople of Kassen had repurposed the room and remodelled it to suit their own purpose after the great battle one hundred and seventy-four years ago.

In the light she could also see more evidence of the latticework of cracks and fissures tracing their way over the floor, ceiling and walls of the chamber. Through some luck of geography this section of the level was not flooded, but the damage looked to be about the same as the eastern side. Delde was just grateful that the ceiling wasn’t falling in at least, but the poor structural stability made her feel uncomfortable, as if everything could just fall to pieces in seconds.

A loud inhuman moan echoed throughout the warren. It was distorted by the chambers twisted shape and many alcoves so Delde still couldn’t pinpoint the source of it other than outside of the small space of light Adriana had created for them. She heard hurried footsteps and tightened her grip on her staff. Dal and Baye dashed into the light and headed right for the group, neither looking harmed but still appearing unnerved.

‘We hit one a couple of times, got its attention and I think it called out to all its friends in here. Don’t think we’re going to have long to wait before we have company’.

As if on que the groaning call that echoed through the catacomb grew louder and out of the darkness shuffled a solitary figure with a single arrow sticking out its left shoulder. It was a grotesque parody of a man, its flesh rotten and green, the visceral stench so foul Delde could smell it from across the room. What little hair that it had was stringy and limp, most of it having fallen away along with most of the skin on its face and its eyes were the colour of sour milk. It wore similar dark leather armour as the other two strangers whose bodies they had discovered in their journey, but it was ripped, torn and seemed partly rotten itself. The most notable feature of the undead monstrosity before them though was the tumorous masses bursting forth from its dead flesh, massive sores and boils that heaved under their own weight. They sprung forth from its stomach, its neck and through several tears in its ruined armour. They were so large and prevalent that they twisted the already warped figure and made it’s every movement seem like a struggle.

As soon as it came into the light the undead opened its mouth wider than any normal person would have been able to manage bearing its cracked and broken tombstone teeth to the party as it bayed out an aggressive bestial roar. It stretched out its arms and began to quicken its shuffling pace towards them, their utter annihilation its only goal. The call that it gave out was answered by others in the catacomb, the dissonant chorus of the violent dead, but Delde couldn’t decipher how many or how far away they were. All she knew for certain was that they would be coming for them now. And they would not stop until she and her companions were all dead.

‘PLAGUE ZOMBIES! Keep your distance from them!’

The young half elf was shocked back to attention and looked at Adriana who had shouted louder than Delde had ever heard her before. She had her scimitar drawn and her other hand held her holy ankh, but she made no attempt to charge at the undead before them.

Immediately her mind raced as she tried to think of everything she had ever read on the subject of “plague zombies”. It was a more specific term from the more general term “zombie”, so she reasoned they were facing a sub-type of undead, a variant zombie with specific abilities outside of the norm for their kind.

Delde audibly gulped.

She remembered reading about this sort of zombie before.

They were in significant danger.

Delde took her will and forged the arcane energies around her into an acid splash cantrip, throwing the glowing green sphere at the lumbering zombie. It would have just missed it but the distended mass erupting from its stomach just clipped the spell, setting it off and causing part of the zombie to melt away into a puddle of pus like sludge. The undead showed no sign of pain nor fear though, it just kept stumbling towards them, moaning away as obscene decaying bodily fluids dribbled down its side.

‘She’s right! Use ranged attacks as much as you can! Keep away from them as much as possible!’.

The rest of the party followed her advice and fired away at it, Baye shot an arrow that struck the zombie straight in its long dead heart, Dal launched a stone that hit it on its shoulder with a loud CRACK. Presumable he had broken some rotten bones. Igmar took a moment to retrieve his own short bow and fired an arrow of his own, the arrow only a glancing hit, but it drew foul blood nonetheless. Or at least whatever wretched ichor that now flowed through the zombie’s body.

The plague zombie continued lumbering on its path towards them, undaunted by the wounds it had taken, arms swinging wildly, jaws open wide, low but loud groan on its rotting lips. A groan that was joined by several others that were getting closer. Baye launched another arrow at the zombie, and it burst through its skull. The creature took a few more staggered steps forward and then fell, its body writhing and twitching still.

‘Keep away from it! Don’t get any closer!’

Adriana called out as the twitching turned into spasmatic flailing, even the tumorous masses sloughing off its frame squirmed. Then, in seconds the spasming reached a crescendo at which point the zombie’s body burst open in a small eruption of bile and gore which stained the dust covered stone floor. The strong stench of death was overpowered by the immense smell of the abhorrent pus that had been filling the plague zombie’s massive pustules.

‘UHG! What in the nine hells is that!? It smells like someone vomited in a pot of rancid stew, used it as a chamber pot, burnt it, left it out in the sun for a week and then vomited over it again when they smelt it. Ugh! I think I’m going to be sick’.

The gnome began to dry heave, and despite her best efforts Delde began to join it, although neither of them actually were sick themselves.

‘It’s no over yet! We’ve more o them!’

Two more bloated, rotting figures shambled into the light making a beeline for the party, arms outstretched, decayed hands grasping the air before them.

‘Focus on the one on the left! We need to take them down before they get to us!’.

Baye barked as she fired another arrow at the plague zombie on the left. Everyone followed her command, save for Adriana who lacked any means of attacking without being able to channel positive energy now. The plague zombie on the left was soon battered with stones, melted with acid and thoroughly studded with arrows, falling to the floor only to erupt in pus and gore as its brother had moments before. Both of those zombies had only managed to get around halfway across the chamber before they were able to overwhelm them, but the third was still shuffling towards them, dragging its decomposing feet through the unspeakable slurry on the floor that was once its kin. And from the dark recesses of the warren, another plague zombie lumbered forward.

Delde gritted her teeth.

At this rate one of them was going to reach them and force the fight to turn to melee. And when that happened anyone who was exposed to the putrid fluids of the plague zombie would be in grave danger. For it was not simply a matter of not wanting to be exposed to such a foul-smelling substance that concerned the wizard and cleric, it was a matter of infection. Plague zombies were well named as they were carriers of the zombie rot disease, a horrid sickness that was not only potentially fatal, but also made its victims rise as plague zombies themselves once they were dead. And so far from civilisation, with at least one more battle against a presumably powerful undead remaining before them, Delde feared that anyone infected with the sickness might not get the proper treatment until it was already too late.

She also noticed Adriana standing among them, holy symbol and scimitar in hand, who was also gritting her teeth, an expression of frustration plastered on her face. Delde sympathised with her. Out of all of them she alone probably understood how dire their situation was, but she was unable to contribute to the fight in any way without opening herself and the others to more danger. She watched as the cleric clutched the wooden ankh close to her face and could just make out a whispered plea.

‘Sarenrae, please’.

Adriana’s arm then snapped forward; holy symbol held out in defiance of the slavering undead before them. There was a glow that emanated from it, brief but bright, and then a short bolt of bright white light shot out from the ankh and struck the plague zombie closest to them right where its rotten heart would be.

A hideous high-pitched cry sounded from the plague zombie she hit, ringing out through the catacomb and its face, once limp and emotionless now contorted into a twisted mix of pain, anger and fear. The zombie turned to face Adriana. The first time any of them had shown interest in any induvial one of them and began to stumble towards her as fast as its decaying legs would take it. Even when the other members of the group managed to wound the other zombies to the point of death, none of them had shown such a visceral reaction as this one now did to the young blonde cleric.

‘Do it again! Do it again! Do it again! Do it again!’.

Dal rapidly chanted as he sent another stone hurdling towards the encroaching zombies’ head. The cleric of Sarenrae had left a deep scorched black hole in the undead creatures’ chest that was larger than its head. That hadn’t been the channelling of positive magic that she had been making use of for most of their journey, that was a clear divine spell, or at the very least a very useful cantrip. Delde didn’t have time to consider the intricacies of divine spellcasting though as the two remaining zombies were still shambling towards them all, the fact that two of their kind had already fallen before them not fazing them in the slightest, if they even realised it at all.

With renewed vigour they all fired at the closest plague zombie, throwing everything they could at it in the hopes of either killing it outright or at least slowing it down. The zombie at last fell, its head splitting as it struck the hard stone flagstones of the floor. It was several meters from them, but they all backed up a few more feet as the corpse exploded in decomposing flesh and plague matter. It hadn’t touched any of them, but there was still one zombie remaining.

It was closer than any of the others had gotten, but with Adriana’s apparently newfound powers they were able to kill the final plague zombie with little trouble. Not all their attacks were direct hits, but enough were that the zombie never got close enough to any of them to so much as swing a fist at them, let alone expose them to the deadly disease that it carried.

There was no cheering from any of them, no cry of victory, just the relief of having survived. Silence crept over the catacomb, something that Delde imagined she would have found unnerving had it not been for the unholy chorus of undead moans and groans that had been echoing out moments before.

‘Y-you should all stay away from the remains of the plague zombies! They will all still most likely be very contagious and I am not sure that my medical skill would be enough to ensure a proper recovery’.

‘Wait! Those things were contagious!? I thought you were just telling us not to get close so we didn’t wind up with that gunk all over us! What did they have? Did I get any of them on me?!’.

Dal closely examined himself spinning on the spot as he did so. Delde wasn’t sure if he was being serious or if he was genuinely worried.

‘There wasn’t much time to go into detail’. Delde explained. ‘The important thing is that no one was exposed to them, so just keep away from that’. She gestured towards the gore and pus encrusted floor where the plague zombies had exploded. ‘And you’ll be fine’.

‘Trust me, you don’t need to worry about anyone wanting to get close to that… stuff. Ugh, the smell. Anyway though, it sounds like we got all of them so just follow me and lead you all through to the exit. Unless somebody would like to snoop around the underground catacomb that was only just now cleaned out of infectious plague zombies?’

He said with a grin.

‘Actually… exploring this chamber might not be a bad idea’.

‘Wait what? I was just joking, besides…’ the gnome glanced to Adriana. ‘Some people feel very strongly about the sanctity of the grave’.

‘I know I know. But I think it might behove us to investigate this chamber in more detail now that the immediate threat had been dealt with. I mean, look at the remains of the zombies’.

‘I’d rather not’.

Baye muttered, but Delde carried on.

‘Look at the armour they were wearing. Is it just me or does it look similar to the sort that the bodies of the strangers were in when we found them? These undead were also more… Fleshy, than the others that we’ve fought in here. It’s possible that the necromantic magics of the crypt reanimated them after they somehow died. If that’s the case, then there is a chance that there could be some evidence of what they were doing here. I know we can’t check the corpses for obvious reasons, but searching through here could give us something. But if everyone else wants to press on I won’t push the matter’.

All eyes then turned to Adriana, the one whom everyone else assumed would hold the most resistance towards the idea. They were getting closer and closer to their ultimate goal, not to mention as Dal alluded the cleric held very strong feelings about grave robbing. Delde just wanted to learn all she could before moving on, not start another argument in the group.

‘Hm?’

Adriana looked up, only just realising that everyone was looking at her. Apparently, she had been absorbed in her own thoughts, something atypical for her. Normally Delde was the one who had to snap out of her own mind, it was somewhat novel for her to be on the other side of it.

‘Adriana? We were considering looking through this crypt to see if the strangers who entered here left behind any clues or the like. Would you be amenable to a quick search?’.

‘Er, yes. I would be fine looking through here, just so long as we ensure that we do not disturb any graves that have not already been defiled’. She glanced around the numerous empty alcoves that she could see in the light. ‘If there are any’.

With that decided they began their exploration of the warren, giving the festering remains of the plague zombies a wide berth as they passed them. Their footsteps on the dusty stone floor echoed through the chamber, the only sound present now that the undead wardens patrolling were no more. They all looked about as they walked around the twisting maze of stone resting places, but there was no sign of anyone having been there other than dragged footprints in dust marking the passage of the zombies. The smell of rot had abated somewhat with the destruction of the undead, but the chamber still smelt of an unpleasant mix of rot, dust and stale air.

Delde couldn’t see anything of note as they wandered through the catacomb. Most of the alcoves were worryingly empty, but there were no more undead to deal with. For the time being at least. Delde feared that if all the recesses had once served as graves, then there could very well be an army worth of undead waiting deeper within the crypt. Perhaps that was the goal of the necromancer or cult behind the disturbance in the crypt, to build up an undead army? It sounded like something she read in some of the tawdrier novels that Holgast kept in his library. A simple story in which an evil wizard attempted to enslave a city through summoning an undead army to conquer it. It was only through the brave acts of the protagonist, a bold paladin that the day was saved and the princess, because of course there was a princess involved. It seemed ridiculous that someone would actually attempt something like that in real life, but from what Delde could see there weren’t any other reasonable options to explain what was happening.

And if that was the case then there was a very real chance that they were walking towards an army that they would have no hope of defeating, even if they were fully prepared. If they came across such a force the only recourse they would have would be to retreat as fast as they could and go warn Kassen as swiftly as possible. If they could even convince the townspeople that such a thing was could ever have happened in their small part of the world.

As they were getting ready to leave the catacomb, their exploration revealing nothing of importance Dal stopped and staired into the darkness beyond the light Adriana had conjured. Delde gripped her staff and prepared to cast a spell.

‘I think I see something there… I thought it was just more rubble, but I think that it’s a backpack’.

Intrigued, they walked towards where the rogue indicated and watched as the light stripped away the shadows. Dal was correct, there, lying on its side was a large, battered looking backpack. It looked like it had seen better days and was covered with a thin layer of dust, but here was no way that it had been down in the crypt for years. Although it was old and well-used it still appeared to be in reasonable condition, and of more importance to Delde it looked to be made of the same dark leather that the strangers armour.

‘Well. That looks promisin’

‘Eh, just before I go and start rifling through that, I just want to be sure that I won’t get what those zombies had from handling their bag will I? Because I really don’t want to get zombie sickness or whatever it was they had’.

Delde stepped closer to the bag and looked carefully at it. There was no blood, no bile on it, and it didn’t have the same intense smell of putrefaction that the plague zombies had. She wasn’t an expert by any means but to her eyes it looked like the backpack had been dropped or thrown off in a panic, before whatever horror occurred to transform the strangers into zombies.

‘It looks fine to me, if you want, I could look through it though’.

‘No, no, just because it isn’t covered with zombie guts doesn’t mean it isn’t dangerous. I once saw this one merchant who rigged up one of his saddle bags to spit out paint if someone opened it. It was a way of making sure that nobody tried to rob him because you’d never be sure which of the saddlebags he’d have trapped. I doubt that whoever these guys were had a similar setup, but I’d rather be safe than sorry’.

Dal searched through the bag with care, but as he brought out more and more items from it, it became apparent that there were no traps within the backpack. Most of what the gnome recovered was soiled clothes and spoilt rations, he was especially happy to discover a small pouch of silver coins, thirteen in total and newly minted from the city of Tamran, but there were some items that were of greater significance to Delde.

The first was a highly detailed map of the local area, far superior to their own crude one. It not only detailed the landmarks of the Fangwoods and its surroundings but had an accurate scale and recorded roads and trails in the area as well. Even more telling though was the fact that the map was also annotated, with two notes written in small, elegant handwriting on it. One was beside Kassen and said “Avoid the town as much as possible. This mission must be kept secret”. The next was by the crypts entrance and said “This is where the entrance to the crypt is. There will be traps within but nothing insurmountable.”.

The second piece of evidence was a small paper handbill, the sort she had seen posted around the local taverns. Although it was faded it remained clear to read and appeared to be an offer of employment, telling interested parties to reach out to ‘The Rangers Lament’ for further details. It gave no indication of a date, time, they type of work expected or of whom the employer was.

Delde looked towards Baye questioningly as she read it. She herself had never heard of this ‘Rangers Lament’ but she theorised that an actual ranger might have. Unfortunately, the halfling shook her head slowly, whatever or wherever it was she didn’t know about it.

‘Does anyone know about this “Rangers Lament”?’.

No one appeared to have any clue about it until the silence of the catacomb was broken by Dal snapping his fingers in realisation.

‘Wait, I have heard of it! It’s a tavern in Tamran, one of the merchants who comes by the Seven Silvers mentioned it a few times. I don’t know much about it, but I think it’s a popular place’.

Delde considered the evidence they had managed to recover. In truth, it wasn’t much, but it was far more than they had when they first stepped into the crypt.

‘Hm. So from what we see here it looks like these strangers were hired by someone, some third party, to come here specifically, although we still don’t know what their actual goal was. But judging from that map, whoever organised them knew about the crypt and had access to resources from its quality and detail. And whatever their purpose was they wanted it kept secret according to the map and the fact that the employment offer didn’t give any details out to the public. Of course, all of this still doesn’t explain what it was they hoped to achieve out here, but at least there’s now a starting point for the authorities when they begin an investigation’.

She disliked the idea of simply handing off everything that they had discovered to someone else and expecting them to uncover the mystery. It felt akin to admitting defeat to Delde, to acknowledge that she couldn’t do Fit on her own. Regardless though, she wasn’t some child too stubborn to hand over important information to the proper authorities out of foolish pride. She fully intended to hand over all the evidence that they had recovered to the guard captain Wisslo once they got back to town.