Before opening the door, Chuck peered underneath the pickup. He was half expecting there to be a summoning circle or some runes carved into the rock but there was nothing. Shrugging his shoulders, he climbed into the cab and proceeded to tell Tess what he had seen.
She was a dressed like a classic witch now and had long purplish black hair. He smiled but didn’t bother to comment on it since he was used to her constantly changing her appearance. She must have thought it suited the mood of the graveyard. Tess pondered for a minute and then said they should check out the cave before heading down the road.
Chuck agreed but if they were heading into the cave, he needed to set up the spotlight. Before that they ate a quick breakfast using the supplies they had packed. While eating, they discussed what weapons they should use against the skeletons. They had a variety of ammunition options to choose from.
Tess then hit upon a good idea. When showing off the new ammunition, Nox had indicated the healing rounds utilized a form of holy magic. Since holy magic was deadly to the undead, the healing rounds might hurt them. It was worth a shot anyway.
It didn’t take long to attach the spotlight and once he grabbed a crate of healing rounds, they were as ready as they would ever be. Chuck had got out the rifle and shotgun and put them in the front seat within easy reach after loading them with the healing ammo. The platform was just big enough to do a three-point turn and face the pickup toward the cave. The stairs weren’t very steep, but he still drove down carefully. He turned the lights on and they entered the cave.
The first thing Chuck noticed was that the cave was unnaturally dark, it was like the sunlight outside couldn’t penetrate the entrance. Thankfully the headlight and spotlight were able to peel back the darkness and illuminated piles of bones along each side of the cave. “Creepy.” Chuck muttered, driving at a crawling pace and thinking the cave must be a kind of tomb.
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He really hoped it wasn’t an actual dungeon. He stopped when the beams of light picked up movement ahead in the form of several skeletons heading in their direction. “Time to see if your hunch was right.” Chuck said, handing Tess the rifle. He hated to admit it, but she was a better shot with the rifle than he was at this point. It was surprising how quickly she had taken to it.
After shutting down the side window barrier, she pointed the gun out and propped it on the bracket of the missing side mirror. After taking careful aim, she pulled the trigger and the closest skeleton fell apart in a jumble of bones. “Wow, that certainly worked well!” Chuck exclaimed.
It looked like the healing rounds nullified whatever magical force was animating the skeletons. Tess fired three more times and all the skeletons were turned into bone piles. He waited a little while but the bone piles didn’t move or try to reform themselves so they continued on.
The problem was the rifle wasn’t very fast and the last skeleton had gotten within 10 feet of the pickup before Tess shot it. It was too bad he didn’t have a machine gun. Large mobs would be trouble for them but with his shotgun and R2’s help they might be able to manage.
The tunnel they were following started to split off into smaller side tunnels. The main tunnel was the only one large enough for the pickup so he kept following it. Chuck was a little worried about monsters coming out behind them so yelled back to R2 to keep watch. A single thump on the roof signaled an affirmative.
As they progressed, the loose piles of bones on the sides of the tunnel began to be more orderly. Soon the bones were stacked up into strange combinations that reached the ceiling. Chuck was starting to get a bad feeling and was about to suggest they turn around when more movement came from the front and R2 banged twice on the roof to get their attention.