They slogged along, and the Wizard kept updating the group, telling them that they were almost there. Ewtain was leading the way. He had changed the bind point for his teleportation knife at the end of the dry tunnel when they were deciding how to proceed, and with a range of 5000 feet, he had more than sufficient range to get him there. The process of setting your respawn point took five minutes, but activating the knife to do so only took seconds. Now, the bind point for the knife was different than the bind point for his respawn, so if he died, he would go back to his room at the Rusty Anchor.

While he mused about these differences, the world around him suddenly changed.

To his left, a pile of rubble suddenly looked like a crumbling stone wall. To his right, a sickly green light glowed from the top of a pillar that stood on a flat stone a few feet above the water; the entire area around it reflected the same sickly green. There were mounds of debris that littered the ground. Nothing was moving. He quickly shuttered his lamp and held out a hand in a stopping motion for those behind him. The cavern’s light extended upward to show what looked like a vaulted ceiling similar to the inside of a cathedral, so maybe this was a building rather than a cavern. He carefully hugged the rubble side of the water, taking care to not raise his feet out of the water to prevent any added noise from splashing. He inched his way towards the edge of the fallen stones, and he was finally able to see another glowing pillar in the corner across from the other one. He could see an opening in the wall between the two pillars.

“Where did you go?” Isla’s voice sounded upset through the communication earring. “You just disappeared.”

He looked back the way that he had come, but he was unable to see the group. They too must have extinguished or hidden their light sources. He touched his earring and whispered, “This is some sort of ruined temple. You should be able to see me here in the light.” He waved back in the direction that he had come from.

“You vanished, light and all, maybe a minute or so ago. Now there’s a strange smokey-looking wall here that we can’t see through.” Isla paused, and he started to head back. “Are you okay?” she asked in a more concerned tone.

“I think so,” he whispered, “but I guess that I found the place.”

After a pause, she replied. “We want you to come back.”

“Be right there.” He marveled at the earring pair. He couldn’t make out any of the obvious discussion happening within the party, but he could hear anything Isla said to him directly. He slowly and very carefully made his way back towards the rest of the party.

His eyes had become accustomed to the low light provided by the pillars, but when he made it back to the passage, he was in total darkness. He thought about using the lantern again but decided against it out of an abundance of caution. Also, his eyes would no longer be used to the dark, and if he were attacked by something or had to move to a different area quickly, he would be in trouble. He sensed no immediate threat, but he would not delude himself into thinking that he was safe—he was probably in real danger here. He bumped into a wall where the open passage should be, and he felt around looking to see if there was a way around it, but it filled the passage at least as high as he could reach. “There’s a wall here in the passage,” he said quietly to Isla. “It’s very smooth, almost like glass.”

“Okay, hold on,” she said. As he waited, Ewtain was puzzled by the water. He could definitely feel it moving more swiftly now, and it was still flowing towards the wall, but the water level wasn’t rising. He put his hand into the water and was able to confirm a slight push towards the wall. He then reached down, exploring beneath the water’s surface to ascertain if the barrier extended below. The barrier did indeed go to the bottom, yet somehow it allowed the water to flow through. “Can you scout around, and if it looks bad, just teleport out?” she asked after a moment.

“Yeah, I’ve been updating my translocation spot for my knife, and it’s currently in range for the spell to work. I haven’t seen any big bads yet, but there has to be something here.”

“Be careful.”

“Will do,” he acknowledged before retracing his steps toward the ruins. He quickly checked his mapping feature, and it showed the passage where the rest of the party was just to the west of him. The rest of the immediate area that he had explored was also on the map, and the opening in the wall between the two pillars was on the south wall. He slowly made his way upstream, moving as cautiously as possible; he even crouched for good measure. A notification appeared, and he paused to check it. It turned out that there were two notifications; one informed him that he had gained a level in his move silently skill, and the other was for a gained level of his stealth skill. He had already been convinced that there was something here, but these skill bumps seemed to confirm his suspicions. He had never gained an increase for any skills unless he was actively using one, and not just as practice. He had spent days trying to be stealthy and moving quietly as he scouted while they traveled, yet not once had he seen any improvement in either ability. His increases had been during encounters like hiding from the Gnolls or sneaking about during his trials for the Phantom Crows. There was clearly something here that he was avoiding the notice of.

He walked southeast until he was far enough south to be able to see around the wall of rubble. He noticed that the path of the underground stream veered to the northeast—from above it looked like a V, but it was much wider than the letter. As he continued towards the end of the rubble, he could see more and more of the area to the north. A set of stairs came into view, and after a few more cautious steps, he could see that led up to a stone platform. Another pillar emanated the same greenish light from the northeast corner of the chamber. Positioned at each corner of the stone staircase were four additional sources of illumination resembling antiquated street lamps; their soft blue light lit up the area surrounding the stairs. The stone floor to the north looked just like that of the south, and there were similar piles of bones as well as mounds of what looked like decomposing bodies scattered on the floor and the stairs.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Ewtain could see a door in the center of the north wall on the elevated area directly opposite the passage to the south. A pattern of lines ran along the surface of the door, which glowed in the same blue light as the stair lamps. A hooded figure stood facing away from the door with arms outstretched and head bowed as if in prayer. The figure’s head snapped up and turned towards him. Two glowing eyes seemed to look directly at him, even though he was well hidden behind the last of the rubble. The room erupted with noise as piles of bones and fragments of bodies rose and stirred to life. They formed into horrific skeletal and zombified monstrosities.

Ewtain activated his teleportation knife, but he only transported back to the wall where he had started—he was still inside the large room. “Well, I’m boned,” he said through the earring, still trying to whisper in case it mattered.

“What happened?” Isla asked with genuine concern.

“A robed monk guy is standing on a raised stone platform, and a bunch of undead crap just awakened.”

After a pause in which she was likely discussing events with the group, she said, “Teleport out. No need to risk it.”

“Already tried, but the barrier stopped me. Like I said, I’m boned.” There was another pause, and Maroftis came barreling through the barrier—Ewtain had to dodge the Korak to avoid getting trampled. The little Dracon flew in a moment later, and the rest of the party entered more cautiously, most with weapons drawn. Isla nodded at him and flashed a quick smile before advancing further. Ewtain was relieved that his friends had come to his aid instead of leaving him there to die, and much of the tension that he had built up while searching the area began to wash off of him. It was time to fight, and he knew how to do that.

They paused as they emerged from the debris, looking around from their new vantage point. To the south, there were a few slow-moving forms that looked like zombies. There was also a very tall skeletal form with muscles attached around the shoulders, waist, and chest areas. There was no skin covering bone, muscle, or sinew, so it was grotesque in appearance as it moved towards them. While it carried no weapon, the skeleton had three fingers on each hand: two were about three feet in length, and the third was maybe two feet long and likely acted as a thumb. Each of the bones in the claws ended in a sharp point, and unless it was a caster of some sort, the claws were the main threat of damage. These looked similar to the large skeleton that fought in the crypt they had searched the first day in this world, only this one was a good deal larger.

Maroftis gestured towards yet another colossal skeleton, its massive claws mirroring those of its counterpart, as it made its way towards the stairway on the eastern side of the platform.

“The skeletons and the big zombies are tough, but we can handle them. The baby zombies are puss, and I have no read on the guy up top.”

He pointed to Wisp. “Don’t die,” he commanded.

Wisp cocked its head, blowing out a small jet of smoke before making a small roar.

Ewtain examined the cloaked figure. He could now see its status bars along with its title: Grand Occultist. He could also see that it had three buffs active; one increased its offensive spell damage by 20%, one gave a chance to deflect missile attacks, and the last was an aura of protection. Ewtain noticed the party buff from Isla as well as a warding buff from Vanya that protected against undead. The large zombies that Maroftis had referred to were about the size of the Korak and looked like they had been enormous birds when they had been alive.

“Maybe if we drop the Occultist, the rest will drop as well,” Vultressant said.

“We can hope,” Taloc replied, “but we’re going to have to go through at least some of the undead to get to him. The left side looks to be the path of least resistance, so let’s head to the stairs on that side.”

Ewtain could now see a matching stone staircase on the west side of the raised platform. The platform was in the shape of a triangle, with one side flat against the north wall extending nearly to each corner on the north side of the room, and each of the other sides containing a set of stairs. The platform was too high to climb quickly without using the stairs, but jumping down could be done without much trouble, given his high Dexterity.

Ewtain looked across the water to see the undead forms moving towards them, but the water would certainly slow their progress and probably stop the small zombies from getting to this side at all. The large bird-like zombie was another matter: it would be able to wade through the shallow water easily.

The party moved towards the stairs, with Isla and Maroftis leading the charge. Isla used her shield to knock down any of the human-sized zombies that got in their way, and Ewtain stopped by one to take the time to stick his short sword into its head. It did not die as he had assumed that it would, so he decapitated it. It stopped moving briefly, but soon the body began to thrash and attempt to stand. Maybe fire would do it? He had no time and no fire with which to try, so he ran to catch up with the rest of the group. The small zombies were of little threat, but the Maroftis-sized bird zombies were another matter, and unfortunately, one of them was running towards them.

He initially thought ‘bird’ was the best descriptor due to its wings, feathers, and beak, but its lower torso was covered in fur, and its feet had no avian look at all. It walked upright, with feathered arms ending in fierce talons, but large pieces of flesh were missing from rot or damage, and many bones were visible, including part of the spine. It was clearly powerful, however. This horror couldn’t be swatted aside with a mere shield. Ewtain watched as Maroftis turned and readied himself to engage the zombie.

There were some small zombies on the stairs, and Ewtain felt that they would be simple to avoid. The main concern was that one of the giant skeletons was positioned at the top of the stairs. The stairs were at least 15 feet wide and looked like those of an outdoor monument or the entrance to a museum. There were about three feet between risers, so there was room to dodge without having to risk tumbling down the stairs. Even if he misjudged the landing spot or fell down a stair, it shouldn’t be more than a one-stair fall.

The added reach that the long claws afforded the skeleton would likely allow it to play goalie for the Occultist, and it might need to be destroyed before they could gain the platform. He planned to try to get around it as the rest of the group fought it so that he could begin dealing with the Occultist.

Suddenly, he felt danger coming from above, and he dove to his right and called out to his companions to take cover. Large rocks fell from above and struck friends and enemies alike. One rock landed on a small zombie, completely squashing it; one hit the undead bird and broke one of its arms off; and another struck Maroftis, knocking him down. The others were still up when he came out of his roll, but he had seen Vultressant’s shield flash blue, so he must have taken a partial hit at least.

Ewtain sprinted towards the stairs, passing Isla, who was using her shield to protect her head while slowly advancing on the bird abomination. The zombies were easy to dodge around, as they were slow and posed minimal threat. If there was a large group of them, it would be different, but there were fewer than ten on the stairs, so there was plenty of room for him to maneuver around them. He shoved one over the stone railing, and the unfortunate zombie landed with a splat. Hopefully, that was one less opponent, but he knew the creature would probably rise again to bother the party.