Moving with as much stealth as they could, Farad, Bailyn, Madeleine, Naruel, Wing and Vorthos circled the cemetery. The grounds inside the wrought iron fence were silent and still, tombstones lined up in rows, broken only by a gravel path that wound from the simple single opening, past two smaller mausoleums and led up to the main mausoleum that housed the tombs of the town's nobility. There were no signs of life inside or outside the fence and even the normal sounds of night animals and insects were absent. However, near the largest mausoleum there throbbed a sickly yellow glow.
As the group reached the opening of the cemetery, a cloaked figure stepped out of the shadows of one of the smaller mausoleums. Almost simultaneously, arrows were nocked and weapons were drawn. The figure raised its empty hands in alarm.
"Do not fire! It is I, Ninaran! Thank god you have come! I told Padraig to find you!" Ninaran whispered, hands raised.
Naruel lowered her longbow and waved for the others to do the same.
"Where are the guards that were with you?" Vorthos asked.
"They went into the main crypt against my warnings an hour ago. I heard screams and then nothing. We must hurry. Perhaps some of them can still be saved!" the elf answered, gesturing for them to follow. She began to walk stealthily towards the main mausoleum. After a moment, Naruel and the others followed.
As they neared the center of the graveyard, cadaverous, bony hands erupted out of the ground from loose piles of dirt in front and from behind, accompanied by unnatural moans. There was a ghastly baying as two giant dogs, flesh peeling off their frames to expose muscle and bone underneath, trotted out to the front steps of the large crypt and looked at the group with dead eyes.
Ninaran wheeled and cried "Watch out!" and raised her longbow to fire.
Naruel's eyes narrowed as she noticed Ninaran's aim seemed to be amiss.
Naruel's eyes widened and she began to dodge, but too late. Ninaran's arrow sliced Naruel's side as she moved out of the way.
"Watch the misfires!" yelled Madeleine, angrily as she unsheathed Aecris.
"That was not a misfire," hissed Naruel, "we are betrayed!"
Ninaran continued to move towards the main crypt, firing arrows at Naruel as she walked. The giant undead dogs raced by her down the path towards the group as a dozen undead bearing swords and bows stood emerged from the ground and attacked.
Skeletons raced at them brandishing longswords across the dirt and debris of the graveyard, with other undead laying down a volley of arrows. Farad wheeled to protect the groups' flank, taking blows and arrows but also striking down an undead. "Bahamut grant us favor!" the dragonborn roared.
Wing sent a fan of flames out across the eastern edge of the graveyard, sending one down blackened and smoldiering, but most of the skeletons dove behind tombstones and continued their assault. As the flames ebbed out Vorthos ran to meet one of the skeletons, shortsword held low and at the ready.
"Remember, attack from the back!" Madeleine admonished. After his recovery, the group had decided Vorthos, while a skilled fighter, was too fragile to be in the front of battle and had agreed to bring him only so long as he agreed to attack from a flanking or a back position once the more armored fighters had engaged the enemy.
Naruel shuddered as another one of Ninaran's arrows hit her and was only partialy deflected by the red and black armor that she had taken from the hobgoblin torturer, but the ranger ignored the pain and kept thinning the skeletons' numbers with her longbow.
Bailyn turned and raised his maul but was unable to get off a blow before one of the cadaverous dogs leaped upon him, driving him to the ground. Its giant fangs snapped upon the plates of his scale mail with the strength of the dead, not cutting but bruising, and Bailyn felt the chill of ill magic as he struggled to regain his footing. He heard the running gait and growl of the second dog close behind.
Before the undead beast could take another bite, Aecris slashed the giant dog atop Bailyn, forcing it to pull back. Madeleine stood beside the prone dwarf, her blade strokes causing the second dog to break off its attack. Bailyn used the opportunity to leap to his feet and administer a counterstrike with his Maul to the first dog with an oath, sending it crashing into a charging skeleton, which crumpled into a still pile of bones. "That's for knocking me over, bitch!"
The dog leapt to its feat and growled, a low menacing noise that seemed to come from the hells themselves. Its eyes and the eyes of its partner glowed red.
Wing looked around -- their foes were more numerous and they had hemmed them in front and back while Ninaran and other skeletons were laying fire into them. Though he had not cast it before, Wing decided to try and evoke a spell that might even their odds. "Guard your eyes from the light!" he cried and ran to get a clear shot of the undead dogs and skeleton's that were attacking them from the front.
Even prepared for something unexpected, Madeleine was partially blinded by the burst of colors that sprayed out of Wing's hands, blasting the area in front of them with such force that two of the skeleton's crumpled from the arcane force. And though the undead dogs were mindless, they apparently relied upon sight for they seemed to weave in confusion after the blast.
Naruel focused through the pain of another wound as Ninaran, whose archery Naruel had to admit was superb, hit her with yet another arrow. Her pain, however, was offset by the satisfaction of seeing two arrows sink deep into one of the undead dogs, who was moving more and more slowly, dazed from Wing's spell and wounded by arrow and blade. Naruel retreated behind one of the smaller crypts and out of Ninaran's line of sight as she saw Madeleine administer a finishing blow to the dog.
"We'll take this thing's mate. Make sure she doesn't get away!" Madeleine yelled as she pulled Aecris from the creature's skull. She guessed Ninaran would have to flee soon, as they were making short work of the elven archer's undead allies.
As Ninaran searched for a new target, she saw a bolt of ice blue fly at her. Too late she tried to avoid it and she felt a painful chill run through her. Her heart began to sink as she realized that perhaps she had waited too long to beghin her retreat. Enraged, the elf fired at the wizard, but her shot was off.
"I am a wee bit busy!" Bailyn yelled as he fended off the second dog, which snapped and roared at him even as arrows sunk into it fired by Naruel, who had managed to find a place to fire at the undead beasts while covered from return fire from Ninaran. Having finally dispatched his initial target, Vorthos charged from behind and sunk his short sword deep into the hindparts of the remaining beast, sending bloody bits of muscle, flesh and bone into the air. Though grievously wounded, the dog, already dead, continued to fight.
"I will get its attention!" Madeleine shouted, redoubling her efforts. As Madeleine carved a deep wound in it, the undead dog was forced to turned away from the dwarven warrior and snapped at Madeleine with giant fangs. Bailyn, freed of its attention, wheeled and charged the elven archer even as Vorthos ambushed the undead dog again.
Vorthos' deep blow cleft the creature in twain, sending it crashing into a wet mass on the dirt.
In the dark Bailyn misjudged the steps and stumbled as he reached Ninaran, who stood in the entrance of main crypt. The dark haired elf sidestepped the dwarf's blow with an air of insouciance even in the face of defeat. She gave him an icy look, then leapt back and fired at him with a single smooth motion. Bailyn staggered as the arrow found a gap in his armor.
Ninaran hesitated for but a moment, deciding between another arrow to finish the dwarf and flight. It was a moment too long as Naruel returned Ninaran's earlier attacks with interest. Ninaran gave a quiet moan as arrows plunged into her. She turned to flee, but another bolt of ice hit her, making her legs and arms too chilled to move quickly.
The elf dropped her longbow and clawed for her sword as she staggered deeper into the crypt, looking for a place to fight and hide. Looking down she stuggled to undo the ice that had formed around the sheath that held her blade. Too late she heard steps behind her. The elf felt a burning fire in her back and then she saw the blade of a sword erupt out her chest.
Ninaran faded into darkness.
Naruel ran up the steps of the crypt, pausing only to ensure that Bailyn was alright. Amidst the stone coffins of the crypt, Madeleine stood over the prostrate form of the elven archer, a dark outline in the dim illumination of the moonlight that made it through the few windows in the crypt, dripping longsword in hand.
* * * *
I received your report on the adventurers. Next time you see them, put an end to their meddling. Mix the blood of at least ten people with the elixir my messenger brings. Then trace the following pattern on the ground of a graveyard and pour the liquid into the lines. That should supply you with a force to thwart them. I'm very close to completion; see that I'm not interrupted. As you already know, if you do come down to the second level of the keep, the pass phrase is "From the ground, some magic was found,"
-- Kalarel
"This Kalarel has many lieutenants," muttered Farad, peering over Naruel's shoulder to stare at the message written in the vellum found on the elf's belongings.
"That isn't the password," Naruel noted.
"If all you say is true, then this Kalarel is quite sly. He must have planted this in case the note was intercepted." Vorthos pointed out. "Is Lord Padraig aware of him? We should inform him of this threat you have mentioned to me."
"I doubt if our large lizard friend will permit that," Madeleine said with a snort. "We have a deal."
"What deal?"
"You may go back to town if you wish, Vorthos," Naruel said, walking up to the human and the tiefling. "It might be best for you to let Padraig know of what happened here. But if, as we fear, Kalarel is close to opening a rift to some dark plane, then we must hurry back to the keep, or this handful of zombies and undead dogs will be the least of our problems."
Vorthos looked at the group and thought about what had happened to him recently. "If there is a threat to Winterhaven, then I will assist. Besides, I haven't seen anything nearly so interesting in my life as I've seen in the last 2 days."
"Haven't you come closer to death in the last two days then you ever have before too?" Wing pointed out as he slung his backpack over his shoulder.
"Nothing ventured, nothing gained," the tiefling shrugged.
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