Patchwall 13, 584

The next day, Badd wanders up to Logan.

"Hey Logan," he says. "Could you identify a couple of things for me which I picked out of the party chest?"

"If you have a few pearls, surely," Logan replies with a smile. "And of course if you have anything to contribute to the Logan fund, I would be much obliged!"

He winks at him.

Badd shakes his head. "I need pearls?" he asks. "And, er... well, I don't really hang onto money, I just let it go into the community chest. Hoarding, light fingered talent, and popularity..." He shrugs. "It's difficult to have all three."

"To cast the identify spell I need a few pearls." The elf sighs.

"Oh well," says Badd. "Guess we're stuck then."

He looks around at the others.

"Anyone know where we can get a few pearls?" he asks.

Zanax sighs. "Drandar, I am contemplating leaving the party to pursue some unfinished business.  Do you think you can manage to keep these greenhorns alive by yourself?"

"You need help?" asks the dwarf.  "I'm not up to shepherding.  Not enough action for me.  They may be best on their own devices, learn more that way."

Zanax raises an eyebrow. "It could be dangerous...and make us some enemies, depending on the outcome."

"If you want someone to watch your back, I'm your dwarf," replies Drandar.

Tragon looks at both Zanax and Drandar.  "Surely, you jest.  Even with your help, we have been overwhelmed more than once.  We can ill afford to lose either of you.  Your guidance and sword arms have been most valuable.  And think.  If you leave, then Logan is the most experienced
of us."

"Lad, you speak kindly, but this is not a challenge to me.  And the fact that we are getting overwhelmed means that you and your group will not learn to deal with it.  Further, since we are with you, I suspect you take bigger risks, not consciously, but risks none the less.  There comes a time for every bird to leave the nest, and I suspect this is your time," says the dwarf kindly.

Tragon sighs and nods.  "You and Zanax were our leaders.  The void will have to be filled and I shudder to think who will fill it."

"Be afraid," Badd grins. "Be very afraid."

Zanax sighs. "Perhaps, but maybe this is just the thing to bring out the leader in one of you."

"Well then, this shall be a growing experience for you," says Drandar.  "What do they teach you in paladin school anyway these days?"

"To respect our elders."

"As for Logan, well, he too has to learn and grow.  He has an adolescent's view of the world, and until that is cured, he will be held back."

"How is that going to cured, Drandar, unless you beat it out of him?" Tragon asks with a smile.

"I have it on best authority that it will never happen within this time/space continuum," says the dwarf sagely.

"Ah...I don't suppose you'd take him with you?"

Zanax sighs. "We've found nothing but zombies and a few giant ants.  Hardly challenging for Drandar or I.  However, you maybe right.  Drandar, I think you should stay with this group.  My mission is more of a personal one that I should probably do on my own."

"The choice is yours, old friend," says Drandar, "I'll go with you, as you wish, or not.  However, I think these kids need some time alone, so I'll go crawl over to the pub with Gilstrock and the others to see what danger we can get into over there."

"I lost Kadlian's girdle of giant strength.  I plan to try and retrieve it. If I think I need your help, I can always contact you," Zanax says, as he taps his temple with his index finger.

When you are ready, Zanax departs.

Drandar heads for the tavern.

The rest of you head back to the Ruins.

Arriving at the tunnel entrance, you pause again.

"Stump, did you get a chance to map what we've explored?"

"Yup, but I gotta tell you, it sure was hard remembering the details of those tunnels that Badd described. My memory isn't what it used to be."

He shows you the maps.

Tragon looks over them.

"I see.  Don't worry about it.  So, do we go back to ant tunnels or explore somwehere else?"

"Yagh, ant tunnels are boring," says Badd. "Let's check out the upstairs."

"I'm with you," Stump agrees. "Those tunnels can get claustrophobic after awhile."

Tragon shrugs.  "Sure, lead the way."

"But we've already explored the upstairs!" protests Kelene.

You head over to the chamber at the base of the stairs heading up, and sure enough, you all (except Logan) remember that as the way you first entered this level from the area above.

"There's the two unexplored hallways through the door to the southeast, and also the stairs that go down," Stump tells Kelene. He shows Kelene on the map.

"Well let's go there! Lead on, monster fodder...er...paladin!"

Stump shakes his head.

"Follow me."

He leads the party out of this chamber, through the southeast door, to the end of the hallway to the southwest. He looks down both hallways, to the northwest and southeast.

When you reach the end of the hallway you also see that there are a set of double doors there, facing you, as well.

Looking northwest, the passage runs 30' (right wall), ending at a wall facing more or less west. There is a door at the end.

Looking to the southeast, you see a flight of stairs going down for about 10'. At the bottom the passage turns southwest and continues. There is a door facing you at the bottom of the stairs.

Stump goes down the stairs and takes a quick look around the corner.

After 10' there is another flight of stairs down. These also descend about 10'. After that the passage continues.

"Let's get the double doors back up there. No sense leaving the possibility of being attacked from behind," Stump suggests.

"Sounds like the right approach.  Badd, do you want to do the honors of opening up the doors?"

Tragon slides his longsword out of his sheath in preparation.

"Or..." Badd looks at the longsword, his eyes open wide, "you're gonna kill me?"

Tragon looks down at Badd and laughs.  "No!  Why would I do that?  I'm just expecting we'll find trouble behind the door."

"Oh," Badd gulps. "OK then."

He wanders over to the door and checks it for traps.

While Badd checks, Tragon strikes a paladin-like pose, and Stump rejoins you.

Finding nothing, the gnome opens the door and beats a hasty retreat.

On the other side of the door is a room (20' X 30': 30' southwest, 10' northwest; doors in each 10' section of the left and right walls). Against the back wall are two old wheelbarrows, three mining picks (one broken), three shovels, a manure fork and an iron bar. One of the shovels appears to have a golden blade.

"Badd, can you check out the room, carefully?  Don't touch the shovel or anything else, for that matter.  Just look around.  I kind of wonder if it's a trap like the gold bars were?"

Badd giggles madly.

"Oh yes," he says. "Yes indeedy."

He wanders around checking out the room, carefully.

When he reaches the items at the end of the room, the doors all open simultaneously, and a dozen zombies come dancing out!

They converge on the gnome.

"Kelene, Amber, try to turn them!"

Tragon charges in, hacking at the closest zombie, trying to cut a path to Badd.

The elven warrior looks for the nearest zombie and jabs it with his enchanted blade.

Badd turns invisible and dodges, as a zombie swings at him, knocking him about for 1 hit point.

Tragon tackles another zombie, missing badly. It turns and grasps at him, but the paladin evades its filthy grip.

Close by, Logan goes at a third zombie, almost hitting it. He avoids its claws.

"Begone, O foul undead!" cries Kelene, brandishing the Symbol of Corellon.

All of the zombies stop what they are doing, then do the moonwalk back into their respective rooms, slamming the doors behind them.

Peace and love again reign in the dungeon.

Badd, now that he is able to look closely at the gold shovel, sees that it is only a thin layer of paint, making the item valueless.

"Nice job, Kelene."

"Well done, sweet cheeks." Logan winks at her. "While not one of the faithful, you clerics definitely have good use."

He chuckles as he looks around for any secret doors or the like.

The elf does not spot any.

"Logan, please be careful.  The zombies are just turned, not destroyed. If you open any of their doors and they can't flee any further, they will likely attack.  Let's wait until we reach a consensus on what we want to do, okay?"

"You got it, boss man, I was just making sure there aren't any more surprises!" he replies with a megawatt smile.

"Commendable, but let's decide what we want to do, first."

"What do you think?  Are we ready to flush them out?  We can try to do it one by one, but that may not work."

"Let's kill them!" says Kelene, "They are the antithesis of life, so I don't like them."

"Okay, one vote for killing.  Anyone else want to chime in?"

"I second that," Logan smiles at the drow cleric.

"Yep," says Badd. "One vote for you guys killing them while I watch from a safe distance."

Kelene tales off her backpack and rummages through it, finally coming up with several vials of oil.

"Let's be smart about this," she says, "Anyone have any more oil? We can make a puddle by the door, lure them out, and then set it afire."

"Don't you think that we might smoke ourselves out, here in a confined hallway, by making a fire?" Stump rhetorically asks. "Let's just go in and finish them off."

"You warriors always think with your sword arms!" laments Kelene.

"I'm not all that comfortable about trying to burn them with other combustables in this room.  But, Kelene, your idea is definitely out of the box.  I like that."

"Just spread a puddle of oil in the doorway and let them come to us!"

Amberle asks, "Um, why couldn't we put the oil on the other side of the door and do the same thing?"

Tragon, not hearing any other solutions, says,  "Kelene, try Amberle's suggestion.  Pour a little oil under the door and then we can light it from this side.  We'll try it with just one door and see how it works, okay?"

"What, under the door that they're hiding behind?"

She shrugs and pours a vial under the closest door on the left. Then, she lights it and retreats behind the warrior types.

You watch as the door goes up in flames. It takes awhile to burn through. In fact, long before it collapses, the other doors open and the zombies come staggering out, Kelene's turning having worn off.

Badd giggles. "We are so good! Sooooooooo good."

He turns invisible, and manoeuvres round behind one of the zombies for a backstab.

Stump follows through on his original plan.

The warrior connects, trimming a zombie's fingernail. In turn, the zombie hits him for 3 hit points.

Tragon meets one of the zombies.  "Amberle, see if you can turn them again.  Maybe we can take on a few at a time."

The paladin misses the undead, and it also is unable to ding his armour.

Amberle says, "I didn't turn them before so here goes:  Back to your grave you defilers of Fate!"

The zombies ignore her.

"Scram!" exclaims Kelene, brandishing her symbol. All but two of the zombies turn and go shuffling back into their respective rooms.

Stump and Tragon continue battling the last two undead.

Stump connects again, severing putrid flesh, as he is hit again for 2 hit points. Tragon also connects this time as he avoids a return attack, then fans with his next attack.

Badd suddenly pops out of thin air and attacks the zombie on Stump from behind with his sinclair blade, but misses.

Stump next misses, but so does his zombie. Badd attacks again and misses again.

Tragon buries his blade into his zombie and it drops, dead at last.

Next, Stump cuts into his foe and it collapses as well.

You have killed two of the monsters...plus, you see now that two more have succumbed to the oil fire as they retreated through it. Looking through the flaming doorway now, you see that the area behind it is 10' deep. The left wall of the room is actually just a curtain, and it is burning as well.

Tragon heals Stump as best he can, which is fully.

Stump nods, "Thanks, Tragon."

"Nice job, Kelene.  And thanks everyone else who helped.  So, four are down.  Shall we wait to see if the curtain burns anything else or shall we move on to the next set of zombies?"

"Let's take 'em down," the elf says with a smile as he holds his enchanted blade.

You head to the first door on the left and pull it open. Through it you see another 10' square room with a curtain for a right wall. At the back cowers a zombie.

Logan and Stump sidle up to it and strike it. The elf connects, but the warrior in his zeal snags his blade on the curtain, pulling it down in a heap over him. The area to the right is revealed: another 10' square area with a curtain for the southwest wall. Two more zombies are there.

Logan's attack broke the turning, and the monsters advance again. Also, the other doors others open and the remaining zombies emerge, ready for another go at you.

"Try to turn them again," Logan growls as he swings his blade to kill the zombies for good.

Logan connects again and the zombie drops. One of the zombies from next door attacks him but misses.

Stump faces two zombies now. Swinging his sword, he misses again, but he does manage to avoid their attacks.

"Kelene, Amberle, please try to turn them again."

Tragon moves to meet another zombie.  "Lornard, help out."

Lornard, a sort of a zombie himself right now, attacks one of the undead that is advancing on your rear. He lands a solid hit and it collapses.

Tragon attacks the next one and it falls as well.

Nason finds himself facing a zombie too. Fanning badly, he still jumps aside in time to avoid a hit.

Kelene quickly chops down another zombie and then turns the rest.

"Begone in the name of goodness and light!" cries the drow.

The four surviving zombies retreat again, this time to back of the chamber where the digging equipment is.

The oil fire is going out.

The elf switches weapons and looks over at Kelene.

"If I attack one, do they all snap out of it, or just the one?" he asks.

"They all come out of it," she replies.

"There's only four left. Let's just finish them off," Stump comments.

"Agreed.  Lornard, Stump, Logan and I will each take one.  And, we'll take any assistance the rest of you care to give."

Tragon picks one and begins to walk towards the zombie.

Logan fires his crossbow at the farthest one and then switches weapons to take on the one he shot, whether he misses or not.

Logan's bolt strikes its target, and the zombies are off and staggering again.

You meet them with your steel.

Logan takes down the first of the four with a single easy swing. Tragon strikes next but does not finish his zombie off. Lornard fans badly, and is raked for 5 hit points. Stump also connects. Kelene helps out the ranger and the undead drops.

Tragon fans, avoids a hit, and then fans again. Logan steps up and the zombie drops. Stump all but cuts the last one in two, but it remains animated. Both Lornard and Kelene manage to miss it.

Stump is struck for 4 hit points as he continues to miss. Finally, Kelene connects with her glowing shortsword and the zombie falls.

All of the undead are dead. Searching the chamber and the adjacent rooms from whence came the zombies, you find nothing of interest or value.


"Nice teamwork, everyone.  Lornard and Stump, how badly are you two hurt?"

"I'm only down a little," Stump replies.

"Enough to be healed?  If so, maybe Kelene or Amberle could help."

Amberle comments, "If need be."

"Thanks," Stump smiles.

"Stump, what does your map show?  Have we missed anything on this floor?"

Stump shows his map. "This is what I have. There are two unopened doors back in the hallway, as well as the hallway continuing on around the corner."

"Well, let's follow the hallway.  We can always come back to those doors."

Having opened the doors that the zombies were hiding behind and finding nothing, you exit and go northwest up the hallway to the door at the end. You find that it is locked.

"Badd, care to take a crack at the door?"

Badd remains unusually silent, so Nason moves forward and has a go.

After a moment the lock clicks and the door pops open.

Before you is a long passage running west. It is about 10' wide and runs for about 70' (right wall) before ending in a blank wall facing west. There is a 10' wide opening in the left wall, 50' - 60' section. The place is scattered with smashed and broken skeletal bones, along with ten shortbows. There must have been quite a fight in here, and you marvel at the quality of the mighty warrior who smote these undead down. Moving down the passage, you note that there are narrow slits in the right wall. Looking through them, you see on the other side the passage with the portcullises where you had been trapped and attacked.

You head down towards the end of the passage and look through the opening on the left. Now you see a triangular shaped room (right wall runs southeast for about 35', northeast for about 35' and then close it up). Besides a mouldy table and some chairs, a bench and a shelf remain here. Under the shelf is a keg.

You open the keg, and find that it is filled with oil. Nason dips the blade of his sword into it and feels something else at the bottom of the keg. Searching further, you fish out 100 gold tipped arrows (2gp ea.). In addition, on the shelf you find five gold tipped spears (5gp ea.)

Thus enriched, you head back out through the door, down the passage and down the first short flight of stairs. Stopping at the door which faces southeast, you open it. A short (5' long) passage with a flight of stairs lies before you, and then it opens up into a chamber.

You go down the stairs and are confronted with a room (about 10' X 15': 5' northeast, 5' southwest, 10' southeast) filled almost to the ceiling with broken swords, crushed armour, bones (mostly human, but some elven, dwarven and gnomish) and ruined equipment.

You spend quite a long time mooching through all of this. When all is said and done, none of it is of any great value, though perhaps you could assemble some useable armour out of it. In the south corner, though, you do spot a small vertical crack. Peering through it, it looks like the stonework is quite thin here, and on the other side is a cave. It is hard to see much else, though, given the narrow field of view that you have through the crack, and the lack of lighting.

"Logan, do you have any spell to break through the wall?"

"A fireball, but I wouldn't suggest that here," he smiles. "Sorry!"

"Paladins make good battering rams..." suggests Kelene.

"That's just a rumor.  It's dwarves that make good battering rams.  And with Drandar gone, we're out of them."

"That's true," she says with a nod.

"A dwarven Paladin, if there was such a thing, would make an excellent battering ram," Stump chuckles.

"Does anyone have a mace or a club?"

Kelene shakes her head.

Badd sighs.

"Oh well," he says. "If we don't have a dwarven paladin, I guess we're just going to have to use a little gnomish finesse."

He puts his finger to his lips to quiet the others, and listens for any sound coming from the other side of the wall. He hears nothing, so he gets out the Sinclair short short and cuts a hole in the wall large enough for everyone in the party to squeeze through.

The sword goes through the stone like a hot knife through butter.

Tragon chuckles quietly at the ingenious gnome.

Badd steps through the opening and the rest of you, stooping, follow.

You see that you are now in an irregularly shaped cave area (right wall runs west-southwest for about 12', then southeast for about 55', northeast for about 10', northwest for about 40', then about north for about 15' to close up). In the middle of the last section is a 10' wide tunnel running more or less east.

At 10' intervals along the southwest wall are four wooden panels. The far end of the cave has collapsed, partially burying a low table.

Looking up the passage, you see that it narrows down to 5' width within 10'. In all, it seems to run for about 25' before opening up into another cave.

"Badd, can you please check out those panels?  Check for traps. Something about this place looks strange," Tragon whispers.

The elvish fighter/mage vanishes from sight after he slips on his enchanted ring.

"I am ready to attack anything that comes at us," Logan replies with his blade in hand, though he is the only one who can see it at this point.

Badd shrugs. "To a gnome, everything's as strange as everything else."

He looks sidelong at Tragon.

"In fact, you're pretty strange," he says, nodding his head sagely.

Kelene nods in solemn agreement.

"Badd, there's no cause for flattery."

Then Badd goes over and checks out the panels.

To the best of his abilities there appear to be no traps. He lifts one of the panels. Behind it he sees a narrow slot in the wall. He scrambles up the wall and looks through it.

The slot is about 1' deep, 6" high and 2" wide. It appears to look into another darkened room, but what with the narrow field of view and the lack of illumination he can tell little more.

Inspecting the other panels reveals identical results.

Since he is close to the collapsed end of the room after inspecting the last panel, he wanders over and looks at the table. The table is partially buried, but atop it he sees the end of a chest protruding out from under the rubble. All of the seams of the chest appear to be sealed with a gummy wax.


You stand there like dummies for a few days and then eventually get hungry and return to Castle Greyhawk.

next day...

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