Ground Floor of Shadowfell Keep

Summary:

Immediately following their victory at the Winterhaven boneyard, the party ventured back to the small town battle weary but pleased at the evil they had thwarted. The local inn opened its doors wide and the adventurers drank for free that night, some more than their fair share. They slept uneventfully that night.

The next morning, the party awakened early and made their way directly to Shadowfell Keep. They had explored a good portion of the first floor except for a hallway and an unopened double door. They chose the door which led to a series of hallways and small chambers that housed numerous zombies and skeletons. After disposing of the first group of walking dead, most of the party rested while Orchid and Taegahn explored further down the hallway. They stopped at a glowing rune etched into the stone floor. Taegahn backtracked and dragged a slain zombie, sliding it over the rune. Its energy stream broken, the rune released a howling alarm and zapped Taegahn into a necromantic fear. Gilic pointed and laughed as Taegahn went running by.

The alarm summoned a second sortie of zombies. The party made short work of them. Ever observant, Taegahn noticed an irregularity in a nearby wall and drew the rest of the party to it. A bit of careful study revealed a hidden lock to a concealed door. Unable to pick the lock, Gareth repositioned his weapon and broke it down. The door led to a small room, a shimmering wall opposite. Some careful testing confirmed it as illusionary. Gareth and Queequeg stepped through only to be ambushed on either side by viscious, brain-slurping zombies. The ensuing battle was pitched with Gilic, Orchid, and Queequeg receiving terrific wounds. Only when Shava stepped into the room and unleased a holy radiant energy did the last of the zombies explode into blessed rapture. The zombies guarded a riddled treasure (reputation) of magical black scale and dwarven chain mail. Gareth and Shava made best use of the armor respectively.

The party backtracked to the other unexplored hallway. It led to a room shaped like a cross, the long shaft flanked on either side by granite sarcophagi. Upon stepping into the middle of the room, a thunderous clap echoed forth and undead skeletons and zombies popped out from the crypts. The party began to make quick work of them. However, the sarcophagi continued producing undead! Cedric, schooled in the arcane arts, studied one between undead births and determined that a holy blessing could halt production. As the party continued fighting the undead, Shava blessed a sarcophagus and shut it down. Meanwhile, Taegahn slipped his way past the undead front line into the shorter shaft of the cross-shaped room. He spied crypts on either side, bathed in a calming blue light. On the side of one crypt, some verse along with a kneeling figure. On bended knee, Taegahn read the verse out loud. The undead down the hallway stopped their attack and crawled back into the magical sarcophagi.

TO BE CONTINUED

Phat Lewtz:

+1 Black Scale - Gareth

(Gareth in turn gave his +1 Dwarven chain to Shava)

Line(s) of the Night:

Hahahahaha! You suck! - Shawn referring to Blake's bad damage rolls.

You constantly remind me why I hate you. - Blake referring to Shawn.

He's a Keebler elf! - Jeff referring to Blake.
I'm a hero, dammit. - Blake, defending himself.