Turn 59 -- Druckner's Demise?

Outside the secret door:

Ras stands back from the passage as it slowly opens, moving to a position where he can easily attack anything coming out of the passage. He leans against the wall and says, "Well could one of you go tell Talimar what we found and see what he wants to do? If he wants to go down the other way we should probably close this up and jam it from this side so nothing can get out until we decide to use the passage."

He then turns to Dain, "Do you mind going down there and seeing what Talimar wants to do?"

"Not a problem," replies Dain, "I'll be back soon." With that, Dain takes off down the hallway to contact Talimar.

At the opening:

With a yell of rage, Druckner drops his torch and attempts a great sweeping blow with his battle axe, trying to dismember the disgusting undead before they overwhelm him. Despite the darkness, he is lucky enough to land a solid blow to one of the beasts to his right. Not enough to destroy the creature but enough to cause it to release its grip.

Placing the lit torch in his shield hand, Beleg draws his sword and shouts, "Talimar, get the others!" before he plunges into the room after Druckner. Once inside, he moves to the last position he saw his friend before disappearing. He recites a prayer to Forseti as he prepares to banish the evil when he finds them.

The second Kersath sees Druckner pulled into the room, he looks at Talimar and Beleg standing next to him, "Come on, he's in trouble!" He then draws both his swords and runs into the room after Beleg. He moves to his left to find the west boundary of the room as he searches for Druckner. He stops at some of the bodies along the wall to assure that they are indeed dead.

Talimar yells down the hall, "Druckner is under attack!" He then draws his longsword as well and charges into the darkness.

Upon hearing Talimar's plea, Dain yells back to his companions as he is midway down the hallway, "Put yer backs into it men and get the door baracaded. Talimar needs our aid! Druckner is under attack!" He then rushes down the hallway toward his friends in need.

As Gnore hears Druckner's situation he becomes quite livid. "Blast, another dwarven kin in trouble!! Ortho!! Druckner needs us! Bah, move aside giants and tree folk, 'tis not called the Dwarven Way for melody's sake!!" Gnore shouts and curses all the way down the hall as he ignores the secret passage and charges to Druckner's aid, Ortho right behind him. The pair stops just before the opening and quickly look inside hoping to asses the situation. Their infravision is still strangely impaired and they cannot make out anything more than a few shapes within the darkness. With axe and bastard sword ready, the two rush into the room to join the battle.

Garth clutches his silver pendant of Selune and heads into the darkness to confront the scions of evil with the presence of goodness. Cloaked in his beliefs, he makes his way into the rooms, trying to push back the evil darkness, his holy symbol a wall of peace. Clutched in his right hand is his mace, for Selune looks kindly upon the destruction of irredeemable evil...

Kre follows Garth into the room, hoping to gain some protection from the pios dwarf before him. He draws his dagger, 'ColdHeart' and looks around for any undead to hack at.

After he hears the trouble from ahead, Ras immediately grabs Lyntern, "Come here, help me close this and then we can help our companions." With that, the two set about to reset the secret door and then jam it from outside to prevent anyone from coming along behind them.

Inside the room, Druckner has been fortunate enough to avoid blows from each of the zombies that grabbed him. As Beleg, Kersath, and Talimar search about the room for their companion, Druckner makes a stand and swings two vicious blows at one of the undead before him. He is unable to land a solid blow though as the darkness make it difficult for him to see them.

Accustomed to the darkness and relying on other senses, the first zombie strikes Druckner a stunning blow to his head, sending the stout dwarf falling backwards. The zombies quickly move in on the reeling dwarf.

Talimar and Kersath continue to search around the room for the others as Druckner valiantly recovers from the blow to his head and with all his remaining strength brings his mighty axe down on the zombie in front of him. The axe lands squarely in the chest of the beast and with an eerie stillness it falls to the ground, unmoving. Druckner looks up into the blank gaze of the remaining undead before him and just as he is resigned to accept his fate, Beleg steps between him and the undead bringing his mighty bastard sword forward in a charge to drive it hilt-deep into the chest of the creature. It convulses for a moment before falling still. With a smile, Beleg puts his boot to the chest of the creature and forcefully shoves it off the end of his sword.

Turning to catch his fallen comrade, Beleg sheaths his sword and picks up the wounded Druckner in his arms. "Red Feather Company, to me!" he shouts as he tries to find his bearings in the darkness. Moving from the sound of his voice, the others quickly find he and Druckner in the southern edge of the room. As the others gather round, each carrying a torch now, the room lights up quite a bit more. The group is able to make out the horrible altar in the center of the room and once again see all the dead, mutilated bodies in the chamber. The altar appears to be dedicated to some form of death god. "Druckner is terribly wounded, we must get him out of this chamber," says Beleg to the others.