nowbound

Part Seven - The Lifestone - Jodotha Gets His Comeuppance

Ako and Trimus took some time out to prepare the spells they needed while the others bagged up their armour and weapons. Trimus' description of the tightness of the passage meant that not even Jodotha's supple leather armour could be worn. When everyone was ready Trimus cast a spell and he transformed himself into a large olive green serpent. Red tongue darting between his scaly lips he slithered over the stones and into the darkness of the collapsed stair. Darkhawk followed next struggling between the loose rocks that partially blocked the decent. Jodotha dislodged a rock as he fell and emerged from the rock fall with a nasty swelling above his left eye.
"That was your fault Darkhawk." He grumbled, only partially in jest.
He turned as a small cloud of dust and a scattering of gravel announced the arrival of Ako, the cleric looking like a week old corpse due to the covering of dust loosened by his passage. Cain brought up the rear the mystic having no trouble slipping between the rocks.

Trimus changed back into his normal form while the others donned armour and backpacks.
"Which way first?" Darkhawk asked as they stood at the crossroads.
"South I think." Trimus replied ignoring the door that lay across the corridor from them "It's just a gut feeling."
With Ako and Darkhawk to the fore as normal they marched along the corridor. Apart from a coating of gritty dust from the cave ins at the staircase the corridors showed little sign of the time that had passed since they had last been used. Jodotha's fingers itched as they passed the barred door and another two doors before they reached the one that Trimus wanted to try first. The rogue knelt at the plain wooden door and held up his hand for quiet as he listened at the jam before proceeding to check the lock, hinges and handle for traps. "It's clean." He said standing up and allowing Ako and Darkhawk to open it.
Inside was a square room with a table upon which stood a couple of mugs and a jug. Two doors, similar to the one they had entered through led east and west.
"That one leads back to the stairs" Trimus pointed to the east door after consulting his sketch map, "Let's try the west one."
Jodotha started towards the door when he spotted an old man dressed in nondescript robes who appeared to have appeared from nowhere.
"What do you want old man." Jodotha's hand strayed towards his sword as he waited for the figure to answer.
"What you seek is this way." The old man's voice was thin, little more than a whisper and as he spoke he moved towards the west door and vanished.
"I detected an emanation of evil from our 'guide'." Cautioned Ako who had cast a spell as the figure was speaking. "We should be careful and take any advice he offers with a pinch of salt.
Jodotha checked the door and nodded that all was clear.
Beyond the door a corridor stretched westwards, with a door on the south wall the only feature of note. Again Jodotha checked it before letting Ako open it.
Inside was a storeroom partially stocked with barrels and casks.
"We can check these later." Ako shut the door and led the way west along the corridor. It soon ended in a 'T'-junction running north and south. The southern end was blocked by a door while the northern limb ran further before it too terminated in a door.
Jodotha checked the southern door first.
"It's locked and I can't pick it." Jodotha admitted, standing aside.
"Let me." Trimus stepped forward and cast a knock spell upon the door and a quiet click sounded as the lock mechanism was disabled.
Ako opened the door which opened onto a short corridor followed by a set of stairs leading down.
"Let's finish up here before going down." Darkhawk suggested inclining his head towards the door at the north end of the corridor.
The north door opened onto a dormitory with at least a dozen bunks, all in a state of disrepair, rats and insects had shredded the bedding and nested in the mattresses from the look and smell of things. A door at the far eastern end of the room led back onto the corridor that they had emerged into from the ruined stairs.
"Where did he go?" mused Trimus. "I know you sensed an emanation of evil and he appeared to come out of nowhere, did you sense that he was undead, a spirit of some kind?"
"No. I didn't have time to sense anything other than a feeling of evil." Ako replied.
"Let's tried the barred door." Suggested Jodotha, eager to keep moving, despite being out of the wind the passages were still cold and damp. "The conditions down here are making my fingers stiff and achy; I need to keep them working."
The others agreed and Jodotha checked the door for traps and listened for sounds of occupation finding no sign of either.
"I don't like this, this door is obviously designed to keep someone, or something in. Who knows what we will face on the other side." Trimus scratched his chin. "Stand back everyone." He slipped his ring of telekinesis onto his right index finger, removing the ring of protection he wore on their normally. He then lifted the bar from the door using the power of the ring and laid it down silently out of the way.
"After you Ako." He grinned slipping the other ring back onto his finger.

Having Ako at the fore was a wise choice; five rows of four zombies filled half of the room beyond the door.
"By the power of Normanus, begone!" Bellowed the cleric and the first two rows of the undead were shredded into scraps of flesh and bone by the power of his faith. Jodotha knelt and shot another with his crossbow while Cain and Darkhawk waded into the fray.
The zombies were no match for the weapons and skill of their foes and soon all lay still upon the ground. Trimus collected his throwing daggers while Jodotha salvaged what he could of his crossbow bolts, digging them from the putrefying remains of the zombies' flesh.
"Did you actually hit any of them with those daggers Trimus?" the rogue joked.
"No." muttered an embarrassed Trimus. "I think I was more of a danger to Darkhawk and Cain then I was to them."
"Nothing here." Darkhawk finished searching the almost bare chamber. "I've no idea what they were doing here, not much use as guards if they can't get out."
"Perhaps they were trapped here by an earlier group of adventurers?" suggested Jodotha.
"Or by those who stole the Lifestone." Suggested Trimus.

They returned to the corridor and turned south.
"There is again!" shouted Darkhawk pointing at the door at the far end of the corridor that was just closing as he did so. The fighter started to run along the corridor and opened the door before anyone could stop him, even Jodotha's shout of 'Careful - remember what happened to Cain', didn't slow Darkhawk's actions.

The door opened into a large chamber with a single door set into the south wall.
"That was careless Darkhawk, the door may have been trapped, or there could have been an ambush beyond it. " Jodotha admonished the bigger fighter with a wag of his finger. "Let me check this door first. He can't outrun us for ever."
He marched swiftly towards the door when suddenly the floor beneath his feet shimmered and changed. Jodotha found himself sprawled at the bottom of a large, deep pit filled with a scattering of bones.
"Don't laugh." Trimus said, barely keeping himself from laughing.
"No don't" added Ako, something evil is here. As he spoke the bones started to move and join together to form a large vaguely humanoid form, a bone golem with four arms each holding a bone blade.

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