The Unbeating Heart - Chapter 13

Karyna blinks as if coming out of a daze. "Oh sweet Osiris, Nkosi, thank you so much! Are you alright?"

Again, Nkosi pauses at Karyna's invoking of the same gods that he worships. "Yes, I am well, thank you. May I ask, what land do you come from?"

Karyna grins, "A desert land a fair journey from this one. And yourself?"

SLim walks over to the trap door, "So who wants to be the one to open it?"

"But what if people are still alive?"
Thurgood motions to the remaining coccoons.
"We can't leave them to die! And if we ignore the ones that have fallen to evil, who says they won't come after us?"

Nkosi looks at Thurgood thoughtfully, honestly wondering if the warrior's emotions are more valuable than his own cold logic in a place like this. Finally, he says, "I see your point, Thurgood. If we are to tarry here and attend to the other cocoons, however, we allow any remaining evil below to recover from the death of the tentacled hellspawn. "If we choose to stay here, then we might as well rest also and prepare to deal with the creatures at sunrise, when -- the gods willing -- the advantage will be ours. In that case, we need to fortify our position so that we can rest safely and so that I can regain my use of spells. Those are the options as I see them."

"Rest is good, but perhaps we can do it someplace removed from here? The rubble presents a good hiding place for more of those creatures, and if we are to rest for any extended period of time, I want to know that I will be safe when we wake up." Slim says.

"I can't leave the people in the coccoons if there is a chance that they are still alive."
Thurgood's eyes switch between the cocoons and the trap door.
"Very wel." he finally says. "If we are to go, we better go now. We will have to come back here later."
He walks up to the trap door and, his sword at the ready, throws it open.

Both Slim and Anton watch him, as does the freed captive.
"So what happens to me?" asks the captive to everyone and no one at all.

Nkosi looks at Anton. "Anton, can you please remain here with him," he says, pointing at the freed captive, "and together you and he can do your best to determine which of the other victims are still living. Do not open the cocoons, however, until we get back. You can also look into ways of securing this room. It would be of help to us."

Syn looked at the group and then at the trap door. A glint of curiousity entered her eye. "I guess there is no way to solve the mystery of what happened here unless we go through the trap door. Perhaps killing the 'Master' will free those that are in the pods."
Pausing for a second, Syn added almost as an after-thought "Maybe it would be a good idea if someone with more of a connection to their diety than what I have, said a prayer or something to bless our endevour and help protect us from the Evil we will surely face below."

"But what if there are more of those creatures?" Anton whispers, "I dont want to end up a zombie!" He makes a csual glance back toward the man they had freed from the Cocoon. "And what if more of the creatures come in here?"

"Shall we see what is down below?" Slim asks.

"Yes indeed," says Nkosi, lighting his lantern and shining the light down the stairs. After looking around at the others, he whispers a prayer to Anubis, who leads the souls of the dead through darkness. He then cautiously descends, expecting the others to be right behind him.

The tunnel leads down through the floor ofthe chapel, into the bedrock. The air is close, and the walls are narrow. Thurgood can barely squeeze in, his broad shoulders almost scraping the walls as he enters.
Only the light of Nkosi's lantern dispels the darkness, revealing a tunnel that stretches ahead as far as the lantern light reaches, though even that seems to be crowded out by the encroaching darkness.
The light of the lantern pushes back the darkness, but not the feeling of watching eyes. Something is down here, waiting. Footsteps echo all around you, and there is the distant sound of scurrying, a rat? Or something much more sinister. The air here is still and stale, and touched by the scent of something foul.
The group presses on, turning here would be difficult, as would be fighting. After a few moments they come to a set of doors that flanks the group, one to the left, one to the right...

Nkosi crouches low, trying to see if the lantern light reveals any signs of recent movement in the dust, as well as whether either of these doors have been opened recently.

For good or ill, there seems to be no dust on the floor. "Looks like someone has tidied the place up," Slim says as he looks over your shoulder. "Not a very comforting thought."

Syn followed the others into the corridor. At the doors, she motioned for the others to be quiet so she could listen at each one.
After listening at the doors, Syn looked down the corridor and then at the group. Quietly, she whispered "Where is Stephen?"

Thurgood shakes his head, indicating he doesn't know.
He has put his clumsy sword in his sheet with some difficulty, and now holds the blackened club, still moist from the creatures slime.
He indicated the doors.
"Which one?"
Thurgood grabs the handle of the left door and swings it open.

The door to the left opens into a large tunnel like room filled to overflowing with crates and casks.
From behind you you hear Slim say, "It must be where the moks stored their food and stuff. I wonder what all is in here?"

Syn peered into the room beyond the door. Quietly she whispers, "I think I heard something 'gurgling' in here."
Syn scanned the ground and ceiling to see if there was any evidence of something being down here.

"Hmm." Thurgood stepped inside, peering over a few crates and pushing a casket aside.
"Seems not too spectacular. Let's move on."

"One moment, Thurgood," says Nkosi, holding his lantern up and stepping forward slightly to see what other details he can get from this room.

The group sees nothing out of the ordinary, though there is a faint gurgle-slupr sound. It seems to come from above you...

Nkosi, with a dread sense of anticipation, aims the lantern's light toward the ceiling...

What you had took to be the natural contures of the ceiling before slowly ripple like waves on a pond. The color is black, and slightly moist, like living tar.
Slim looks up and whispers, "I have a bad feeling about this."

Thurgood pales, then slowly backs away, his sword arm out, while pushing the people in the door opening (Syn and Nkosi) outside.

Syn stumbled a bit as Thurgood pushed Nkosi and herself back into the hall.
Whispering, "I guess we found something. Should we worry about something coming down either the hallway or out of the other door?"
Syn drew her sword and prepared for battle.

The creature is slowing oozing across the ceiling towards the door. Already it is above the door, and it is begining to ooze down the wall.

Thurgood swings his club and strikes at the ooze.

His club splats into it. It seems to do a little damage.

Thurgood pulls back his club and examines it to see if it suffers from the ooze. If not, he swings it again.

"Thurgood, be careful!" Nkosi asks the others if they have any torches left. Then, retreating, he tries the door on the other side of the hallway.

It opens easily revealing a darkened room beyond. There is the scent of dust in the air, and the scent of the underground, water soil and musty air. Only the light you have reaches the outer walls of the room, a cube of about 25 feet on a side. All over the room there is cobwebbed machinery, obviously the pumpsystem for the monastery's water system. It all seems fairly complex for the simple monastic life.

After a quick look behind that nothing threatening appears from the opened door, Thurgood swings his club again at the ooze.

The club splats into the creature and it pulls back.

Syn watched as Thurgood splatted the creature with his club. She looked down at her sword. It was showy but lacked any real sting.
Taking a quick mental inventory, Syn discovered that she was almost out of spells. She used some of her more powerful ones fighting the ghoul-thingies on the way to the monestary. Right now, She figured the best thing to do was to stay out of Thurgood's way and keep an eye on the hall towards the trap door. It wouldn't be a pleasant experience if something surprised them.

Nkosi is intrigued by the elaborate mechanism in the room, but he won't venture inside while his companions are still dealing with the creature. Turning back to them, he says, "Thurgood, back away from it. Can you shut the door to seal it in the room again? It seems sightless, so perhaps it's only drawn to the warmth of our bodies."

Thurgood steps back, and pushes the door closed.

Nkosi says to the others, "There is a surprisingly intricate mechanism for the monastery's water system in the other room, but I doubt it's of any use to us right now. It's covered in dust and cobwebs, while the trap door and this corridor shows signs of frequent use. We should continue down the passage."

Thurgood raises his eyebrows. "Intricate? Hmmph." He checks his club, then nods. "Very well, let's make haste." And, carefully, he proceeds downwards.

The dark hallway stretches ever downward, getting if possible even closer. They come to a junction of doors, one ahead where the hallway ends and one on each side of the hallway. The doors are simple wood and indistinguishable from each other.

Nkosi edges forward to the door directly in front of them. He listens intently for several seconds. If he hears nothing, he'll whisper as much to the others and then try the door handle.

Nkosi hears a soft groan from behind the door. Another victim perhaps? Does he still want to open the door?

Nkosi turns to the others and says, "I hear a groan. Whether it is a person or...thing, I cannot say. Prepare yourselves, please. I will open the door, then jump out of your way in case it is the latter."
Once weapons are readied, Nkosi will turn the handle.

The handle turns, but the door seems to be jammed...

"What's wrong?" Thurgood whispers.

"The door isn't locked, but something appears to be blocking it. Unfortunately, strength is not among the gifts the gods have given me. Can you budge it?" Nkosi steps aside to give the knight room.

Thurgood musters the door, then grabs the handle, and pulls with all his might.

Thurgood yanks and pulls, and suddenly the door opens with explosive force, throwing everyone back.
Thurgood crashes to the floor
The blast extinguished all light in the hall, but you feel an unearthly chill seep into yourshin and a soft, hollow sounding clatter moving from the room into the hall.

Thurgood scrambles up into a half crouch. He gropes around for his companions, staring at the door, waiting impatiently for his eyes to adjust to the dark. "Everyone ok? Syn? Nkosi?"

Nkosi groans, "I am injured, but alive. Quickly, move back from the doorway and defend yourselves. The chill of death approaches -- I know its touch far too well." He begins trying to relight his torch in the pitch blackness.

The area is filled with an unnatural cold, but Nkosi seems unfazed by it and begins to light his torch. There is the soft sound of foot steps as something aproaches in the darkness...

Syn lets loose a grunt. Looking around, she notices the cold and lack of light.
In a sing-song voice, She says,
"A spark of Imagination,
A bit of Magic Might,
Help me return my sight
with this bit of Light"

The Darknes fades, but none of the chill. Standing before you is an undead horror that seems to exude hatred and malice. Robes hang from his freshly decaying form, and his skin has worn away in places te reveal bloodless rotting muscle beneath. HIs mouth is a lipless grin, Rotten gums hold chattering teeth in its skull. Pale, empty eyes scan the group and come to rest on Syn. There is something Loathsome in the way he looks at you. Something you have seen many times before, even welcomed...
Lust.
He moves foreward, and begins to lisp a chant...