46 Ritual in the Ruins

In a dark tunnel, a gory scene was playing out. A dark figure was crouched down amongst freshly bloodied bodies. As it leaned over one of the wounded, the victim was twitching in panic before eventually falling still.

Suddenly a light shone upon the figure startling it. When it turned to face the light it's blood covered face was revealed.

"Aaaarrrgghhhh!" Finn spasmed in shock, kicked the rock wall and tumbled out of bed.

"What?! What's going on?!" Jess leaped up, drawing her sword in one fluid motion.

The startled room service had retreated behind the door with her lamp.

"I... I'm... so sorry... for intruding..." she stammered, "please... don't kill me..."

Sheathing her sword, Jess looked at Finn who was huddled up as a ball on the floor. Turning back to the maid she asked, "so, why'd you come sneaking into our room and freak out my partner? How did you even manage that?"

Seeing the situation stabilize, the maid reentered the room timidly.

"Well, Malmdal is eating breakfast in the main cave. He said you might not have adjusted to the darkness and overslept. He asked that we gently wake you if that was the case."

"What about him?how was that a gentle awakening?" Jess pointed to Finn who was finally calming down.

"I'm fine, I just had a horrible dream. The light of your lamp woke me a bit abruptly. Excuse me for causing a scene, haha." Finn rubbed his sore foot awkwardly before standing up.

"Tell Malmdal we will be there as soon as we are geared up." Jess smiled at the maid and activated the glow stone in the wall. "Thanks for waking us."

The maid nodded with relief and escaped back out of the room.

As soon as she left, Finn slumped back down on his bed. Immediately regretting it as it was still rock hard.

"What just happened? Just a dream? Your whole face was pale like you had just seen a ghost." Jess asked as she picked up the pieces of her armor.

"There was a bloody battle where a monster killed a bunch of people. I watched the whole thing in my dream, just like a spectator." Finn started.

"Yeah? Sounds like you saw a bit more blood and death than you were used to yesterday." Jess responded empathetically as she arranged the armor on the ground in order of what she needed to put on first.

"Well, the worst part was right at the end. When all the people where either dead or wounded, it leaned over and bit one. Suddenly a bright light shone on it and it turned and looked at me." Finn shuddered at the memory.

"Yeesh! Did you get a good look at it? What was it? A zombie? The lanky swordsman you killed?" Jess asked.

"It was me..." Finn mumbled after a short silence.

"Woah! So the maid's light was like the light in the dream!" Jess stood up and patted him on the back. "Don't think about it too much, you're a good guy."

Finn nodded and stood up before picking up his armor.

"How about you go splash some water on your face to cool down a little, you can finish getting ready afterwards." Jess took the leather out of his hands and arranged on the ground.

Finn dazedly left to find the bathroom, and Jess locked the door before quickly changing into quilted under-armor. Donning the rest of her armor carefully, she made sure everything was fastened tightly.

Doing some quick legwork and big movements she made sure it all fit as it should. Satisfied, she started on her equipment.

"Knock knock... hey open up... hellooo!" Finn interrupted her work. "Ah! Thanks!" He sauntered in as she opened the door.

"Guess you are feeling better then? Good, I need you at your best today." Fastening her belt and grabbing the last of her things she walked out. "Right then, I'm off to get some breakfast. See you there."

Finn quickly got into his usual leather armor, it was looking a bit more weathered than when he first got it. There where a few holes and gashes, but he had scrubbed off the blood at least.

Grabbing his usual gear, he made it just in time to see Malmdal leave the inn. Grabbing a few slices of dried meat and some flat bread to go with his porridge, he scooted into the seat across from Jess.

"So what's the news? Malmdal have anything to say?" He started before digging into his breakfast.

"Yeah, he brought us a simplified map of the nearby tunnels. He marked a few places for us too. This mining camp and the location of the necromancer lair according to the halfling. Apart from that, there are a few collapsed tunnels, and dead ends that now are nests for rats or spiders."

"Do we need to fight those too? I hate rats." Finn immediately was disappointed.

"No, we should be able to get by using this path," she traced a series of tunnels and caverns the avoided all the known dangers. "But the two summoners might bring something nasty to the fight if they get the chance."

"I'm guessing the necromancer knows about the missing goons and zombies by now, you think he'll try to escape?" Finn tried to use his bread to scoop some of the porridge up, but it folded and tore after getting wet.

"Well, the lowest circle spell I know of that can create undead is of the third circle. So although he probably won't stay long enough to get steamrolled by the dwarves, the necromancer and his current followers and undead will probably move base today. Our best bet is to find their trail from where we know they were and plan our attack when we know what we are up against." Jess explained the plan she had formulated with Malmdal before Finn's arrival.

Nodding, Finn asked, "well that sounds good to me, only... what if we bump into them earlier than planned and have to face the whole lot?"

"We run, and you shoot your crossbow at the closest wizard before they start casting. Undead are slow and brainless so we should be able to escape if we get a head start." Jess frowned as she imagined it. "Let's just stay quiet and hidden as much as possible."

"Got it, I can work with that. I'm not excited about facing a third circle or higher necromancer in a fair head on fight." Finish his food, Finn stashed some extra dried meat for later. Seeing him do that, Jess did the same with a smile. It was good to be prepared.

Setting out after paying for a couple more nights, they stopped for supplies at the camp market. Finn got a few new bolts, and Jess bought some spell materials.

Passing Finn some feathers, Jess explained "I figured you'd forget after what happened this morning. Take these in case you need them."

Following the map, the two made their way through the labyrinth of tunnels with relative ease. They were interrupted only by a few lone rats or football sized spiders that were put down by a well aimed shot by Finn.

Finn also tested his new bolts out. These had a larger flat surface instead of a point, delivering a potent amount of blunt force at the cost of range and penetration. It still put a large hole through the spider he tested it on.

As they approached the entrance marked by the halfling, the two increased their vigilance. Enemies could be right around the corner.

The tunnel was dimly lit by a few glowshrooms, but they had decided not to use a light. Relying on Finn's unusually good vision, they arrived at the location the halfling had described.

It was another natural cavern, but not too big to defend. The telltale sign of an old campfire confirmed the halfling's information. Some of the rocky ground had been scratched by the passing of zombie miners and their pickaxes.

"Well that's an easy trail to follow." Finn smiled wryly, hopefully things would keep going smoothly.

"Your crossbows loaded?" Jess checked as she equipped her buckler and shortsword. It allowed for easier movement and spellcasting than the bastard sword.

"All good to go, follow me as I stick to the shadows." Finn held the hand crossbow and made his way forward into the next tunnel.

The tunnel was surprising short, just curving and descending until it opened up into an enormous cavern. The two were shocked, how could there be such a huge void under the city? The rock wall opposite them must have been at least

The tunnel had left them on a ledge around two stories above the bottom of the cavern. From their vantage point they could see a large portion of the space was filled with the ruins of an ancient town.

Built out of cut stone, a large part of the ruins seemed relatively intact. There were over forty single story buildings, with about half as many taller ones closer to the center. All built in a style common to humans that lived near the great desert.

The buildings had flat roofs, and were arranged very closely. Exposed staircases connected the roof to the small central courtyards. There may have once been a few timber structures, but their deterioration had caused a them to collapse into a pile of rubble.

"This may have been bigger than we expected." Finn whispered, as he took in the scene in front of him.

Their attention was quickly drawn to a raised platform in the very center of the town. Apart from its prominent position, the fact that a small beam of daylight shone down from a small circular hole in the cavern roof highlighted its importance.

"Get down!" Finn ducked behind a rock suddenly, pulling Jess along with him.

Peeking over it, Jess noticed what made Finn hide.

"Sixteen... I can count sixteen zombies. Also I think there are people at the top of that altar looking thing." Finn whispered.

"Well this isn't good. Who knows how many more undead are hidden in the buildings or narrow alleyways." Jess complained.

There was movement on the altar and a gust of wind disturbed the dust that had settled over the town and began to swirl around the cavern. Five Large runes began to form above it and glow faintly.

"I think they started something!" Jess said, "I can't see what it is but that can't be good! We nee to stop this!"

"Let's go then, the necromancer needs to focus so it's the perfect chance to take out those zombies!" Finn quickly climbed down from their vantage point and made a dash for the nearest building.

Right behind him, Jess gripped her sword in anticipation of a sudden confrontation.

"Ok, so we need to take them out quickly before they cause a commotion." Finn said as he peeked around the corner at the two zombies wandering aimlessly.

"I'll avoid using any flashy spells for now, I'll take the one on the left. You strike right after I initiate." Jess made an executive decision. "Remember to aim for the head and neck, we need to keep them quiet."

Nodding in affirmation, Finn slipped out from the cover and approached his target silently with his daggers. Keeping to the darkest shadows, he moves slowly to avoid detection.

The two zombies were wandering down the road between two buildings according to their instruction to patrol. A light flicker caught their eyes and they turned to investigate.

A sudden slash sent one head rolling. The now headless body twitched a few times before being knocked down with a shield bash to the chest.

The remaining zombie sent out swipe as it opened its mouth to roar. It only managed a weak grunt before getting slammed to the ground and stabbed repeatedly in the head.

"I think you got him, haha" Jess laughed a little she wiped her blade clean. "You need some proper training with a blade, you still fight like a savage."