The tunnel got narrower. The team had to shimmy through.
Claustrophobic.
Omazz’s torchlight moved across the walls. It shone over a skull! She yelled—
Everyone jumped.
“What? What is it?!” Ex Vis said.
Omazz pointed at the skull. They saw that the walls were stacked with bones. “Bones. Thousands of them.”
As they went deeper and deeper, the cave became something else entirely.
The walls were lined with skeletal remains—sections carved away for caskets.
“Someone’s disturbed these graves,” Nimbus said.
Alessia said, “Stay sharp, everyone.”
Landar and Alessia grouped up. Alessia scanned intently.
Landar said, “You’re looking for her, aren’t you?”
“She knows how important this is. She wouldn’t do anything to stop this.”
Landar shook his head. “I don’t think you understand how hauntings work.”
The path widened enough for two to walk shoulder to shoulder. The group moved into marching positions: Alessia and Landar in the front, then Ex Vis and Korr, then Druveus and Omazz, with Nimbus taking up the rear.
Every few paces, there were large iron grates along the floor.
Landar stopped at one. “You hear that...”
Underneath, water flowed like a river.
“Water…”
Korr pushed through a thick sheet of cobwebs. Ex Vis got some in his fur and kept having to pull it out.
Ex Vis looked at a thick strand of web. “I haven’t been in a catacomb in ages. Reminds me of when I got my bow.”
He held out his onyx bow, showing it off.
“Never liked being below ground like this,” Korr said. “Give me trees and sunshine any day of the week.”
“Less treasure up there.”
“Best treasure of all—life.”
Druveus and Omazz walked slowly, examining the walls.
“Do you know what kind of structure this is?”
“This must be late Bareve runes. Master builders. ...Right?”
“Yes, but they were even better potion brewers. And do you know which concoction they created that will give immortality?”
“...I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Druveus pulled out a flask and handed it to Omazz. “It’s a secret.”
Omazz looked at it in awe. She took a sip and coughed— “That’s whiskey!”
“Bareve’s best. Nothing better for bravery.” He winked. “Glory leads to immortality.”
Omazz smiled, feeling the drink’s effect.
Landar shuddered.
Alessia glanced over. “You alright?”
“Like someone danced on my grave. This is a wicked place.”
“Not for much longer.”
“Is that how it feels when she haunts you?”
“Worse.”
“I still don’t understand how someone can be haunted by themself. Have their own ghost.”
“Nothing pleasant.” She saw his worried face, so she softened. “When I was young—”
The little girl skipped past.
Boom! Flames ripped through the catacombs, throwing everyone back from the concussive force.
Ex Vis patted flames off his fur.
“What the Hells was that?”
Behind him, the lid of a coffin slid open. As Ex Vis checked himself, an undead monster—a decaying, rotting human—slowly climbed out.
Slowly, Ex Vis turned and saw it.
“Oh, shi—”
Slam! Korr swung his axes over Ex Vis’s head, hitting another undead monster in the face.
Korr shouted, “RUN!”
Everyone ran for their lives. But coffin lids flew open, and throngs of undead climbed out of the walls, separating everyone.
Corpses in various stages of decay, skeletons, and shadowy wraiths attacked the team.
One moved toward Landar, but Alessia killed it.
Landar took a vial from his belt, threw it at an undead, and it exploded, melting the monster like acid.
Alessia swung her sword, cleaving a body in two. She spun her weight on one foot to attack another, but when her other leg landed, it activated a trap.
The ground gave way beneath her. She and two undead fell into a stream of water below.
Landar shouted out, “Alessia!” He ran down the hallway, following her through the grates in the ground.
Ex Vis pulled out his bow. When he drew back, a magical string appeared, creating an arrow of light.
He loosed the arrow—it hit an undead in the face, and its head exploded.
Korr’s battle axes whirled with violence.
“Friends of yours?” Ex Vis stabbed another. “You know, cuz you’re old.”
“Told you it’s better above ground.”
Omazz fired her wand but missed. The undead got closer.
Druveus pointed his staff. A bolt of electricity erupted from it, obliterating the undead.
The angel whispered an incantation. His eyes glowed white. He twirled a strand of magic in his hands, then flung them outward. A concussive wave of magic blew a wall of undead back.
Landar ran over the grates in the floor, watching as Alessia was pulled along by the rushing groundwater. She bobbed up and down, stabbing the undead that had fallen in with her.
“Help!” Landar shouted.
Ex Vis lined up a shot, but Korr stepped in front, grappling with an undead.
“You’re in the way!”
“I’m the only one killing anything!”
Ex Vis growled and fired at Korr. At the last microsecond, Korr moved, and the arrow blew the brains out of an undead. Korr realized how close that had been to his own skull—
“Filthy rodent piece of— could’ve taken my head off!”
But before he could kill Ex Vis, more undead attacked.
Druveus blew through undead with his staff, leaving a wake of carnage. The dead still writhed on the ground, though, biting and grabbing with dismembered bodies.
Omazz hit a few with her wand. But one got so close that when she blasted it, the force knocked her back, too.
She landed right next to a chomping mouth.
Druveus’s boot came smashing down on the undead skull. He grabbed Omazz and helped her up. Back to back, they kept blasting.
Alessia managed to grab onto a grate. Undead came from the far side of the hall. Landar struggled to yank the grate open as the enemies neared.
Most people would have run. But Landar stayed, facing sure death to get the grate open.
An undead reached out to grab him, when—
Axes slammed into its chest. Korr kicked the body off his weapons and kept attacking, holding the crowd of undead at bay.
“Hurry!” the half-orc shouted.
With renewed strength, Landar got the grate up. His bandolier caught on the grate and fell. He had to make a choice: grab the healing potions and holy water vials, or help Alessia.
Alessia slipped an inch.
Landar abandoned the bandolier.
Alessia started to climb out, and Nimbus reached in and grabbed her, pulling her the rest of the way.
The angel shook his head. “The gates of Hell opened wider than I feared.”
Between gasps of breath, Alessia said, “We need to find somewhere to regroup.”
Ex Vis, Druveus, and Omazz rounded the corner.
“Hop!” Ex Vis shouted.
Behind them was a wall of undead.