Burrows & Behemoths

by Lee Duckett

  Fayne nodded dumbly, in no way ready to handle this kind of theological discussion. The only time she went to church was when she and her sister went to her grandmother’s house, and she was Catholic! “Um, right. . . thanks?” she half-offered, half-asked, looking up to the roof as if she could see the sun like Aria apparently could. “But you are going to be okay, right?”

  Aria smiled, standing up, “Just a little tired, I’ll be fine, and so will you.”

  Fayne jumped on the much safer topic of being lied to, “Right, that! Why didn’t you tell me how bad it could have been! I’m an adult, I can handle it!”

  “You’re sixteen dear, that might be old enough to drive, but it’s not an adult,” the aasimar calmly reposted.

  “I’m over a hundred years old!”

  Aria just smiled at her placidly, “And in human development?”

  “. . . I could’ve handled it,” the elf finally said, not willing to admit that she was effectively fifteen for an elf.

  “And now it’s been settled,” Aria smiled beatifically, getting up and patting Fayne on the head once as she moved to the door. “Now get dressed, we have more undead to destroy. We’ve been blessed by Solus, now let us do his will.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  Forge-ing Ahead

  “You okay there, Lassie?” Rurik asked Fayne as she walked out of the room. “There was light an’ chantin’ an’ stuff, but the wee man said we needed to stay out here.”

  “I’m fine Rurik,” she replied. “And thanks for not coming in. That was. . .”

  “Divine rituals are tricky,” Badger said, shaking his head, “which is a good thing when you’re trying to avoid having your soul sacrificed to an evil squid demi-god, less good when you want it to work.”

  The party stared at him. “What? That one didn’t work, obviously. There’s a reason why Badger was willing to join a random adventuring group despite being an accredited wizard,” the gnome shrugged.

  “. . . right,” the dwarf said, turning back to Fayne, “Anyways lass, good to see yer not shakin’ like a leaf. Your type love trees enough without mimicin’ ‘em.”

  Aria winced, “Please don’t use the “m” word.”

  “Magic?” the wizard asked innocently, smiling at her glare. “Don’t worry, I understand.”

  “Understand what?” the elf questioned. Badger pointed at the mimic corpse they’d dragged out into the hall. “Oh, right, mimic. Sorry!” she apologized as her healer winced again. “Let’s just go kill undead, okay?” she asked, embarrassed.

  Retreading their previous path, the party quickly found themselves back in the desecrated church, staring at the large iron door that had diverted them. “Get ready,” the elf advised, taking out the key and sliding it home in the lock that had defeated her.

  As she twisted it the sound of grinding iron could be heard, along with a low hum, barely on the edge of perception, rising in volume before disappearing entirely.

  “I thought you said it wasn’t magical,” Aria commented, mace at the ready.

  Her husband shrugged, staff at the ready, “Magical auras are blocked by a foot of stone, an inch of metal, or any amount of lead. I didn’t see any magic, doesn’t mean it isn’t magical, just that I couldn’t tell that it was.”

  “Then you should have told us,” she chided, cheeks reddening when he gave her a flat stare. “So open up the door,” she directed Fayne, changing the subject.

  Not saying anything, Fayne, gripped the decorative handle and carefully pulled it, the door smoothly swinging open without a sound. On the other side was a large space, though half of it was covered with rubble. The right half was clear, with two doors set into the right wall, another set into the back wall. Several ever-burning torches were set high, providing light over the entire space. As the party watched a pale dwarf in splint mail opened the door on the far side of the room and walked inside, slowly walking across the chamber.

  Rurik, taking point, stepped inside and called in Dwarven, “‘ello there?” The other dwarf stopped and stared at him, not saying a word. ~If it jumps me, shoot ‘em in the ’ead, lassie,~ he requested, taking another step forward. “We’ve been tryin’ to find whoever’s in charge ‘ere, and it’s been nothin’ but monsters an’ undead. You real, or just another of those poxy buggers?”

  It stared at him, wild looking beard and helmet obscuring its face. As Rurik approached, swords out, it started to stagger towards him, hands out and grasping, a dry, rasping voice calling out in an inarticulate scream of rage. It stumbled back as Fayne’s arrow struck it in the throat, electrified arrow blasting out flesh. The undead dwarf started stumbling towards Rurik again, gory injury not bleeding at all.

  “Right,” Rurik sighed. “Shoulda known it wouldn’t o’ been that easy.” He stepped forward with purpose, reaching the creature before it regained its balance, he struck its neck, his opponent making no move to protect itself. In an instant the creature’s head was removed and sent flying, its body collapsing un-lifelessly to the ground. Rurik flicked his blades to clear off the blood, only for nothing to happen as his swords were already clean.

  Looking around for a moment, nothing else seemed ready to spring into action so Rurik waved the rest over as he prodded the headless corpse with a sword. Up close it was clear the dwarf had been undead. Its armor hung loosely on its emaciated, pallid body. ~So, zombie ya think?~ the samurai asked.

  ~I. . . I’m not sure,~ Aria admitted, leaning over the body. ~Zombies bleed, in a way, it’s congealed. This. . .~ she shrugged, ~Maybe it’s a really old zombie?~

  ~Are you sure it’s dead?~ Badger asked. ~Re-dead?~

  The body twitched as Fayne shot an electrified arrow directly into its chest, not moving after that. ~Yep,~ she said, turning to the side doors.

  The gnome searched the corpse, not finding anything of value on it, the armor so old and degraded it wasn’t worth taking. Aria had followed Fayne, who unlocked the door, and peered over her shoulder. Inside was a staircase that spiraled around with a wide space in the middle. Part of an old pulley system at the top of the stairs was obviously meant to lift materials up to a higher level, the destroyed remains of the platform it lifted at the bottom.

  Returning to the group, Rurik waited, swords sheathed as he examined the rubble that covered the left half of the room. ~Something interesting?~ Fayne asked.

  ~Whenever this happened, it was a while ago,~ he mused. ~but as it is now, it’s settled. Ah dinnae ken what would ‘appen if we tried to clear a path.~

  Badger shrugged, ~Then we probably won’t need to.~ The others looked at him. ~We’ve never needed to break through before, it’s been ‘get this key’ or ‘fight this monster’ not ‘excavate this tunnel’.~

  ~You’re prolly right there, wee man,~ the dwarf nodded. Turning to the next door down he made an ‘after you’ gesture to Fayne. ~Age before beauty lass,~ he sent with a smirk.

  ~Why not both?~ she shot back without malice.

  As the party approached the second door, they could make out the muted sound of hammers on steel from the other side. Fayne examined the door, checking it for traps before quietly opening it, heat buffeting her as she did so.

  The other room was full of forges, the heat from them almost oppressive. Despite that, only four of them were manned, zombie dwarves slowly heating and working the same pieces of metal over and over again. Water came from a fountain in the ‘back’ of the room off to the party’s right, flowing down and around the forges to feed quenching troughs before flowing to a drain in the ‘front’, which had been worn down into a gaping hole in the floor.

  Above the fountain was a walkway that stretched across the back of the room, leading into a shadowed hallway going somewhere else. Fayne, taking this all in, got an idea. ~Stay here,~ she instructed, backing up. ~I’ll shoot them from up there. When they turn to get me, you jump them from the back!~

  ~It’s dishonorable,~ Rurik grumbled over the connection, ~But it’s not like undead have honor in the fir
st place. Aye lass, it sounds like a plan.~ Aria and Badger both agreed and Fayne silently slipped away through the other door, darting up the previously discovered stairs.

  A moment later she was in position on the walkway, overlooking the forges as they billowed heat up into the ceiling and through blackened chimneys. She waited until the closest zombie turned to thrust the iron into the forge, silently moving across the walkway to get the perfect shot. Her electrified arrow caught it right between the shoulders knocking it into the forge. It flailed silently, burning to death in a matter of seconds. The others pounded away, not noticing that they’d lost one of their own.

  Unsure, she looked to the doorway where the rest of the party was watching her. Badger made a ‘keep going’ gesture, Rurik giving her a thumbs up. Fayne shrugged, sighting on the next zombie. She wasn’t in position to replicate her first shot, but as it repeated its actions there was a moment where it stepped back to look at the metal before stepping forward to repeat the process all over again.

  Moving to aim properly, she let the arrow fly, impacting the base of its neck, the snap-crack of the bolt detonating covered by the hammering of the other two. The body hit the ground, hidden from sight by the anvil, and the head, blown off by the impact, went high. It passed over the other two and bounced once on the ground before falling into the hole on the far side of the room.

  The last two paused what they were doing and looked around, but saw neither their slain allies nor Fayne hiding in the stairwell. Poking her head out, the last two were back to their work without a problem. Watching the last two work within sight of each other, she couldn’t find a part of their routines that wouldn’t reveal herself.

  Sighing, she waited for a good shot to strike one, loosing the arrow and hitting it in the back of the skull, the metal of its helmet blasting inwards and killing it. As the other turned around, sightless eyes staring at her she loosed another bolt. To her surprise it struck the zombie’s eye, dropping the creature as well.

  She stood there, staring at the destruction she wrought, when a sound made her jump. Rurik had walked into the room and was clapping non-sarcastically. ~Well done, lass!~ he called. ~Kinda wish ya left us some, but I can’t say that wasn’t impressive.~

  It was, wasn’t it? She thought, smiling. I did this. It was easy. Hordes of enemies were a problem, but that’s because they took them head-on. Sneaking like she did made so much more sense. She jumped off the upper ledge, landing easily with a roll and popping back to her feet. “You guys search this, I’ll scout ahead,” she told them, walking for the door.

  “Are you sure? Badger asked, concerned as always.

  “It’s the name of my class, it’s what I do,” she dismissed confidently, striding out.

  ◆◆◆

  As the door closed behind Fayne, Badger turned to the others. “Are you okay with leaving her on her own?” he asked.

  Rurik shrugged, “She’s sneaky, means she’s best without Aria or I clinkin’ about like bloody dinner bells.”

  “We’re still connected, so she can call for help if she needs it,” Aria added, looking around the room. “How are the forges still running? I don’t think there’s more zombies mining coal.”

  “Ah, that I can tell ya’ lassie,” Rurik smiled, leading the pair over to one of the forges. “See them there runes?”

  Badger’s eyes glowed as he examined the forges, bright with evocation magics. “They’re. . . heating the forge?”

  “Aye wee man,” the dwarf smiled. “It be a nice bit o’ magic a priest of Andruft came up with a long time ago.” Reaching over he pressed on a carved symbol of the dwarven god of crafting and magic, the fire in the forge going out, the ‘coals’ cooling down from a cherry red into rune covered spheres of stone. Grabbing a pair of tongs, he extracted one, showing it off. “Now, I not be a finger-waggler myself, but these things work with the magic of the forge to keep the flames ‘ot and steady for as long as you’d care ta forge. They’d need ta be replaced after a thousand years or so, which ain’t bad for dwarven engineerin’.”

  Badger hit the still hot ball with a Frost Ray, cooling it down quickly. At Rurik’s amused expression the gnome carefully touched the rune-scribed ball before grasping it and turning it over in his hands. “Can I keep this?” the wizard asked idly as his eyes glowed, examining the magics that made it tick.

  “I don’t think the owners are gonna complain,” Rurik laughed, shaking his head. He waved off the gnomes spluttered explanation, “I know what ya be meanin’. This ain’t exactly a dwarven secret wee man, just not somethin’ we normally talk about. Or show outsiders. Or. . . okay, it be a dwarven secret, but I don’t really care that much.” He winced, shaking his head, “It’s not like keepin’ secrets make ya a better fighter, after all. Just don’t go tellin’ everyone how to make ‘em.”

  “I won’t!” the wizard promised still examining the incredibly detailed magical item before him.

  Aria rolled her eyes, “Boys and their toys.” She walked the area, noting the dead zombies, the lack of any kind of. . . well, fluids bothering her. As much as she despised them, as a priest of Solus she’d studied the basic types of undead, know your enemy and all that, and something about this didn’t sit right with her. The one Fayne’d blasted into the forge was still burning, and the other three were all motionless, but the hair on the back of her neck prickled as if she were still in danger.

  “Badger, Rurik,” she called interrupting them as they still talked about forges, several minutes of nerding out on the subject of heating things not slowing them down in the slightest. “Doesn’t something seem. . . off?” To their credit, she noted, they paid attention to her, both of them looking around warily. Her son unsheathed his swords while her husband put away his prize, grabbing his staff from its resting place hanging on his back.

  They walked over to her in the center of the room, weapons at the ready as they looked around. Aria stared around, the feeling of uncertain danger growing by the second, when both men stiffened. “What?” she demanded, mace clutched before her.

  Both tried to speak at the same time, and Badger waved for Rurik to go first with a hand full of eldritch fire, his eyes aglow with Arcane Sight. “What do the both of ya smell?” the samurai asked, expression guarded.

  “Um, fire?” Aria answered, her husband adding, “And metal, and a bit of water. What do you smell Rurik?”

  The dwarf swore under his breath and pointed towards the zombie still burning in a forge. “It’s what I don’t be smellin’. Undead flesh stinks somethin’ awful when it burns, but that one ain’t, and there ain’t any magic on the forge that shoulda stopped that.”

  Badger nodded, “And the necromantic magic in each of them, the magic that powered them isn’t fading. The magic is somehow linked, as all four have exactly at the same amount of magic in them. More than that, it’s getting stronger.”

  “What does that mean?” Aria demanded, the hint of something she read long ago prodding the back of her mind.

  “It means that something is going to happen,” Badger warned, “and it’s-”

  A flash of light blinded the three of them and they heard four matching, dry screams of animalistic rage echoing around them. Badger swung his staff blindly and impacted something that was sent flying, the sounds of combat all around him. As he blinked his vision clear he saw he’d struck the previously decapitated zombie, its head restored and staggering back from having its chest caved in.

  Rurik struggled with a second as Badger’s wife grappled with the third, holding it back while it snapped its jaws, trying to take a bite out of her face with a speed no zombie should have. Badger blasted that one in the head, sending it backwards long enough for Aria to bring her mace to bear,

  She struck it with a yell, smashing its head in and dropping the undead abomination. Turning she saw the fourth charging towards her husband, it’s shambling run quiet enough to take Badger, who was looking at her with concern, unaware. Not if I can help it! she raged, gr
abbing her husband and tossing him behind her as she body-checked the undead, the creature trying to grapple her instead.

  Rurik had killed his foe and intercepted the one Badger had struck, sword cutting deep gashes into that caused it to fall to the ground, ‘dead’ again. The undead Aria was struggling with bit into her forearm and she grit her teeth in pain, trying to get an angle of attack on it that wouldn’t rip out a chunk of flesh. A flash of fire came over her shoulder, a Flame Bolt impacting the thing’s head.

  Unfortunately, her husband, bless his heart, wasn’t able to kill the thing and she was at the worst angle to do it herself. The thing stiffened before going limp, dragging her arm down. Rurik pulled his swords out of the thing’s back, swearing, “I thought killin’ zombies meant they stayed down!”

  “They’re not zombies,” she said shakily, healing the bite in her arm with one hand, fishing out her flask of holy water with her injured other.

  “Then they be what exactly?” the dwarf demanded. “‘Cause I don’t know wh-, what the ‘ell is that?” he marveled as, with a bit of holy water and murmured prayer, the dead ‘zombie’ shimmered and popped like a soap bubble, the blood in its mouth from when it’d bit her splashing on the ground.

  Aria repeated the procedure hurriedly, popping another. “They’re remnants,” she explained, moving to the third.

  “Revenants?” Badger asked, looking askance at the dead things. “I’ve heard of revenants and those-”

  “Remnants,” she interrupted, moving to the fourth, “Not revenants. Different undead naturally occur in different ways. Murders without justice can, rarely, make revenants. Those who freeze to death can become hoar spirits. Mass starvation. . .” she shivered in revulsion, bringing herself back on topic. “Remnants are from unexpected mass death. The death is so shocking that while the souls move on the bodies just. . . go back to what they were doing.”