The Forgotten City XXXIV

L

a Compania Minor headed deeper into the crypt finding more ossuary alcoves each holding the bones of a half-dozen or so short, broad skeletons. Khufu noted that the skeletons were surely Keb from the time of the Rexan occupation of the territory. The air in the passages hung humid and heavy-laden with the scent of putrefaction. Soon they stumbled on Keb workers, dressed in the clothes of indentured servants of the Rexan empire and trapped for centuries in a state of slow undead decay. Both Antonious and Khufu attempted to turn the creatures, and Khufu's invocation of Xam sent three of them running, but one was too filled with yasofet, and continued its assault. Riven, Elissa and Herk struck out but miss, and the Keb zombie swiped at Elissa but missed. Riven drew her sword and sliced chunks of necrotic flesh off of it. Antonious also struck true. The zombie again attempted to attack Elissa but missed. Elissa sliced the spear trip across it, wounding it. Herk sliced with his axe cutting across the ribcage and spine, felling it.

The Jiam hurls a flask of oil down the hall at the three zombies still driven by the word of Xam and Antonious quickly threw a lit torch after. The three remaining zombies shrieked and began to shamble back up the hallway toward the party as flames ate at their fetid flesh. The surrounded Antonious and Khufu stepped up to strike, damaging one. Riven wordlessly lopped the head off of the next. One reached to strike out at Antonious but crumbled to the floor a charred husk. Herk struck down the last of the zombies with a rough flourish.

At the end of the hallway where the turned zombies had been trying to escape they found a wooden door with shallow scratch marks from the zombies' attempts to escape and charring from the burnt oil. The door had an unusually large keyhole which Antonious deduced matched the key the ghul had been carrying.

The door opened into a more finely finished space with Rexan stonework and clean edges. Staggered along the walls were more alcoves containing yet more bones, though they were human rather than Keb. to the right a large sunken crypt opened up before them and as they looked into it a buzzing sound reached their ear, through a narrow vent in the southern part of the room the head of a wasp-like fly emerged. The Jiam attempted to make friends with the flies, but was unable to reach them. The first one attacked Antonious and a second narrowly missed Khufu. Riven missed firing an arrow from the steps above the vaulted room. One attacked The Jiam biting at his head and grievously wounding him. Khufu healed him somewhat. Antonious attacked a fly and wounded it greatly but it returned the strike with equal vigor. Elissa cut at a fly. Herk swung and missed, but struck mightily on the return. Riven eyed the one that was attacking The Jiam and her arrow sank directly into its eye, she whispered "Well done Tammy" to no one in particular. With the one fighting The Jiam dead, Elissa moved deeper into the room to attack one from behind, but missed. Riven saw her plan and shot the fly through the wing, tearing it off and grounding the fly. Two of the flies nipped at Antonious, the grounded one doing much more damage. Elissa kills the grounded fly from behind. Riven dealt more damage from the stairs as The Jiam joined her loosing stones at the remaining flies. Riven fired yet another arrow also striking true. Elissa charged the one attacking Herk from behind, showering the Keb in hemolymph. Riven descended another step and shot around the corner killing the last of the flies. They searched the room quickly, but see nothing of interest. On closer inspection Riven found that perhaps Alex would be able to pass through the vent without his pack, but nobody present would be able. She told the party the sun was high in a cloudless sky and they moved on. Antonious studied the antique Rexan mural in the room and told them the crypt was for the honored dead. They moved on.

At the north end of the hall the group found a t-junction with a short hallway heading east and west in the space and then turning northward. Unsure of which way to go, each member looked in an alcove to find clues about the use and build of the hall but found small collections of copper and silver coins instead. As Antonious turned back to the party he heard a rustle in the bones behind him.