The morning of the 7th of the midmonth of Mirtul dawned damp and chill, winter showing reluctance to ease its grip on the Icewind Dale. Movement stirred in the camp, but everyone was slow to rise. Danot was particularly reluctant to wake this morning.

    "Sod off", Danot bellowed, as he held his head, sitting on his bedroll. He leaned back and stretched, then reflexively pulled his arms back in to warm himself in the chill morning air.

    The others continued their daily rituals, Mazyfum and Triolus finished up their daily studies, and Danot began training his ferrets. Llynowen pulled her winter blanket close around her shoulders and sat cross-legged on her bedroll and closed her eyes, entering her meditative state.

    Breaking fast with dry biscuits baked over the small fire that was remaining with water to drink, did not serve to improve anyone's mood. As she finished up her meditations, Llynowen went back around to tend to everyone's wounds. She frowned to herself as she saw the overall state the party was in.

    "We probably should head back to Targos, we're in no shape to go back down into that hole, and believe me, it's not going anywhere." Llynowen said as she straightened up from tending Dardae's wounds.

    "We're fine", Danot grumbled, "I'm fine, he's fine, look, just a scratch."

    "We must be near the end, what else could be left?" Gar chimed in.

    "Fine, but if we don't find the diary today, we should head back, we need more food and rope, if nothing else", Llynowen replied.

    The others nodded in acquiescence, and they began gathering their things. As the sun rose above the horizon and into the sky, some of the dampness left the air. The cold wind blew at their backs as they clambered back down into the depression that held the entrance to Morienus' Tower.

    "So where this time?" Llarion asked as he easily climbed down the rope into the summoning chamber.

    As he was standing around waiting for the others to climb down, Triolus turned to Rael and asked, "What'd you see down those stairs yesterday?"

    Shrugging, Rael replied, "A hallway".

    "'Bout the only place we haven't seen I reckon", Danot said as he slowly descended into the upper chamber, as always he was the last one down.

    They headed back into the increasingly familiar tower, back to the gaping hole left by Danot's fall the previous day. Mazyfum stared down into the hole with a bemused look on his face. Scratching absently at his side, he wondered out loud, "How are we going to get around this?"

    "Take off your boots", Rael told Dardae, who looked at her with a confused look on his face. She frowned and said, "Just do it".

    Dardae looked to the others, but received nothing but shrugs, so he tugged off his boots and placed them in his backpack.

    Rael took hold of one end of Dardae's rope and handed it to Danot, saying, "Hold this". She pulled something from a pouch at her belt, and weaving her hands in arcange gestures, she began chanting. She reached out and touched Dardae who shivered slightly as a soft glow encompassed his hands and feet.

    "Now walk along the wall as I did yesterday", Rael told Dardae.

    Clumsily at first, then with growing ease Dardae scrambled across the wall to the other side. Once there, Rael said, "Now say 'Stunty' to stop the effect". Danot shot Rael an icy stare at the word.

    "Stunty", Dardae said, and his hands and feet glowed softly once more then dimmed.

    Dardae pulled the remaining coil of rope from his shoulder and tied the rope to the hinge of the door. Danot tied the other end to one of the bars on his side, and the rest began to cross the twenty foot gap, hand over hand.

    As Mazyfum was crossing, his grip slipped, and with a muttered oath he plummeted down into the mud below. He slowly stood up and yelled up, "I'm okay" to the faces peering down from above. He sighed heavily as he looked over his now heavily soiled clothes.

    Danot, last to cross, untied his end of the rope and swung across to the other side. He firmly planted his feet on the wall, and left the rope dangling so that Mazyfum could climb up.

    Back at the top, Mazyfum muttered a word, then made a brushing gesture over his clothes. As his hand passed over his clothes, the mud disappeared. When he was finished his clothes were fresh and clean again.

    Looking around the new hallway, they were faced with five doors down a wide and long hallway ahead of them and an empty room just to their right. Cautious of anything so empty, Rael tossed a copper coin into the room, with only the echoing of it's scampering path as a result.

    "You gonna go pick that up?", Danot asked the half-elf.

    Smiling a half smile, Rael replied, "It's yours".

    Danot shook his head at the waste, but didn't go in after the coin. They turned their attention to the remainder of the options in the hallway.

    "The usual?", Llarion asked as he approached the door on the stone wall adjoining the stairs. Llarion bent down and examined the handle and keyslot. After a minute or two, he straightened and reached out and turned the handle. The door opened easily, exposing a small alcove and a room beyond.

    Stepping through the alcove into the room proper, the smell of death and decay grew strong in the air. Dust and cobwebs coated the broken furniture that lay in piles around the room. In the far corner of the room, two twisted corpses appeared to be caught in a deadly embrace, each griping a sword that was thrust through the other's chest.

    As Gar and Danot watched, the corpses shuddered and started to move, rambling towards them, mindless of the rusted swords still protruding from their chests.

    "By Gorm!" Danot swore, "More dead'uns"!

    One of the zombies struck out and hit Danot in the head, bringing forth a fresh flow of blood from a freshly healed wound. Mazyfum and Dardae ran into the room, weapons at the ready and joined Danot and Gar in the fight. The battle was quickly over with the zombies laid to final rest.

    Heading back into the hallway, Llynowen sighed as she saw the dwarf holding his hand to the new wound. She pulled a bandage from her pack and carefully bound the wound.

    As this was going on, Llarion was already crouched in front of the door set in the northern wall. He stood up again and stepped back, turned to the freshly bandaged dwarf and said, "It's unlocked."

    The door opened easily at Danot's touch, into another room much like the others in the tower. Broken furniture, covered with dust and cobwebs, were heaped all over the floor. On the far side of the room was a grand fireplace, with a carved mantle and mantle posts. Hanging above it was an emblazoned medium shield.

    As they approached the fireplace, movement could be seen from within as the piles of bones that were scattered about started to form up into several vaguely humanoid forms. Seeing the advancing skeletons, Llynowen held aloft her holy symbol and said in a soft, but commanding voice, "By Mielliki, turn back foul creatures of Kelemvor and leave us alone". The skeletons turned at Llynowen's command, and walked the other way, until they reached the wall, and most of them kept trying to walk into the wall. One skeleton did not turn with the others, and Danot dispatched it with a swing of his mace.

    Not wanting to leave the skeletons at their back, and knowing that the respite Llynowen had gained them would not last, they decided to draw the skeletons back to them, but on their terms.

    Quick to speak, Mazyfum suggested, "We should throw some oil on them and burn them."

    "What good will that do?" Danot grumbled.

    "They'll burn", Mazyfum said, then paused and added, "won't they?"

    "Have you ever tried to burn a bone before, elf?" Danot chuckled in reply. "No, we've got to get their attention, that's true, but the important thing is to only let one out of the door at a time, and take them on in the doorway," he continued.

    "But surely it'll do something, slow them down or something", Mazyfum asked.

    Llynowen spoke up, saying, "They have no minds, warrior mage, they will show no fear, nor will they die as we will from the smoke in this enclosed space when the furniture catches fire."

    Tiring of the debate, Dardae pulled his bow from his back and strung it. He quickly knocked an arrow and sent it flying into the room at the closest skeleton. It missed and splintered on the wall above the skeletons, but with this action the skeletons turned, and started shambling towards the door.

    Reacting quickly, Danot closed the door. Anxiously, the party waited as the scraping of the moving skeletons drew ever closer to the door.

    When they heard a thumping from behind the door, Danot took a step back and kicked the door, and swore as the door didn't budge and inch. Disgruntled, Danot stepped back and Dardae put his shoulder to the door, sending it crashing into the room. The sound of scattering bones filled the air as the skeletons that were near the door were thrown back. The skeletons behind were not dismayed and quickly filled in the gap swinging their swords at the living creatures beyond the doorway.

    As the battle ensued, there was a constant ebb and flow as the skeletons pushed the group back, and then the group scattered the skeletons to the wind. Danot's powerful blows with his new mace crushed skeleton after skeleton seemingly without effort. After a short while, the pile of bones in the doorway grew to the point that the skeletons were stumbling as they tried to cross.

    When it got to the point the skeletons could no longer advance, Triolus muttered a word and started moving his hands in a sweeping motion. The bones began moving on their own, as if Triolus, who was standing ten feet away, were somehow moving them with an invisible broom. Bending over and trying to assist, Rael began tossing the bones back, to clear a way for more of the skeletons to enter.

    Chuckling at the scene, Danot rumbled, "Good to see you guys actually doing some good."

    "We all can't be great warriors like you Lord Slippery Fingers", Rael bit back.

    During the chaos of the battle, Mazyfum stepped up into the pitch of the fight and was struck by a skeleton. The sharp blow to his skull caused Mazyfum's eyes to roll back in his head, and he crumbled to the ground. Llynowen quickly moved to pull him back, but that left Llarion in the way of the skeleton. Seeing the opening, the skeleton struck a rapid succession of blows on Llarion, striking him down. As the skeleton was pulling back for the kill, Danot swung his mace and the skeleton flew apart, it's bones scattering across the hallway. Llynowen reached over and grabbed Llarion, and quickly began praying over his near lifeless corpse.

    The remainder of the skeletons was dispatched in turn, and they began to search the room beyond. Danot searched around the room and found a few copper coins, which they decided to leave behind. Also hidden in the furniture was a tarnished silver goblet, which they did grab. Crossing to the fireplace, Danot and Dardae looked up at the shield. The shield was emblazoned with a red tree-like tower on a black background. The painted tower appeared to be the same tower that was depicted in the tapestry they found on the floor above. The shield was free of rust and after pulling it down and dusting it off, they found the straps to be in working order as well. As he didn't have a shield, Dardae claimed it. He and Mazyfum discussed ownership for awhile, but Mazyfum decided that Dardae had already claimed it so he backed down.

    They reentered the hallway and watched as Llynowen tended to Mazyfum and Llarion.

    After a short while, Mazyfum groggily woke, and shaking his head slowly said, 'What hit me'? He turned and saw Llarion, still bloodied and lying on the floor and added, "What hit him?"

    Llynowen looked up from the elf and shook her head. "It does not look good," she said. He'll pull through, but he'll probably sleep the day through. Which leaves the question, how will we move him, and should we leave now?"

    The rest stared at the fallen elf for a bit, then Dardae spoke up, saying, "I'll carry him on my back, we'll not leave yet, I feel we are close."

    Nodding in agreement Gar told Dardae, "If'n he gets to much for you, let me know, I'll take him for awhile."

    Dardae replied a grateful nod, and almost effortlessly hefted his brother over his shoulder.

    Heading to the second door on the other side of the hallway, Danot tried the door which didn't move. He stepped back and firmly planted his foot on the door, splintering the lock and breaking it off it's hinges. The room beyond was quite a surprise. It was very sparsely decorated, with three small beds against the wall, each with a nightstand beside them. The unusual part was the room was completely devoid of dust and cobwebs, and even the beds were made, the rotting linens tucked neatly away. Hiding by the beds were three women, dressed in rags of tattered clothing, their bodies showed obvious signs of decay, and the fetid air of death hung heavy in the air.

    They were moving, but appeared to be crouching in fear at the intruders. Rael stepped to the doorway, and spoke, "Can you speak?". The zombies answered with silent stares.

    "I'll have no part of killing something that isn't attacking me", Danot said.

    The rest nodded in agreement, and Triolus replied, "I'll watch them, you guys check out the last door."

    The last door opened into yet another room filled with broken, dusty furniture. Thick webs covered most everything. Danot and Gar stepped in and began searching around the furniture. Danot yelped as he felt a stinging pain on his leg, and he gripped his axe, looking for the perpetrator. As they were scanning around, and as the others filtered into the room, Gar cried out as he felt the stinging claws of an undead cat under some nearby furniture.

    The cats put up a fight, but were dispatched fairly easily. Searching the room and finding nothing, the group headed down the rest of the hallway and turned to look down the left passageway. About halfway down the passageway stairs began to descend. As they approached they noticed that they only went two steps before crumbling, leaving empty air below. Carefully looking down they saw the remainder of the stairs below, half-buried in the mud of the lower level.

    Tying a rope to a board, they stuck the board out the small window at the end of the main hallway. The set the board so it wouldn't slip, then tossed the rope down into the broken stairway. They carefully climbed down and looked around this side of the level they had partially explored before. To verify that it was the same level, they opened a nearby door, showing the dining room they had found before. Nearby they found a small crawlspace, about four feet by four feet. Danot was volunteered to go in first, and Mazyfum followed.

    Crawling into the cramped tunnel, Danot found himself constantly being dusted by the ceiling, which didn't appear to be too stable. As he rounded the first turn he felt his feet slipping, but managed to catch himself on the walls of the tunnel. Mazyfum followed as promised, and also slipped near the same spot that Danot did. This time he did not catch himself, and as he fell part of the ceiling collapsed down on him. As Danot turned at the commotion, he slipped as well, and the ceiling above him also crumbled, covering him with mud and stones. Luckily, the cave-in wasn't bad, and they hastily withdrew from the tunnel.

    Deciding to leave well enough alone, they ascended to the upper level and retrieved their rope. They headed back to the stairwell and the hole beyond and did a similar maneuver as before to cross again. Mazyfum fell again, but this time he asked Llynowen for healing before he crossed, so he wasn't too badly off after the fall. Danot swung across again and climbed up the rope, with Mazyfum behind.

    Realizing that they didn't have enough supplies for continuing, they decide to return to the surface, and rest a day, then head back to Targos the next morning to re-supply.

Next - Back to Targos
Previous - The Accursed Tower - Part 2