Each of the party wake up in complete blackness. They feel terrible and have a terrible feeling that
something is wrong. They try to think but literally can’t think of anything: their minds
are blank. They hear a scuffling and groaning and turn in the direction of the sound.
They still can’t see a thing but a stench of decay reaches their nostrils. They want to
shiver but discover they can’t; their body doesn’t quite seem to be right somehow. Their
hands ache with a dull pain and they can feel it has been branded with an arcane symbol
– that must mean something they think.
They wrack their brains trying to think of where they might be but then the terrible thought
comes over them that they can’t even remember who they are. Slowly the darkness lifts as the
walls begin to glow with an eerie green light. They look around.
They are in a stone-lined room with many inscriptions on the walls. In alcoves are what
appear to be coffins: they are in a tomb. Perhaps they are dead themselves they think.
A heaving groan interrupts their thoughts and they see four ghastly shapes outlined against
the far wall. The rasping breath and the misshapen bodies are undoubtedly of the undead.
After a few misunderstandings the party realise that they are the undead. One, a former elf, is
a ghoul, another
a former hobbit, is a wight, one is a vampire spawn, and two don't know quite what they are:
a still magic-infused former
gnome and a still battle-craving former dwarf. The female elf-ghoul and the former dwarf
quickly realise that
they are not alone in the tomb as a semi-corporeal being drags them off through the walls for
some time
in a completely sealed cell. They are returned on promises of good behaviour (no breaking
into coffins,
dropping litter etc)
The tomb guardian introduces himself as
Alfonsus Dulk, servant of the House of Caronus (who own
the tomb).
He offers a deal - help him to control the undead who someone has been chucking into the
tomb of late
and he will aid the party (who by now have realised they were once an adventuring party).
The party agree and
Alfonsus lets them through a secret door into the next room of the tomb where a battle takes
place with various undead. Alfonsus is pleased and explains that the only way out of the tomb
is via
a portal the key to which clearly has fallen into the wrong hands. If the party help him
grab
the miscreant as he tries to unload his next consignment of undead he will be grateful.
The party catch an evil cleric as he tries to use the portal for more undead. He is
interrogated
and confesses he is being paid to 'dispose' of surplus undead that are created in a vile
undead v
living 'games' in the City outside. Instead he was trying to create his own undead army,
storing
them in the tomb because he knew of its wards.
The party obtain the portal key and make a trip outside to the City. The area they are in has
become a slum. Further it has been sealed by the city authorities and no undead can leave (all
undead in any case require papers). The party hang around the local market and hire themselves out
to a merchant who is threatened by thugs. The thugs find the party even more threatening. The
merchant, whose name is
Blake, is grateful and helps them find a cow (handy for their
various feeding
requirements). He also offers to get them forged papers cheap.
Will the party find out who they were? Or will their enemies find out they still unlive?
The party return to the tomb to help Alfonsus with a little more undead spring cleaning - this
time four ogre zombies. They are beginning to remember their old racial skills which makes them a
bit happier. Outside in the slums Blake has a proposition for them - in return for a slice of
the action he will hire them out to people in the area who need help. The slums are largely
left to their own devices by the City Watch so business is brisk.
The party's first task is to find a missing child who wandered into the catacombs as a result
of a dare. The party dispose of a carrion crawler using their immunity to paralysis (being
undead does have its advantages). They then come to an iron gate and note that a child could
have slipped between its railings. Wighty, as the party have originally called their ex-hobbit,
picks the lock. As they proceed down the passage they are challenged by a couple of ghoul
guards who want to take them before their king. The party, however, are not keen and although
the ghouls are tough slay them both. One sets of an alarm before he dies and soon the party
are trapped by portcullises sliding down from the ceiling. The party again show their ingenuity
as Gura (pronounced Grrrr) pretends to be a guard. She explains to the new detachment of guards
who have arrived that her colleague and one of the party were old enemies who attacked each
other on sight and that both are dead now. The new guards are dim enough to buy the story and
are fooled by the fact Gura is now wearing a guard's uniform.
The party are taken to the king and volunteer to join his realm (apart from Wighty who is
still skulking in the shadows somewhere). They learn that the undead fill the socially useful
'clean the bodies off the streets at the dead of night' niche in slum society. The party help
them and since they remember they left a couple of bodies on the streets on their way to Blake
(it happens) they are popular with their new undead colleagues. They find out from Alfonsus
that the City is unusual in that a certain amount of undead of all types
have always remained sentient if created within its boundaries.
His master used to find them and give them jobs but obviously now they have formed an
'underground' society of their own.
The party explore the catacombs a bit more and intercept an orc patrol which has captured
a child. They slay the orcs and release the child who is indeed the one they were looking
for. Having gained a modicum of loot from the adventure they wave their fee. From the orcs
they learned of the local crime lord Gark. Their next assignment involves looking for a
man who went off to explore the sewers. Something stirs in the water in the sewers and grabs
Wighty involving the party in a temporary tug-of-war. The 'something' was winning until
Wighty stuck a dagger in it when it decides it doesn't want to play any more. They recover
a body by an iron grill which as been gnawed by rats (the party have previously discovered
the three-foot-long variety) and they take it back for identification. The widow cries a lot
and wonders who will feed her children. After a bit of lateral thinking the party set her
up selling second hand clothes in the local market. The clothes come from dead people (which
for some reason the party keep stumbling across) and all
she has to do is mend the holes and wash out the bloodstains.
The party's third task is to find a silver comb for a noble. It has a face value of 10gp but
has sentimental value so he is offering 100gp reward. He knows it was stolen by one of
Gark's minions. The temptation is to storm Gark's HQ particularly as Wighty found an
interesting secret door in the sewers which might lead there. In the end they leave that
for another day and find a fence who obtains the comb for 20gp. The party feel they are
making progress.
Returning to the tomb of the House of Caronus the party performing further housekeeping for
Alfonsus by disposing of several hulking zombies. The combat is dangerous and only the use of
a Cure Light Wounds wand and intervention by Alfonsus in the shape of healing spells ensures
success. Gura then has a flashback to the days when she had a snake as a companion and becomes
convinced the snake is still alive and in the city.
Following Gura's strong intuition the party follow her on a hunt through the sewers. Six
orcs, four bugbears, an otyugh and several pocketed gps later the party do indeed come
across a snake which Gura claims she recognizes although it appears to have grown.
Although she feels her mental link with the
animal is still intact it appears reluctant to come too close to the party (clearly showing
more judgement than six orcs, four bugbears and an otyugh recently did). Gura feeds the snake
some tidbits of recently acquired flesh and promises to come back to the sewers (which her pet
is reluctant to leave)
on a daily basis.
The party are becoming so adapted to their life in the city that they hardly notice when
Wighty wanders off by himself. It is only when they hear in the market talk of a hobbit urchin
wandering off with a sinister older figure that they begin to be worried that a classic tale
of innocence being horribly taken advantage of is unfolding. Sure enough Wighty turns up a few
hours later with a tale of being lured to a 'magic house' where he was relieved of his rucksack.
However, he is remarkably untraumatised by his ordeal and very pleased with a 'pretty feather'
that Hannah (the hobbit) gave him to stop him feeling sad. Although his account is somewhat
garbled
he claims he was in full control of the situation and to prove it takes them to a shop run by
a wizard which was somehow involved and which seems to have disappeared in the meantime.
Happily he has the wizard's business card (which to the rest of the party looks blank).
Shaking their heads the party go to see Blake who has a job for them involving an outbreak
of a particular virulent drug among the young of the goblin community. Their chief wants to
know who is pushing the drug and what steps can be taken to cut off the supply. The task
involves a stake-out at the Night Market where all manner of dangerous and illegal wares are
sold by shady characters. In a shadowy corner of the market the party spot a cloaked figure
selling something to a young goblin. The young goblin is then jumped by some thugs as he leaves
and has to be rescued by dint of a 'Colour Spray' from the undead gnome. The vendor is tailed
back to his house and his movements (and his house) are then thoroughly investigated. It would
appear that he sleeps during the day and emerges at dusk when he has a good meal and some
fine wine at a local inn before meeting a small shadowy figure who appears to step out of
a portal in the back of a large warehouse near the goblin district. The vendor lives in a house
with two other people one of whom is a woman and probably a seamtress. Either he or the third
(smaller than human) occupant is a carpenter by trade. His room is trapped to reveal if anyone
has been in it while he has been away and contains little but a pouch with 20gp under a loose
floorboard.
While this intelligence is being gathered Wighty acquires two hobbit slaves who he plans to set
up as cheesemakers. Five further cows are bought to expand the burgeoning 'dairy products'
business. Furthermore the party get involved with a dispute between dwarven engineers (employed
by the City) and the residents of a certain street about whether a leaning wall which is
integral to their houses should be demolished as unsafe. Although the dwarves appear to have a
point when gravity alone is considered investigations suggest the wall is held up by magic.
To resolve the dispute a Magic Guild wizard is sent for. The wizard confesses privately to the
party he has no idea as to the magic involved but since the wall has been standing up longer
than the houses themselves pragmatically he is happy to sign the appropriate certificate for
the dwarves. The party escort the wizard back through the slums and since they get on with him
very well offer their services should he ever need them.
Throughout this period the magic-casting undead gnome is being stalked by a raven. Gura
encourages it by providing it with some of the tidbits of rotting flesh she has taken to
carrying around in her rucksack (for her snake and herself). In the end a second raven appears
which is none other and than Erin and (rather painfully) the old familiar/magic user link is
restored. Erin is different, however, and now appears to be a Celestial Raven.
By a stroke of good fortune Hanna happens to know a cleric prepared to join an adventuring
party. He has a reputation as a 'holy man' who does good deeds in the Slums. The party's
puzzlement as to how he has survived disappears when they are introduced to the 7ft tall
half-ogre whose name is
Penva. He agrees to join the party on the condition that all
prisoners
are spared and turned over to him for 're-education'.
Back with the drugs case the party set up an ambush for both the pusher and supplier
by leaping on them from the warehouse roof. With a portal to an unknown plane (Abyss?
Elemental?) inches away what could possibly go wrong?