Chapter 3: A fool and her life are easily parted

The tunnels we walked into were about 20ft high and quickly branched off to the west, east and south. Having not much to go on, we turned to the west path where Eshim quickly spotted several green slimes on the ceiling. We had a brief discussion on what to do with these slimes. My first thought would be to kill them, but they are extremely tough to kill from a far and going around them would be extremely easy. The others seemed to be more afraid of the slimes and instead wanted to take a different path.
 
And so we began to head towards the east. A quick glance in the southern tunnel revealed that it was likely it would connect to the slime room. Kanna tried to scout ahead, but was unable to see anything in the dark tunnels. Beatrice was carrying a torch, but we didn't want to reveal ourselves to any potential enemies lurking in the dark, so I went to take a look next. This body might be human, but if I couldn't see in the dark, then it would be extremely difficult for me to do my job. Despite this, I also didn't see anything, but I did hear something further to the east.
 
Kanna moved closer to be able to hear better and after coming back, she reported that several men and a hobgoblin were standing guard in a large chamber and judging from their conversation, they were aware that we were in the area and that we had killed the previous people who were sent to stop us. As we were making plans on how to deal with the bandits that were awaiting our approach, Kanna suddenly mentioned to me that she felt a weird presence.
 
I presumed this to be the same weird presence I sensed before and upon feeling out my surroundings, I could confirm this to be the case. However, I could also feel the presence of several undead directly above us. I immediately turned back around to where we came from with the others following behind me. Eliminating undead was the primary reason I came along to begin with, even if now turned out that the rumor about there being spirits here was most likely a lie. I was worried that this weird presence I felt had somehow raised the people we killed earlier, but once we arrived back in that room, this appeared not to be the case. My attention then shifted towards the east door with 'DANGER' written on it, it was likely that the undead I sensed were in this room.
 
The door was barred from our side, if such a simple thing could keep the undead out then we couldn't be dealing with anything particularly tough. Skeletons or zombies, most likely. After carefully searching the door for any traps - danger could mean multiple things after all, we opened the door and found several piles of bones. Regardless of how weak skeletons are, this body is also weak still and my companions don't see to be any more competent, so we decided to funnel the skeletons in 1 at a time through the door. A simple, but effective strategy and against the mindless undead.
 
Or it should have been, but after Tomos failed to hit a stationary pile of bolts with his divine bolt (Did he miss on purpose?), Beatrice ran into the room. I've rarely seen a mortal with such a huge deathwish. If she wanted to die so badly, she could have just asked me. She almost seemed surprised when the piles of bones formed into skeletons, being unable to move before the skeletons surrounded her and began to beat down on her. While I was happy to just let her die, I am compelled to attack the undead in front of me. I ran into the room and swung at one, but took a hit in return when I was retreating back again.
 
We had lost vision, but the loud sound of her falling to the ground in her heavy armor alerted us to what had happened to her. Disregarding Eshim's suggestion to close the door, Tomos moved forward and healed the fallen Beatrice. Unfortunately for the girl, she was still stuck in a room full of skeletons that had no other targets available than her. I expected her to fall again shortly after, but a purple flash illuminated the room and she came running out in shock.
 
This seemed to have distracted Tomos, as she took a skeleton's scimitar to the chest. A blow that could have killed someone, but as a servant of Keretos, I denied him the ability to die for that moment. His position was key in preventing the skeletons from swarming into the room we were in. With our original strategy back in place, although with a different person blocking the path, we were able to clear out the skeletons including an alchemist skeleton that had come from a hidden room further in.
 
Beatrice began to talk about how she was free now, but after Eshim's warning that people were coming up from the secret entrance we went down earlier, we closed the door behind us and hid inside the hidden room that the alchemist had come from. We found a book as well as alchemy supplies when we searched the room and after waiting for a while to make sure the bandits from earlier were gone, I approached Beatrice to ask her about what she was talking about. I noticed that the presence I kept sensing earlier had disappeared and Keretos had expressed his approval of this - so what exactly was going on with this girl?
 
Beatrice, or Mia as she claimed her actual name was began to tell a story of how the raccoon she had carried around with her had been controlling her for the last 15 years. She claimed that the raccoon, Asmodeus, had suddenly appeared and taken control over her, apparently denying Mia the ability to do anything at all. The connection had only broken cause she was about to die to the skeletons. She managed to tell the story while sounding very emotional, but I am not sure if she's telling the truth. There were simply too many holes in this girl's story.
 
To start with, why would a creature powerful enough that I would gain approval from Keretos upon seeing it die choose to control a young girl like Mia when she was only 5 years old? Did he see potential in this girl? If so, why had nothing materialized from that potential after 15 years? Forget a powerful being, even a regular mortal should be strong enough to handle a few skeletons if training seriously for 15 years. Plus, the fact that Mia had survived when Beatrice should have died.
 
The presence I sensed is gone, but I must remain on guard against both this 'Mia' and keep an eye out for any further signs of this Asmodeus. I suspect she either willingly contracted this creature and made a deal with it or that this Asmodeus is going to have a backup plan in case the connection was severed. I could simply kill her before she can become a threat, but I'm afraid the rest will not take too well to such a solution. Working with others can have its downsides sometimes.