Episode 03 | Blacksite

The heroes of Vantam had to act fast to save a dying man in the depths of Postmortal Labs. Quindyn’s magic quickly stabilized the man, and some careful tending of his wounds soon had him on his feet. He identified himself as Dr. Dornell Gauge, the very man the heroes had come to save. Thinking their job was over, the heroes made a plan to leave, but Dr. Gauge had other ideas. He refused to go before heading into the lab sub-levels to destroy sensitive documents. The heroes had a choice, follow the doctor, or give up their pay. They chose to stay.
Dr. Gauge led the way, accessing a restricted area of the labs. The further the heroes moved, the more uneasy they grew. Signs of bloody conflict became more and more evident. Corpses slashed and gnawed littered the halls and medical offices. Finally, the heroes reached a ritual raising chamber where zombie servants were created for sale to the public. Inside the ritual chamber, they encountered a recently raised zombie, one they recognized. Tas Callum lay on the slab, and rose to attack them.
As they struggled to fend of the hungry zombie of Tas Callum, a ghoul leapt from the shadows, and a hand made of crawling bones joined the fray. Assaulted from all sides, the heroes fought for their lives. Zkah was paralyzed by the vicious ghoul, but even still, the heroes were able to destroy the hungry dead.
The heroes found documents that offered more questions than answers. It appeared that Tas Callum had been animated against company policy, and his assistant Skrum was reportedly scheduled to be raised as well, but her body was missing. There was no time to puzzle out what was happening. Dr. Gauge found a secret door leading to a levitating stone disk that would travel deeper under the labs. Unfortunately, the spell that activated the disk had been dispelled. The heroes were forced to backtrack to the maintenance offices, where ritual scrolls for re-activating the disk were held. Inside the darkened office, the heroes found the scrolls, and a lurking creature. A giant spider, once a pet of the chief maintenance officer, found itself enthralled by Odilie’s ability to speak its arachnid language.
The heroes reactivated the disk using the recovered ritual scrolls, and headed deep into the bowels of Postmortal. There, they discovered a horrible scene. A twisted, broken cage, scattered corpses, a barricaded door; all signs that something wicked waited for them in these secret halls. They braced themselves for trouble, and proceeded forward. Their foe was a massive, pestilent zombie brute. It was slower than the heroes, but brutal in its strength. It nearly killed Zkah and Sly in a matter of moments, but their superior skill and numbers overwhelmed the beast before it could do further damage.
With the great foe defeated, the heroes were left with the task of destroying the documents Dr. Gauge wanted gone. Using a bottle of alchemist fire, Grace Holiday set the blaze, but not before she saw something that gave her pause. It was a file marked, The Swirling Sprite. It was the name of a ship. A ship that had gone missing. A ship her long lost brother had been a crew member aboard.