The Forgotten City XXX
General Summary
Over the years, keeping the defilement of the corrupted descendants of my people at bay became a less trivial task. I felt the corruption of the Yafwadi and the stench of their diseased gods pushing against my tomb, even from the shores of Ourana. My connection with this space became more tenuous as those who would memorialize me no longer come. Then this group of mercenaries arrive and stuffed me in a burlap bag and strapped to the back of a Paladin of Edius. I would, of course, prefer that this whole place sank into the bosom of my Mistress Naeia, washed clean first by the gentle but inexorable workings of her briny waves, but for today, fire will suffice.
They head south into the ossuary where the unnamed soldiers of the Legion are interred. I would warn them, but none yet can hear the words of the dead.
They studied the mosaics and saw the sigils and names of the companies of the Legio XVIII. Commendably they did not rifle through the bones looking for trinkets, but the bones of the Legio noticed their presence and began to assemble themselves and attack.
The woman wrapped in green who reminded me of the Medjay, but is unlike them, slashed with her sword, but skeletons lack flesh for the blade to bite and she did not hit it. Behind her I heard the rending of flesh as a skeleton clawed at the arm of the strange Alvi with brown skin, and black eyes. Though his arm was rendered useless he made no sound other than the clattering of the blade and the steady drip of blood on the floor. A second attack damaged his arm even more badly but he responded with absolute silence.
The young Naric woman adjusted her grip on her spear to use as a staff instead of a blade, but the paladin cried out "to me" as the skeletons could not come too near his holy aura. A Keb priest of Xam, still trained in the old ways of this land lifted his holy scarab and most of the skeletons fled in terror. I basked for a moment in the comfort of divine presence and the recession of evil that Xam's presence brought. The group slowly moved their way out of the room using the divine aura of the paladin as a shield. The small priest attempted to draw Xam near him again, but his god had done enough to let him live another day and remained quiet.
Once safely away from the undead, the black-eyed Alvi pulled out a scrap of paper and began muttering in a language of the East. As he did energies from the earth itself reached out through the miasma of this defiled place and caressed him and knit his wounds, but the damage to his arm was extensive and he and the dwarf took turns ministering to it and did a remarkable job of setting and healing his remaining wounds.
They decide to pass into the defiled crypt of Palladius Philiponos, the Marshal of the Legio. It smelled of dust, niter and frankincense, but unlike my tomb had long been defiled with Yafwadi sigils on the walls and the holy font broken. They spoke of bringing a priest to reclaim and reconsecrate the tomb, but dared not open it with the room in its corrupted state. They marveled at the mosaics of Palladius in chainmail doing mighty battle with the men and the Cynocephalus. The Paladin used some sand to remove some of the sigils. The green-cloaked woman and the Alvi look at the door in the southwest corner of the room. It was sealed with wax and even I cannot probe what is beyond it. They thought better of disturbing before knowing whether or not other enemies were near and traveled into the cave outside Palladius's tomb.
The Alvi found natural stairs heading downward into the earth, but the Naric girl stumbled into a rat's nest. Had she oil she could have sealed the path with fire, but instead the rats spilled into the room, nipping at her while the green cloak and the Alvi shoot at them from a distance. As they attempted to kill the rats three stoats came and began tearing rats to pieces. The Alvi invoked some spiritual presence but the stoats were too steeped in the corruption of this place and he was able to make no headway with them. They became aggressive, but did not attack and the party wisely backed away and gave them room to retreat if they so chose.
It would be embarrassing to have been taken from my tomb only to be dropped in a rat's nest.
