Ludi Blog

62. Graveyard Shift

The morning started late. No one was in a hurry to leave the warm, pleasant atmosphere of Irena's house. But after breakfast, everyone made ready to visit father Danovich at the church.

Madame Eva had said that the sword, Luminus Est, could be found where the town met the wilds. Close as they could figure it, the closest point was the graveyard behind the Church of the Morning. The old graveyard, at the back, was untended, overgrown, and pretty much overtaken by the woods directly behind it that lead right up to the pillarstone of Castle Ravenloft itself.

The party entered the church and told Father Danovich of their plans - asking if he had any objection to their searching the graveyard. He said he had none, and wished them luck. With that, the party made their way through the headstones to the low stone wall that marked the boundary of the "old" cemetery. Beyond, a wall of bramble and thorn blocked the way and shut out the light. Passage into the old burial ground looked unlikely - until Isaiah found a concealed trail leading into the dark, dense heart of the hallowed ground beyond...

Within, the old graveyard was dark and cool. The party stood in a secret clearing, made twilight by the mass of trees overhead and the pressing thorns that ringed the rough cluster of headstones. It didn't take long to locate the bare earthen tunnel leading down into the cool earth, fragments of bone and cloth visible in its hard packed walls.

Bovrain went first, the rest close behind, down a long snaking tunnel that opened into a kidney shaped space some 30 feet across, with a still larger earthen chamber. Isaiah's sword, Dead Heretics Bane, detected the presence of the undead up ahead. Cautiously, the group advanced into the larger hall.

Coffins were spread around the floor and protruding through the earthen walls, smashed, looted and empty. A single intact casket lay near the centre of the room, and the lid snapped open. A man sat up, thin, gaunt, his tight pale skin stretched tight over his long dead bones. Claws like iron knives curved from his finger tips, his face and mouth coated with dried blood. "So what are you doing in my house?" Said the corpse.

"We seek a sword" said Hugh. "Do you know where it is? Are you its guardian?" And the corpse laughed long and hard, a harsh, dry sound in the dead air of the tomb. "It's there" it said, indicating another passage. "Down there in the earth. But I'm not its guardian. And I'm not Strahd's servant. If he thinks I'm guarding that he will be sorely disappointed".

"I don't believe this!" Said Isaiah. We're having a conversation with a monster that eats the dead! Let's just kill the damned thing and take the sword".

"And who are you to judge me?" Said the dead man, who revealed that his name was Inca "I have a much right to my existence as you to yours. And at least I've never killed my own kind. Can you say the same?"

With that, the ghoul sprang from the coffin and proceeded to walk, calmly, past the party and out in to the antechamber. "What you seek is down that passage" he said over his shoulder. "And I don't need to guard it because it's in the earth, part of the land, and Strahd and the land are one..." And with that he was one, out of sight.

Bovrain went first once more, his dark vision revealing short hard packed tunnel into a side chamber. The blade of a long sword jutted from the far wall. No special pedestal, no velvet cushion, just rammed unceremoniously into the earthen wall of this filthy crypt. So Bovrain grabbed it.

For a moment, Bovrain couldn't tell what was happening. The earth shook and stones and fragments of bone fell from the ceiling. The wall erupted before him, taking the rough form of a gigantic humanoid made from grave dirt, headstones and bone, the blade protruding from its chest. It slammed an earthen fist into Bovrain's face and sent him sprawling back out of the tunnel where he landed amongst the others.

It emerged from the passageway into the Ghouls lair, roaring, the ground shaking as it moved, its wicked fists striking Cweno and Jacob, scattering men before it like toy soldiers. Where it hit, the bruises burned with some kind of cold lime. Jacob fell back, but Paffluous cast a spell of haste on Cweno, and the gladiator swung the Axe of the Sea Reavers, standing toe to toe with the thing, taking its blows and knocking great gouts of earth from its form with every hasted swing. Bovrain rolled behind it and began hewing at its "legs" with his own axe, timing his blows with the gladiator. Marsha, Hugh and Irena cut and slashed at it while Jacob blasted it with bolts of holy light. It was a battle of attrition.

As the fight raged on, Paffluous realised they were not alone. Behind the party, in the antechamber, a crowd had gathered to watch the fight. A crowd of corpses. With the ghoul Inca at their head. Paffluous raised a wand that evoked a wall of searing fire, blocking the entrance into the lair and causing the dead to leap back in terror. He lost sight of them beyond the roaring wall of heat and flame.

Everyone was wounded. The thing just kept coming, smashing again and again with its mighty fists. But then Bovrain's tactics finally paid off. He knocked enough earth away from one of its stumpy, malformed legs to make it stumble and put down one fist to steady itself. Cweno saw his chance and smashed the dry white skull that served as its head. And with that the thing lost all shape, and became a mound of moist grave dirt once more.

The party took stock of their wounds as the wall of fire continued to burn, counting themselves lucky that none had been killed by the terrible grave dirt golem. Hugh searched the pile and pulled forth the blade. It was indeed made in the same style as the hilt of his father's sword. He swore to reforge the sword, reuniting the hilt with the rightful blade. Jacob reminded him that Madame Eva had said that could only be done inside Castle Ravenloft itself.

"We'll worry about that later" said Isaiah. "First, we have to worry about getting out of here. There are lots of them out there" gesturing to the fire. "Lots."

The party made ready to fight once more as the wall of fire finally burned out. The antechamber was empty.

Everyone hurried up the tunnel before the undead changed their minds, emerging into the old graveyard, and hurrying back to the safety of the church, where they reported the existence of the ghoul colony to father Danovich.

Whatever they decided to do about the ghouls would have to wait for another day, as the party returned to Irena's house and began to plan their Expedition to Castle Ravenloft.