Keith Strohm - The Tomb of Horrors

The skeleton paused in its attack and turned toward the cleric. To Majandra, it seemed as if the cleric grew taller with every step, his voice deeper. The monster threw up one arm before its face and took a single step backward.

Suddenly, a cold wind blew through the room, rumbling with the force of a mighty storm. The bard felt the chill pierce through her leather armor and into her skin, like needles of ice. Unbelievably, she saw the incandescence of Vaxor’s holy symbol sputter and die, and she marveled at thesilence, knowing that the words to the priest’s prayer had died upon his lips.

The skeleton threw down its arm and moved forward to attack once again, its mouth opening and closing as it did so. The monster was laughing silently!

Unwilling to foul up the concerted defense being mustered by her companions in the relatively close quarters of the room, Majandra pulled out the leather bag that held her harp and quickly unwrapped it. Not bothering to tune, she struck a major chord and began to sing an ancient elven battle song, willing the courage and strength in each word and note to find a home in the hearts of her companions.

Two guards fell quickly beneath the renewed onslaught of the creature, leaving only Bredeth, Kaerion, and Vaxor to face the foe directly. Just as the part of her mind not involved with singing wondered where the ranger could be, an arrow flew out from the crawlway above. She watched as it flew somewhat erratically before striking the creature in the chest and shattering several of its ribs in the process. Another missile followed the first, and this time Majandra saw that the head of this arrow was nothing more than a rounded mass of metal, a flying mace. This one hit the creature near its shoulder, cracking a thick clavicle. Encouraged by the success of Gerwyth’s attack, thebard modulated her song into a major key, and poured the emotions she never had the opportunity to share with Kaerion into the song.

Several steps away, the inspiration for her current song had readied his shield and, deflecting a swift strike by the skeleton, reached down and grabbed a fallen guard’s warhammer. Striking at the creature’s hips, Bredethand Vaxor covered Kaerion while he adjusted his new weapon. They moved aside with perfect timing as Kaerion gave an incoherent cry before launching himself at the skeleton. Two mighty swings of the hammer against the creature’s legshattered its tree-trunk of a femur, and it fell to one bony knee.

At that moment, Gerwyth loosed two more blunt-arrows. One tore the creatures left arm from its socket, and the other caught it squarely in the jaw, knocking the skeletons skull from its shoulders with a sickening crack. The monster flailed its remaining arm wildly for a few moments before falling to the floor with a loud crash and splintering into multiple pieces.

Majandra stopped playing at that moment and drew her stinging fingers to her mouth. She was surprised to note the copper-taste of blood in her mouth.

“Well done, my friends!” Phathas said as he inspected the nowlifeless bits of bone that littered the floor of the room. “Well done indeed.”

Vaxor and Landra were already seeing to the wounded, and the bard was relieved to know that neither of the guards who had fallen was dead. She was doubly relieved to discover that Kaerion’s wounds, while bleedingprofusely, were not life threatening.

“That was fancy shooting, Gerwyth,” Majandra said as shewatched a guard bind the tear in Kaerion’s arm with a thin cloth.

“Thank you,” the ranger replied, dropping down lightly fromhis perch in the crawlway above. “I had those arrows made special by a masterfletcher. They don’t fly worth a damn, but they sure do the job once theyhit.” The elf turned to where Phathas and Vaxor stood, conferring. “Well,” hesaid in loud voice, “I’ve had about enough of this room. I think it’s time wemade our way back to the main hall.”

Majandra agreed wholeheartedly and was collecting her gear for the brief ascent when she heard a small voice from somewhere opposite the crawlway. “Wait, everyone.” it said. “I think I’ve found something. It looks likea trapdoor.”

The bard looked to the source of the voice and found Adrys standing near the mass of the giant skeleton’s skull. She moved quickly to hisside and examined the area he was pointing to. Sure enough, the level plane of the floor was broken by a thin seam, which lay several inches below the surrounding stone.

“It certainly is a door,” the half-elf said. “It looks as ifthe force of the skull falling in this area triggered it open. Good eyes, Adrys.”

It only took a few moments to clear the skull away from the area and finish the job that it had begun. Below her, Majandra could see the uneven stone walls of yet another tunnel.

“It looks like it’s you and me again, Gerwyth,” Kaerion saidas the rest of the group prepared for the descent.

“I’d like to go, as well,” Bredeth interjected. “You couldalways use another sword at your backs.”

Majandra heard the familiar eagerness in the noble’s voice,tinged with a touch of uncertainty at the two companions’ possible response. Atleast that sounded more like the Bredeth she knew. Idly, she hoped that Kaerion took him up on his offer. The noble was always easier to deal with when he got his way.

“No problem,” Gerwyth said at last, clapping the noble on thearm. “Another sword could definitely come in handy-especially the way Kaerionswings his around like an apprentice butcher trying to kill turkeys with a meat cleaver.”

Majandra’s laughter covered the black-maned fighter’sresponse, but she could see by the man’s rueful smile that he was not offended.Within moments, the three were in the tunnel and out of sight.

This was, she reflected, the hardest part of adventuring-waiting for someone else to do the job. The fact that this someoneelse was also someone that she cared for deeply only made it worse. Thus it seemed like ages before she saw the light grow brighter in the tunnel. A moment later, she heard Kaerion’s voice.

“It’s a safe passage,” he said, his words echoing slightly inthe expanse of the tunnel. “But it simply leads back to the hall where we firstentered the tomb.”

She could hear the others cursing at the news and starting to pull their gear over to the original crawlway, but she didn’t move. Thus, shewas the only one in the treasure room to hear the sound of shouting that echoed faintly down the tunnel.

“Get Vaxor and the others!” Kaerion said seconds later.“Gerwyth and Bredeth are in trouble!”

Majandra barely had time to reply before the light receded rapidly down the tunnel, leaving the passage blanketed in darkness.

Kaerion’s breath echoed as he crawled through the narrowtunnel as fast as his armor and gear would allow. Visions of horrifying monsters and gruesome traps filled his mind as he tried to imagine the danger that his friends now found themselves in. He cursed once as the tunnel turned sharply and he scraped the skin of his hand raw on a jagged rock. Another few feet and he was free of the tunnel. Heedless of his protesting muscles, Kaerion drew his sword and charged into the main hall.

The telltale flicker of torchlight emerged from a shadowy indentation along the east wall-a depression that hadn’t been there when thegroup had first entered the confines of the tomb. A cry of pain threw all thoughts out of Kaerion’s mind as he ran toward the passageway. The familiarsound of combat spurred him onward. With a rush of speed, he pushed past the splintered remains of a gruesome painting and ran through an open door.

The broad swoosh of wings alerted him to danger just moments before a black shadow loomed overhead. With a cry, Kaerion dived forward, rolling hard across his wounded arm. Three arrows hissed out of the corner of the room, striking his mysterious opponent. As he raised his own blade, the blood-red torchlight revealed a familiar figure. Above him, suspended by the awkward flapping of its stone wings, hung the gargoyle whose statue loomed in another part of the tomb. Only now the four-armed monstrosity was not an artists representation. It was all too real.