Just then she looked up and whispered, “He’s coming,” as Soulan noticed from the darkness two glowing red eyes peering at him from the darkness below the sarcophagus. Soulan and Lanolin began yelling for the others, but they were out of earshot and preoccupied buy the throng of zombies that seemingly appeared out of the fog all about them. Thinking quickly, Marlon let loose a signal arrow and the companions came running to their aid. When they arrived at the crypt, they could not pry loose the chain that secured the door so Bryce used acid to melt the links. After being freed, the group set off to find Jake and J’Saahuis, who had become pinned down by the blood-thirsty zombies. J’Saahuis scaled a tree and began picking off the zombies with arrows as Jake tried valiantly to hold back the swarming zombie mob. When the others arrived, they quickly fell into battle with Jake until Soulan noticed some exposed wood at the bottom of an open grave. He jumped in, followed by Bryce, and they began to clear away the dirt, exposing some rotted wooden boards. Hearing dirt falling into a cavern below the grave, Soulan and Bryce began bashing at the boards until they eventually broke through, falling fifteen feet to the floor below. The others, being hard pressed, followed down the hole. The zombies above did not give chase, as some of the men began looking around. It appeared to be an old alchemy lab of some sort, now dilapidated and in disarray. The halls leading to the east and north were both well lit, signaling to the group that they were not alone.
They decided to follow the eastern corridor which led to a room with a blocked upward staircase but no other exits. Lanolin, using his keen elven senses, spotted a secret door in the west wall. After unsuccessfully attempting to figure out the unlocking mechanism, Glimnoddle used his magic to knock open the door, revealing a red glowing lake engulfed in magical flame. Out of the lake emerged two flaming abyssal skeletons. The group dispatched them, and seeing no way to safely cross the lake, decided to head back to the northern passage leading out of the abandoned lab.
The next cavern they entered was empty except for a number of crates and barrels containing rations and fresh water. They could either continue north or take the passage to the east. They opted for north and entered a workroom with workbenches, tools and a pile of doll parts. As they searched the room, two doll golems animated from the pile and attacked. At first the group thought it comical, but this laughter would soon turn into screams of horror as the dolls began ravaging the party with there sharp metallic teeth and metal claws. The tiny dolls were nary impossible to hit and even when struck seemed to be mostly unaffected by their weapons. The first one lunged upon Soulan’s chest and ripped a chunk out of his neck, blood spewing forth like a geyser. The other jumped on Bryce and began gnawing upon his arm. He threw him off towards Jake who batted him with his hammer only to send him straight back to Bryce, a ball of furious teeth and claws It looked grim fro poor Bryce when Glimnoddle used his magical abilities to transpose Bryce and Jake, giving the little monster a fresh victim to rend.
Soulan, meanwhile had his hands full with the little beast as it made its way down the back of his shirt, biting him relentlessly. Roland, jumping to his aid, attacked the doll. The thing leapt off Soulan and onto Roland and began dealing out damage in spades. Roland, J’saahuis, and Soulan managed to finally kill the creature after sustaining considerable damage themselves.
Meanwhile, Jake now had the little devil biting him on the ass. In an act that could only have been motivated by sheer desperation, Jake removed his biting dagger and plunged it at the doll. Unfortunately fate was not on his side as he critically missed and impaled his own behind, the dagger biting down fiercely. The doll, in a feat of agility, used the dagger hilt to swing down, coming up between his legs and biting down ferociously on Jake’s scrotum. Wailing in pain, Jake hopped about with this little terror swinging between his legs, thrashing his head and ripping flesh with wanton abandon. The party, almost in unison, squirmed uncomfortably as they watched the beast writhe upon Jake’s junk. Shaking away the grimacing sight, they came over and pulled the creature off, taking one of Jake’s “boys” with it, and threw the thing into the corner.
Then Edgar summoned an undead creature to act as decoy for the doll while they ran from the diminutive demon as if being chased by Tiamat herself. Unfortunately, the summoned creature, not knowing better, followed the party bringing the doll with it. It quickly felled the undead creature and resumed its assault on the group. This time, though, the group managed to trap it in one of the barrels and rolled it back to the lake of fire where it was finally consumed.
Taking the moment of peace, they caught their breath and administered badly needed healing, Jake having to self- apply his own healing salve, if you catch my drift? From there they made there way to the main chamber under the crypt to find a lich named Alexandre. After the embarrassing showing against two tiny dolls, the charged up group vindicated themselves by annihilating the evil beast in seconds.
After the dust settled, they learned that the lich toymaker was using the charmed undertaker to bring back children stolen in the night for the lich to feed upon, thereby solving two quests in a single blow. Edgar and Glim then purchased the deed to the underground catacombs to serve as their new home.
The next day...