Disclaimer: Rifts® and most of the terms used in this story are Registered Trademarks owned and licensed by Palladium Books, Inc. and Kevin Siembieda. I am not Kevin Siembieda, so I do not own Palladium. I merely play in their playground and enjoy doing so. What money I do make is from my job, and not from this story.
The party crosses the threshold of the bone door and enters the cave, following the corpses that continue to walk down a narrow corridor of earth and stone, which extends forward at a downward angle. Torches adorn the walls at 15 foot intervals, causing the shadows to dance eerily across the earth and stone walls. The sickening, sweet stench of decaying flesh assaults the senses as the last of the party members enters the cave.
Suddenly, the walking corpses collapse and the bone door slams shut behind the group. The door blocks out all sounds from outside the cave. Eventually, all that can be heard from within is the rhythmic dripping of water leeching through the cave ceiling.
Anomen and Dessius’ sharp hearing discern another sound: that of shuffling footsteps coming from further down the corridor. Occasional growling sounds can also be heard coming from within.
“Grave Ghouls.” says the Undead Slayer. “They may be coming to feed on the corpses. Should we ambush them, or head in and splatter their asses?”
“Gods, you would think that The Gifted One, would be able to look after herself” she sighs, then suddenly shakes herself from whatever tangent she was on.
“Anyways, that’s not important right now.” she continues. “Some nutcase with a really creepy fetish for the dead grabbed me and three of my friends 2 days ago in the graveyard. He’s going on and on about some ritual. I think it’s a full moon tonight, and I bet you that he plans on some kind of blood sacrifice.”
She looks at the party with a pleading look in her reptilian eyes. “Please, you have to stop him.” she says. “His chamber is at the end of this corridor to the right. I managed to get away when he tried to prep me for the ritual, but he wasn’t counting on the gift. He sent that Dybukk and his Grave Ghouls after me. You don’t have to worry about the Ghouls though. That Dybukk tore them apart rather than share in the spoils. Anyways, I can tail along behind you guys. I’m good at staying out of sight. Just ask my mother.”
She smirks a little, and then suddenly melds into the shadows. “Please” she calls from someplace unseen. “Stop that psycho. Oh and if you can, take him alive. The Kingsdale magic guild has some interesting punishments when it comes to illegal dark rituals.”
The group proceeds with caution down the main corridor. A quick scan down either of the first 2 side passages reveal nothing but dead ends and several animal corpses in various stages of decay. The main corridor ends in a T-junction 250 ft from the main entrance. To the left is another dead end. The mangled and broken bodies of 4 Grave Ghouls can be seen at the end of this side passage. The passage to the right slopes downward. Radar scans reveal that the passage ends after 150 ft and bends to the left. As the group approaches the downward slope, Dessius notices that the floor of the passageway has been lined with bones, as if someone has designed some macabre footpath. As the party prepares to descend, Marda speaks up from the shadows. “Going in with guns blazing, huh?” she smirks. “Just FYI, I never got a good look at what his chamber looked like. But you guys are a bunch of bad asses. This should be fun.”
At the point position, Anomen signals the group to stop. “Hold on let’s see what we are heading into” he says, bending down to touch the Tri-Fang tattoo on his left flank. Anomen channels mystic energy into the tattoo, which glows slightly and seems to fade from his skin. Soon after, a 12 ft long, 3 headed snake forms out of thin air. Despite it’s size, the creature silently slithers down the passageway to the left. Anomen seems to be in some sort of trance as the summoned creature slithers out of sight. “Anomen is seeing what the creature is seeing.” reports his twin, Dalryn. “Best we wait here while he focuses.”
Several minutes later, Anomen seems to come out of his trance and reports what he has seen of the chamber ahead. The passageway extends 120 ft. There are two rock piles at the end of the corridor, with an opening between them wide enough for two people to stand shoulder to shoulder. On the other side of the rock pile are several piles of bones both animal and human. The chamber beyond the rock pile is 300 ft wide, and extends 80 ft. The ceiling is 20 ft tall, and seems to be supported by 4 pillars made of bone. In the center of the pillars rests an altar made of bone. In the far right corner of the room is a bone door similar to the door at the cave’s entrance. In the far left corner of the chamber, there appears to be a shrine resting against the wall, and a large bone chest on the ground.
Standing next to the closest pillar to the right of the chamber’s entrance, is a tall, humanoid figure clad in full bone plate armor. The head is completely concealed by a helmet shaped like a deer’s skull, complete with antlers. Despite the close proximity to Anomen’s Tri-fang, the figure stands perfectly still, as if it’s a statue.
The only activity in the chamber is coming from the far wall, directly behind the altar. A large human male, dressed in a mage’s robe stands over 2 Draykh children and a human child chained to the wall. The children are in a tremendous amount of fear and panic. The man has his back to the tri-fang, but Anomen made out the bulk of a chestplate under his robes. The man also has a gargoyle shaped mask in one hand, and a large bone staff in the other. He sports a gauntlet on each hand in the shape of gargoyle claws.
“The kids are inside and alive. Let’s go get them.” Anomen says as he starts to quickly advance toward the cave, taking the left towards the mage’s chamber. Mid way through the final passage, the cavern slopes downward again. Soon, the light of the main chamber becomes visible and the group can see Anomen’s Tri-fang, waiting silently behind the two rock piles. As the passage begins to level out, Endarrin’s sharp elven hearing picks up a faint an high pitched shrill. From his years of magical studies at the High Magus academy of his home city, Endarrin recognizes the triggering of a Mystic Alarm spell.
“Well, we have definitely have lost the element of surprise.” the Elf says with a sigh. As if on cue, you hear laughter from within the main chamber. Steeling themselves, the group boldly approach the entrance to the chamber, stopping just before the pile of bones and rocks. The mage turns and faces the group. He is a large human, about 6’2″ tall, and heavily muscled. He is wearing a breastplate made of bone under heavy, black robes. In an accent which is unfamiliar he speaks. “Well, children. It appears wehave guests.” he says in broken English, with a peculiar accent. “Come fools. I survive the Romanov takeover of my homeland, and crossing of Atlantic. I survive you as well. Your bones make excellent addition to collection.”
