The walkway that led up the hill to the ruins of the Norn mausoleum was once a path made of cut stones. But that was a long time ago. Now the path was frozen dirt and dislodged square stones sticking out of the earth in odd angles. If one didn’t watch their step, it’d be easy to trip over the broken bits of pathway.

The structure itself was rectangular and it was surrounded by the remains of colonnades. A pyramidal ceiling sat atop it like a lid. It had partially crumbled, exposing the contents of the building to the world. A stone stairway led to the entrance. As they climbed the stairs, it was clear that the walls of the mausoleum were covered in sculptural reliefs.

“Nay, look,” Nom said. He had slithered up to the wall around the entrance. The reliefs showed a group of tall women in robes gathered around a magnificent Ygdar tree. One woman was pouring water on the roots, and another had her face pressed up against the bark as if she was self-soothing herself.

“The Norn, perhaps,” Nay said. She looked above and noticed that there was the sculpture at the corner of the pyramid here. It was of a half-fox, half humanoid child. “Check it out. One of the Friends of Men.”

Nom saw the sculpture above. “Like Aule. Looks like the other sculptures for the other corners are missing.”

Tuk-Tuk stared at the sculpture and a made a gesture, touching two fingers to his forehead and bowing his head. He saw Nay watching him. “A sign of respect.”

Ilyawraith entered first and the rest followed. Quincy followed up in the rear, so that the two strongest party members were on each end to protect the rest of the group.

The inside of the mausoleum was more stone and reliefs depicting the Norn culture and their tending of the Ygdar tree. In the center of the structure was a large stone coffin. The lid was half shoved to the side, leaving it open.

“Someone doesn’t know how to keep coffins closed, huh?” Nay said.

“Most likely grave robbers,” Quincy said. “With ambitious adventurers also being likely.”

“Absolutely no respect for the dead,” Fluxwell said. “Disgusting.”

Ilyawraith peered into it. “It’s the entrance that leads to the hidden crypts below.”

“Of course it is,” Nom said.

Nay was examining large stone jars at each corner of the base of the coffin. She peered inside the nearest one to her. It looked like it was filled with powder of some kind. She looked closer. Ashes? She was about to stick her hand in to scoop some out, but a pair of hands grabbed her, startling her.

“Don’t,” Lain said, pulling Nay back. “Don’t you know the first rule of dungeon diving?”

“Sorry,” Nay said. “Must have missed that seminar.”

“Be wary of traps,” Lain said. “Which also translates to resisting the urge to touch strange objects.”

“You think these jars are traps?”

“Probably not. But until we know what they are, or that they’re not trapped, then don’t stick your hand in old alabaster jars.”

“How do we know if something is trapped?”

“We need someone with that ability of trap detection. But since it seems like none of us possess that ability, we must be mindful of what we touch in here.”

Nay held up her hands. “Alright, I won’t stick my hand in ancient jars.”

“Or other containers, holes or dark spaces that catch your curiosity.”
“Got it.”

Nay looked with everyone else into the coffin and saw a ladder on the side of a tunnel that led into darkness. She sniffed the air and wrinkled her nose in distaste. It smelled musty. She consulted her mini-map and saw more of the tunnel system. She could see a series of chambers. “I think there’s definitely a necropolis underneath us.”

Nom slithered on top of the edge of the coffin and peered down. “Want me to scout ahead?”

“Can you?” Ilyawraith said.

“Dark places is kind of my thing.”

Nay had an idea. “Nom, when you do your Mind Meld thing on me, can I show you what I see?”

“I don’t know,” Nom said. “I get bits and pieces of your memories and thoughts. But we can try it. Why?”

“You’ll see,” Nay said.

“Mind meld?” Ilyawraith said.

“I can link my mind to others and show people my memories,” Nom said.

The others watched with curiosity. “If your memories are titillating,” Fluxwell said, “I bet you could charge a pretty coin for that.”

Nay bowed and Nom put his head against hers. Her vision warbled, a line of static running through her interface as their mind’s linked. At first she saw a jumble of confusion images. Must have been bursts of Nom’s memories.

But then she focused on her mini-map, hoping that her focus would broadcast the image to Nom. She did it as long as she could, focusing on the layout beneath them.

Then the sense of dysphoria disappeared as Nom leaned away, breaking both contact and the connection.

“I got it,” he said. ”It worked!”

“Nice!” Nay said. “Now you have a partial map for when you scout.”

Nom nodded and then looked to Ilyawraith and Quincy. “Am I looking for anything in particular?”

“Signs of a lair,” Quincy said. “Carcasses, bones, nesting, a loot hoard. Anything that suggests there’s a monster living down there.”

“I know the signs of a good lair quite well,” Nom said. “Lair-craft is something I am well-versed in, being a sort of monster myself.”

Nom disappeared into the coffin.

“Good lad,” Quincy said. “I coulda used one like him in my old adventuring days. I was always envious of those Marrow Eaters who had familiars and pets. Always getting them to do some of the dirty work. Not that Nom is a pet or familiar, mind you. It’s just nice having someone like him in the group.”

“I wish he would have left us one of his ale tables,” Fluxwell said. “I like a good strong brew before I swing my rocket mace.”

In the meantime, everyone took some more time to double-check their weapons and equipment. Nay had the nervous jitters. She was ready for something to happen.

“In the event that any of us get separated,” Quincy said, “make your way back to this room if you can’t find anyone. We’ll leave markers on our way down so we can retrace our steps.”

Nay noticed that Nom disappeared off her mini-map as he went out of range, scouting out the bowels of the necropolis.

The next hour of waiting wasn’t easy for her, as she was worried about her friend. Everyone else was restless. They were in a strange and haunted part of the North, and the waiting just reminded them all of their discomfort.

But when Nom finally reappeared on Nay’s mini-map, she let out a sigh of relief. “He’s on his way back, all.”

They eagerly waited next to the coffin. When he popped out, he shivered, wiping cobwebs and dirt off his body with his green fins.

“Well?” Ilyawraith said.

“Anything?” Quincy said.

Nom looked up, as if noticing everyone for the first time. And he nodded his head. “Skeletons.”

Ilyawraith furrowed her brow. “Skeletons?”

“Animated or unanimated?” Quincy said.

“Oh, definitely animated,” Nom said. “About a dozen of them. They have pickaxes and shovels. They’re digging or mining for something by the looks of it. I couldn’t manage to get much closer to see what for, as I didn’t want to be detected. I figure we can get the surprise on them.”

“No sign of The Bjorbane?” Quincy said.

“Not unless it’s one of the skeletons,” Nom said. “But it looks like there’s been a lot of activity down there. It’s a bit spooky. Like the Norns built a shrine to their fallen. I have a feeling this was once a holy place to them. But now it’s turned into something else.”

“About how far down there?” Quincy said.

Nom explained that there was a level of tunnels and chambers that held tombs. He said it looked like most of the tombs had been ransacked. But then there was another level that didn’t contain tomb chambers, but was tunnels all leading to a bigger, central chamber. “Like the spokes of a wheel,” Nom said.

“Alright everyone,” Quincy said. “Let’s go smash some skeletons and find our monster.”

“Finally!” Fluxwell said.

#

“It smells like the Yog-Sothoth breeding pits down here,” Nom said.

“Is that a pleasant vibe for you?” Nay said. “Is it like one of those soothing ambient YouTube videos? ‘Three hours of Yog-Sothoth Breeding Pit Ambience! Squishy Tentacle Sounds to sleep, study, relax, reduce stress and help insomnia!’”

“What was that?” Fluxwell said. “Did someone say breeding pits? Reminds me of this time in my youth when two generals of Paleforge fought for the right to have my seed in their daughters. You see, they wanted genius in their bloodlines and I was more than willing to –“

“No,” Lain said, cutting him off. “I don’t believe any of us want to fathom what you’re about to say, thank you.”

“Everyone be quiet,” Quincy said. “The Bjorbane and its skeletons will hear us first if they don’t already know we’re here.”

As they descended the steps and got to the next level deeper, Nay’s mini-map came to life with glowing dots. “Uh, we’re getting close I see them.”

Everyone froze and looked to her. She saw the glowing green dot of a Delicacy located in some of hexagonal chamber to the North. It seemed to be the hub for the entire necropolis. All tunnels down here seemed to lead to it.

And it was full of red dots. Easily a dozen of them.

“I think it’s the skeletons,” Nay said. “At least a dozen of them. All in an area next to the chamber has the Delicacy.”

“Maybe the Bjorbane is some type of necromancer,” Nom said. “Perhaps the skeletons are its minions.”

“The more the merrier!” Fluxwell said. He grinned, not unhappy to hear about more opponents.

“If they are connected,” Tuk-Tuk said. “What if The Bjorbane has nothing to do with the skeletons?”

“I doubt there’s another group down here,” Quincy said. “We’d see tracks. Signs.”

“Alright,” Ilyawraith said. “Quincy will handle the skeletons. While he does so, everyone be ready to see if the noise draws anything else out. I will be on point to confront anything that tries to third-party us. Got it?”

As they crept down the tunnel, Nay activated Stealth and blended into the shadows. Her vision and point-of-view adjusted to third-person, so as she stalked, she could see not only in front of her, but a little behind herself as well.

The tunnel walls were full of alcoves containing stone and wood trinkets. Norn objects for the dearly departed. The sound of pick-axes striking metal could be heard. And it was growing closer.

Up in front of Quincy, Nay could see the skeletons. They were stained and discolored from dirt and age. And like Nom said, they were in a sort of antechamber, attacking the walls with pickaxes.

It was like a Ray Harryhausen movie come to life.

Quincy held up three fingers. One finger went down. And he counted down to two, then one. Then he gripped his axe with both hands and leapt into the air.

The others spread out into the room in a crescent, so they could make sure nothing escaped and nothing could sneak up on them.

Quincy landed behind the pick-axe wielding skeletons and swiped his axe through the air. Four of them were dragged towards him and he reversed the swing, cutting them in half just above the pelvis. As the axe severed their spines, whatever source animating them disappeared.

He rushed into the next four, who were in the middle of turning to see what was happening. Four heads were lopped from their spines. They popped into the air and their bodies crumbled like marionettes whose strings were just cut.

The remaining four came at Quincy, swinging their pickaxes. But he cut their hands off at the wrists. Pickaxes with phalanges still wrapped around their handles fell to the dirt.

Quincy used the flat of the axe to crush their skulls against the rock wall behind them like he was smashing pumpkins.

He stood there in a pile of skulls, ribcages and bone fragments.

“Well, that seemed easy enough,” Nom said.

“You didn’t leave any for me!” Fluxwell said.

That’s when Nay noticed that Quincy was peering at the rock wall. A portion had been knocked away and there was another tunnel. She looked at her mini-map to see it was leading to the central hub chamber.

There was a blue light within. But before she could have a chance to check it out, she heard something that wasn’t them.

They all heard a distant noise coming from the other tunnel portals leading to the room. They all paused to listen.

To Nay, it sounded like dozens of baby rattles going off. And it grew closer and louder. She saw on her mini-map a sea of red dots had appeared in each tunnel. She gripped her blades in fear.

As the cacophony reached it reached its volume, dozens of more skeletons exploded into the antechamber from the tunnels.

And all became chaos.