One day of carousing quickly turned into two. Bancroft woke the next day with his head laying on the dirt, A tuft of grass for his pillow. Despite the alcohol, he felt remarkably improved. A deeper sense of connection to the Earth filled him. A night spent outside of town had done him good.
The fog of alcohol covered his memories of the prior night, but he had been separated from his companions earlier in the evening. It did not take long to find them again. They were both occupying stocks in the center of town, Next to Druidly, who had attempted to burn down the Wizard Mazzah’s Tower the night before. Apparently, further adventure would have to wait.
With little else to do, Bancroft made his way around the outskirts of town talking with farmers, foresters, hunters, woodsmen. He was seeking rumors. Once or twice in the distant past, his grandmother had whispered of a sect called Druids, Men who venerated and tended to nature and were allies to the animals. Meeting the man who called himself Druidly had brought that memory back. Perhaps they were out there somewhere, In the deep woods, but no one had heard of them recently.
A few days later, his friends were released from the stockade for whatever they had gotten up to during the carousing. It was time to return to the Barrowmaze.
It had been several days since the fight with the bandits and the rats at the previous barrow, but there were still opals within That might be claimed. Unfortunately, the path to that barrow was blocked by four giant toads. The toads did not seem interested in attacking, but kept their eyes upon us when we approached. Beyond the toads, the door to the barrow had somehow closed itself once more.
After some discussion, the toads were deemed too great a risk to seek to open the door while they were present. Bancroft wanted to stay and attempt to negotiate with the toads in the language of the forest; it seemed worth trying, but also risked more attention. Helfan the halfling made the discussion moot by deciding to throw rocks at the toads, hoping to lure them away from the barrow entrance. That didn’t go well; Helfen spent the next few hours desperately trying to evade those that followed her, while the ones who remained in front of the barrow blocked the rest from entering.
The group chose to move to the next barrow. This one had two steel stone doors. Bancroft invoked the plants to try to open it, calling upon the grasses and the vines to grow forth between the cracks and the stone, and shatter them with the ravages of time and nature. Though Sylvanus answered his call and caused plants in the area to visibly move towards and into the doors, the attempt failed. The energies of death were too strong and the plants withered as they approached.
The group lacked the proper tools to destroy the door, but improvisation with one of Druidly’s daggers and a stonemason’s hammer cracked the door after a few hours of effort.
Inside the bar, a jeweled sword rested on top of an altar surrounded by 6 grave niches containing skeletons that looked likely candidates to rise from the dead should the room be disturbed. The sword was obviously valuable, likely magical. The skeletons wore rusty chain mail with weapons which might in and of itself bring in gold if it could be reclaimed. The risk of fading the skeletons was too much to take on, The best plan would be to grab the sword and run.
With Bancroft ready to invoke the power of nature to rebuke death, and Helfen in return from being chased by toads, Druidly volunteered to seize the sword from the altar and run. The skeletons, however, were waiting for us. As soon as Druidy touched the sword, the skeletons were surrounding him as if they had been waiting for exactly that. No doubt they had, for no knowing how many years.
Bancroft invoked the power of Sylvanus. The undead wavered for a moment. One shattered and fell to dust being absorbed into the earth. Another turned to flee. But four remained. They swung their rusted weapons at Druidly, who dodged frantically and somehow survived, Helfen’s chanted prayers to Fortuna giving him luck. As soon as Druidly saw an opening, he ran towards Bancroft, tossing him the jeweled sword. The skeletons followed.
The situation looked grim with four undead remaining in the bar, with Bancroft the only one Standing in their way at the entrance. If Bancroft could survive, Palphin could join him and lend her prayers to turning back the remaining skeletons, but there would be no one else to take their blows. Bancroft tossed Away his original sword and drew the jeweled one, setting his feet upon the stairs and planning to make his stand.
