Stories had surfaced of livestock and herders going missing, both were either never found, or if found days later, they were badly mauled and half-eaten. A party of 5 bright-eyed and eager, but relatively inexperienced, adventurers had answered the call and had set off into the wilderness in search who, or what has been killing them.

Following up on some directions give to them by the son of one of the murdered herders, the party set out into the wilderness, and soon come across a set of ruins with a large burial mound in the middle of them.

The party spent the afternoon exploring the site, discovering that 4 of the 12 overgrown ruins had bloody trails leading into the mounds of rubble. Deciding that there was enough light to delve into at least one mound, the party volunteered Darwain (thief) to have a look. Darwain effortly scampered over the rubble, discovering a hole at the centre that lead down into the mound.

The party entered into the rubble and discovered, a darken underground tomb with several small rooms joined together by narrow passageways. Their lantern, the party's only light, allowed them to navigate their way through passageways and while exploring a room, Darwain heard a low-growling noise, coming from a nearby room.

Halwynn (Yeoman) boldly took the lead and entered the room, where he was surprised by a half-rotten walking corpse with fangs and claws (ghoul). Willem (Yeoman) moved to help, but at the sight of the ghoul lost, his morale was shaken and he was unable to assist Halwynn, who was wounded in the leg by the ghoul's claw.

Suddenly, 2 ghouls appeared from the darkness behind Tocus (Hedge Wizard), Verica (Hunter), and Darwain who were at the back of the room, and whose morale was also shaken at the sight of ghouls, until Darwain managed to regain his courage and rallied the others.

Tocus, first cast Barkskin on himself, which prove to be timely as he was struck by a claw in the neck, and then called upon his Druid Staff, releasing the Hammer Staff spell stored in; he effectively used it to smashes the skull of one of the ghouls, and then with the help of Verica and Darwain, proceeded to lay a beating on the other one.

Meanwhile, Willem had responded to Darwain's words of encouragement and stepped into the room to help Halwynn, who had been stabbing the ghoul, while at the same time fending him off with his shield, and together Willem and Halwynn destroyed the ghoul.

Once the 3 ghouls had been destroyed, the party resumed their search of the remainder of the tomb, discovering a locked door that sported numerous claw marks on its face. Darwain proceed to make quick work of the lock and concealed trap. The small room behind it contained some clay containers with long rotted away foodstuffs, the skeletal remains of a warrior with weapons and armour, which both proved to be in poor condition. The only thing of value they found was a silver arm ring.

They left the tomb, with still about an hour of day light, and returned to their camp, where they attended to their wounds (Tocus - Minor cut to neck & Halwynn - Minor Cut to calf); Halwynn contracted "Ghoul Fever" from his wound, but Tocus managed to help him fight it off with a spell.

The party rested, rotating through a watch through the night, having made plans for another foray into the other outer ruins before tackling the large mound.

_________________
For what it's worth, that's the way I see it

The party returned to the ruins bright and early the next day. Once again, the ruins were inundated with dozens of carrion fowl (crows, ravens, & vultures); a quick look about the area to determine if anything had changed from the day before, and once satisfied that all was ok, the party, Darwain leading entered the first of the remaining three ruins with a blood trail leading into it.

Once inside, the party discovered a similar layout, small rooms with low-arched ceilings connected by low, narrow passageways, and once more, they encountered several half-rotten ghouls; but this time they were better prepared - a short skirmish ensued resulting in the defeat the undead creatures and no injures to the party. While the most of the doors were bashed down, one door remained intact - albeit its face was badly scarred with claw marks. An old rusty lockbox with an unusual keyhole barred the door, but this obstacle proved easy work for Darwain.

Once inside, the party discovered an altar, on it was the skeletal remains of a warrior, lying about it on the floor were numerous clay containers (pots, plates, & urns) once filled with foodstuff, now containing petrified clumps. In addition, several weapons, shields, and pieces of armour, their metal well rusted, wood dried, and leather stiff and shrivelled; a corroded silver arm-ring was found on the skeleton, which was liberated by Halwynn.

A short rest to discuss what was found, and then it was off the next mound of rubble…

_________________
For what it's worth, that's the way I see it

The party feeling confident agreed to delve into the next mound of rubble. Although, some concern was voiced when Halwynn caught sight of a biped, reptile-looking creature about the size of vulture (identified as an Eye-Eater by the Tocus the Hedge Wizard) while crossing the site. Still this information did not dissuade the party from continuing, and once more Darwain lead the way into the mound.

Inside the third mound, the party explored the low, narrow passageways, which by this time was putting a kink in their necks from crouching, as two of them are at least 6’ tall and the other three between 5’5” and 5’10” tall. A few small rooms where discovered, their floors littered with the remnants (bone, hair, & blood) of animals; the smell of rotten flesh hung heavy and several walls were discovered to have recent blood splatters on them.

As the party moved deeper into the mound, Darwain caught the sound of slurping and gnawing coming from the darkness beyond the open doorway ahead. The party ready themselves; surprise would be difficult as their lantern blazed a beam of light ahead of them. After a quick gut check, they rushed into a room, Halwynn leading, followed by Willem, Tocus, Darwain, and Verica bringing up the rear.

The party rushed into a large (30’ x 50’) room with a low (7’) arched ceiling, the floor was strewn with animal parts and the walls and floor smeared with blood. Suddenly from the dark corners, a pair of half-rotten ghouls lunged out; one slashed at Tocus with its lengthened claws, and the other tried to tackle Halwynn. Tocus, who was nearly caught by surprise (MS Reaction Test = 50% EML) was able to evade the creature attack. Meanwhile Halwynn, who reacted with catlike swiftness (CS Reaction Test = 100% EML) managed sidestep the creature’s grasp.

While the day before these ghouls would have surely scared them, forcing each to test his morale, their familiarity with these undead creatures, appears to have prevented this test. Tocus calling upon the power of the Greenwood and helped by Darwain slashing knives, attacked ghoul #1; Halwynn, shield raised, hacked at the ghoul #2 with his heavily bladed falchion. He was later joined by Willem and his falchion. Meanwhile Verica watched back up the passageway for the expected on rush of ghouls.

During the ensuing melee, the party struck the undead creatures, while evading most of creatures slashing claws. However, despite landing numerous heavy blows with their blades, which appeared to do only minor damage to the creatures deaden flesh; only Tocus’ dully-glowing Druidstaff appeared to be doing any serious damage; nonetheless, they managed to defeat the creatures. As the last ghoul succumbed to party’s blows, heavy footfalls were suddenly heard rushing up the passageway and into the room.

Bursting into the room was an undead abomination that reeked with death, the stench was so overpowering that Willem started vomiting uncontrollably (-10% Physical Penalty), and the fear that party had felt when first seeing these creatures suddenly returned. Everyone but Verica, was able to overcome this fear. Verica was so stricken with fear that he dropped his weapons and fled into room in a Panic (CF result on Fear Test).

The remainder of the party turned their attention to this new threat, which was providing to be even more of a challenge, as the creature’s tough, leathery skin was making it difficult to inflict minor damage it. Once more Tocus’ Druidstaff was providing to be invaluable as he landed blow after blow on it, pulverizing the creature’s dead muscle and tissue.

Despite being outnumbered 4:1, the creature uncaringly waded into the middle of the party, savagely lashing out with its claws. Repeatedly the party was able to block or dodge its blows, but their skill and luck was not to last. Willem, who slipped in a pool of his own vomit, was struck in the side of head by the creature’s claw, which raked across his face, nearly tearing out his eye, leaving seriously wounded in its wake that was bleeding badly. Despite this injury and a minor wound suffered by Halwynn and Tocus the party was able to finally defeat the creature.

After the fight, the party managed to calm down the panic-stricken Verica and then set upon patching up their wounds. Tocus, calling upon the healing power of the Greenwood helped to clean up and bandaged Willem and Halwynn’s wounds, both of which were appear to becoming infected.

A short while later, once patched up the party examined the intact door down the hall where they found Verica huddling; once again, the door’s face was badly scarred with claw marks and an old rusty lockbox with an unusual keyhole barred the door. Darwain made quick work of this obstacle and the party moved down a short hallway; unfortunately, they had become a bit lax, as result Darwain tripped a trap. From a missed gap in the wall, a blade arced across the narrow hall, striking in Darwain’s mid-section and seriously tearing into stomach. This near fatal warning snapped the party out of their laxness, and while Tocus looked after Darwain, Halwynn and Verica set about bypassing the trap, which involved tossing the bodies of the ghouls ahead of them and holding them up as shields.

Once inside, the party discovered another altar, with the skeletal remains of a warrior lying on it; however, there was much more burial goods lying about the floor, reflecting the higher status of its occupant. An abundant amount of clay containers (pots, plates, & urns) once filled with foodstuff, now containing petrified clumps, along with numerous weapons, shields, and pieces of armour, their metal well rusted, wood dried, and leather stiff and shrivelled. Three items prove very interesting; first, was a corroded silver boar belt buckle that found on the skeleton. Second was large bear tooth (filled with a liquid and sealed with wax stopper) that hung off a leather thong around the skeleton’s neck; and third was a dagger, still in good condition; its blade is oiled, albeit with some surface rust, and it has a silver-inlaid design on its hilt & pommel.

Once again, Halwynn lead the way in the liberation of the burial goods, although some discussion was raised by Willem and Tocus about respecting the honoured dead.

_________________
For what it's worth, that's the way I see it

The party withdrew to their camp in order to tend to their wounds and to discuss their next move. While Tocus tended to the wounds, cleaning and redressing them, a watch was posted that excluded Willem, who was had suffered a serious injury to his left side of his face. It was also noted that their rations were dwindling, after the supper meal, there would only be one more day remaining. It was noticed that at sundown, the carrion fowl first began to circle in the sky above the ruins, forming an enormous black cloud, and then, as if on cue, the cloud scattered to the four winds. The remainder of the night was overcast and blustery, but went by without incident, although some noise did come from the direction of the ruins. Verica the hunter noted that it sounded like a deer in pain.

The morning light brought an eerie mist over the hollow, the party prepared to make its next foray into the ruins. Willem looked better; Halwynn’s and Darwain’s wounds were both mending well, much in thanks to Toucs’ healing abilities. Ripe with confidence after their success in the third tomb the day before, the party headed back to ruins. Halwynn, still concerned after sighting a half-dozen, or so, eye-eaters scampering among the mounds of rubble the day before, led the party towards the fourth and final outer mound of rubble that had a bloody drag trail into it. Verica noted that the carrion fowl were few in number this morning, with less than dozen of them perched in a few trees about the place.

Yet again Darwain led the way into the mound. Beneath the mound, the party once more found a set of low, narrow passageways that connected a few small rooms, which once more were littered with the remnants of animals and the heavy smell of rotten flesh. Moving deeper into the mound, the party soon came upon a small room with a still standing, but badly marred door. The party ready itself (surprise would be difficult because of their lantern) Halwynn leading, closely followed by Willem, Tocus, Darwain, and Verica bringing up the rear, they rushed into a room.

The (15’ x 30’) room with a low (7’) arched ceiling, first appeared empty, the floor was strewn with animal parts and the walls and floor smeared with blood, then from the dark corner to the right, a half-rotten ghoul lunged out a them, wildly slashing at Halwynn with its lengthened claws. Halwynn, who was nearly caught by surprise (MS Reaction Test = 50% EML) was able to block the creature attack with his shield. Willem armed with his falchion rushed in, engaging the ghoul; while Tocus, Verica, and Darwain, were forced to wait in the passage for an opening, as Willem and Halwynn fought to push back the ghoul from the doorway.

Halwynn, Willem, and Tocus engaged the undead creature, while skilful evading its slashing claws; however as before, even their heaviest blows appeared only to do minor damage to the creature’s deaden flesh - only Tocus’ Druidstaff was doing any serious damage. Verica and Darwain heard heavy footfalls echoing from the doorway across the room. Darwain adeptly twisted and turned his way across the room towards the doorway, avoiding the whirling blades and slashing claws of the ongoing melee, to take up a position in the doorway. In dim light he saw the gangly shape of a half-rotten ghoul lumbering towards him, drawing his throwing knife, he let loose the blade, only to watch in chagrin as it harmlessly clanged of the passage wall behind the onrushing creature.

While Halwynn, Willem, and Tocus were able to finally defeated the ghoul, Darwain reinforced by Verica took care of the ghoul in passageway; however, no sooner had it had fallen, a third ghoul rushed into the room, closely followed by a fourth, gruesome looking one that emanated a familiar stench of death. The pair of ghouls fought savagely, wildly lashing out with their claws, inflicting several wounds; the gruesome looking ghoul even attempted to wrestle Halwynn and Willem to the ground, but each time it was thrown back by the strapping yeomen. The party heroically stood its ground and landed numerous blows on the undead creatures, but as things were starting to look desperate, the last ghoul collapsed to the ground and its head was quickly decapitated and tossed into a sack.

After the battle, the party waited, making sure that no more of the vile creature were coming. Once satisfied that no more were coming, Darwain set to work on the lock of the closed door. Behind the door was short passageway that led into tomb; set into the wall was a stone altar with the skeletal remains of a warrior on it, which was surrounded by numerous familiar clay containers filled with the remnants of foodstuff; weapons, shields, and armour also filled the room, given the impression that this skeleton was a great warrior. Items of note were an axe that was still in good condition; its blade was oiled albeit with some surface rust and it had a silver-inlaid design on it; a small-waxed capped drinking horn filled with liquid was slung on the body of the skeleton, a silver wire arm-ring, and a silver boar cloak pin.

A final and detailed search was conduct, ensuring that they didn’t miss any hidden or concealed doors, alcoves, or cavities. Once satisfied, and after a short discussion on what to do next, the party left the mound, and headed towards the main burial mound.

_________________
For what it's worth, that's the way I see it