Chapter 4

This cellar didn't look any different from the previous one in general characteristics, though it did differ considerably in detail. The floor, walls, and ceiling were all of smoothed stone, but not remarkable beyond that. There were 6 sarcophagi in a 3 by 2 arrangement, and all of the lids were closed. Jack had walked toward one of the sarcophagi and had gotten close when he was hit in the middle of his back by a fire ball. He twisted around to see what had shot at him and saw a new kind of undead monster.

This monster was one of four, all of whom were skeletons with glowing hands of different colors. The one who had thrown the fire ball at him had orange hands. One with blue hands was throwing ice balls. One with white hands was throwing balls of electricity. The final one was throwing green balls which seemed to be poison, since they were the only ones having an effect. He certainly felt nauseated and had a headache. Furthermore, his chest began to hurt. Jack shouted to Sue, "SUE, I'VE BEEN POISONED! PLEASE CURE ME!"

Sue paused in her bombardment of the skeletons with her fire balls long enough to cast a healing spell at Jack. As soon as he felt the effect, Jack ran to the skeleton with the green hands and hit him a mighty blow with the mace. Bones went flying everywhere, so Jack was able to concentrate on the other skeletons. Between the mace and the fire balls, the other 3 skeletons were quickly eliminated. "I've got to watch out for poison users. That poison really hurt!"

"I'll bet it did! You had a green aura all about your body, and I was really worried about you. The poison must have been a slow acting one, but we'll have to be very careful if we run into one which acts quickly. I'll need to discuss with Hat about working out some protection for you from poison and for me from all four of the dangers we just faced."

"Yeah, I think that we better take a break, now, while you do that. It would be stupid to get caught by a blast just because we were too impatient to take the necessary time to protect ourselves. You talk to Hat while I look in these sarcophagi ... Don't worry, I'll be careful."

Jack left Sue mumbling to Hat and went to the nearest sarcophagus. He pushed the lid off and was almost disappointed when there was no body to leap at him. He chuckled to himself and went to the next one. Jack pushed the lid open and was not disappointed this time. A zombie jumped at him, but it was not strong enough to do any real damage to Jack without a substantial weapon. Jack clipped it with his mace and that was the end of the discussion.

He looked in the remainder of the sarcophagi, killed a few more zombies, found a little more gold, and found a small shield which he offered to Sue. She took it on the off chance it might help her avoid a blow, but she complained that she really didn't know how to use it. Jack promised to teach her, the first chance he got.

Sue had worked with Hat to concoct some spells to protect them both from poison and her from the elemental forces. The problem was that the spells would only last a few minutes before they had to be renewed, so she had to be on her guard and act quickly when the need arose. It looked like there was more to the hero business than either one of them had envisioned.

They wandered around the cellar, killing more zombies and skeletons, and finding gold. By this time, they had 19 gold pieces and were starting to feel rich. They finally came to an area that appeared to be a separate chamber within a much larger room. There were three sarcophagi, two so close together that there was barely room for the two of them between the tombs.

The third sarcophagus was in a corner of the room. There did not seem to be anything special about this coffin until they opened it. This time, a skeleton jumped out and attacked them with a scythe. The time was long past for them to be caught by surprise, and they both fought the creature with skill and vigor. This was an unusually sturdy opponent, and it took several blows from Jack's mace before it even showed any sign of damage. The only spell that Sue had to affect the skeleton was one of poison that she and Hat cooked up in a hurry. None of them, Hat, Sue, nor Jack, would have picked poison to be effective against a skeleton, but it worked, so they stayed with it. Sue made a point of keeping the skeleton with a green aura while Jack pounded on it with his mace.

Finally, the skeleton shattered! Both Jack and Sue were breathless from exertion by the time this happened, and they both had to rest for a few minutes. Jack examined the remains of the skeleton while Sue looked through the contents of the sarcophagus. The sarcophagus was full of items, so Hat was busy identifying them as fast as it could. Some of the items were too big to fit under the hat while it was being worn, so they had to try a different technique. Sue or Jack could wear a hat and hold the item in both hands. This technique took much longer than the original, but it worked when given enough time.

Several very important items were found, including a pair of gauntlets that the skeleton had been wearing while fighting Jack. Hat identified the gauntlets as the "Gauntlets of Locklear." These gauntlets imparted a nearly perfect resistance to the elemental forces of fire, lightning, and ice. That explained why Sue's fire balls, etc. had no effect on the skeleton. She could wear them and be as protected as Jack was by his armband.

They found a leather jerkin which was a shield against physical blows. It was not perfect, but did reduce the force of the blow by 20%. Jack swapped his mail shirt for this, and it magically adjusted its size to fit him. There was a skullcap in the coffin which Hat said would impart some additional protection. It was good for a 12% reduction in the force of physical blows, so Jack donned that, also. There were some flasks of manna and some gold in the sarcophagus, so it was a real treasure trove.

They didn't find anything in either of the other two sarcophagi, but still felt that they had been well rewarded for their efforts, so far.

The strange room had only one door, and they were almost afraid to open it. The terrible stench seemed to peak at this door, and they were sure that they really didn't want to know what was behind it. However, curiosity, if nothing else, compelled them to open the door, so, after taking a deep breath in anticipation of how much worse it would smell inside, Jack flung the door open. The moment he did, a demonic, maniacal voice rang out with, "FRESH MEAT!" followed by a blood-freezing laugh.

CLOSE THE DOOR AND RUN!

Jack slammed the door and followed instructions. He ran around behind the room and Sue followed close on his heels.

That was the diabolical monster known as The Butcher. He will follow you wherever you go, you cannot escape. He is absolutely invulnerable to anything but physical damage, so, Lady Ulna, your spells are useless against him. He is so strong that Lord Argo will have a very difficult time fighting him, much less defeating him, but defeat The Butcher he must, or neither of you will ever have a moment of peace.

Lady Ulna, you must concentrate on using your healing spells to keep Lord Argo at full strength as he fights The Butcher. Keep watch on him and use a healing spell every time The Butcher's weapon makes contact. His cleaver is magical, so it does much more damage than it appears to. Never wait for Lord Argo to ask for help, for, by then, it may well be too late! Lady Ulna, you can run faster than The Butcher, so you can keep ahead of him; never let him catch you, or you are sure to suffer the most horrible kind of death.

Lord Argo, you must never give up. Keep pounding on The Butcher; every blow that lands will do some damage, no matter how small. You must keep pounding in hope that you can kill him before he kills you! Remember, if you give up, you are condemning both you and Lady Ulna to the worst kind of death. The pain will go on seemingly interminably before you finally die.

"Well, you sure as hell don't make this sound easy. I'll fight as long as I can, but it sounds to me as if Sue will have to work just as hard as I do. SHIT! There he is!" Jack was grateful for the net 32% reduction in blow effectiveness he was due to get from his new jerkin and skullcap; undoubtedly, he was going to need all of the help that he could get. Jack did have one advantage: he could reach farther than The Butcher. His arm was longer, and the handle of his weapon was longer; the combination gave him a reach advantage of about 2 feet. He hoped that he had enough skill to make use of this advantage.