The dwarf smacks Soggy on the back as he wanders into the room to inspect it.

"good on ya, son."

The Horde seemed to want to go back the way we had come from, rather than pressing on the way the ghost had indicated. Still, I felt strangely more powerful all of a sudden so they must be doing something right.

I wandered off to the north to see what the big fellow had discovered in that direction. I stopped when I saw the Reaper, unwilling to potentially provoke a fight without my chums to back me up.

"So, um, who sent you to look for these kids then?"

Faced with the improbable event of two ordinary-looking people abruptly popping out of existence, the Horde takes a moment to consider where their careers are taking them.

Argumentus looks through the desk drawers, finding an envelope labeled "Ditchdigging Fees". There's 100 GP inside.

Brigid wanders off down the passage rom the now-empty debate chamber. After strolling down an improbably long hallway, she finds herself in a room utterly empty save for a broom and dustpan stowed in the northwest corner. To the south, a wooden portcullis blocks the way to a refuse-strewn room swarming with rats — which are luckily slightly too well-fed to fit through the portcullis bars.

Bob goes off in the opposite direction, inquiring after the Reaper's possible employer.

"Why, an important political leader of one of your mortal city-states, certainly. Highly official business. Please, for your own safety, do not interfere with my entirely-legitimate work."

The dwarf slid away from Argumentus as he saw the elf wizard speaking to the reaper. He urgently grasped the elf-girl's upper arm and in a rather insistent whisper urged her to keep her distance.

"Easy, lass. That's a Reaper. Not something to be trifled with lightly."

Out of sheer habit, the dwarf reached out and clutched the holy symbol of Kord in his fist, shutting out the faint whispers that were echoing through the back of his skull. Maddening voices that he attributed to the presence of this monster.

"It serves at the beck 'n call of Vecna, and possibly even one of the demon lords. That thing is here in violation of all that is holy."

The dwarf stepped in front of the wizard, not brandishing his holy symbol but keeping it close to his palm as he spoke to the diabolical creature.

"Reaper. Whomever you serve has sent you into the domain of the raven queen, a graveyard. You take the souls to the Shadowfell. What lies beneath here that would require such a powerful entity to return them to their rest?"

Argumentus joins the fey duo knowing the dwarf can't help but pick a fight with ethereal killy monsters.

Motsognir, finding himself alone in a room with an envelope full of gold, slips the 100 GP into his pocket, then tiptoes after the others.

The reaper sighs a deep, gusting sigh.

"What lies beneath here — as I said — is two human children, about this tall. Blonde. They shouldn't be down here, because they're not dead. Which is where I come in! Then I can pack up their little souls and take them off to do something useful instead of just lounging around harassing everyone who passes through."

The reaper leans on his scythe and glowers down at Gabriel.

"Honestly, do I pester you about your work?"

I ain't traveled all this way to go cleanin' up after some rats. Besides, Jane ain't seem so fussy about dust and what-not. I decided to join the others. Coming up late to the conversation, I agree with the tall stranger.

"Children should be seen an' not heard, aye. I remember raisin' my brood - if you turned your back for a second they'd scatter to the four winds! But I learned 'em quick, I did. Got t' the point where if I just gave the right look they'd up and cut their own switch." I gave the look to illustrate my point. "But it's the only way t' keep 'em on the straight and narrow. Else they run around wild and free, gettin' themselves thrown into dungeons like you lot."

I surmised that the weird demony thing was talking about the two children I had overheard the others talking to just a minute ago.

"So, um, I don't suppose in your line of work you give out rewards to anyone who can help you find what you're looking for do you?".

This could possibly be my best chance yet of gaining the favour of a demon lord and achieving my goal of ultimate magic power and I wasn't going to squander it.

The dwarf considered the reaper's sentiment for a moment and then shrugged.

"Well, technically. You serve a demon lord opposed to everything my god believes in. So really, bothering each other at our jobs is sort a raison d'etre. When you think about it."

He shrugged.

"Also, are these two little kids incorporeal and have a tendency to ask riddles and then blink out of existence?"

The ugly dwarf appeared to be trying to muscle in on my negotiations so I gently but deliberately moved to stand in front of him, making it clear to the Reaper that he didn't want to be doing any deals with a heathen Paladin and that a powerful elf mage was definitely the person to be talking to.

The dwarf rolled his eyes and took to examining some of the nearer coffins, leaning against the wall and waiting to see how this plays out. He had half a mind to let the elf woman get her throat slit, but Kord wouldn't look kindly on that.

The voices in the back of his head were growing louder. Murmurs of madness and entropy, like tentacles winding around his brain. The place must be getting to him, he decided.

"Right, yes. Make a deal with the demon spawn, you git. Trustworthy lot. You can tell from the glowing eyes and grim specter of deathyness."

I examined the tall stranger's black robes, his scythe, the lack of features on his face, and the chill that seemed to eminate from his body.

"I reckon we can trust him."

"Oh yeah. This guy seems legit."

Motsognir wanders nonchalantly past the Reaper and takes a closer through at the portcullis to the north. Cobwebs he thought. Shit. Still with the cobwebs. Everytime I think I'm gonna wake up and there won't be cobwebs. Motosognir starts to mumble his thoughts out loud, forgetting his company. "When I was home. I'd wake up and there'd be nothing. I hardly said a word to my wife, until I said "yes" to a divorce." He crushes a small spider against the wall with the side of his axe. "When I was here, I wanted to be there; when I was there, all I could think of was getting back into the cobwebs. I'm here a week now... waiting for a mission... getting softer. Every minute I stay in this room, I get weaker, and every minute Charlie squats in the bush, he gets stronger. Each time I looked around the walls moved in a little tighter."

Realizing he was speaking, the dwarf turns in silence to the portcullis, resting his arms against it. Shit. He had been watching the elf woman closely lately, studying the way she... moved in battle. He thought of her now, the way her arms moved as she ran in fear... her perfect lips. He could feel heat welling up in him. No. He thought. This isn't the time. A puff of confetti appeared, wafting to the ground as he grew hotter. This really isn't the time.

Let's try clearing those cobwebs with a Scorching Burst

"Oh, those two? With the riddles? No, they've been dead for ages. No use to me. I know the half-elves aren't the tallest people in the world, but they've got a good foot or two on children of any race. Honestly, if they were just standing around talking to each other in plain sight I would've found them by now. No, they're hiding somewhere... or being hidden."

He turns to Bob.

"I can't offer you too much, unfortunately. I'm sort of on the outs with the boss right now, see, so I don't have the authority to hand out any real power. If I get these kids, though, he might favor me again, and then — well. Suffice it to say we remember our friends in this line of work. For the moment, though, all I can give you is information. I've seen most of this tomb in the days I've spent down here looking for these brats, so if you find them and hand them over I'll gladly tell you whatever you need to know for your own goals here — whatever they may be."

Motsognir ignites the spiderwebs in the adjoining rooms for reasons both unsavory and disconcerting (at best). His methods are perhaps unsound. The mass of webs burn up rapidly and hundreds of tiny red spiders flee the inferno, streaming toward Motsognir. Two squirming web-wrapped bundles fall to the floor as the intricate network of spider-silk holding them aloft burns away.

"Well, good luck with that!" says the Reaper, who promptly exits through the west door (and I do mean through).

BATTLE!

:savepoint: Gabriel, Bob, Brigid, Motsognir, Argumentus, Bloodweb Spider Swarms

For the benefit of those without the books: AC 21; Fortitude 16, Reflex 20, Will 16
also the caskets are Difficult Terrain in the unlikely event that it matters

The dwarf looked up as the fire engulfed the webbing. His years in dungeons had already told him what that swarming mass throbbing towards the doorway was, and before he realised what was happening, his body began glowing with an ethereal light that suddenly burst forth from his chest and exploded past Mots' shoulder, seeking out the nearest swarm of deadly foes. In shock he stumbled back to press his back against the wall directly opposite the coming enemies. The voices in his head all but screamed as what he believed to be Kord's holy vengeance ripped through his body.

Dire radiance on orange baddies. Shift down right.
HIT. Damage = 6 + 3 = 9

As the light slammed into his foe, he roared his challenge, his axe raising above his head as he set the tone for the coming battle. Let these monstrosities crash against him like waves on the cliff.

Divine challenge to same spiders. Let them come for extra damage.

My deal breaking was interupted by a whooshing sound and I turned to see the clever dwarf igniting a load of cobwebs, seemingly with a similar fireball power to my own. I marvelled at how this brilliantly clever fellow had acquired such powers, assuming that his close proximity to me over the last few weeks must have led to some of my powers being transferred to him. Perhaps this was a side effect of the reanimation process? It became clear that both forging a pact with that demon and having a good chat with the necromancer were more important than ever and I furrowed my brow in steely determination, summoning forth my own arcane powers, ready to do battle against these new foes.

I hopped up onto the coffin next to me and mirrored the dwarf's fireblast with one of my own, incinerating spiders in their hundreds with a single thought.

Shift one square east, Scorching Burst in the middle of the spiders.

Hit yellow group for 8, green group for 13

What a strange feller, moving through doors without openin' them first. Seems to me a mite rude; what if someone was in the other room? they wouldn't be expectin' him! Well, maybe that's just the way folks be around here. Better'n crashing through doors and such, after all.

The fragile dwarf clearly misses being injured. I thought about leavin' 'im here to rot but I do like spoils of battle.

Move two squares north (onto a casket)
crossbow at orange group of spiders

Argumentus moves four squares north, readying a Sure Strike for the little buggers.

Motsognir stumbled backwards from the portcullis, another fireball shooting out of his hands. Neat. he thought.

Move south 3 squares
Scorching Burst to same place as Bob's

As the legion of arachnids pours toward him, Gabriel knows what he must do to stop them: be shiny. Oh, it might not look like much, but if they don't give up now he'll be even shinier. Can one man truly unlock the meaning of what it is to be shiny? Can anything be that shiny?

Dire Radiance: 4 damage to Bloodweb Spider Swarm (resistant to ranged attacks); marked

Seeing a massive swarm of vermin threatening to ruin the resale value of his robes (one owner, gently used, pick up only), Bob makes the eminently practical decision to immolate absolutely everything that looks even remotely spidery.

Scorching Burst: 23 damage to Bloodweb Spider Swarm (CRITICAL), 18 damage to Bloodweb Spider Swarm (vulnerable to area attacks)

Brigid fires a crossbow at creatures about 1/100th the size of a crossbow bolt. It probably didn't kill any of them, although admittedly it's hard to tell.

Hand Crossbow: miss

Excited by the initial success of Strategem: Purifying Flame, Motsognir hurries to join in. He successfully incinerates several of the portcullis bars into little ash heaps. Fuck yes, wizardry!

Scorching Burst redux: miss, miss, miss (ouch)

Gabriel is SO SHINY DON'T EVEN LOOK AT HIM DAAAAMN I WARNED YOU

Dire Radiance (punishing approach): 3 damage to Bloodweb Spider Swarm

Although Argumentus' pick does little to slow down the swarm, he does manage to scratch a line in the stone. If they cross this line, he will get very serious. Do not push him!

Sure Strike: 6 damage to Bloodweb Spider Swarm

They cross the line almost immediately. Jerks. Argumentus is swarmed with horrible little animals, skittering and biting and leaving little trails of web everywhere and eeeeuuuugh

Swarm of Fangs: 10 damage to Argumentus; ongoing 5 poison damage (save ends)
Swarm of Fangs: 4 damage to Argumentus

Divine Challenge: 6 damage to Bloodweb Spider Swarm

:savepoint: Gabriel, Bob, Brigid, Motsognir, Argumentus, Bloodweb Spider Swarms

The dwarf really was somewhat out of his element here. How, pray tell, does one hurt something like a swarm of stupid spiders? Shiny didn't work. Maybe hammer tossing would? He looked on the walls and didn't see any bloody torches handy, so fire was out. Right. Hammer tossing.

He slid to the side and hurled his hammer at the on rushing foes.

It didn't seem to accomplish much. Resignedly he glanced at the wizard.

"Right. I guess its more fire, then."

Shift one square left. Throw hammer. Miss hammer.

The spiders were swarming over the big guy and not leaving me a clear shot. I made an executive decision, reasoning that one of my fireblasts would likely barely scratch his armour let alone cause serious injury, and hurled another blast of flame into the midst of the little beasts before retreating back into the corner of the room.

Scorching burst into the middle of the spiders and Argumentus (Sorry). Move to the south west corner of the room

I.. it ain't that I hate spiders, particularly. It's jes that... well, back in the '30s, the Thornwappe family built their homestead in the woods, near a spider patch'r somethin'... When we didn't see Maggie in a few weeks, we went to visit. I ain't gonna say much about what happened, just that most of us lost shoes and small articles of clothing in the webbing. I think Old Jameson lost his teeth, but to be fair he was suffering a fair bit of scurvy.

Anyway, I reckon it's best I just stay out of the way.

Daunting light on Orange