Zombie Sentinel

Stone Bear yawns. Absent from his sleep were the normal nightmares and flitting spirits that have become almost routine since he first descended into these hells beneath the earth. He can feel grit in his eye sockets, the grumblings of his spirit guides, the sharp talons of his raven, and the spirit of Claris still inside of him. He starts to stretch, and... and...

"Why is there a tray of cinammon buns in my hands?"

"My apologies, Stone Bear." Claris' voice issues forth from his own mouth. "You were asleep, and since the instant fortress has a good kitchen I thought I'd take the opportunity to make breakfast. "

Stone Bear growls, but the pastries smell incredibly good. "Don't do that," he says brusquely, his own mouth already full of pastry.

"I won't make a habit out of it."

* * *

Nolin wipes the sweat from his brow. "My part of the plan is done. Claris is riding in Stone Bear's body?" The shaman nods, and the bard continues. "Good. Stone Bear has the hard part still to do, but that's not for a while. Agar can spoof a commune with nature spell once we get closer, and Stone Bear's spirit guide Elder can guide us where we need to go. Time for us to move."

Priggle frowns, his face slipping into its natural expression. "I hope your plan works," he says doubtfully.

Nolin looks around at the cavern that is alight with the joyous spirits of light.

"Me too."

"I had a dream last night," says Agar pensively. "I was at a funeral. Someone had keeled over, some rich squire of some kind. His servants came to act as pallbearers and when called to do so took his body to the mortuary. Then they just stood around and didn't go back to their mansion, because with their master dead there was no one to give them direction. Then the dream shifted, and I was standing on the top rigging of a ship out at sea. I was looking at a lighthouse. It looked more like a normal house, really, but it was up on top of a hill. At its base were the bones from all the people in all the ships that crashed into the rocks there. My ship was headed in towards it. I had the feeling that if I was brave enough we would be able to dock, and then from down belowdecks I heard my Mom calling me. I looked down, and I was back home in my bed. My Mom was standing there next to a little halfling girl, and I woke up."

Nolin makes a face. "Oh, joy. I wonder what normal dreams for Agar look like?"

Mara smiles. "More tentacles."

The group gathers in a circle to cast preparatory spells and wind walk. "Remember," cautions Velendo as he dissolves into mist, "we attack by rushing in stealthily and trying to find the Ivory King immediately. We're best off taking him out without fussing with any of the other defenders."

"Time is short," interrupts Malachite, "and we've discussed this over and over. Let's go."

This way, hisses Elder in Stone Bear's head. Very close now.

For more than an hour the group twists through endless corridors. Down through long-abandoned tunnels carved by unimaginably huge creatures, through narrow cracks in the ancient stone, past jagged stone outcroppings and long-dry waterfalls. The stone creaks and shudders around them, a reminder of the depth to which they've descended.

Only Stone Bear sees the spirit who begins paralleling their flight. It's a man who has all the flesh burned from his body. He's dressed in red-hot armor and smouldering robes, and it almost looks as if the spirit is falling sideways instead of flying. Whoever he is, he's flying very close to Velendo.

"Have you burned someone in your career?" Stone Bear asks.

"The herald of Yorrine, God of Disease," answers Velendo. "I cast him into the center of the earth where he fell and fell and fell forever, but then Halcyon went and killed him for us. Why?"

"There's a spirit very close to you, and he's wearing the holy garb of Imbindarla."

Velendo's misty face twists in confusion and they slow down to a crawl. As they do the spirit plummets out of sight into the stone beneath them. As the group slowly stops and materializes in order to investigate, Priggle cries out.

"Look at the rock!" The stone here is pale, almost milky.

"What kind of rock is that?" asks Stone Bear.

"It isn't rock," says Priggle in a shaky voice. "It's bone. That's just wrong."

"What?" Velendo sounds appalled. "Lots of little bones, or one big bone?"

"I've got one bi–" begins Nolin, but he's quickly cut off by the others.

"It has stalagmites and stalactites, like honest rock, but it's bone," continues a mystified Velendo. "I'm not sure this changes anything, but it can't be good."

Stone Bear focuses his will and jams his hand into a crevice in the ground. His muscles creak, and a chunk of stone breaks off in his hand. When it does, milky red fluid oozes out of it.

"Ehhh." The shaman looks at it with distaste.

"There are no thoughts here," says Nolin.

"And no undeath," continues Malachite.

"And a small amount of evil," concludes Mara.

"Look at that!" As Galthia gestures, they see a small chunk of whitish stone completely ossify and turn into bone before their eyes.

"It's spreading out from Imbindarla's body," says Velendo quickly, "or maybe from the Ivory King. We should hurry!" He turns to Stone Bear. "What else can you tell me about that spirit?"

Stone Bear shrugs, upsetting his raven. "Black robes. Burnt-out eyes. A smoking place on his chest."

Light dawns in Velendo's eyes. "Shield-shaped?" Stone Bear nods. "Dale Greldin? Crap! What's HE doing here?" His voice rises into a howl. "We killed him so many freaking times!"

"I killed him twice," contributes Nolin helpfully.

"Who?" asks Stone Bear, confused.

"The high priest of Imbindarla was responsible for the comet. He tried to end the world a few years back; he wanted to release all of the incredibly evil proto-worms who once controlled Spira before the Gods came, and he tried to do it by smashing a comet into the world. I've cast down three people in my career: Yuute, Droomak the assassin, and this Dale Greldin." He smiles thinly. "I may have to do a fourth before the day is out.

"I wouldn't trust him any farther than I could throw him. On the other hand, he probably hates the Ivory King as much as we do, since he worshipped Imbindarla."

"I'll do what I can to talk to him and keep him away from you," says Stone Bear. "But we should continue on."

Yesssssss, agrees Elder.

As they start flying again, Greldin reappears, tumbling along in a screaming freefall. There is no sign that Greldin knows that the Velendo or the Defenders are nearby, and no one can sense him other than Stone Bear. The group passes stalactites that look more like teeth than rock, a small underground lake that looks like milky blood, a heavily barricaded and abandoned ghoulish outpost. The group almost welcomes the diversion when Galthia, scouting ahead, notices a zombie ahead in the middle of the passage.

"We call this the Soder lookout," quips Nolin.

"His eyes have been replaced with two of the King's flying eyeball spies," cautions Galthia. "But it's just a zombie."

"How can we destroy it without risk of the eyes escaping?" asks Agar.

"We can't let the eyes warn them that we're coming," worries Velendo.

"Why don't you just put a bag over his head and tie the bag at the bottom?" asks Nolin. Everyone ignores him.

"Eurrrrggggg," mumbles the zombie.

"Turn undead?" asks Mara.

"I could smite it," considers Malachite.

"We should just put a bag on his head!" insists Nolin. "Tie the bag, and the eyes can't get out!"

"We should destroy the eyes!" insists Velendo.

"I could cast chain of eyes on them and just let them fly back," considers Stone Bear, "but they're non-living."

"Maybe if we block off the corridor with a wall spell."

"Augggglllleeeragh," grumbles the oblivious zombie, still not aware of the group.

There's a moment of silence. Everyone looks at one another.

"Nolin's plan wins."

Galthia ambushes the clumsy zombie with ease, and the sack hides the group from the magical scrying devices. Within a few minutes the undead is completely destroyed and the group is moving again.

"I told you it was a simple plan," says Nolin as they fly away.