Zertin follows Qvar along the tunnel and peeks over his brother's shoulder to see into the rough chamber  around the bend. His wand is raised, ready to unleash more of its magic missiles if a target presents itself.

The Lightbringer seems almost keen to enter the tunnels, keen to exact more vengeance upon the undead, though sanguine about her climbing ability, allowing the rest to go first.

"Bugbear would not be the worst I've ever been called," she snorts waving a hand at Randall as she ascertains Zertin is clear before making her way down last of all.

"I still may try to set any undead to flight," she informs Qvar as she catches up with the group, sword in hand, "though I fear such as ghasts may prove resistant to my poor efforts."

With the aid of the rope and the yielding earthern wall to provide footholds, you all easily descend into the dank tunnel.

The rough-hewn earthern tunnel is about six feet in diameter, the stench growing steadily worse as you continue down it.  Bits of gnawed remains - including a fingerbone and part of a skull - and scraps of torn, rotted clothing are partially embedded in walls worn by heavy use.

Qvar greets Caesius warning him that it is likely that this hole is the abode of a nest of ghasts, and the Paladin hurries to Violet's side, his signal for quiet mirroring the one the young woman gave the priest.

In short order Zertin, his wand at the ready, then Saeko and Ashyln, both women with blades drawn, crowd into the narrow gap behind Qvar.

The tunnel opens up into a fetid earthern chamber whose stench is abominable.  Corpses of humans, mostly eaten, are strewn around and partly trodden into the floor.  One body is relatively intact and several coffins lie in a jumble nearby.

OOC: Map of the proceedings updated ...

Violet offers Caesius a brief look of accepting disbelief, which climbs higher when he motions for quiet.  She has no intentions toward 'sudden noise'.  But she nods, accepting the instruction, and moves to allow him passage...or at least to join her.

With the armored warrior's arrival, she feels somewhat reassured.  But 'Ghast'?  The word itself has unpleasant connotations, and Qvar's reassurance...is not reassuring.  Swallowing bile -- the stench is truly noxious -- she readies her sword, lantern still in the other hand.

With the short blade, she points here and there throughout the chamber, then shrugs in an exaggerated manner.  The message is clear -- nothing to be seen yet, and the young woman is uncertain of where to move next.  Raising the lamp, she eyes the ceiling nervously.

Who can say where these undying have hidden themselves?  The coffins are far too obvious.

The young woman's meaning is understood ... at the rear of the pack, Ashlyn's fingers tighten on the symbol of her faith, wrapped around her sword hand as she reaches out her senses, seeking the taint of evil that marks the presence of undead.

"Might they bury themselves beneath the soil of the floor, or hide in niches in the walls, or in those coffins, or lie in plain sight unmoving as a corpse to fool us? Trust nothing," Zertin warned, still holding his wand ready to attack.

"I'll take a look." Qvar decides, giving Violet one last reassuring smile.  He squeezes past Caesius and stalks along the north wall to stand in the northwest corner of the chamber (bottom-left corner on the page according to map symbol, just past the coffins).  The wooden staff in his left hand taps the earth by his side, and his right hand glows with golden power.  He peers into the dark nooks, even those beyond the reach of violet's lantern and the holy glow around his head.  He seems untroubled by the stench, cautious but not fearful.  He stands ready to defend himself as he surveys the chamber.

As the cleric of Pelor makes his way to the far end of the chamber, Caesius follows Ashlyn's lead as both reach out, seeking the unmistakeable taint of evil, while Violet conducts a more mundane inspection of your surroundings, and Zertin, wand in hand, gives voice to his concerns.

Neither the young woman or the softly glowing priest see anything to alarm them as they look around, though that is little comfort.

The faint miasma of wrong that seems to have seeped into the very soil of this burrow is one matter ... but the Lightbringer quickly discovers that the earthen wall at her back has a foulness that is marginally worse, while the Paladin detects the same phenomenon centred upon the wall behind Qvar, and from within the coffin just before him. 

OOC: Map of the proceedings updated ...

"Qvar!" snaps Caesius, "'ware the coffin!"  Sword in hand, he advances towards the priest, adding, "The wall, too, contains something that is tainte beyong the rest of this burrow."

When he reaches the westernmost coffin, he rests the tip of Razor on the lid.

"This is worst though.  The stench of it is most vile, and it may even be the source of the evil in this place."

"By god," Violet whispers as Qvar moves away.  Her knees tremble at Caesius' sharp-edged pronouncement.  Steeling herself, she silently moves into the room; if the shining priest has not attracted attention, surely her dimly glowing lantern will do no worse?

Or perhaps the beasts shy from his light.

Either way, it is no time to dither; afraid or no, she must move to support Qvar.  Caesius has already stepped toward the priest, opening a place for her to follow, and Violet does, tremulously pacing after the knight, her lamp and shortsword held as meagre defense against the un-dying.

In her mind, she endlessly runs along a looping path of a prayer to Abel Christ, learned in her childhood.

Saeko follows into the cavern, swords ready.  Somewhere along the way, she's tied one of her silk scarves loosely across her face, slightly filtering the stench.  Nevertheless, her breath is shallower than usual, carefully controlled.  Suddenly, though, it twitches a little as she smiles underneath.  "Zertin, with your studies perhaps you know... these creatures, being possessed of no breath, how do they smell?"

Zertin followsViolet into the chamber with his wand still in hand, ready to unleash its magic missiles on the first of the foe to show itself.

He still manages to spare a moment to answer Saeko’s question.

“Awful!”

Qvar moves to stand between the three coffins (and further from the wall that he was warned about).  Beaming at his brave companions who have all entered the chamber, he places his glowing hand on the western coffin's lid.  "Ready?"  He pulls the lid up.

"And here too I can sense the taint of evil," Ashlyn adds, her sword point lowered, directed at the wall at her back.  "Though the earth seems solid enough ..."

Cautiously you all enter the main chamber, your attention fixed upon the westernmost coffin, though Caesius and Ashyln keep an wary eye upon the areas of the wall from whence the taint of evil can be felt.

Perhaps sensing Violet's fear, or noticing the slight shake in her hand as she holds up her lantern, Saeko and Zertin venture a joke, as shining Qvar opens the coffin ...

But a crack the priest lifts it before the lid flies open, hurled aside by something within, a hideous creature, wearing tarnished iron bands at her wrists and ankles which do nothing to hide the mottled, decaying flesh beneath.

As if called forth, two more of the creatures burst forth from the walls, rotting flesh drawn tight across clearly visible bones, mostly hairless, with the yellowed teeth of a carnivore and eyes that burn like hot coals in their sunken sockets.

Yet there is worse to come ... from the opening to the north another creature staggers forth, this one with the appearance of an evil-faced old human with the same mottled, decaying flesh of the others, though its lower body, legs and wings are reptilian the scales greyed and flaking, its hair or what remains of it, tangled, filthy and crusted with blood.

Evil it appears, but the song that it gives voice to, the song that calls to you, is that of an angel, captivating, mesmerising, threatening to rob you of your very souls... 

OOC: Map of the proceedings updated ... DC15 Will Save to shrug off the effects of the song (sonic, mind-affecting charm for those that might have any protections/immunities).

Zertin turns to face the singer with his wand raised like a conductor about to guide the flow of heavenly music in this subterranean refuge. But his face is creased by a frown.

"Oh, do be quiet, you ghastly creature. You can't even hold a tune anymore since your nose rotted away!" he scolds it.

Then he points his wand at the singer and speaks the word of command to hurl the now familiar string of five orange-glowing missiles at it. Unfortunately, they seem to glow less brightly than previously and he glances in consternation at the wand in his hand and backs away a step or two towards his brother.

OOC: 5ft step southward.
Zertin rolled 20 using 1d20+7.  Will save DC15.
Zertin rolled 11 using 1d20+5.  Knowledge religion check.
Zertin rolled 12 using 5d4+5.  Magic missile damage.

Saeko glides forward, moving past Zertin as he steps back, her steps smooth and deliberately out of time with the creature's song.  Its voice may be pleasant, but she prefers her soul, on balance.  As she steps in front of it, she strikes out with her sword, then drops into position, ready to engage more fully.

OOC: Save 21!  But To-Hit only 13.  On balance, probably better than the other way around.

Raising his blade, Caesius moves to strike down the creature that bursts from the coffin.  Razor falls towards the repugnant thing, and then... the sword wavers.  The paladin stops in his tracks as the music reaches his ears!

"Pelors shining light!" Qvar exclaims as the undead burst forth.  His holy glow intensifies to a blaze which burns the creatures closest.  "Its a Gravetouched Ghoul Monk!" he informs Caesius, sounding more disgusted than alarmed.  "And the singer a Gravetouched Ghoul Harpy!" he calls to Zertin and Violet, hoping this news will mean something to those closest to the singer.  "The other two are Ghasts."

"Oh dear." Qvar sighs as Caesius' will fades.  "Hold true brave knight, I'll aid you as soon as I can."

Seeing Saeko glide into position beside Caesius, Qvar instinctively steps 5' to the left to a flanking position opposite her.  He plunges his glowing right hand into the coffin to touch the ghoul monk. "Oh vile creature, feel the heat of Pelor's wrath!"  The staff in his left hand stands upon the foul earth, a token barrier against the ghast lurking to his left, an enemy he is content to ignore for now.

10:54, Today: Qvar rolled 23 using 3d8+5.  CMW on ghoul monk.
10:52, Today: Qvar rolled 13 using 1d20+4.  touch prone ghoul monk.

The joke doesn't register upon Violet's fearful mind, and moments later those fears prove apt.  The Undying burst forth as if awaiting this chance, surging into view...and Violet's terror-calcified thoughts shatter and crumble under the weight of the unearthly song.

OOC - Dismal failure on the save, hardly surprising.  :)

While the rest of you struggle in the face of the fell song of the deathless Harpy, Qvar seems untouched by it, calling out warnings as he moves to place his back to the earthen wall, the radiance within him now glowing even brighter, causing the two undead nearby to hiss and keen as the light burns them.

Zertin is the first to shrug off the siren song, launching a volley of mystic orbs at the Harpy as he moves closer to his brother, the she-fiend shrieking as they burn her, though her song never wavers, even as she ducks beneath Saeko's flashing blade as the Daughter of the Wind follows the mage's example.

At the rear of the cave, Ashlyn too ignores the Harpy's urging as the call to battle sounds louder and she hacks at the Ghast before her, the point of the blade penetrating its side.

As if unaware of his predicament, Qvar stretches out the hand around which dances the holy light of healing energies, but the gravetouched monk shows that it has lost none of the swiftness it knew in life, easily avoiding his touch.

Caesius stops ... then starts forwards, joined a heartbeat later by Violet the pair seemingly drawn towards the filth-crusted Harpy, their wills no longer their own, stolen from them by that captivating song, as they crowd around Saeko.

Ashlyn staggers back as the ghast throws itself upon her, claws scraping on her metal armour as its teeth find the flesh beneath, though the Paladin manages to shake it off, resisting the sudden stiffness that assails her limbs, her faith sustaining her and keeping her from worse.

Though her blades did not find their mark, Saeko's quick reactions in placing herself between the Harpy and its victims infuriates the creature and it lashes out at her with its talons, scoring her flesh. 

The Gravetouched Monk circles around behind Qvar, placing the priest between himself and the Ghast. The pair assail him as one, lashing out with tooth and claw, but Qvar escapes with naught but scratches, thank Pelor ! 

OOC: Map of the proceedings updated ...

"Sorry Q, hold them off as long as you can. I must silence that ghastly song first!" Zertin mutters apologetically to his brother.

He steps a pace or two away from Caesius then points his wand at the undead harpy and unleashes another string of five glowing missiles at the monster. At least this time the missiles glow brighter than the previous set and a grim smile curls Zertin's lips.

OOC: 5 foot step northward.

Zertin rolled 22 using 5d4+5.  Magic missile damage.

Qvar chances a glance at his brother, a reassuring grin as he wards off the assault.  "Don't worry about me, Zed, this is what I was reborn to do.  Just bring that harpie down to free our friends."  He lunges at the ghast with his golden glowing hand but misses completely.  His blazing aura burns the closest undead a little more.

09:35, Today: Qvar rolled 8 using 1d20+2.  Touch ghast

Violet stands still and stunned as the battle swirls around her.

Inside, she is screaming.

Caesius walks forward, towards the harpy.  Though it might be more correct to say he stumbles in the general direction of the creature.  The tip of Razor, the sword still gripped loosely in his hand, drags across the filth-encrusted floor of the chamber.