Slipping through and closing the door behind him, Rolf keeps going, figuring whoever was here would have taken anything of value when they left. He continues to bear right, heading up the corridor to the north maintaining his stealth.

Rolf using the tried and tested technique, Rolf made good progress.  The corridor became rough as it drove through natural rock, almost doubling back on itself. Rolf's instincts told him he was heading towards the North but he could not be sure.  Finally it reached a T-junction, the left passage bending towards the... north west? So far he had encountered nothing to raise alarm.

Rolf pauses to see if the party went his way or some other, then he keeps going right, keeping stealthy as ever.

Rolf could neither hear nor see any evidence that the party were still following him. As he continued in the direction he though was east, the corridor zigzaged but generally held the same direction.  Before long he reached another room.  This on was about thirty feet across and twenty deep.  On the opposite wall were three recessed doors with what looked like cell doors across the ends.  A corridor lead off from the middle of the left wall.

One of the cell doors was shut the other two open. The room itself also seems to have been some form of camp though this maintained better than the first and the stink of habitation at least tolerable.

Rolf checks the closed cell to see if it contained anyone.

Moving quietly to the closed door, Rolf could see through the grill a huddled figure, possibly human in the far corner. The wretch cowers at the furthest corner from the door. Up close, his infravision allows him to pick up evidence of what looks like scratch marks on the door.  Even as he wonders about the significance of this there is a moan from behind him.  As he spins around, the cowering figure in the cell emits an ear piercing scream leaving him in no doubt the she is female and alive. "No! No!... Not more!... please." she screamed, her voice tailing of into a whimper.

Dimly, as it emits no body heat, he sees a humanoid wrapped in rags and clothes remnants shambling towards him. It moves slowly, its arms outstretched, its finger nails grown long and vicious, a horrendous stench fills the air as it groans again.  While it moves slowly an he could likely run away from it, being in the alcove, it effectively blocks his line of retreat.

Rolf draws his sword and moves to the side so that the person in the cell can't attack him from behind. As soon as the undead creature gets in range he attacks.


17:04, Today: Secret Roll: Rolf the Strong rolled 22 using 1d20+2. Attack.
17:05, Today: Secret Roll: Rolf the Strong rolled 6 using 1d6+4. damage.

The sword cuts deep into the shambling figure, forcing it sideways against the wall. Barely seeming to notice the massive damage to it's torso, clawed arms swing at Rolf, scoring a hit that staggers the half orc!

7 points of damage inflicted on Rolf
[Private to GM: Zombie has 5 HP left. Might be an idea to introduce a second zombie to make it a bit more of a challenge]

Rolf tries a backhand cut for the creatures neck, but misses entirely.


19:54, Today: Secret Roll: Rolf the Strong rolled 5 using 1d20+2. attack.

The thing moans as it rotting feet squelch on the hard floor. Pieces of flesh are left behind as it steps in for a strike, the sudden change to it's stride throwing it's massive blow off target.
More moans can be heard further off in the darkness.
[Private to GM: Zombie has 5 HP left.
Lets say one more will arrive in a round or two, or if he's about to die it was just echos from the first.]

Rolf steps in with a downward cleave with all his muscle behind it, looking to split the creature in two.



22:45, Today: Secret Roll: Rolf the Strong rolled 21 using 1d20+2. attack.
22:46, Today: Secret Roll: Rolf the Strong rolled 9 using 1d6+4.

The creature collapses, if anything the stench growing stronger.  Maggots escape from the carcass of the foul creature and start to wander across the floor. The woman behind starts sobbing, so far she does not seem to have made an effort to get at him.

Rolf has but a few seconds to take this in as the distant moans grow in intensity. From the unexplored passage another of the shambling abominations comes towards him, its out streached arms seeking his life blood.

Rolf backs into the entrance to narrow his front, in case more come, and he attacks the second one as it comes into reach.

12:05, Today: Rolf the Strong rolled 5 using 1d6+4.
12:03, Today: Rolf the Strong rolled 13 using 1d20+2. attack.

Rolf's attack was devastating or perhaps the things' neck was already cut? In any even the head went flying and smacked of the wall leaving a trail of brain and maggots as the body collapsed in a heap. Apart from the sound of crying from behind him the room was quiet again.

OOC: I think the dice roller likes you...

Rolf returns to the cell door, quietly trying to not alert anyone to his presence, especially whatever is inside it. He checks it to see if it is indeed locked, figuring whatever is inside the cell was left as a trap, for it made no sense to leave a prisoner behind alive.

Rolf looks in on the prisoner and indeed she did look alive, filthy but alive. She was crying and huddled in the corner as before and he could make out the words "...stop...please make it stop...."

Now he has time he noticed there was a rope wrapped round the one of the bars of the viewing port in the door.  It leads inside, down and out of sight.  Rolf only needs a few seconds to realised that the rope was holding the door closed from inside rather than it being barred from the outside. Zombies were clearly not half as clever as the half-orc.

Rolf looks for a way to secure the door from the outside if he needs to, then he whispers through the bars "Who are you?"

The figure crouch in the corners was covered in filthy rags making it hard to see any features.  As Rolf speaks, a face appears between the rags. A young human female buy the looks of it, given a bath she might scrub up well.

If she understood his question is unknown, in any event she seems only capable of a few words "Where... wha...are they...". In Rolf's opinion either she is deranged or so scared that get coherent sentence may be difficult.

"What's your name, girl." Rolf demands, still suspecting a trap of some sort. He keeps his dagger wedged into the doorframe by the hinges, to keep the door from opening should she attack, but pulls on it anyway as if he is going to open it to watch her reaction.

The face looked at Rolf, his orcen features perhaps not her idea of the gallant rescuer as she mumbled "Maria... sir.... please help me!"

"Are you from Hommlet?" he asks her, "Who do you know there?"

ooc: I was of the impression that in 1e half orc player characters were the 10% who could pass for human?

"Yes sir... I am Tom the baker's daughter... he's a friend of the druid, Jaroo." said the wretch.

OOC: they certainly are as the other 90% are orcs in all but name, and treated as such. However if you saw the sketch in the old players handbook, there is no mistaking that half orcs look different or at least look like pretty ugly.

"Well then Maria, lets go. I'll take you home straight away. We have to move swiftly though."

Rolf pulls his dagger from the hinge side of the door so it will open and steps aside to let her out, then takes her arm with his left hand.

"This way..." he says, leading her out

OOC: He will lead her out the way he came in, and back to the village as quickly as possible, stopping outside to clean her up and get a good look at her (assuming they make it that far unmolested.
This message was last edited by the player at 18:36, Tue 25 Mar 2008.

The girl left the cell and followed Rolf... slowly.  She was in bare feet and struggling on the uneven ground. Nevertheless he maintained a reasonable pace as he retraced his path.

[Private to Rolf the Strong: Need to go another couple of turns before you are out the dungeon, in case the other party bump into you....]

Rolf retraced his path and quickly found his way back to the passage leading past the last stand of Lareth the fair.  The way to the outside was straight ahead, his wounds hurting as he made his way towards the light. The girl clung to his arm as they staggered forward, the fresh breeze in their faces.

[Private to Rolf the Strong: Just thought I'd give you a final post before leaving...]