The Chronicles of Rapina
Chapter 11 Hall of the Dead
Backster opened an ancient bamboo gate that fit into the entrance and stepped in.
"Hold on, you're supposed to intone some sort of prayer before entering, at least that's what I think it says here," Rapina said.
From inside the cavern Backster's voice echoed, "Oh sure, gods grant me a heavenly hoard 'o booty. Damn it's dark in here."
Rapina sighed. "That's no kind of prayer. Besides, you're supposed to do it before you open the gate, silly."
Rapina fished the crystal pendant out from beneath her tunic. She took the little black leather sack off the lighted crystal and put it in her belt pouch. She wore the crystal light outside her shirt to provide light for her party.
"Gold!" Backster shouted.
"Hold up Backster, yer gettin' too far ahead of us." Pike unslung his axe and went into the tunnel with Donal next to him.
Rapina followed, her light allowing them to see.
"AAAAAiiiiiih!" Backster screamed.
Just inside, the cavern was like a narrow hall that slanted downwards. After about twenty feet the corridor widened and leveled off. Carved into the sides of the level main tunnel were tiers of Coffin-sized dead-end tunnels. There were three tunnels to a column, one near the floor, one about waist-level and one above the level of most men's heads. Each tunnel held a corpse. Column after column of coffin tunnels lined the walls.
Currently Backster flew backwards out of one of the waist-high tunnel entrances about fifteen feet down the wide hall and on the East side. He held his face as blood gushed from his eye sockets. A golden ring clattered to the floor as he pulled out of the side-tunnel. ---------------[click to see a rough sketch of this room]
[you can only see the top side tunnels in this view from above, but there are two more side tunnels below each one pictured. All of the skeletons are on the map though. If it looks like there are 2 or 3 in a side tunnel, there is really only one in a tunnel but there are 3 tunnels in a column.] ---------------
A boney hand dripping blood emerged from the tunnel after Backster. A skull followed, then a bony hand holding a dagger. The unholy skeletons of the dead awakened from their slumber and began to boil out of their resting-places. They were armed with ancient blades, or wooden cudgels. The only sound they made was the ticking of their boney feet on the stone floor.
For an instant, Rapina froze in horror. In some rational corner of her mind, she idly wished she had brought her big Roman shield.
In front of Rapina, Pike sprinted forward to try to rescue Backster. The Norseman dodged the bony hands of the emerging skeletons and got to Backster just as the first of the emerging skeletons stood and lifted their weapons. Pike cleaved the skull and rib cage of the dagger-wielding skeleton about to spit Backster, then tossed the pirate over his shoulder like a screaming sack of potatoes.
It was then that the Norseman realized that numerous skeletons had sealed off his retreat back to the party. The skeletons had him trapped. Red rage swam before the Norseman's eyes as he yelled a blood-curdling battle cry. In a single blow he shattered the skull and rib cage of the skeleton coming out of the side tunnel at the level of his head and danced to avoid the grasp of the one emerging at his feet. Thankfully, he had already dispatched the one from the waist level tunnel on his side of the room, but the skeletons from the other side were quickly emerging.
Pike's battle-cry snapped Rapina out of her dumbfounded state. She flattened herself against the wall allowing Drake, Donal and Doanthalas to get by her. At the same time she drew her rapier and main gauche. From the corner of her eye she saw Kent pushing on a slab of stone that had slid from the ceiling near the entrance to block their escape.
Donal rushed to within striking distance of the first tier of side tunnels. As a skeleton emerged from the top tier, Donal relieved it of its head with his broad sword. To Donal's horror, the headless skeleton jumped to the ground and swung its oaken cudgel at him, nearly braining the pirate before he ducked -just in time.
The pirate brought his sword up chopping through several ribs and sundering the spine of the skeleton.
Another skeleton from one tier lower came out of its side tunnel and stood as the one from the tier near the floor grabbed Donal's boot. In addition, the skeleton that Donal had been fighting, now lacking a pelvis and legs, swung its cudgel at the pirate's knees from its position on the floor.
Donal parried the cudgel by slicing off both of the skeleton's hands with a single stroke of his broadsword. Simultaneously, he blocked the blow of the ancient dagger of the second skeleton with his buckler.
The skeleton near the floor pulled itself out of its side tunnel and bit into Donal's boot.
The pirate yelled obscenities as he dropped his sword and grabbed the cudgel of the first skeleton.
Rapina realized the ever-valiant Drake was charging forward to try to save Pike. She steeled herself and slipped to the right. She used her main gauche to parry the sword of the skeleton that tried to skewer her, and severed its spine just below the rib cage with a swipe of her rapier. As it's upper half fell, Rapina jumped; pretending she was stamping on Trevor's instep, she managed to largely shatter the monster's rib cage.
Although she was paying little attention to it, Rapina saw Donal's fight and realized that swords were not the best weapons against these creatures.
With cudgel in hand, Donal shattered the upper ribs of his second skeleton while trying to stamp on the neck of the third that was now biting into his foot. Unfortunately, his stomping was unsuccessful and the third skeleton pulled his legs as he tried to trample it.
"Aaaagh!" The pirate toppled over.
Doanthalas slid the bastard sword from the scabbard he wore on his back. The sword had an extra long handle so that it could be wielded with one or two hands. He opted for a two handed grip as he moved to help Donal.
The skeletons raised their weapons as Donal tried desperately to escape. The skeleton that had brought Donal down released its grip only to sink its teeth deep into Donal's leg.
The young pirate screamed in pain and tried to kick the skeleton away. He was unsuccessful. Donal closed his eyes in anticipation of the killing blow that was sure to come at any moment.
He flinched as a loud cracking noise filled the air and shards of bone rained down around him. Donal opened his eyes in time to see the remains of his attackers clatter to the floor. The tattooed elf was standing over him cutting swaths of destruction through the ranks of the skeletons.
Drake noticed Doanthalas' technique from the corner of his eye. Instead of fighting the skeletons as one would fight a normal fleshy opponent, Doanthalas was aiming his attacks at their rib cages. Instead of stabbing and hacking in a downward motion, the elf was swinging his sword in a side to side sweeping motion. It seemed to be working so Drake adopted this technique and stepped up to give Pike a hand.
Pike's heavy axe shattered skeletons right and left as the Norseman whirled and side-stepped to dodge the clubs and blades of his supernatural foes. He stayed near the wall, jumping past columns of openings when he could.
The Norseman swung again, another opponent shattered, its bones tangling with the bones of the creature behind it, but the stupid creature came forward just the same. Pike caught its club and kicked it backwards breaking its hold. At the same time he shattered one of it's comrades to his right as his axe continued to weave patterns in the air. Pike roared and jumped forward as a third skeleton opened a gash in his side.
The Norseman flipped the big club he had wrested from a skeleton end for end, caught it and swung it with gusto, his mighty muscles sweating with red rage. The skeleton that had cut him disintegrated into a hail of bones as the mighty Viking's club came down through both skull and rib cage.
"Hang on Backster, I got ta use both hands 'er we're both dead men!" He bellowed.
The next skeleton Rapina encountered swung a heavy club. So heavy that the parrying strength behind Rapina's main gauche was not sufficient. The blow drove Rapina's left hand side. Her main gauche clattered to the floor as her nerveless hand released it.
With her good hand she swung hard and shattered one of the hands of the monster. Her blade bit into its other wrist but did not sever it.
With only one hand, the creature brought up its club to strike again, but it was much too slow. Rapina severed it's good arm at the shoulder with her rapier and kicked it hard in the ribs. It flew back into one of its advancing comrades and they both went down in a tangle of bones. Rapina grabbed the skeleton's cudgel and sheathed her rapier while the two tangled skeletons struggled to get up.
Her left hand was weak, but she directed healing energy to it and swung the cudgel with both hands and all her strength. One of the skeletons shattered, the other flew to the side with pieces of the first entangled in its ribs. She advanced trying to protect Drake's right flank as he charged forward.
The skeletons advanced steadily. They did not plan their attacks defensively for they had no brains and they did not fear for their lives. The search party, however, did fear for their lives and rightly so. The skeletons outnumbered them by more than three to one. They needed some kind of strategy if they were to survive. As it was the skeletons had them separated into two small groups. Kent, Rapina, Doanthalas and Donal were fighting with their backs to the cavern entrance.
Drake had fought his way to Pike and Backster. Pike and Drake were in a bind. Skeletons surrounded them and Backster was in no condition to fight. The members of the search party knew how to fight, but none of them, except for one member, had any experience in the tactics of large scale battles. This hardly qualified as a large scale battle, but the idea was the same. Whoever fought harder and smarter would be victorious.
"We're Trapped!" Kent screamed.
"We can retreat back towards the closed entrance, it's much narrower there but we have to get to Pike and Drake, They're only ten feet away now but there are so many skeletons! Rapina shouted.
Donal came limping back to Rapina and Kent. "Damned pile o' bones bit me!" He swung his cudgel and shattered another skeleton that stepped too close to him.
The sylvan elf deftly swept his leg in a half circle as he crouched near the ground. Two skeletons went tumbling to the floor. Doanthalas brought his sword in a powerful upwards arc and cleaved a third skeleton in two.
A few quick steps and shattered skeletons later the tattooed elf had fought his way back to Rapina, Kent and Donal. The three of them looked fine, but Pike, Backster and Drake were in deep trouble. Soon the skeletal warriors would overrun them.
"Rapina, Donal With me!" The elf shouted as he stepped forward and swung his bastard sword in a tight arc shattering the torso of another skeleton. "We must clear the way for our comrades! Kent, guard our backs!"
terror paralyzed The young pirate. Otherwise, he might have told the presumptuous elf where to go. For the moment, it was all Kent could do to hold on to his weapon. His hands were shaking so badly.
Rapina ducked and swung the cudgel she had rescued from one of the skeletons she had fought. Several of the upper ribs of the nearby undead monster broke and fell away, but unlike Doanthalas, Rapina lacked the strength always to shatter a skeleton with one blow. It often took Rapina two or even three blows to destroy a skeleton, and the floor was treacherous. Some of the skeletons Doanthalas had cut in half at the lower ribs were still animated. Although they had no legs, they still tried to swing weapons, or crawl along the floor towards their opponents.
Rapina tried a different tactic, she held the club with both hands wide, using it to parry the heavy club of the skeleton while she kicked the skeleton in the ribs. Her kick did little actual damage, but the skeletons were not very heavy and a good kick sent them flying. They usually fell or got entangled with their comrades. For one of her strength, the tactic worked better than trying to hack away at a skeleton while others got too close.
Although he was hurt and more than a bit scared Donal heeded the elf's words. If he had thought about it, he might have given Doanthalas attitude. After all who had put him in charge? However, for the moment his words seemed to make sense.
Pike yelled to Drake above the din of weapons and skeletons, "Back to back, mate an' stick w' me an the East wall. If ye can cover my butt, I can cut are way back ta the others."
The number of skeletons coming in from the South nearly overwhelmed Drake but he gritted his teeth and kept his broadsword in constant motion, straining his powerful arm to do maximum damage.
His back protected for the moment, Pike directed both of his weapons forward. When Rapina struck, she was lucky to break away several of a skeleton's ribs, but when the mighty Norseman struck, a skeleton positively exploded with every blow. Pike saw Doanthalas fighting his way towards him as he fought towards the elf.
Rapina was so happy with the way her kicking strategy was working that she turned her head to see if Kent had seen it and taken it up. Her moment of vanity saved her life. As she looked back she saw a cudgel descending to brain her, she ducked just enough that the blow hit her across the shoulder blades rather than shattering her skull. The wind was knocked from her and she was driven to the floor with an oof!
Although wounded when the headless skeleton surprised him and its two buddies got the best of him, Donal was a good fighter. Captain Red Jack was a wise man and had made sure that three of the pirates he had sent out were seasoned veterans. His bit foot hurt like the devil but Donal turned when he heard Rapina go down, parried a club blow and kicked the skeleton West to clear some room.
Kent had taken a fright. a skeleton swinging a cudgel had him cornered in the Northeast corner of the room. The only trouble was, the skeleton did not seem to have a brain in its head and its back swing kept knocking into the wall. Without a back swing it was not inflicting bone-shattering damage on the recruit, it was just giving him a good beating with short swings and scaring the daylights out of him with its gnashing teeth and vacant eyes. Donal's kick bounced a skeleton against the back of the one trying to pummel Kent to death and drove it forward so it momentarily bashed into Kent, it's boney teeth bruising his jaw.
Rapina gasped as she hit the floor. Skitch had taught her how to take a fall when a big boy hit her in order not to add insult to injury. As she went to stand, she saw boney feet advance on her. She was weaponless; the blow to her back had knocked the club out of her hands along with her wind. Rapina grabbed the ankles of the skeleton and swung it as she stood. She released it and it skidded off the top of one of its compatriot's skulls and slammed into the opposite wall where it struggled to stand, oblivious to its cracked skull.
Donal grinned, "now thar's a wench!," he said as he shattered another skeleton with his cudgel.
Drake was fighting with every ounce of his strength and speed. He had been forced to sheath his parrying dagger so he could use his broadsword in both hands. The dagger was useless against the skeletons anyway. He found his feet were a better weapon. When the skeletons got especially thick, driving them back was a better idea than cleaving them. They were so stupid they all crowded into each other and a good kick would send a bunch of them falling to the floor like dominoes. Then Drake could shatter one that did not fall with his sword while the dupes got up.
Pike exploded the last skeleton between Doanthalas and him.
"Slip behind me along the wall, Drake. We've made it to our mates."
Pike stepped forward just enough to let Drake by. He turned and shattered a skeleton with his club while the flat of his battle axe turned a second into a shower of bones. All the while the Norseman moved slowly sideways toward the North wall. When Drake was by him, he turned to face fully south and backed North in a fighting retreat.
Rapina grabbed the rear ribs of the skeleton that was terrorizing Kent and heaved it. Luckily, the skeletons were quite light.
After slipping by Pike, Drake helped Doanthalas fight the skeletons attacking from the West as Donal and Rapina cleared the Northeast corner, turning it into a safe zone.
Seeing Drake and Doanthalas now protected him, Donal took his broadsword from the floor of the Northeast corner of the room and quickly sheathed it. At the same time, he picked up Rapina's cudgel and handed it to her.
Rapina saw Drake run into the entrance tunnel and followed. Donal behind her pushing Kent in front of him.
Pike and Doanthalas took up positions at the southern end of the narrower entry tunnel just before the point where the tunnel widened and leveled off. They fought a pitched battle with a hoard of skeletons coming at them from the main room. Fortunately, the tunnel would only admit two or three skeletons abreast, so the number of opponents the men had to fight at a time was much more manageable.
Drake faced two skeletons that had already been in the entry tunnel when he entered and Pike and Doanthalas had cordoned it off. As Rapina entered the narrower corridor, the light she carried provided better illumination. To Drake's horror, he saw that one of the skeletons still had bits of flesh clinging to its bones. "Cudge, is that you?"
The Skeleton vacantly swung a broadsword at Drake who parried with a clang.
Rapina ducked as the second skeleton took a swing at her. She drove the end of her cudgel forward into the pelvis of the skeleton like a battering ram and knocked it backwards. It fell against the slab that blocked the entryway and began to scramble to its feet. While it was scrambling, Rapina jumped forward and shattered its right shoulder.
As he parried, Drake stepped in and kicked the knee-cap of the skeleton. The bones snapped and the skeleton fell sideways still swinging its blade. It cut into the side of Drake's boot and slightly wounded his calf as he tried to dodge.
Drake's sword severed the neck of the skeleton and its skull went rolling across the floor. Undaunted, it lifted its blade to take another swing. Drake drew his parrying dagger and jumped to the right.
Rapina dodged right but took a glancing blow to the hip. Her cudgel took out four ribs on the left side of the skeleton. The skull from Drake's opponent rolled towards her, its teeth still gnashing.
Rapina jumped back, and when her Skeletal opponent came forward she was ready. She crouched and took out one of the skeleton's knees. It fell and she shattered its rib cage before it could rise again.
The Norseman grinned at Doanthalas as three more brainless bags of bones approached and were shattered by the two muscular fighters. Pike's eyebrows raised -the rib of one of the skeletons he had shattered did not fly right. "Heads up back there."
Donal looked in Pike's direction, his mouth opened as something whistled like breath blown over the mouth of a bottle. A flying rib stabbed him in the gut with much more power than a simple flying object. Donal instinctively dropped his cudgel and grabbed the bone. His quick reflexes saved his life. He bled profusely, but he muscled the bone out of the wound in his gut and got a two- handed grip on it. It was alive as though the entire strength of a skeleton had clung to it. Donal muscled the bone against the stone wall and rubbed it there, but all he did was work off it's jagged point.
Damn, Drake thought. The new skeleton, whichever pirate it had recently been, had bones stronger and less brittle than its drier and more aged comrades did. Drake realized his last swing should have gone through the neck and shoulder of the skeleton but it had not.
Drake charged in, parrying the blade of the skeleton and severing its arm near the shoulder. The skeleton's broadsword clattered to the floor and Drake swung and swung again, this time severing the other arm of the creature. The arms crawled towards him pulling themselves along with their fingers. Drake swung again and again slicing the ribs off the creature and sundering the pelvis. He was about to stamp on the creature's fingers when Rapina called out.
"Wait! No one is going to believe this unless we have proof."
Drake nodded. He grimaced and picked up one of the arms.
Rapina picked up the other arm and the skull. The fingers and jaw were still moving, trying to kill.
Donal took a stout burlap bag from his belt pouch. "Here, put those in the bag, Drake, and Rapina see what ye can do fer Backster.
Rapina found that Backster's right eye was a ruin, but his left eye would be okay, there was a deep cut just above it where a skeletal finger had glanced off. Rapina cleaned the wound and applied a bandage. She gave Backster some herbs for the pain from his ruined eye.
Pike and Doanthalas shattered skeleton after skeleton until finally the last one lay in pieces at their feet. "Damn! I'm bruised or bleedin' on most parts of my body, but that was one hell of a fight," Pike said.
"That was the best fightin' I've seen a 'green' recruit do in years," Pike winked at Doanthalas. 'Course the important thing for fighting these brainless bags o' bones seems ta be strength and endurance, and I know ye got 'em both from havin' had that bout we had tagether." Pike grinned and turned to Rapina. "What do the wounds look like?"
"Backster's lost an eye, but I think the other eye will be okay as soon as the gash above it heals. Donal has a bad belly wound and a deep bite in his foot. I got hit across the back and on the hip, but I was pretty lucky."
Pike helped himself to some bandages and supplies from Rapina's pack and patched up several nasty gashes he had received.
Rapina finished Donal and looked at Kent while Drake and Doanthalas patched up their own hurts. Kent was severely bruised all over his upper body but Rapina could not help but realize that Kent's pride had taken a worse beating.
"The way I see it, we better see if we can get out 'a this place. That slab's real stone. Before today I'd 'a said there was no magic about it. Now I figure there could be. On the other hand, one of these skeletons might a triggered it from one o' these restin' holes. Those of ye who're not too badly wounded, lets give 'em a search. Any booty ye find goes in this bag, understand? We'll take a look at the skeletons fer rings, daggers 'an swords too, though most of 'em had clubs."
There were a number of silver and several gold rings. Most of them were on the fingers of shattered skeletons. Rapina retrieved her main gauche and went to the Southern end of the wide hall of the dead. There was another doorway there blocked by a slab of stone. Above the doorway were more runes.
When Doanthalas climbed into the top-most resting place on the Northwest wall, his weight triggered something, and the slab slid up and out of the way of the entrance. Everyone was much relieved. It turned out that even the weight of a skeleton in that side tunnel would keep the entry open, but when the weight was removed, the slab slid back to block the entryway.
Still deciphering the runes above the door, Rapina said, "No wonder there was not much booty here, these were probably all commoners. This next door leads to, "The Hall of Eminence," and we're supposed to make the sign of man to enter." There was a pentacle carved into the wall next to the door. At each point, a stone stud could be pushed.
Pike waved his hand. "We'll go no farther now. Are first duty is ta get Backster and Donal back ta camp and make our report before dark."
Rapina nodded. She wanted to make sure she had the sign of man right anyway. She had not really been paying a lot of attention to signs, but she was pretty sure that one of Captain Red Jack's old holy books had several different signings in it for banishing evil spirits and such.
The still-animated arms and skull of the fresh skeleton were put in a bag tied to the end of a cudgel for Drake to carry. All other still-living pieces were destroyed save the, "singing bone," that had stabbed Donal. He had worn the jagged, pointed ends of the bone smooth against the stone wall and worked the marrow out of the bone with his boot knife and small shards of bone. He stashed the six-inch piece of bone in his stoutest belt pouch with the strings tied tightly closed. The bone was ever intent on stabbing him but now lacked points. Just the same, it pushed on him with a fair amount of force. This made the pirate stagger even more than he should have, given his wounded foot. The singing bone was unique in that it seemed to have nearly the full strength of a skeleton to it. Whereas the other still animated bones could not lift off the ground and fly, the singing bone seemed to be able to fly around without trouble. The party hurried back to the pirate camp and arrived just as the sun sank below the horizon. With the wounded, the going had been much slower on the way back. When they arrived, Pike reported to the captain. After a few minutes, he called the others in.
"So, I hear ye had an adventure. I'm hav'in a heap 'o trouble believin' what Pike has told me, but 'e says ye insisted on keepin' some souvenirs for me ta see, did ye lass?"
Rapina nodded. "Drake is carrying them in that sack."
"Good thinkin' girl, let me see 'em. I'm 'bout ready ta have Pike put in a cage fer bein' daft."
Drake opened the sack and dumped the contents carefully out onto the captain's table. The severed bony arms wasted no time pulling themselves along by their fingers towards the Captain who was the closest person to the table after Drake stepped back. The scull rolled a bit then rocked as it gnashed its teeth. The skeletal fingers seemed slower and weaker, though the skull still seemed to gnash its teeth with exuberance.
"Mother o' all the gods, Pike is a sane man after all," the captain grinned. So this is what happened ta Blade? What a harrible end he most 'o met. He'll make a grisly souvenir though, 'e will.
Now what o' this flyin' bone that pegged Donal?
Donal limped forward and removed his belt pouch. "It's in here captain, but it's been trying ta stab me ever since it did the first time. Donal held his belt pouch out to the captain who took it. The pouch pushed on the captain as it sensed a presence nearer than Donal and attempted to stab it.
The captain's eyebrows shot up. "That be strange stuff." The captain kept the pouch. Ye can take that back later if ye want it, ye earned it takin' th' belly wound. Fer now let's keep it out 'o the men's sight.
The captain looked at Rapina. "Pike says ye read some old runes fer the group 'an there's another door with writin's as well. Do ye know how to open it?
"I think so sir, but I need to check one of your books to make sure I have it right."
"Ye did good. Pike said ye killed yer share o' skeletons an kicked many o' 'em back when ye found that warr easier for ye than killin' em outright."
"Yes sir, Pike and usually Doanthalas and Drake could make them shatter by hitting them hard, but I could not hit them hard enough to finish one in a single blow. They were very light, though, so once I discovered kicking them, I usually did that and I threw a couple too."
The captain chuckled. "Ye got guts Rapina, some would 'ave bet ye would freeze first time ye saw real combat."
Rapina blushed, "Well, actually I did freeze, but Pike's battle cry snapped me out of it."
"Well, well, I guess that old battle roar 'o yers is worth somethin' after all, Pike," the captain smiled.
"Kent, yer maps 'r excellent, but ye were a liability in th' combat. A pirate that can't fight gets dead fast. Th' way I heard it, the fact ye were in a corner and the skeleton attackin' ye was brainless, saved yer life. It would be a shame ta loose one w' yer talents. I know th' enemies ye fought taday weren't exactly normal and ye didn't have combat instincts ta fall back on like Pike, 'er Donal, 'er Doanthalas. Nevertheless, Rapina did okay, an' Drake helped Pike outa a spot although he's green. I know I'm comparin' ye ta the best in yer basic class, but ye got ta git yer combat skills up. Usually, I just let a kid like ye sink 'er swim on 'is own, but I don't get many men w' a head like yers on their shoulders, so I've given Roger orders ta get ye more combat trainin'. See that ye apply yerself, as ye've seen, yer life depends on it.
The rest of ye, listen up. Pirates can be a superstitious lot, 'an what ye encountered weren't at all natural. I want ye ta keep a tight lip. Anyone asks ye how ye got wounded, ye tell 'em it were, "natives 'o the isle," and don't tell em they tried ta carve ye even though they were already dead. I'll make sure the guard posts have some hefty clubs around in case any o' these boney nightmares attack.
Pike has told me about the other water entrance ta the isle Southeast 'o here. Soon as we can we'll set up a base camp there and ye can try ta get ta the bottom o' this. In the mean time, lick yer wounds and I'll have Rapina study up on this matter again before ye go out. Remember ta keep the lips buttoned, I don't want the men spookin' on me. Don't talk about what happened even if no one else is around. Save it fer later.
Fer now, I see ye've brought me some booty. I'll be givin' ye some money out of it if ye earned it. Drake, I know ye have weapons, an' I loaned Doanthalas that bastard sword. Far as I'm concerned, Doanthalas, ye have a couple 'o weapons comin' to ye. Logan will show ye through the weapons crates tomorrow an' ye can pick out a set 'o hand weapons for yer own, includin' that sword if ye can find nothin' better."
"Rapina, I'd like ta talk ta ye more about these supernatural creatures an' such. Please come by after yer bath."
Rapina nodded.
"Good work, mates. 'Less ye have somethin' ta add, yer dismissed," the captain said. Doanthalas, watch yer back. That damn Brackston has half the pirates thinkin' ye summoned those demons last night, an I can't tell 'im what really happened or the other half 'o me men'll be shakin' in their boots just as hard as the ones Brackston's got to. Stick w' yer friends. ---
Later that night after seeing, Beck, Fishy and Pike, Rapina arrived at the captain's clean from her bath.
Scary day ye had wench. Sit down an' 'ave a glass 'o wine.
Rapina sat down on Red Jack's couch and snuggled against the captain as she drank wine from a glass he had handed her.
"What do ye make o' these skeletons. Where do ye suppose they're comin' from an' how do ye figure one o' me own men was turned into one of 'em.
"It has to be necromancy, I think. The magic book talks about the theory behind necromancy. It all has to do with life force. People have it, dead men don't, and undead men have less than none, like a suction or a debt. That's why they try to kill, they want the life force of the living. I wish I knew more, but your library isn't the best where supernatural monsters are concerned. I think some of the holy books may talk about the undead. A lot of priests feel it's their duty to destroy them, and I guess some evil churches train their priests in necromancy so they can create and control the undead."
"Aye, I think ye're right. Those chests be full o' me books, why don't ye get a start on findin' th' volumes ye need while I finish the night's logs."
Rapina nodded. "Okay, I'll look for that one with the signs too." Rapina found one or two of the books she needed that night, but spent little time reading and much more time moaning with pleasure beneath the captain's capable hands.
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This ends The Hall of the Dead, Chapter 11 of The Chronicles of Rapina.
The story continues in Chapter 12, Shadows of the Dead.