Barnaby reels back from his momentary vision and finds that he is unharmed apart from a mild headache. He shares his vision with the rest of the party while Theo deduces that a devilish form of necromancy had been practiced here.
On the other side of the door, the party finds the sobbing woman clawing desperately at the walls, which are covered with the same spiraling fungus that had been under the rug upstairs. Eventually, she breaks through and pulls herself down into a dark stairwell leading downwards. As Barnaby goes to follow, he is struck with another vision; this time, Aldern is swinging a pickaxe at the floor, breaking the stone floor. Before Aldern can descend into the darkness, a ravaging pack of ghouls reaches through the opening and drags him out of sight. Likewise, the ghouls reach for Barnaby and gouge into his flesh. The vision subsides.
The stairway descends eighty feet down into a limestone cavern that is blanketed in purple mushrooms. As the sobbing woman wanders off down the winding passages, three ghouls emerge from behind the rocks and attack! Hardened by their experience, the party manages to thwart the threat without much trouble, but a second wave of ghouls comes barreling down the passageway after hearing the commotion from the initial scuffle. As the battle rages, the woman continues walking away.
A sweat breaks out across Barnaby’s brow as the decaying body of the final ghouls collapses lifelessly on the ground and it becomes apparent that ghoul fever is beginning to set in. That leaves Theo as the only party member who hasn’t contracted this terrible disease. After all, it’s only a matter of time before the symptoms become more distressing…
Eventually the tunnels open up into a large cavern marked by a small waterfall and tall ceiling. A narrow pathway hugs the outer walls as it spirals around the perimeter before ending at a solitary stone door. The sobbing woman stands directly outside of the door as if waiting for it to open. She is not alone, however, as three hulking goblin ghasts are patrolling the path, and they see Fobias come around the corner. Eager for a fight, they rush towards the party.
These goblins are nothing like the pushover greenskins that the party fought in Sandpoint and Thistletop; it seems that their undead qualities have increased their tolerance for pain. Theo notices that one the goblins has a cracked skull, and a broken piece of familiar stone is protruding from the bone. He can’t quite make the connection, but he knows it reminds him of something that he has recently seen within the Manor. Krask rains down crossbow bolts, Fobias breaks his falchion against the stone walls of the cavern, Theo drops an endless barrage of hexes, and Barnaby consistently connects with critical precision, and the goblin ghasts fall.
Despite their exhaustion, the conclusion of this latest battle has the party feeling invigorate, and they reach level six!
Who or what is the sobbing woman trying to reach down here? What’s the deal with the stone in the goblin’s head? Don’t you wish our heroes had remembered to purchases a wand of cure light wounds?