25 Into Darkness

With Drai keeping the guard out of the way it was time to decide what to do next. Valeria consulted the gods, and learned that indeed, the area with dead grass and trees was unholy ground. The center of the effect seemed to be about 30 feet behind the Ravenloft mausoleum, and 20 feet underground. As the mausoleum nicely blocked the line of sight of the guard, Valerie got busy digging a hole near that spot. Leila stripped naked.. which was a shock to a family paying their respects to a dead grandma, so the father in the family kept an eye on Leila and covered the eyes of his son, until the mother took the entire family away. With her clothes safe from dirt, Leila joined in, and the two half-elves started making quicker progress. I kept watch on both the digging and the guard who was still playing chess, not hearing the sounds of the excavation or not caring.


Eventually the guard's shift ended. Another guard arrived, and the first one, whose name was Geoff, left the cemetery with Drai. The new guard, Burt, did inspect what was going on, but didn't seem to mind that much, especially after a small bribe. After all, he had been ordered to make sure no one opens the crypt, and to raise an alarm with either of the two nearby bells if someone tries to - not to keep people from digging new holes in an area already filled with filled holes. He was curious though, and as saying that the team would be half-elven gravediggers would not fly, I spun another lie; that we were there to follow up on rumors that the infamous Dulltone thieves had buried a casket of coins between Alphonsus and Barrytone graves, which was where the team was digging. After being promised 20% of any coins found, if any, the guard left us be and just guarded the Ravenloft mausoleum.

The night passed, and eventually Geoff passed out. Drai left after Geoff had lost five games in a row but before Geoff would lose the contents of his stomach, and both were happy for it. Drai returned to the cemetery just in time to see that further digging was futile. Fifteen feet of earth and hard digging, and at the bottom of the hole solid stone awaited. That stopped a shovel.. but it was not dragon proof. I got us a ladder from the temple, Leila and Valeria climbed up from the hole they had dug for themselves - and it was Drai's turn. He inhaled, deeply.. then exhaled, and blasted a sharp jet of flames into the pit. Stone shrieked and blasted, mortar melted.. and the stone layer turned brittle. A couple of hits with a shovel, and it gave way. Darkness awaited underneath, and our keen senses revealed that it was a room, about eight feet tall.. so the source of the evil emanations would be in it.

We returned the ladder into the hole, and the bravest and noblest of us would go first. That proved to be Valeria, followed closely by Drai. It made sense... Leila and I would rather stay alive, Drai and Valeria would rather served the causes of the noble, good dragons, so everyone got to do what they were suited for.