Team MeFight Twenty-Second Session

Finally into the fortress, the characters were guided by typical Dwarven attention to detail and procedure, with paths clearly demarcated by durable sign-age. They made their way as quickly as they could to the Captain's quarters, knowing that there would be kept dual logs in the style of the other fortress they found. A few zombies and a good close shave later, they found themselves there, in a room that had been well-fortified against attack. Within were two children, a dog, a cat, zombies in cages, and a cage that contained a deceased, non-zombie Dwarf. Searching the room, they found the expected logs--upon reading, the children were discovered to have been those of the Captain himself, dead of starvation after locking themselves in the room to ride out the plague. The Captain's personal gear was also in this room--with apologies to the dead, Kib Absold acquired it for his own use, having no doubt that it would assist them in solving the mystery of the plague, and the fortress.

The party then proceeded into the adjoining room, the Captain's personal bedroom. In here was found a zombie (the Captain himself), and an older, female corpse that had, curiously, been gnawed by the zombie, a behavior that the party had not before witnessed. Nothing was found to identify the Dwarven woman, but the zombie had a platinum ring with insignia that, presumably, identified him as captain. As of now, the ring is still on the Captain's finger.

The party now rests, the offices of the Matriarch their next goal.

Experience

• 540 to level 6s
• 560 to level 5s

Loot

• 42 platinum pieces
• Warhammer (magical), with the Dwarven rune "Change" deeply engraved into its facing plate
• Chainmail (magical), no special features other than high quality

New information

• The infection, as suspected, does seem to correlate with interaction with the recovered object, although circumstances make it impossible to be certain
• The Matriarch led efforts to find a more permanent cure for the disease, and may even have made some progress without being able to disseminate the knowledge.
• The corridor south of the Captain's office is empty even of corpses, save for a dreadfully large smear of blood of unknown origin.
• One of the Dwarves in the cages had not succumbed to zombiehood, even though he was evidently expected to do so (according to the logs)
• The object was in the warehouses by the trading depot, but was since moved to an undisclosed, "secure" location