Narg and the Necromancer

Inside.

Narg led the way, Bloodletter in hand. Shogun followed, his staff at the ready, spells prepared. Gorgus brought up the rear, carrying his mace. They started across the recently opened drawbridge, boots making a dull clunking noise on the black wood.

Shogun peered over the edge into the murky grey sludge. There was a movement, and he saw the half rotten face of a man surface momentarily, white with death. Just before it sank back into the slime the eyes sprang open and bored into the small wizard. Shogun jumped back and swore under his breath, heart beating fast. Narg chuckled.

They approached the gaping maw of the entrance-way. The portcullis seemed to be rusted in place, half raised. The three moved on, through the gate and along a dark passage. Narg was not at all surprised when it slammed shut behind them with a crash of rust and dust.

“They always do that,” he told the startled Shogun. “Don’t worry about it, there’ll be a way out, or...”

“Or what?” asked Shogun.

“Well, or you don’t need one. So don’t worry about it wizard, nothing you can do about it now anyway. Ah, here we are.”

They had entered the courtyard. A place obviously unused for many, many years. Skeletons lay on the ground, rotten with age. Narg kept a close eye on them, just in-case they suddenly showed a sudden interest in getting up again. Nothing stirred.

Ahead were steps leading up to a double doorway, with doors the height of three men. Narg didn’t hesitate, and climbed them. Shogun and Gorgus followed, glancing around nervously as they did so.

Narg walked up to the door and pushed hard. It resisted at first, then slowly, with the maximum amount of creaking, swung inwards.

They entered a large hall. Dim light filtered through dirty windows, illuminating the scene with a listless grey light. Narg rather wished it hadn’t bothered. Whomever had decorated the hall was a big fan of Gothic.

Large black stone tiles on the floor were inscribed with runes and characters unnatural to the eye. The walls were dark, lined with giant oil paintings depicting various b****y scenes. In the centre of the hallway a grand staircase wound its way upward, and to the left and right hallways led off towards the wings, with another set of double doors were ahead. Overhead, a large and elaborate chandelier hung coated with cobwebs. The high ceiling was obscured in shadow.

The party spread out and examined the place. Shogun and Narg considered the pictures. The first one showed a young maiden enjoying, or perhaps not enjoying, the embraces of some kind of demon and his horse. Another showed a large dining hall with a group of fat, richly dressed men eating and drinking with obvious enjoyment around a large feast table. If you looked closer you saw the men were feasting upon various body parts, chins covered with blood. At the same time a number of she-devils were climbing up through a crevice in the ground and performing… acts… upon some of the men. Narg stopped a moment and looked closer. One of the she-demons looked oddly familiar…

Narg was interrupted by Shogun, who had moved onto the next painting and was now busy throwing up. He went to see what had amused the wizard so much. The third painting was a summer night scene in the woods. Various animals and demons were cavorting with groups of children of various ages. They were… well they were doing a lot of things, none of them natural. He tilted his head sideways to examine one teenage couple who were preoccupied with a baboon and the apparently freshly scooped-out brain of a puppy.

He turned to Shogun. Who was still gasping. “Not an art lover then wizard?”

Shogun just pointed at the picture, not looking at it, and gagged.

“Yes, well perhaps a little extreme. Still, nice frame.”

Their art critique was interrupted by Gorgus, who had been scouting around a little more productively. “I can make out four possible routes to explore,” he said. “The west corridor has collapsed a little way down, we can’t get past easily. There’s the main stairwell, the double doors and the corridor east.”

“You said four ways,” said Narg.

“There’s another doorway behind the staircase. It leads down.”

Shogun joined them, cleaning his mouth on his cloak. “Where shall we look? This place is huge, we could be here all year and not find anything.”

“Well, we had better make a decision soon,” said Gorgus, “I think we have company…”

Narg looked around. He couldn’t see anything, but there was definitely a shuffling noise coming from the East corridor. He doubted it was a lovely young maid bringing them a drink of ale and an offer of a nice bed for the night.  

Author's note: Sorry, short chapter this time.  More soon!