The party were summoned to an audience with Captain Kessler the following morning. The ignorant locals seem abuzz that history would repeat itself and there is a huge undead force heading towards the town. They fear that there is no Olaus Stichelm to save the town this time around....
Magnus and the dwarf visit Schulmann first. He is still working fervently on the tablet, and promises to have more information for the party when they return the next day.
The party attend the meeting with Kessler, who leads them to meet the Burgomaster of Stromdorf, Philip Addler. He is an unkempt and slovenly gentleman, apparently overcome by some personal turmoil or tragedy. Addler asks the party to find Brother Grabbe, the local Priest of Morr, as he was visited in his dreams by his dear Madriga, who he clutches a picture of while talking to the party. Madriga warned him that all was not well and Addler has taken this as portent of further ill omen.
Taking an advance pament from Addler, the party strike out south west of Stromdorf. Although largely unobservant, perhaps due to their exhaustion and the constant rain, a particularly eagle eyed member of the party notes that they are being followed. Their stalker turns out to be the local village idiot, Waltrout. The dwarf attempts to scare the simple lad in to revealing why he is following the group, but only succeeds in reducing him to a crying wreck.
Arriving at the garden of Morr, Magnus rings the bell but nobody arrives from the garden to greet the party. The servants of justice smell more foul pla is afoot! Bran bravely fords the deep river himself, risking personal injury in the form of several nasty bites from river eels, and brings the boat back for the party, and Waltrout, who the party now seem to have adopted.
The party enter the dark tunnel to the garden of Morr. Bats brush past
them. The darkness seems all consuming. The passage ends in a low doorway that open up to reveal an underground temple with a checkerboard floor. Bran and Magnus shiver. Superstition dictates that it is bad luck to enter the garden of Morr without a priest by one’s side. In the chamber there is an altar decorated with skulls. Searching the stone coffins in the chamber, the group are assailed by three zombies that emerge from their resting place to attack the party. Defeating the zombies and looking to leave in a hurry, to the party’s dismay the metal door is locked and will not yield to Bran and the dwarf’s efforts to move it. Ever resourceful, Bran picks up the stone font from the centre of the room and batters the metal door down.
The party enter the Garden of Morr. Noticing lightning striking a conductor on the top of a building on the other side of the garden, the party wondered if this Ossuary might be the resting place of a second lightning stone, and if this is to blame for the recent undead plague. Making their way through their macabre surroundings, the party also notice the tomb of the hero Olaus Stichelm, of whom the towns folk had spoke. Inspecting the tomb closer, the party find the sepulcher to be empty … no coffin, body or headstone lies within.
Making their way to the building in the corner of the garden, the party are startled as Shaft suddenly cries out as a hand suddenly emerges from the ground. To their horror, the party notice more undead thrusting themselves up from the soil – the whole garden of Morr seems to be coming to life as the long dead corpses wrench themselves from the ground. Making a dash for the building, the party quickly find themselves surrounded and having to fight for their lives once again. Hacking their way through the grasping hordes, Bran and the dwarf determinedly cleave a path for the party through the zombies.
Reaching the Ossuary, the party slam the door on the undead hordes, only to be greeted with fresh danger. The room they have entered is decorated everywhere with bones, including a crest of the emperor composed of bones. In the centre of the room is a huge pile of the things. Having no choice to return outside, the party attempt to proceed down a set of stairs in the room, but their way is suddenly barred by skeletons that begin to form from the bones on the floor, walls and ceiling of the room. However, the skeletons offer very little resistance to the party’s steel, and they quickly dispatch them and head downstairs.
Exploring the basement of the Ossuary, the party eventually locate Brother Grabbe’s living quarters. The priest is lying on the slab, and the hideously decomposed body of a woman, the Burgomaster’s beloved Madriga, appears to be draining the life from him. Madriga mocks the party’s feeble efforts – she is actually the undying necromancer Lazarus Mourn. Before the party can act against this abomination, a huge, armoured skeletal giant steps in to the doorway of the room, barring their entry. It is the animated skeleton of Olaus Stichelm, wielding a great sword and the late hero’s gravestone as a shield. In a titanic clash, Bran falls in battle to the mighty Stichelm, and summoning their last reserves of power, in the name of justice, the Dwarf and Shaft take down the giant.
Mourn/Madriga proves to be little match for the remaining servants of justice and his feeble vessel is quickly dispatched. Magnus’s attention is drawn to a pendant around Madriga’s neck – the party speculate this is perhaps some evil artifact that acts as a vessel for Mourn’s evil power? They vow to investigate it further, with sufficient caution. Perhaps Shulmann can help them? Stichelm’s shield turns out to be similar to the fragment of the lightning stone that the party retrieved from the beastmen not three days hence. Hefting the stone, the party are excited to deliver it to Shulmann and perhaps shed more light on the unfolding mystery. Fortunately, destroying mourn has released the undead hordes from their torment, and the party are able to once again triumphantly return to Stromdorf with fresh tales of valour and justice!
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