The Necropolis of Arech

Through the mist, slowly coming into view, where there could be none, was a hill. A broken, uneven hill, surrounded by black walls, dotted with graves and crowned by a massive building sculpted to resemble a human skull. Even from a distance, the unmistakable forms of undead creatures could be seen shambling around on its' slopes.

Surya turned to Ingamin, who was clearly impresssed. "Is that enough to convince you?" he asked. The captain nodded. ''It bears out your account and more,'' he replied, "Although I would like very much to know why it's there." Hildraft looked from one to the other with trepidation; clearly he knew what both were thinking: let's take a closer look.

Using Surya's looking glass, the dwarf scanned the site. There was only one gate, and it was clearly guarded; ten zombies sagged to attention around a siege piece of some sort (apparently in reasonable repair), captained by a taller skeletal form with a crest of cold blue flames. Hildraft drew a sharp breath and recommended they perhaps go the other way; the creature was a Winterwight.

Circling the fortress, they observed carefully while Hansen sketched and mapped. More and more, the lines of the buildings and the vegetation growing on the unnatural hill struck the travellers as alien, strange, out of place. More and more they felt sure that it was not native to this plane. Surya's heart sank; how could he possibly lead an army of armoured warriors to this place?

Finally, they elected to approach from the rear, as far from the gates as possible, leaving Hansen with the horses. Scaling the ten-foot basalt wall easily, they eyed the zombie guards shambling along the parapets, but these ignored them utterly - reasonably, given the Invisibility to Undead spells Hildraft had cast. Detection spells revealed them as both undead and magical, but this was not a surprise, given their nature. Armed with heavy swords and tattered brigandines, they were not effective guards, and their purpose remained a mystery.

The interior of the fortress was completely different to the marshes outside; hard ground, and trees and bushes. Zombies stumbled around here and there, but again, these ignored the visitors completely as they climbed over the hill and down the other side. As they did so, they became aware of the faint radiations of massive leashed power deep below the earth.

The whole outer area was dotted with thousands of graves; around half gaped empty, but the rest were topped with worryingly recently-turned earth. Further inwards, what had appeared like the buildings of a small town turned out to be several hundred mausoleums, massively constructed from the same black rock as the walls.

Most of these were closed tight, but exploring a couple of the open (and empty ones), the heroes discovered writings (which only the ta'nara could read) which were peculiar in their spartan simplicity. There was no representational art, no grave goods, no pictures of the dead; merely names, house or family names and emblems, and a bald description: "Strakeln was a successful warrior", "Peramos the Sorcerer" and so on.

Approaching the main entrance to the hill, tucked under the looming gaze of the monster skull, they found a three-pointed raised platform protruding from the front of the hill. The centre point stuck out into the necropolis, almost like some form of stage or platform; stairs led up the sides of the other two.

At the rear of the dias gaped a dark doorway leading into the hill. Nine rough, misshapen brown stones, with deeply carved runes and sigils which glowed and pulsed with an eldritch red luminescence, stood in a semicircle around the doorway, representing the lower teeth of the mighty skull-head looming above.

In front of them lay a rectangular pool. The liquid - it was not water -  was pale blue, and roiled with an unpleasant motion. Occasionally tortured faces appeared on the surface, apparently pleading for release, before sinking from view again. A faint moaning song was just perceptible.

Perhaps sensibly - perhaps unwisely - they gave the pool a wide berth and concentrated on the runestones. With the witch-sight of the Robe of Eyes, Surya could dimly see a pulsing, coiling field of energy flowing between the monoliths, forming a dome over the entrance to the hill.

Hildraft attempted, once again, to shift himself onto the Ethereal plane, and once more failed. He considered a moment, then approached the problem differently; casting an Antimagic Field, he moved forwards and cautiously stepped between the stones.

The two fields clashed with a crackle of arcane sparks, and the energy emitted by the pillars gave back, flowing around the protective dome surrounding the dwarf. Then he was through, and into the centre, where the energy field didn't extend. Grinning in relief, he walked back through, and escorted the others safely through.

There was no outer door, and the ever-present mist seeped and coiled around their ankles as they stepped into the hall.

Four columns dominated the room, a good 4' in diameter, each carved with four intertwining skeletal snakes. Two 10' diagonal passages led out of the far corners; narrow openings led off left and right, and a pair of double doors occupied the centre of the opposite wall.

As the group reached the centre of the hall, Hildraft blinked. Surely one of those snakes had just moved...