Pool of Radiance_ Ruins of Myth Drannor - Carrie Bebris [13]
“Don’t let it touch you!” Corran warned. With a mighty swing to the ghoul’s neck, the paladin made quick work of the weakened creature. Its head fell to the ground and rolled several feet. Kestrel was glad it stopped at an angle that hid its hideous face.
“I take it you’ve faced ghouls before?” Ghleanna asked Corran as he and Durwyn cleaned the ghoul’s foul blood off their weapons.
The paladin nodded. “Several times. They’re nasty creatures-their touch can paralyze. If you’re killed by a ghoul, you’ll become one too, unless it eats all your flesh first. They feed on corpses.” He glanced at the dead adventurers and orcs. “It must have been attracted by the bodies. We should bury them before the sun fully sets, when the creatures will probably come out in droves. Where there’s one there are sure to be more.”
“Do we have time?” Ghleanna asked. “I’m almost out of spells, and we still need to find shelter for ourselves.”
“I hate to leave them here unprotected,” the paladin said. “These heroes died noble deaths-their remains deserve better than to become ghoul fodder.”
Kestrel gestured toward one of the ruined buildings she’d studied earlier. “If we move the adventurers in there and leave the orcs out in the street, perhaps the ghouls will be satisfied with the easy meal.” She expected Corran to dismiss the idea simply because she had suggested it. To her surprise, he agreed.
“We should also keep their equipment for our own use,” she added. “It can’t help them now.”
He opened his mouth to say something but seemed to change his mind. “I suppose.”
They distributed the goods amongst themselves. For the time being, Ghleanna carried the vials, planning to examine them later to see if she could identify their contents. Durwyn added several dozen arrows to his supply. Corran offered Kestrel an ordinary-looking dagger Loren had been carrying. “You seem to know how to use these.”
“Thanks.” She gestured toward the ring. “I’ll take that too, if no one minds. It won’t fit either of you.”
“And it can be sold for a fair price when we return, right?” Corran said dryly. He glanced at the others, then tossed it to her. “It’s yours.”
She slid the dagger into a sheath on her belt and slipped the ring on her right middle finger where it wouldn’t impede the dexterity of her dominant left hand.
They had just moved the last body into the makeshift crypt when a shout drifted out of another nearby building.
“Leave that alone! Hey-leave me alone! Scat! Scat, I tell ye! Git yer stinkin’ carcasses outta here! Hey-help!”
They hurried off in the direction of the cries, following them to a well-fortified building that looked as if it might once have been an armory. A foul stench issued forth, one that reminded Kestrel of the undead bandit she’d seen last night beside Phlan’s pool.
Within, they found a half dozen rotting, animated orc corpses in tattered clothing circling what appeared to be a peddler’s wagon. Atop it, fending off the creatures with anything he could lay his hands on, perched a very irritated halfling. His leather armor seemed to deflect most of the zombies’ claws, but a few scratch marks marred his arms and round, ruddy cheeks.
“Git back, I said!” He brained the nearest creature with a cast-iron frying pan, then tossed a basket over the head of another. “Whew! Ye need some perfume!” He unstopped a vial and flung its contents in the eyes of a third.
Durwyn moved to engage the undead beings, but Corran stayed him. The paladin stepped forward. “Foul creatures of darkness!” he called out in a commanding tone.
The zombies turned in the direction of his voice and staggered toward their new target, arms outstretched.
“Great,” Kestrel muttered. Now the creatures were coming to attack them. At least these things moved slowly. Just as she was about to draw the twin daggers from her boots, Corran held a silver symbol of Tyr aloft.
“Begone!” he cried. “Trouble this man no more!”
The creatures moaned and tried