Ternketh V: Zombies Below

The party down below has lost track of the harpy.  Olie, the thief who was charmed, has gained control over himself again and chosen to open the door across from that the harpy left (but through which the harpy definitely did not exit).

This has revealed two more of the same zombies (again, surprised).  The party has rushed into the room to kill them. The room has small pieces of broken glass and cups, suggesting it was a sort of 'tavern' - but the zombies shuffling through the room have shoved these things to the corners and out of the way.  Incidentally, there's not much dust in the keep, either - the zombies make good housekeepers.

The back party has gotten jammed in the small room, where Holly, Sharper, Demifee, Taver and Mazonn (a non-level man-at-arms) are bottled up.  Sven, at the bottom, is breaking open the chests to see what's in them.

The two zombies are basically just a distraction.  There's a certain logic for their being here - the harpies are forever opening doors and now and then a zombie leaks in.  They're not much of a threat to the harpies, who can just rush past them fast enough not to be attacked (and a harpy can generally make quick business of a zombie, if necessary).  For the adventure's purpose, two zombies serve as both an opportunity for me to sap a few hit points and to keep the momentum going.  A few x.p. for the characters doesn't hurt either, though with these higher level characters it doesn't mean much.

Rooms like these are easy to create - I already have a table and chairs, so I can make as many rooms as I need by just duplicating previously created items.

Anyway, the party did destroy the first zombie quickly.  On the left, Maze the 1st level cleric has already hit the other one.

They can't quite see around the hallway's corner, so that has been left blacked out on the map.

Again, this represents the furthest these characters reached with this running.  The players do seem to be happy, however, even with this slow movement.  They have a lot of questions about what they're seeing - and yes, they are being cautious.  It has taken a little more than three years of real time for Olie to reach 8th level as a thief.  He definitely doesn't want to lose that, nor the henchmen he wouldn't be allowed to keep.

It's worth noting that not everyone chose to come after these zombies.  The party has split again - and I'll deal with the rest of them on another post.