Part Thirteen: The Hidden Fortress II

The party walk to the edge of the pit and dismally realizes it falls all the way through the massive island. However, Seveh notices a sewer outlet embedded into one of the side cliff faces. The adventurers lowered themselves slowly down using a large amount of rope, until they could safely traverse to the sewer exit.

As the last party member set foot into the exit, the foul stench overcame their senses. Miscellaneous garbage and litter was thrown about the large tunnel. No sign of the drow was in view, however there was a door at the far end of the sewer way. Also in the far ceiling was a large rusted metallic iris door, with various slimes and oozes slowy dripping down. As the party cautiously pressed on, they heard a rallying cry, and footsteps stormed down stairs and the the door at the far end begun to open. Ki-Amar jumped across the foul smelling waters and bottle necked the attackers from above. After a few footmen fell to the swordmage and his companions, the footman captain closed the door and barked out the order "Flush 'em!"

Immediately the metal iris in the ceiling begun to grind open, and a disgusting mass of sewage and filth plopped down and filled up the far end of the room. Some of the party member lost their footing and fell prone. As they begun to regain their composure, the recently dropped mass begun to writhe and wiggle, slowly coming to life.

A large disgusting mass begun to take form and attack the party, flinging filth and excrement at the adventurers. Riardon threw a flaming sphere at the wretched elemental, while Ki-Amar held his position stopping any guards from entering into the fray. After some more immolating attack and splattering blows, the sewer elemental was slain. Now the party turned their attention back to the congested doorway.

A few more guards stood between the adventurers and the topside. With deftly placed blows and a few more unleashed magic missiles, the stairway was now clear and accessible.

A the top of the stairs, the party found themselves in a circular room filled with crates and storage containers. They pressed on and found another set of stairs leading even further up. As they lumbered towards the surface, Sevah heard another rally cry coming farther ahead. They took their places in another circular storage room and waited patiently for the attackers.

As the half a dozen troops poured into the surface storage room, the were met with arrows and blades that lay hidden in ambush and quickly dispatched. Amongst the carnage, Sevah spies a stairways that leads even farther up, into a tower connecting to some upper walkways. The ranger leads the party upstairs, hoping the high level approach will avoid further contact from more, large groups of the patrolling guardsmen.

Atop the tower walls, Sevah spies a few lone watchmen standing their post at various intervals. The party figures they can quickly take out the guards, however, something sinister catches the ranger's eye. At the end of the large walkway above, at the final tower in the center, three robed figures appear to be completing a ritual of some kind.

Sevah ducks down in wait, as the rest of the party members finish ascending the stairs. As they hunker down out of sight of the guards and ritual casters, they feel a massive rumble beneath their feet. A loud crashing, crumpling sound is heard in the distance as a bridge falls into the abyss below. Stalagmites collapse and burning brazers tumble into darkness as their flames flicker and wink out of existence.

Riardon confirms that the fortress and the hovering island are now moving laboriously through the large underdark cavern.

The ranger stealthily approached the first guard in the upper walkway. The let a pair of arrows fly, and soon the rest of the party caught up and finished off the lone watchmen from his post. As a few other watchmen scurried over from the other towers, Riardon noticed the robed figures didn't move, but nearby a large patrol group was pouring out of a trapdoor on the roof.

The last of the watchmen fell easily, being outnumbered and outmatched.

As the party prepared themselves for the last onslaught of patrolmen, Quinn saw a familiar figure trying to open the front gate of the central tower. He started to run down and confront the dark elf, when he witnesses a large disfigured shape hurl itself from the top of the tower. With a fluid horrific motion the wrackspawn demon seizes the drow by his head with one talon like hand, and lifts him effortlessly off the ground. Then a large scalpel looking blade hidden in his other hand impales the dark elf and he lets out a final dying yell. The towering wrackspawn demon tosses the lifeless drow body aside and fixes his murderous gaze on Quinn.

The rest of the party finishes dealing the patrol above and start to attack the robed figures. As they start to do damage, the realize with each hit, the fortress and the island start to sway and lurch. Not certain if they should press and finish off the drivers, they realize that the robed figures are using arcane magic to keep them adrift with the aid of some magical runes embedded on the floor.

Riardon claims if they slay them, he should be able to take control of the tower being a practitioner in the arcane arts. Quickly the party dispatched the enemies atop the tower and have control of the fortress, with the exception of the wrackspawn below. As fast as possible the adventurers run down the final tower stairs hoping to meet up with Quinn.

At the bottom of the stairs lays a horrific scene of dismembered bodies and an crudely made operating table. Various limbs hang from chain hooks while scalpels and cleavers line the wall, stained with blood and rust. In the center of the room on the floor, pools of blood and waste slowly empty into a clogged, covered drain. Sevah noticed one of the butchered bodies had a symbol of a drow house matriarch, barely recognizable.
Despite the nightmarish surroundings, the rest of the party go through the room and the tower gate, pressing on into the courtyard to meet up with Quinn.

The paladin takes a wicked piercing stab that seems to penetrate his plate armor as he looks like hes about to stumble. Quickly he lays on hands and his grievous wounds start to close, although he's not too certain how much longer he can trade blows with this monstrosity. Soon he hears the war cry of a half orc barbarian from behind the wrackspawn and watches and a huge heavy flail comes down smashing the wrackspawn surgeon into the side of it's head. Suddenly, the blows from the wrackspawn don't seem so heavy, and Quinn musters up the courage to stand his ground. Ki-Amar trades barbs and gets the demon's attention while Brother Japeth delivers some much needed healing to the paladin. Within a few rounds, a final arrow streaks from Sevah in the tower above, shattering the wrackspawn surgeon in the back of it's head as it collapses before the feet of the mighty Quinn.

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  The party gathers together and decide to have Riardon remain atop to steer the fortress, unsure of where the cavern leads them. They also decide to investigate the surgeon's lair and try and make some sense of this madness.

While the island fortress slowly hovers in the caverns of the underdark, Sevah thinks they should investigate the drain in the surgeon's chambers, noticing it probably leads down below into more unexplored sewer chambers. Also among the bloody debris and remains, Brother Japeth finds a procedural manual. After reading through the contents, he finds a chapter on safely removing the extra appendages four of the party members acquired recently.

With the help of the tome and surgical instruments, the cleric removes the troll arms and carrion crawler tentacle from the party members. While they offered a boon in combat, they realized any return to the civilized would have been near impossible. After an extended rest, they decide to continue down into the remaining, unexplored sewer drains.

After stifling back gags and the mage securely at the helm of the fortress, they open up the drain and climb down rusted ladder into the unexplored depths. Below they find themselves standing atop a rusted metal grate surrounded by the rotted decayed remain of the wrackspawn surgeon's victims. They also come to the conclusion they aren't alone among the refuse. Ghostly blue lights flicker from around the corners as Sevah spots the spirits of the deceased looking for vengeance upon those in the area. As the party press forward to meet the wraths head on, an enveloping darkness swallows the paladin's light source. With light still behind them, the wraths are easily dispatched although the darkness continues to creeps towards them, extinguishing any light in comes across.

Soon, a large mass of perpetual dark energy and flailing tentacles emerge and attack the party, trying to consume any light sources and hope for survival in the foul smelling sewers. While the battle ensues, more wraths glide through the walls below and take up positions trying to steal the life of the adventurers. Althought being pushed to their limits, the party in triumphant in the skirmish.

Meanwhile, atop the central  tower, Riardon the mage spies a white flying creature in the far far distance in the cavern. He pull the fortess down to a crawl, barely moving forward hoping to avoid any contact with whatever lies ahead. After a few held breaths, the white colored dragon vanishes from sight. He begins to slowly propel the hovering fortress forward some more. After a few hours he notices what appears to be some sort of makeshift dock in the side of a cliff. He also notices some lit brazers, seeming to match the ones the party encountered earlier on the bridge. He directed the fortress towards the docking area, and soon the fortress ship had a mind of it's on, slowly but gently guiding itself foward.

Below the party had finally found an obscene amount of leftover treasure, although they had to rifle through the bodies in the sewer to find them. They came away with pouches of unwanted coin, soiled yet useable armor pieces, and some weapons, once polished up, seeming to give off a magical hue.

This was their first encounter with a torture den in the underdark, one of Torog's many. They were basically constructed for a homage to the king that crawls, who relishes in the cries of the tormented and bathes in the cries of anguish. A dread feeling overcame the party when they realized this was one of the tamer ones, as it was closer to the surface than the others. What lies further down below caused them to question the wisdom of continuing on.

Riardon parked the fortress at the cliffside docks with little effort on his behalf. They walked off the rotting planks and onto solid ground for the first time in a while, slowly overcoming their motion sickness. Near the dock entrance, Sevah noticed a campfire that had burned down to it's embers. Among the makeshift campsite were what appeared to be more wrackspawn, yet these seemed somehow devoid of their previous spry lives. The ranger let an arrow fly and and it hit one square in it's sleeping chest. Riardon picked up two more of them and dropped them off the cliff, into the abyss below, certain they'd never survive that fall.
As the party engaged the remaining wrackspawn, Quinn notices a puncture mark in the back off the wrackspawn's head. They also didn't seem to fight like the previous wrackspawn they encountered, seeming uncoordinated and lifeless.

After slaying the witless guards, the party searched the camp area. There was another dock nearby, complete with lit brazers, and also there was a large iris opening door, flat on the ground in the ground nearby. It seemed to pull away into four equal parts when unlocked, and inside was a rusted ladder mounted on the side descending into darkness.

The party took a quick rest, then slowly descended into the darkness below, climbing down although they weren't certain what was ahead.

Part Twelve: The Hidden Fortress

Darkness and energy engulfed the party as they pressed on into the swirling portal. Upon arriving on the other side, they found the continuing blood trail, and the unfortunate realization that while there was a archway in the area, the portal didn't seem to be working, making their trip a one way affair.

 On the ground, the party also noticed recent bootprints that led down a dirt path and ended at pair of brazers atop two brick pillars. Between the pillars rested a delicate bridge that was littered with more lit brazers more bridge way that disappeared into the distance. A lone sentinel like figure stood atop the bridge in the center. Below the bridge was a swirling smoke like darkness, ready to engulf anyone who took a misstep.

Suddenly, the party heard mass skittering sounds, and beady humanoid eyes climbed around the bridge entrance and pillars making their way up the dirt pathway. Quinn and Ki-Amar bound into the small humanoids, easily cutting them down with deadly single blows. While making a pathway of bodies to the bridge, Sevah noticed the sentinel had started marching across the bridge. The smaller creatures had either been slain or skittered out of the way of the figure approaching from the bridge.

Quinn charged up and locked blades with the sentinel, catching the stench of decay coming from beneath the helmet. Arrows and magic missiles pierced into the heavily plated guardian, while Korgul brought up the flank and started to decimate the bridge sentinel. While putting up a valiant fight and trying to prevent the party from crossing, the bridge sentinel finally fell with a horrid laugh and a slow, evil feeling mist escaped the visor and vaporized into the underground air.

The unguarded bridge now lay before the party, filling in a large span to the the other side. Sevah could make out a fortress looking silhouette in the distance, behind a column of huge stalamites jutting out of the ground. His eagle eyes also spied some figures patrolling the distant wall. While taking a moment to study the distant area, Riardon the mage came to the conclusion that the entire fortress was erected atop a massive island that floated ominously in the underdark caverns.

Not seeing any enemies about, the party swiftly moved across the intricate, stone marble bridge. As they reached the other side, the adventurers ducked down behind one of the final burning brazers. Near the stalagmites, three more sentinel figures were taking down some corpses in what looked like some sort of ritual. Behind the figures, Sevah caught the glimpse of a ghost like apparation fading in and out of existence. And with that, he knocked an arrow and let loose.

The arrow burrowed itself into the heavily armored warrior as he let out a yell. The mass of apparations seemed to launch themselves en masse towards one of the stalagmites that that had steps wrapped around the outside, leading to a golden, detailed gong. Quinn ran as fast as he could in his full plate to head them off.

Undead after undead fell before the paladin, while Ki-Amar dashed out to meet the three sentinels. The party managed to continue the fight in front of the towering stalagmites, out of the view of the patrols on the fortress wall. While catching his breath fighting the mass of undead, Quinn flipped the metal gong down from it's purchase, resting it atop the ground, making it nearly impossible to be rung. The party proceeded to defeat to hulking sentinels and thier large horde of undead within a few minutes. As they finished up the last of the foes, they wiped thier blades clean, and ran over to the stone column closest to the fortress entrance.

As they talked about their plan of attack in entering the gates, Sevah noticed a couple of rocks cascade down a large boulder nearby. While they talked, the ranger watched the large rock unwavering, until finally he noticed a dark elf lock eyes with the party, turn and disappear into a pit a few feet away. Brother Japeth caught quick sight of the drow and recognized the insignia it bore on it tunic, being a guard for one of the drow house matriarch.

The party decided maybe a better approach to entering the fortress might be the underground way and hastily followed the queen's guard into the pit.

Part Eleven: Lending a Hand

 Venturing slowly into the light filled room, the adventurers find a large, high vaulted chamber. Within they also find three floating, glowing orbs located at opposite ends of the room, along with a circular portal on the far wall, brimming with a dark energy. Also, they find a stone altar raised on dais in the center of the room, with some fresh bloodstains trailing towards the portal.

Although the dwarves, who were also with them, claimed that this was the infamous torture den, the party was disappointed at the lack of treasures or belongings. In fact, the place seemed outright desolate which was amplified by the sound of the occasional howling underground wind about them.

The ranger deduced that there was a skirmish of some kind in the area, and the previous occupants fled into the portal, maybe three large humanoids, along with one bound prisoner.

Sevah then turned his attention to the hovering orbs. The mage studied them from a distance and determined that they had a aura of some kind of transmutation magic about them. The ranger decided he was going to try and destroy the orbs and told the party to stand a distance away.

One arrow flew and shattered the orb, and immediately, the energy within shifted into the other orbs, making them glow brighter and thrum loudly. Again, the ranger knocked an arrow and released.

The second arrow broke the second orb, and once again the contents migrated into the last orb, which was now bathed the whole chamber in a bright white light, and thrummed intensely, like a mammoth heart with an irregular beat.

Upon the last arrow firing, the final orb shattered, and the party was blinded. Four member of the party, who were still a good distance away, were knocked off their feet. Sevah, Ki-Amar, Quinn and Korgul felt something sickeningly growing inside of them. Brother Japeth and Riardon the mage tried to figure out what had happened, sensing some kind of magical disease or trying to deduce if some kind of transmutation had taken place.

Suddenly, The four front runners felt a wrack of pain shift through their bodies, and felt something hideous trying to push it's way out of their flesh. Within minutes, they crumpled over in agony, and tearing through their cloths and armor, some nightmarish appendages broke through and writhed around with some sentient minds of their own.

The dwarves that had helped them break through the cavern rocks, looked on in horror, and slowly backed away, and soon ran off in terror.

Quinn, Sevah, and Ki-Amar had some hideous green troll like arm emerging from their back, while Korgul had a tentacle like appendage flaying about. And although hideous looking, the heroes with the troll arms found themselves with ability to regenerate hit points, a nightmarish boon for the tanks of the party. The orc barbarian also had the ability to paralyze his opponents. While the appendages did have some twisted usefulness, the party knew they would have to somehow have them removed before returning to any civilization.

Brother Japeth began to study the cursed abombinations and vowed to find a way to remove them. Meanwhile, the rest of the party decided to make best of the situation and pressed onward though the portal, uncertain of what lay beyond.

Part Ten: Maelbrathyr, the Ruined City

After coming around a quick bend in the dirty, carved passageway, the party found themselves at the top of some underground steppes. The large path below zig-zagged back and forth, and at the bottom they saw the crude entryway into some ruins of an old, sprawled city that disappeared into a dark horizon. Masses of shambling undead wandered the ruins, all slowly headed to the sound of cannon fire on the far end of the city. Near the center it all was a glowing, hovering figure swathed in robes and pulled the deceased souls up from the ground, rabidly adding to his undead army.

Sevah also noticed something else disturbing among the ruins. Four hulking dog like creatures appearing to be patrolling the ruins, stopping only to sniff the air and then return to their affairs.

The party descended down the steppes following the dirt pathway, when they noticed a group of skeletons marching up to meet them. Having the high ground, the party easily cut a path through small patrol, and soon found themselves at the entrance to the ruined city. They took a moment to discuss their plan of action. They soon realized the cannons firing were aimed at the hovering figure it's newly created undead army. There were too many skeletons inhabiting the collapsed city, and they decided to pick some side streets and stay on the move. As they were hunkered down behind the entrance walls, Riardon realized that some of the locals had spotted them and were shuffling slowly towards the party.

Quinn led the charge and gathered up the skeletons. As he demanded undead's attention he barked at the rest of the group to fall back to the streets as they planned. The party started to move and the paladin pulled the undead scourge with him. As the lifeless bones collapsed to the dirt, the party noticed even more skeletons lumbering towards them. Brother Japeth called upon the powers of light to try and decimate his foes, inflicting the undead with radiant damage.

Upon doing that, the large undead canines slowly inhaled some of the air about them. Then they quickly reared their heads, and started to plod their way towards source of the radiant light. Quinn and Brother Japeth realized that any radiant damage would draw the immediate attention of the undead, dog like guardians, hindering the progress of fighting the massive undead army.

The party pushed on through the ruins, fighting group after group of skeletons, and finally got close enough to the center to witness the robed figure pulling undead from the ground. The cannons firing was being delivered by a group of dwarves from behind some crudely made metal fortifications in front of a carved cave mouth. While the cannons were effective at destroying the undead menace, the party could tell it was just a matter of time before they would be overwhelmed. Sevah deftly sprinted ahead towards the heavy barricade while the rest of the party concentrated on more of the skeleton groups and the necromancer.

Suddenly, one of the undead canines that had been tracking the party appeared nearby and charged. The beast was enormous and Riardon noticed the creature had no eyes, just empty sockets, and also on it's back were two bat like useless wings that were tapered with rotting holes. Taking a seemingly long time to kill, the canine howled and finally collapsed. The party decided it was for the best not to draw the attention of any more of the hound like creatures, as three on them together would certainly mean instant death.

Their attention turned back to the necromancer and the skeletons as they hurried up to join Sevah and the dwarven cannons. With guns blazing, arrows finding their mark, and magic bolts searing forth, the undead army finally fell, along with it's creator. The large canines seemed to lose their focus as well and dissipated into piles of smouldering ash.

The dwarves thanked the party for their assistance and asked what they were doing so far into the Underdark. The mage stated they were looking for one of the torture dens of Torog, but had been unable to locate it. The dwarves knew the location, and offered to either take them to the den or make their way back to Forgehome, further on down into the cave. Eagerly wanting to find the torture den and it's treasures, the party asked to be escorted to it's whereabouts.

A small band of three dwarven scouts led them and they backtracked across the now barren city, up the steppes and though the drow jails. Back near the fallen beholder zombie corpse was a small crop of fallen rocks, and with the help of the dwarves and their mining picks, they made short work of the collapsed area, and formed a new entrance.

Further down the newly made cavern pathway, a thrumming bright glow lit up the room ahead.

Part Nine: Ow My Eye!

The party hunkered down and watched from a secure distance as the large sphere shaped creature scouted around the rubble filled cavern. After a while, Sevah grew impatient and went up to his knee, gazing out into the caverns. He noticed a few peculiarities about the situation, seeing as the creature was moving about lethargically and slabs of skin hung loosely off of it's bulbous, bloated body. It dawned on the elf that this creature wasn't alive any longer as something or someone had drained it's life essence. Still, an undead beholder was a fearsome sight, and the party was uncertain how tough the living corpse might be.

The elf let two arrows loose from his bow and they bore into the creature's lesion pocked skin, grabbing it's attention. The party charged in, slashing and piercing at the hovering menace. The undead menace didn't prove much of a fight and was vanquished with surprising ease. However, a new problem came to light.

 Riardon posed the idea that something must of killed and/or raised a beholder which are fearsome creatures often ruling entire areas of the underdark further below. There might be something nearby even more terrible or ferocious than the eye tyrant itself.

After dispensing of the monstrosity, the party had a new problem of crossing the rubble filled cavern. There were a few natural steps across the howling wind filled chasm, but they were spread out and divided throughout the place.

Most of the party, even Quinn the paladin, made their way across safely. Only Brother Japeth had trouble, briefly losing his footing, yet was helped back atop with the aid of his companions.

On the other side, the ruined wall of a dark elf dwelling housing a secure, thick wooden door. They heard shuffling noises and a low, haunting moan coming from the other side. Quietly, the ranger opened the door and knocked an arrow, peering cautiously in. Slowly lurching up the stairs on the other side, a massive body of decayed muscle locked it's lifeless eyes on the party.

The hulking zombie took up the entire hallway, and pushed it's way out into the ruined cavern area. Soon it was filled with arrows and heavily bruised as it stumbled about tearing wildly at the intruders. While the battle raged on, another lurching figure appeared in the hallway, looking like some mishapped, possessed dark elf.
With a quick blink, the figure appeared right behind Brother Japeth and trying to prevent the cleric from healing the party. Ki-Amar immediately blinked himself over and locked swords with the possessed elf, tearing him off the Brother Japeth.

After some more coordination and teamwork, the two undead fiends lay defeated by the party.

They entered into the ruins, realizing it was another drow dwelling, but the current inhabitants were no longer of this mortal coil. Further shuffling sounds were heard from down the hall, and a study area presented itself off to the eastern side. Papers and books were littered about the tables and floor. Notes and entries indicated this was a jail block that was connected to the previous explored slaving area, but some terrible force had come through the area recently and condemned every living creature within the area. More paperwork revealed some codes and maps of the local area. Also near the bookcase, the eladrin mage discovered a secret passageway. The party gathered up and squeezed through the narrow tunnel that led into private chamber, complete with a algae covered tub and a stack of private books. Another chamber wound around further and exited into a jail assignment room. Inside the party was greeted by a pale human looking figure covered with bloodstains and another pair of hulking zombies. They weren't friendly.

After a long enduring fight, the zombies were slain and reduced to lifeless piles of meat, yet the jailer hissed at the party and dissipated into a flowing mist and disappeared underneath the large, bulky and locked double door that led further into the jail cells.

After figuring out the large, complex lock mechanism, the party carefully entered the cell. Four large containers were locked and lowered into the floors, with a catwalk high above circling the whole area. Sevah gracefully jumped up and guarded the catwalk door, while the party figured out how to raise the jail cells, certain the jailer had taken inside one somewhere. Slowly wheels and gears whirred and the first empty cell slowly made it's way to the surface. Next, the ranger listened to the door and heard some familiar shuffling and moaning noises as the second cell was raised. A hideous, agile being lunged out at the party from the cell, while a hulking zombie started smashing in the catwalk door.

The ghoul bounced around the room frantically tearing at the party, while the elf called for help at the large monstrosity creeping though the destroyed doorway. To add insult to injury, a mist was slowly escaping out of one of the cells and beginning to materialize in the room.

Sevah backed up to distance himself from the approaching undead horror, while the other members focused their efforts on the ghoul, that while surprisingly lithe, was easily dispatched from some very well aimed blows. Now the party divided their focus between the newly formed jailer and the zombie hulk on top. After many rounds of heavy flails pounding down and magic missiles flaring across the dilapidated prison room, the zombie hulk lay defeated, and the party could synchronize their actions on to the jailer, whom they were worried would materialize before destroyed him completely. Brother Japeth proved useful in hindering the undead lords means of escape, while Quinn dug in and kept the jailer from attacking his companions. The fight went on for what seemed like forever, until finally the vampire was destroyed and a peculiar key was found on the remnants.

The drow key had a small glowing blue orb that had the intricate carvings of a black widow spider surrounding it. The paladin placed the key for safekeeping into his pouch and pulled himself up to the catwalk to join the rest of the party as they made their way out of the jail area.

According to their map, there was a large exit chamber ahead, with a note saying the passage beyond led to the fallen city of Maelbrathyr, a once ancient, thriving city believed to be pulled down into the Underdark by Torog himself.

Approaching the exit hall, the party noticed a large spider statue with a hole in it's abdomen that interestingly enough was an exact match for the key and a large pair of metallic doors that brimmed with electrical energy.

After placing the key into the statue lock, the doors slowly hummed open, and the large hallway beyond showed a floor with many runic symbols that had lightning charges dancing across it in a serpentine like dance. The mage consulted his notes from the library, and figured out a pattern from some some of the notations and riddles written on the page. Ki-amar, being a genasi born from the storms, stepped up and volunteered to go first.

The swordmage cautiously stepped on the plates that were called out by Riardon, and after making his way slowly across, found a lever near a solid metal door at the other end of the electrical rune puzzle floor trap. Upon pulling the lever, the whole room powered down with a slow descending thrum.  The rest of Ki-Amar's companions met up with him at the other end and opened the door that led into a rough, uneven earthly passage. The stench of death further on overwhelmed them.