Locked Away

The little halfling prepared herself. With her magic boots she could easily run past them, but what lay beyond? There were four undead that she could see, but could there be more?
The zombies shambled ever closer. There was a noise behind from the rock slide, but she dare not look. Just as the lead zombie was almost upon her, ..."Thunk"!
An arrow was now sticking out of the eye socket of the closest zombie. It dropped to the ground. A quick look behind her revealed Gildrid had squeezed himself halfway through the a hole between the top of the rockslide and the ceiling.
"Thanks, Skinny", Miss Adventure said before she sprinted behind the furthest undead. Slash! Her short sword dug into the creature. It swung around to face her as the rest took interest in Gildrid.
The elf was trying to squeeze himself through as the zombies moved closer.
He had let loose another arrow, but it went wide. Suddenly he slid forward and smashed into the floor. Nemon, the old mercenary, had shoved Gildrid the rest of the way through.
Gildrd, crumpled at the bottom of the pile of rocks, was set upon by the zombies.
He slashed furiously as they pummeled him with rusted cudgels.
One of the zombies dropped when a large chunk of rock crushed his head. Nemon was halfway through the hole using rocks as missiles. Meanwhile, Miss Adventure had finished her undead foe, and was working on another.
On the other side of the collapsed tunnel, Gustav and Mellon were digging out the remains of Gruffydd. Finally an ankle appeared. Mellion began to tug. Gustav grabbed the other leg. With one last effort they pulled the dwarf free. He groaned.
"Still alive!" Gustav yelled. He grabbed his holy talisman and began to pray.
Nemon, Miss Adventure and Gildrid dispatched the last zombie in time to see a strange glow come form the other side of the rockslide. "What's going on back there?" Nemon shouted.
The weak voice of Gustav responded, "He's alive, but he's going to have a headache".
The rock pile was cleared. Everyone rested. All but 2 vials of the Tears of Shehalla were drank. The zombies had yielded little in treasure. But they had guarded a stairway down.
At the bottom of said stairway was a chamber. It showed damage from a massive brawl. There was dried blood, broken weapons, gouges in the masonry, and strangest of all, long spikes embedded in the walls.
The was another stairway down, but the party's attention was drawn to door. It was boarded shut.

Between some rocks, and a hard place

MIss Adventure jumped when she heard the rocks fall behind her. Dust filled the small passage. She took a few steps back, coughing, into the chamber behind her. She was about to run to Gruffydd's aid when she heard a low moan, and sensed movement behind her in the chamber.
When she turned, she saw 4 shapes rise from the floor of the room. There was the clanking of armor, and the low moans again.
"Ahhh, not zombies....."
She was trapped.

Rocks

"Aaaaaaaahhhh!" Gruffydd gave a shout as he charged the ghoul. His hammer smashed the creature in the arm. But the ghoul slashed with his claws. The dwarf was scraped, but the ghouls paralyzing toxins had no effect on the sturdy Gruffydd.
Nemon attacked with his mighty blade. The ghoul moved with an unearthly speed. He dodged the blow and wounded Nemon. The warrior soon felt the icy cold overtake him. Gildrid took his place in the fray and was also paralyzed.
While the ghoul was bust with his attackers, Miss Adventure had snuck behind him. She drove her short sword into the thing's back. With a howl it stood straight and flailed at his unseen attacker.
It was then the other finished him with quick hammer blows and arrows.
Gustav quickly went to the aid of his frozen fellows. Calling upon his god, he healed them, but he was exhausted by the feat.
In the ghouls den they found piles of gold. The creature had been waylaying adventurers that entered the cave. He must have been one himself long ago. The party found silver bracers and a heavy key around his neck. Much searching found no lock to match it.
Resyed a bit they moved further down the passage. The way became smaller. Miss Adventure and Gruffydd, being the smallest went first.
The halfling moved through easily enough, but as Gruffydd entered the passage, the ceiling above gave way with a crack. It was if the whole mountain came down on him...

Things shiny and shambling

Gruffydd took the brunt of the rat swarm, but soon others jumped in. It involved more smashing, squashing and flailing than real fighting.
Gustav was able to call upon his god to heal the minor scrapes and bites. What he couldn't fix, a few healing potions did.
That room yielding only a few coins amongst the refuse, they moved to the next room. There, in the dark, something shuffled and moved. The torchlight revealed and figure clad in once rich robes, now turned to rags. Shining through the filth something glittered. The creature wore a heavy chain of gold and brilliant silver gauntlets.
The thing itself hissed. It was the color of a deathly ill man. Its hands ended in razor sharp claws. It's eyes, burning red coals of hate.
Gustav pushed his way to the front. "Back! Back spawn of hell!" He thrust forth talisman and prayed to Arnor for strength.
A hideous cackling that sounded came from the ghoul. "Not strong enough....for me..."

Poking in Holes

"There are three ways we can do this," Gruffydd said. "We fight him. And we'll lose by the way. We can negotiate. Giants are stupid, but they're greedy and always hungry. We'' probably lose some gold and a couple horses.
Or, we can find a way around."
Just then, Miss Adventure returned from a quick sneak around the tower. "He looks like he's here to stay", she said.
Quietly, they all mounted up and rode into the unknown area down the river. The ground leveled out, and slowly became swampy. The river became a marsh, and fordable at a wide, flat lake. There they crossed.
It was afternoon by the time they made it to the cliffs overlooking the river again. A cool, fireless night was spent there on the cliffs.
Early the next morning they found the side entrance to the Well of Souls they had found weeks before. The cave mouth was overgrown with foliage, and it took some negotiating to get the horses inside.
The cavern inside was wide and tall enough to fit the horses in. It was agreed, this was for the best, rather than leave them to the elements. There were three small tunnels in the cave.
"Left to right?" Gruffydd asked, "or right to left?"
Torches lit, they went single file down the right most tunnel, the dwarf leading the way.
The tunnel was rough and sloped down into a small cavern. It stank of rot and animal dung. It stunk of RATS!
A horde of giants rats made their home here. On seeing the torchlight, they swarmed the closest adventurer.

Return to the Well of Souls

The unrelenting heat finally broke over Wall. Citizens and adventurers alike crept outside to enjoy the cool weather. After their humiliating last effort, Miss Adventure and Gildrid wanted another go at the lands Beyond the Wall. They gathered the rest of their adventuring crew, and set out early one morning.
Again, following the advise of the Lord Marshal to avoid their familiar routes, they left the Old Trade Road and headed cross country. The one place they knew to cross the river that bisected their route east-west, was the ford at the broken towers. It would take two days to reach it, and once there, they would have to be careful of the hornet like creatures that dwelled in the far tower.
Their two days past uneventful. The only other living soul they saw was a hawk circling high in the cloudless sky. By midday they had reached the ford. Crested the hill that led down the river, Gildrid spotted movement.
The rest dismounted while The elf and his cousin Mellion watched from the safety of the trees. The near tower definitely had activity. They waited, and just as they were sure their eyes were playing tricks large shape emerged form the ruined tower.
It was a hill giant. And it seemed he had made their only crossing point his home. The grouped watched as the massive humanoid slumped outside the ruined tower and settled in for an afternoon nap.

My Little Pony

And off they ran. It was over. Zombie plant creatures, bugbears, land sharks, and talking corpses. It was all too much.
They ran and ran. After a day and night they stopped. Exhausted, they entered the glen where their friend the Dryad, Newly, once lived. The grove of full on small trees. Despite the blistering heat a pitiful rain, these trees seemed to flourishing.
Then, they spotted movement. They tensed and waited for the ambush the Lord Marshal had warned them of.
Instead of monsters or bandit they saw a small pony.

"Amazon!" Miss Adventure screamed and ran to the horse. It must have escaped the Land Shark attack. Indeed, it was scratched here and there but otherwise unharmed.
It was only a short distance back to Wall. But the ribbing they would get from their fellow adventurers over this misadventure, would be long and brutal.

Next: A new adventure starring all your favorites. "Return to the Well of Souls"