Curious to see what was inside, Dare rushes towards the tower.  The smell of rot strengthens as he nears, stinging his nose. He can hear grunts emanating from within the darkness and the aimless shuffling about of more than a few creatures. Within moments of his approach, a zombie saunters out.  Its followed by another. And another. All of them headed for Dare as he stands between the tent and the tower, Talon at the ready. Suddenly there’s the sound of hurried footsteps approaching from behind. Before he can turn around he hears a familiar voice murmur a familiar spell. The latest zombie to leave the tower flies backwards against the stone wall as if shoved with a tremendous, invisible force. Lilvari, it seems, has caught up.

“Wait!” A gruff voice calls out from inside the tent. “What is the meaning of this?”

A stout old man with sallow skin and a black tattoo on his forehead emerges from the tent. He’s adorned in red and blue robes. He raises his left hand towards the zombies and there’s a sudden silence as every last one of them stops in their tracks.

“What are you doing here?” He asks. 

Lilvrari and Dare tell him about the reports from Phandalin — zombies chasing off and sometimes attacking travelers.

The mage angrily shakes his head. “That’s their own fault. Those travelers shouldn’t have gotten so close. I’m doing no harm. Now be gone so I can continue on with my research.”

When they ask him about his research, they notice a slight change in his demeanor. His face softens ever so slightly.

“I’m trying to find a way to successfully raise my daughter from the dead,” he explains. “She was killed by trolls, and I…” he trails off, the hurt apparent in his eyes. “There has to be a way that I can bring her back and not have her return as one of these… THINGS.” He points to the zombies lumbering near the tower. He raises his sad eyes to Dare. “I recognize you. Dare Doomtide, the famous bounty hunter from Waterdeep. You of all people know what it’s like to suffer a loss such as I. Surely you must understand what I’m trying to do.”

Dare scratches his head and shifts his gaze from the mage to the zombies. Then back. “Really I was thinking you raised all these zombies just to have sex with them.”

Lilvari’s head snaps in Dare’s direction — her mouth opened in surprise at what had just come out of his. The words must have taken the mage a few moments to process because there’s only silence as he stands between Lilvari and Dare and the horde of zombies. Then his pale face reddens, his anger not only returns but turns into a fiery rage. His raised arm falls. There’s an immediately change in the zombies. With a snarl, they rush towards Dare. 

Mercarri, Mystic and even Traubon hurry forward to join the fight. Lilvari sneaks by the tent in order to take out the mage while Dare holds off several of the zombies. It’s not long before they’re overwhelmed by more zombies than they can count. Lilvari has to fight through several before reaching the mage. With Curse Bringer she delivers a flurry of fast cuts to his body. Even as she attacks, more zombies exit the tower and rush her.

From somewhere in the middle of the battle, Mercarri begins chanting. It’s almost lost under the sounds of the zombie horde. Lilvari knows what’s coming. She looks up, and sure enough catches sight of a brown cloud floating overhead. It descends over the mage and transforms into a misty, brown mace. It strikes a crushing blow on the top of his head, and everyone in earshot can hear the crack of his skull. The mage drops to the ground, dead.

The adventurers focus on the zombies. Traubon does his best to fight alongside his heroes, managing to deliver a few hits with his hammer. His ‘help’, however, seems to be of little consequence. Zombies continue to pour forth from the tower, seemingly too great in number to overcome. That is, until Mercarri raises her hands and shouts out an unrecognizable phrase. It’s unrecognizable to the rest of the adventurers, but the zombies stop their advance. A change comes over most of them. Their rotted faces almost look frightened. Immediately those affected start to retreat. Instead of dozens of zombies, there are now only a handful to deal with.

Dare tosses one into the well. Mystic uses her newly-realized power to call forth a pale beam of moonlight from the sky. She focuses it over one of the undead creatures, and its rotted skin starts to sizzle and burn before giving way to bone. Within the span of seconds, the bone molders into ash. The tide has turned. With Mystic’s moonbeam, Lilvari’s shadowy sword, Mercarri’s spiritual mace made of brown mist and Dare’s ferocity, they’re able to slay the remaining zombies — at least those that didn’t run away.