We should have known better. Seriously, after getting completely wrecked at level 3 by the level 10 skeletons in the Halls of the Dead, you’d think we’d learn. But no. In true fashion, we decided to march back in there like conquering heroes, now at the mighty level 8. Spoiler: It didn’t go as planned.
The Halls were still as eerie and unsettling as ever—Aragorn would’ve felt right at home here. The dark, winding passages stretched down and down, way deeper than we remembered. With every level, things got nastier: skeleton dogs, towering red-sword-wielding skeleton bosses, and, to our horror, respawning enemies crawling out of massive bone piles oozing from the walls. It felt like we were trapped in an undead meat grinder.
We rallied the crew—Dave, Myles, Zaph, and Craig—optimistic (okay, maybe just stupid). But even with our battle-worn experience, the Halls had us respawning left and right at orb locations (I don't actually know what they are called). Every time we thought we’d cleared a room, a wave of fresh horrors crawled out of the walls. It was like trying to mop up the ocean with a paper towel.
Meanwhile, in the real world, it was creeping closer to midnight, and we were starting to wonder just how deep these cursed halls went. The further we ventured, the more relentless the waves of undead became. Then, we hit a force field—because of course, we did. It was blocking our way forward, and we all knew there had to be some kind of arcane switch hidden nearby to deactivate it. Problem was, the skeletons just kept pouring in, and our progress was completely stalled.
Eventually, Zaph found the switch, but in the chaos, the message didn’t exactly make it to everyone. Dave and Zaph pushed ahead while Craig and I were left clueless, trying to fend off skeletons and wondering why half the squad had vanished. It took a few more panicked moments before we finally caught on and regrouped.
And then, the pièce de résistance: we finally reached the Inner Sanctum. There, in all its glory, was the reward we had fought (and died, repeatedly) for. Only, in the excitement of the moment, Craig was too far away to claim it. Yup, after all the blood, sweat, and skeleton guts, Craig didn’t get his prize.
To say we were frustrated would be an understatement—but, let’s be real, this kind of chaos is why we keep coming back. Sure, the Halls of the Dead handed us our butts on a silver platter, but we’ll be back (probably under-leveled again).
With all the killing our weapons were wearing out - lucky there was an anvil
In other news - there was a lot of spiders in some other dungeon, and I mean A LOT.
