After the fight with the wolves, it was an uneventful trot of a mile or so before they arrived at the outpost where the Adventurer Test was being held, a tower perched atop a hundred-foot hill that lifted it above the treeline so that it could watch over the entire forest. The trail they were following was joined by dozens of others emptying into a cleared area near the base of the hill, and a paved pathway wound its way up the hill in switchbacks until it ended at a large set of doors at the base of the tower.
“Look at all those arrow slits,” Twilight said, pointing at the tower with a hoof. “This is a kill zone.”
“Doubt they’re going to start shooting arrows at us,” Applejack said, having reappeared by virtue of no longer having anything to hide behind in the open terrain. “This is a test, right? What would shootin’ us full of arrows before we even got to the tower test?”
“Our armor?” Twilight suggested. “Or whether we were stupid enough to walk right into an obvious kill zone.”
“Perhaps she has a point,” Rarity said, making sure to keep the bulk of the party between her and the tower. “The first test was said to be a Test of Wits.”
“Hey, there’s another path,” Rainbow Dash said, peering carefully at her surroundings. “Over there around the side, see? We can go around behind the hill. Maybe there’s a back entrance?”
Twilight gave her a curious glance. “And here I was expecting you to suggest a frontal assault.”
Rainbow Dash winced. “Eh, I’ll pass, thanks. I skipped out on my ‘deflect arrows’ class.”
Sticking to the cover of the woods, the party made its way around the clearing until they could make a wild dash for the lower path. No arrows were fired at them, and in fact there was no sign that the arrow slits they were so worried about were even manned. Nevertheless, the lower path did keep them out of the line of fire, as it led them down into a dark ravine. Soon, the tower was out of sight once more, and the party found themselves in shadow as the chasm’s walls rose up to either side, leaving only a small sliver of sky far above.
To add to the foreboding atmosphere, the foul stench of death filled the chasm, along with a faint buzzing sound that seemed to come from just around the next bend. Just as they reached the corner, there was a loud squelching noise from just out of sight. Once, twice, three times.
“M-maybe we should turn back?” Fluttershy suggested, breathing heavily as she pressed herself to the wall. “I don’t think this is part of the test. There aren’t any other tracks. And – and that sounded like a monster. And a monster that isn’t part of the test might be way way way too strong for us to fight.”
Pinkie Pie bounced into the air and flew around the corner. “Huh,” she said. “That’s not exactly what I was expecting. But I bet Rarity would like it!” Seeing as how she seemed confused rather than frightened, the others soon joined her.
As they rounded the corner, the party found themselves facing a truly horrific sight. Above, atop a rocky overhang that would be impossible to climb without considerable training and equipment, loomed the back side of the tower. Beneath it was a humongous mound – twenty feet high and twice that across. The buzzing came from a horde of flies that filled the air like a black blizzard around the mound, almost dense enough to obscure the sight of it. But unfortunately, not dense enough.
It was clearly a massive pile of dead bodies, of all races, in various states of decay. Humans, gnolls, orcs, halflings, goblins – every race in the empire was represented, save for the fae. The bodies near the top of the pile were freshest, and it was clear that all of them had one thing in common. They were outfitted as trainee adventurers. As they watched, another body fell from a dark opening in the overhang above, plopping onto the pile with a loud ‘squelch’.
“What in Tartarus?” Twilight Sparkle choked out, momentarily stunned by the sight.
“Huh,” Applejack said. “You reckon some of that gear they’re outfitted with is still good?”
“Do you really want to climb up a pile of rotting dead corpses to check?” Rainbow Dash asked, her beak hanging open in disgust.
“Nope,” Applejack said, and spread her wings. In a few seconds she was perched on one of the freshest corpses, checking its pockets for spare change.
“Oh my,” Rarity said, taking a few steps forwards. “Oh, my! This is wonderful!”
Pinkie Pie giggled, and clopped her front hooves together. “I knew you’d like it!”
“Do you think any of them are animated?” Rarity asked, prancing excitedly around the perimeter of the corpse pile. “I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to check.”
Pinkie Pie grinned expectantly, as Rarity opened her eyes wide, and extended a hoof towards the pile of dead. “Creatures who exist beyond the bounds of death, SERVE ME!” A wave of dark energy exploded from her, sliding past the living creatures in the party with nothing but a momentary chill, but sinking into each dead body as it passed, examining and rejecting them as it searched for a target.
“Woah there!” Applejack said, dropping a few shiny things into her bags as the pile shifted under her. She nimbly leapt into the air as a flailing limb swiped at her from within the pile. She stared at Rarity in shock. “What did you do, girl?”
“I –“ Rarity squeaked. “I failed. I tried to control them, but I failed. They’re all too strong.”
The pile shifted again, and a pair of clawed hands near the base dug into the ground as something tried to pull itself free.
“How many are we talking here?” Rainbow Dash asked.
The entire pile shifted again, and Rarity danced back as dozens of zombies from the depths of the pile pulled themselves to their feet.
“Run away!” Twilight squeaked, lighting her horn to get everypony’s attention, and motioning frantically with it back the way they came. “Just run!”
Twilight was the first to take her own advice, but between several party members’ flight and her own heavy armor, soon found herself at the back of the pack regardless, the zombie horde moaning and groaning as it nipped at her heels, threatening to drag her down and tear her limb from limb if she so much as stumbled.
“To the tower!” Rainbow Dash said as they emerged back into the light. “We can hide inside!”
It was a scramble for Rarity and Twilight to ascend the hillside, since the zombies certainly weren’t going to wait for the switchbacks, but with Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash flying up ahead of them, the door was open and waiting for them when they arrived. Everyone piled into the dark antechamber, and they slammed and barred the heavy wooden doors. There were some thumps, and scrapes, as the zombies clawed at the door, but it was solidly built, and held up under their attack.
“Wow, I’d really hate to be the team arriving after us,” Rainbow Dash said, peering out through one of the arrow slits at the horde of zombies besieging the tower.
“Maybe they’ll reset and go back to their nice comfy pile of dead things?” Pinkie Pie suggested.
The zombies were relentless. After thirty seconds or so it became clear that they weren’t going to give up, and that while the door was strong, it would not hold out indefinitely. The party’s only option was to head deeper into the tower. Accordingly, they examined the room they found themselves in. It was a small room, twenty feet across and half that deep, with only two exits – the gateway they’d entered through, and an elaborate golden door with no apparent handle or hinges, but jewels and decorations of all sort splattered across it in a dazzling display of brilliance.
The room was otherwise empty, aside from a sheet of parchment lying face down in front of the door.
Rarity peered at the gems. “Fake,” she said after a second. “Which stands to reason. I doubt the dozen teams of adventurers before us would have left them if they were real, no matter how solidly they’re set.”
“Watch out for traps,” Applejack said, tugging the zebra back by her tail. “Somethin’ killed all those adventurers we saw on the pile. Look at this.” Reaching into her bags with her mouth, she took out a torn sheet of paper, and showed it to the party.
Most of the writing was obscured by bloodstains, but two things were clearly visible. First, the label at the top read ‘Pathfinder Guild Characteristic Sheet’. Second was the large black seal stamped over the top of the bloodstains: ‘FAILED’.
“You found this searching the bodies?” Twilight Sparkle asked. Applejack nodded. “Did you find anything else?”
Applejack grinned. “Nothin’ worth mentioning.”
Twilight narrowed her eyes, but the winged cat just grinned wider, her tail flicking back and forth behind her in little jerks. Twilight eventually rolled her eyes and relented. “The paper must have a clue as to how to operate the door,” she said, lifting up the piece of parchment on the floor, and flipping it over to read what it said.
“What’s it say?” Pinkie Pie asked, as everypony gathered around to see.
“It just says ’I prepared explosive runes this morning’,” Twilight said. Everypony froze.
“But obviously it isn’t a real explosive runes spell or we’d all already be dead,” Rarity remarked. “They go off instantly as soon as somepony reads them.”
“Maybe we’re ghosts?” Pinkie Pie suggested. “Maybe we got explodified so fast that we didn’t have time to notice that we were getting blown up, and now we’re all on the ethereal plane standing over our own bodies and waiting for the grim reaper to come pick us up?”
Fluttershy whimpered.
“If we were ghosts, then we could walk through the walls, and as you can see they’re quite solid,” Rarity said, lifting a hoof to tap on the stone wall next to her – only to meet no resistance, and stumble screaming into a dark void.