A Light in the Dark Forest

Alistair knelt down, looking over the ledge at the water below, occasionally receiving a big splash of water to the face, however he seemed not to mind. "It isn't salt water. It's fresh water." He spat out some of the water that had gone into his mouth. "I am unable to comprehend exactly how a body of fresh water this big came to be, nor how it has such a current similar to an ocean. I cannot see any openings to the surface, here. There is no telling how deep it goes nor what could lurk within it. Swimming is most certainly not recommended."

What lay at the other end of the body of water was what truly had his attention. "It is of my own theories that this body of water is not natural. Someone - or something - has created it. Perhaps even through extraplanar means." But he never heard of Illithids making things like this.

Alistair glanced at Nakata when he had asked that question. "I assure you, that no matter what it is you have experienced in your life, there are things far worse in existence." And he left it at that as he looked next to the corridor nearby. "It appears our only choice is to go down that way. Whatever that is at the far end of this body of water will have to wait. Shall we?" He shrugged.

—

Annoying.

Horrible.

Terrible!

It couldn't stand this!

Why was it here!

This wasn't normal!

What were these things blocking its path!

They surrounded it!

It wanted to be free!

It wanted to go home!

Those two up above..

Kill them..

If it killed them, it could go back!

Yes!

—

The corridor they entered would spiral downwards for several minutes before finally opening into another large room. Not nearly as large as the previous room, of course, but this one wasn't filled with an ocean-like body of water, either. The room was only a few feet taller than their heads, but wide and long enough that it was certainly difficult to see the other side even with the ooze of the glow-slugs they carried. There appeared to be some sort of lever at the other end of the room, but it was difficult to see.

The biggest thing to note was the hundreds upon hundreds of bones lying across the floor. As well as multiple types of weapons, such as medieval ones (swords, spears, maces, bows and arrows, etc) and not-so-old but outdated ones (muskets, etc). There were no current-age guns, however. The bones appeared to have been there for quite a long time, but they certainly all appeared to be human.

Home free!

Alistair didn't say anything at first, he simply walked over to one of the corpses and examined it. After a few moments of examination he looked around the room and spotted an average sized one-handed steel mace. He picked it up, examining it, and turned to Nakata. "If you have any skill in something other than that sword, I recommend using something else instead. These skeletons -"

At that point, nearly all the corpses in the room seemed to spring to life. The bones all jumped into the air on their own and would form together to create 7 skeletal warriors. One of them used the bow, 3 used swords, and one wielded two axes.

"Will likely come to life and attack us...." He finished with a grim tone, before turning around and smashing one of the weaponless skeletons right in the skull, smashing it to pieces with his mace and "killing" it instantly. "... And maces work better against such things than swords, typically." He said as the rest of the skeletons paid no heed to their fallen comrade and began a relentless assault.

"Very well." He jumped into position with Nakata and was able to synergize with him perfectly. At one point two of the skeletons came at him at once, but he was able to smash one of them in the skull with his mace before turning to the other one as his eyes and left fist both began to glow gold. A single punch with his unarmed hand connected with the ribcage of the skeleton and somehow caused the bone the explode, the skeleton falling to the ground in pieces.

The animated dead, being completely mindless, stood absolutely no chance, clearly, against the skill of the duo. Alistair was already able to fight next to Nakata as if they had been fighting together for years. Somehow, he had managed to memorize Nakata's style of fighting perfectly and successfully predicted pretty much every move he had made - allowing him to capitalize on every single opening Nakata made for him as well.

Surely, this group of skeletons would fall in no time.

Unfortunately Alistair encountered too much oppression from two more of his opponents to be able to deflect the arrow for Nakata. He was confident in his ability to regenerate, however. "Sleeping on the job, Master Nakata?" He said, finding a moment to reach down and pull the arrow out of his heat, throwing it to the side. The skeleton launched another arrow in his direction - though he noted it was the last one - but he reached up and caught it with ease before throwing it, too, to the side.

The now ammoless skeleton dropped the useless bow and charged straight at Alistair who stood over Nakata's fallen body. The skeleton attempted to jump onto Alistair and bring him, too, to the ground but Alistair managed to deliver a deadly uppercut to the undead's jaw that knocked its head clear off.

With the last skeleton in pieces he knelt down to attempt to stop Nakata's bleeding - if it hadn't healed already, in which case he attempted to rouse him from unconsciousness if needed and/or help him stand.