“The delta is flush with vital energy,” Clive explained. “The water coming out of the astral space that feeds the river is full of it. All that life-force prevents undead monsters from manifesting anywhere in the delta.”

“Then how are there zombies here?” Humphrey asked, still coughing.

“You don’t sound so good,” Jason said.

He held his hand in front of Humphrey and chanted a spell.

“Feed me your sins.”

You have cleansed all instances of [Corpse Fungus] from [Human].

“Corpse Fungus?” Jason asked.

“What’s that?” Humphrey spluttered as he escaped the cloud.

“It’s a fungus that uses corpses to propagate itself,” Clive said. “It takes over a corpse, makes it ambulate like a zombie, then blows spores over any living creature it comes across. Not a zombie at all; just a regular dead body being moved about.”

“What do those spores do?” Humphrey asked.

“They grow inside you,” Clive said. “Kill you, eventually, but there’s plenty of time to find a healer or an alchemist. If you don’t have Jason on hand.”

They waited for the spore cloud to settle before continuing on, Jason cleansing Clive and Humphrey again, just in case. They followed the tracking stone, closing in on the dead adventurer’s badge. It led them to the most ruined part of the complex, where large sections of brickwork had been torn out of the walls, mud encroaching on the rooms and tunnels. At the end of another large hall, all the brickwork from the back wall was gone, with what looked like a giant, burrowed tunnel beyond.

“What needs a hole that big to get around?” Humphrey asked.

“Nothing good,” Clive said.

They set off down the earthen tunnel, still knee-deep in water. It didn’t seem to bother Onslow, with Clive riding on his back, or Jason, who walked along the surface. Humphrey was left to trudge unhappily through water and mud. The tunnel turned out to be fairly short, breaking back into another room of the complex. It was another large hall, very much demolished. In addition to the breach they entered through, much of the brickwork had been torn out. In its place, recessed alcoves looked like they had been dug out by claws, each one stuffed with a dead creature. Most were swamp creatures, although there were a few dead people as well.

“This one,” Clive said, tracking stone in hand. He led them to one of the bodies, an elf in tattered armour. Jason took a casket from his inventory, supplied to him by the Adventure Society.

Objective complete: Retrieve the remains of your fellow adventurer 1/1.

While he and Clive placed the body inside, Humphrey was looking around with a concerned expression.

“We should take it and go,” Humphrey said. “Fast.”

“What is it?” Jason asked. The contract wasn’t just to retrieve the body but also kill the monster. If Humphrey wanted to bail out, it was probably bad.