The Skinsaw Murders

The party decides to enter the stinking cavern that the ghouls were lairing in.  The western half of the foul smelling cavern is heaped with bones, each scarred by the scraping of teeth.  Most of the bones have been cracked open for the marrow within.  The horrific stink of the place seems to come from a wretchedpile of body parts - some animal, some humanoid - heaped in a dismaying mound to the east.

With Malvick now in the lead, they move quickly down the gradually sloping caver, to exit at a lower point on the main cave's spiral path.  This time the open stone door is above them, and they can hear shreiking and the sounds of battle coming from within.

Moving as fast as they can up the wet and narrow path, the party makes its way to the door and cavern beyond. 

Malvick is first to see the spectacle within.

Seoni, her back turned to him has what can only be Aldern Foxglove- the Skinsaw Man- in a choke hold.  Both of her claw like hands are locked around his throat and his toes scrape the dirt as she raises him off the ground.  He scrables in seeming panic, gasping for air, one hand trying to break the icy grip around his neck.  But then Malvick sees something drop into Aldern's free hand from the sleeve of his coat, and a long silver blade snaps open.  Malvick wants to call out a warning but everything seems to move in slow motion.  In one fluid motion, Aldern's free hand reaches forward and grabs Seoni's hair.  He wrenches her neck back as his other hand reaches across and draws a foot long razor blade across her throat.  Cold, dark blood spreay acros him as Seoni drops him and tries to stagger backwards, but Aldern's hand is still tangled in her hair.  He spins her around, and Malvick and Li Kao watch as he tears the head from her body.  Aldern drops the head onto a small table set for a banquet - one more grisely piece of meat amongst platters heaped with maggot ridden carrion and goblets of cogealed blood.

Aldern slumps down into a high backed chair stained with rot and smeared with blood, and finally takes notice of the stunned party at the other end of the room.  His eyes widen in a mixture of fear and delight.  "Ah, sorry to keep you waiting,"  He says.  He pauses to lick the blood off of his razor with a long, inhuman tongue.  "Bit of a domestic dispute is all."  He shrugs appologetically and waves to Seoni's headless corpse between him and the group.  "Blushing brides you see and..."   He stops in mid sentance as his eyes light on Sasha and he staggers to his feet.  "You!  You've come to me!  I knew my letters would sway your heart, my love!  Let us consumate our...our ... hunger!"

Aldern lunges forward with the fervour of the insane, war razor flashing in the dim light...

***

Yola and Xer, at the back of the group cannot see what is going on, but they can hear the one sided conversation, even over the roar of the surf below.  As Aldern rushes forward Yola tries to push her way into the fray but Xer stops her and points up the path.  Moving stealthily from the cracks and fissures on the opposite wall creep four small grotesque forms - goblins, naked, filthy, and stinking of death.

Remember that anyone fighting on the spiral path will have to make climb or acrobatics checks or risk tumbling down to the ocean below.