Chapter One - A grim fate

[mjulius]

"Oa." says Aden and points his sword at the deceased soldier on the ground, "Those marks on his arm..they are from the girl wizard, yes? Where is she?"

[Vile]

Aden takes the torch and considers the question...

And Siegfried happily hefts his axe, visibly relaxing.

[cmrsalmon]

The soldier lies in the second doorway. The grey-skinned humanoid is located in the room through the third doorway.

"Oa sensed another being meet its end. The other's soul escaped, beyond Oa's reach."

The being's long tongue snakes back and forth.

"Another came before this event. This other smelt of blood magic. Its question was one of darkness. This other went away. Oa has not sensed its return."

[Pulpatoon]

Aldus whispers, "If the statue's answers are limited to what it can sense from its present position, I'm not sure we can expect much help. But then, the wizard found cause to ask something..."

Watching the tongue flick back and forth makes the Tailor feel distinctly queasy. "P-perhaps we should explore some other avenues. We can always come back and continue our conversation with Oa after we have learned more about our environs."

[mjulius]

The third doorway leads to a smaller room. You can't see to the far side, but the room is likely octagonal in shape, about the same size as the room you climbed down to, and domed in a similar fashion.

The stone walls and floor are covered in runes you do not recognise. The carvings are etched in small circular patterns, with each pattern arranged into a larger circular pattern that fills the room. The dizzying effect draws the eye to a grey figure, standing in the gloom. The statue appears taller than a man, but humanoid in shape.

A wide mouth opens in what you took to be the back of the statue's head. The face remains otherwise featureless. A grey, lizard-like tongue flicks out of the figure's toothless maw.

Aden will exam the far side that wasn't visible from our present position as we interacted with the statue.

[cmrsalmon]

Save for the door, the eight walls of the room are identical. The runes that make up the swirling, circular carvings are utterly incomprehensible and cover every surface of the room.

Do you approach the statue?

[Pulpatoon]

Do you approach the statue?

[cmrsalmon]

What could possibly go wrong? Maybe it grants wishes?

[mjulius]

Watching the tongue flick back and forth makes the Tailor feel distinctly queasy. "P-perhaps we should explore some other avenues. We can always come back and continue our conversation with Oa after we have learned more about our environs."

Aden returns to the others - MAKING WIDE BERTH OF THE STATUE - and says, "Agreed. So where to now? I think that if I were a girl wizard possessing the sharp claws of blood magic, I might take to the tiny tunnel, but I'm not keen on putting my head in there. There's also the church like room with the sounds of running water, and that long hall with an alcove towards its end."

Aden enters the first room and examines the rubble. Does the cave-in appear recent?

[Vile]

Siegfried is a man of few words. "I'm for the room. Don't like to leave it univestigated behind me."

[cmrsalmon]

The rubble and earth blocking the fourth doorway do not appear to have collapsed recently. Loose stones that have tumbled into the room are coated in a film of dust.

The small tunnel has been burrowed more recently, but it is impossible to know when.

Do you enter the large room?

[Vile]

Siegfried, confident that his newly-blooded companions will back him up, enters the room.

Hopefully someone with a torch will follow!

[cmrsalmon]

The room disappears into darkness before you, Siegfried. The stone benches or pews, aligned on either side of the room, draw the eye forward, up the central aisle. You cannot see the walls or roof of this chamber.

- -
- -
- -
- -

You can just make out the muffled, distant sound of running water.

As your companions carry the torch closer, movement ahead draws your eye. In the gloom, about 30 foot ahead, a gaunt figure slowly crosses the aisle. From somewhere ahead, you half-hear whispered snatches of a song, the words inaudible. You could swear, Siegfried, that you've heard it before.

[Pulpatoon]

Aldus follows Alden as he carries the torch into the next room, but when the movement and the whispering begins, he fades into the darkness outside of the torches glow. He readies his shears.

[mjulius]

Torch [1d6] = 5

Aden, behind Siegfried, raises the torch high so that he and Siegfried can see as far as possible down the aisle, towards the gaunt figure. For a moment he wonders if the torch is flickering to an end, but realizes it is his trembling hand.

Oops. I missed a couple of torch rolls in the last two rooms...

Torch [1d6] = 3
Torch [1d6] = 4

[Vile]

Siegfried hails the figure and steps forward.

[cmrsalmon]

As the circle of torchlight moves into the room, face-like shadows are cast across the arched roof of the long room. The ceiling of the chamber is covered with carvings of faces, mostly humanoid. The faces' mouths are open, their eyes shut, but it is not clear what emotion they are intended to convey.

The smoke from your torch is drawn upward, whispy, as though toward the open mouths of the carvings.

What you took to be a gaunt man grows ever thinner as you approach. Wreathed in thick grey smoke, so thick that you first took it for a loose garment, an animated skeleton walks slowly past you. It waves an empty censer back and forth.

The skeleton slowly turns its head toward you. You cannot tell if its empty eye sockets see you, or regard some ancient scene of worship. It's head snaps upward, toward the roof, as a chattering, screeching sound echoes through the chamber, followed by a leathery, multitudinous fluttering.

From the roof carvings' open mouths, winged, jet black-skinned creatures appear, chattering and cawing. They are no taller than a foot, with wide, bat-like wings and thin, humanoid bodies. Even at this distance, you can see the sharp, over-large claws where their feet should be.

A rotund, red-skinned one emerges from a carving, holding a what appears to be a staff, sized for its frame. The red creature screeches and points toward you with the staff.

As one, the black-skinned creatures dive.

Initiative, please?

[mjulius]

Initiative {DEX 14} [1d20] = 3

There's nothing immediate that Aden can do but prepare to strike at the creature when it is close enough, so he will ready himself.

[Pulpatoon]

Initiative (DEX 15) [1d20] = 14

Aldus follows Alden as he carries the torch into the next room, but when the movement and the whispering begins, he fades into the darkness outside of the torches glow. He readies his shears.

If the shadows provide any over from these creatures, then Aldus will wait for one to come into position for a sneak attack:
Sneaky Stealthiness (DEX 15) [1d20] = 19 [1d20] = 7
Sneak Attack (STR 9) [1d20] = 6 [1d20] = 9; Damage [2d6+1] = 10+1 = 11

And here's a regular attack, in case these things are aware of him:Dagger attack (STR 9): [1d20] = 10; damage: [1d6] = 4

[Vile]

Initiative: (DEX:12) [1d20] = 2

Siegfried yells, "Take the fat red one first!" and does his best to close with said foe.