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Delx sees that Black Dog is alert about something ahead. He goes to the dog and takes a look, spear ready.

The lamplight shows a bearded dwarfen face in stone. The granite eyes are wide as if with startlement.

There is a distant grinding noise.

Being content with her master seeing the statue and not outright attacking it, Black Dog decides to investigate the grinding noise in the distance. Master sees the stone dwarf. He does not attack it, so for now I won’t have to destroy it. I must find the source of the new sound, before he might run into trouble she thinks to herself.

She moves silently towards the noise, her paws barely making a sound on the cold stone floor. So cold, but must persevere. Master depends on me she thinks ignoring the cold floor as her nose twitches while she sniffs the air, searching for any hint of trouble.
What is making that noise? Must find it, must keep Master safe, she thinks again, her senses on high alert.

Elcroon walked a little behind Delx, providing the light to better see the statue and further beyond. He peered up at the balcony and stairwell in case dangers lurked from above.

Upon hearing the grinding noise, Elcroon took cover behind a pillar and facing the noise, swung his bow off his back and knocked an arrow.

The distant grinding noise fades away before you can identify its direction.

The lamplight shows that the room is large. At the far end there might be a raised area like a platform or dais. You can't see the far side from where you are. You can see the bottom of the stairs going up to the balcony. You can't see the top of the stairs. They might be in the middle of the room.

Delx says to Elcroon in a low voice, You know more about dwarves than I, but I've never heard of them sculpting figures of dwarves showing startled faces. They're hardy folk, it's in them to portray the brave and the virtuous. Not to chip away at stone to sculpt a monument to a dwarf showing alarm and weakness. Do you think... this might be a live dwarf turned to stone?

Black Dog runs forward toward the sound of the grinding. Delx sees Elcroon switch weapons to his bow, nods and does the same. The distances in this cold room require it. He thinks back on the frieze they saw at the room's entrance. A wyrm captured, at a cost of a score or more of Dwarvish lives. The wyrm sacrificed, to make an amulet to ensure the purity of smelted Dwarvish iron. And then, the amulet itself defective and split asunder.... Is that the history of this place? Well, of course it is. But probably long before it became known as Ghostal.

Bow in hand with arrow nocked, he whispers, Elcroon, watch the balcony above, if you would. The black dog seems to have taken a liking to me. There's just the three of us, right? I'll take the duty of tracking Black Dog's investigations, and you handle looking around for other stuff. Sound good?

Despite having lost the sound and the direction it came from, she will continue forward hoping to pick up the trail again.

Elcroon nodded in agreement with Delx’s theory about dwarven statues.

The cursed musicmancer melodically whispered:

“The grinding of gear
shifts heavy stone
if what I fear
we are not alone!”

Elcroon vaguely remembered the lore of creatures that can turn the living to stone. What were they? The fearsome basketcase, seductive sedusa, and terrible gorgonzola. Or perhaps a ghost so horrible it literally froze one in fear?

“If creature we see
Look not into it’s eye
Our stone cold death it will be!”

“Rule number one is writ
in the adventurers creed:
never the party split
You will regret the deed!”

The singing sorcersword paralleled Delx’s advance from 10’ to the right under the balcony in hopes of avoiding attack from above and to provide the light to see (unless Delx has his own torch lit?)

Standing next to the statuesque dwarf, his arrow nocked, Delx peers into the shadows ... his experience tells him that by the time he saw a charging attacker, aimed, and loosed, the arrow would fly over his target's shoulder as it split him neck to crotch. Perhaps another weapon would be better suited to a large dark room. The only good target for bowmanship here is the guy holding the lamp ...

Black Dog has keen directional ears, and thinks the grinding noise echoed from a location up, ahead, and left. Maybe the balcony that runs along the right wall has a partner along the unseen left wall?

As Elcroon advances, his light definitely reveals a stage or dais at the end of the room. Some dwarfs or dwarf-sized people might be sitting up there in the dark. Perhaps dwarfs can see in the dark, but these fellows are peculiarly unsociable - not a word from them.

Grognardsw wrote: ↑Mon Jul 29, 2024 3:31 am With Elcroon 10’ to Delx’s right, the torchlight allows all to see what was described?

yes

To help visualize the place thus far, some old style mapping…



I think getting behind the pillars and under the balcony as we proceed east would provide better cover from attacks above and ahead.

Delx slung his bow and readied his spear. Elcroon, should we investigate the other wall before deciding on a course?

“Aye -“

Elcroon tried to answer with one word, but the damnable curse compelled him to utter:

“- let’s try.”

He moved north behind Delx, looking up and around for lurking dangers, and to see the north wall, and if the stairs led to a balcony that may wrap around the room.

Black dog let's out a growl to indicate she spotted something.
She then heads up the stairs to investigate the grinding noise.

Uh oh, Black Dog has taken it into her head to go off on her own, Delx says. He follows after her.

Your exploration gives you the idea that GrognardSW's map is a little off - the balcony should extend northeast from the opening by the relief panel, and the stairs should be going up from north to south toward the back of the wall with the relief panel.

Delx follows Black Dog up the steps to the balcony ...

... your noses drip from dust and cold ...

Elcroon smears the back of his hand across his nose ... peers more closely at the dwarfs on the dais and sees that they are very still. Like statues.

... Delx can't really see anything up in the shadows of the balcony. Black Dog smells dust and rust.

Delx takes a torch from his pack and strikes fire ont it.

Elcroon moved parallel to Delx, on the floor along side the balcony edge above so he could see Delx and vice versa as they moved east.

Delx sees by torchlight that the stairs ascend from north (floor of the main room) to south (balcony atop the wall with the cartoon carvings). In fact, the balcony runs along the top of that wall with railings preventing a fall into the vestibule where you three earlier viewed those carvings. Then legs of the balcony go northeast and northwest from above the eastern and western openings at either end of that wall with the carvings. Delx turns to move above Elcroon along the right hand or northeastward leg of the balcony; but Black Dog wants to go along the left hand or northwestward leg. What do you do?