"I'm with Angorat on this one. As long as the wailing isn't coming for us, I don't see why we should should go running to it," Shirzon agrees. She hangs back in the hallway near the western door, waiting for the others to go first. At this point, her sword and mace are in hand, ready to defend herself.
"We tough. We know how to fight. Don't worry."
Ignoring his own terror, Korech presses forward.
"I guess you're right, Shirzon. It doesn't sound like someone we know, anyway." Gods, please let that be true...
Calden has doused the lamp to conserve oil, since they are moving as a group again. He repeats a mantra in his mind in an attempt to block out the wailing sound, breathing in and out in a steady rhythm, in time with the mantra.
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After a decision has been made, Korech opens the door to the left: luckily, the door is unlocked.
---
This small chamber is mostly empty, save for the body of a villager sprawled in the center. Perched atop the corpse is a man-sized brown and yellow beetle, trying to push the corpse into the corner where a pile of trash and filth awaits.
---
The beetle does not look pleased by your sudden appearance, and istantly adopts a defensive stance. Before you can react, the beetle emits an acid spit against you.
---
---
- Beetle
- Korech
- Merephel
- Calden
- Shirzon
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Recharges in rounds.
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Calden is about to shriek at sight of yet another corpse, when the beetle spits its acid. he desperately dives to the left, but gets hit by the majority of the biting liquid. "Aargh. It burns!" Most of his shirt seems ruined and Calden clutches at his stomach, where the acid has hit the wound from the skeleton's scimitar, that was only partially healed by Merephel's magic.
Calden limps along the wall, trying only to get away from the rest of the group. There is little room to actually move to a safe location, so Calden makes a cautious attack, ready to use his quarterstaff for defense if needed. "Try -ah- to catch its... attention."
"Meph?" he asks feebly.
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Merephel crys out at the sudden spray of acid. She drops her shield, and draws her glaive. She thrusts it forward, missing the beast by a wide margin.
"I hope that distracted it enough to come after me!" She thought inwardly.
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"Watch out! Bomb-bettle spray aci--AAAAUUUUGHHHH!!"
The spray of acid hits Korech full-on and he falls back, screaming, and clawing at his eyes. Almost as quickly though, he's dropped his bow and is back on his feet, charging at the creature with his enormous axe at the ready.
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Shirzon catches sight of the wave of acid washing over her comrades in front. "What the hell was that?" she cries out, gritting her teeth. She clutches her weapons tightly, then moves behind the bug and stabs at it with her new sword.
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Calden and Merephel both miss their intended target, but Korech and Shirzon manage to actually hit the creature. The two half-orcs give a great show of team play, and flanking their enemy manage to kill the giant beetle.
---
Now that you have time to analyze the room, you recognize the corpse lying on the floor as another Kassenite.
---
There's another door to the south.
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His screams of agony fading out to whimpers, Korech collapses, dropping his weapons as he clings to his legs, shaking with the pain of bombadier beetle's acid spray. He manages to croak out a word after a moment.
"Help."
Calden squats down on his heels, then sags against the wall. He lets out a long breath when he sees that the creature has been dealt with by Korech en Shirzon. He tears off his shirt, in order to prevent the acid from doing more damage. He then starts rummaging through his backpack for his waterskin, to wash off the worst of it. Wincing through the pain, he waves Merephel over to Korech. "I'm fine, see to Korech first," he says with a pain-strained voice.
--
Once he's in better condition, Calden checks up on the corpse in the center of the room. "Another one of our one," he says with a voice that's close to breaking. "How many more will we find, who went here just for this Quest of ours...?"
Calden puts an ear against the door. "Should we continue in here? If there are more Kassenites, we have to find them."
--
"What happened here..." Shirzon mutters as she shakes the bug guts off her new sword. She follows Calden's lead, using the water from her own waterskin to help wash some of the acid off Korech. She speaks quietly to the other half-orc, in a reassuring tone.
Once Korech seems more stable, she rifles through the dead Kassenite's pockets, looking for anything useful. Sorry, pal. But we're gonna need all the help we can get if we're going to survive this crypt.
Once she's done, she nods at Calden. "Looks like the only choice we have to go right now, without going back to that wailing."
Merephel examines Korech's wounds, and fusses over him for a few minutes. She looks at Calden's injuries, and heals them both with divine energy.
"I am running low on my healing ability. We need to be careful from here on out."
After receiving magical healing from Merephel, Calden and Korech are ready to start exploring the crypt again.
Following Calden's advice, you continue your exploration opening the door to the South.
---
The remains of a small fire smolder in the center of this broad chamber, letting off a plume of oily smoke. Fed by a heap of burning gear, debris, and more than few bones, the fire casts a flickering light across the walls of this room, partially obscured by the veil of smoke.
---
---
You've gathered around the small fire in the center of the chamber, enjoying the warmth produced by the fire in this cold and damp crypt.
---
Suddenly, a dark silhouette peels away from the shadowy pattern on the walls. Red, glowing lights appears to be blinking within the strange ethereal form. Whatever this thing is, it's clearly attacking Shirzon. Fortunately, Shirzon is quick to react and jumps left, avoiding the shadow.
---
- Calden
- Shadow
- Korech
- Merephel
- Shirzon
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Shirzon lets out a nasty vulgarity in Orc as the creature emerges and tries to swipe at her. "What is this thing?!" she yells, unable to pick out any vulnerable anatomy to strike. Her eyes flash to the dagger and the key in the fire. Is this thing guarding these?
Korech violent shaking soothes as Merephel repeatedly calls upon her Goddess to heal the group. He looks down at his hands in awe, briefly feeling his face.
"It not hurt... I... I okay." He gets to his feet, gathering his weapons, clearly deeply scared by nearly being killed with acid thrown in his face.
Far less forward than he was previously, Korech follows the group, still occasionally touching his face. Although not entirely healed, the horror of the acid is largely gone.
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Upon entering the smoke-filled room, Korech starts choking and looks around vainly, trying to make sense of the situation. Then, he realizes something is attacking Shirzon.
"What that thing?!"
And the Perception check:
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"I know what this creature is! It's is a vile shadow, and it is beyond us! We must flee this room if we wish to survive! It shouldn't chase us!"
She turns, and dashes out of the room.
"Quickly, before it saps your life force!"
=======================
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Shirzon points out the scorched key next to the fire. "Someone grab that key and let's get out of here!" Her eyes darting from the shadow to the blade in the fire, Shirzon considers her options.
She grits her teeth, sucks in a hard breath, and snatches the dagger from the fire before following after Merephel.
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Korech trains an arrow on the figure until he hears the sheer panic in Merephel's voice. For a moment, visions flood back to him of repeated escapes from incredible dangers in the forest. Alone, scared, and unprepared, Korech's greatest asset as a youth was he knew how to do one thing which he did over, and over, and over again: run away.
"Out! Do what she say! I watch back!"
Being out of immediate reach of the shadow, Korech holds his ground for a moment to make sure Shirzon and Calden can escape before following them.
With a little help, Calden gets up and reties the laces on his shirt. He touches the tender tissue on his stomach through the holes in his shirt. "Thanks, Meph"
Leaning on his staff more than normally, Calden cautiously leads the group to the next room. How could there be a fire burning here? More Kassenites? Then the room explodes into action, leaving Calden looking around in a daze, eyes stinging from the smoke.
A what? A shadow, come to life?!" Calden doesn't need to hear the warning twice and turns to leave the room, when he sees Shirzon reach into the fire for the dagger and yell something about grabbing the key. "Key? where?" Calden looks around to see whether there's a key somewhere that he failed to spot earlier. If he notices it, he quickly grabs it before hurrying back.
--
Following Merephel's advice, you leave the chamber as soon as you've entered it. The first to react is Calden: the young Kassenite tries to spot the key Shirzon has told everyone about, but in the hurry he doesn't manage to actually locate it. While he flees, the strange shadow reaches for him: the black shadowy hand delves deep in Calden's back, as if it was swallowing up his very essence. After the attack Calden manages to flee, but he feels weak and tired, his equipment suddenly becoming an heavy burden.
---
With Calden away, the shadow fluctuate towards Shirzon again. The half-orc has put her hand into the fire to retrieve the dagger, and even if she gets a bad burn from it, she manages to grab the dagger. In meantime, the eerie being behind her back is able to catch Shirzon in his incorporeal grasp: the half-orc feels suddenly weakened and she can hardly reach the door.
---
Korech's and Merephel's escape is much more easy, and they manage to get away from both the fire and the shadow without being hit by the incorporeal creature. Before everyone can leave the room, though, the shadow makes a last attempt to chase you, successfully hitting Korech in the process. The half-orc too feels weakened now, and he's hardly able to join the other in their desperate withdrawal. Then Shirzon finally closes the door, you all breathe a sigh of relief and pray to whatever entity you believe in that Merephel is right and the shadow won't chase you outside of that chamber.
---
Luckily, Merephel was right, and after waiting for a minute or so, the shadow has not shown up again.
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"Oh my! Is everyone alright? I know how dangerous those creatures can be! They seek to pull your very life force from your body. You will likely be fatigued for a day or two, but thankfully it isn't permanent. Where do we go now? My magics are all but spent."
Calden runs like the wind. Key? What key? He breathes in sharply when he feels the shadow hit him in the back, and his first instinct is to turn around, to grab for the 'something' that was stolen from him. Only fear keeps him running, despite the lead in his feet and the weight of his packpack on his shoulders.
He nearly stumbles over the beetle corpse before skidding to a halt against the opposite wall. "Is it... is it gone?" he asks between panting breaths. He turns to Merephel, asking the obvious question. "What was it? It stole something from me. I've never been so scared in my life. I feel exhausted."
--
It takes a moment for Merephel's words to catch on. "Pull my life force? You mean, like my soul?"
He should be relieved to know the feeling isn't permanent, although it definitely feels like something that would never end. "We'd better go outside to rest. I need some fresh air." He looks like he would like nothing more than to be gone of this place, but he arms and legs hang limply from his body.
Korech, pale and miserable, shakes his head.
"We go rest, hard fights. Need safe.
"I agree. We should go and find a safe place to whole up. It doesn't appear to be here. And that wailing has me quite concerned. I feel maybe we would want to travel for an hour to put some distance between us and the Crypt. I shudder to think what would happen should whatever was making that wailing find us in the night..."
Shirzon barely feels the pain of her burn until Merephel heals it. She slumps against a wall, drained from the creature's touch.
"Right. We should get out of here... Just... Let me take a short break, would you?" Shirzon manages to say before she fully lies on the ground of the beetle's room, too tired to care about the refuse scattered about. Why is everything so...heavy...
Calden thinks on the exercises he has done with Ilimara. He whispers the words. "Breathe in, breathe out. Strength comes from within. Find strength with each breath, the body follows the mind."
Slowly he stands up, teetering for a moment under the weight of his packpack. He hobbles over to Shirzon and reaches out a hand to help her up, urging her on with soft but strong voice. "We can't stay here, Shirzon. Get up. We can rest when we get out of here. One breath at a time, one pace at a time. Let's go."
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Shirzon groans as she reaches up for Calden's hand, making a sound usually reserved for getting up after particularly bad hangovers. With Calden's help, she staggers to her feet, and leans against the wall. "Thanks, Tigg. Appreciate it," she mumbles, feeling both weak and reluctantly grateful to the human.
"I think Angorat is right--we should get out of here before something else finds us. Maybe we can grab some pillows from those pits in the pillar room..." With that, Shirzon starts down the hall back toward the entrance of the crypt, slowed by the weight of her gear and her aching muscles.
As her head becomes clearer in the corridors free of smoke and unholy shadow monsters, she remembers the blade she snatched out of the fire. She finds it still clenched in her hand, her knuckles pale. She relaxes her grip a little bit and examines the dagger to see what kind of prize she has acquired.
"Yeah, I agree. I'm not so sure about traveling for an hour though. With the state we're in, I'll be glad if we make it out of here and have enough energy left to get a campfire going, let alone set up the tent."
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Also weakened, but not as severely as the others, Korech simply grunts.
"Undead in front all dead. Also there extra pillows, we grab those if you want."
Korech looks around for a safe spot to set up camp that has a clear view of the entrance. As he works, he calls over his shoulder.
"Next time, when Merephel say run, we run! No waiting. Waiting means die. We always come back and get key. Not worth it."
=======================
– Neth 5th 4710 AR
– Evening
=======================
When you exit the Crypt, the sun has already gone down. Everything around you is dark and silent, and seeing again the horses' corpses cause you to shiver, knowing now to whom they once belonged. These were Kassenite horses.
---
Korech is able to spot a good campsite approximately 15 minutes away from the Crypt: it's a small and low natural cave in the forest. Picture.
You soon start a campfire to warm in the cold night, even if the fire brings bad memories with it.
Thanks to the light provided by the campfire, Shirzon is now able to examine the dagger she acquired at such a burning price. Picture.
---
You alternate keeping watch of the camp, ensuring that in every moment at least one of you is awake and vigilant.
=======================
– Neth 6th 4710 AR
– Morning
=======================
Once the sun rises again, you are well rested: nothing has troubled your night, and you were able to sleep. Some of you have had strange and horrific dreams caused by the traumatising experiences of the day before, but you were too physically tired to stay awake.
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Merephel volunteered to take first watch. She was the best off of the group, and needed a solid night's sleep to regain her spells anyway.
"Are you all feeling better? I can only imagine how you all must be feeling right now...I want you all to go right to sleep. I will gladly watch over you all. Once we are rested, we can go back into the Crypt, and I will be able to both examine that dagger, and determine which key, if any, are magical."
Plodding to camp outside, Shirzon drops her bags and lies down on the ground. She rolls over to the bags, digging through it and pulling out the bottle of brandy. She undoes the stopper and takes a hearty drink from it, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. "Anyone else need a drink?" she calls to the other campers. "I'll take a shift after Angorat after it's dark. I just need to take a little nap..."
Before she falls asleep, though, Shirzon watches the fire dance and crackle, deep in thought. "You know," she pipes up, "you lot aren't half bad. I thought for sure the town folk were pulling a prank when they picked me for this Quest thing, but I'm glad I was wrong. It's been pretty rough--something's obviously gone wrong here. But I guess it's up to us to set it right. And there's no way I could get through all this without all of you. So, uh, thanks for watching my back. We'll continue tomorrow, and maybe we can find some survivors." Shirzon meets the gaze of her fellow Quest-goers, then turns over, a mixture of exhaustion, embarrassment, and inebriation quickly taking her to sleep.
---
The next morning, Shirzon feels a little better. But barely. "Yeah, let's go back to that key pool. Maybe we can figure out what magic we need. You wanna take a look at this dagger, Angorat?"
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Pleased with the cave he's found, Korech sets to work lighting a fire. The pallid complexions of those affected by the shadow makes for a grim evening, but Korech's spirits seem surprisingly high.
"When make fire - do sticks like so," he gestures, showing some larger sticks stacked like a pyramid. Beneath them, some smaller sticks and beneath that, some tinder.
"Fire go up, and fire need breath or die. So no choke fire, give air. I give air from side, then burn up from little to big sticks." He strikes steel against flint several times until the sparks take, and as the tinder starts to smoulder, he very, very gently blows on it to cultivate his flame. As the flame grows upwards, it catches and slowly grows.
He sets out his axe and begins polishing and honing it, grimacing at a notch caused from smashing through the skeletons.
"Bad shadow-thing... not know how kill. But there key there. Maybe distract, or drag from fire." He shrugs nonchalantly.
"Tomorrow we do water-room, maybe Merephel blessing can see magic key? ANd for fight - very careful. We weak now. Be smart. Run away to live more."
"Yes, I believe Shelyn will help us correct that problem. But we absolutely should use more caution."
She seems a little better, being away from the Crypt.
Calden plods along the group mechanically. He watches as Korech makes the camp fire, shivering despite the heat. He tries to meditate for a while, but feels too weary to find rest.
He nods at Shirzon's confession, giving her a warm smile. "No thanks needed, Shirzon. Or rather, thanks to you as well. We're really all in this together. Korech, please wake me before dawn. I'll take last watch." With that, Calden rolls over and quickly finds sleep.
--
When the others wake the next morning, they find Calden just outside the cave, stripped to the waist and already working his exercices. They are differeny this morning. In slow, deliberate movements, he is folding and stretching his body, standing, sitting and flat on the floor. He seems to be feeling his body, adjusting to its weakened form. When he's ready, he joins the others for breakfast. "I really hope we're right about the pool, and those keys."
=======================
– Neth 6th 4710 AR
– Morning
=======================
Before returning to the Crypt, Merephel takes her time to examine Shirzon's newfound dagger.
---
After the preparations have been made, you return to the Crypt of the Everflame. When you get in, you move to the chamber with the pool right away. When you're there, Merephel tries to use her new spell to identify which of the keys at the bottom of the pool is magical. She immediately detects a magical aura coming from below, but she discovers that telling her companions which is the particular key she has identified as magic it's not easy. After a few unsuccessful attempts to explain how to retrieve that specific key she has identified has magical in nature, it become clear that to solve this problem the only solution would be that Merephel herself swims down the pool and retrieve the magical key personally. She also need some sort of magical lighting is she hopes to be able to see something in the dark pool.
---
Once Merephel comes back from the pool holding the magical key in her hand, it's time to decide where the group would be heading next.
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Calden thinks about the dagger during breakfast, and remembers how it wasn't affected by the fire. "Do you think it's magical? Surely it's no ordinary dagger." he's silent for a bit, thinking about the implications. "What do you think it'll be worth if it magic? I bet it's at least a hundred gold pieces. Maybe even a thousand!"
--
When the group arrives in the room with the pool, Calden doesn't waste time and starts the same routine as a day earlier. Staff and backpack propped against the wall, boots next to them and clothes draped neatly over the backpack. He dives in and tries to grab the correct key, at the directions of Merephel.
After the third try he comes back up disappointed and a bit frustrated. "I'm sorry, but this is impossible. It's like I'm playing Pin the Donkey, but you can't even give me directions while I'm down there. Agh!" He hoists himself out of the water and drapes himself in his cloak. "Sorry, Meph, but you're going to have to go down there yourself."
Calden watches as Merephel struggles in the water. No one else can do it, but she looks like she needs the help. Calden drops his cloak and lowers himself back in the water, an embarrassed smile on his face and a bit unsure of where to look. "You can do this, Meph. You have to stay calm, catch your breath. Just follow me, don't breathe in too much or you'll have trouble swimming down. In... out... in..." Calden gently touches her on the shoulder. "...and go." He dives along with her, staying close for support.
After examining the dagger, Merephel explains to the party that it has the capacity to hurt the shadow.
"I'm not saying we run back blindly, but at least now we have the capacity to hurt it, if we need. Maybe someone acting as a distraction can use the dagger? Anyway, it is enchanted for magical accuracy, and it is supernaturally sharp!"
-----
At the pool, she takes off a couple layers of clothes, as well as her armor. While she doesn't have much muscle mass, she is toned and in surprisingly good shape. After stretching, she slides slowly into the water, unaware, or unashamed, of her near-nakedness. She seems to be used to the attention you would expect from her companions.
After several false starts, and Calden's attempted help, she manages to get the hang of the breathing. She manages to swim straight down to the bottom in one go, but then spends what seems like a very long time fumbling around on the bottom looking for the key. After about thirty seconds, she finds the key, and manages to swim back up. It takes her a bit longer than before, but she manages to swim back up with a little effort. When she finally breaks the surface, she immediately hands the key to Calden, and spends several seconds gasping for air.
Korech cocks his head to the side, having heard of enchanted weapons but never having seen one in person. He doesn't touch it, though.
--
Resolutely turning his back on Merephel as she strips down and starts diving, Korech instead keeps a watch on the hallway they came from, his bow nocked. Frowning, he looks down to see his arms a little shaky from any tests drawing the string.
"Once we have key, we get ready for fight, right? Both keys at once, like with levers in pit-room. Work like team for everything."
As Calden and Merephel dive for the right key, Shirzon whispers to Korech in Orc:
"Angorat is kind of cute, though."
While waiting for Merephel to return with the key, Shirzon turns to the doors behind them that her lockpick failed to breach. She puts her hand over her eyes and points randomly.
She opens her eyes and finds herself pointing at the western door. "Let's try this one first, then, I guess."
Calden can't help himself and stares at Merephel undressing for a while, before he realizes what's he's doing and turning his back.
When she comes back with the key, he beams her a proud smile. "Well done!" With no further chance that he'll have to reenter the water, Calden gets back into his clothes while watching the two half-orcs converse. "It's only one key down here, Korech. Maybe the other key is the one Shirzon saw near the fire? I think that one must be magical as well."
He looks amused as Shirzon picks one door by chance. "I suppose that one's as good as the other, but I hope you'll take more care in your choices when it really matters." He gives a genuine laugh at his own joke (unable to believe that anyone would be that fickle). He picks up his quarterstaff and follows her to the westernmost door.
After more than a minute, Merephel resurfaces, holding a key in her hand. Merephel wears her armor again and she's ready to continue the exploration, although a little wet.
Following Shirzon's advice, you go west. The key does open the door.
---
This long corridor is flanked by a row of human statues, set into alcoves on each side. The statues look like Kassen, and each one holds a longsword out in front of it. The blades of roughly half the statues are wrapped in leather padding.
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"Well, at least now we know what he looks like." Calden takes in the sight of all the longswords, the ones not padded looking awfully sharp. "I have a bad feeling about this..."
Shirzon scowls and is about to start arguing with Calden, but his laughter turns her anger to confusion. "Uh, yeah. I guess...?" The half-orc clearly doesn't understand what's so funny, but she's not angry at least.
Shirzon looks at the padded swords, and remembering the pillow-lined pit traps from earlier, calls out, "Wait a minute! Let me take a look at these." She then starts examining the statues, as well as the floor of the hallway, looking for traps.
Merephel wanders through the room, though she never strays far. She examines a few statues, and always seems to catch herself further from the group than she'd like.
This time Shirzon goes first and carefully examines every inch of the corridor before taking the following steps. She is so attentive that she manages to detect a pressure plate located between the third pair of statues. Despite feeling clumsy due to the lingering effects of the shadow's attack, Shirzon is also able to disarm the trap. Under the padded swords, Merephel discovers razor-sharp stone blades.
The corridor is now safe and you walk through it without any difficulty. You reach the end of the corridor and Shirzon carefully opens the door, revealing the following area.
---
One half of this lofty chamber has a lowered floor, with stairs on either side to reach the bottom. Standing opposite the door is a tall wooden statue of Kassen grasping a gigantic wooden shield in each hand. One of the shields is inscribed with the word “home,” while the other reads “family.”
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Korech grunts in approval as Shirzon spots and disarms the trap, and mentally resolves to ensure he goes slowly.
As the hallway open up into the room with the statue of Kassen, Korech pauses, muttering the words 'home' and 'family' as he struggles to read them. Very, very carefully he starts approaching the statue to inspect the room.
"Maybe shield mean puzzle? Not sure for what though."
Calden waits with bated breath while Shirzon enters the room, ready to shout a warning when the swords should start falling. He doesn't breathe until Shirzon makes her triumphant cry and announces that the corridor is safe. He follows along, still careful of any further pressure plates that Shirzon may have missed.
He steps into the next room and stands in awe of the large statue of Kassen. "Can you believe it, that this is all because of him? Because of one man, that he left and entire village?" He carefully walks up to the statue, looking at the shields. He looks back over his shoulder. "What do you think? Another puzzle? Something to do with the inscriptions? Do you know anything about Kassen, that has a special relation to either family or home? Was he a follower of Erastil, or something?"