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Rhok has lost interest and been absent-minded while the others picked through the looted gear. He snaps back into focus when Hannik mentions the Wardstone. "Areelu Vorlesh is no mere tamperer or vandal. She is the arch-witch who created the Worldwound in the first place. No wonder my dreams are red with blood and fury - one of greatest villains in the history of the Inner Sea has taken a direct interest. Though the situation is already desperate, this does not bode well."
"Drezen is an old crusader town now within the Worldwound. It would be a safe base for the demons' human worshippers."
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Rhok has lost interest and been absent-minded while the others picked through the looted gear. He snaps back into focus when Hannik mentions the Wardstone. "Areelu Vorlesh is no mere tamperer or vandal. She is the arch-witch who created the Worldwound in the first place. No wonder my dreams are red with blood and fury - one of greatest villains in the history of the Inner Sea has taken a direct interest. Though the situation is already desperate, this does not bode well.""Drezen is an old crusader town now within the Worldwound. It would be a safe base for the demons' human worshippers."
"That's right! I knew I knew that name. My mum used to scare me with stories about her...." Sol's excitement over the connection fades into frowning reverie.
"Look- We can't go climbing down some hole when there is the door right here. Lets say we go down and three more mongrel men tumble out cut our ropes and roll a rock onto the hole. Then my friends we are screwed and stuck even one layer further underground, possibly with no exit."
"I agree, we should investigate all of this level before we go down, if we need delve deeper at all."
Hannik waits for everyone to ready themselves, then swings open the door.
The worked stone walls of this large room hold a number of shelves, each of which display the preserved bodies of dire rats, bats, rock vipers, cave lizards, and other creatures that pose in eerie stillness. A pair of bedrolls have been laid out to the southeast. There is a door in the east wall and a tunnel in the north wall.
"Block the door, check out the tunnel, and come back to the door later?"
"I'll watch the tunnel while the rest of you check the door. Hannik, take a look at the bedrolls. So far we've found twelve pallets for the mongrelmen; this probably the sleeping spot used by the two humans."
Jod watches the party's back in case the mongrelmen discover their courage and come up out of the hole. He has his falchion in hand.
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"I'll watch the tunnel while the rest of you check the door. Hannik, take a look at the bedrolls. So far we've found twelve pallets for the mongrelmen; this probably the sleeping spot used by the two humans."
"We've killed 9, so there are at least 3 left. But there were 3 humans and the thing that looked like Mulluq." Sol casts an apologetic glance at the paladin.
"So there's another bedroom somewhere."
Through the door, a muted roar of moving water echoes down the walls of this short hallway. Near the eastern end, the worked stone give way to natural cave walls, just before the hall ends at an open shaft. Hanging over the edge of the shaft is a knotted rope—the other end tied to an iron spike driven into the ground.
"This is probably their well - and, I suspect, their garbage disposal. No matter which way we go, climbing seems to be required."
"Indeed, I agree. Should we investigate?" Kira is beginning to think we've done what we need to, these people will no longer be the block they have been. Do we really need to go through inch by inch? Or do we have more important things to be doing?
"If they have Yaniel's sword here... I don't want to leave it for whatever they had planned. But sure, let's go through the more likely places first. We know they go down the hole in the other room."
Jod remains outside, but the curiosity is too much, "What did you find?"
"Hole in the floor, sounds of rushing water. We'll look into it later - we're going back to the hole in the floor in the barracks."
"How big a hole? Another ladder?"
"If we aren't headed down the rope, pull it up. Don't want something climbing up behind us."
Sol pulls up the rope.
The group head back to the room where the battle took place. The cooling corpses still lie strewn about. The hole in the floor leads down, a rickety-looking rope ladder providing the means to descend.
Looking at the others delaying, Kira steps forward.
Kira drops a torch down the hole and then climbs down the ladder.
"I'll go next. Jod, cover us with your fancy new bow."
Kira and Rhok drop down. The air in the cavern they find smells of damp and mold. Water glistens on the walls, and collects in a stagnant pool along one wall. At the far end of the room is a door.
Rhok waves the others down. "Let's keep moving, shall we?"
Anything other than the door that looks interesting?
"It looks safe to come down."
Mulluq sheathes his sword, and puts his shield away, before he grasps the edge of the hole and eases his way down the ladder. Unknowingly, his concerns were close to Kira's in whether he would be able to safely traverse the passage down. Once he made it to the bottom, his tail subconsciously assists him in rearming himself with sword and shield. He directs his attention at the other end of the passage, searching for signs of evil.
The rest of the group clamber down into the room . They walk to the closed door ahead.
Jod covers those descending as Rhok suggested before climbing down just before Sol.
"Magic scale, remember? Float up, let the ladder back down, everyone up."
While Jod shimmies down the rope, Hannik shifts her perception to scan for magical auras.
"I do keep forgetting about that, a good idea."
Hannik detects to magical auras.
"Let's get past this door. Kick it in, or finesse it open?"
Shrug. "I only have one choice."