Watch out for those vines. They could grab us. Noonan scans the area with Detect Magic. I sense magic armors.
Dwalindor believes that the vines could be left over from a garden of some sort gone to seed.
Afraid I know nothing about the other planes.
planes
You believe the vines were left by vrocks Shad. Profane champions of the Abyss, vrocks embody all the rage, hatred, and violence of that despicable realm. As ravenous and grotesquely opportunistic as the scavengers they resemble, vrocks delight in bloodshed, relishing the sounds and sensations of ripping the still-pulsing entrails from a living husk.
Resistances defenses special attacks fav breakfast food
Vrocks are immune to electricity and poison and resistant to acid, cold and fire. They also can shed spores that sprout into vines shockingly fast, doing damage as they grow.
Stay close Dwal. I'll buff your hammer when they come. My fire will not be effective
Can anyone see if they still might be here? Tracks or something?
You don't see any tracks in the room.
That way!
”I could have sworn we have fought those devil chickens before, but maybe I am confusing it with another party? Good loot though. Better be ready.”
”Ba’set. Can you smell them?”
The great cat scents the air.
Ba'set smells nothing beyond the rusted and pollen hanging heavy in the air.
He does dig at a patch of green moss sitting in a dark corner of the room.
Seeing what the cat is doing, Tariq inspects more closely.
"What is it Ba'set?"
"Moss? Well plants is something I know about, lets see here . . . "
Some moss can be used as a poultice to help draw out poison.
Underneath the moss you find withered corpses consumed by vines that have since died - a further examination reveals a wound that tells you a dagger blade has been stabbed into the corpses backs.
Based on the outfits you believe these were more of the Forgotten Pharaoh's cultists.
Hmmm. Stabbing a cultist in the back. Is that a crime or a worthy deed?
Well, I've heard of Mystery Cultists from a city called Magnimar who are rather decent sorts. So it depends.
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”Uh, hey, wasn’t your possessed friend running around with dagger stabbing people?”
He points out the scene.
”So here are the stab wounds . . . Each one stabbed in the back . . . Which grew these vines, which are now withered.”
He tries to figure out if this was a sacrifice or a murder, but continues on.
”I mean . . . Damn, what’s the draw to joining this cult?! Cool outfits I guess? but the membership dues seem a little high and you’re dying for some dude that the world has literally forgotten.”
What was Thorpe's skill? Stabbing people in the back?
he liked to gamble. He loved his little crossbow.
No items or trap doors become apparent to Dwalindor - just the door leading back to the crossroads. Whatever or whomever killed the cultists and, possibly, the vrocks has clearly left them here to rot.
Let us work our ways clockwise through the doors we haven't tried.
Shad gently redirects Dwalindor through the door that is in fact clockwise
”Okay, now, here we go. Checking this door for heat. . . “
As with the other door this one is unlocked and springs open at the slightest touch, inviting you onwards.
The door opens into a hallway that is carved from sandstone. A golden glow emanates from the vaulted ceiling of this hall, giving the illusion of warm sunlight shining down. the short hallway juts downwards into a 5-foot-wide corridor that leads south and is similarly well lit, but you cannot see what lies beyond.
No doubt Sarenrae's blessings have reached this place. Shall we continue?
As you turn south you see low stone walls create a path through the center of the hall between ornate statues placed along the way. Carved from the same yellowish sandstone, the statues depict humanoid figures in regal dress, their expressions proud and haughty. Stone crowns
and pharaonic headdresses sit upon their brows, and stone robes adorned with bits of jewelry that glitter in the light bedeck them. On the southern side of the hall stands an immense statue of a golden scorpion that appears to have been crushed. The scorpion’s carapace has been cracked from some mighty blow, and its claws are twisted and shattered.
As you look at the statues you see something wrong with each of them Dwalindor - one's eyes are spaced a little too wide, you notice the tip of a forked tail at the hem of a robe. All the statues have that sense of wrongness about them - beyond even normal non-dwarven stonework standards.
You hear a fluttering of wings as you start to walk south.
Noonan grips his mace. How so? Something sounds like it is flying around.
Shad does a detect magic on the statues and focuses
Tariq nods his head at his companions comments. He looks for threats, traps and other concealed mysteries in the chamber.
"I don't want to meet what could do that to the scorpion idol . . ."
He looks at the symbols and accessories on the staues.
"They wear headress and crowns, but lets see who they are supposed to be. . ."
I could summon some more celestial corgis to run through the room
”These represent no actual nobility I have ever heard or read of. Who would waste artistic talent on this?”
He looks about.
”Is this illusionary!?”
”Maybe the caster doesn’t know how to replicate what he was trying to create.”
Tariq gets his blades out and ignites his Shamshir.