Zoltan and Mira pull Lenna over to the altar. Lenna examines it and
The runes on this altar tell of how the Dwarves labored to construct the crucible. During the process, the worship of Torag normal to these dwarves dropped of steeply as more and more attention was poured into the construction of the Crucible. From what you can tell, it became something of an obsession.
You find a small, secret compartment on the back of the altar. Inside of it are two potions and a very old, crumbling piece of paper.
"I, Oleg Stonejaw, High Priest of Torag, record the decline of my people. When construction of the Crucible began, it was seen as a matter of great pride for our people to construct so great an artifact. But soon it became a psychosis of my people and they forgot the greatness of Torag.The design calls for etching a crossbow bolt with something dripping from it onto the inside of the Crucible. I am concerned as I suspect this may be the holy symbol of an obscure deity but my voice is no longer heeded."
The wooden carving you found before had a crossbow bolt with a drip falling from it etched onto it.
"I found something. They look likes runes in another language that I can't read. I wish I have a scroll of comprehend language."
"Want me to take a look?"
"Yeah, go ahead."
After a bit of maneuvering, Mira crosses to the island and examines the altar.
She peers at the runes for a moment, then runs her hands over them and frowns. "Huh." Pressing down, she pops open a hidden compartment to reveal two dusty bottles and a crumbling note. Her eyes widen as she reads it, and she quickly relays what she learns to the others.
Sunreturn ponders this symbol.
Lenna stares at the symbol with intense eyes.
Neither Sunreturn nor Lenna know this symbol.
"Nope. No idea. Geez, it is almost as bad as their ancestors greeding for gold."
Lenna looks away with hands spread out in manner of shrug.
"If we are done here, let's go deeper. The walls might tell us more dwarfish history."
As the company moves deeper into the caverns, Lenna turns her head at a certain interval and her body moves erratically. Her eyes also glows blue with the power of the detect magic spell as her head twists left and right.
"Who's Torag?"
"Chief of the dwarven gods. If his priest was concerned, we have reason to be as well."
"What are these potions?"
Lenna's eyes glows and she looks at the potions.
If Lenna has trouble with either of the potions, Mira helps out with some glowing eyes of her own.
Then she thinks back on that symbol they found, trying to recall anything that might help decipher its meaning.
Lenna determines that the first potion is one of eagle's splendor and Mira determines the second is a potion of beast shape.
Mira considers the holy symbol but can't make out what it is. She thinks that if she could find other talismans associated with this holy symbol, it would make it easier to learn some things about it.
"Shall we move on to that exit?"
"Sounds good to me!" Mira helps maneuver the boat to retrace their steps and get everybody back on the mainland. Before starting toward the exit, she passes the second potion over to Sunreturn. "This one's great, it turns you into an animal. So if you ever feel like living the dinosaur lifestyle..."
"To the exit, yes. And turning into a beast could be useful. I will take it if none mind."
"Take it. I'm no dino material. And take this dexterity boosting potion, it's way useful for you guys than me since I am always in the backline."
Lenna's fingers loosen and reveals the potion in its full glory.
You drag your feet through the mud. Liz, in particular, hates it.
Lenna facepalms.
"Never mind. It's a charisma boosting potion. I got it mixed up with cat's grace. I think I will keep this one unless Zozo wants it."
Sunreturn points to the far side at the northwestern bend.
"I can stand there and lift."
Mira positions herself opposite Sunreturn, ready to ferry the others onto the next peninsula.
You come into a stone hallway with more Dwarven runes etched into the walls with many rude things scribbled over them in draconic.
The pictures associated with the runes suggest they tell the classic tales of Dwarven history.
A portion of the stone on the right side of the hallway has collapsed into a small heap of rubble. At the end of the hallway, you see there is a T with passages leading to the left and right.
"These pictures. They tell the classic tales of the Dwarves."
"I think we all heard those at least once in the tavern. Next. So which way are we heading? Left or right?"
Lenna gestures the left entrance then the right.
Mira refreshes her dancing lights and sends them soaring down each passage in turn, searching for anything that distinguishes them. Then she scans for magical auras while Liz sniffs the air.
Through your emotional link, you discern that Liz dislikes the scent of both passages. She emotes disgust regarding that to the right and fear of that to the left.
Zoltan watches Mira do her thing, and then asks "So which way do you think?
When in doubt, I always say you can't go wrong by going right!"
"Liz smells something scary to the left and something gross to the right. Hold on, let me bring the lights over."
As Mira walks down the hallway, she hears a twanging noise and is struck by a crossbow bolt (FF, 5 dam).
"Ack!" Mira winces and yanks the bolt from her shoulder, which only makes her wince again. "Ouch. Well, I think I found a trap." She peers forward carefully for any sign of further danger.
"Wherever that bolt came from, we should go. There is either a trap to guard against our passage, or an enemy doing the same."
Mira notes a fine tripwire she must have stepped through on the ground leading into the pile of rubble to her right. There it is connected to crossbow which apparently fired the bolt.
"Looks like right it is!" If no one objects, Mira starts down the corridor to the right. She moves low to the ground and leans forward, sweeping and tapping with her axe to test for further tripwires or trapdoors.
Sunreturn will steadily plod along at the rear of the group, quarterstaff in hand.
Lenna shrugs and follows Mira.
"I rather take gross over scary."
"There isn't a third option? Ok, gross it is..."
Your lights float ahead of you into a dark chamber, announcing your presence. You are greeted by the stares of three dinosaur skeletons, each dripping gore, and the baleful glance of a kobold holding a twisted wooden staff and wearing dark robes.
Two of the skeletons prove very fast. One leaps over one of the pits in the floor while the other races around one. They both unleash a hail of bony attacks (33 damage to Mira, 15 Lenna, 12 to sunny, and 9 to Zoltan).
Sunreturn tries to recognise the creatures.
While boosting his allies.
Sunreturn recognizes the dinosaurs as bloody skeletons, undead creatures that regenerate their health and cannot be finally killed without holy intervention.
Her skin shredded by this sudden assault, Mira looks almost as bloody now as the skeletons. Still, she wastes no time in transforming and comes back with a shredding of her own. She stabs and slashes with horn and talon, then decides to pursue a more direct approach of smashing them to bits.
Thanks to the bless, Mira is able to permanently kill both of the skeletons.