T'klik's cold black eyes, though always open, regain their spark of sentience. He stands up from his place on the cave floor, and takes his time to regain some of his bearings.
The hej-kin evidently decide that you are too great a challenge, and beat a retreat down the tunnels.
"We are already weakened and ill-rested. With their ability to burrow beneath the earth we tread upon, they could lead us easily into an ambush. It is best we remain here.. or perhaps look for a better resting place."
Ojal has no particular desire to pursue the Hej-kin. He looks to see if anyone needs further help before attempting to sleep again.
T'klik eager to chase them down stops at Taanak's words "They attack while you dra, and still see prey too tough to beat. They not come back. Me think are safe here. Please finish dra, then we face new sun with kill in our mind." He offers, ready for the rest to bring them to a renewed fighting vigor.
Ojal rises refreshed and ready to face the day whatever it may contain. He still looks longingly at the doors, but concedes that dealing with the possible silt-runner threat is of more immediate importance.
"We can return here later. After all it is unlikely the inhabitants of this tomb will be going very far."
The tunnels continue to gradually descend and fork; one branch leads north-west, the other to the east.
Taanak studies the fork in the path.
Taanak looks around but the unfamiliarity of the underworld works against him.
Seeing the elf confused on which path to take, T'klik steps up to assume his normal role as the hunter.
Seeing the spot in the path that Taanak is looking at bearing no signs of passage, T'klik offers "You not bad at hunt as me thought, there not sign of creatures. Me saw them move through earth, they may have do so again." in as much of an apology as T'klik may understand. Deciding that finding them is not important, he turns back to head out the same way they came in.
Ojal gazes from his companions to the floor and wonders if he has hitherto unrealised talents as a tracker.
"They flee. Why follow the stone stone eaters? Choice for us is Stone Door or Silt Runners. Silt Runners may have food, Stone Door may have secrets and power."
Ojal spots a tuft of grey-green fur on the floor of the north-west tunnel.
At Monoc's question, T'klik seems confused at what he means before he realizes he's talking about the creatures that just attacked them. "We not follow, they not prey. We know way them go so we not go to them, want go for runners." he corrects.
Quietly proud of his unsuspected skills, Ojal draws attention to the tuft of hair.
"I do feel, really, that we should continue with our immediate mission. Although I am tempted by those doors, they are not our objective," he concludes wistfully.
"Ah. That's good. So, we hunt silt people?"
The group makes its way down the tunnel for a long while, as it narrows and becomes a tight squeeze for the larger members of the band. The sense of tons of rock closing around you is overwhelming. The tunnel eventually terminates in an opening into a man-made chamber.
The chamber seems to be wrought of the same stone as the "Tomb of the Heretics" encountered earlier. on each side of the room, there is a stone sarcophagus; the same style of writing is present here also, as well as representations of the occupant of each occupant. The rest of the chamber can dimly be seen; at the far end is an archway opening into a corridor, as well as two more sarcophagi.
Ojal wanders forward, eager to read the writing.
Ojal and Lemris approach the first two tombs. One shows a bearded man, dressed in an unfamiliar style and wearing armour that seems unfeasibly bulky for desert conditions. The other shows a young woman, again dressed in alien armour and carrying a shield of unknown type.
The other two inscriptions are too far away to read.
Ojal repeats the inscriptions out loud for the benefit of his companions.
"Most interesting. Do those names mean anything to anyone?"
"Human name not ever make sense to me. They fill with hard sound and not mean anything. Like the clutch have no idea but give sounds to them for no reason." T'klik offers his own insight on the naming conventions of humans. He adds in frustration, "This not way we enter. We not want go here, we want kill runners." His eyes gleam at the thought of prey.
"These names are not in the songs of my people." Monoc looks at the carven images of small people with interest but without understanding.
Ojal thinks hard as he says,
"I believe T'Klik Chik is correct, however. We are still in pursuit of the silt-runners. My natural curiosity should not divert us from the original task. This area is untouched in many years and I'm sure it will wait for us to unravel its secrets."
Ojal does not recall the names specifically but he does recognise the style of the inscriptions as being religious in nature, strange as that might seem to one brought up under the regime of Hamanu, King of the World.
"This would be considered heresy in Urik." Ojal looks deeply concerned as he heads to the exit.
"I cannot help wondering if Hamanu has simplified matters for his subject?"
T'klik cocks his head a little in confusion, "Why we waste time here with human dead? They not threat or food, serve no purpose. As we take long, runners prepare for us arrive." He turns and heads back towards the way they came in.
Monoc looks back and forth in confusion as Ojal and T'klik head in opposite directions. He doesn't really care which plan the group follows, but splitting up at this point is certainly not good.
Ojal turns to follow T'klik.
"Oh dear. I was ... umm ... engrossed. Yes, that's what it was. So much is happening that seems contrary to what I know. Back the way we came in. Of course."
He burbles gently.
Shamash looks longingly at the tombs. "So long as we come back for the treasure..."
Ojal is utterly bewildered.
Monoc is, if anything, slightly more bewildered than Ojal.
Being back on the hunt has sharpened T'klik's instincts to a razor's edge.
"Y'know, we could be under the ruins where those silt runners ran to. Perhaps we can can come up underneath them and attack them from surprise."
"An intriguing notion. Is there any way up?"
Ojal gazes hopefully at the ceiling.
T'klik pauses and thinks, "Me not made for dig, claws are for hunt. Do brick walls and doors lead to up behind them? We might good ambush them from the belly of them own shell" He nods to Ojal, "You may have good seen in the dead human room, that we can get them from there, but you not tell us? I see you have wisdom, share it for the pack." T'klik somewhat apologizes in his own way for rushing you out of the tombs.
"I do assure you, I would not keep valuable information to myself. The thing is, I've never really been underground. Stonework is a bit of a mystery to me. We should go back and take another look though."
Ojal seeks to reassure T'Klik that he is working for the benefit of all.
"These tunnels are confusing. No sun, no wind, no view," agrees Monoc.
"Perhaps if we continue this way we might find an exit," says Shamash, indicating the onward tunnel. "And maybe some treasure," he adds, sotto voce.
"Forwards, backwards, what difference does it make? We'll probably all be killed anyway..." Lemris mutters as his light bobs on his dagger.
The corridor is made of finely worked stone, engraved with ornate and rather beautiful bas-reliefs. The subject matter is unfamiliar to you, and seems to depict male and female warriors in heavy armour fighting creatures that look like beings formed from the very elements; humanoid pillars of flame, mighty soldiers formed of rock and other such things.
"I will follow your lead out of this place, friend Shamash. These stone pictures disturb me." Monoc is not comfortable with the sight of men fighting the primal forces of the world. It seems like some twisted dream quest from the shaman of his mountain tribe - a nightmare inversion of how the world should be.