Kiyomi found writings in what appeared to be a Dwarf-rune Script. The script is written on thin sheets of what appears to be slate, but strong enough to not snap easily.
"Does anybody know Dwarven? I admit it hasn't come up for me often." she says to the group, showing the writings.
"Alas, I've never found the time to study any language but the common tongue."
"Not on my list. I only know Common and Polyglot."
"Let me take a look." Ellara said, bending down to examine the runes. She knew four languages and could acquire another if she had a living figure to draw from - fortunately, that didn't seem necessary this time around.
The script is an old variation of Dwarf, and difficult to understand. From what you can read, however, this was once a Dwarvern trading post, and a successful one. Most of the notes are about basic trading rights and such, but the final entry explains that something is attempting to dig into the city from above, and they are sealing the vaults against it's attack.
"Huh. Wonder what it was." Ellara mused. Was it some old activity by the surface races, or something a little more... troublesome? Either way, she wasn't entirely sure it was relevant to their current investigation, though she did explain the contents to the others.
I suppose we shall keep a weather eye on the proverbial sky then, while we continue forward." Julie opened the door to the next room.
"How foreboding..." Lady Karnelia murmurs to herself.
"I suspect we'll need to find these vaults." she says, "Onward and downward.
A small square stands beyond, a statue of an armoured Dwarf dominating the area, his masked face scowling out and down a passage that leads to the east. Across the square another building stands, windows dark. In the South East another door stands partially open. In the passage to the east a final door appears.
Ellara kept sniffing as she lead the way forward, looking for any sign that people had been here recently. That was a rather important consideration, after all, and would dictate a lot of how she'd act as they continued to move forward.
Julie crosses the room to open the door across from the one she just opened and look through it.
Something has been in the square recently. Not on the floor, where undisturbed drifts of dust still lay bar where you have walked, but Ellara can smell something on the walls.
Julie opens the door to a surprisingly large room. A door to the rear and to the east are mostly obscured by debris. The remains of some kind of display cases and plinths hint that this was once somewhere interesting, although whether it still is...
Seeing the room mostly covered in debris, she gives it a quick glance. Unless she spies their target or something of imminent priority (such as "Oh, what nice teeth you have, giant monster"), she will backtrack to the previous room and open the southeast door more fully and look through.
Lady Karnelia winces at the room's state, wondering if this was how the folk who couldn't hire a maid ended up living. They would have to come back to this room later for a more thorough search.
Ellara followed along with Lady Karnelia, fully intending to help keep the other woman out of trouble. She wasn't sure what was wrong with this place, but it'd be trouble if any of their group was surprised by something nasty...
Kiyomi will aid in the search.
The only thing you find are the remains of what appear to be item tags, detailing a number of interesting items. Although still in Dwarf runes, Ellara manages to find one tag that might have been the box you were after.
Julie opened the door to the South West to disocver what appeared to be a small waiting room, although the poor and cheap furnishings seem to have turned to little more than piles of mold. A heavy counter blocked another door to the East.
Julie hopped up onto a sitting position on the counter, swung her legs over, and then slid off on the other side of the counter to open the door.
"Oh, fun." Ellara said, checking the box for traps or wards before trying to open it and doublecheck the contents. Hey, it never hurt to be sure, right? And the sooner they had what they needed, the sooner they could refocus on finding the princess...
Kiyomi stands ready to blast anything that tries to attack Julie when she opens the door.
Ellara finds no trace of the box you are seeking...but something matching it's description was here, once.
Julie opens the door to what appears to be small holding cells. Most are closed and empty, but two are of note - one clearly had something rip out of it, bending the now rusted iron bars into a half circle, and another cell was torn into. Bones line that cell, the remains of whoever attempted to hide.
Hmm. Drat. Ah well, then. Shrugging, Ellara moved on and joined up with the others. This was certainly interesting, wasn't it...? What had gone on here, and if they were bones now, just how long ago had it been...?
"Ugh, I do hope we don't have to figure out what happened to all these old bones to find the box." Julie moves back to the dwarf room, before venturing down the hallway till the door halfway, and opening it.
The room is a shattered wreck, even worse than the rest. The furniture has been reduced to pieces no bigger than a coin, and holes and scars have been gouged into the walls and ceiling, a good eight feet up. A door the west remains closed, and a hole in the western wall near the ceiling shows a flicker of light coming from the room.
As the scenery around them becomes more and more destroyed, Lady Karnelia grows visibly unsettled.
"Do... do you think whatever caused such a dreadful carnage is still around?"
Ellara glanced curiously through the chamber, then let out a few sniffs before reporting the results. Unless something could hide its scent - always a possibility - she could usually tell when something had recently passed through the area. "I don't think so..." she mused. "They were very thorough, though. Weirdly so."
"Heh, reminds of Besmara's Boneyard..." Julie opens the door to the next room, smirking at the destruction of the room.
Beyond the room has been covered in what appears to be an organic resin. Four insects, the size of dogs with bright red carapaces, turn in a clatter of insectoid legs on the ground. Behind them looms a much larger version of the same creature, rising from attending eggs. Heat slams into you in a solid wave.
The insects posture, hissing in warning.
"Apologies for the intrusion, we'll only be back to bother you if the rest of our search proves unfruitful." Julie bows as she speaks before closing the door and leaving.
Presuming the creatures don't attack, Julie heads to the crossroads.
Ellara waited to see if there was any further response from the insectoid creatures. If she hadn't smelled them outside, they probably hadn't left the room lately, but what were they...?
Kiyomi watches the door to see if the creatures are going to attack.
A chittering noise continues from the small hive...but the insects do not appear. Opening the door again would almost certainly result in a...less friendly response, however.
At the crossroads, it's possible to make out two doors to the east, one to the North and one to the South before the tunnel continues into the darkness. The southern passage is sealed, a pair of doors with a series of heavy bars running across them blocking progress. The doors disappear into the wall, and are obviously meant to be retracted via a machine somewhere.
Julie opens the nearer door on the east.
"Let us hope the cold box we're looking for isn't with these dreadful creatures..." Karnelia whispers as the party edges away. "I can't say I fancy a confrontation with them."
"... what were those things?"
"I dunno, I'm a bit hungry..." Ellara mused as she kept pace with Lady Karnelia. "If we need to wreck them, though, I'll see what I can do." Pouring fire in could be fun... ah, but it might also destroy things, huh? You had to be careful when you were slinging energy around.
The door Julie opens seems to have been some kind of house, perhaps, or entryway to one. Three further doors lead off the room, one in each direction. Dwarf script lines the door to the North.
Ellara blinked as she read the runes, then booted open the door to the North. <"Hello? Anyone here?"> she asked in the Dwarven tongue.
As Ellara does that, Julie opens the door to the west.
Julie opens a door to what seems to have been a chapel, once. The altar has be shattered, the relics desecrated. A trio of figures shuffled in the remains, turning and looking at Julie as she opened the door. Rictus smiles grew larger at the sight, and they turned.
The only thing inside the Northern room are the desicated corpses of long dead Dwarfs, there armour tarnished by the passage of centuries. Most show signs of a brutal assault, and have pieces missing from there dried flesh. Unfortunately, those corpses are still up and moving...
...Huh. Well, this was going to be fun. After remembering that she hadn't patched herself up earlier - bit of an oversight, that - Ellara raised one hand and focused. An aura of protection settled over her a moment later, granting a defensive barrier that would make her much harder to hurt. It would also last for quite awhile, which was nice...
She sighs seeing that they are undead. No minds to affect. She slashes out with her invisible blade.
The shuffling monsters in the Northern room began to pile in one Ellara. Although most couldn't reach her with rusty axes or stained teeth, it was quickly clear that three at a time would.
An ancient Dwarf Waraxe, it's blade only somewhat corroded, slamed into Ellara. A second undead's axe shattered when it swung, and the creature stared dumbly where the weapon had once been.
The three intelligent Undead do not move towards Julie. Instead, there hands twists and turn in strange, sinister ways, there skeletal hands twisting into unholy and unnatural shapes.
The vile spells the monsters hurl miss, with one exception, but the three creatures laugh anyway.
"Hmph, well, not bad for an opening volley, my loves. Be right back."
Julie then closes the door.
"Sister, go forth!" Lady Karnelia encourages her companion. She incantates a few words, and a luminous aura envelopes Little Sister's ectoplasmic form.
Little Sister's visage contorts into a horrifying caricature of herself, looking not unlike the undead facing them. She floats forth, moving around Julie and entering the room to attack the northmost undead.
Ellara focused on her powers, calling up another defensive ward to shield her. Rather literally, in this case, as the second layer of her defenses popped up around her to ward away more attacks. All right, once that was up, she could probably start tearing through these undead like the scum they were... ooooor pull back if it still looked too dangerous.
She continues her assault to free up Julie.
The mindless undead were not especially fussed by the additional magic, and continued to press there assault.
The three undead turned to face the Phantom creature.
"ONe oF Us?" One of the creatures hissed.
"No..." replied the one that had been attacked, crackling force covering it's hand as it turned to reply.
The other two moved towards the door. One reached out, power springing from it's
fingers, and the door quavered...
...and dissolved into fragments. The other moved through, rictus grin fixed on Julie, and raised it's hand again.