Empheria remembers the unexplored rooms as soon as James mentions them, but suppresses the memory as soon as Ameiko implicitly approves of entering the room. She walks in after Isaac, picks up the book and looks through it.
Vorin relaxes again as the others start to explore the room, and he teleports back in to pick up the wand. As he examines it, he says, "Yeah, this is relaxing!"
He looks back to James, and says, "Come on, give it a try. I know we got other stuff to explore, but step in for just a minute. Hey, I bet we can come back all the time once we clear out all the bad guys!"
When it comes time to leave the room, he will help teleport everybody out safely.
Isaac pushed back off to the entrance.
"I am ready to continue when you guys are."
James' resolve is solid, but no match for the floaty room. Leaving a rope tied to the edge he pushes off into the room, soaring across the room like a bird.
When the rope snaps taut he rebounds with an "Oof!" and starts moving back towards the entrance, backwards and upside down.
"This!" he announces "This is the best thing ever!"
The room is, indeed, the best thing ever.
"I'm not ready yet... I mean, I guess if the rest of you are, then I am too," Empheria corrects herself sheepishly.
Empheria is unable to make sense of the book, written in a sharp, angular alphabet. There are, however, frequent woodcut illustrations of particularly vicious-looking monsters attacking different kinds of victims, from animals to humanoids.
On the entrance, Ameiko smiles gently as you play and prance around.
Giggling, Vorin says to James, "Yep, it is!"
After a few more minutes, he says, "We should go get rid of the rest of the bad guys, I guess, then we can play here as long as we want without monsters sneaking up on us."
James flips off the wall into a slow double somersault, straightening up and discovering himself ever so slowly rotating around his axis. "...I guess. I mean, if they did come here we might have trouble..." He sighs "Votes?"
After enough time playing, the fun begins to be marred by guilt, and so she finally Empheria says, "We should move on. Ameiko's waiting for us. And the pictures in this book are kinda starting to scare me."
James kicks off one more time and slowly drifts over to the entranceway. "Yeah. Good point. I mean, this place is awesome, but it's not why we're here. Gotta keep our eye on the ball." He stumbles a little as gravity reasserts itself "Plus, we should really tell the other kids."
He adds another point "My teacher says there are books full 'of blacksphemos pictures that shred the unprepared mind'. Jim" the other James was always Jim, and James was always James "Bought one in his older brother bought off a trader from Shing Wah. He said it wasn't blacksphemos, just full of pictures of..." James trails off with a glance at Ameiko. "Anyway, maybe be careful with it".
"Don't worry, I was keeping watch." smirks Ameiko. "Let's check the other corridors, shan't we?"
You backtrack and turn left at the first door, proceeding carefully forward. The next room you meet is cylindrical, built around a circular pool of surprisingly fresh and clean water. Beyond that, a stairwell would lead up, if it wasn't obstructed by rocks and other debris. Fresh air comes from the narrow fissures, only large enough to accommodate a mouse or another small animal.
Only one corridor remains, to the south.
"Nice room, but nothing interesting in it," Empheria yawns. "Next?"
"Stay behind me by about ten feet," Isaac said, before plodding forward.
James considers "Alright. 10 feet. You have to have a rope on, though, in case like the floor drops out, or things start falling up, or something."
The tunnel widens here into what appears to have once been a small shrine, for to the northeast, steps lead up to a platform of gray stone. Sitting atop the platform is an ancient altar, little more than a jagged block of black marble with a shallow concavity on top of it. This basin is filled with what appears to be filthy water.
"I don't like this." says Ameiko. "Creepy altars in underground ruins are always bad news. "
If you get close to the door to the southeast, you can overhear some muffled muttering on the other side.
James looks at Ameiko, blinks, and pulls out a stub of pencil. Carefully he writes something down in a grubby journal. "Should we break it?"
Empheria's gaze passes over the stone because she has no idea what an altar is. Instead, she looks at the door.
"I'm scared," Empheria confesses. "I hear people here, or maybe monsters who can speak. I don't want them to find us before we find them."
James starts to reassure Empheria, then stops.
The memory of the last time they were around an altar resurfaces.
"Yeah. Alright." he says quietly "Let's find them first then."
"Don't break it, just... stay clear of it. I don't even what to know what that thing on top is, but it sounds like bad news." says Ameiko, closing in to the door to listen to the voice.
"I hear only one speaker. Do you have tactical ideas? I'm more of a "rush and flank" girl, but this may be a good time to get ready with hidden tricks and whatnot."
"They come out, BOOM! That's what I would do, anyway," Empheria says, nodding sagely.
"I like it." James agrees. "Just like in Whistleball."
"Shall I go fetch them?" Isaac offered. He was durable and surprisingly fast, he could play bait well enough.
Vorin bites his lip, and thinks, "Maaaybe I can make it dark, just up ahead? So they can't see that we are waiting here until they chase Isaac through and come out in our trap?"
"Some of these things don't use lanterns." James pointed out. "Let's set up like in Whistleball. Vorin, you and I need to be ready to hit them from the side when they're not expecting it. Empheria; find a safe spot with a good vantage to take the shot. Isaac, grab the ball, let them see you, then come back. Miss Ameiko... uh, up to you."
"First though, let's set up. I knew I should have brought that Bear Trap. I brought some pitons. Let's put two of them in over the doorway, put some twine or something between them, and hopefully when they run in chasing Isaac they'll trip!"
The doors aren't locked, and despite their size they swing gently on the hinges, revealing a massive room. It looks like nothing more than an immense underground cathedral. Stone doors stand to either side of the main entrance, but beyond this, the walls are carved with strange, spiky runes. In the center of the room is a large pool, with a ring of polished human skulls balanced on stone spikes arranged in a circle around the deeper midsection. At the far end of the room, a pair of stone stairways leads up to a pulpit on which sits a second pool, this one triangular and filled with churning, bubbling water that looks almost like translucent lava. Yet while wisps of what look like heat and steam rise from the strange orange liquid, the room itself is deathly cold.
From thin air a winged, horned figure coalesces, behind the pool. Brandishing a sharp-looking, pointy dagger, she shrieks in a bloodcurdling language and slashes at her own hand, sending a splash of water into the water, which immediately becomes murkier.
"Let's get her!" Empheria cries. She maneuvers herself in accordance with James' instructions and shoots a flame through the air at the monster.
each turn