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Dissa attempts to sneak past the gourd leshys to reach the far iron gate.
He will take 10!
"My apologies for the dramatic fall from grace. I was actually trying to avoid you altogether, but the steps and columns were incredibly challenging to navigate." Dissa apologizes, in the most appropriate body language possible.
The Gourd Leshys watch Dissa with their strange eyes but make no move to stop him as he avoids the gourds.
The gourd leshys continue to relax as it seems obvious no one is going to destroy their garden anymore.
One particular Leshy walks up to Bozmir, furthest into the patch, and tips its head.
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Bozmir first translates into Common, "Its asking why we've come to the garden of this tribe of gourd leshies. Its name is Harvest Stripe and it is the leader."
He tries replying in Common, using a lot of gesturing, pointing from where they came and then pointing at the gate. "We've travelled from Absalom through Corentyn and came to Emberhold. We want to get past the gate to find out what happened during the civil war, you know the war?" he mocks fighting and uses dirt and stones to draw a pentagram and House Davian's crest, before wiping off the latter.
Becoming exasperated, he tries again in Skald and Abyssal, but the leshy just scratches its gourd head.
Frustrated, Bozmir gives up and joins Dissa at the iron gate, asking for some help in getting across.
Even if Bozmir occasionally missteps Harvest Stripe and the others seem to understand the care behind his intent and pull any gourds out of the way.
The gate is unwieldy and stuck because of all of the rust on its hinges. It will take strong hands to open it.
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Teamwork team, activate!
"Steinfaust and Dulomak, can you guys pull on that side while Bozmir and I pull on this side? We should be able to pry the gate apart." Dissa finds a good spot to grip while still leaving plenty of room for Bozmir.
He also looks at the Gourd people and tips his head toward the gate, gesturing that the Pathfindrs will try to break it down.
"We should get it if we all work together." Dissa says, anticipating aid.
The gate groans, but is ripped from the detritus holding it in place by Dissa, Steinfaust, and Bozmir. It is placed next to the new entrance leading underground where the wailing is emanating from.
You descend from the wide set of stairs in the north to see six round pillars and a large iron gate built into a low archway on the west wall. Drawings rendered from soot and dark brown paint cover the walls. They’re broken up by narrow fissures of dark earth and crumbled plaster. The room is filled with bones, most of which are heaped around a large throne against the south wall.
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"We should go help swiftly. Perhaps we can gain some insight with assistance. Marielle didn't prove to be much help. Maybe this person could."
Dissa moves toward the choking sound, Fauchard at the ready for the expected threats. He casts Fallback Strategy from his wand and presses stealthily forward.
He promptly stumbles over a large pile of bones, sending the cranium of some creature bouncing across the tile.
Looking closer at the paintings and drawings you see the oldest and most obscured of these drawings depict scenes of the Thrune family being savaged and brutalized by humans and devil-kin alike. The newest scrawlings depict civilians burning under a Chelish flag.
The piles of bones are deepest around the throne, upon which sits a skeleton in black chainmail. It’s held together with dried vines and has slumped forward slightly, a crown of dull iron upon its brow.
The wailing gets louder as you creep steadily towards the iron gate to the west.
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"Trolls as food? Why that reminds me of a tale of a terrifying red dragon. He used to keep trolls in his lair, cowed by his flaming breath. When he was hungry he would eat half of each troll and let them tortuously regenerate it back."
"Something unnatural or mad lives here. We could probably play to its hatred to the Thrunes."
He continues slowly in a straight path to the western gate, but doesn't get so far ahead to leave the others behind.
Skeletal corpses thinly wrapped in decaying burial linen rest in niches cut into the stone of a wide hallway, which is intersected by numerous narrow fissures. Many of the niches have collapsed, with bony remains jutting out of the rocks and dark earth. The hallway opens into a larger room, where a stone altar is surrounded by cracked walls decorated with intricate reliefs of religious figures and prominent Davians whose tombs lie beyond.
Peering through the door into the next room you see blood scattered everywhere underneath a troll. The monster is hanging upside-down by a thick chain with its one remaining arm bound tightly to its side with rope. It's abdomen has been cut open where you can see heaps of oozing entrails slowly crawling their way back inside. It is the cause of the pitiful wailing you've been hearing since you were topside.
Dissa steps into the room proper, only minorly distracted by the troll's guts slowly working their way back inside its torso, when he remembers the ambush the team was surprised by this very moment, though it was long ago. He deftly sidesteps the ghoul's clacking jaws and prepares for combat.
The ghoul itself hisses its frustration, "No servant of Thrune will despoil my family's graves!"
The ghoul is dealt a grievous blow by the general, nearly cutting it in two. It...giggles and hisses as its skin starts mending itself back together. "Not Thrune, well you'll still taste good."
The monster's claws smack Dissa's Fauchard left and right, moving it out of line so it can lunge forward and bite him mightily.
The ghoul's magic tries to take hold, but finds itself slipping off Dissa without issue.
Ghouls have a nasty magic about them that causes paralysis with violent action. Only elves are known to be immune to their effects. In addition a ghoul's bite has a contagious disease that creates a new ghoul should one fall to it. One thing that is strange about this ghoul is that it is healing itself before your eyes.
From behind Dissa Steinfaust is able to swing his bardiche around, getting another deep cut into the ghoul. It ceases moving but continues to heal as you watch it.
Dulomak's flail smacks into the ghoul's body, crunching ribs and driving any air that remained in its lungs out in a huge puff. When the flail head is removed the ghoul remains unconscious, but continues to heal.
The troll comes to and sees something in front of it. It swings forward to take a bite of Dulomak.
Its teeth clack on empty air, but it is ready to bite anyone or anything near it.