Yildiri follows, scowling and looking around.
"This heat does not seem natural to me."
With the warm air hitting his face, Gwernach holds the door for the group to enter and wonders what the source might be. Speculating, the dwarf offers a suggestion, Could be com'n from a vent. Und'rground vents ta molt'n rock.
As the others file through, Gwernach collapses the multi-tool, stowing it on one of the loops of his utility harness, Beware tha alcoves lads.
One by one the four heroes step through the open door into the mysterious forgotten temple, some with trepidation, and others with restrained excitement.
Gwernach sniffs the air, and can smell the unmistakable, though subtle, hint of sulfur in the air, suggesting he may be right about his assumptions.
Once they are just a few feet beyond the door, the group can see more details in the dark cavernous chamber from the eerie glow of the blue light coming from the alcoves on the left and right.
Ahead of them is a short stone wall, no more than two feet high formed into some kind of retaining wall, just fifteen feet away. This small, decorative pool is empty, the bottom bowl shaped and beyond it a strange sloping stone rises away from the far end of the pool to a platform, reached by stone steps on either side. From this small ten foot square platform five feet above the chamber floor there is another stone stair rising another ten feet to a platform at the southern end of the chamber where you can almost see a dark alcove leading away from this room.
To the left and right, going south, leading away from the alcoves on each wall (the west and east walls) there are four ten foot by twenty foot “stalls”, near the front of the first stall on the left you see a pile of rags, or possibly cloths.
Yildiri gingerly probes the pile of rags with her spear.
As Yildiri investigates the piles of fabrics, Gwernach hefts his waraxe and moves further into the chamber, taking in their surroundings.
Moving just a short space apart as they enter the chamber, Yildiri and Gwernach begin to explore the few things they can find
Tha pool's seen blood, com'n down from tha ramp. Gwernach points to the bottom of the pool and tracks the blood stains up to the ramp for the others to see. Speculating, the dwarf voices his opinion, Som'than was kill'd up thare, an drain'd out inta tha pool. Turning to Yildiri and the others, Anyth'n?
Marvin stands back while the rest of the party does their investigation, staying as vanguard while looking around themselves. They peer at the source of the lights as well as the stalls.
"They're Eynolundurn robes", says Yildiri. "They're nomads, but they rarely come through these lands - certainly they've not been here for years. I have no idea why they'd come in this place, or how they got in, for that matter. The robes have blood on, so it would make sense that it was the Eynolundurn who was killed, but why, and by what..."
She looks troubled.
Hearing the robes are bloodied, Gwernach moves to see for himself, How much blood? The dwarf bends down to examine the robes more closely. Based on the amount of blood that must have come down the ramp, the robes should have more than just a little blood on them. Gwernach checks the patches of blood on several robes, trying to determine if they were caused by wounds to whoever was wearing them or if perhaps the blood splattered upon the robes from another victim.
Being more cautious than normal, Marvin peers around the wall to get a look at the source of the faint blue light that seems to flicker in this chamber
Hearing Yildiri’s description of what she found, Gwernach hustles over to the pile of garments.
Standing after his examination of the robes Gwernach offers more speculation, Tha blood's theirs, jus'no enough. The dwarf scratches his chin, Could be thay were beat'n, stripp'd 'ere, an then kill'd. Gwernach yanks a stubby thumb in the direction of the bloodied ramp to suggest who ever wore the robes were killed in that direction. Trouble is, where's tha bodies?
"We need to find out", comments Yildiri, preparing to move deeper into the temple. "We also need to be wary"
Marvin follows behind, committing their path to memory should they need a hasty escape.
It is only after Sasithorn climbs the short flight of stairs up to the raised floor of the west alcove that he discovers that tucked into the corners of these alcoves are narrow stairs going down into the darkness.
He takes note of the stairs, and then concentrates on the blue flame
While the others continue to look around, Gwernach heads over to the platform south of the pool to see if there is anymore sign of these druids.
An ominous silence fills this vast chamber as the group slowly begins to gather close to the northern side of the strange, empty pool like depression in the center.
With a shrug, and a hoisting of his gear, Gwernach takes to the short flight of stone steps that lead up to a small platform above the southern end of the pool.
As Gwernach peers down toward the ground where he stands, Sasithorn joins him, and looking down he immediately recognizes this iconography
Yildiri looks confused.
"What are they?", she asks.
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"Excellent question! My best hypothesis, based on how they reacted to our magic, would be that they're...living Kl̂xng. If you don't know Wayang, I can't think of a decent translation, but they seem to be primitive...not alive, not undead, but not properly unliving either...entities that arise from the overlapping of the Plane of Shadow with the Negative Material. The idea has circulated amongst Wayang planar scholarship for a very long time, but these...are hard evidence! And apparently, these ancients knew about them! Isn't this extraordinary?! There's no telling where this may lead!"
Looking in Yildiri's direction Gwernach adds, Wha he means is we're like-lay ta see some more of'm. Turning his head in Sasithorn's direction, D'ya rememb'r how ta kill'm?
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"The main thing I remember is that my magic didn't work terribly well against them," Sasithorn sighs. "Other than that, their consistency was sort of rubbery, might have stood up to some weapons better than others, but they weren't TOO hard to neutralize. And of course, being partial products of the Negative Material, positive energy also definitely countered them."
Pos-ative energy, eh? Well thas re-assur'n. Gwernach's dark brown eyes roll slightly as he stands placing a fist on his hip. The last time he'd checked, he wasn't able to conjure up such magic and he doubted either MARVIN or Sasithorn could either. Tilting his head to Yildiri, Ah don't suppose ya can do tha sort'a thing, can ya lass?
The dwarf descends the other side of the stairs heading west towards the alcove to see what else he can learn. But with his mind somewhat distracted by the possibility of a tentacle wielding shadow creature lurking about, the ranger has difficulty focusing.
Yildiri purses her lips and thinks.
"I think I know what you mean - the ruh, or cevher - the essence of life. The Goddess may allow me to do something of the sort, yes, but I can only call upon Her so many times before She can no longer show Herself through me, of course. Still, by Her will, what I can do will be enough"
Yildiri keeps her eyes on the shadows, not wanting to be surprised in such an accursed place.
Not seeing anything of interest and with the trail of clues seeming to end Gwernach grunts, Hmph, noth'n. Stepping over to the next alcove the ranger gives the stone walls here a once over.
It seems that there is nothing else to learn here. The next alcove checked is empty as well
from the platform just south of the strange empty pool like structure there is another flight of stone steps heading to a set of doors which may lead to areas deeper in the complex.
Non the wise for having inspected the alcoves, Gwernach joins the others on the landing, Upwards an on wards! The dwarf smiles a little superficially then heads up the stairs to the next set of doors.
Sadly, with his head working overtime speculating the meaning of the robes and pool, he fails to notice anything odd.
Yildiri runs her fingers around the edges of the pool to check for moisture, then climbs up the stairs towards the doors, her eyes flicking from side to side.
Upon reaching the doors, she nudges them lightly with her foot.
Gwernach and Yildiri climb the next short section of stairs, with Yildiri getting slightly ahead of the tenacious dwarf, who seems preoccupied with some niggling thoughts about the robe found on the floor.
When she reaches the doors, she takes a quick look at them, seeing that they are made from small but thick pieces of wood bound with thin iron strips. The wood was probably taken from the trees that grow around the riverbeds of the canyon floor to the northeast, but iron is rare in the canyon, and must have been imported at some expense.
The door looks safe enough, there are no obvious signs that it is trapped or locked, and using her foot she pushes one of the doors open
Noticing the door swing back, Yildiri comments, "Maybe we should wedge it open", searching for a scrap of wood or piece of stone with which to do so. Then, looking back to check what the rest of the party are up to, she prepares to continue down the corridor.
The sooner we've explored the place, the sooner we can get out!
Marvin follows after Yildiri, their eyes more adjusted to see in the darkness. They've been standing guard silently, looking preoccupied as they struggle through the many warnings and attempted data accesses for memories that are gone.
Nodding in agreement with Yildiri, Gwernach looks around as he pats himself down quickly in search of something to use to keep the door open. Finding nothing on his person, the dwarf quickly retrieves some of the bloodied robes. Holding one of the doors open with one hand, Gwernach carefully stuffs the folds of the robes between the bottom rail of the door and the floor creating an improvised door jam. The ranger tests the door several times, adjusting the folds or adding robes as needed until the door remains in place.
After Gwernach stuffs a part of the tattered and bloodied robe under the door, it stays open.
The passage ahead is dark, cold, and foreboding.
The tee intersection just ahead seems to invite exploration while at the same time suggests that any further into this place and one might easily become lost.
With the doorway secure, Gwernach presses on to the intersection. He approaches the passage cautiously, listening for anything other than his own footsteps. The grumbling noise rising from his stomach however negates his precautions. With a sigh, the dwarf advances anyways and peers around each corner.
Marvin enters the door but waits just in front of it and to the side, keeping watch of Gwernach. As the dwarf advances to the intersection, Marvin follows as well, letting him take point.
Yildiri takes up the rear, padding along behind the others.
Advancing just a bit further into the mysterious temple complex, each of the members of this rag tag group wonders in their own mind just what they hope to find, while some, who’ve only just become acquainted with the little band of adventurers silently hope to themselves that they have not already gone too far.
Only moments ago, the stranger, Parker Andersen, left the group with a simple request, discover exactly what was deep inside this mysterious cave on the side of a cavern wall, and determine if it was dangerous, too dangerous perhaps, for them to challenge its defenses in the hope of recovering an artefact of some danger that they had all just learned was removed from the wreck of the Contagion, and hidden somewhere in the temple of shadows by the mysterious silver skinned “Red Woman.”
Exactly what this artefact was, or what its purpose was when it was part of the wrecked ship, is not clear to them, Gwernach, Marvin, Sasithorn, and Yildiri. It certainly didn’t seem as if the artefact could be too unpredictable after all it had been on this world for four hundred years and so far no great catastrophe had come about because of it. But it wasn’t the artefacts presence that trouble Parker, no, he seemed more concerned that the secret of the artefact’s existence had been exposed and this had set in motion certain events that were about to unfold that were going to result in something unwelcomed for all the people of this land.
It was not all that clear.
And exactly how long it would be before Parker would return from his escort into the wreck was also a bit hazy. So far only a few long minutes had gone by, not even an hour’s time had passed, but exactly how long they should wait before heading back didn’t seem to enter their minds. It was as if they felt Parker, strange as he was, could probably take care of himself, no matter what decisions the four of them made.
And now Gwernach has pressed on past a second set of doors, into a narrow ten foot wide corridor leading to a tee intersection.
Gwernach, trying to advance as quietly as he could, was still adjusting to the peculiar utility harness he had selected from the gear offered by Parker and his associates. The few small tools and gadgets he had fashioned onto the clips on the harness banged softly, but noisily, as he crept forward. The others stay close behind him, acutely aware of the noises the dwarf made as he walked.
At the intersection he stops by one corner and looks to see what might be around the corner in each direction
With the benefit of being able to see some distance, even in total darkness, Gwernach can tell that the passageway in each direction extends twenty five feet passed the tee point, and then, in each direction, opens up into some wider area. Beyond that he could almost make out what appeared to be steps going up toward the north in each area, but this was at the very limit of his sight.
But more importantly, immediately around the corners, just five feet away, on the wall of each leg of the tee intersection curtains were hanging, suggesting a room or perhaps small alcove on the northern* wall of each passageway. The curtains appeared to be made of heavy woven fibers, wool of some kind** and were certainly not old.
Gwernach stops just before the T intersection and signals for the others to wait. As he checks either direction the dwarf describes in detail what he sees before offering anyone in the group a chance to peek around the corner.
Retreating from the intersection to avoid being spotted the ranger waves the others over and in a hushed voice, We've gotta choice, left o'right. Eith'r looks 'bout tha same so makes no difference ta me. Am guess'n tha stairs lead ta same place.
Yildiri gives Sasithorn a quick, suspicious glance, but nods in agreement. "Very well - left it is".
She examines the curtains briefly. "Those are new - and well-woven. I wonder what's behind them?". She gingerly lifts up a corner of one of the curtains and peeks behind it.
Yildir's silent attacker does not go unnoticed. Heedless of what manner of creature this is, Gwernach's stalky legs spring into action moving him to the side of the creature as his burly arms bring his waraxe down in a hefty swing.
Marvin knows their goal is simply to scout out the temple and perhaps find the black globe generator. Agent Andersen's communication will also warn them if anything else happens. The android continues forward, keeping a sharp lookout.
They immediately notice the unusual movements of the curtain Yildiri was examining and cried out. "Possible hostile sighted!"