As Tesswyn digs through the powdery dust for the coins, she also discovers other things - small fragments of old clothing, fingernails, toenails, bits of hair...
As she points it out, you soon realize that all this dust is the remains of other victims who have died in the same manner.
Included in the dust of the dead are 13 bits, 10 copper pennies, a long sword, an oil lantern, and a dog collar with the name "Dragon Bait" on it. You recall this dog from a month or so back belonging to a refugee passing through town.
These victims must have all been recent refugees. The killer must have been at this for months to gain this many bodies, but with so many people passing through town recently, no one noticed.
After some time you exit the tunnel and enter into a room made of worked stone. The room is 8 yards wide, 6 yards long, and 3 yards tall, easily enough for you to stand in.
The inside of the shrine is dark. Your flickering torches reveals paintings on the walls that depict an attractive woman kissing swooning men and women, interwoven with other images showing desiccated, animate corpses worshiping at her feet. From a pool of sand along one wall, dust sprays into the air like water. There is a closed door on the southern wall.
The air throughout is as dry as a desert day, making it hard to smell the faint underlying scent of rot.
Tesswyn gasps in horror when she realizes the truth of the dust. Her mind automatically falls back to the prayers her parents taught her, and she beseeches the World Mother for protection. The familiar mantra calms the girl down, preserving her sanity.
"This... This is horrible! This monster must be stopped!" she says resolutely.
Once they get to the larger room, the rogue peers about cautiously, searching the floor and the door for any traps or hidden objects.
Regulus is intrigued by the exceptionally unusual dust fountain and goes to check it out. Identify source and mechanism. Possible clue.
Gronder slides out of the tunnel into the room, drawing his axe and readying his shield as he does so. He looks around the space, noting the fountain, and it catches his attention so he doesn't really notice much else.
"We must 'member ta morn the dead after they been avenged."
Drot's mind sparks with contempt and remorse driving him to focus on the task at hand. He opens his note book and refreshes his thoughts with his spells. He eyes the door.
"Tesswyn, why don't you sneak up there and listen to that door, maybe are target is on the other side?"
Tesswyn nods at Drot.
As it was made apparent that the dust they had been breathing in and making their way through actually was, Charlemange froze. His eyes widened and for a moment time seemed to slow down. Voices from the others dulled and all he could hear was a single high pitched buzzing.
No, it wasn't that no one knew of this place. It was made known to them in their final moments. They were all lured here to their doom!
He followed numbly after the others until he was able to stand in the room properly.
He stared at the shrine of dark images, marking the victims into some sort of twisted veneration of the creature.
Then his mind snapped back into focus as a wave of anger rose within him.
"She'll pay for this." He said marching over to the paintings. He then began to strike at the beautiful woman's figure. Defacing the work of art.
Several clicking noise's sound from the clockwork's head as he eyes what Charles is doing. Then he intonea a single word "Unproductive" and stands near the door, ready to charge on Tesswyn's signal.
There doesn't seem to be anything in the room of particular interest beyond the art, but when Regulus reaches into the sand fountain, a tiny demon spurts fourth, latching onto him and clawing with all its might.
The tiny four-armed winged creature rips into the plating that makes up Regulus' body before dissipating into nothing.
It then reappears on Grondor, scratching and clawing.
It scratches and bites at the dwarf's beard, but doesn't cause any real damage.
Tesswyn shrieks as the demon appears and attacks! She steps up beside Grondor and whacks it with her staff!
Seeing the small demon attack his friends, Walter moves forward to strike at the creature.
Slow Attack: Move forward and strike.
Attack:
Damage:
Regulus moves toward the creature and strikes at it. [i]Repair damage to self later. Destroy threat now.[/ooc]
Charlemange turned away from the wall as the little demon appeared. "So, other abominations are here as well."
He stamped his staff into the ground.
"The divine depends on mortals." He uttered quickly.
A moment later a flash of bright light appeared coalescing into a holy symbol within his hands. Although it was not as brilliant as the one within his mind it would suffice.
Fast initiative: Suddenly filled with excitement at the chance to use a spell on an actual living target, Drot flings his hand forward while pulling the incantation from his mind.
Casting: Magic Dart
Gronder roars and swings his axe at the demon, but in his haste to protect his beard, he misses.
Charles summons his holy symbol as Drot materializes a boot of energy which unerringly strikes the tiny demon.
The demon again attacks Grondor.
But the dwarf still manages to keep the beastie's sharp claws away.
It then pops out of existence and reappears on Regulus again, and again it tries to rip the plating off.
The plates of the clockwork prove to be to strong.
From there, a flurry of activity happens as Regulus, Tesswyn, and Walt all strike it at once, causing black ichor to splatter across all of them.
After the battle is over, you check the room again to ensure it is clear, and it is. So you open the door. Beyond is a two-yard wide hallway that extends down quite a bit. At the far end is a set of double doors. There's also a single door just across from you.
Tesswyn offers Regulus a healing potion. "Here, you should drink this." She hesitates and frowns, looking at the clockwork's faceplate. "Um, can you drink it?"
Once the next hall is revealed, she lightly steps over to the single door and examines it for traps, then listens carefully. Assuming it is safe, she steps to the side and gestures for one of her tougher allies to open it.
Charles looked down at the holy symbol in his hand after the tiny demon had been dealt with. He realized the symbol of his faith was strong but that it would soon fade and hadn't been necessary at this time.
"Later then."
As he followed the others he glanced over at Regulus with a grimace.
"Are you able to continue on, Regulus? Those claw marks look pretty bad."
Regulus attempts to consume the potion by pouring it on his wounded gears.
Then he moves into the next room.
This room is heavily obscured by spiderwebs, stretching from one wall to the other to the ceilings to the floor and anywhere else they can attach.
Inside are three sarcophagi, roughly the size which would fit a full grown man.
As Charles opens the door, the previously still webs slightly vobrate.
"I suggest we clear these webs before travelling on. Set a torch to them. That should take care of it."
Drot examines the body of the dead demon briefly looking for any parts that might be useful, then follows suit with the party. The success of his spell left him excited and eager to vanquish their larger foe. He follows closely, peering over the front line's shoulder(s).
Tesswyn eyes the webs dubiously. "If we burn them, the spider that made them will know we're here."
She tries to see if a giant spider or any other monsters are lurking in the room before entering.
"Oh and I'm sure it wouldn't notice us if we casually walked through them." he said to Tesswyn his voice heavy with sarcasm.
He glanced at the webs. "There's no way this is a room we ought to concern ourselves with. Quickly, close the doors and ignore it."
Tesswyn glares at Charles. She briefly considers pushing the rude man into the webs, but dismisses it as a flight of fancy.
"If there is a monster here, I'd rather not leave it behind so it can sneak up on us while we're dealing with another threat."
"Hmm, it looks clear. Fine, close the door and we'll come back later."
Tesswyn checks the other doors in this hall before stepping back so her companions can open them.
Regulus feels his gears knit back together as the potion pours over them. "Useful magics. Proceed." He opens the first door Tesswyn checks.
Just loud enough for the immediate party to hear.
"This is not a morgue or grave site, why are there coffins here?"
This was more or less thinking out loud but there was a slight direction to the clergy men.
Gronder looks around, still wary. Looking over at Charles, he says, "I'm with Tesswyn. Bad idea to put any door behind us that we haven't checked." He moves along, near the front of the group, since he can see without a torch, axe and shield ready.
As you move down the hallway, blades spring out from hidden compartments, slicing into you.
The blades lash out and slice into Drot, Grondor, and Regulus.
Echoing through the halls, you can hear laughter. Ha ha ha ha ha hahahahaha. It's the same laughter as last night.
Opening up the set of double doors down at the end of the hallway, it open s up into a large room. 10 yards by 10 yards. In the center is a raised dias. There's a door to the north and a door to the west. The southern wall looks like it was blasted out some time ago.
Two freakish creatures rise up from rubble on the floor, their bodies rotting. The climb up the dias and start playing horrific music that grates on the ears. But behind it you can hear a subtle beat.
Tesswyn yelps as the blades slash out. She dodges them, but some of the others are not so lucky. "Sorry about that! I shouldn't have gotten complacent. It won't happen again."
She hands out healing potions to the wounded.
Once she sees the rotting creatures, she stifles a gag. "Ew! What are those things?"
She moves up to the closest one and swings her staff.
A click sounds in Regulus' head as the blades loosen on one of his leg joints. He leans down and makes a whirring noise while pressing his fingers to the leg.
When they enter the next room, he raises his sword and shield to attack the creatures, who are no doubt hostile.
Gronder growls as the blades slice him, the sound growing into a roar as he moves in alongside Tesswyn, axe lashing out.
Tracing a figure in the air before him, Walter calls into being a manifestation of the New God's holy symbol. He grasps the floating symbol of his god and moves towards the freakish creatures, intoning a prayer of denouncement.
A little stunned at the sudden appearance of creatures he wasn't really expecting Drot grips his staff tightly and rushes at the monsters.
None.
Seeing that no one is clapping or tapping to the beat, the Wights rage in anger and rush in to attack.
The first goes after Tesswyn at the door, slamming his fiddle down on her. The second stabbing at Grondor with his flute.
The flute painfully stabs into the dwarf, dealing 6 damage.
Drot and Regulus both swing at and miss the wight, but Grondor slams into it with his axe, hurting it.
Tesswyn likewise stabs at her own wight.
She oiterates it with a single swing.
Lastly, Walt summons his holy symbol. The Wight sees it and is physically revulsed by it.
With a bestial roar Drot swings again at the undead scourge.
Fast:
...
Gronder lets out a shout of pain as the creature stabs him. "By my granny's beard, I'll send you back to hell!" He swings, his axe practically humming as it spins through an arc, the blade burying into the side of the creature.
Charles moved to the side of one of the bards and attempts to sweep its legs out from under it.
Tesswyn cries out and charges the second undead bard!
Regulus methodically attacks the again. Destroy nearest enemy until task completed.
In quick succession, the brave volunteers end the existence of the final wight. As he is destroyed, a melodous note rings out that drives into your ears like a work wriggling into your brain.
Just at that moment, a sticky, silky thread comes flying out from behind you. It hits Walt in the legs and pulls him back into the hallway as he lands on his stomach. His fingers can be heard sliding across the floor as he grabs for purchase that is not there.
Tesswyn grits her teeth as she steels her mind against the insidious earworm. She cries out in surprise as Walt is yanked into the hall. "It got the old man!"
She runs back down the hall in pursuit, searching the shadows for the hidden assailant.
Regulus stolidly ignores the note. Seeing Walt grabbed, Regulus rushes over to him and tries to get a firm hold on the man to keep him from being dragged away.
Flailing as he is dragged across the floor, Walt tries to turn himself so that his Holy Symbol will be facing whatever it is that is dragging him backwards.
Grinning as the last foe falls, Gronder hears Tesswyn shout and turns, running back towards where Walt got dragged off, trying to ignore the pain from his various wounds.
Tesswyn shouts out and runs back into the Hall. She sees a spider the size of a full grown man pulling in a length of spider silk, the other end wrapped around Walt's legs as it reels him in like a caught fish. It walks backwards as it reels, pulling Walt back to the room thick with web.
Regulus rushes in and grabs Walt, pulling away. The spider fights back and the two engage in a battle of tug-o-war.
For Walt, it feels like being on a torture rack as his joints pop.
"Spider! Cut the web!" Tesswyn shrieks. Lacking an edged weapon, she tries to help Regulis pull Walt free.
Gronder runs over and chops at the webbing with his axe. Glaring at the spider, he growls, "And you're next!"