"Snakes? Why did it have to be snakes? I hate snakes..."
"I hope that this isn't a dead end; besides taking several moments to search the area with Polyphemous, I do not immediately see how we can explore this place without agitating those snakes. They could be venomous," Garland pondered.
Ilistra studies the snakes from afar. Instinctively, heat starts shimmering off of her. She frowns as she notices that her skin is painfully hot to the touch and she wonders if that would be enough to dissuade the snakes from attacking her if she tried to make a path through the slithering carpet.
No snakes are trying to attack Ilistra before she heats herself up, and afterward, them seem to be similarly disinterested in messing with something several times their size. Any snake she goes near slithers away from her.
Now seeing that this area might not be a dead end, Garland decided to swap his lance for his scythe and then follow Ilistra into the structure...
Ilistra keeps her searing flesh defense up as she tiptoes through the snakes. She makes her way cautiously towards the stairway leading up to the first level of the tower.
Once inside the tower Ilistra can see that it consists of four rooms, all in advanced states of decay, their walls collapsing into each other. She sees a few violet mamba snakes in the mass of serpentflesh, but can pretty easily avoid the venomous reptiles. Looking around a bit, she sees what looks like a tunnel at the bottom of a staircase under the back chamber of the tower. A huge constrictor snake lurks near the rim of the descent, sunning itself.
"Ọmarịcha oku, na-enwu ọkụ dị ka nke ahụ." Cica nods to Ilistra and says, practicing the polyglot that Kittabisha has been tutoring her on.
When she sees the big snake blocking the tunnel at the bottom of the staircase, she says, "Anyone have a way to persuade it to move? If not, I'll happily persuade it with my bow."
Ilistra picks up a fist-sized rock and sets it on fire. "Enwerem oku."
Ilistra tosses the rock near it, seeing if she can encourage it to go elsewhere.
The snake curls up and slides back from the rock several inches, hissing. It does not however vacate the general vicinity of the tunnel down. Perhaps it views this hole as home?
Cica shrugs. "Well, a warning shot was definitely worth a try. I don't know if that thing is in the service of the Serpent or just likes it there, but either way it seems like we're going to have to be more persuasive."
With that, she sends an arrow flying at the massive snake--focusing on taking it out quickly, or at least hindering its movement--and then draws and nocks another.
Ilistra sees Cica shoot at the snake, so she winds up with a blast of flame herself, this one charged to set it on fire.
Cica's shot is true. She nails the snake into the rocks with an arrow through the head. It twitches a couple times and dies. No one seems to have noticed the imperials yet.
Ilistra lets the fire dissipate as Cica's shot takes out the snake. "Good shot," she says, then starts moving forward toward the pit. She keeps her defensive heat going, so the air shimmers slightly around her, and any stinging or biting insect is turned away lest it burn up upon touching her skin.
"Indeed. Good work, Cica," Garland agreed as he promptly followed Ilistra.
"Thanks," Cica smiles, as she pulls out her arrow. "Now let's see what we find down there."
Cica slowly leads the way down the stairs, keeping an eye out for traps or other dangers.
Ilistra is just about as alert as Cica.
Garland likewise kept his senses peeled for danger...
The shaft leads down into an underground tunnel. It appears that these passages were originally dug to bring water to the fortress, but they have long since dried up. The cramped tunnel leads off into the distance towards the Western side of the fortress out of sight.
"This could be a way past the patrols? They are above, on the ground. We could go under them. And if this used to bring water to the fortress, then it will take us there, yes?"
Cica nods, "Down we go!" and then leads the way.
"Do we keep going? Worst case, we come upon a dead end and we have to go back." She pauses and then adds, "No. Worst case is we come upon something hungry and immune to fire."
Cica stops for a moment, and tries to determine if it's taking them in the direction they want to go.
Ilistra keeps her eyes open for signs of access to the surface. She doesn't light a torch (or a stone), relying on her darkvision and watching for light to filter through any openings.
Cica continues along.
Polyphemous reported seeing both a large pit or well, and an aquaduct.
After walking for about five minutes, the tunnel branches. One passage continues on straight ahead, the other meets it in a tee branch that heads left .
"This reminds me of when Setsuna and her friends explored Jorgenfist in The Kailani Chronicles," Garland mused. Realizing that the others likely didn't understand his reference, the masked man explained what he meant. "They discovered secret passages that let them traverse the area undetected! I wonder if we have found something similar..."
Garland studied the two possible directions.
"How about we try exploring south? That is the furthest from our point of entry. Getting there unnoticed on the surface would have been... difficult. Now? I am seeing an opportunity..." Garland suggested.
Ilistra stares at Garland for a moment, her mind working to make sense of his reference. She finally nods after the explanation. "Oh. Was that in a book? Or a play? Theater?" She shrugs. "I have heard of such amusements that the upper castes enjoy. I'm glad it is useful to us now." Her voice has only a hint of bitterness.
She turns south without saying anything more on the subject. Before going too far, though, she concentrates to free Polyphemus from her mind and lets him flutter on down the passageway ahead of them.
After several hundred feet, a circle of light up ahead indicates a terminus to the tunnel approaching.
Cica motions for the team to stay a few paces back, and then tries to quietly approach the light.
While Garland was many things, because of his protective armor, stealthy was not one of them. As such, he complied with Cica's plan and stayed back. Luna likewise followed the masked man's lead.
The tunnel terminates into the side of another shaft, this one vertical. Cica can see about a forty foot drop down the shaft below her, and another twenty feet above before the shaft opens into the air.
Ilistra lets her moth flutter down to the base of the shaft to determine if it opens into another chamber or passageway. If not, then she suggests they climb up the shaft to the surface.
A tentacle whips out from inside a shadowed crevice at the bottom of the pit and crushes Polyphemus without fanfare.
"Oh!" Ilistra reacts when Polyphemous is returned to her mind. "Okay, we know something is definitely there."
"Hmm... Perhaps we should try the other path then," Garland suggested. "Between the required climb and this new foe, getting up there seems rather... complicated."
"I don't know. Maybe we could draw it out?" she asks of the unknown creature. In a moment, the air around her starts shimmering as she heats her skin up. "I could go down first. It shouldn't like to take a hold of me."
"This tunnel seems like it was made to carry water more than people. We can go up here or somewhere else, but I doubt we will find what we seek in a derelict well..."
"I still would like to try the other route first," Garland said. "We already know that this one is not completely safe. I am not sure how we would fight this creature..."
"I'm fine with that."
"Up we go, then." Ilistra starts up the tunnel.
Cica keeps her bow trained down the hole while her companions climb, and then she follows.
Ilistra starts scrambling up the inside of the pit. She makes it about five feet up the wall before there is a stirring noise below at the bottom of the pit.
Cica sees some tentacles start to emerge from the shadows, as if some aberrant beast is coming into the light.
"This is harder than I thought," Ilistra mutters.