Using the rope, Darius makes up to the bridge without much difficulty. The remains of the skeletons lie on the bridge, and there are unadorned double doors at either end.
Relieved to have dispatched the skeletons quickly, Cica nods approvingly to Ilistra. "Well done."
Then she starts to look about for signs of which path the serpent-creature might have traveled.
Once everyone is up, Darius winds the rope up and drapes it across his shoulder and neck. He then turns to the doors on the right, and makes his way to them and listens...
Darius hears nothing at the door, Cica can't find any tracks on the stone floors.
Darius will open the door quietly and slip inside, taking a silent look around...
Cica frowns with annoyance at her inability to track the serpent, but follows quietly behind Darius.
Bits of bone and fragments of wood lie scattered through this room. The walls are carved with hundreds, perhaps thousands, of strange runes interspersed with the periodic image of a stylized rune that looks like a fanged skull.
Darius and Ilistra recognize the strange runes as some form of stylized ancient Atlantean script. With time and sufficient linguistic skill it might be possible to translate part of the inscriptions.
There are two more five foot wide doors in the northern end of this chamber. A set of stairs leads down to the south.
Darius looks to the others and signals for them to wait. He had a theory the stairs led back to the lower chamber and the double doors they saw there, and wanted to confirm that before moving on.
Heading down to test his theory, Darius finds that the stairs do indeed lead down to a set of large double doors, apparently the same ones which were in the entrance chamber.
Impatient to get moving (and feeling a bit mischievious) Cica comes tiptoeing up behind Darius.
she comes close enough to whisper, "Boo!"
While Darius and Cica scouted the upper floor, Garland called Luna back to his side and started scratching behind the base of his trusted companion's ears, which quickly put the canine in a state of pure bliss.
...I should have asked those two to collect those javelins.
After all, it wasn't easy fighting The Forces of Evil™ on an empty coin purse!
Darius turns and gives Cica a stern “what the f~!! are you doing” look before opening the door to the lower chamber. He then signals the others to come along if all appears fine.
"Oh, hey," Placidus says, looking down from the bridge to the opening blood doors. "Guess it connects around, huh? Want to clear the west side of the temple first?" he asks, pointing to the direction that Cica and Darius had circled around from.
Cica nods. "Let's do it."
She pauses at the door to listen, and look for any traps.
Garland noticed Cica waving at him and happily returned the gesture!
"I have no objections to that plan," added the masked legionnaire as he marched forward to join
The group heads back to the room at the west end of the bridge, Garland pausing to collect the remaining seven javelins on the way.
The legionnaires are faced with two five foot doors.
Cica glances again at the bizarre runes on the wall, as they go past, but can't seem to place them.
As they walk by the runes, Cica mentions absentmindedly. "Any of you have a clue what's up with those creepy runes?"
Ilistra takes a cursory glance at the writing but doesn't see anything she recognizes, so she passes it by.
"Let's go left first?"
Cica gives Placidus a thumb's up, and readies her bow.
Placidus moves up to the ancient door and gently opens it. Bare alcoves line the walls of this hallway, each containing a scattering of wood and cloth fragments. They appear to have been sleeping or meditation chambers. He leads the way past several cells and around a corner. A larger empty chamber lies ahead, perhaps once used as a dining room.
As the soldiers round the corner, several figures loom from the shadows.
Initiative:
(+2 in jungle)
Ilistra, Garland, Cica
Skellies 14.75
Placidus, Darius 14.5
"Looks like more skeletons ahead!" Placidus warns.
"Of course there are." Cica sighs. "Ilistra, ready to take down a few more?"
As she talks, Cica shoots 2 fast arrows into the one straight ahead of her.
________
"At least they burn," Ilistra says in response to Cica. Fire again erupts in her hands which she flings toward the nearest skeleton.
With his awesome scythe drawn and ready for combat, our hero boldly marched forward. Stopping just short of the room, rather than entering and risking being charged or targetted by all his enemies, Garland instead prepared himself to distract the skeletons while his clever comrades picked off their foes at range!
Meanwhile, the noble Luna also advanced; waiting for Garland to enter the nearby room, she quickly ducked into a protective corner until the time was right...
"Looks like more skeletons ahead!" Placidus warns.
"Of course there are." Cica sighs. "Ilistra, ready to take down a few more?"
"At least they burn," Ilistra says in response to Cica, striding forward. Fire again erupts in her hands which she flings toward the nearest skeleton.
Unlike the somewhat more robust serpent-folk skeletons the group encountered before, these human skeletons fall easily to a single blast from Ilistra.
With his awesome scythe drawn and ready for combat, our hero boldly marched forward. Stopping just short of the room, Garland prepared himself to distract the skeletons while his clever comrades picked off their foes at range! Meanwhile, the noble Luna also advanced; waiting for Garland to enter the nearby room, she quickly ducked into a protective corner until the time was right...
Seeing the skeleton in view destroyed by Ilistra, Cica decides to hold her shots for the moment.
Three more bony figures dart forward from the shadows, dripping copious amounts of blood from their skeletal bodies. The mindless undead rush Garland's defense and try to rip him apart with finger-bone claws.
The masked legionnaire deflects their attacks easily.
Cica unloads two arrows into the skeleton directly in front of Garland, breaking it to pieces!
Placidus takes the chance to prove himself, after proving to be a completely useless archer so far, and shoves his way into the breach! With impressive flexibility he drives his heel straight upward toward the chin of the skeleton to the south.
Unfortunately for him, the bloody skeleton dodges the attack.
Darius darts forward, nimbly slipping and weaving between Garland, Placidus, and the skeletons into the far room. He moves around one with a roll and kips off the corner as he draws his blades, landing behind it ready to cut it down.
Not wanting to steal Darius or Placidus' thunder, the mighty Garland promptly swung his awesome scythe at the southmost skeleton!
Seeing no need to send Luna into the room (and thus risk an attack of opportunity), the masked legionnaire had his trusted ally stay put.
Ilistra can see a portion of the skeleton to the north of Placidus, so she summons a corona of fire around her in an impressive display. Then she hurls a potent blast of fire at it.
When the last skeleton crumbles, Cica smiles, and starts to investigate the chamber.
After poking around the little nooks, Cica shrugs and says, "There's gotta be something more interesting than this around, eh?
"Let's go back the other way."
Ilistra falls in line with the others, not saying anything.
Taking Cica's lead, the group heads back the way they came, in order to explore the eastern wing of the temple. Darius and Placidus take the lead, scanning the way forward for danger. Just past the bloody doors, Placidus's arm shoots out to block Darius path.
He points to an unusual crack in the floor that is barely noticeable. "Looks like it might be a trap."
While the diligent Darius deftly disabled the dangerous device, our hero Garland took a moment to carefully study the nefarious writings that had thus far bamboozled his friends!
[dice=Disable]1d20+10
Darius quickly determines that there is a pit trap in the hallway floor after Placidus points it out to him. He is able to wedge the trap shut to the point where it should support the weight of anyone passing over it.
While the diligent Darius deftly disabled the dangerous device, our hero Garland took a moment to carefully study the nefarious writings that had thus far bamboozled his friends!
[dice=Linguistics (Guidance)]1d20+7+1
While Garland's skill with linguistics is quite impressive (at least in his experience), even he is unable to determine the meaning of the thousands of years old script. The few patterns he can determine indicate that this was likely some kind of religious text or prayer.
"Nice work, Darius. Let's continue on?"
The pair continue to lead the group further down the hallway. It mirrors the west wing of the temple, so they soon come to another staircase up. At the junction it appears that the hallway to their left leads back to the suspended bridge over the entrance chamber. Ahead of the group the stairs continue up to another set of doors.
Our dynamic duo carefully approached the doors, keeping their eyes and ears peeled for any signs of The Forces of Evil™ danger!
Garland spots another pit trap before he reaches the doors. It appears to be designed the same way as the last one.
Using the blade of his scythe, Garland carefully pointed out the perilous pit trap to his comrades!
"Darius, it would appear that your skills are needed again. If you want, I can offer you some... Guidance," remarked our punny hero.
After Darius clears the trap, Placidus opens the doors to the next chamber. An oval pool of what looks like softly rippling blood sits at the center of this octagonal room, filling the air with a metallic tang. Four round pillars support a ceiling decorated with crisscrossed supports and grooves, while ten two-foot-wide circular holes decorate the walls at chest level.
"This place is wrong. No one put their arms or heads into the holes," Ilistra says, shuddering.