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"Zombies?" says Mheenah. "Well, it might be fun to mess with them, but we have a mission right now. If they didn't notice you, we should leave 'em be and keep looking for our masters, dontcha think?"
Then she notices Lorelei eating the snake and begins to giggle. "Frankly, I think the breakfast buffet at this inn leaves a bit to be desired. I mean, snake without marmalade? Gauche!"
i prefer meat like this. Raw and fresh, as for the undead,
we should take care of them if only to spite the people involved, but our masters take priority
Spirit tries a little nibble of the snake, as much out of curiosity as anything else.
"Isn't it weird they're keeping zombies and snakes in their basement? Maybe they're cultists of an undead snake god? Do you think there is one? I don't really know I never paid much attention," Spirit rambles as he looks around. He peeks down the passageways connected to this room, looking for tracks.
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As Mr. Pitch reports back about the 'zombies', Lorelei snacks on the snake while Mheenah questions the food selection at this inn...it's enough to make the curious Spirit try a nibble or two of snake himself...
Spirit then looks around for more tracks; he sees a lot of tracks leading to and from the room (most from the same way in which you all approached it)...he also notices tracks going to and from a section of the NE wall (marked by the red arrow)...
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)...he also notices tracks going to and from a section of the NE wall (marked by the red arrow)...
"Oh, I'm CERTAIN there's an undead snake god." says Mheenah. "That's just too neat-o to *not* exist. If there isn't one, someone would certainly invent one." She scratches her horn, considering a new thought. "Hey Crow, those zombies -- you're sure they weren't our masters, right?"
"Raven!" Mr. Pitch caws loudly. But then goes silent, considering this new possibility. "Oh Goddess, I hope not."
"Look, we should go this way! Lots of tracks go this way!" And just like that Spirit is off again, following the tracks.
Lorelei follows unwilling to let the little ferret run off on his own when their danger about. Oi, guys, something over here. a door
"Shall I start referring to you as an imp?" Mr.Pitch asks impertinently. "No. Then shut up."
"Ooooooooo, a secret door! Let's open it! Let's open it!" Spirit bounces up and down excitedly for a bit before trying pushing on any rock that catches his attention on the wall with his telekinetic powers, trying to get it to open up.
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As Spirit looks for a way to open it, he discovers this secret door is made of canvas over a wooden frame, painted to blend into the earth of the chamber walls. It is not locked and can be easily pulled aside or opened...
As the curious ferret easily opens it, you find the room beyond has a low (5') ceiling. The dingy chamber has three chests in it; all three of them are open and empty...
Focus you two. we have work to do, you can measure who has the bigger wingspan later Lorelei follows spirit carefully, turning her head back calling to the two flying companions
"Let's go... this way!" Spirit charges off to the southwest.
The raven follows the weasel and quasit.
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The gang follows Spirit as he rambles down the southwestern passage...
As it bends around he notices a passage branching off to the east but, seeing how there's a chamber opening to the south, he runs in there to take a look and sees...
This room appears empty, and is noteworthy only for the fact that the timbers at the far end have collapsed, leaving a pile of loose earth against the wall.
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Mheenah hops over and looks through the collapsed timbers and dirt.
"It looks like someone is mining for something down here. Dontcha think? And when they find somethin', they maybe put it in those chests, and once in a while they gather it all up and carry it out. Ooh, maybe that's what the zombies are for! Cheap labor! Just throw 'em a bone once in a while and they're happy!"
"It wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility", Mr. Pitch concedes.
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While Mheenah is looking through the collapsed timbers and dirt, Mr. Pitch yells out, "Snake!"
But Mheenah fails to see it in time to react and it's venom-dripping fangs strike out at her...
...but the snake's strike goes awry and misses the quasit. Even so, it's quick enough to strike again before Mheenah can react...
...but it fares no better the second time around...
COMBAT! Round 1 - The bold may post!
Giant Viper
Mr. Pitch
Spirit
Lorelei
Mheenah
Lorelei moves too and takes a bite at the snake
Mr. Pitch pecks at the large snake, but was unable to breach it's scales.
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"Ooo, watch out for the Sneaky Snake!" sings out Mheenah as she gleefully begins attacking the wicked serpent.
Spirit telekinetically flings a rock at this snake, too.
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"So weird how all these snakes are hiding on the ceiling!" says Mheenah. She picks up the dead viper by the tail and tries to use it like a whip, whistling it about above her head then trying to snap out at the wall, but it doesn't really work, and she just ends up smashing it a little more. The delicate acidic tang of reptile smell rises from the blood of the snake.
"I love how soft they are. Don't you just love how soft they are?" says Mheenah as she tries again to crack her snake-whip, again just slopping it wetly at the wall. "Maybe I'll make Elly some snake gloves. She'd like that."
She continues playing around until someone picks a new direction to go, then slings the battered asp over one shoulder like a sack and follows.
Spirit takes a quick look around the chamber...
...before declaring, "This is boring!" and bounding off towards the passage on the east. (The one just south of the passage we came out of)
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You follow Spirit down the eastern passage. The first fork leads you to an empty chamber (#25 on the map); there is nothing in this area.
You back out and continue east and come to another fork; the way west you recognize would lead you back to the chamber with the secret room/empty chests. The way north would likely lead you to the room with the 'zombies' that Mr. Pitch told you of...and the way south appears to lead to a chamber that you're not familiar with...
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Being naturally curious, Spirit heads south which opens into yet another chamber...
The pre-eminent feature of this room is a statue of a large snakelike creature...
The human face of this statue is the first thing seen by you upon entering the chamber; it is that of an attractive female. This extremely authentic carving has been created out of several tusks of ivory; you can easily assume that this statue was skillfully blended by a master craftsman and raised on a stone dais. While you can tell it is very expensive, you can also tell it is very heavy and would be nigh impossible for you to move...
"Oooo, they come and kneel here. That does seem cult-y! Do you think they summon snakes here or something? Maybe that's why there's so many snakes! But it doesn't seem like there's any clues here to where our friends are."
Mr. Pitch examines the location to find any clues about the faith practiced here.
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"Well, I think we explored all the tunnels down here. Maybe we should get outta here before they notice we came in here and close that trap door."
"Unless you wanna go mess with the stinky zombies?"
She turns to go, then stops, looks back at the snake lady statue, then hops over and bows down before it, abasing herself abjectly to the Undead Snake Goddess. Then she stands up and brushes herself off and turns to go again.
"Can't hurt!" she says cheerfully.
Mr. Pitch follows the quasit with reservations of leaving the undead functional, but complies with the group.
Let's avoid the undead unless necessary...
"But how will we know if it's necessary unless we look? Maybe there's a clue there with them! After all, why leave zombies somewhere unless to guard something? Maybe there'll be a map with a big x that says 'put people here' or something!"
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Mheenah will turn invisible and head over to take a peek at the chamber Mr. Pitch checked on earlier…
She sees various bones of small animals picked clean…in addition to a few humanoid looking bones. The stench is almost overpowering and comes from the three gaunt, pallid fleshed humanoid creatures the raven mentioned seeing…
While Mheenah agrees they are undoubtedly undead, she is not so sure they are zombies…
While they momentarily sniff the air in her direction, they make no moves towards her and she’s reasonably certain they don’t realize she is there…