Three fancy crystal wine bottles with some sort of magical liquid inside. We can identify it later, if nothing else.
He'll pop them in his haversack and keep moving.
Having gotten close enough to see the box disappear, Ting holds up a fist, turning to the others, speaking as softly as he can in his crow like voice, "We's should hold's up a sec an' let Letfer's get's back ahead, wroight." In a few seconds he continues following along, keeping a keen eye out.
Wyran follows, watching for anything interesting.
The lower level wine cellar doesn't seem to have any other exits.
Back above, the is a wine cellar entrance back to the outside (the southern end of the cellar), there are also unexplored passages back from where you came.
Looking around the wine cellar, ting is a little perplexed. Scratching his head, "I's figured 'is basement woulds be's connected ta tha other basement." He gestures back the way they came, "Let's explores tha rest of tha bloody crypt, en see's where tha other basement leads ta, wroight."
Turning back the way they came, ting retraces his footprints to the northeastern tunnel, keeping a keen eye out as he goes.
Ting, you hear faint, dissonant music as the head through the northeast passage and it opens into a larger hall. Letters in the floor identify the place as “THE CHTHONIC CRYPTS.”
Side chambers are laden with stone caskets, each containing miscellaneous bones of human and animal (?) origin. Horned heads, hooves and bent bones are common.
On a dais to the east stands the statue of a goat-legged shepherd playing a set of metal panpipes. The music is coming from the statue as the wind
blows through the instrument.
Do you enter to explore?
Hearing the odd music ting Pauses. Looking around for the invisible 'Lefty' he then turns back towards Wyran and Malinor, "So's shall we's investergate tha Cryptsies? er shall we's try an' speaks ta tha stature?"
"Speak to a statue? Does it look alive?"
He casts Detect Magic and studies the statue for any aura.
The eerie sounds continue as the air flows through the statue's flute.
Seeing the aura Wyran quietly warns his friends. "The flute is magical. Enchantment. It could be a trap!"
Listening as Wyran explained the situation, Ting nods his beak. Lulling his tongue in a tengu smile he shrugs. "I's is a floggin' expert wit trapsies, I's'l takes care of it, wroight." Moving forward towards the statue ting keeps a keen eye out.
Once he arrives at the statue, he investigates it carefully, looking for any traps.
@Ting: Will save please.
Ting seems to lose control of his little bird feet and he begins to dance a tarantella in time with the eerie music.
As he begins to circle about the room, stepping in time with the music, bones in the crypts begins to stir and several bizarre goat-human skeletons stand up and also begin to dance out into the crypt....
"Crap! Destroy that flute!" Seeing Ting acting strange Wyran hopes he understand and moves quickly to him casting a spell to help.
Wyran's save is successful, he resists the flute's power.
As he casts his Protection spell on Ting, the dead begin to dance in a big oval around the bird man.
His eyes widening as the skeletons dance around him, Ting feels Wyran's magic effect him.
Ting pases his save.
The oval continues to dance, circling Ting between him and the statue.
Realizing he is no longer forced to dance, Ting, trying to keep the rhythm of the pipe, warily begins moving back to where his companions are outside of the room. Keeping his bow at the ready as he prances along in case any of the dancing skeletons decide to get frisky.
None of the skeletons try to attack you as you dance along with the crowd.
The others watch from the doorway in amazement/consternation at your slayer companion's predicament.
Wyran watches with a grin on his face. "As funny as that is.... be ready to attack if the skeletons stop dancing!"
Ting shuffles a jig while the goat-man skeletons circle.
Continuing to shuffle his two-step jig, Ting, moves towards the hallway where he had entered. Keeping his bow at the ready, he turns towards his companions. His eyes wide, whether due to concentration or concern it's hard to tell.
The circle/oval of dancers is 50 feet by 25 feet.
Ting moves back west towards the doorway, he pauses for a second and then hops between two of the dancers and out of the circle.
Important things he relays to the others:
(1) Statue in the northeast corner of the room with a flute that starts the party.
(2) Ting got close enough to the big stone door at the far end (east) of the room to see an inscription on the stone door: "“THE HALL OF ENTOMBMENT. THEY WHO HAVE RISEN ‘GAINST THE GREAT FROG-GOD, THEY SHALL SEE NO REST.”
(3) Three ten foot wide stairwells lead downwards on the the south wall into deep darkness.
Having danced his way through the circle of skeletal death, Ting places his bow in it's scabbard so he can waive his wings around as he describes the statue, door and stairwells. Once he's done with his 'colorful' description he draws the voidglass falchion. "So how's does we's get rid o' 'em bloody bony skely-tons wroight?"
Wyran glances at the dancing skeletons. "Well. We could smash them to bone chips. But I doubt they're the most dangerous thing here...."
"Great Frog God?"
I think we just need to keep looking.
Lefty casts Dancing lights and looks down one of the stairways.
I think we just need to keep looking.
Lefty casts Dancing lights and looks down one of the stairways.
Watching as 'Lefty' moved into the room, Ting looks from their scout to the shaman, "wern't 'em bloody toady statures 'at came's ta life, related ta 'im?"
With Ting leaving the room, the skeletons slow down gradually and gradually return to the crypts as they stop dancing.
@Lefty: The first set of stairs descends down about forty feet and then the passage seems to make s sharp right turn.
Lefty will proceed down slowly, watching for any traps or other dangers.
Seeing the skeletons slowly return to the crypts and 'Lefty' chancing the room to head to the stairs, Ting cautiously slides back into the room. keeping his back against the wall, he moves towards the stairs the elf headed down.
Once he's confident the skeletons are staying in their crypts, he heads down the stairs after his friend. Also, keeping a keen eye out for traps.
"Tsathogga? Just a demon. Certainly not a God! Are they cursing people as undead because they didn't worship a stinking demon?"
@Lefty: The stairs descend to a dusty passageway that heads west. A short distance up the passageway, you find a bricked-up doorway. The passage then continues southwest.
The elf tries to determine if the doorway was recently bricked, or if it has been that way for a long time.
Turning and winking at Wyran, "Not me's bloody god, wroight." He then follows 'Lefty down the stops and up the passageway.
This doorway was bricked up a long time ago, but they didn't do a very good job. I think we can knock it down and maybe learn something.
Lothorian gets out some tools and tries chipping away at the mortar.
Having caught up with 'Lefty' Ting lulls his tongue in a tengu smile, "I's'l be willin' ta bloody well 'elp, wroight." He turns and looks at those who followed, "Any o' you's bloke got a crowbar er a hammer?"
Wyran turns to stand guard while the others try to tear the wall down. "Crowbar? Sorry, no."
@Ting: Strength check?
Turning to the pistolero, ting asks, "So's does you's got a crows bar?"
Lulling his tongue in a tengu smile, Ting excepts the crowbar, "T'anks!" Ting approaches the wall, winking at 'Lefty' "'Is should do's better 'an rammin' it wit me shoulder, like tha last times, wroight." jamming the crowbar in a joint in the wall, he gives a tug.
On the first try, the wall doesn't budge.
With the proper tool, Ting is able to get better leverage and he pulls up on the crowbar, straining until the wall dislodges.
It slowly starts to tip away from Ting and then, picking up speed as it drops, it slams into the floor with a crash and a cloud of dust.
The dust cloud settles quickly and that's when things start getting weird:
Enchanted phosphorescence glows in a 6 ft. deep pool of hazy amber liquid in the middle of what appears to be a natural cavern (100 feet long and 50 feet wide at its widest). It illuminates a haggard, mossy tree, and ten moss-covered statues along the walls. The statues are humanoid, being from 10 ft. to 18 ft. tall.
The centermost is a figure of a six-armed human, pointing to the east.
You hear the sound of singing coming from the other end of the cavern.