A cautious scouting of the surface level shows that the seeming wall of undead in the large chamber are gone! With them gone, a once-obscured door in the wall becomes visible. It leads into a high passage made of black stone in this broad. The walls and even the floor and ceiling are etched with twisting runes and bizarre images of alien entities made of fire or stellar material. A reddish metal threads through the rock, especially among the runes. Near the center of the hallway is a pocked metallic nodule, cleanly broken to reveal a tiny hollow.
North of the nodule are two heaps of gear piled around small mounds of white ash.
"Stand by. Looks like more traps." Xylian examines the area around the ashen fallen and the strange nodule for traps. He also examines the red metal running through the walls and floor, if it's safe.
Xylian carefully examines the area.
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Xylian doesn't see any traps. He takes a sample of the reddish metal, what he deduces to be a starmetal, for closer examination in the lab, then turns his attention to the nodule thingy.
Xylian carefully examines the nodule.
Zharis attempts to aid Xylian in identifying the tarnish.
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Xylian is suspicious that the nodule was the vehicle by which the Color out of Space traveled...
Unable to identify the tarnish on the nodule, the members of the expedition team conclude their exploration of Ezorod. Hop is pleased to have company again, and the Sun Diver blasts off, leaving the darkened and still-mysterious prison behind. The ship's special shielding holds up well over the next several days, but the gradual deterioration of its ablative hull due to the tremendous heat and pressure mean another such journey won't be possible until the Sun Diver receives repairs at the Deep Culture Institute. Still, another dangerous voyage into Mataras has been successful. Having overcome burning undead of untold eons past, cursed artifacts, and even soul-draining entities from the depths of space, the crew of the Sun Diver have earned a well-deserved rest!
Yet, deep in the heart of Mataras, events have been set in motion. Out of the churning cauldron arises a threat to the entire Burning Archipelago! For, perhaps, the sun is not as uninhabitable as everyone thinks . . .