Mirinde whirls around to affix a glare at both cleric and thief. "What did you expect here? This is a death cult! They hold a different value than we do!" After calming herself here she adds, "As for your question Clancy...these are various animals represented by the sigils, along with astrological signs. These stacks show those cultists who perished from 500 to 200 years in the past...a memorial if you will. I am certain their spirits linger still...best to press on here."
The stone stairs descend into an antechamber below. The vaulted ceiling is held aloft by pillars carved in the shape of terrified youths being dragged beneath the earth by skeletal hands. Actual bones, blackened with age, lie scattered about the stone floor. A low pedestal stands in the center of the chamber. Atop its marble surface sits a hammered copper bowl containing a dozen simple wafers.
Across the antechamber rests a large arch, carved with intricate runes. A powerful green glow emanates from within, and tendrils of thick mist waft up from below.
Holy trumpets sound as Clancy's spell reveals six shades hiding in the darkness of the room! They were nearly invisible in the shadows, but now they glow with brilliant silver light! Revealed, the shades begin to move towards you menacingly. "We will usher the faithless to their own reward," one hisses!
"Faith in what?," Istevan wants to know, "Faith in who??"
He stands his ground as the creatures approach, slashing out at the nearest.
"Unholy abominations!" Shouts Clancy as he again calls upon Justicia to turn these undead creatures!
Will Save DC vs this check result
creatures turned!
creatures turned!
creature turned!
Turned for minutes
*Moves away from the cleric at maximum speed or cowers if unable to retreat*
Clancy's holy symbol shines brightly, and all six shades hiss and recoil. They flee into the walls, phasing into them as they seek escape from Justicia's holy light!
With the undead gone, you have time to examine the chamber further. The bones here constitute six bodies. Intermingled with the skeletons are rusted war flails, suits of ruined ring mail, and the small image of a three-headed raven hung from a silver chain--the symbol of the Carnifex.
The wafers on the pedestal are as fresh as if they had been baked that day. Each wafer is pressed with the image of a three-headed raven.
As Mirinde explores the room, her keen elven senses detect the seams of a secret door hidden in the north wall. However, there does not seem to be any obvious way to open it.
"Ha!" Istevan lowers his guard, "Not so faithless as you thought!" He nods his thanks to Clancy: "Be sure to thank Justicia from me -- she has kept us safe yet again!"
Mirinde sniffs disdainfully, "Of course we should thank her..."
Turning her attention to the secret door she ponders carefully, "Perhaps only those worthy of the Carnifex are allowed passage here. The symbols of the Carnifex," pointing to the three-headed raven symbol, "is the key here." Peering at the still-fresh wafers she pauses, "The wafers would be consumed by the faithful correct Clancy?"
Degan will of course search for the way to open the door.
As he looks, he comments, "There are six bodies here, and there were six shades. Might they be the spirits from these bodies? Maybe they were faithful of Carnifex, maybe they were looters who picked up that unholy symbol and were cursed by it, maybe they were among that rumored army of Punjar's nobility that disappeared down here.
But whatever their story, would blessing their remains put their spirits to rest?"
Neither Degan nor Istevan discover any mundane means of opening the door. Its seal is likely magical in nature.
Istevan snaps his fingers, shaking his index aloft: "You know what? I bet eating the wafers would allow us to open that door!"
He looks dubiously into the copper bowl: "... assuming anyone is willing to do that... Maybe just presenting the holy symbol would be enough?"
The runes' meanings are obscure. Looking through the archway, Istevan can see a vaulted gallery emerging from the green mist. Flaking murals painted along the ceiling depict hellish scenes where hordes of armed skeletons herd men and women of all rank and station, driving them on like squealing pigs to the slaughter.
Three portals stand in this room. The first door is wooden and carved in bas-relief upon it is an emaciated child begging for a scrap of bread. The second door is hammered bronze and depicts a proud warrior driven to his knees by scores of arrows and bleeding from grievous wounds. The final portal is shaped of clay and depicts an ancient, squat man, his sad toad-like eyes giving his face the look of someone reflecting on a life half lived. Tendrils of glowing green mist drift about the ceiling, casting an unworldly pall over the chamber.
"If you can spare some time here I can attempt to decipher these runes."
Trying to stay out of way while the others investigate, Istevan crunches loudly into an apple, offering to share it with Zathra.
Clancy smiles at Istevan, ignoring the elf's disdainful sniff. "I shall do that, my friend." When Degan speaks, he nods at thief's astute observation. "Damned to a hellish afterlife, no doubt. I wonder what sorts of atrocities they committed in life. As to your suggestion, likely not, Degan. I would not bless those that might well have done great evil in their life regardless." He answers, then moves to inspect the secret door that Mirinde found - but unless there is something obvious to his eyes (perhaps an indentation where the symbol could be placed - as Istevan mentioned), he moves away and peers into the room beyond the archway.
The cleric examines the runes, then glances at Mirinde. "Are they dangerous? If not, we should get moving. Those shades may return once Justicia's wrath frightens them no longer."
Looking into the next chamber, Clancy's detect evil spell causes all three doors in that room to glow with holy light. It would seem that each one poses a danger to you.
Mirinde pulls her attention away from the runes and nods slowly, "Yes, I fear we do not have the time required for me to determine the meaning of these runes...although I suspect they bode ill for us."
Setting the core of his apple down next to the bowl of wafers, Istevan rolls his shoulders: "Alright, then. Moving on."
Istevan winces in anticipation as he walks through the archway into the next room -- without direction from the wiser members of the group, he'll advance toward the central door.
"Hold Istevan," Mirinde calls out, "Each of these doors poses a danger. We need to determine how to bypass it!" Carefully avoiding the doors she instead focuses on the rest of the chamber looking for any further clues.
Clancy speaks up hurriedly as Istevan seems set an moving forward. "Mirinde is correct, the doors are trapped somehow - or at the very least they pose a danger if touched. See how they glow? And there is also that mist..." Besides the visual warning, the fading heavenly trumpets that loudly announced the appearance of the danger is only now beginning to fade to silence once more.
The cleric shakes his head uncertainly, however. "Still, unless we can figure out a way through the secret door you found in the room above, Mirinde, we will have to try one of these doors. Degan? Can you examine one of them more closely? It could be a mechanical trap of some kind - perhaps a false door, even. Or there could be fell magic at work. In any case, I would not suggest you touch any of the doors quite yet, as you search them over."
"Oh! uh, yeah yeah, sure. No problem."
Istevan scratches his chin, looking sheepish.
"Those wafers in the previous chamber were as fresh as the moment they emerged from the oven," Mirinde adds, "That could be the key to the puzzle...or possibly a trap for the unwary."
"You mentioned earlier, I think, Mirinde, that perhaps the secret door would only open to the faithful. Perhaps what is required is for one of us to don the holy symbol and eat a wafer? But... perhaps that will also corrupt us in some way?"
Degan will check the three portals for traps to see if there is a anything he can help with.
The source of the green mist seems to be the carving of the sad man on the clay door. Glowing tendrils of mist slowly slip from his mouth. The mist closest to the carving does glow with the light from detect evil, but the rest of it does not.
Degan doesn't discover any traps on any of the three doors. But they still register as dangerous from Clancy's spell.
Mirinde nods humorlessly, "Yes Istevan those wafers are undoubtedly magical in nature...and would indeed corrupt you. As for the nature of said corruption there is one way to find out..."
In response to Clancy she nods slowly, "I could summon some animals to test the nature of each portal...although such a method is not foolproof."
Clancy nods in agreement, then considers. "Perhaps we could feed an animal one of those wafers? See if there's any harm done? I'm not one for torturing such creatures mind you, but are they even... real? I mean, where do they come from? Where do they go when you're finished with them?" The once-farmer seems genuinely interested.
"Animal spirits draw forth the chaos-substance from the ether to form the outer shell of the body," Mirinde replies, "As for the reality of these animal spirits, yes indeed they ARE real, though not as you would understand reality. As for feeding one of the wafers to the animal do realize we only have 12 wafers to consume."
"Let me see what effects the door has upon a 'living' being..." Mirinde continues as she calls forth her magicks...
The bats fly up to the three doors. Both the wooden door and the bronze door are stuck shut, and neither bat is strong enough to force them open. When the third bat touches the clay door, though, the sculpture of the old man exhales glowing tendrils of mist. The tendrils immediately coalesce into thick, sticky tongues that ensnare the bat and attempt to draw it onto the clay-man’s mouth!
"Let... unh.. go! That's our bat!"
Istevan tugs on a tongue but is unable to break its grasp.
Miraculously, the stunningly mediocre thief is able to free the bat (hopefully not killing it in the process).
"Let's not use that door."
Degan yanks the shrieking bat free of the tongues, which retreat back into the carving before anything else can happen.
"A wise choice Degan" Mirinde nods approvingly, "Now let us see about the other doors..." She points the bats towards the other pair of doors.
Clancy waits patiently as Mirinde uses her magic to determine how best to proceed safely...
The bats continue to yank and hammer on the doors, and the third bat manages to pull the wooden door open. But as it does so, the handle gives way, dissolving in the bat's grasp. Fiber by fiber, the door rots away into nothingness in the span of a breath.
Though you can't see anything, the bat lets out a panicked shriek and flaps about wildly for a few moments. Then it calms down, having apparently overcome whatever spooked it.
Past the door is a small chamber. The floor is littered with soil and fallen debris. Enormous roots, yellow with age, hang from the ceiling like giant tentacles. Rays of pale light shine from above, casting disturbing shadows on the chamber floor. It looks like you could climb the roots to ascend to a chamber above.
The bats fly up into the room and come back down, showing that it appears to be safe.
Mirinde nods in appreciation to her summoned spirit friends before focusing a piercing gaze upon Degan, "I believe this is your specialty?"
"Huh!" Istevan looks impressed. "I'll be honest with you -- I did not think that was going to work."
"Let's see if whatever panicked the bat momentarily will also affect me."
Degan walks through the doorway.
"Oh!" Istevan hustles after Degan: "I thought you were gonna look for traps..."
Degan walks into the room without incident and clambers up the vines to scout out the chamber above. He emerges in the center of a narrow hall that is nearly blocked by the thick, hanging roots. However, there is a small chamber to the south where the roots shrivel, thin, and die, leaving bare stone. To the north, an open doorway leads into what seems to be a much larger chamber lit by sputtering torches. Somewhere in the distance, Degan hears the sound of a slow, methodic drumming.
Deciding against calling out tor the party (and thereby announcing that he is alone), Degan climbs back down the vines and reports on what he sees.
"I think we should proceed up the vines, and then go explore both of the chambers that I could see. Can you all make it up the vines?
I couldn't tell where the sound of the drums was coming from."
He will check the two rooms for traps, but only once the party is with him - he does not want to be distracted and immersed in his investigations without somebody watching his back.
Clancy moves to clamber up the vines if he can, in order to join Degan. He frowns at the sound of drums, then whispers to the others. "It would seem we are not alone..."
Mirinde takes her time to clamber up the vines here, recalling how she was unsuited for strenuous activities. "I could send my bats off to investigate the noise. They would not draw the occupant's attention much. Perhaps they would reveal their nature further."
Following Degan up the vines, Istevan will also try to figure out if the drumming is coming from the north or south: "I don't much like the idea of leaving someone behind us... If your bats can tell us which way to look, that would be great."