Tuesday 30th, March 1001 AC
(destiny token: 1)
And so the black ooze creature went inert and slowly slid back down to the bottom of the pit. The buried structure was once again plunged in total silence, save for the heavy breathing of the companions.
Still paranoid about dead things being really dead, Urist spent some time burning it down with Radiant Flames then burying it under some rocks thrown down the pit. Danik and Adran, having recuperated, went back into the eastern hallway and investigated the area once more while Serrin went to check upon the left side silver door and what lay beyond.
In the hallway, Danik and Adran, soon joined by Grom and Urist, noticed that the walls were covered by various engravings, badly damaged by time and debris.
Adran, spending some time investigating them, managed to isolate three scenes among them, each depicting some kind of ceremony, all involving humanoid forms with odd little bat-like wings on their back.
- A Birth Ceremony: A stick figure, very small, like a baby, is taken on an altar. A big adult one performs some chanting around it then there is a filament between what appears to be a spirit form and the baby figure.
- A Coming of Age Ceremony: A stick figure with small wings, slightly smaller than others, is taken in front of a massive black creature with wings. The stick figure then seems to bow in front of the creature, then another taller one puts some kind of brand to it, with a mark in a round symbol on it's chest.
- A Burial Ceremony: Stick figures with small wings on their back put another in what appears to be a pit with some liquid in it. Then they pull it out and put layers of something around it, then put it in a Sarcophagus.
The room itself was massive (more than 100" wide) and in an overall pentagonal shape. In the middle of the room was a white-stone altar and the fossilized remains of what can only be described as a dragon, but one so massive that it defied everything the companions had heard or learned about them. Around it went some kind of causeway, with small stairs leading down to the middle portion. About 30" above was a dome seemingly made of pure silver and in a very bad shape and broken through by the tons of rocks above.
- Urist's expertise identified some kind of mechanism that was most likely used to open up the dome, lowering each half and therefore allowing for the massive creature to go in and out.
- Grom identified the fossilized remains as belonging to a Black Dragon, though he never heard of one so large before.
- Urist, bashing some bones as per usual (dead things need to stay dead!), noticed that there were several massive blocks of rock on the tail bones, spine and wings, and his medical expertise suggested that the beast might have been crushed by such rocks and died because of it.
- Danik, investigating the white granite altar, did not notice anything but what seemed to be very, very old dried blood. The markings covering it were too damaged however and the scholar moved on. Thinking he caught a glimpse of something moving for a moment, he shrugged it off and went to explore the hallway further east, past a black leathery, mostly ruined, curtain.
- Urist came to the conclusion that the altar and whatever it was used for could only be for some cult related to Entropy, though he could not determine which exactly.
Danik, Urist and Grom were now in another room with some partially broken stone benches and two more silver doors. Going left, Danik started entering what seemed to be an old bedroom when suddenly, at the threshold, glyphs appeared, pulsating red!
An ear-splitting noise echoed from them in an instant as black filaments surged and grabbed Danik's limbs, paralysing him totally but for his head. Remembering what had happened back in the first buried structure at Cross Maw Cave, Urist and Grom frantically tried to pull Danik out of the Glyphs, ready for anything. Meanwhile, Serrin and Adran, hearing the ruckus all the way on the other side of the ruins, doubled their efforts to rejoin their companions.
Finally, Grom managed to pull Danik out of the room and the glyphs slowly faded back into the walls, releasing Danik from the black filaments' grip and he regained full control of his body. Not discouraged, the mage was ready to try and leap over and into the bedroom but was tackled by the very concerned dwarf and the two talked things over while checking the other silver door, which appeared blocked by rubble.
Across the ruins, Serrin, running full speed, was about to make it past the statues when a gaseous form suddenly appeared in front of him in the vague shape of a humanoid with small wings on it's back. Only his incredible agility allowed him to dodge the apparition at the last moment and he stopped to investigate it as Adran joined him and screamed in surprise.
The ghostly form seemed intrigued by Serrin and Adran. Barely visible under the torch light, it moved very slowly. Serrin poked it with a finger and it went right through but the bounty hunter felt a chilly sensation. The apparition seemed surprised at first, then appeared to try and close in on Serrin. Not waiting any longer, Serrin bolted once again down the hall and entered the main chamber...only to find himself surrounded by dozens of the dim ghosts, all floating very slowly, but surely, in his direction!
Still panicked, Adran jumped into action and as Serrin was running toward the far-end exit, the gnome let loose a Thunder-wave Spell! All the apparitions surrounding him exploded in a puff to the bard's satisfaction, but the sheer force of the spell weakened the already severely damaged structure and, unknown to him for now, a small fissure began rising up across the silver dome above...
Meanwhile, Danik and Urist came to a compromise: The scholar would leap over the glyphs with a rope attached to his waist in case something went wrong, so that the Cleric of Kagyar and Grom could pull him out of there. Danik leaped over the threshold but the glyphs instantly reacted and once again, the screeching sound echoed through the buried ruins and black filaments grabbed hold of the mage still in jumping motion. As he landed on the other side, the glyphs slowly faded back into the walls once more, inert.
With a smile of success, Danik checked the bedroom but apart from some very old black leathery clothing (with holes in the back and lower body) and two vials containing an odd silvery liquid, the place was ravaged by time and debris and so the mage came back out.
Alerted by the thundering boom coming from the main chamber, the three companions then backtracked to see what Serrin and Adran had gotten themselves into. As they arrived, Urist's dwarven Stone-Sense immediately buzzed and he noticed the dome, bending under the pressure from above, the fissure coming up from the western wall: The place was going to collapse!
Serrin, sprinting across the room, dodging the dim ghosts, reached the others. Adran, slowed down by his gnomish curiosity, was still a bit away. Meanwhile, all the apparitions, slightly more physical than before, converged in their direction.
While the bounty hunter unloaded bolts after bolts into the gaseous forms, Adran created a illusion of Grom somewhere in the room, hoping it would give him some time to join the others. Danik, after being burned by a couple of ghostly touches, was inspired by the engravings they saw and the statues in the hallway and also summoned an illusion but of the same shape as what they had seen, and, on instinct, had it speak in Draconic. All the dim ghosts immediately reacted and, now apparently completely ignoring the five companions, gathered around the illusion. Meanwhile, Urist called upon the power of Kagyar once more and sent Radiant Flames onto one of them, to little apparent effect. It seemed to anger it however as it turned and floated with speed onto the Dwarf, his face distorted into a terrifying image of death and despair, sending the panicked Dwarf running for cover back across the hallway.
Finally, Adran arrived and now aware of the threatening dome above them, decided to precipitate what would come sooner or later, and let loose another Thunder-Wave Spell then bolted out into the hall. The shock was too much for the buried structure and the silver dome exploded, tons of debris and rock crashing down into the main chamber and onto all the apparitions! A wave of debris hit the group but most managed to protect themselves, leaving only Urist and Danik with teary eyes and a cough for some time...Then, once again, everything was silent.
After some time, the companions noticed that the dim ghosts were still active but could not get out of the now collapsed main chamber, silvery glyphs appearing and repelling them every time they tried.
Urist went on to investigate the silvery glyphs and decided to draw them onto some paper for future reference, as the apparitions tried to cross the glyphs but each time being pushed back.
After gathering their thought and catching their breath for a moment, Danik, Adran and Serrin started exploring the southern hallway. Not 30" had they gone that Serrin thought he heard something collapse from the small room with the benches and Adran reported hearing a voice from the same direction, pleading for help, though others did not seem to be able to hear it.
All gathering back into the room, they noticed that the previously blocked silver door on the right had collapsed somehow, revealing another room. As Danik tried to enter first, a glyph activated in the doorway but the other one seemed to have been damaged by rubble. A moment later, a quiet "zzzzpt!" was heard then the remaining glyph exploded, propelling everyone close-by into the walls. While Urist spent a moment awakening the unconscious mage, the other companions found what looked like a small office with a rock table, some chairs and broken crates. Under the rubble, they noticed the fossilized remains of an humanoid, with small wing bones on it's back and hints of a stone chest, also buried under rubble.As Serrin moved in, his eyes caught the reflection of his torch on something on the table, amidst a number of ruined books...
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