The Depths Of Despair

Bennett's eyes widen as Aneira approaches the gong, and he unconsciously walks up behind her in a protective manner:

"Are you sure? What if something nasty....."

Ceasing his argument in midstream, he stands very close to her and looks about in a paranoid manner as she strikes the gong.

"Are we done all we would do on this floor?" Jihan asks, looking around at the rest. "We might not be able to get back up as easily as we get down, and they will no doubt have something nasty down there waiting for us, especially if they have zombie slaves resident. Waiting longer probably won't help the matter, but if we're going to head down there, let's get as prepared as possible."

In so saying, the elf draws Pistos into one hand, and a throwing dagger from his bandoliers into the other. Bennett, still looking at Aneira with wariness for danger, hefts his axe and shield and shrugs toward Jihan, saying nothing.

The others nod their heads in agreement with the ice priestess and the elf, obviously believing that there is nothing to lose by trying.

Avoiding getting too close to the altar so as to avoid the nauseous feeling that it brings on, Aneira makes her way to the right hand gong that Faewen'il detected magic upon. As she does so, the rest of them all stand around the outside of the circle, not daring to stand upon it directly, but getting ready to do so if required.

Once all are ready, Aneira strikes the gong with the silver-coated mallet.

As she strikes it firmly, however, no sound emanates from the gong, although they can all see it vibrating. Then they start to hear a sound. Not the sound of a gong, but rather the deep scratching sound of rock being drawn against rock coming from the circle in front of them.

As they watch on in surprise, not to mention a fair amount of relief at being able to carry on with their quest, they see that the stone inside is starting to drop downwards at a slow rate. After just a few seconds, they can see darkness beneath it. Then the stone starts to turn and move to the side, leaving a clear hole in place of the circle. As they look into the hole, they see that there are stairs descending into the darkness. The stairs are all 3' wide, but are only a few inches thick. The most disconcerting thing about them, however, is the fact that they seem to be suspended in mid air, held in place as if by magick.

Xavier, nervous as ever in the face of obvious magick, goes and stands close to Faewen'il. He smiles at her nervously, then curses under his breath:

"By Rodengast, vhat on earth!?"

They all spend a few minutes staring at the hole and the stairs descending into darkness for a moment, with no one speaking.

Jihan then kneels down on the edge of the circle and peers down at them:

"They must go down a long way," he says, shaking his head. "Farther than I am able to see with my infravision."

He then takes Langzhan and carefully leans into the hole in order to touch the top stair with the long knife. Despite the fact that the stair is floating in mid-air, it does not give as he presses against it with the knife, nor does anything untoward happen to the blade.

The top stair is just a foot below the surface of the circle. Having seen nothing ill-toward happening as a result of pressing upon the stair, Jihan tentatively puts one foot lightly upon the step. As with the knife, the step does not give as he steps upon it, and nor are there any adverse effects. Jihan puts more and more weight upon the step, while holding on to the edge of the circle in case the step should give way, but it does not. He brings his other foot down and stands upon the step. Still there is no reaction. Just to make absolutely sure, he gives a little jump upon the step. However, the step is as solid as if it is hewn into rock.

Bennett shakes his head, not liking the look of this at all. He turns toward Fae:

"Can you tell if that is some sort of extradimensional space? Or is it actually a hole dug into the ground? I have no desire to get lost in some disease ridden sub-plane!"

Faewen'il simply ignores him, however.

"It seems OK to me," the elf says, "but I wouldn't be at all surprised if one of them was loose."

"Take this," says Winnacer, handing the elf his long jousting lance. "I'm glad that I haven't been hauling it about with me for nothing."

Jihan gratefully accepts the lance and prods at the next few steps spiraling downwards. None of them seem to be moving, however.

He then starts to descend the stairs, prodding all of the stairs carefully below him before he stands upon them. Will follows behind him a couple of steps back, followed by Bennett, Winnacer and all the rest in the party, all keeping their distance in case anything happens below them. At seeing that there is only darkness below them, Faewen'il lights up her lantern, illuminating the steps around them all from her position in the middle of the group.

Xavier's hand shakes slightly as he offer Faewen'il the flint and steel from his pouch. His hand then goes to the safe environs of the hilt of his sword. His hand now still, he descends the stairway behind Faewenil, bringing up the rear of the party with the Padre.

As Bennett slowly descends, he watches for the Padre, who is last in line, while counting the steps

Slowly, they begin to descend the stairs, which spiral down and down into the darkness, one step at a time. After descending at this slow rate for some five minutes, Jihan finally announces that he can see something:

"I can see the bottom now," he says. "The bad news is, however, that it is covered by water."

This announcement brings sighs from a number in the party, especially those with bad memories of scouting out the basement of Bosco's Tower.

Bennett groans with the ill memory:

"And in a f***ing disease lab, too!"

"Oh great," Gronk sighs. "Like it weren't bad 'nough walkin' in 'at shit-water in da sewers."

Jihan leads the party down the remaining stairs, which takes another couple of minutes. Once he is just a foot above the water, he takes the lance and uses it to gauge the depth of the water. He is highly relieved when he touches the bottom almost immediately:

"We're not going to have to swim for it, I'm glad to say," the elf reports. "It's no more than a foot deep."

Bennett is not reassured in the slightest:

"I bet there's all kinds of nasty shit running around down here. Anybody got any rubber boots?"

"Thank Rodengast for dat, one swim enought the past day is enough for me," adds Xavier.

Xavier winks at Bennett, briefly chuckling to hide his nervousness.

"That's still plenty deep enough to hide something highly unpleasant," Winnacer replies. "You remember the crystal ooze in Bosco's Tower?"

Jihan shudders at the thought:

"How could I ever forget," he mutters in response.

"Yah!" agrees Xavier.

Jihan looks around and sees that they have descended into a small room, some 30' square. They can see that there is just one exit for the room, a 10' wide corridor that leads off from the center of the east wall.

Jihan checks all around him first of all using the lance and then gingerly descends into the water. Although it does not even reach his knees, the stench coming from the scum-covered water is disgusting, slightly reminiscent of the lake around the temple, but far, far worse. Jihan then starts to head for the corridor, checking carefully before he takes each step. The rest of them descend the final steps and start to follow after the elf. Once the Padre, who was taking the rearguard position, steps off the last stair, the steps begin to float upwards, causing you all some alarm.

"I sure 'ope that we can find some other way out 'f 'ere or find a way to get the stairs back again," comments the Padre, "or else we're all doomed."

"F*** that!" Bennett exclaims loudly, "We are not getting trapped down here! No f***ing way!"

Watching the Padre step down and the first step disappear, Bennett yells out:

"Stop, Padre!"

Immediately, the Padre leaps up in order to step upon the first step that has already risen some two feet above the floor. He manages to scramble onto it before it gets any further off the ground.

The Padre's expression looks a little nervous as the stairs continue to raise, but then he breathes a deep sigh of relief as the stairs stop raising and then begin to float back down to their former position.

Bennett looks only slightly less relieved than the Padre at seeing this. He then turns toward the rest of the group:

"Look, you all, we are not going to get stuck down here at some filthy priest's mercy. There's no one left above, right? And we pretty much checked to see if there was another way from there to here, right? I think we have to leave somebody above as our way out, unless we can figure out how to trigger the stairs from down here. I am sure there is a way, but I am not willing to take the chance that we can't find it. For now, one person stays, unless one of you has a better idea."

Bennett turns back toward the Padre:

"Padre, as the last in line, you're elected to stay up there with the gong, my friend. Every time the stairs start to fade away, you just whack that SOB again. You're our only way out at the moment, okay?"

The Padre sighs a deep sigh and then nods his head in agreement:

"Aye, mebbe ye're right, Bennett. We can't be riskin' not 'avin' a way out 'f 'ere once th' mission is done. I don't be 'avin' no more power to be curin' any o' ye o' disease any longer today, although I still 'ave some ability to be 'ealin' ye're wounds."

"I don't 'ave the fightin' skills o' ye warriors, an' so it's probably best if I'm the one to stay here guardin' the exit."

Bennett nods his head in thanks to the Padre and then turns towards Fae:

"Could you run your wand around down here and see if there is a magical trigger for the stairs from this room, although it's probably unlikely, or any other shenanigans of a magical nature?"

Without responding to him, she takes the Witchfinder's rod once more and starts to scan the room with it. Although the crystal lights up brightly when she aims it at the steps, there is no other sign of magic emanating from the room.

Just as she is about to flick the rune to cut off the power, the light in the crystal splutters and fades. She puts the rod away into her backpack:

"Tha rod be used up now," she says calmly.

She puts the spent rod into her backpack and produces an identical one:

"It be a good thin tha I still be havin two more on me."

Bennett then bids farewell to the Padre for the moment and takes point with Winnacer behind Jihan to explore the chamber.

Jihan leads the party down the corridor to the east, with the others following behind him at a fair distance. After 40' feet, the corridor turns right, continuing in a northerly direction.

Fae, who had hiked up her skirt about a foot above the water to avoid having her clothes reek, using a belt to hold them in place; follows the others using the boots of water walking from Sylva.

As Jihan turns the corner, the already dreadful stench coming from the water gets decidedly worse and he starts to worry about whether his breakfast is going to make an encore performance. He sees that the corridor opens up after some 30', but that there is no door to stop your progress. The elf continues to lead them forwards for another thirty feet until he gets into the open section of the corridor, which turns out to be another small room some 30' wide and 40' long.

Upon entering the room, Jihan just stops, gaping all around him in horror and absolute disgust. The rest of them bunch up with him. As the light from Faewen'il's lantern illuminates the room, they can all see the reason for Jihan's reaction for themselves.

They see upon the walls of the room, definitely the most macabre and disgusting sight that they have ever seen in their lives. Hanging from the walls are the decaying remains of humans and humanoids, men, women and children, who have died within the confines of the temple. They hang from their ankles or their wrists, shackled in chains. The bodies are crammed together in close proximity and the stench here is sickening. Some of the partymembers try and avert their eyes from the gruesome sight before them, while others seem unable to do so, unable to glance away from the evil sight before them.

Bennett is able to bear the sight, but they see a single tear come down his cheek:

"Sick bastards! F***ing sick bastards!"

He continues to chant those words like a litany, stabilizing himself as he seems to gaze beyond the death and disease, looking to make somebody pay for it.

As they look closer, they see that every single one of the bodies is naked and is riddled with disease of one form or another. The sick bastards responsible for this display seem to have arranged the bodies in such a way that they form some kind of perverse tableau, with the decaying and decomposing skins of the bodies providing a kaleidoscope of colors of reds, oranges, greens and blues - all the colors of the rainbow. All of the bodies have decayed to a state that they are hardly recognizable, the faces of the bodies contorted into horrifying masks of death, with eyeballs hanging out of their sockets and long tongues falling from their mouths. Maggots crawl in and out of the destroyed bodies, feasting on the diseased flesh and flies buzz around the cadavers as if it were solely arranged as their playground.

Fae's expression when viewing the diseased and decaying bodies is not one of horror but of mild surprise; as if sight of such things was not horrific in nature. She wrinkles her nose at the stench and the maggots, however.

Gronk takes in the sight before him without showing emotion.

"I be takin' 'em priest's hearts out an' showin' it to 'em 'fore 'ey die for what 'ey be doin' ta 'ese folks."

As the others stare at the macabre display with looks of disgust or anger writ upon their faces, Jihan cannot help but peer at each body in worry, his eyes searching for one certain man and girl. Holding his stomach in check, he moves up and down the walls, looking intently at every diseased corpse.

"No, no, Prirodna no..." he mutters beneath his breath as his grisly search continues.

As he continues the grisly task of looking carefully at each of the bodies, however, he soon comes to realize that even the least rotten of the bodies in the display show such signs of disease that they must have taken several weeks, if not months, to reach this stage of decomposure. Knowing that Mirek and Zuzana would have only been inside the complex for a few days consoles him somewhat that this has not been their fate.

As he does so, Xavier's voice booms in the narrow confines of the chamber. A voice of furious anger, heralded by a choice collection of Teutonic swear words:

"BY RODENGAST, DAMN THEIR FOUL DEVIL BEGOTTEN SOULS!" he cries out.

"Merciful Rodengast, what sort of devil, whorespore creature is capable of such atrocities? Rodengast be my judge, any who serve this Demonic faith shall feel the divine wrath of the Rodengast faithful. FIRE AND STEEL SHALL redeem these poor souls."

Winnacer stares at the macabre display, his jaw clenched and his eyes aglow with anger. He says not a word as he steps forward, drawing forth some of the oil obtained in Holitze and systematically dousing the display.

Softly, to himself, he whispers:

"Spravedelna, may the souls of the persecuted guide my blade and bring them the Justice they were unable to have in life."

With the bodies well soaked, Winnacer turns to the others:

"They shall not be allowed to perish unavenged."

He pauses in thought:

"Leave the bodies for now, we will light them as we leave."

Xavier, hearing his own words echoed by Winnacer, looks to him.

"Amen to dat, mein lord. Dis shall never be forgotten!"

They finally tear their eyes away from the ghastly sight, knowing that there is nothing more that they can do for those that have met such an horrific end and so Jihan reluctantly leads them through the room, trying to ignore the sickening stench of death and disease all around them.

He continues to splash through the calf-high water that leads northwards and onwards from the room. After another 30' feet, he finds that they are standing in the middle of a crossroads in the corridor. He looks around him. He sees that the corridor ahead of him carries on for a further 60' and then ends in a set of stairs that lead upwards out of the stinking water. To the east and west are more small staircases, which also lead up and out of the water.

Bennett breathes a very small sigh of relief that the group is apparently leaving the water.

While the rest of them catch up with him, Jihan looks around, wondering which direction to take next. He then goes rigid once more, his ears pricking up slightly.

"What is it Jihan?" Will asks as he stands right behind him.

"I can hear crying coming from the west," Jihan says. "Listen."

All go quiet and stand still in order that they can all try and hear what Jihan has mentioned. The majority of them can hear nothing, but Will and Yaz are all able to detect the distant, muffled sound of a large number of people, men, women and children, sobbing with pain and terror.

Jihan looks back at them all:

"Well, I think it's obvious which direction we should try next."

Xavier, white faced with anger and with barely disguised tears in his eyes, storms forward through the knee-deep water to the front of the party.

"Let us free them now. COME LET IT BE DONE NOW. EVEN THEIR WHORESON GOD IN PERSON SHALL NOT STOP ME!"

"Vhere are these unfortunates? NOT another shall die in this foul place!'

With that, Jihan carefully ascends the stairs to the west, checking each step carefully before he advances. The staircase is only a short one, rising up 10' quite quickly.

Xavier blinded with his passions, forces his way past the cautious Jihan and jumps the stairs two at a time and strides towards the cast iron door, all the party in his wake.

At the top of the stairs, Xavier and Jihan see that there is a short corridor, some 20' long, which ends in a thick, undecorated cast iron door.

Before Xavier has a chance to hurl himself at the door, Jihan investigates the portal carefully. He sees that it appears to be locked. However, most obvious of all is the fact that there is a large glyph placed upon it, which glows brightly in the gloom.

Xavier glares angrily at the door, his passion gradually reined in by reason.

"By Rodengast, dispel this foul incantation of the devil," the Saxon says as he turns to face the party. "Who can dispel this, foul mark? Flesh can be cut, wood burnt, iron torn asunder by the weight of many, but of sorcery I know naught. I pray dat one of the gods who watch us, has the answer!"

His eyes turn from Yaz to Aneira.

Aneira shrugs:

"I can cure disease today. I cannot dispel."

Jihan then also turns back to the others:

"Has anyone got any ideas as to how to get past the glyph?" he asks. "I might be able to get past the lock, but the glyph is beyond my skills, I'm afraid."

Bennett looks at Fae helplessly:

"Can you do anything about it? If not, I'll try to trigger it the hard way, but I don't relish that concept."

Faewen'il sighs:

"I do be havin only ONE scroll o dispellin magic left. Keep this fact in mind when ye thin o askin me ta get rid o tha glyph. It will be a good few weeks a'fore I can get me hands on someone ta let me copy it into me books ta use in tha future."

Bennett shakes his head:

"I think you should hold onto that, Fae. We will surely need you to have the ability to do that on a more permanent basis in the future. Besides, what can one magical symbol do?"

His cheek betrays serious worry as the sweat pores down.

"Kill all of us," Fae answers in a matter of fact tone while peering at the glyph.

Aneira smiles at the thought.

"With disease too, I'd bet," Winnacer adds.

Bennett mutters under his breath:

"Yeah, that helps. Thanks a lot. You two are really freaking helpful!"

Then turns back to the door.

Winnacer stares at the door, then at Jihan, then at Faewen'il. He tentatively offers the following:

"Uh....do you think it would be possible to unhinge the door? If we could shape the rock around it, we could force the door to topple. Or just destroy the hinges from afar? Maybe we could set off the glyph from afar with an arrow? Or that invisible butler that Faewen'il summons up on occasions?"

Winnacer thinks about it some more:

"If only there was a way to get through the stone and just open the door from the other side. I bet that would work just fine..."

Jihan shrugs his shoulders helplessly on the issue, turning to look towards Yaz:

"Glyphs are tricky traps. Setting one off may be accomplished in many ways, most to the detriment of the thief in question. I have heard that they may go off simply by reading them, or looking at them. Some go off at a touch, or when the object the glyph is protecting is moved or manipulated, or at some other strange condition set in the placing of the glyph itself. That's not mentioning the myriad of effects that could come about should it be set off. We've only really come across the fire or ice casting variety, but there are worse, much worse, just as Fae says. Aside from dispelling it magickally, I don't really know any other safe way of setting it off. It's not one that I recognize at all, not that I've seen many."

"However," the elf continues, still shaken by the sight of the bodies in the room previous, "I have heard that bypassing a glyph can be bypassed entirely through the utterance of a certain word or phrase woven into it at the casting of the enchantment. The priests must get in there some way or another. Perhaps it would be better to attempt and get our hands on some of this Nemotz scum and find our answers on the end of a blade..."

Yaz shivers at the thought:

"A good idea," he growls, "as I have no way of getting through stone today."

The half-elf is looking around the floor of the hallway, judging the space under the door, and looking for holes made by mice and other subterranean creatures of the night. After investigating the door closely, however, he sees that there is very little space between the cast iron door and the well-crafted stonework surrounding it.

Yaz gives a sigh as he sees that nothing larger than an insect could squeeze through the cracks:

"Oh well, worth a thought at least."

Gronk moves to check the side walls of the hallway near the door:

"Mayhap 'ere be somethin' on da other side o' 'ese walls so as we don't be havin' ta touch da door."

While the others continue to discuss any other possible ways of bypassing the glyph, Gronk starts to investigate the walls on either side of the corridor. After just a few minutes of searching, his eyes light up and he starts to chuckle a little:

"Well, well, well," his voice booms. "What 'ave we 'ere now?"

Xavier, pacing angrily up and down the hall for some minutes, turns abruptly upon hearing Gronk's exclamation:

"Vhat in Rodengast's name have you found? Dat vhich the priests could not?"

With that, Gronk pushes on a section of the wall and a section of the wall swings backwards.

Xavier moves quickly to the dwarf's side:

"Saint Thorak be praised! You are a bloody marvel, herr Gronk, mein freund. I could bloody kiss you"

Xavier hugs the dwarf around the shoulders, kissing him playfully on the top of his helm.

"Come let us rescue those misfortunates beyond. You are indeed blessed by what ever gods look over dwarven kind."

As the others start to congratulate Gronk on his great find, Jihan peers through the secret door to see what it is behind it. He sees that the door opens up into a small 10' wide 20' long room that runs alongside the corridor. The small room is totally empty, save for a length of stout iron chain that descends from a small hole in the ceiling and then drops down to the floor, upon which is coiled four feet of the chain.

Jihan advances to the chain and looks at it while the others crowd behind him:

"Hopefully this must be another way of opening the door," he says as he surveys the chain.

He touches the chain firstly with Langzhan in case the chain itself is trapped, but there appears to be none. He then touches the chain quickly, but nothing untoward happens. He then grasps the chain firmly once he realizes that the chain is nothing more than it appears. He then gives a tug upon the chain but, once again, nothing happens. He pulls upon the chain with all of his might, but still there is no reaction.

"I vould be very careful, mein freund," warns Xavier. "Rodengast knows vhat dat chain is connected too. Its just as likely to bring down the bloody roof, knowing the whoresons who build this bloody foul place!"

"I think that perhaps it might be best if the stronger members among us would give it a try," Jihan says, before backing away in order to allow the others access.

Bennett, Gronk, Winnacer and Xavier are only too glad to be of assistance and the four of them take up the chain before starting to haul upon it. They continue to pull at the chain for several minutes, getting more and more red-faced and sweaty as they continue the attempt. However, all of their efforts are for nothing as the chain refuses to budge an inch.

While the warriors pull on the chain, Jihan walks back into the corridor to see if there has been any result of their actions visible outside. However, all is as before, with the door still firmly shut closed. He then looks upwards and a spark of understanding comes to his mind. He returns to the secret room and tells the others to follow him out into the corridor. Once all are assembled outside, he points up to the ceiling and starts to speak:

"Can you see those minute cracks up there?" he asks. "The chain is probably not a way of opening the door, but rather simply a way of resetting the trap."

He gives a little sigh:

"At least it looks as if we have discovered the fate of any who try to disturb the glyph, however. They would be crushed to death beneath several tons of rock."

"Ha ha," chuckles Xavier, "I bloody told you. I knew dat the chain vas connected to the roof. Just not how."

"Um," starts Yaz, "do any of you guys know anything about them glyph things? If we set it off, will it go away?"

Yaz' question results in a series of shrugs all round.

"If we do what Bennett said, and trigger it with that lance, then reset the block with the chain, maybe the glyph will be gone. Should we try it? I think we should try it."

Yaz pauses, and looks at Bennett, nudging him with his elbow:

"I'm not gonna try it. You try it."

Bennett shrugs him off:

"Oh, yeah, let me get crushed under tons of rock, you bastard! Yeah, I'll give it a shot. How about you stay in the tunnel and gauge how much rock falls on your head!"

Jihan peers towards the doorway in question, rubbing his chin as his mind wanders:

"It just might, but I'm not sure. If these fellows were so well funded as to afford the magickal stairway, then a permanent glyph wouldn't be beyond them, especially if the room's contents are very important to them, which I'm guessing their.. . 'samples' are. One good thing about this though, setting off the trap may just draw the scum out of their hole, at least a few of them, to come investigate. Maybe if we were able to hide, either under the scummy water, or behind the stairwell, the corner or any magickal concealment, we could jump them from surprise."

"Some of us could even hide in the reset room," the elf continues, his eyes brightening up a little, "Really take them unaware..."

'Sounds like a plan ta me," Gronk adds. "Iffin a couple o' us hid down da hall opposite an' some o' us hid in da secret room we oughts ta be able ta surprise 'em good. Give 'em a good whackin' 'en either wait for 'eir pals ta come check on 'em or go after da rest o' 'em."

Bennett nods:

"I like this concept, though I will not hide under the water. Anywhere but there!"

Turning toward Jihan, he continues:

"It occurs to me that the lance trick may work after all. I could stand in the doorway to that area and fiddle with the glyph with the lance and set the trap off, then some could wait inside, including me, of course. Then some others could wait down the other hallway and watch for the inevitable search party. If we stayed quiet long enough, they would be bound to send someone to investigate the crash, which would surely be most easily done by coming in to reset it. Then, as my friend Gronk says, time for a good whackin! We could perhaps add spice to the trap by leaving a spare weapon or two sticking out of the rubble, perhaps with a glove attached, for realism? Then we could find out the solution to the glyph from whoever came to investigate, or we could charm them or something to help us investigate the rest of the place, huh?"

Bennett thinks for a moment:

"I think the only question is whether or not we check out the rest of the corridors first. I don't know what the harm would be in it, as I imagine the remainder of the priests are probably locked away together to protect each other."

Then an idea strikes him:

"Aneira, do you think you could get your toy soldier from above to come down and yell out for the priests that we bit it in the rubble? It may help, but it may blow the whole thing. What do you all think?"

Aneira replies:

"I think that would work almost as well as Yaz's idea of giving the guard a present from one of the charmed guards."

"If we had iron spikes or something we could pin the falling rock to the ceiling," suggests Yaz. "Then we got no worries about the glyph at all, right? Actually, we could just put a spike through the top ring in the chain in that little room. That'd take care of it."

Jihan ponders this for a moment before responding, his voice full of anxiety:

"It could, but that wrecks our chance of drawing out the priests with the noise, unless the glyph is also the 'alerting at a distance in the caster's mind' variety, though it'd certainly be safer for us. And I'm painfully aware of the fact that the lock at the end might be beyond my skills yet again, should things hold true to form for this temple. That door is cast iron, certainly not so easily hacked from its hinges, though time may give us the ability to unhook it from the stone surrounding it..."

"You worry too much," says Yaz with a faint bit of a smile on his face. "If we spike the chain we got no worries about falling rocks. I'll touch the glyph if you guys are too chicken."

Winnacer's face is skeptical, at best:

"I'm not sure that a few spikes would hold up against anything really heavy, like a rock ceiling. It would be quite the risk to take."

"Not if we use your lance," Yaz replies. "We should try to find the outlines of the rock in the ceiling so we can stay out of its way, just in case."

Winnacer still does not look completely convinced:

"Well I have the lance and I have spikes, and so it might be worth a try. As to whether the spikes in the chain would be strong enough to hold the falling rock, I'm not sure. I suppose that there is just one way to find out."

He pauses for a moment:

"However, I still believe that we have little to lose by checking out the two other corridors before we get too carried away upon this task. It won't take more than a few minutes to investigate the two other possible routes."

Winnacer then looks back up at the faint outline in the ceiling and at the glyph once more and then turns to the elf:

"Is there any chance that the glyph and the ceiling trap are separate entities? Are you sure that they are part and parcel of the same trap, Jihan?"

"Well .. . no," the elf replies, shaking his head. "I can't be completely sure that they are all working together, I just assumed that this is the case. I can't deny that it is possible that there could be two completely different traps upon the door."

Gronk, not being the patient type to begin with, is obviously getting tired of the discussion. He walks out of the secret room back into the hallway and begins surveying the ceiling, walls, and floor around the area where the stone would descend. His mind is so engrossed in what he is doing that he doesn't appear to even be aware that the rest of the party is still there.

As he is moving around he is mumbling to himself in dwarven:

"Damn pussyfoots! Ain't gonna get nothin' done 'round 'ere unless I do it myself. Wanna 'ave a whack at 'is Thunder? I knows it ain't no greenskin, but at least ya ain't sittin' 'round rustin' away."

After he has finished checking things out, he moves to the center of the hall, takes several paces backwards from where the front edge of the falling stone appears to be, nods his head a couple of times in affirmation, gives Thunder a kiss, and speaks:

First, in dwarven:

"Show what's ya got baby."

Then, in common, still facing the glyphed door:

"Ya oughtta be gettin' away froms 'at chain right quick-like!"

Winnacer watches as the dwarf takes action in the middle of their discussion. His eyes open wide to take in whatever the result may just be.

As Gronk speaks, he raises Thunder above his head, quickly brings it down and slaps the flat of Thunder's blade on the floor between himself and the front edge of the trap, making sure that Thunder would not end up under the falling stone if the trap is triggered.

As Gronk slaps the blade against the ground, there is the familiar clap of thunder that sets everyone's ears buzzing from the loud sound, which reverberates through the corridors, making it sound louder than ever before. Eventually the buzzing in their ears subside and they take a look at the door.

All is still as it was before. The glyph, the door and the block of stone in the ceiling all completely unchanged.

"Shit!" is all that Gronk has to say at seeing the lack of results of his attempt.

Jihan sighs and shakes his head:

"Well, if there is anyone on this level, then they certainly know that we're down here now."

All goes silent then for a moment as they try and listen for anyone that may have been alerted by the sound, knowing how difficult it would be for anyone to creep up on them while sloshing through the murky waters which seem to fill the corridors. However, after five minutes, there is still no sound of anyone having been alerted by the sound.

"I think we've waited long enough now," Bennett says, his impatience now impossible for him to disguise any longer. "I'm going ahead with the lance plan whether the rest of you like it or not, so I suggest that everyone gets into position."

Winnacer hands Bennett the lance and then takes half of the party over to the corridor on the opposite side of the main thoroughfare where they await the results of Bennett's attempts upon the door. Meanwhile, those remaining all squeeze into the small secret room next to the corridor, with Bennett being the last to enter. Bennett then takes the lance and then nervously brings it up towards the door.

Everyone tenses themselves for another loud thud as Bennett brings the lance up and places the tip of it in the key hole.

But nothing happens.

Bennett fiddles around with the lock with the point of the lance for several minutes, but absolutely nothing happens to the door, the glyph or the roof of the corridor.

"Try pushin' on da floor with 'at big poker," Gronk says, "Mayhap it be pressure 'at be triggerin' da stone."

Bennett tries to push at several different spots around the door with the end of the lance, but the results are exactly the same - nothing.

Eventually, Bennett throws the lance to the floor in frustration and starts uttering a long string of obscenities. Guessing that this is the sign that Bennett's attempt upon the door was less than completely successful, Winnacer leads the others back to join those before the door.

Once Bennett has calmed down a little, all are silent for a moment as they consider any more suggestions. Upon it becoming obvious that none have, Winnacer follows up on Jihan's thought:

"We've got two other passages to examine. While I would quite like to come to the rescue of the hostages right now, freeing them may make us all more vulnerable. Let us seek out the rest of this pestilence worshipping scum and give them the opportunity to fester in a manner befitting of their god. Perhaps upon their decaying carcasses we will find the means to bypass the glyph, and some answers to the questions we all have."

"Well..." Jihan says with a gulp, "I think there might be another way we could get by it, but my life may be forfeit in the doing... Let's see what we can learn from the priests first... Like you said, the glyph might just be to harm those attempting to open the door, and the stone fall triggered by opening the door, or a pressure plate somewhere we didn't see."

"Mein Lord, as much as it hurts me, I beg to differ on this course of action," interrupts Xavier. "I, as much as you, hunger to drive my blade through every godforsaken whoreson responsible for this place. But, alas, my heart hears the calls of those who live in chains. If ve delay, then more may die. Finding them and gaining there freedom should be our priority. Then fear not, mein lord, ve shall wrack such bloody vengeance on these whoresons dat there church vill not be seen on the landscape of Bohavia in the next 50 years!"

Bennett considers arguing the point, but shrugs his shoulders noncommittally:

"Didn't want to take the risk anyway. I wonder what happens when one of them dies while we're out here f***ing around?"

He asks that question rhetorically, grabbing up axe and shield again and falling into line to check out the opposite hallway.

"I suggest that we examine the room to the right first," Winnacer finishes.

No one is in any particular rush to get crushed underneath a ton or two of rock and so agree with the decision to see whether there is any other way of getting past the glyph first of all.

Deciding that a little extra light would not come amiss to pierce the gloom of the corridors, Winnacer takes up a torch in his shield hand, lighting it off the lantern and then starts to traipse off after the elf as Jihan leads the party onwards in order to investigate the rest of the complex. Jihan descend the steps down from the short corridor, splashes through the fetid waters once more and then begins to climb the staircase on the opposite side of the corridor. The stairs lead up to another short corridor just 20' long, giving an area symmetrical with the one that they have just come from.

The door at the end of it, however, is quite different from the last one. To start with, there is no glyph present, but in addition to this, the door is not made of iron, but rather of wood, which is intricately carved with many leering human and semi-human faces.

"I don't like the look of this door much better than the last one," Jihan says a little gloomily.

However, he continues to investigate the door carefully, performing all of his normal tests before he is fairly confident that there are no traps present on the door. Then he tries the handle:

"It's locked, of course," he says.

He retrieves his lock-picking tools once more and then sets about the now familiar task of trying to open the lock. After five minutes working at the lock, he eventually comes to the now similarly familiar realization that the lock is beyond his skills.

He turns to the rest:

"No, sorry, but it's beyond me. We either ignore it or we have to hack it to pieces. I think it should just about be possible, as the wood seems to be a little rotten. However, it's not going to be an easy task, as the wood seems pretty thick to me."

He looks over at Bennett and Gronk:

"I would imagine it would take the pair of you an hour or so to get through it, despite your skill with axes."

Winnacer nods:

"Well let's try the other corridor. If it doesn't lead anywhere, then we can come back and try this door then."

They all agree and so return to the main corridor and Jihan leads them north once more, sloshing through the murky, stinking water for 60' feet until he gets to the staircase at the end. He ascends the stairs, checking them carefully on the way.

As he mounts the stairs, he finds himself on a small landing just 20' long. To the east, there are stairs leading down again back into the water. These stairs are 20' wide and lead down into a corridor that is also 20' wide, and is also filled with the same water.

The ceiling of the corridor, which has been a little over 10' high throughout the level, descends along with the stairs, making it very difficult to see too far down the corridor. While the rest of the party ascends the stairs behind him, Jihan crouches down and looks down at floor level to see how far down the corridor he can see.

He then stands up and reports back to the others:

"So the stairs go down for 20' and then there is another 40' of corridor that ends in a pair of doors. Locked, no doubt."

Gronk stands on the landing looking at the two corridors leading off from it, both under water:

"What sort of a moron designed this place?" he asks himself. "Sure as 'ell weren't no dwarf, what wiv stairs goin' up and then stairs goin' down. What's the point? Waste of bleedin' effort."

Jihan ponders the same question as he looks at the wide stairs heading eastwards. He is about to agree with Gronk, when he just catches out of the corner of his eye, the sight of a pair of red eyes glowing above the stairs. As soon as he sees them, the eyes disappear back into the darkness. Continuing to look in the same direction where the eyes were, he sees that there is a viewing hole cut into the rock above the corridor, just over 1' in diameter.

Jihan smiles gloomily as he puts the evidence together:

"Oh, now I understand it," he sighs. "The reason for the strange construction is that there must be a room above the corridor, right in front of the doors. So, while we're trying to get through the doors, someone, or, more accurately perhaps, something, will be raining down arrows or spells upon us."

He shakes his head once more:

"This is not going to be easy," he says to himself.

Everyone starts to consider the party's limited options when Will starts sniffing at the air:

"What's that smell?" he asks to them all.

"Bleedin' stinkin' water," Gronk replies.

"No," Will counters. "I can smell something else, something warm and a little sweet."

Everyone starts to sniff the air in order to see if they can smell it.

"Gott in himmel!" Xavier exclaims, "I remember dat smell from der seige of Petrograd in '53."

"Those cursed whoreson Rus schweins took out some of Saxony's finest with dat foul mixture," he continues to reminisce."It's der smell of bloody boiling oil, dat's vhat dat smell is! I shall never forget dat cursed smell dat killed so many of my friends as long as I shall live. "

Xavier's words set everyone groaning at the thought.

"So that's arrows, spells and boiling oil that we will be subjected to if we enter that corridor," Jihan concludes.

He looks around at the rest of you:

"What are we going to do?"