Entering the Lair of the Serpent
"These ruins had been abandoned for a long, long time", Tello thought. The jungle practically engulfed them, it was a miracle anything of the two structures still survived. By rights they should be little more then mounds covered by overgrowth. Some art or power must be sustaining them, fighting back against the onrush of nature.
Tello stepped forward to examine the first of the buildings, a round chamber about thirty feet in diameter. Behind him, he could hear Freddy and Whisperleaf murmuring to the huge Wyvern that made her nest on this rocky outcropping. Freddy was gently strumming his guitar and singing some ancient lullaby, and so far it was working, keeping the massive beast and her two chicks enraptured. Keeping them from attacking the party.
Tello squinted his reptilian eyes. The round building emitted a faint glow from it's interior, barely visible in the afternoon sunlight. As he approached the door, he could make the gleam out more clearly, a vibrant green light spilling from the interior.
"Clearly some energy source" the Tortle thought. "Undoubtedly of great power to still be active after so many years of neglect."
Beside him, The Sturg hacked his way through the remaining underbrush with his mighty sword, clearing the way to the door. He paused in the threshold, looking back at the party.
"Better let us take a look at that, friend Sturg" cautioned Whisperleaf. He gestured to Ricmo and the two of them carefully approached the building.
"I sense magic emanating from within" Dakhir cautioned. Ricmo nodded, as he, Whisperleaf, and Tello carefully investigated the door for any surprises.
Tello bent over and blinked three times, and the tiny, cunningly crafted lenses he wore in his eyes dropped down over his field of vision. Immediately his view was magnified, he could see the most minute details, the texture of the stone work, the seams, the cracks. The Tortle very carefully and tortuously went over the doorway, inch by inch
Ricmo watched, impatiently. A couple of times he opened his mouth as if to hurry the Tortle, but he thought better of it and closed it again.
Eventually the Artificer stood up. He blinked three times again and then walked confidently through the door. Ricmo and Whisperleaf exchanged glances and followed him. The rest of the party tailed in behind.
The small stone chamber encloses what appeared to be a natural hot spring. The pool steamed softly, bubbling and glowing with a radiant light that was much more obvious here in the gloom of the round chamber. Murals and hieroglyphics covered the walls of a single circular room, though probably once colorful, they were faded with time. The murals featured humans and some kind of snake-human creatures bathing in the pool, giving the impression of healing and rejuvenation.
The companions stared at the glowing water in fascination and distrust
"Not sure I buy this" said Dakhir, Ricmo nodded.
There was a plopping noise as the Tortle slid gracefully into the pool. Tello's head emerged from the water near the center with nary a ripple.
Whisperleaf grinned. "I guess we are going in".
The obvious effects of the pool were immediate and pleasurable. "This feels great on my aching feet" remarked Dakhir. Next to him The Sturg dangled his large, hairy, warty green feet in the water as well. He still had most of this armor on, including his helm, but had removed his greaves. He seemed to be radiating contentment.
Tello's head broke the water again from the center of the pool.
"The beneficial power seems to be fading, our bodies are absorbing it" he commented. He swished his hand through the air and they could all see his flesh was glowing faintly, leaving a faint trail of light in the steamy air. The pool did indeed seem less radiant then when they had first entered and the water seemed to be gradually cooling.
"Hopefully the effects remain beneficial?" Dakhir remarked.
Whisperleaf held up his hand. The back of it was covered with what appeared to be tiny snake scales.
"Mostly beneficial" he remarked.
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The Labyrinth
"The snake people seemed to practice human sacrifice" remarked Whisperleaf as he studied the artwork.
Tello looked up from examining the alter. "The stone conceals a cunning mechanical device" he murmured. "If triggered, I suspect it moves the stone slab aside. The question is, how to trigger it?"
"That seems clear to me" remarked Dakhir, and with one smooth motion he drew his dagger and cut a wide gash in his palm. As his blood dripped down onto the stone there was a harsh, grinding sound, and the alter moved sidewise, giving a glimpse of a stone ramp heading down.
It was dark down there.
"Let there be Light" said Radiant Lightbringer and his mace began glowing with a pearly luminesce.
"Gods help us if we have to fight down here" Ricmo thought.
The air was hot, steamy, oppressively so. The place was totally dark, except where Radiant’s light reached. He had enchanted the front, rear and middle of the column of explorers and so the pearly light encased them in a bubble of radiance. Outside it, all was dark.
The tunnels meandered senselessly, crossing and recrossing one another, sometimes descending, sometimes ascending, a confusing maze that was almost impossible to keep track of.
Vincent was trying however. Initially she had started by attempting to map the complex but had quickly given up, the three dimensional nature of the tunnels defeating that approach. Now she was carefully chalking each intersection with several lines of elvish letters and numbers, a notational system of her own devising which she claimed would allow them to retrace their steps
Ricmo really hoped those notes worked, they had been down here hours and he had completely lost any sense of direction. He also hoped Vincent didn't get herself killed, as she was the only one that understood her system.
Merus, who was following closely behind him near the van of the column, held up her hand, calling for a stop. They had arrived at an intersection of three tunnels and Ricmo had been debating which to take. The Ranger carefully sniffed the air that breezed out from each, then gestured at the leftmost one. They continued.
In the rear of the party, Ricmo could hear Dakhir and Whisperleaf arguing as they examined the murals that covered the smooth, polished walls of some of the tunnels. "I'm telling you, this reminds me of the great Bee Hives of the lower Kawanaloon. Those had a mathematical system behind their construction, if this has a similar system we could decode it"
Dakhir cut him off. "Half and hour ago, you said you recognized the glyphs from a woodcut of the abandoned temples of the Upper Nif. We spent an hour following that theory and ended up right back where we started."
Ricmo sighed. There was nothing more discouraging then spending back breaking (for the others at least) hours wandering these godforsaken passages only to cross their own path. That had happened more then once. But still, he thought they were making progress. slowly worming their way deeper into the maze.
They reached another intersection. Tello pointed to one of the murals. Near the bottom, one of the small snake-men was pointing toward the leftmost path. Ricmo turned left.
And they went on, deeper into the hot, steamy, claustrophobic dark.
The end of the labyrinth, when it came, came suddenly.
Ricmo held his hand up, calling for a halt. Behind him he heard a clanking sound as The Sturg instantly obeyed, causing Tello to bounce off his solid steel back. Down the long line of heroes he could hear muffled cursing as the halt propagated down the packed column. It was TIGHT down here.
Ahead, for the first time in eight hours, the tunnels opened up into what appeared to be a high ceilinged room. The entrance was not unguarded though. Two stone statues, similar in form to the half snake figures they had seen repeated over and over on the walls of the tunnel, stood on low pedestals. The held their Halberds crossed, denying entry.
The statues appeared to be solid stone, but Ricmo had been almost killed by enough statues in his time to not underestimate them.
Whisperleaf managed to squirm his way for ward and inspected the statues. "Look, on the base of the pedestal's there's a word carved. Never seen the language before, but I can read it of course".
Red Alice's Gift of Tongues never stopped giving.
"So the question is, if we speak the word do they animate and attack us, or let us through?" wondered Dakhir.
"Only one way to find out!" said Ricmo merrily.
Ricmo spoke the first word. He felt a chill course over his body, and the snake warrior raised his halberd, partially clearing the way.
Whisperleaf spoke the second word and the second halberd lifted. The druid shivered.
"I feel....strange" he commented.
"Me too" replied Ricmo. "I feel odd, and cold. And the feeling is somehow familiar.".
Dakhir nodded. "Now that you mention it, I've been feeling a bit chilled since I gave blood to that alter."
"Like life is being leached out of me" Whisperleaf said thoughtfully. Suddenly his eyes widened.
"The Draining! It feels like the Dungeon of Doom!"
Ricmo nodded in agreement
Dakhir frowned. "We are on a timer then. No rest, until we break the curse or it claims us. Serpent people. I wonder if they have some relation to Sysuul?"
"Well she was much bigger and had three heads. But she was also well on the way to becoming a goddess." Ricmo theorized.
"Nothing to do but continue" Dakhir said morbidly.
And continue they did
The entry room opened up into a huge chamber.
"What. In the world. Is that"? said Ricmo
"Moloch" replied Dakhir.
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