Chapter 1: The Knaves Visit the Spudfields

Moving past the disturbed earth, stepping over the scraps of dark cloth, Audree Watters leads the foursome forward, towards the unknown. The smell of being below ground is powerful here, earthy and organic, but each step they take increases the whiff of something bitter, of some smell that seems intermingled with a long-forgotten rot. The cold intensifies as well, until they can each see their breath and a single shiver seems to pass among them.

The quarters are close -- very close. Endrei is right -- the passage is tight and would be a disastrous place to fight. The tunnel is freshly hewn; whatever made it did so in recent days or weeks. The various light sources crackle and snap, lighting the black passage with a flickering orange glow, and finally, after what seems a long time, the delvers come to the end of it.

Two hundred paces down the tunnel, stones litter the floor -- large ones, ones that look like they perhaps came from a wall. And sure enough, just as the Spudfield's cellar wall had been breached, ahead lies another underground structure, one that has been similarly broken into. Or... perhaps broken out of. The hole in this wall is larger, and Audree and Endrei can both see through to the chamber beyond when they reach the threshold.

The stone room is roughly square, perhaps five or six long strides on a side, and passages lead off both on the left and the right. The air is still and dry, the silence oppressive. Any sound made by the adventurers seems strangely muffled, like all the earth above is pressing down, smothering them. The bitter smell is strong here, some kind of herb perhaps, and other than rubble strewn on the floor, only two things catch the eye in this chamber.

Two large candelabras stand against the far wall, silver and holding unlit candles that look to be purple in color, or perhaps dark blue. Behind them, a large oil painting adorns the wall.

For a closer look, the party knows they will have to enter the room.

The ever wary Elius Wax is trying to listen carefully as Audree makes her declaration and marches into the room. There might have been a whisper, the faint pull of breath through teeth -- but all sounds not coming from the party cease the second Watters steps through the threshold. Her torch lights the room, and as quick as that the painting on the far wall is much easier to see. Nothing erupts from the darkness to eat the woman, so that's a plus at least for those not keen to rifle her skirtpockets when she's dead, but none of them can evade the fact that it seems like there is a... presence in these old stone halls.

The standing candelabras are ornate and look both old and valuable, Audree sees -- they are covered in cobwebs, some of which reach to the rich oil painting that dominates the wall. It is a depiction of two pale, grim-looking men with a family resemblance and dramatic widows' peaks. Both look to be in their fifties, wear red and black robes, and are standing before what appears to be a burning village.

Endrei comes into the room next, and glad news -- nothing attempts to eat him either. Rubble is strewn about the floor, making for unsure footing, but the passages leading off to the east and west look clear.

Soon enough all four companions make their way into the stone chamber, and the scent in the air becomes harder to place when Watters uses her torch to light the two candelabras. While the candles themselves are purple in color, she now sees, the flames that start small and quickly grow to three inches in height burn a rather strange green. The odur they give off is greasy and unpleasant, but the coiling smoke shows Elius Wax that there is in fact no breeze or movement of air here. Now that they are all present, the place seems very still indeed.

Endrei whispers his questions as Clomm taps around a bit with his long adventuring pole; those examining the oil painting can't tell much more about it despite the now better light. It looks old -- the paint is cracked and the canvas slightly buckled in places, but it's difficult to tell whether the scene is of some specific place, or more representational. The details -- of the thatches rooves, the stone walls, the animal pens, the style of the hearths and their chimneys -- are plentiful, but could easily come from the mind of the artist as well as any real scene they might have been painting from. The two men themselves bear no resemblance to the Spudfields, with their angular, hawkish faces, dark eyes, and elaborate mustachios.

In the rubble on the floor, near the hole in the wall, Clomm prods a pile of what look like black, rotten cloth -- perhaps the same type of cloth the group saw in both the Spudfield's basement, and also here and there in the tunnel.