Chapter 2: Into The Temple...

Lifting and turning the amulet with his dagger, Krenmuth examines the amulet on the ghoul's body.

Oh.. I mean I'm not afraid j...just careful Hjalmar stammers. He quickly begins to investigate the room after Melianne asked him about its purpose.

After a while he says This chamber seems to have been important. Its walls are decorated and even though most of the things here are smashed there probably was a lot of fine cutlery and furniture. Maybe it was some kind of big dining hall or an assembly hall.
I can't wait until we have secured to ruin. Then I can investigate this room more thoroughly.
The amulet seems to be made out of bronze, heavily corroded by the years underground. Krenmuth discovers a dull green gem inset in one of the sides. Ray-like markings directed at the gem are carved into the material. Also some glyphs seem to have been carved into the area near the edges but they are too corroded to be read.

Astrid has a look around the room too.
After Hjalmar gave his thoughts on the purpose of the room she says Well then let's clean out this ruin as quickly as possible then. We can have a closer look afterwards...

If you people are done squabbling over a trinket, there are still other areas of this ruin left to clear out... give that amulet to one of the archeologists here with us. At least they can do something now.

The Captain stood up from being hunched in the corner after the fight with the undead guardians and strode on the next room. Before crossing half of the room, he turned slightly towards Krenmuth: That means fall in step with me Wavewarden...

Krenmuth wraps the amulet in his former ship's flag and says, "Just securing it, Captain. Then I'm right behind you." When Scags turns forward, Krenmuth shoves the amulet into his pack and follows Scags.

Once the soldiers take the intiative and head out into the next room, Melianne - with Hjalmar caught tightly in her grasp, - tails after them, not ceasing her musings about the temple. "A hall like this, and far enough from the entrance! I wonder what ceremonies were conducted here." She scrunches up her nose. "Remembering the engravings, nothing pleasant. Maybe these undead are here for a reason... haunting the place they were sacrificed in."

Scags storms into the next room, ready to fend off the next wave of attackers with Krenmuth close behind him.
Instead of undead you find a long corridor that stretches to the east. A large door with two wings is at the end (door No. 10 on the map) and two smaller doors are at the right side of the corridor (No 8 and 9).

While Krenmuth and Scags are wary, Melianne dances into the corridor after the two brave warriors Hjalmar on her side and Astrid close behind.

Korrin murmurs that he heard something and that he'll stay watch in your back.


Hjalmar furrows his eyebrows and holds up a torch to the wall.
Interesting he murmurs Look at the wall. The carvings on it depict some kind of... ceremony. It looks like... I don't know... a manual? But a manual to what? I don't know...
Astrid just looks at the drawings with a stern face, arms crossed in front of her chest.
Melianne notices that intricate carvings line the walls of the corridor. Each carving depicts a scene where an especially detailed figure is performing some kind of ritual or prayers. Sometimes its being helped by other simplier figures. Each picture is enclosed by a frame and below it is a short text written in the same glyphs you saw earlier.

"Korrin, we won't move too far ahead."

Krenmuth's goal was always to be out on the seas and shores, fighting against evil in Valkur's name. Ceremonial magic inside temples didn't interest him, but he examines the drawings in this room anyway to see if he recognizes the rituals. "Captain, these drawing might say something important."

"Perhaps," Annika says, "But let the scholars take care of deciphering them. We should focus on clearing the way forward." She motions Krenmuth towards the next door with a smile. "After you."

Melianne also examines the carvings, warily inspecting the apparent instruction manual for some undoubtedly questionable magic. "Hjalmar, do you think whoever owned the temple took on apprentices to be trained here? There is little point in a set of instructions if you already know them, so they must've have had some kind of pupils - either that, or they simply liked to have a reminder of their own superiority. Judging by the engravings outside, the latter is almost more likely..." She taps one of the frames with her finger, brushing away what dust there is. "If they were living here, we'll probably find some sort of living quarters soon."

The dancer lingers for a bit, then follows after Annika to examine the next room, tugging the archaeologist along before he has a chance to get too engrossed in musing about the ancient art.

Sardonius glanced at the murals that intrigued Hjalmar and the other archeologists. Again, he cannot make heads nor tails of the drawings. Spending half your life in a fighting line hacking and stabbing people you get paid to kill isn't really conducive to studying ancient wall dood les. He shrugged at his companions comments and positioned himself in front of one of the doors in the hallway.

The mage is right (nodding towards Annika) more clearing, less ruminating. The quicker we clear these rooms and make sure no more bonewalkers are around the sooner you learned men and women can go on to study these ruins...now if you would please form a single line behing me and Krenmuth we'll go to each door swiftly and carefully.

Unsheating his longsword and grabbing a torch from one of the archeologists he want back to nearest door and prepare to open it.

Hjalmar answers: Well they certainly seemed to have been convinced of their own superiority. I don't know if the people here were too keen on passing on their knowledge. If this is a temple it is possible that they didn't live here. But...... he shrugs ... we don't know much about the society here so your guess is as good as mine until we can investigate this ruin more thoroughly..
Krenmuth investigates the drawings. They clearly depict someone who gains power, or the favour of a god but he can't make out references to any existing cult that he knows of.

After Krenmuth finishes his investigation Scags directs him behind him and opens the first door in the corridor.
The warrior and the cleric storm into the room. In the far end they make out a metal construct. Krenmuth is ready to strike it down and raises his hammer which is still shining with a bright light. That's when he discovers a translucent, hardly visibly barrier that stretches across the room and has a light-blue color.
On the other side of the room he recognizes the metal construct as an orrery
Beside the orrery is a stack of wooden crates which seem to be in remarkably good shape.
The floor on your side of the barrier is covered in dust and small debris while the room on the other side is remarkably clean.

Astrid and Hjalmar trot into the room after the heroes. This... could be interesting Astrid remarks.

"Oh, pretty!" Melianne leans over Sardonius's shoulder with utter disregard for personal space and examines the orrery from a safe distance. "Is this barrier magical? Something must've been feeding it with energy if it's still working despie the temple's dilapidated state. We probably shouldn't mess with it until we find out the source."

Melianne investigates the barrier. As far as she can see the barrier has no visible source or emitter. Hjalmar nervously observes Melianne as she nears the barrier
Maybe... don't touch it. We could try to throw a rock at it. Or ram it with a piece of wood... he suggests...

"The room where we fought the skeletons must be on the other side of this wall, right?" Annika pats the western wall of the room. "So if we knocked a hole through that wall a bit further along, we might be able to bypass the barrier entirely. Though I suppose it might also run through the walls in some fashion."

"That's a smart idea, Annika!" Melianne bounces on her heels while watching the barrier, though she steps back upon noticing Hjalmar's concern. "Although I fear Astrid would object to this treatment of an ancient building... Anyway, we have two more doors, we should check them first! Maybe there is some sort of a level to disable the barrier nearby?"

If you would like to hack these walls down and potentially also bring the ruins down on our heads then I would suggest you do so after I'm out here... now as you said there are still a couple more doors to check out before you lot go spelunking on some drek...


The old mercenary captain was more agitated than he usually is. dead people rising up to defend a musty ruin. a weird contraption protected by a seemingly magical barrier. This job couldn't be any more weirder. And there's always a threat of another attack from monsters up in the surface.

Busy as a bee. dead as a fly. As the old mercenary adage comes into mind meaning thinking and working too much leads to an early grave.

Sardonius shuddered at the thought and moved to the next door. (Number 9)

"Aye, Captain," Krenmuth says as he lines up behind Scags. He coughs quietly, already missing the seaside air of the encampment.

Then he says to the group, "The mystery can wait. This barrier has been here a long time and I doubt if it's going anywhere. I, for one, one would like to clear the area of enemies first."

"You're not claustrophobic are you, Captain?" Annika's eyes glow softly in the gloom. "You seem grumpier than usual. But yes, I agree that we should tackle this once we know we're secure. I was just thinking out loud."

"I'd say he's at about the usual level of grumpiness," Melianne tails after the others, content to bring up the rear in the company of two archaeologists. "But I agree that we should explore the temple further before messing with the barrier... The undead don't make for good research assistants, I imagine. And I'm already tired of all this dust," she scrunches up her nose dramatically. "The faster we're done, the sooner we can get some fresh air again."

The idea of breaking thorugh the backwall is a good one. We'll construct a scaffolding there as soon as we can send in the workers. Then there shouldn't be a too high risk of the ceiling breaking in. Astrid remarks

Astrid and Hjalmar nod approvingly as Sardonius pushes forward.


Once again the cleric and the fighter open the door and are ready to fight back any attackers. Instead of attackers they find the reason that the door in the first room wouldn't budge.
A part of the ceiling collapsed, blocking both the corridor and the door. A few bones are sticking out of the rubble. Wether the bodies were killed prior to the collapse or not can't be determined.

This leaves only one door left to open. It is a large one with two wings. It is decorated with a carving similiar to the ones on the wall.
The humanoid depicted is shown to hover above ground, surrounded by rays of light that come from the sky and its hands.
In the background is a pyramid that also receives rays of light from the sky. Part of the carvings are coated with gold which makes it seem as if the figures are moving due to the flickering light of the torches.

Hjalmar takes a deep breath So... shall we open it... the door?