Chapter Four: The Manifest of the Harikan Squall

Mordred removes the lid from the small coffin.

"I have a bad feeling about this," Zora mutters.

There is -- not unexpectedly -- what looks to be the body of a child inside, wrapped in linens. Strange, faint odors of herbs and perfumes emanate from the body. A square of fabric is pinned to the front of the wrappings, and the portrait of what appears to be a dark-haired, dour-faced young boy is painted on it.

There is no direct route south from this area; the obvious exit is to the west unless you want to go back to the skeleton room and try some other direction.

It looks like a bit more effort may have gone into this portrait, but they're basically of the same type.

Some of the burial trappings here look vaguely familiar to Mordred. He bounces this off of Zora.

"Looks like Mezian burial...sort of," she suggests. "Not quite the same, They'd do a full-body portrait on these big elaborate shrouds...but even just putting a body in a coffin, let alone a sarcophagus...that's from Mez. You know how native Bloaders do for their dead. Bogs in the south, birds up north."

She refers, of course, to the southern practice of bog and dirt burials, and the custom in the northern and hilly parts of Bload to leave the dead exposed in sacred high places for carrion birds to claim.

"I wish I knew what this Zapan was all about. Some local god, I guess. There's a lot of gods in Mez." She shrugs. "Whoever he is, I don't really care for the idea of disturbing bodies consecrated to him. Especially when there's already quite a few up and walking around." She glances back in the direction of the skeleton chamber. "The sooner we get out of here, the better."

It seems that without the music to inspire them, the skeletons aren't much for combat. Some of them react defensively to Zangua's onslaught, but too slow, too late to do anything about it.

The last one standing awkwardly jogs, bones clattering, toward the western exit.

Zangua, you can choose to let it go, or follow it, or destroy it before it reaches the exit.

Zangua hooks the skeleton's lower spine with the catchpole and draws it back with a twist, putting an end to it in a rather artful way. As far as he can tell, there are no more animated skeletons up and about.

So here's a rough map of your current area. The left question mark is where the last skeleton was headed before Zangua destroyed it.

Oops, I meant the east exit of the room with the alcoves, but if anyone else wants to backtrack to check other paths, I'm ok with that, too.

Where to next, party?

East from the alcoves.

East of the alcoves, a hallway extends about 40' before turning north, to a flight of stone steps leading up.