Against the cult: the Forest Ruin (1.5)

Following the young man's footprints, Joseph approaches an ancient metal gate that breaches a stone wall. The thick ivy covering the gate has been partially pulled aside, though the thick, woody trunk of the ivy suggests that it's been growing over the wall and gate for a long, long time. The gate is of wrought iron, tremendously rusted, and is held up as much by the ivy twined through it as by the disintegrating hinges. A scrape in the thick layer of decomposed earth shows where the gate was wrenched open a few inches...just enough for Devek to squeeze through. As Joseph considers whether a torch will be needed, Theran joins him. They both poke their heads through the gate, Theran's head over Joseph's, to look at the courtyard beyond. Some trick of the wind combined with the screen of trees growing up inside the walls (or perhaps some kind of caretaking magic?) has kept part of the courtyard relatively clear of debris and plant growth: some of the flagstones lining the courtyard are visible. In the center there is a large decorative basin - what was probably once a fountain, but now filled will stagnant water barely visible through a thick carpet of water plants. Past that, a stone building rises, obscured by trees and mostly covered by ivy and other creeping vines. Peering through the gate, they see that the stone building appears to have three distinct levels: a ground floor accessed from leaf-strewn stairs leading up to a single entrance door bearing a heavy iron ring in its center, a narrower mezzanine level above it bordered by stone columns almost completely covered with plant growth, and a stone, iron, and glass dome above it, overgrown with blackberry canes and topped with ferns and shrubs. If there are any windows on the ground floor, they have been completely obscured by foliage, and though some light might filter through the grime on the dome, deeper parts of the building certainly wouldn't receive much light. Gazing at the ruin, they detect no movement, nor any birdsong, but there are faint markings in the stone above the door which might be writing. All is still.

Meanwhile, Kragga and Aanbo have made a circuit of the complex. It is surrounded by what appears to be a hedge, half again as tall as Kragga, overgrown with creeping ivy, thorny berry canes, and flowering vines. The only obvious break in the wall is the gate where Theran and Joseph are. The monk and wizard stop at a point where the foliage is thinner, in the shade of a tree that grows over the wall, and poke and cut at it with their weapons. There is a thick layer, nearly as long as Aanbo's arm, of old, brown, dry ivy and thorny brambles under the surface layer of current growth...but picking through it carefully, so as not to get snagged by the thorns, they find that it is mortared stone underneath. Cutting away at the thick, woody branches to clear a bit larger space, they recognize that each of these stone blocks bears a carved imprint matching the one that Devek brought back with him: what Albertus had identified as the stylized sun-and-serpent eye of Pae. Stepping back from the wall a bit, from this angle (about 90 degrees around the complex from the halfling and half-elf) the half-orc and dwarf can see the side of the building. Through a narrow vertical gap in the branches of trees growing up inside the complex, they can just make out what appears to be a trellis roof that slopes out from the building, weighted down by a similar mass of vines as the wall. They can also make out about half of what appears to be a statue of a humanoid figure with an upraised arm, with only a few vines on it, standing in the shade of the roof. By shifting around and squinting, they can see (from the orientation of the hand and shoulder) that the humanoid statue is facing away from them, carved from a lighter stone than the wall, and has a very long, thin neck but no head. The little gap between the trees doesn't allow a view of the rest of the statue, and moving further in the other direction gives a view of the side of the building, but nothing else.

Xana and Albertus talk amiably some distance away with Ogbar fingering his axe, filling the expectant silence with their companionable chat. They can see the shape of the complex in front of them, but the mist is thick enough that they can only just make out the two pairs of their companions at different points in the wall.

Rather, let's say either Kragga or Ogbar roll Athletics with ADV to open the gate wide enough for the larger PCs to enter. Joseph and Xana can fit through as it is.

With a great rustling and snapping of twigs and branches, Ogbar heaves and shifts the left hand gate open. But then the heavy gate and the branches entwined around it twists as the hinges, rusted completely through, snap into powder. The gate twists out of Ogbar's hands, and he and Kragga leap out of the way as it lands with a clang. The way is clear.

Inside the wall the whole party can now see what Joseph and Theran had already seen: a flagstone courtyard largely overgrown with thorny blackberry canes and roiling ivy that reaches all the way to the crumbling stone walls of the building. A narrow space remains that leads north past a dead fountain (filled with stagnant water and choked with water plants) and two trees that managed to grow between the flagstones and push them aside and crack them as they grew. To the north, framed by the grasping, climbing vegetation, a few stone steps lead up to a stone door with an iron ring in the center. Above the door are faint markings, probably writing that has eroded away to the point of illegibility at this distance.

Gazing between the tree trunks, you can see that stone patio attached to the east side of the ruin thrusts up out of the aggressive plant growth several yards away. Just visible in the verdant dimness there is a statue of a humanoid figure with upraised arms, but the head is somehow deformed.

As the echo of the gate's collapse fades out, all is quiet and still. The smell of damp leaves and petrichor fills the air.

Joseph sees no movement in the courtyard, but he acknowledges that any number of tiny creatures could be lurking in the brambles all around them. It occurs to him that amphibious things might be able to survive in the fountain, too, when Albertus and Kragga are the first ones to step past him.

Albertus and Kragga cough at the reek of the stagnant water as they approach the old fountain. Albertus continues on to the stairs, asking for more light. Although now that he's moved closer, the paladin can now make out the details of the heavily-eroded, overgrown carving despite the shady dimness: a larger version of the sunburst-and-snake symbol popular with ancient Pae worshippers, below which archaic Imperial states: "All Ware Danger Be! This Portal Entrance Forbidden is! All the New Morning Hail!" Below this, at the top of the stairs, is the stone door with an iron ring mounted in the center. Clearly anxious to pull on the ring, Ogbar strides forward and has almost caught up to Albertus when...

The snap of a small, dry branch sounds loud in the stillness as Kragga gets himself a long switch. A cloud of midges flies up as Kragga stirs the surface of the water, and he recognizes that it's not just vegetable rot they're smelling, but the stench of rotting flesh, too. He's just realized that something must have died in the water when a serpentine form, previously unseen amongst all the duckweed and water lilies, lashes out at Kragga as he pokes the stick into the fountain. Theran is just opposite the half-orc wizard on the other side of the fountain. Aanbo is just a couple of paces from Kragga, holding a lit torch in one hand and extending his staff toward the wizard with the other. Joseph and Xana are a little further back but can still see this clearly.Everyone, roll initiative and declare your actions. Each PC is easily within a single move of melee range of the snake if they wish to move closer, though at the moment only Kragga is engaged in melee, and the sightlines are clear for ranged attacks. Though I will resolve the actions in initiative order, I strongly encourage you to declare what you're doing as soon as possible, to reduce the likelihood of anyone holding up the turn for everyone else.