Story I: The Rift

Could be killer corpses, could be mice. Ameera lean into the doorway a bit Whatever it is, we need to look before we leap. As I said, I have something that can help.
Ameera steps back from the door and faces, the room. Glancing at the others, she extends her arms and cups her hands together as if holding something and says firmly Tkanuw yanar eya zubak, then opens her hands. A small humanoid creature with leathery wings and a wicked tail appears before Ameera. Come she says and touches her shoulder. The creature alights on Ameera and wraps its tail around her neck, the sharp thorn of the tail resting against her throat.



Zubie, these are our companions Ameera says with a sweeping gesture We're not hurting them. I would like you to tell me what is down this hall. Zubie, leaps from Ameera's shoulder and flys toward the hall, fading from sight as it crosses the threshold of the door. After a moment Ameera says, Honestly he creeps me out, sometimes I think he is smarter than me and just sticks around for laughs.

Devanis raises an eyebrow at the creature and then shrugs. "That's handy.

I'm all for exploring and working against personal life goals, vendettas, and rescue mission, but we should consider finding a way to transport the history of the dungeon that's in that room. As an artist. I'm very interested in seeing art actually pay the bills for onc—

Baric momentarily reals back from the tiny creature before composing himself.

Hello to your friend. What is he?

Pyrrah reels back from the strange creature and is half tempted to loose an arrow at it."Zubie? Kind of a cute name for a little, disturbing demon actually." She lowers her bow.

Devanis nods in agreement with Baric. "The cultural value of those portraits cannot be measured in gold. I am half tempted to take them back to the surface now before coming back down here. And I had not expected to encounter restless spirits."

"Zubie says that the corridor ends in a door, but that it's been twisted downward so that the door now on the bottom of a pit. The door is at least partially covered by rubble and the walls sound treacherous. I don't think I want to climb down there." Ameera turns to look again at the painting at the opposite end of the room. "We should take these paintings back. I think they need to be seen and they are a sure bet for some coin. Also, if you boys are hurt, perhaps we should get out while we are so close to the surface.....Except that we do have to fight that skeleton, and we'll have to come back here to get out eventually, the paintings haven't been bothered for years, and we only just started. I guess I'm talking myself into coming back for them later."

"Like I said Flare, Zubie really creeps me out, the way he looks at me," Ameera gives a little shiver "and when I call him or send him away, one of the words I say is ZUBAK so I just assumed that was his name. I made it a bit less creepy just for me I guess."

Pyrrah sighs, crosses her arms over her chest, and bows her head slightly. "As much as I hate to say it, I agree with Ameera on this one. We've really only just started. That tunnel may be pretty much blocked, but we still have at least one more option." She nods her head towards the other door in the room. "I don't like it, but I also don't like turning back with the job only half done. If you need to take some time to bandage anything we can probably just do that here. For now at least it seems safe."

Devanis nods. "I'll be fine. My wounds are shallow. Rest if you must. I'll stand guard. Then we can try the Eastern door or brave the pit."

"Hate to agree with me? Well, I see where nice gets me with you." Ameera walks up slope to the other end of the room "Close the door after Zubie comes out" and she sits on the floor, back against the wall, under the south east painting.

The winged creature flaps up onto Ameera's shoulder and wraps its tail about her neck. Ameera digs through her belt pouch and takes out her deck of cards, wrapped in a leather cover. She shuffles the cards deftly, and in a few quick motions separates the cards into 8 piles arranged in a partial rectangle in front of her. Each card features a humanoid image, a word or two and an icon (shown).

Ameera stares at the cards with her chin in her hand, waiting for the others to be ready to move on.

Devanis tends to his wounds but remains on guard. He speaks softly to anyone who will listen, "I sense monsters moving about. I've been tracking them since we came down the shaft. Don’t worry, they're still miles away at the moment, deep underground. I only wish my senses worked on undead as well!"

"That would be useful..." Pyrrah muses as she slowly flips through her book of monsters, laying on her stomach. She doesn't really look for anything in particular, but she does pay special focus to any chapters or sections associated with the undead.