upon one wall but is so faded and tattered by time that whatever it once depicted is now lost forever. On the left side of the room lies the opening of another corridor.
Suddenly, James starts when he sees a pair of red, glowing eyes stare at him from the other corridor. Then the eyes disappear and a rat scurries into the room. His overactive imagination seems to be working in high gear.
Ever since coming here, he’s had a feeling of foreboding, though he can’t quite say why. He doesn’t sense anything magical in nature, no tingling or anything like that, just a feeling of unease, as if this place doesn’t want to be disturbed.
There’s got to be a way out of here, other than the way they had come. Jiron crosses the room to the other corridor and enters. He continues holding the orb in front of him as he moves down the corridor. The only thing they encounter is the occasional rat or other small animal which has made this place their home.
James is somewhat comforted by the fact living things have made their home here. If there was a malignant presence here, nothing living would’ve chosen to stay.
They come across another corridor on the left again but the light once more fails to reveal anything of interest. “If we fail to find a way out up ahead,” James tells them as he indicates the passage they’ve been following, “then we’ll come back and try the passages we passed by.”
“Good idea,” Jiron says as he continues down the corridor.
James can’t help but think that if this was an adventure he was running, the players would never have passed up anything which might’ve held possible treasures. But this is real life and he just wants to get out of here. The last time they’d been in a similar situation, Miko had almost been killed by a trap set to guard a handful of crystals. That’s the last thing they need right now.
They pass another passage and again, nothing could be seen when they shine the light from the orb down it. Thirty more feet and the left side of the passage opens up to a room, twenty feet wide by forty feet long. Several rotting tables sit within the room, the chairs which once sat around them now all but disintegrated.
Pausing a moment to investigate, James has Jiron bring the light over to one of the tables and he takes a good look at it. He reaches out his hand to touch it, and when he touches it, a section of the table breaks off, falling to the floor where it crumbles apart. “Rotted,” he tells the others. “Looks like termites or some other sort of insect’s been feeding off this for centuries, or used to. There’s no sign of them now.”
“This place must have been here for a very long time,” offers Jiron.
“I would think so too,” agrees James. “I would also think that it has remained unknown to the locals, otherwise it would be used by smugglers and thieves if by no others.”
“Any idea yet who used to be here?” he asks.
“Not yet, no,” replies James.
“I don’t like the feel of this place,” announces Aleya from where she stands at the edge of the light.
Glancing at her, James nods and says, “I feel that way too.” Then to Jiron he adds, “We better get moving.”
Nodding, Jiron moves out and they return back to the corridor and continue down to the left. Just after they leave the long room with the tables, the corridor opens again on a room of similar dimensions. This time, the length of the room is ahead of them rather than to the right.
Two small niches on either side of the room hold busts of men. Upon closer examination, it’s hard to tell from what nationality they belonged. At the far end of the room, they find another winding stairway leading up.
Getting a nod from James, Jiron moves to the stairs and begins climbing. Just after the first turn, they come across a human skeleton lying spread-eagle on the steps. The clothes that the man had once worn have long since disintegrated into rags.
Stepping carefully, Jiron moves past the dead man and then pauses when a light blossoms to life behind him. Looking back, he sees James with another orb bending over and poking through the dead man’s garments with a knife. After just a moment, he stands up and shakes his head, indicating he didn’t find anything.
Jiron turns back to the stairs and resumes the climb up. At the top, they find another room similar to the one below, only this one doesn’t have niches with busts of men. Several worn tapestries hang along the sides of the room, the scene depicted by one can still be somewhat made out.
Most of the scene has long since faded away, all that is discernable are two men, kneeling before the figure of a third. The two men are dressed in rags and shackled, what the man whom they’re kneeling before is wearing or looks like is distorted by the tapestry’s poor condition.
Jiron looks to James who shrugs. “Weird,” he says as he indicates for Jiron to continue.
The only way out of the room is a single corridor running to the left at the far end. They don’t go very far down before they come across a cave-in. Partially buried under the rubble, they discover two more human skeletons. The corridor is completely blocked by the cave-in.
“Poor guys,” they hear Aleya say when she sees them.
“I wonder what happened here.” Jiron says.
“So do I,” replies James. “Guess we’ll have to go back down. Let’s hope there’s another way out.”
“What about secret doors?” Jiron suddenly asks.
“With the Empire’s forces above us, I don’t dare try to find any with magic,” he explains. “I doubt if we would find one otherwise, though you never know.”
With Jiron leading the way, they return down the stairs to the lower level. Passing back through the room with the busts, they take the corridor to their right which they have yet to explore.
As they move down it, they encounter several more tapestries, all of which are in such bad condition that whatever they once portrayed has been lost. They don’t walk far before the light from the orb illuminates a large door set into the right wall ahead of them.
“Wonder what’s on the other side?” Jiron asks as he moves toward it.
“I don’t know,” replies James. “But we better find out.”
Jiron goes up to it and pulls on the handle. The door moves only slightly before stopping. “I think it’s stuck,” he replies as he hands the orb to Aleya.
Taking the orb hesitantly, she takes a close look at it, almost as if she expects it to burn her palm.
“Give me a hand,” Jiron says to James.
Coming over, he grabs the large handle with Jiron and they both pull with all their might. A loud grinding sound of rusty hinges fills the corridor as the door slowly works itself open.
When the door finally clears the door jamb, a puff of stale air wafts from the room. They continue pulling until the opening is wide enough for them to squeeze through. Taking the orb back from Aleya, Jiron holds it out into the room as he looks inside. “Looks like someone lived here,” he says.
Moving through the doorway with the other two right behind, he finds three well preserved beds along with chests at their ends.
“The fact that the door remained shut all this time must have aided in the preservation of this room,” explains James.
Aleya comes over to one of the chests and moves to open it.
“Stop!” cries James, but is too late. She opens the lid and he braces himself for something bad to happen. When nothing does, he opens his eyes and finds her staring at him.
“What?” she asks.
“There is no telling what could happen in a place like this,” he explains to her. “Best to leave things alone.”
Giving him an exasperated look, she reaches in and pulls out a set of robes. From the cut of them, they look like ceremonial priest robes. She holds them out to him and says, “Looks like this place might have been a temple.”
Coming over to her, he takes a closer look at the robe. It’s rather plain but of very fine quality. Looking within the chest, he discovers the robe was all there is. “Come on,” he says to them, “we still need to get out of here.”
Aleya lays the robes on the bed before she follows them back out of the room.
Continuing down the corridor to the right, they arrive at a junction just past the room they left. The corridor ahead is blocked with rubble from a cave-in and is impassable. To their left, another corridor moves off into the darkness.
