Since Dreya is now in charge, I'll run with her last post.  I'll try to update later today.

Seline does her best to quietly turn the handle on the secret door, but the edges of the door scrape noisily against the stone walls and floor.  Everyone freezes for a moment to listen for any sign they have been heard, but all you can hear is the loud crying of children.

Seline slips through the door into a roughly 20 x 20 foot room.  The only light comes from a pair of glowing red braziers on the floor.  To the east of the braziers is a row of metal cages.  Inside, Seline can see several disheveled children.  Two of them are crying unconsolably.  Their eyes appear to have been gouged out, so they cannot see you.  Seeing their mutilated eye sockets causes you to notice pokers resting in the braziers.  All but one of the other children appear to be asleep.  All of them have small, shallow cuts on their bodies.  Spears and sharpened sticks leaning against the walls seem likely candidates for the sources of the wounds.  Perhaps the Followers of Pain amuse themselves by poking at the caged children?

One child, in the cage farthest to the north, is awake and glaring defiantly at you.  He seems a little older than the others, maybe 13 or 14.

There is a door on the north wall opposite the secret door.

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Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
16:35, Today: Castle Keeper, on behalf of Seline, rolled 9 using 1d20+3.  Move silently.

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In the interest of getting this thing moving, let's assume Seline sticks her head back out the secret door and lets everyone know what she found.

Still crouched down, Dreya whispers from the back. "Uh... so Sir Anthony's sleep spell is not deadly. We should toss that in there, and then we all go in. Uh...fighters first though."

But it is obvious the druid is nervous as as she gazes at her friends, amber eyes wide and glinting oddly in the semi darkness of the tunnel. "But the noises...all the crying. I don't like it."

Anthony frowns deeply. "Firstly, let's not make me a knight, shall we? Secondly, why would we want to put a room full of tortured children to sleep?"

"It seems like it's safe to go in. Maybe Seline can first listen on the door to determine if anyone is in the next room.   I would like to attend to the children."

In a whispered hush, Jack agrees "Yes, we should take care of the children. We can and should do everything we can for them, but we must be sure to end the cause of their suffering and take care of Oswald and those responsible.

Jack readies his axe and prepares to move into the next room to join Seline, trying to be as quiet as possible.

"I was only thinking of bad guys Seline may have missed. That maybe a sleep spell would be just a good safety measure that didn't hurt anyone." Dreya shakes her head furiously, taking a huge breath of air to rush more words out. "I didn't mean attacking a bunch of kids, but doing something to take out bad guys and keep kids safe at the same time."

[OOC - Since most feel it is safe, the group will enter the chamber]

At seeing the tortured and wounded children Cole's blood boils and he feels rage ignite within him.  Using all his willpower and control he tampers the rage, being careful not to let it consume him and frighten the children.  "Yes, I am in agreement with Elwood and would like to comfort these poor children as soon as possible." Cole speaks softly to his companions before entering the room. "That boy in the back has taken charge of this brood, it seems.  He is no child any longer, he has been forced to grow beyond his years.  Speak to him as an equal, he will be our best shot in winning the trust of these poor children."  Cole follows the others into the room.

As everyone enters the room, Seline tries to listen at the opposite door.  Unfortunately, the tiresome whining of the captive children drowns out any sound through the door.  Smothering the children would dramatically increase the chance of success at a listening check.  Just saying.

Anthony shrugs and says (reasonably) quietly to the others. "On the bright side, all this noise will obscure our entrance. Would someone care to open the door?"

"seeing that I'm only slightly more protected than Anthony I'm in favor of letting one of more physically gifted partners open the door."

Hearing the wizards request, Dreya lifts one shoulder in a shrug. "Certainly, Sir...ah...I mean, Just...Anthony." With that, Dreya moves to open the door.

But never fear, she isn't going to just fling that sucker open with gusto. Instead the druid will open it a crack and peer out.

[Dreya opens the opposite door Anthony mentioned a crack.]

Elwood heads over to the older boy and addresses him as Cole suggests.  "We've spoken with Henry, the leader of the orphans' guild, and we're here to free you and the other children, and to stop the ogre's reign of terror.  I'm Elwood, a servant of Flyspamon, and can attend to these children.  I feel that they will listen to you.  Could you speak to them to calm them, and allow me to attend to them without fear?"

Jack watches as Elwood attempts to soothe the eldest of the children and calm the others. The pitiful sounds the younglings make causes Jack's teeth to clench and his grip on his axe to tighten all the more. Frustration builds inside him, not at the wailing children, but at the sickness inside others who would do this to a child.

Feeling that there is little comfort he can give to these poor wretches, he steps up alongside the druid near the door as she peers through, ready to answer the call for action.

Dreya opens the door a crack and peers out.  A corridor extends to the left and right into extraordinary darkness.  She can see maybe 10 feet in either direction.  She should be able to see more than that with the light spilling out of the doorway.  Perhaps this is a magical darkness.

The caged boy laughs bitterly at Elwood's request.  "They listen about as well as they see," he says.  You notice the stain of blood below the crying children's ears.  Maybe the Pain God's followers gouged out more than eye balls.  "Get me out of here and my father will reward you!  He is a wealthy merchant from the Sapphire Islands.  There is a key behind a false stone right there.  Get it and free me!"  He points to a particular brick on the north wall.

Walking up to Elwood Seline pulls him back a step or two to whisper with him in hushed tones "I understand and am all for rescuing as many of the orphans as possible from this monster and taking his head from his shoulders to make an example to any one fool headed enough to attempt to take up the work of his false idol, however looking back at from how we got here and not knowing what truly lays ahead of us I'm not sure if releasing them right now is the best heading back down the corrider and they could fall prey to the statues or running forward while would create a distraction would place all of their lives in danger and I believe that our intent is the opposite. Regardless of whether we decide to free them now or later we should attempt to gather more information." Seline pauses her thoughts she had originally intended to suggest clearing out the rest of the temple then release and walk out another thought enters her mind "The other option we can take is to take the kids here we can leave a nice message for Mr Half Ogre bar the door and back track getting the kids safe and out of harms way rest and return to clear the infestation from this abomination, and if there are no other kids we can just try to bring the temple down upon the foundation with hopefully not having to swing a single sword, thoughts?"

Anthony walks over to Seline and Elwood. "I am afraid I agree. We must not free them now unless we are abandoning our main mission to get them out. I would think we can free them better if we took care of our original mission first."

"You're both right.  Freeing them now will only put them into more danger.  We need to stop these people first."

Anthony nods and heads toward Dreya. "Dreya! What do you see?"

Cole stands by quietly and listens to the others discuss as his gaze roams across the room, seeking out anything that might be amiss. He is loath to leave the children behind but cannot help but see the wisdom in his companions words. Hand ready at his sword hilt, he prepares himself in case the need should arise for some quick action.

As loud as she dares, the druid replies to the wizard. "A dark hallway that way and that way, Just Anthony," she begins pointing to the left and the right to indicate the direction of the tunnels. "But really, really, really dark, um, darkness."

Unease coils through her as she peers out into the darkened hallways, and trains her ears to listen for any sounds of possible bad stuff as Dreya tries mightily to be of some use to her new friends. "But we can at least heal the children even though we are kinda leaving them here for now, can't we? I have some goodberries yet."

[OOC - after any healing is done to the kids, if any, the party will go down the left hallway.]

"It looks quite dark past that door, magically so. IF someone can use magic to create some light it might help. It would make our presence known, but at least we'd be able to see."

Anthony smiles. "Now, that is something I can do. I will cast a spell to create magical light in the hallway and see if it counter-acts the darkness. We may expect something to dislike this and move against us when we do, though, so I will do so when everyone is prepared. Agreed?"

Elwood returns to the older boy.  "This is very difficult,  but you're safer here for now until we dispatch Oswald and the others.  I swear a sacred oath to Flyspamon that we will take all of you to safety,  all we ask is for a little more time.  The way which we came is fraught with danger, so it's best you wait until we return.  Dreya has some healing berries to give to the children."

"Tell me, do you know how many people are here, and what can you tell us about their abilities?"