Silverglade looks and listens at the other exits from this room.

Voran takes all this in and turns to the others. "Clearly, this is a place where funerals are held."

He looks at each exit, trying to determine any difference.

Which walls are the exits in?

"That makes sense, as the entrance to the burial catacombs," Vsaati nodded in recognition of Voran's logic.  While the priest examined the various exits the cutpurse used what light was available to examine the interior of the room more closely.  Were there any valuables around, perhaps near an altar of some sort?

Sherborne looks about the room and nods in agreement with the Elder.

"These symbols must belong to the various temples in the city," Albricht posited. "I say we follow the ones with the coins first!"

He shuffled over to find a door thusly marked.

Vsaati is unable to find an altar or other loose valuables in this room.

Silverglade is unable to hear anything down any of the other passages, and all appear to extend into darkness.

Albricht seemingly randomly selects the easternmost passage, second passage counterclockwise from where the group entered, as it is closest to being directly marked with symbols that are reminiscent of coins.  The passage stretches past the limit of the old dwarf's vision, pocked here and there with small niches in the walls.  What may be in the niches, however, is obscured by the poor quality of the light here.

<You've entered at the red "X".>

Roak shrugs and begins to lead the little group down the hallway that Albricht selected, tapping the floor in front of him with his greatsword.

Voran follows not far behind with his torch.

Lanliss follows, bow at the ready.

"Alright then lads, let's find out what the big deal is all about down here..."

The oldster shuffled along, his sandals making small sounds in the corridor. He kept his eyes peeled for oddities in the passage... one eye on this side, the other wandering toward the opposite.

Elboc cringes every time Roak strikes the floor with his sword, but says nothing.  No skin off his pointed ears.

Sherborne trys to keep an eye on the exits looking past each one in succession as he moves along with the group.

Roak and Albricht lead the group more or less directly ahead, with a bit of a jog, eventually ending in an irregularly-shaped room filled with small niches in the walls, each about five feet horizontally, and about 18 inches tall.  Almost all of them appear to be filled with bones.

Silverglade will examine some of the bones.

Roak stands watch....

The bones appear to be human, and quite old.  They are arranged in what appears to be the shape of a person, curled up, knees to chest, facing away from the center of the room.  Each niche is just big enough for the bones inside, with a little bit of a gap around.

"Why are they facing away...?" Albricht wondered aloud as he approached the center of the chamber. He looked to the floor and the ceiling, looking for anything out of the ordinary.

"They're either scared of something, disgusted by something, or... maybe they all have the same sleeping disorder. Quite often I have to sleep on my side due to this hitch in my knee. If I lay flat on my back that knee relaxes too much and begins to ache. Just bends too far I suppose. Got it whacked real good by a sand troll's club a few dozen years ago..."

"Of course laying on my right side causes the swamp gas in my belly to build up which causes some bloating and discomfort, but if I roll over to my left side, that condition seems to have the opposite problem and I tend to..."

He glanced up to see some sour looks on the faces of his companions.

"Or maybe those corpses just fit better that way... Hrrrumph!"


OOC: Checking out the middle portion of the chamber...

Vsaati simply shook her head at the dwarf's rambling musings, which reminded one more of a dotty old grandfather than an adventuring companion, and then moved to help examine the room in more detail.  Assuming Voran's light reached here, she wanted to see if there were valuables stored alongside the remains of the dead, valuables that might prefer liberation and a return to the land of the living.

Sherborne tries to examine the bones to see if he can determine any purpose or tradition behind the placement of the bones.

Neither Albricht nor Vsaati find much of anything to report, with the room seeming quite empty and plain, aside from the bones.

Sherborne examines the bones and recalls that some faiths require that bodies be laid to rest in certain positions, but the reason for the current arrangement eludes him.

While the group ponder this, a brief, loud snapping sound comes from the direction of the gallery they first entered.

Lanliss draws an arrow from her quiver and knocks it, aiming in the direction of the noise.

Albricht turned at the sound, motioned everyone to get ready. They had a bottle-neck situation here that might be used to their advantage, however, it was also a dead end with no apparent retreat.

He readied as well by moving toward the side and nearer the entryway so as to perhaps ambush something coming to find them...

Roak moves right into the middle of the doorway, sword drawn, and waits.

Voran, meanwhile, stands a good ten feet behind Roak, letting the torch enlighten the space in front of the halfling.

Tension mounts as long moments pass, and grips are shifted on weapons.  The party's ears strain to catch further sound in the darkness, but the stygian blackness beyond the reach of the torches' feeble flame yields up no further indication that any other presence is here.  Although no further sound can be heard, Albricht and the elves all notice a slight lowering of the temperature of the air in this room, too low for the others to have caught.