Tuari grabs a rope and joins in tieing the herd beasts together "Thangar, you better watch out so we aren't surprised by something while we do this."

Thangar stands as tall as he can on his impala, trotting to the nearest hillock and peering out over the wastes. He then nocks and arrow, turning his attention to the doors.

Although you can tell your proud mounts dislike the draft animal labor, and seem to find it beneath a proud beast of Prax, with the exception of the zebra you persuade them to help.

Using your strategy of the combined strength of the various herd beasts, you steadily march them forward as they strain against the ropes, and with a groan the first door opens wide and crashes onto the sand, wide open. A large plume of dust arises from the earth and very slowly begins to disperse.

The crash is accompanied by the ringing of dozens of tiny bells hanging from the inside of the door, which stop vibrating by and by.
The inner surface of the door is some kind of unfamiliar wood.

You can see with the first door open a steeply declining ramp heading down into the darkness. Partially decayed wooden crossbeams are set into the earth every half meter or so.

"Oh, dear!" Norajia says clutching her throat as she looks down into the gloom of the tunnel. She looks back to Vorric as if expecting him to offer some means of seeing further into the shadows.

Vorrik peers down into the darkness and clears his throat.
"Er, well, I do know some spirit magic that can create light, but, uh..." he looks around at the sterile landscape of the Dead Place.

Norajia's hand flies to her mouth and she blushes extravagantly before crossing to Vorrik and grasping his forearm.
"I'm so sorry, Vorrik! I completely forgot!" she says. "I'll get the oil lamp out and I guess we'll have to go in and take a look"

Lemak looks at Tuari to check whether the bone is now pointing down the stairs.

He dismounts and retrieves his dagger-axe to stand near the entrance.  Pats himself to double-check that he has his dagger as well, just in case the depths become too narrow to swing or thrust his dagger-axe.

"One of you will have to carry the light," he says, hefting his weapon to show both hands full.  But he stands ready to go down first with whomever holds the light.  And focusing his senses in case there is any telltale sign of Chaos.

"And I think someone should stay up top.  To watch our mounts.  And prevent someone closing this... door... on top of us.  Given how hard it was to drag it open, I doubt we'd be able to open it from below..."
This message was last edited by the player at 09:53, Wed 07 Oct 2020.

Norajia returns with her medic's bag, the lamp and a flask of oil for it.
"Tuari and I are the lightbringrers, but I suppose he'll have his hands full with Varantas, so I'm happy to carry the lamp. Who is staying and who is going? There are few enough of us to begin with, but I agree, the idea of being trapped down there is ...alarming."

The bone is indeed pointing down decisively into the opening, but it has stopped its writhing, as if it is at last pacified about the path.

As the dust settles Mabwe looks about to see what has become of the bird that Vorrik was talking to.

Spotting it or not he heads to the entrance and starts down having no mount to worry about.

<OOC: OK, Thangar offers to stay with the herd beasts and although they are almost all bigger than him, he has a better relationship with the animals than Vorrik. If Tuari, Norajia, Lemak and Mabwe head down the tunnel, Vorrik says he's happy to either stay above or go down below, deferring to ... Norajia.>

Norajia's mouth twitches, not unlike Lobber's, for a few moments. Her eyes flick from Thangar and the herd beasts to Mabwe (who is heading down the tunnel) and back. Making up her mind, the oil lamp in her left hand, she takes Vorrik's shield arm with her right and proceeds down the ramp with him
<OOC You have probably already noticed that Norajia does many things left handed. Vorrik's large shield intrudes somewhat, but with Norajia's added height, it works well enough while she stays a step behind the Sun Domer. The lamp is already alight; she has brought extra oil not knowing how long the trip may take>
This message was last edited by the player at 21:54, Wed 07 Oct 2020.

Lemak watches Norajia and Vorrik take the first step or two, just to gauge that the ramp can bear the weight of two, before he starts down the ramp himself.

He tries to step carefully, testing each step with his toes to feel the strength of the wood before resting his full weight on the leg.  If the width of the ramp is sufficient, he tries to stay on the left of the Chalana Arroy sable rider, but just a step or two ahead or behind, in case the wood of the ramp can't handle three people along the same width.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:04, Thu 08 Oct 2020.

Thangar calls down, "How long should I wait if you don't come out?"


The magpie has apparently taken flight during the struggle to pull the door open.
You notice that the passage is actually wide and tall enough to lead almost any riding beast down into the darkness, although a high llama would have trouble.


Vorrik nods to Norajia and accompanies her down the passage.



You perceive that the ramp is carved out of the earth so it is very strong and stable, and the wooden crossbeams have been hammered into the ground to provide some additional traction.
The passage descends steeply. About 10 feet down on your left you see a looped chain that ascends along the wall and disappears into a hidden mechanism in the door frame.
Looking straight down the passage you see that the passage appears to end,  and there is a shape just barely illuminated by your lamp.

"These people had a lot of metal" Norajia whispers as the chain mechanism comes into view. She looks up at the ceiling, curious about how the earth above is being held back. She moves cautiously down the ramp trying to see what the lamp is not quite illuminating  in the distance.

Perhaps it is bravado, or perhaps the desire to show the superiority of Morokanth over humans, but Mabwe moves on towards the object at the far end eager to find out what they have travelled to this place for.

At the end of the descent, the floor flattens out and the passage turns to the right. 
Mabwe approaches what you can now see is a nonhuman skeleton that appears to be standing against the wall. It is large (SIZ 20) and is slumped over but somehow held upright. Its appearance reminds you a bit of the bones of a bolo lizard.

Mabwe, keeping a respectable distance walks around to the wall to see if there is anything sticking out that is holding the skeleton up. The thought crosses his mind whether the bone belongs to this, but the bone seems human. The next thought then is whether this was a pet, or a mount even of the spirit within the bone. If that is the case then maybe there is a spirit remaining within these bones.

Norajia holds up the lamp as she moves towards the skeletal figure and stands before it. She tilts her head to the right, studying it.
"I hope you were supposed to be here... " she says "I'd hate to think of anyone being trapped this way"

<OOC She has let go of Vorrik's arm, and stops 2m in front of the skeleton>

OOC: is it against the wall facing it, facing away, or leaning on one side?

On closer examination the skeleton is humanoid but somehow reptilian as well.

The bone of Varantas is quiet for now.




Norajia's examination of the skeleton is impaired by the dim lighting. Mabwe observes a heavy projectile pinning the skeleton to the south wall. You think it's probably been there for a while.



<OOC: here's the crude layout. The sloping passage is not sloping at the bend where the skeleton is located, and continues flat to the north/right.>

Mabwe looks at Norajia and says "I think it's beyond your help" and makes a snorting noise that could be a laugh.

"It was killed by a very big arrow, I hope there's n more of them after all the time it's been here!" and he starts down the north tunnel.

Lemak, tell me if your Chaos sense tingles."

Norajia continues to stare at the skeletal head, "No more arrows? or no more big lizard folk?" she says absently, moving after Mabwe and Lemak with the lamp now just at chest height. She looks over her shoulder towards the bones until they are lost in the gloom. "Way's open" she adds.

<OOC: we can move this next bit along since you're following a tunnel>

As you follow the level passage to the north, you notice that it turns back  to the east and again starts to descend, making the flat portion of the passage a kind of a switchback.

Tuari concentrates on the bone he carried, moving underground was making him feel uncomfortable, dead reptilemen a little more so but he wouldn't be outdone by any of the other tribesman let alone the Sundomer.  "I wonder who or what he was." he mused.

<OOC I was off by 90 degrees, the tunnel went North, then west, then east.>




Following the tunnel down there's another skeleton of a reptile-like humanoid, this one is crumpled on the floor. The passage ends and has a large, tall opening to the east where it opens into a much larger room.