"Dark magic," Beryl suggests, enjoying the play on words. "Doesn't seem much else we can do about it though. Has anyone with proper skills checked to see if there was perhaps a hidden door here? The skeletons might have been guarding something."

Barnabas smiles at Beryl. It's not something he does well.

"Come now, we can't scratch at every wall. Let's explore elsewhere for now."

"Seemed worth scratching a wall guarded by shadow magic and skeletons", Beryl muttered, but he wasn't gonna do it, not his skill set.

Unless Ben was working against the party, (certainly possible he guessed), there was no need to press the issue, unless they found no other way forward.

"It is a curious phenomena."   Fiene comments.  "but not seemingly dangerous nor profitable."  He moves with Ben towards the eastern passage.

The mystery of the shadows bypassed for now the three adventurers explored the east room. The walls of thirty foot by twenty foot room were decorated in bas reliefs of figures and scenes. The images were defaced and unintelligible. In the room's centre was a five foot high and eight foot square stone cenotaph. The cenotaph was a hemisphere mounted on an octagonal base. The cenotaph was covered in writings.

Following along, hopeful that ignoring the shadow wont come back to kill us when we are not looking, Beryl gives the memorial to someone buried elsewhere a look, but does not touch. Can he read any of the writing?

Careful not to touch the cenotaph Beryl walked around it. There were inscriptions around it, the language of the inscriptions were uniformly unintelligible to Beryl from whatever side he viewed it.

Barnabas is a bi-lingual lad, speaking both his native tongue and Elvish. He joins Beryl in his scrutiny of this monument. If he doesn't recognize the language, he will try to commit a couple of the lines to memory to share with someone who does. He sees if he can rotate it.

It seems a curious place for a cenotaph unless this entrance had been heavily trafficked in ages past.

Ben can make no sense of the writings whatsoever.

"When we have this location secured, I can discern if these are magical runes, and thus decipher them."

Another set of eyes examined the inscriptions on the cenotaph but Valerian could understand them either.

OOC

Day: 1. Time: 12:20pm. Turn: 20. Weather: Clear. Vision: Daylight. Movement: 20'

Lantern oil used Ben and Fiene: 14 Turns

Was Ben able to rotate it?

Barnabas agrees with Valerian, "A mystery for another time."

"From another time," he adds. "You know, the gate house, did we pass through it too quickly?"

Acting on his own question, he heads back towards it, the southern breach.

OOC No other obvious places to explore in this southern cave, right?
This message was last edited by the player at 17:15, Fri 22 Jan 2021.

When Ben touched the hemisphere of the cenotaph he was chilled, the monument was very cold to touch. The dome was smooth and cold but did not rotate in either direction when Ben tried to turn it.

Back outside the afternoon air was warm and the unpleasant feeling that all had felt in the shadowed cave began to melt away. Looking back toward the gatehouse the adventurers could see as well as the wide passageway they had passed through were two smaller doorways on the west wall. The nearest door was thirty foot along the wall and the other a further seventy foot north.

A little put off by the chaotic energy of his comrades, Beryl simply shrugs. If the others suddenly have an urge to checkout the gate house, he would follow along.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:23, Sat 23 Jan 2021.

"Our goal is knowledge and riches." Fiene offers. "And so far seems to offer little.  The gatehouse might still have something of value.  I'm all for easy pickings."

The two entrances into the gatehouse are open and doorless.

Barnabas and Nerida lead the way into the southern breach.

Exploring the entrance Barnabas finds the doorway clear, rusted broken hinges showing where the door once stood. Leading into the building was a narrow five foot wide corridor. Twenty five foot along the corridor was another corridor leading south, thirty foot along the corridor there was doorway in the northern wall, further than that was shadowed in darkness.

Gates of hell
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:44, Tue 26 Jan 2021.

Teodore and Hopkins move in next.

Following Barnabas to the gatehouse Teodore and Hopkins see the same narrow corridor. The inside is dirty, dark and dusty.

"Careful, a gatehouse tends to have a defensive purpose, no clue what there might be in there designed to hamper passage."

"Naturally," Barnabas agrees. "But I would counter that a pit trap would be most impracticable in a gatehouse."

He shines his light down the eastern corridor and then attempts to open the door in front of them.

"Don't recall suggesting a pit trap. Do you hear voices?"

The mysteries of the gatehouse caused some confusion amongst the adventurers. The first to enter was Ben accompanied by the skittish Nerida. Once inside Ben's lantern lit the short corridor, showing three doors. Ben reached the first door and pushed it open. The room within was thirty five foot by twenty foot, so Ben's lantern light left shadowed corners. Rusted weapons, armour, ruined adventuring supplies and old bones lay strewn upon the ground. In the middle of the room was a long cold fire. Sitting around the old campfire were five transparent adventurers, seemingly at rest. They appeared to be in conversation and busying performing menials task but no sound was heard by Ben. Nerida turned pale at the sight of the ghost like spirits.

Gates of hell

OOC

Day: 1. Time: 12:30pm. Turn: 21. Weather: Clear. Vision: Daylight. Movement: 20'

Lantern oil used Ben and Fiene: 15 Turns
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:43, Tue 26 Jan 2021.