[10:11] <theMarg0r> The graveyard is deathly quiet once more. Bodies in lesser or greater states of decomposition are strewn about as they clawed their way up from their own graves, only to be put down again. Upturned soil at the foot of every other headstone or so. And up ahead, due north, the hill with the tree. And the girl who played the violin, now slumped over in the tall grass. Or at least hopefully,...
[10:11] <theMarg0r> ...none of you can see her from down here.
[10:12] * Samanhe pulls herself up from the headstone she has been perched on for the last few minutes. "Right then. Reckon we oughtta see if the missy up there's alright. An' prob'ly get that broke fiddle away from 'er."
[10:13] <Ana> Ana trudges up the hill after her return from beneath with a nod. "The shadow guy... He said one of the priests had dropped something. To keep my eyes on the ground."
[10:13] * Toadfoot_Feldepost starts pattering up the hill, weaving in large circles around any protruding bodies. "Ana?" he calls. "Where are you? Are you alright?"
[10:13] <Ana> She waves as she sights him. "I'm fine Mister Feldepost! Was momentarily waylaid."
[10:13] <Jaeger> Jaeger quietly moves along the cementary, arrow knocked to bow as he ensures that everything had truly died down.
[10:14] * Toadfoot_Feldepost lets out a big sigh of relief. "Thank heavens! You shouldn't traipse off on your own like that!"
[10:15] <Ana> "I didn't... This creepy guy pulled me down into the catacombs." She shivers a bit, glancing down. "...He knew something about what happened to me. But I'll tell you all later, for now let's find whatever he mentioned and get out of here..."
[10:15] <theMarg0r> There seem to be three crypts in the graveyard, a south-western one, a south-eastern one, and a north-eastern one, in relation to the hill. The first one seems to be the most plainly constructed, and the most dilapidated, the gate held closed with a rusty chain and a padlock. The south-eastern one is in much better state of repair... at least most of it. The metal gate seems to be bent out...
[10:15] <theMarg0r> ...of shape as if hit by a battering ram, from the inside, and half-torn off from the hinges.
[10:15] <theMarg0r> None of y'all can see the last one in detail, but it actually seems to have some sort of gold ornamentation on it.
[10:16] * Jenifer_Teague heads over to check on the fallen girl.
[10:16] * Samanhe is side-by-side with Jen, keeping an eye out. Just in case.
[10:17] * Toadfoot_Feldepost squints up at Ana. "What creepy guy? You know you shouldn't follow strangers willy-nilly."
[10:17] <theMarg0r> You head up the hill and almost trip over a few bodies in the tall grass The tree is old and crooked, its leaves red and yellow, falling to the ground.
[10:17] <Ana> She smiles a little. "I didn't have much of a choice... Fell through a shadow and ended up far below. Probably..." She squints from her position on the hill, and points. "Probably down there. I'll go see what was left behind."
[10:19] <Toadfoot_Feldepost> "Not without me, you won't!" - Feldepost bobs up and down on froggy legs to keep up with the decidedly taller girl.
[10:19] <theMarg0r> Finally, with her back up against the tree trunk, an unhealthy-looking pale elven woman, with pale blonde (Sammy has hair like gold. Hers looks almost bleached.) hair, staring blankly ahead with weak, green eyes with dark circles under them.
[10:19] <theMarg0r> She's clearly alive, but unmoving.
[10:19] * Samanhe crouches down in front of the elf and waves a hand in front of her eyes.
[10:23] <theMarg0r> Samanhe gets no response. As Ana approaches the crypt, she can see something big and chitinous, with a MASSIVE claw lodged between the iron bars of the gate. From farther back, it was just a big lump of something, up close, you better hope it doesn't get up again because it looks like a giant enemy crab-man.
[10:25] <Ana> Ana pauses, peering past the monstrous cadaver to try and see if there was any sign of anything going in, rather than stuff trying to come out.
[10:25] * Toadfoot_Feldepost inches closer and prods the large claw with the end of his crossbow, instantly jumping back.
[10:25] * Jenifer_Teague crouches next to Samanhe, looking over the woman...
[10:27] * Toadfoot_Feldepost shudders, even when the monstrous appendage fails to react. "So this creepy chap told you to find something in here? The fellow sounds more untrustworthy by the minute."
[10:27] * Jenifer_Teague holds out her water bottle to the woman. "Hello? It's alright, you are safe now...try to drink a little..."
[10:28] <theMarg0r> The mutant zombie Karkanak is, thankfully, really dead for real. The gate seems to have had a key in the lock - from the inside - that fell to the ground when the GIANT CLAW started pounding on it.
[10:28] <theMarg0r> Indicating that clearly, someone went in there and bothered to lock the gate, but not to take the key with them. A bit odd, but alright.
[10:31] <theMarg0r> The woman starts sluggishly grasping for the water bottle, missing a few times, then starts drinking and breathing deeply at the same time, which, inevitably, results in her dropping the bottle and starting to cough and sputter. At least she's alive. And not catatonic.
[10:32] * Samanhe helps her sit forward--no sense letting her choke worse than she already is.
[10:32] <Ana> "In one of the tunnels... I couldn't tell which one."
[10:33] <theMarg0r> She FINALLY acknowledges your presence and focuses her eyes on Sammy, only to start gesturing wildly with her hands, without making a sound.
[10:34] * Toadfoot_Feldepost huffs. "What is it he'd have you find, exactly? You stay put, missy, and get some of your bodyguards down here. I'll take a peek inside."
[10:34] * Samanhe looks over her shoulder at Jen. "D'you know what she's on about?"
[10:34] * Toadfoot_Feldepost emits an indignant croak and tries to squeeze himself inside.
[10:36] <Ana> "Be careful, Mister Feldepost... He just mentioned one of the priests might have dropped something, and to keep my eyes down."
[10:38] <theMarg0r> Feldepost's small slippery body encounters some resistance - and possibly some momentary pain as he squeezes tightly through the bars, but makes it through on the other side. The position he had to assume by necessity leaves him face to face with one big, crabby eye.
[10:38] <theMarg0r> It's black and glistening and very, very dead.
[10:40] * Jenifer_Teague shakes her head. "I don't think so, no." She tears off a chunk of bread from her rations and offers it to her. "She's not eaten or drunk in a day by the looks of it..."
[10:40] <Toadfoot_Feldepost> "Hnngh. Fffnf! Gh, the creatures all seem to have deflated," he responds to Ana as he worms his way past the gate. "What could go wrong?" - He blinks at the large, dead eye before him and nods once. "Excuse me," he mumbles to it.
[10:41] * Jaeger moves over to the crypt where Ana and Feldepost were, studying the gate to it.
[10:42] * Samanhe lets the girl rest against the tree again. She stands up, head turning this way and that. "Th'way she fell down after that fiddle broke...y'think it was doin' somethin' ta her?" She goes looking for where it may have fallen.
[10:44] * Jenifer_Teague nods "Probebly. People don't tend to play for a day straight in the right mind."
[10:45] <theMarg0r> Inside the crypt, the corridor seems going forward and slopes downward, burned-out torches in sconces on the walls, suggesting that someone HAS been here recently, but let the light go out.
[10:46] <theMarg0r> The GIANT CLAW did a good enough job on the gate that Jaeger could finish the job and take it off the hinges.
[10:46] * Toadfoot_Feldepost gingerly creeps onwards and downwards, looking for any trinkets on the floor or signs of flattened priests. Who'd bury a crab-man in a mausoleum anyway?
[10:51] * Jaeger lets the phantom arrow disipate as he puts his bow back in its case, and moves up to the gates. He studies the metal bars for a moment, sizing them up before he gets a sturdy grip and begins the process of ripping them from their hold.
[10:51] <theMarg0r> It takes a little time, but Samanhe finds the accursed instrument in the grass. It's exquisitely crafted and made of red wood, but is beyond any reasonable doubt completely broken, the arrow cut all the strings and splintered the wood, and the impact with the ground didn't do it any favors either.
[10:53] <theMarg0r> Back at the crypt's entrance, Jaeger given the proper foothold, and after some grunting and pulling and gnashing of teeth, rips the already compromised gate clear off the hinges.
[10:56] <theMarg0r> Meanwhile, down the corridor, Feldepost hears the sound of metal ripped from stone, as he comes out into a circular room, where there is a large table - or perhaps altar in the middle, and the way splits up three-way, into three corridors going further down. But probably more interestingly, there seems to be a group of bodies - or hopefully people - huddled against a wall, off to one side,...
[10:56] <theMarg0r> ...inside some sort of circle drawn on the floor, while the entire REST of the room is covered with more dead, reanimated, and then dead again bodies.
[10:56] <theMarg0r> Some of them look like they've undergone various stages of being crushed, cut, and even melted apart.
[10:56] <Jaeger> The half-orc dumps the gate to the side of the crypt once it was free, wiping his gauntlets on his coat as he peered inside the dark tunnel.
[10:57] <Ana> Ana smiles at Jaeger. "Thanks. Are you okay? I didn't see you after I got back."
[10:58] * Jenifer_Teague keeps tending to the woman, providing food and water at a slow but steady pace
[10:58] <Jaeger> "I'm fine. Jen healed the worst of it." He answers in his usual low grumble as he glances at the much smaller girl. "You alright?"
[10:59] * Toadfoot_Feldepost decides that the sounds of rending metal is his cue to return to the surface, the ghastly sight of all the mutilated bodies making him queasy. He abandons his stealthy tread and makes for the exit at a brisk jog, only slowing down when he has to press past the bulk of the stricken crab-monster.
[10:59] <theMarg0r> From over at the crypt's entrance, the corridor goes past darkvision's limit, but going farther in will reveal the same thing Feldepost found.
[11:00] * Toadfoot_Feldepost meets Ana's gaze with a paler shade of green to his face. He shakes his head with pursed lips. "You wouldn't want to go in there. Ghastly, it is. Bodies and limbs everywhere."
[11:00] <theMarg0r> The woman is shivering and cold, but takes all the assistance she is offered, still without saying a single word.
[11:01] * Samanhe brings the broken fiddle back over to Jen. "Can ya get anythin' from it? I wouldn't really know magic if it bit me in the arse."
[11:02] <theMarg0r> The elven woman, the violin brought into her field of view, turns away.
[11:06] <Jenifer_Teague> "...Not really? I'm not much of an expert on it...I mean, I could probebly get it workin'...but I don't think I want to."
[11:06] * Samanhe blinks, then looks between the elf and the wreckage. "...Oops." She drops it and kicks the pile away.
[11:06] <theMarg0r> The elven woman grows unresponsive again, tears now streaming down her face.
[11:08] <Ana> Ana shivers. "...I should go look. Just in case... He seemed to think whatever it was mattered enough to warn me..."
[11:08] <Ana> She gives a sideways smile to Jaeger. "I'm fine... Nothing hurt me."
[11:10] <Jaeger> "Good." His stoic expression seemed to harden for a moment, but the next it was back to normal.
[11:12] * Toadfoot_Feldepost purses his lips - the gesture magnified by his broad, amphibian mouth - and shakes his head. "Ana, considering..." - He glances up at Jaeger standing in earshot. "... everything, perhaps you oughtn't listen to every shadowy entity that whispers in your ear. Are you certain you can trust this 'warning'?"
[11:13] <Ana> "He didn't hurt me... And he mentioned it to try and get me to trust him, I think. I... I know it might be bad, down there... But I get the feeling I saw worse." She takes a step into the tunnels, glancing back to Feldepost and Jaeger. "Although it might be in one of the other tunnels... If we both check, it might save time?"
[11:16] * Toadfoot_Feldepost lets out a sigh of resignation. "Sometimes I think you'll be the death of me, girl. This is almost worse than the time you dropped that box of coconuts on me from the top pantry shelf." - He makes to plod back into the crypt after her.
[11:16] <Ana> "...that was an accident." She mutters with a soft smile, walking in and keeping her eyes on the ground...
[11:16] * Jenifer_Teague pulls the woman into a hug. "Don't worry, you are alright now..."
[11:19] <theMarg0r> Her first reaction is to shudder but then she acknowledges the gesture and hugs back.
[11:19] <Jaeger> Jaeger watches quietly as the two of them disappear down the tunnel, before shifting his gaze to the trio on the hill.
[11:23] <theMarg0r> Ana happens upon the same gruesome scene as Feldepost before her - bodies strewn about, a circle drawn on the floor off to one side, living people (or at least fresh bodies) inside.
[11:24] <theMarg0r> As she steps into the room, she notices something positively tiny on the floor before her - a pair of round glasses, one of the lenses cracked but still whole.
[11:24] <theMarg0r> Good thing she was on the lookout or she might very well have stepped on them.
[11:25] <Ana> She frowns, leaning down, carefully picking them up in a gloved hand. "...Maybe someone will recognize these?" She focuses on the glasses, trying not to think about the slaughter in the room.
[11:25] <theMarg0r> Also the lenses look weird, it's hard to tell exactly in complete darkness with no color, but they look like they're made of volcanic glass or something.
[11:26] <Ana> "This is it, I think... Let's get out of here." She turns, trying not to retch as the smell follows her, the images slow to leave her eyes...
[11:26] * Samanhe watches Jen for a moment. "Should we bring her back down ta th'village?"
[11:26] <Toadfoot_Feldepost> "Maybe..." - Feldepost creeps closer to the less decomposed bodies huddled against the wall. He reaches out to nudge a shoulder over in order to get a better look at their clothes. Robes of the clergy, perhaps?
[11:27] <theMarg0r> Why yes, it's the priests and temple guards, about half a dozen of them, in fact.
[11:28] <Ana> "Hm?" Ana turns, glancing back towards Feldepost.
[11:28] <theMarg0r> From up close, some of them seem to have blowgun darts sticking out of their necks.
[11:28] <theMarg0r> Some more darts to make up the number can be found on the floor inside the circle.
[11:29] * Toadfoot_Feldepost gulps audibly. "I'm afraid the clergy that came before us met with a rather untimely end..."
[11:29] <Ana> She returns to his side, kneeling down. "Darts? Strange..."
[11:31] <Ana> "...Boss, they're alive!" Ana starts to do what she can, making sure they're not choking and administering any first aid...
[11:32] * Jenifer_Teague nods "I think so." She smiles warmly at the elven woman. "Come on, we can take you back to the village. Do you want that?"
[11:32] * Toadfoot_Feldepost starts. "Good heavens!"
[11:33] <Jaeger> Jaeger darts down the tunnel as he hears that the priests were alive. "Are they concious?" he calls
[11:34] <theMarg0r> Taking note, there are - an Undine and a Mogogol in the robes of novices, a Half-orc and a human in heavier armor, so temple guards, probably, and two priests, both human.
[11:36] <theMarg0r> And no, they're not conscious. Whatever it was put them under GOOD, even the Half-orc.
[11:38] <Ana> "At least we'll have some good news to take back to town..."
[11:38] <Samanhe> "If'n ya need help, just ask, Jen."
[11:39] * Jaeger kneels down beside one of the unconscious priests, trying to discern what happened to them.
[11:40] <theMarg0r> Even the ones that don't have darts sticking out of them have a single small puncture on their exposed neck, so "sedated with darts" is a pretty good educated guess.