The ooze might have attempted to grab one of the bodies laying around, but as the companions move the fallen to the elevator, the thing decides it's time to escape. It's amusing to see how it struggles to gain distance towards the end of the path. The auroch bashes against the stone floor, opening way and going to the corner as the thing crawls back into darkness. Soon, though, the invocation disappears, returned to its original place as nature chooses to rest.
With the corridors silent, Morgrym is able to observe the environment with more care. The excavation is rich in details and made with precision, clearly dwarven. But there's a strange twist to it, as if something mystical pervaded the entire conception of these corridors. Small signs are left on the walls, as little instructions to inhabitants, travelers or occasional trespassers. It's also older than the town above, making it hard to believe that this was once just a mine. Apparently, someone profited from older ducts to reach further areas, just as if the mine had coincidentally hit an older, secret area. After some thought, the statues carved on the way down, as well as the apparently meaningless signs, begin to make sense for him. Morgrym feels the twist of nature in the area, as if the world convulsed with an alien presence crawling through its guts, and something seems amiss within these caves. Memory races through, until he understands: these are dwarven halls. Only they weren't made by the usual kind of dwarves...
[Morgrym notices traces of dwergar presence all around. In Gaelia, the Dwergar are dwarves that sold their souls to otherworldly entities in exchange for power. When the war between the elves and dwarves raged, the dwergar tried to steal elfic control over the many aspects of the world by tainting it with the otherworldly nature of external planes of existence. As a result, they blighted parts of the underworld forever. Each dwergar hovel might be a gate to a world of untold horrors, or the heart of corruption... Or just an abandoned - albeit disturbing - shaft in the ground]
Soon, the companions' efforts bear fruit, and their enemies are relocated. Surprisingly enough, two of them still live: the leader and his bodyguard. They're losing their strength at a steady pace, though, and are bound to die, if left untreated.
[Sooo, the leader is *Archon rolls a die* alive for now! Aaaand *dice rolling behind the shield* so is the bodyguard. The rest of them is dead, unfortunatelly. You guys deliver a pretty heavy punch!]
The question in everyone's minds is the same. This might have some dire consequences... Morgrym and Marius consider mostly that the militias might have turned away for a cut - not an uncommon sight in these parts. Hagadark considers that some of his orcs - specially those interested in taking over the tribe - might be involved, even intimidating the militias to get it their way. Shayuri, on the other hand, is deeply concerned that this might have a larger impact, specially considering the oddity of the now retreating ooze, as well as the assumed magic bounty now resting on Morgrym's head.
Suddenly, Shayuri listens to a familiar voice, flickering in her mind as if to warn her of danger.
"There's another one... Unseen... Danger..." - an alarming image bolts through Shayuri's mind, stoked into it by the lingering soul that's now lodged within Shayuri's consciousness. The spirit shows a dark face coming from a obscure opening. The face is humanoid, brutal and black as ebony. Soon, it jolts out a slithering, two-tipped tongue between the lips, and as it moves forward, an anaconda-like body, black and moist, moves forward: a man's head in a black snake. As their eyes meet, the image vanishes.
The spirit knows more, Shayuri understands it. But the risks of showing more feel too great, and the lingering presence rescinds to the back of the warlock's mind.
[Shayuri can push it through a simple wisdom test, but there's always the chance of losing part of herself in the process.]
[MENTION=24380]Neurotic[/MENTION] [MENTION=6801311]KahlessNestor[/MENTION] [MENTION=4936]Shayuri[/MENTION] [MENTION=87106]MetaVoid[/MENTION]