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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Taboo" data-source="post: 428282" data-attributes="member: 5912">Into the Dragon Priest's ChamberThey walked into a semi-circular room. It appeared to be a dead-end. In the rounded end of the room was a statue of a 10 foot tall sculpture of a coiled dragon, carved from red-veined white marble.  When they approached it, its head swiveled down to face them. It asked a riddle.Startled, the group gave the correct answer. Hoping that they weren’t about to be eaten, maimed, or attacked in some horrible manner. A formerly hidden door slid open. Before going through the newly opened door. Kierwin searched the room, escorted by Turk, but didn’t find anything other than the dragon statue and the secret door that the answer to the riddle had already revealed. The others kept a very close eye on the new opening in case anything came through it. They stepped through the door into a dust cloaked 20 foot wide hall. It was lined with figures carved out of the same red-veined white marble as the dragon had been. At the end of the hall, stood a stone archway over an open pit filled with spikes. Turk and Kierwin stopped at the figures to investigate them, but Thorin decided to investigate the pit. When Thorin approached the pit; he was attacked by a creature with spiked horns, bat-like wings, skin that looked postulant and diseased, and filthy claws on both hands and feet. It attacked Thorin who was unprepared, but managed to dodge its claws and horns completely with the uncanny reflexes he’d shown so often. The Quasit roared its outrage at the failure of its attack, but before it could do anything further, Turk was there with his greatsword out, ready to rid the world of another evil creature. He brought the sword down through its neck and all the way down through it to cut the creature in half. As it slid in two, the corpse oozed, sizzled, and stank up the entire hallway. Although he didn’t know what he’d just killed, he got the feeling that he’d just slain a demon from the foul pits of hell.  They all breathed easier that nobody got hurt, that was a short, but furious battle and that creature was the most hideous thing any of them had ever seen. Turk and Thorin decided they’d best investigate the pit, and didn’t find anything else hiding in there. They also didn’t find a way around, so they would have to go across. Kierwin was trying to get their attention, first though. She wanted Thorin’s expertise. Thorin took a look at the statues. They were extremely well made, the detail was amazing. That’s what had Kierwin worried. She was almost afraid they’d been real people turned to stone, Minx had looked and thought the same thing. It was actually hard to tell, but Thorin had to say no. He didn’t recognize the craftsmanship, he was sure it was handmade and very well done at that. So, they went back to the more immediate problem – the pit full of spikes blocking their way. They needed to get across it.  Thorin and Turk decided on the solution. They would jump across and pull the others over on their rope. Thorin jumped first and did not quite make it, but was able to grasp the far edge with his hands as he crashed into the far side.  He grabbed it and was able to barely hang on.  Geirmund, seeing him in danger, jumped to be able to pull him up from the side of the pit.  Unfortunately Geirmund fell slightly short too as he fell on top of Thorin and grabbed his legs as he slid down towards the pit.Turk, seeing both Thorin hanging onto the edge and Geirmund hanging onto Thorin's legs, knew they were in ever increasing danger of being impaled on the spikes at the bottom of the pit. He quickly removed his armor, and jumped across . He made it successfully and pulled both men up to the top out of danger.Kierwin and Minx were almost afraid to watch. They expected to see at least one of them impaled on the spikes in the pit.  Especially when Turk took his armor off to jump. Then when Turk made it, Kierwin threw the end of the rope over to Turk as well as his armor,  the equipment and supplies. Thorin and Turk pulled each of the other party members across.  Snap even managed to keep his scarf across his face, so that even now, he remained concealed from his friends and allies. Once they were all safely across, and armor and equipment was all properly re-equipped; they opened the door.  They were shocked to find what appeared to be a large stone sarcophagus. The shocking thing was that it was shaped like a dragon, and even the lid curved up with a dragon’s head.  They looked at the sarcophagus, and Minx found writing on it in draconic, she translated for the others: “Here lies the Dragon Priest. Death is only the Beginning.” They promptly decided they weren’t opening the sarcophagus.  Instead, they decided to search the room. The floor of the room was made of violet hued marble tiles, some of which had cracked over the years.  Kierwin and Minx went opposite directions to search for secret doors in the floor or walls. Kierwin pulled on a barely flickering sconce, and found a secret door.  Mindful of traps, she refused to open it, and called Geirmund. After he pronounced it safe, at least he hoped so, and got in the back of the group, Kierwin opened the door. Then she stepped back behind Turk and Thorin.  It turned out the door led to a small crawlspace with writing on the walls. This writing was in draconic like the writing on the sarcophagus, so they asked Minx to read it. “A Dragon Priest, entombed alive for transgressions of the law, still retains the honor of his position.” They followed the crawlspace, and it took a turn, then finally came out in the alcove where they had found the blue orb that had caused them so much trouble.Since they were back in the hallway, they discussed their alternatives.  Go back and try to fight whatever that Dragon Priest was that somebody had locked up in there alive (in that great big dragon shaped sarcophagus), who knew how many hundreds of years ago; or lock the place back up. They unanimously voted to lock the place back up.So, they got back to the heavy stone door with the rearing dragon on it and Thorin tried to lock it. That’s when they realized what that noise meant when they unlocked it. The door had been magically sealed and they had broken the seal. They couldn’t lock it back up.Now, if they left it unlocked, anybody could walk in here and that meant the Dragon Priest could be let loose upon the world. They couldn’t let that happen, and Turk was very clear of his intentions, he’d die before he’d leave the door open with that sarcophagus intact. Short on healing and other magic, they all agreed that they’d rather risk their lives than take the risk of letting the Dragon Priest loose. They’d work together and if it came to it, die, before that creature left the tomb that they’d opened, not knowing that their actions could open a way for a creature locked away for generations to be let loose again upon the world.***********Next week:  Our heroes face their biggest and most dangerous battle, and a new hint about Snap!</blockquote>

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