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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Whizbang Dustyboots" data-source="post: 3248050" data-attributes="member: 11760">The group ascends to the octagonal room.Whatever purpose this room might have once served, it was now filled with long-rotting animal carcasses, along with very large (and dry) droppings and the faint smell of urine. Brown fur could be found on four columns near the center of the room, which look as though something large rubbed up against them.The four columns here were carved with strange patterns and were hollow near the top, and had cut-out sections letting one see in."Wonnerful," Ragglus growls, breathing out his nose more heavily than in. "It's a big-arsed demon's earth-closet. I'll kill that Fibber ..."His curiosity getting the better from him, Emmerson approaches the closest column and examines it, peering inside the column through the openings. Renraw attempts to jostle the larger man out of the way, but has to satisfy himself by examining the column from the far side. Tosh stands on tip-toe, peeking inside the open portions of the column.It appears to have some sort of smooth cup formed just below the cut-out area. A long-dried -- ancient, even -- residue stains the inside of the cup."Blood, maybe?" Tosh ventures. "A place of ritual or some such. I suppose we could fill them up and see what happens... "Bufer shoots the other gnome a withering look."... or not."Meanwhile, Hazel examines the fur and the droppings, hoping to identify the creatures that left them behind - and whether the carcasses were supper for the beasts, or the beasts themselves."Smell's not that bad, Rags," she says. "Least it isn't fresh.""I'm betting Fibber never made it this far," says Tosh. "He grabbed the helm from the broken casket and ran. Might have been the smart move, but then nobody ever accused me of being real smart.""Maybe a bear," Hazel muses softly. "No ... not a bear ... something like a bear. And big. Real big.""I'd like to find out what it is. We don't need something unnatural running around these woods," Emus responds quietly. "And we still ain't found those dang skeletons. They's bad news for this area, also.""Word to the wise," Bufer says to the others. "If something big and bear-like do decide to turn up, I'm not gonna be able to make it turn the way I did those skeletons."He glances over at Emus as the dwarf opens his mouth to protest."Not arguin' the point, Emus. Just wanna make sure everyone knows what they're gettin' into. Undead soldiers I'm good for, but big hairy beasty things, not so much. We pick a fight with somethin' like that, we're committed to finish it, one way or the other."Now, that having been said, Hazel, you think you might be able to track it?""Hmm, gimme a bit o' time to look. This isn't exactly my natural habitat." Hazel brings the torch near the floor and begins a sweeping search for tracks in the octagonal chamber. She briefly raises her head to look at the dwarf. "Any chance you've some special underground know-how that could help, Emus?""Eh, if the bear knows how to set up traps involving moving blocks of stone, I might be able to help out. Otherwise, I ain't spent enough time worryin' 'bout such things," Emus replies. "'Sides, I'm all fer just raising the biggest ruckus you ever did hear, and drawin' that critter out to us. If it's a natural type of beast, it will just run further away, and then we can get back to takin' care of them skeletons.""I might have heard something up there," Tosh points toward the northwest stairway. "If we're finished here, and no one objects, I'll give it a look see?""That noise yeh heard is probably them skeletons. Once Bufer's spell on 'em wears off, they's like to be heading back this way," Emus says. "I don't wanna fight them on the stairs where they'll have the higher ground. We should either wait for them here, or head up soon and find a good place to take 'em on. We might find that bear, too.""Whoever chiseled these pillars was a miserable sculptor," Renraw whines as he turns away from the column he was studying. "There is not a single trace of anything even remotely identifiable here. The only thing I can figure is that they were carved with eyes closed. Or that the sculptor had no hands. Or was otherwise touched in the head, or a dwarf."He notices that people seem to have stopped paying attention to him."We should move up the stairs, gnome first.""Blood or not, I would wager that it had dried long before either men or dwarf walked around here."Emmerson flexes his fingers, wiping the traces off his fingertips."Up the stairs makes best sense, Emus. I'll follow our scout."The sound of jingling chain shirts and bone toes clicking on stone flooring echoes down the north stairway, and grows steadily louder.</blockquote>

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