The magical light surges outward from the tip of Jian Guo's quarter staff and bathes the tunnel and the cave beyond it in a warm, yellow-brown glow. All of you can now see the hooded figure, standing in front of the altar of Haiwan Wang (the deity of rivers and seas worshiped here,) with the (unconcious) body of an old monk lying before him on the carved altar stone. The body is covered in strange runes and small braziers to the left and right of the figure fill the room with the smell of foul incense. The area surrounding the altar is also covered in a set of runes forming a circle. As the dark robed figure turns towards you on your approach, a long curved and still boody knife in one hand, you can see that he had once been a member of the dark haired baoren, the noble catfolk of the south. But where dark rich fur should have been, you can see patches of skin carved with foul symbols, some leaking a strange substance that seems to twist and bend the magical light.
"You are to late. It has already begun," the baoren says, his lips parting to show a set of pale white razor-sharp teeth.