[Apr 12, 2020]

Mal, Ceiba, and Shael feel like arthritis after the encounter in the medical room, possibly popped something out of place during the fight. A door barring the medical room’s northern door is barred from the opposite side, and the party is unable to open until Ceiba shrinks into a wood mouse to pass under a small gap between the door and floor. Transforming back into her dryad form, Ceiba opens the door from the other side to reveal a long-winding, disorienting corridor.

Eventually the group comes to another door, this one barred with rusted iron bars. Aneirin attempts to pry the bars loose with Shael’s crowbar, but is unsuccessful and ends up bending it out of shape. Ceiba transmutes her nails to claws and starts wildly slashing through the bars, damaging them enough to squeeze through and enter the next room.

This room appears more meticulously carved, the stone is smoother and there are more geometric details, likely a historic form of dwarven high art. In the center of a room is a large stone altar-like structure, resting on a faded blue carpet and caked with dust. Bookshelves line one wall, and the opposite is covered by several tapestries though most of the colors and artwork appears to have faded.

One tapestry remains partially legible, and seems to depict a battle. The artwork shows two, possibly three hills, as the central setting of a large battle. Below, the colors darken into a deep blue, reminiscent of a pool found near the ruins. At the center of the tapestry, the key figure depicted appears to be a dwarven female figure brandishing a sword with the clash of armies beneath her. Above this figure, there is a detailed depiction of the clouds, sky and sun in a distinctly religious style, with multiple murders of crows crowding the skyline where you might expect to see celestial iconography.

The tapestry also seems to have an odd bulging, and Mal pulls back the tapestry to reveal a larger than life-size copper-green statue of a dwarven woman with a fairly neutral expression, though the arms look to be missing. There is no major resemblance between the statue and the central figure of this tapestry, apart from their shared gender & species.

Bookshelves are lined with books, although most of them appear heavily damaged. Only three covers remain distinct: one purple, another with gold-leaf filigree detail, and another a forest green color. Only the green book remains intact enough to open fully, and whilst many pages are inkstained the middle portion is better preserved. The script is old and difficult to read, but there are several drawings inside of trees, plants, and fauna including insects and various types of butterflies.

Ceiba investigates the room and finds an empty lead box in surprisingly good condition, lined with blue velvet. There is a shield-like embellishment on the front-facing side of the box. She also finds a porcelain vase, an impressive amount of letter wax, a wooden medallion with what seems to be some kind of holy symbol, a carved twig, and a hand-sized gemstone with deep black & green veins that appears to have been abandoned mid-carving. Ceiba also hears some deep rumbling from the walls, and after a moment there’s a jolt of movement from the ground beneath the group, Mal loses his footing during the aftershock.

Taking a closer look at the altar structure in the centre of the room, there are various glass vials and possible alchemical equipment. Some of the vials when opened are fairly pungent, and there are some scrolls though these are largely illegible.

Aneirin and Shael crouch to investigate the underside of the altar, and Aneirin discovers a hidden compartment to one side housing a surprisingly well-kept arming sword. There appear to be some similarities between the sword shown as being held by the tapestry’s central figure and the hidden blade. After Shael reminds him to be careful before touching the blade, Aneirin unfastens his cloak pin and allows a butterfly to rest on the blade. Seeing that the insect didn’t immediately die, Aneirin takes the sword and bundles it into his cloak as they cannot find a sheath. Ceiba and Mal check the opposite side of the altar, but are unable to locate any other hidden compartments or unusual mechanisms.

Mal takes a closer look at the bookcases, searching for anything hidden or any unlocking mechanisms but is unable to find anything, eventually giving up and pulling down the tapestry to take with him. The altar room’s southern exit leads back to the ruins’ barracks area, and with Mal, Shael and Ceiba feeling particularly tired, the group decides to long-rest. Shael casts an audible alarm around the group, who bundle together in one corner and use some of the spare beds as partial cover.

Through the night, Ceiba continues to hear more intermittent rumbling underground and a loud clang from the north-east, possibly one of the damaged rusty iron bars falling from the altar room’s doorway. During Aneirin’s watch, the rumbling increases in intensity and wakes the others as rocks begin to tumble around them, fully blocking the way back to the altar room and largely blocking the doorway leading towards the dining area and exit of the ruins. The group continues to rest and the rumbling eventually peters out.

In the morning, Shael is the first to wake up and feels much more sluggish than the day before. After some more rest, Ceiba also wakes up much worse than the day before, and correctly identifies that herself, Mal and Shael appear to have been diseased in some way, cleansing herself of her illness and immediately feeling better. After she explains to the others, Aneirin purifies both Mal and Shael.

The group then spends about an hour clearing out the exit towards the dining area, relocating the rubble in that area back towards the larger cave-in to their north for a clear path out of the ruins. Shael and Ceiba stay back to inspect a large door leading out of the barracks as Mal and Aneirin re-explore the ruins to check for any more damage. In the urn room, the large central statue in the waterpiece has collapsed and water has begun to pool around the central fountain, and that the previously inaccessible stairs nearby have been blocked by even more debris.

Shael and Ceiba see that the door has three slats at roughly dwarven height, and looking through them can see a dark growth spreading across the walls of a narrow corridor. Shael tries to pry open the door with his damaged crowbar, but ends up breaking it beyond repair and instead spends some time painstakingly working his way through the mechanical wheel lock mechanism, eventually unlocking the door.

The revealed hallway smells overwhelmingly damp, with visible black growth covering the walls. Stagnant water forms shallow pools over most of the stone floor, also covered in mould and condensation. This silty bottom masks a trap that is accidentally triggered by Shael, with a projectile dart harmlessly lodging itself into his shoulder pad. The trap seems to be triggered by  weight or pressure, and the others manage to avoid it as they continue to meticulously make their way through the swampy passage.