Darkwood--Into the blackness....

[Seven Words]

Skyseeker pauses before following Annelysei. "Should we perhaps wedge this door open, lest it close and trap us within?

[Led Pighp]

Led looks at Kali. "I bet that evil sword would stick into the ground right about there, and keep the door open." He points to a place by the door's hinge.

[Kalindriel Ec'urb]

"Great idea. Then, when an evil elf comes from upstairs, they claim the sword and trap us behind the door."

"Use one of the bodies. Or one of your collection of weapons which you can't use."

[Led Pighp]

"Right. 'Cause an evil elf couldn't nudge a dead body out of the door as easily as he could pry a sword from a stone. That's a good idea. I'll just walk back around the hallway and risk contamination from a fungus-infected corpse, so you can hold on to an evil and intelligent blade."

Led glares at Kali, then takes out his machet and stabs it into the floor at the spot he'd previously indicated, so that the door cannot close.

"So, now that that's sorted, shall we continue?" Without waiting for an answer, Led turns and walks down the hallway to the turn.

[Kalindriel Ec'urb]

Sure. They could do either, but in one scenario they have the sword and the other they don't. Way to miss the point. Again.

[Led Pighp]

[Damn you and your thinking-not-talking self. You deny me a witty retort!]

Led turns left at the corner. So does the hallway.

[Annalysei]

Anna looks at Led and then Kali and mutters, mostly to herself, "I swear, I'm about to put the two of them in separate corners. And I may possibly summon something evil to eat both of them."

Louder, she says almost too brightly "So, are we walking down this hall? Yes we are! We're walking! Let's go! Walking! Off to slay things! Huzzah."

[Katrina]

I follow the tall man down the hallway. Watching all over in case something Bad comes upon us.

Stop cold in my tracks...

And I may possibly summon something evil to eat both of them."

She summons Bad Things...

Tug on Led's arm and whisper to him while studying Anna

"Is she Bad?"

[Seven Words]

Marrik concentrates briefly on the tunnel ahead..."I detect naught of evil"

Following the tunnel, you arrive at something most unexpected.....guest rooms, of a sort. Judging by the motifs, for....dwarves. Though minor magics have kept them virtually dust-free, most have clearly not seen any entrants, let alone occupants, for a VERY considerable time. There has been occupation and activity in one....The largest of them.....there was a small shrine there, dedicated to Valkhan. It is.....no longer. Mind-paining designs have been etched into it, possessing an ethereal beauty yet loathsome in aspect. Marrik glances at it for the briefest of instants, before his face contorts in a rictus of disgust and horror.

[Kalindriel Ec'urb]

"They certainly did a thorough job of desecrating this shrine. They had to put some significant effort into what they've done here."

[Search the quarters for anything of note. If nothing, try to encourage everyone to return east and then north to the tunnel where Katrina, the golem, and the elves came from.]

[Vynarkus]

Search the rooms with Detect Magic, being careful to turn it on while looking away from the shrine, and slowly turning towards it only enough that it doesn't harm him (just in case the aura intensifies or something...)

[Led Pighp]

Led looks back at Marrik. "Valkhan's shrine is desecrated, and you detect naught of evil?"

While everybody else is searching, Led takes out his sketchbook and begins to copy the designs down. He pauses for a moment to consider that it feels strange to be writing and drawing again. As if that were a part of his previous life with Serloth. Instead of studying this, he wants simply to destroy it. But, of course, the machete is back keeping the door open, so he cannot now do what needs doing.

After a little while of staring at the loathsome signs, he has made only a single line on the paper, his pencil just hovering over the paper. No, it's not in me now. It would be disrespectful to Darethon for me to return to my old ways so soon.

He puts the sketchbook and pencil away, with almost no sadness. Now was a time for savage quickness. The time of study and slow preparation allowed all of these lies to occur. That time was now past. But maybe later, when the war was done, if Led still lived, he would again return to his books and words.

[Laurel]

The bard looks towards Marrik, slowly nodding at his reaction of disgust and horror. "There are tales of similar altars and what was done around them. They seem to be a reaction to the 'Soul-Blight.'"

Looking towards Marrik and Sigrid for confirmation of if either had ever heard of similar, Laurel continues, "A band of Heshics found some long, LONG dead elves uncovered by a sinkhole. Shortly after they went insane: killing, slaughtering, etc. They were defeated, but the victors shortly thereafter went insane in exactly the same way. They too went down. Next group did same, and the cycle repeated for a THIRD "triumph." Finally, simple obliteration ended it. But some who knew the ones who went nuts after taking out the previous generation of insane fighters said they wore strange, eye-tearing markings on amulets."

Seeing Led's slowness to scribe what he sees, the bard reaches for his sketchbook and pencil as he starts to put them away, seeking his permission to record the designs on the altar in his stead while awaiting a reaction from Marrik or Sigrid regarding the tale she just told.

[Seven Words]

Marrik says, "these rooms lay beyond the reach of my discernment from where I last focused my sensitivity.....Changed your mind again, did you?" he says, with a nod of his head to where Leds' hands have withdrawn his sketchbook and pen once again....

Laurel's head cocks at an angle, as if listening intently to something....

Skyseeker looks around, saying, "This sounds familiar...Gods, why wasn't I more attentive to the tutors?"

[Kalindriel Ec'urb]

"Your tale sounds like possession. The Heshics uncovered something they shouldn't have. Destroying their forms did nothing to stop what was controlling them, which simply moved the the most convenient body -- the ones that destroyed their hosts."

She adds, somewhat disinterestedly, "I'd advise against copying the runes exactly."

[Laurel]

Laurel barely hears Kalindriel's advice as she concentrates on the sweet beckoning melody she faintly discerns. "Do any of you hear that?" she asks the rest of the party. "There are oddly dissonant words in a language I don't recognize, but the melody seems faintly familiar. Perhaps if I listen closer it will become clearer..."

As she listens further, she muses to herself yet loudly enough to be heard by the others, in a distracted way as if she was unaware she was speaking aloud, "...the underlying theme seems very similar to the Unsongs I crafted earlier upon the Aetherweb. What medium was it Skyseeker said the Unsongs worked upon? The corruption of the Aetherweb? Would listening further cause a similar corruption of ourselves?

"I wonder if Marrik could discern evil within any possible corruption innate to this tune, or if either Skyseeker or Sigrid have ever heard of similar melodies..."

[ooc]if applicable, further Knowledge check on the possible influence of this melody and words upon us if we continue to listen to it, please[/ooc]

[Kalindriel Ec'urb]

Kali mutters a gutteral curse to herself and makes a gesture at the alter. [GM please see PM]

[Seven Words]

a distant roar of rage is audible....a thick, clotted, gurgling voice, furious at being balked....

the altar melts into a puddle, then becomes solid stone once more...without any discernible heat!

the urges suddenly cease for Led and Laurel.

[Laurel]

As she listens closer, the bard continues to muse out loud, "The words are not becoming any clearer, but they are showing me visions of the primal sadistic delight of slaughter, bloodshed, and wanton murder."

Her eyes taking on their own sadistic gleam as she finds it becoming more difficult to throw off the influence of the tune, Laurel turns to Led with a feral grin on her face and asks, "Is this the sort of joy calling upon Darethon has given you when you fight? Why you no longer wish to devote yourself to the Lorekeeper?"

[ooc]I keep making my Will saves, but am unsure if I can say I force myself to stop listening and encourage the party to get as far away as we can, or if I need to do some other check to attempt to stop further influence of this tune from affecting me

~*~just saw Seven's update~*~[/ooc]

Her head suddenly clearing as the altar melts and reforms, Laurel turns wide-eyed towards Kalindriel and asks, "Did you stop the influence of the song? I was finding myself becoming more and more lost within the tune and was unsure I wanted to resist its influence. If so, thank you."

[Kalindriel Ec'urb]

"Yes. It had captivated you."

"I think I upset something, though," she says with a gleeful grin.