The climb down was not difficult once the group had arranged the ropes and knotted them for safety.  They found themselves in a chamber Ielena said was similar to the one she’d spent the night in, only this one was damaged and stained with more of the acidic stains the beetles had left when they passed up above.  Immediately, the party was on edge, prepared for anything.

It was not long before such preparation became useful.  When more of the beetles attacked from an orange fungus filled room, Graven made use of more of his prepared fire flasks, and they were quickly dispatched, leaving the room a smoking ruin.  Dangerously, though, the smoke hid the presence of a much larger beetle, which came around a corner and sprayed the group with more of the acid the lesser creatures seemed to drip wherever they went.  After their initial shock at the pain and surprise, the party made short work of the creature, cracking its carapace and splattering its soft insides across the already acid and smoke-stained walls.

Poking around in the ruins of the chamber, they discovered the bodies of previous invaders who had fallen to the beetles; red-armored individuals who wore symbols Graven stated were reminiscent of the forces of Chaos, but which were sometimes used by a secluded sect of historians and archeologists who used whatever means were necessary to get whatever it was they were looking for.

“They deserved their deaths,” he judged, eyeing them while Ielena poked about their fungus covered bodies and produced a few bottles labeled “healing” and a strange pearl that seemed more luminescent than normal.  Pocketing the items, the troupe turned the other direction and entered a strange chamber with a tall guardian standing over several bed-like stones that had a magical breeze wafting from their surfaces.  A figure lay on one of them in a semblance of sleep.  The fact that it’s head had been caved in gave the lie away, however.

Strangely, however, the elves were affected by their efforts more in this chamber, and Lauryl even made to lie down, causing the statue to become active and try to crush her skull!  Dragging her from the bed, the others retreated, watching as the statue returned to its post and resumed it’s position, as if nothing had happened.  Ielena returned to the body, resisting the urge to lie down and rest for a while, spearing another beetle on her blade when it appeared from behind another stone bed and then looking the body over for anything of interest.  Slipping a silver ring from his finger and onto her own, she returned to the others and nodded that they were ready.

Behind them, the stone statue continued its eternal overwatch of the chamber.

The hallway between the two chambers led to a flight of stairs that dropped into a room filled with water.  Unperturbed by this, Graven and Lauryl produced some of the rope they’d kept from their climb and looped it about their waists while Avlan and Ielena watched.  Graven produced a sunrod from his pack, scraped it on the wall to light it, and the two descended into the murky depths…

---

If there was one aspect of being underwater that Graven particularly disliked, it was the inability to communicate with others.  Watching Lauryl move along beside him in the darkened, flooded chamber, he wished he could be more direct about where he was going; especially when his footsteps began to dredge up muck from the floor that began to fill the otherwise clean water.  Soon enough, they were trudging through a cloudy morass that hid direction from them.  It was that morass that hid the presence of the vortex of water that grew from nothing and suddenly set him and Lauryl to crashing off the walls, trying to retain their grip on the rope and their belongings.

Graven bounced off the wall hard, feeling what was left of his breath leave his body in a sudden expulsion and felt his feet leave the floor.  In a matter of moments, he was pulled away and into the vortex, swirling around the center of the unnatural thing before being flung off to bounce off a hidden pillar.  He felt the crunch of his skull hitting the wall, saw stars appear before his eyes and fought the sudden urge to take a badly-needed breath.  Reaching down, he tugged hard on the rope still looped about his waist, hoping Avlan and Ielena would react in time…

---

Ielena and Avlan were having a discussion on the merits of descending at random into a darkened, water-filled chamber when all hell broke loose.  The previously clean water had turned a murky brown at the movements of their friends, but that still did not explain the sudden movement of the rope as it began to bleed out of Avlan’s hands at a rapid rate.

“Stop it!” Ielena yelled, reaching out for the rope and then hissing in pain as the swiftly moving thing burned her unprotected palms.

Avlan, ready with his combat gloves on, simply clamped down, slowing and then stopping the rapid retreat of the rope and then beginning to pull on it.  “Something is fighting it, pulling it around!  They’re in trouble!  You go in after them!  I’ll pull them back from here!”

Nodding, Ielena offered a quick prayer and dove in, swimming strongly through the dark until she came up against Lauryl, who was pressed hard against the wall by an unnatural vortex spinning in the water.  Staying as far out of the way of the watery cyclone, Ielena reached out and grabbed one of Lauryl’s flailing hands and pulled, freeing her slowly and allowing Avlan’s continued pulling to send her toward the stairs.  Recovering from her stunned shock at what had happened, Lauryl began to help, and soon Graven was pulled through the vortex toward the stairs.

It, however, was not done with them, and soon, Ielena was sent flying as something flew out of the vortex and slammed into her, blasting her breath free from her body and sending her crashing into one wall, to fall as the thing swept past, chasing its prey.  Picking herself up, she ducked low to the ground and grabbed handfuls of the muck that had gathered, pulling herself along below the level of the spinning vortex.

---

Avlan pulled and pulled, gathering up the lost rope and coiling it behind him in wet loops.  Hopefully, he would get to a point where the taught nature of his efforts would result in the appearance of one of his friends, but he was beginning to wonder.  Just then, Lauryl appeared, gasping and choking, bent halfway over even as the water before him began to take on a distinct curling appearance.  When Graven appeared as well, the vortex appeared full-on, giving him nary a chance to catch his breath before sending a massive wave at them, threatening to swamp them all back into a watery grave.

“What is it!”

“I don’t know!” Lauryl managed, still coughing as she regained her breath.  “It doesn’t seem to like us being down there, though!”

Graven leaned against one wall and coughed up lungfuls of water as the waves continued to crest and rise, a small cyclone of water rising from the bottom of the stairs, bringing the water of the flooded room with it, to batter and smash against them.  “An elemental of some sort.  It must be why the room is filled with water!”

“Where is Ielena!?” Avlan called.

Her blade stuck out of the water then, followed by her head as she rose, slashing her blade through the base of the cyclone and causing splatters of water to fly off in every direction.  “Attack it, damnit!  We have to disrupt it somehow!” the rogue called, receiving a solid slam of water as the elemental swept around and slammed into her.  Thrown from her feet, she crashed into the wall and slid to her knees, sinking below the water once more.

“Eilistraee’s blessings be upon us!” Lauryl cried, pulling forth her bastard sword once more.  Turning it sideways so as to cause more of its cross-section to batter water from the thing, she leapt to the attack, even while Graven uttered a prayer to Istus that set his chain to glowing with a holy light.

They took several more bruises and Ielena ended up having be dragged from the water, but it was only a matter of time before the crazed thing was destroyed.  Slumping back into the water with what seemed an almost thankful wash of waves, the elementals power was dispersed and the water became quiet once more, leaving the soaked adventurers to stare at the smooth surface uncertainly before turning and beginning to heal their bruised and broken ribs.

Eventually, when the water had been quiet for some time, Graven took up the rope once more and nodded at Avlan to be ready to pull him back.

“You’re going back in there?” the ranger asked, raising an eyebrow.  “Wasn’t your first experience bad enough?”

“If there was anything else down there, it would have come out by now,” Graven argued.  “Have you seen any other way out of this area other than going back up?”

Avlan shook his head, agreeing with him.

“Then it’s back in we go.  Lauryl, are you coming with?”

The drenched priestess nodded, giving up on squeezing water out of her long and now filthy locks of white hair.

“Don’t expect me to come in there and save you again,” Ielena said, grinning.  “You only get that once a day from me.”

Graven eyed her for a moment and then shook his head.  “I’ll keep that in mind.”  Without another word, he turned and descended into the water.

“I don’t know whether I like that he doesn’t seem to get it or whether I want to wring his neck,” Ielena said, looking at the other two.

“You get used to it,” Lauryl said, grinning before she too, ducked under water.

---

Lauryl carried the sunrod this time, watching as Graven moved through the darkened waters carefully, wary of another attack the likes of which she’d never experienced before. She had heard that creatures made of living water existed, but never in her life had she expected to run into one! It had resisted all but the strongest of their blows, but finally, it had dissolved into the mess she walked through now. She could smell the stink of the muck from the floor, taste it in her mouth despite trying to keep it closed. It would take quite some time to get clean again after this…

She watched as Graven followed the wall to their right, ignoring openings between pillars that led to a wall in what she thought was the center of the chamber. Spigots high on the walls showed that this had, at one point, been some sort of cleaning chamber. The elemental must have gone mad and filled the place up after being left here for so long. Who knew when this place had been built? He stopped at an archway they’d not seen before and then went inside, his rope hanging limply in the turgid waters.

---

Graven’s thoughts were focused on the wall he ran his hand along in case the water filled up with the muck they were walking in. They could only stay down here for so long before their breath ran out and he did not want Lauryl overextending herself if need be. Thus, his thoughts disconnected from what he was doing, if only for the moment, he did not notice the pale figure reach down from above the archway as he entered, but instead felt the tearing sensation at his shoulder and the cold shock that flashed throughout his body. Looking up and trying to resist the tensing of his muscles that threatened to lock up entirely, he saw the cold, wicked eyes of something which, had he seen it beforehand, would never have seen the light of day long enough to attempt such a thing.

Instead, he felt his muscles go rigid, his body began to sink, and it was all he could do to hold his breath as the thing swept down in an elegant arc, bits of its long-dead body floating in the water as it peeled away. Wicked red light glimmered in its evil eyes as it landed before him. Grinning darkly, it reached down and slashed a razor-sharp talon through the rope, severing it and thus, his only line back to Lauryl and the others. With a knowing look, it began to pull him further back into the tiny room he’d entered, opening it’s mouth to expose fangs as it reached out to take a bite from his neck.

A sharp pain shot through his body and blood began to boil out of his neck, billowing out into the dark water as the creature began to feed. “Thus dies Graven,” he thought.

He prepared to die a horrid, frozen death, eaten alive by the water-dwelling ghoul…

---

Lauryl felt the jerk of the rope as Graven moved suddenly forward. Only, instead of continuing to be pulled forward, the rope went limp and began drifting toward the floor. Instantly alert, she forged ahead, no longer aware of the taste and smell of the liquid world she was enveloped in. Coming around the corner, she could see the hideous creature that had Graven in it’s claws, saw the grotesque bits of flesh floating in the water in the light of his sunrod, could suddenly taste the flavor of dead flesh in her mouth and up her nose. And blood... Lots of blood.

Letting loose an incoherent yell that sent bubbles toward the low ceiling, she reached up to her holy symbol, mouthing the words of a prayer to her goddess even as the thing turned and leveled black, glistening eyes upon her. As it turned to head in her direction, leaving Graven to fall, frozen, back toward the rear wall, the symbol lit up with Eilistraee’s grace, and the creature flinched away, shielding its eyes and howling soundlessly in the water. Bolstered, she put her hands to her blade and charged forward, spitting the thing on her blade as it tried to cower away. Setting her feet even as it turned to try and fight through its fear, she set her feet and gave a mighty wrench, her blade slicing through rotted flesh and bones like paper, severing the creature from it’s stomach to its right shoulder, from which her blade exited with a foul pall of rotted guts and fluids.

Nearly wretching with the hideous cloud of detritus from the dying creature’s innards choking her mouth, Lauryl reached forth and grabbed Graven, wondering why he made no attempt to flee. When he fell back forward and bounced off the floor without trying to slow himself, she suddenly knew. He was paralyzed by the ghoul’s touch! Shoving her blade over her shoulder and into it’s sheath, she grabbed him under the armpits and began hauling, hoping they had enough time. Before she did, however, she gave another sharp tug on the rope that was still about her waist, feeling the reassuring tug back that told them Avlan was paying attention. With her assistance and with Avlan’s constant pull, they shot back through the darkness, and arose once again from the depths.

---

Ielena eyed the bloody couple as they rose from the water again, her expression turning horrified when she saw the hideous amounts of blood covering them, along with grayish bits of skin and bits of… something, sticking to them. “What in the Seldarine happened to you two this time!?”

“Ghoul,” Lauryl said, trying to rid herself of the taste of the now-polluted waters. She lay Graven down beside her, nodding at him as his eyes followed, but his body refused to move. His chest began expanding and contracting once again, so he could breathe. Blood from his neck continued to pulse out onto the cold stone. It was only a matter of time.

“How long will he be stuck like that?” Avlan asked, kneeling beside their stricken friend and examining the bite wound at his neck. “And can you do anything about…” He stopped as she knelt beside him, touched her holy symbol, and began her prayer while touching his neck with her free hand. The silver glow came forth, closing much of the injury, but it was still a terrible wound.

“Not that long, thankfully,” Graven uttered, suddenly set free from the rigid position he was in. He rubbed his jaw, which had locked painfully on him and then reached for one of the potions they’d received from Isendur. Quaffing it, he waited until the pain faded, nodding at the others when they informed him the wound had closed to a slender scar.

“You will need to have that wound checked when we get back. I’d hate to lose you to Filth Fever from this,” Lauryl said.

“You’d hate to lose me from the fever, or just hate to lose me?” he managed, smiling faintly. “Thank you for the rescue. I thought I was done for…”

Ielena gasped. “Was that an actual thank you!? Bestill my heart! Has Hell frozen over!?” She grinned.

Graven had to admit it was humorous and chuckled softly. “Think what you will of me. I admit when I needed rescue, and I did just now. You have my gratitude. All of you.”

“Aww, he’s getting all soft on us,” Avlan said, smiling and helping him stand. “You would have done the same for any of us, friend. Do not let it bother you.”

Graven clapped his friend’s arm with a hand and nodded. “I won’t. But I thank you in any case. I owe all of you my life.”

“Now, if we could just figure out what to do with it,” Ielena quipped.

Graven looked at the water for a moment and then shrugged. “I think we’ve discovered all we are going to in there. I certainly don’t feel like being any more underwater creature’s target…”

“You said it was a ghoul,” Avlan said thoughtfully. “I thought our kind are not vulnerable to ghoul attacks of that sort.”

Graven nodded and then stopped, staring at Lauryl. Together, they said, “Ghast.”

“A more powerful version of the same type of creature,” said Lauryl. “Either way, it is gone now, the tortured spirit within sent to its final rest.”

“Yes, all over the two of you, by the looks of it,” Ielena said, reaching out and plucking a bit of gray flesh from Graven’s shoulder.

“I think we can safely retreat from this place and call it a day,” Avlan suggested. “I for one wouldn’t mind a rest, and just by looking at the two of you, I can tell a bath would not be turned down, hmm?”

Lauryl gave him a thankful nod, and the group set off for the ropes. Whatever else might be down in that accursed room could wait for the next day.

---

The party returned to the collapsing home Elluvan had led them to, collapsing gratefully onto their cots and falling into a deep slumber.  Rising, they dealt with their ablutions before eating a meal prepared by Avlan and heading in to town for a change of scenery.  With nothing in particular to do, Graven turned to the others.

“I have a mind to see if there are any in need which I can assist,” he said.  “I understand Jalek has a few hopeless types in his flophouse down by the lake.  Perhaps I can find a few who are not lost causes.”

“And convert some of them to your ever-so-dark ways?” Ielena responded, snickering.

Graven eyed her.  “It is not ever-so-dark,” he replied flatly.  “Undeath and the desecration of the dead should be hateful to any who walk the face of Oerth.  Is it so unusual to have someone who has spent their life focused on making this place safe from such foul abominations?”

“Ah, but what good will you be serving if you’re down at Jalek’s talking to homeless people?”

“Good comes of good actions,” Ielena, replied Graven, tiring of her jibes.  “That they will convert to follow Istus based on a single visit is not likely, however, if I can provide them with some goodness in their lives, perhaps as a result, they might see Istus in a more favorable light.  In that sense, goodness is done, and Istus is served.”

“This, I have to see.  Hello.  I worship an aspect of the goddess of fate who hates undead.  Here’s some money!  Have a nice day!”

“Ielena, leave him alone,” Lauryl said quietly.  “If you were to serve a god or goddess directly, you might better understand that which drives him.  As it is, he seeks to do good and we should not try to stop him.”

“Oh, I’m not trying to stop him,” Ielena replied, grinning.  “I’m going with just to watch!”

“Oh, no you are not,” Graven replied.

“Try stopping her,” Avlan quipped.

Graven’s jaw moved as he ground his teeth before setting out.  He did not look back.

“You are too hard on him at times,” Avlan whispered.

“Yeah, but he deserves it.  He needs to learn how to smile more often.”

---

Golot stared at them through the opening in the door, his helmed features looming overlarge in the sliding port hole.  Jalek’s flophouse hung overhead and spread in all directions, its loose sideboards making it appear as if the entire place might collapse at any moment.  Graven had just explained his purpose for being here and the massive mute was just staring at them.

“Help,” Graven said.  “The homeless people?  Inside your building.”  He repeated the important parts.

“Offer him some money,” Ielena suggested.

Graven turned to glare at her and then looked back at the mute looking through the open port.  He hadn’t opened the door, but he hadn’t left either, so he had to be there for some reason.  Reaching into his pouch, Graven produced a silver coin and held it up.  “This is yours if you do.”

There was a click and the door opened.  Golot’s hand stretched forth, waiting until Graven set the coin in it before the door swung the rest of the way.  Golot was a huge hulk of a man.  His bulk took up the entirety of the doorway until he stepped back into an alcove where he sat most of the time.  Then, it was possible to squeeze past him.  Graven offered his best smile and did just that, letting the others deal with him as they wished.  They were only there to gawk and make fun of his efforts anyway.

Once past Golot, there was a slender hallway that opened onto a stairwell and several rooms.  A large open area seemed to be the common room for the place, and many were standing or sitting around on rickety chairs and filthy, threadbare rugs.  The general feel of the building was one of loss and despair.  Even Ielena fell silent, eyes widening as she got a full view of what life at the bottom must be like.

Graven waited until they were aware of the party’s presence before speaking. “Istus’ blessings upon you all,” he said just loud enough to be heard throughout the room.  “I have come to offer what aid I can.  If there are any injured, I can heal them.  If there are any ill, I can offer what treatments I have.”

They stared at him, some unwilling to move, some too tired or ill to bother.  Some, however, stared at them and at least one was glaring.  That one waited until a young woman brought forth a child with lesions on his leg to be healed.  “What we really need is food,” he said harshly.  “What good is healing if you’re just going to fall down from not eating like that one did?”

Graven was taken aback, straightening from where he’d knelt to look at the child’s injuries.  He’d expected venom from that one, but to hear such words and to think he had not even considered that…

“I have food,” he replied appealingly.  “I can offer what I have…”

“What’s that?  A day?  You gonna feed everyone here, priest?”  He practically snarled the last word.  “What we need here is a job, not your pity!”

Turning away from the angry one, Graven intoned the prayer of healing over the boy’s injured legs, watching with respect as the lesions healed over and closed, leaving him unharmed.  The boy stared in awe and then rubbed his legs before starting to rise slowly.  He nearly fell, but Graven caught him alongside his mother, before helping him to stand against her.

“You have our thanks,” the woman said quietly.  “I can offer you nothing in return, however.”

“Payment is not necessary,” Graven said, watching the angry fellow approach.  “I have come to do what I can in the name of Istus.  Your thanks is all that is required.”

“Slummin’, isn’t it?” the fellow said, moving to stand before Graven and waiting for him to rise.  Even at full height, Graven only came up to his chest, the fellow was massive.  His physique told of years of hard labor, probably in the mines.  The phlegmy sound to his voice gave away what had sidelined him from his work.  “Come to offer help to the poor, so ye don’t feel so bad walkin’ around in yer finery.”  He looked the party over, ignoring the looks of startled embarrassment coming from the girls.  “I know how it goes with you adventurer types,” he said, snarling.

“We have come to offer assistance,” Graven said quietly, drawing the man’s attention back.  “I have offered what food I have, and I can probably provide more at another time.  I understand what it is like to lose your way…”

“Lose my way?” the man said, coughing such that he had to stop and spit a large wad of black phlegm on the floor.  The place was so dirty and stained that it instantly disappeared amidst the other dark spots on the floor.  “I din’t lose my way, priest,” he said, emphasizing the last word as if it were an insult.

“No,” Lauryl said quietly.  “You lost your job to the lungrot.”

The man stopped and stared at her, as if seeing her for the first time.  He looked as if he was about to speak again, but could not find the words.

“Do not be so surprised,” Lauryl said quietly.  “It happens often enough.  It is only surprising that the mine managers offer nothing to those who come down with it.”

“S’not fair,” the man said, his features caving in to a sullen, lost look.  “Twenty years of hard work and suddenly, ye’re not good fer nuthin’.  Can’t lift a barrel, can’t fling a pick…  Yer good as dead to the mines…”

“I can offer some coin to tide you over,” Graven said, drawing his attention back.  “Help you maybe start again, find a new type of work.”

The miner laughed, but it turned into a cough that he hid behind a hand.  “I’m too old to be starting as a ‘prentice,” he said.

“Hope is only lost if you stop believing in it,” Graven said.  Reaching into his pouch, he produced a handful of coins.  “Take this and do what you can with it.”  Instantly, however, others in the room noticed the coins and began to pay attention.

Ielena moved to one of the individuals standing nearby and pulled a small pouch off her belt.  “Take this,” she said, upending it onto the man’s hands.  “Go get something to drink and some new clothes, maybe.”  The gleam of gold sparkled in the half light of the room.  The others’ eyes began to sparkle with avarice.

As the man left, the locals started to gather around, hands out hoping for coins.

“That was twenty gold I gave him!” Ielena said, eyeing the crowd of suddenly needy people.  “I don’t have any more but maybe you can get him to share!”  Dark expressions flickered throughout the crowd and many moved off.

“Ielena!” Lauryl said, shocked.  “What if they hurt him or try to steal it!”

“Then they’re not here causing problems,” the young elf replied, looking out the door as the others left to catch up with the other fellow.

“You are bringing more pain than aid,” Avlan said, disappointed.

“But there really IS enough to share!”  Ielena pouted and turned away.

“We will return,” Graven said to those still present.  “With food and possibly work if I can find it for you.  I cannot promise anything, but I will try.”  He turned and offered Ielena a look that could turn people to stone before heading back outside.  Down the street, a scuffle had broken out where the poor were fighting over the gold coins.

“See what I mean?” asked Lauryl, seeing the desperation in their eyes.

“I’ll give them more next time.”

“That was twenty gold, Ielena,” Graven said dangerously.  “More than anyone in that building has or likely ever will see at one time.  Do you have any idea of what you’ve done?  People in Diamond Lake will kill for that sum of money!”

“You looked like you were in trouble,” Ielena shot back.  “All I did was clear the room!”

“And cause a fight in which someone might just die for those coins,” Graven retorted.  “I have had enough.  I am heading back.  When the rest of you are ready, we can return to the Cairn.”

Ielena offered a dirty salute.

The walk back was a quiet one.

---

Lauryl peeled off from the others to report to Elluvan before heading back to their makeshift home in the hills.  Joining them sometime late in the afternoon, they decided that now was as good a time as any to head off to the Whispering Cairn and soon were standing before it, the sunlight fading in the west.  Ielena struck a sunrod against a rock to illuminate their path before handing it to Avlan.  She moved ahead wordlessly to check if anyone else had come in while they were gone.

“She might have been heavy-handed,” Avlan said quietly while they waited for her ‘all clear’, “but she was actually trying to help.”

“There are better ways to help than causing riots,” Graven replied, watching the opening and fingering his war chain.

“She did give away a fortune,” Lauryl said.  “You have to recognize her for that, at least.”

“It could have better served if broken up into parts they could all have shared.  You do not give a pauper a fortune and expect him to have any of it a week down the road.”

Ielena stepped forth from the shadows, startling everyone.  “If I’d known we were going there ahead of time, I would have gotten change.  Happy?”   She nearly snarled.

“Ielena…” Graven began, shaking his head and raising his hands.  “I meant no disrespect…”

“No, you meant to say that I’m a fool and made it clear enough, Graven.  The way is clear.  Let’s go.”  She turned and stalked back into the darkness, the others watching him to see what he would do.

Sighing, Graven followed, the others close behind.

---

Once back in the domed chamber with the lanterns, they looked about and eyed the open hole that led down to the chambers where they had fought the water elemental and the ghast.

“We have explored that to its limits,” Avlan said, gesturing toward the opening.  “Ielena, you said there were passages down the corridor from the transport you rode in.  Do you think there is anything worth exploring that way?”

Ielena nodded.  “There were statues and another chamber, at least.  I did not go very far, thinking you all might come back any moment and I might get stuck below.”

“We are sorry for the delay,” Lauryl said in a placating tone.  “We had issues of our own to deal with.”

“I understand, but that means that, yes, there is more to look at down there.”

Graven nodded.  “Then we need to turn the sarcophagus once more.”

With some effort, the vault rose out of the ground once again.  Inside, while it would be a tight fit, two could fit for the ride down to the level Ielena said was present.  She and Avlan went first, leaving Graven and Lauryl to force the thing back to the opening where the beetles had come before shoving it back.

“There’d better be a way to get back up down there,” Graven muttered between grunts while pushing.  “Otherwise, this will be a one-way trip.”

Soon enough, they had joined the other two in the small chamber below.  With proper light, they could see that the faces and figures in the walls had been damaged by some attack previously, as if someone had taken offense to their presence.  It also highlighted a button in the wall of the vault that, when pressed, caused the door to close and the rumbling sound of the transport’s motion to occur.  Perhaps a minute later, the sound occurred once more and the door opened again.  

“Not stuck.  Nice,” Graven commented.

Ielena pointed out the trap threat and how to get past the stone (by crawling over it).

“It may be possible to simply tip it over,” Lauryl pointed out.  “If we do that, perhaps we can avoid being defenseless when we come down the other side.”

Ielena avoided pointing out that she hadn’t been defenseless when the thing made of muscle and eyes attacked her, instead focusing on finding a way to disable the trap she knew lay under the stone.  While the others pushed on the stone, she concentrated on finding the pressure plate.  When the stone began to tilt, she stepped on it, shoving a dagger into the opening between the floor and the plate, nearly jumping out of her skin when the heavy stone block slammed into the ground and shook the entire place.

“So much for surprise,” Avlan commented, grinning.

The hall behind the stone held strange carvings that looked to represent a storm of some sort engulfing the chamber.  At regular intervals stood stone representations of the figures that had been seen elsewhere in the complex, only some of them held ornate crystalline representations of vast buildings suspended on a play of air that seemed to rise from their outstretched hands.  They were detailed to the finest degree and the troupe spent some time simply staring at them before reaching out to take them.  When nothing happened, they breathed a sigh of relief and slid the figurines into pouches for safekeeping.  Elluvan would want to see these…

The next chamber held a massive pillar.  The air was chilly, and to the right lay more of the orange sludge from which the beetles had attacked previously.  On guard, the troupe watched that direction and moved the other way, instead coming across a stone that had fallen from the ceiling in front of an alcove.  Within could be seen several tools, including a pair of wands and a strange pair of goggles with several small glass insets that could be lowered into place over the eyes.

“Someone set off another trap,” Ielena said, eyeing the stone’s proximity to the tools.  “Not very good at noticing these things, obviously.”

“Obviously,” Avlan commented, making a face as he considered dying beneath a ten tone stone block.  Moments later, Ielena located a stud on the wall that caused the stone to retract into the ceiling, revealing the crushed skeleton of the unlucky explorer, still clad in shining silver chainmail.  While the body was long gone, the armor glittered as if still new.

“Magical, no doubt,” Graven whispered, eyeing the armor.

“Didn’t help much,” Lauryl commented dryly.

Eyeing the stone that was now set evenly with the ceiling, the troupe divested the skeleton of it’s now-useless armor while Ielena looked over the tools and decided that one of the studs on the wall was in actuality the trigger to drop the stone.  Removing the items carefully, they stepped away and then examined their finds.  The wands were covered in odd scrollwork, and the goggles made it easier to see tiny items when the lenses were used.  Deciding that they might help to find items like the studs and the trap trigger, Ielena slid them over her head while Graven and Lauryl each took a wand.  They would have to find out exactly what they were later, when they could speak to someone who might know such things.

A private domicile, a workshop and a long abandoned toilet took up the other three chambers present, though the way into the workshop was covered in moldy piles of the orange goo.  Coming too close was an effort as the air grew increasingly colder when approaching it.  Deciding that there was little to be seen within, the troupe moved on, Graven mentioning that it was likely some form of mold that pulled the heat from the air to survive and that a magical cold attack might destroy it.  Unfortunately, at least for the moment, there was no means of doing so, and they moved on.

Realizing shortly after that this was the extent of the chambers on this level, the troupe returned to the vault and rose back to the domed chamber, to continue their search.

---

“We’re still missing one of the lanterns,” Avlan commented upon their return.  He eyed the short hallways with their glowing lanterns, now that they had lit them all.  “If it is anything like the fresco in the hall above, there should be a red one in that one.”  He pointed at the one hall that was still empty.

“We must have missed it somewhere,” Lauryl opined cautiously.

“Or it has been removed from this place,” Graven grumbled.

Ielena, in the meantime, had started investigating the other short hallways, wondering why they hadn’t produced the vaults they’d seen and used.  She nudged a pile of broken bones near one wall with a foot, wondering where they’d come from.  “Maybe if we push the sarcophagus around in a circle, it will make other options appear?” she called back, still listening to their conversation.  She froze, staring upwards.  Above the blue lantern, at the very edges of its faint light, she could see something.  “Come here!” she called. “I think I found something!”

The others gathered by the blue lantern and looked up, their keen elven eyes picking out the opening in the wall far above.

“I’ll go up and see what I can find,” Ielena said.  Without waiting, she grabbed the chain above the lantern and pulled herself up, starting to climb and using the thick links as footholds.

“Be careful,” Lauryl suggested.

“Always,” came the response.  Forty feet up was a slender hall, heading into the darkness.  Measuring the distance, Ielena leapt the gap between the chain and the opening and began moving down it, her keen elven eyes seeing in the faint light of the lantern and the others below.  The passage went straight, disappearing into the darkness.  She called down that she was going to look around a bit, but came back to the edge, looking down.  “There’s some sort of face at the end of the tunnel,” she called. ”Weird.”

“We’re coming up,” Graven called back.

One by one, the others ascended carefully, Graven hooking a line to the edge of the hall so the others did not have to make the jump Ielena had.  When they had all arrived, Ielena looked around in their light and noted that the walls and floor were scratched, as if something had been shoved down it forcefully.

“Someone must have moved something heavy,” Avlan considered, eyeing the scratches.

“Or someone might have slid along here,” Ielena said thoughtfully, reminded of the bones below.  “Come on,” she suggested.  “It’s down here.”

An enormous face, taking up the entirety of the wall at the end of the corridor, screamed out from the stone.  Its expression was one of anger, its mouth opened in a horrific yell.  It was discomforting to look upon, but what caught Ielena’s eye as they approached was the things eyes!  Within loomed kaleidoscopic swirls of colors, predominantly red, but containing all the colors of the lanterns below.  She pointed them out to the others.

“Likely a clue that the red lantern is still missing?” Lauryl said thoughtfully.

“Whatever it is, it looks like we have to…” Graven began, eyeing the face.  He froze when the face suddenly began moving!  

The eyes began to swirl, casting strange colors across the hallway; all the colors of the rainbow, tinged with red.  A gust of wind began from the mouth of the thing…

“That can’t be good,” Avlan said, looking back along the hallway.  

“What happened?!” Graven asked, looking around as the wind began to pick up speed, his hair blowing in the growing breeze.

“I don’t know!  Get away from it!  I think it’s supposed to blow us out into the passage with the chain!”

“What makes you say that?” asked Avlan.

“Broken bones against the wall,” Ielena replied, calling over the rapidly growing winds.  “Get out of here!”

“Hurry!” Graven called, his hair flicking about his face now that the wind was picking up speed.  It was tugging at their clothing, pushing them away from the wall.  Turning, he ran with the wind, taking larger steps as the others followed.  Looking back, he saw that Ielena was not there.  “Ielena!”

“I’ll try to stop it!” the rogue called.  She had pressed herself against one wall, out of the path of the mouth’s evocation of wind.

Graven reached the end of the hallway after Lauryl, who had been behind him when they’d turned to start running.  Sliding to the end of the hall, she grabbed the rope and slunk over the edge, hanging near the wall as the wind started to pick up, flicking their cloaks about, the snap and crack of the fabric now obvious on the breeze.  Turning, Graven looked back down the hallway, now coruscating with hypnotic light, the wind making his eyes fill with tears.

“Damnit,” he said, looking for Ielena in the mix.  Turning away and leaving her to his fate, he steadied himself and then leapt for the chain.  Avlan and Lauryl were not hanging on the rope and there was no room for him.

---  

There are times in life when time seems to slow to a near stop.  When seconds take hours and moments seem frozen.  Everything around you seems to disappear into a tunnel focused only on that which you are striving for.  The world could end and you would not know it, caught up as you are in achieving that one goal.

Such was Graven’s plight when he leapt for the chain…

And missed.

---

“GRAVEN!” Lauryl cried out as their companion flung himself off the edge, found himself pushed further than he’d expected by the gale force winds behind him, and flew past the chain, to fall to the ground so far below.  The wind was filling the chamber, swirling about in gusts and eddies that moved even the bones on the floor below, the heavy lantern on its chain forced into motion despite the great weight of iron suspended from the ceiling.  He landed with a crash and clatter that could be heard even above the roaring wind, but before Lauryl could consider whether he had survived, another figure was blasted out of the tunnel!

Ielena had slid on her backside down the hallway after trying to flatten herself out and avoid the worst of the storm.  It had not worked, and eventually, she’d been flung to roll down the path toward the drop, that broken skeleton on her mind as her last effort to remove those glittering orbs from within the eyes of the stone face had failed.

They weren’t there to be grabbed.  It was a magical effect that had defeated her.  She cursed as she tumbled, finally getting a grip and able to sit down on the stone while the wind forced her along.  When she reached the edge, she bunched her legs, pushed off with her hands, and leapt into the open air, aiming her mass at the chain dangling before her and clattering in the hurricane-force wind.

She slammed into it hard, nearly losing her breath as she scrambled for purchase.  She slid several links before jamming a foot into a link and stopping herself.  She hung and swayed as the breeze continued unabated, blasting her clothes, whipping her hair about until it stung her face.  Between slit eyelids, she could see Lauryl and Avlan trying to make their way down the rope to safety below.

But there was no sign of Graven…

---

They hid from the windstorm behind the sarcophagus, Lauryl having scooped up Graven where he’d fallen, clutching what looked like a broken wrist.  While the wind whipped about the domed chamber, she put a hand on her holy symbol, moved his badly angled wrist back into position with her other and whispered a prayer.

By the time the windstorm had died down, the bones had knit, and Graven’s wrist was as good as new.

“Praise be to Eilistraee,” he said softly.

“Praised be,” Lauryl said, smiling back.

When the windstorm died, it was sudden and absolute.  No lessening of the winds, no slow let down as the power died out.  It was as if someone had closed a door against the tempest, shutting it out of this realm as if it had never been.

“Wow,” Ielena said quietly, ears ringing against the blast.

“Wow indeed,” Avlan replied.  Slowly, he rose and looked over the sarcophagus in the direction of the blue lantern, which still hung and swayed gently from side to side.

“We need that lantern,” said Graven.  “If we have to revisit every chamber in this place, it must be here somewhere.

“Unless someone has already taken it,” Ielena offered.

“It’ll be here.  If anyone had taken one, why didn’t they take them all?”

The others nodded and set off to start looking around.  There had to be a reason for a trap of that magnitude.  Whatever might lie beyond that wall had to be worth the expenditure to trap it the way it had been.  The hunt for the red lantern was on!