DM: The Chapel to Tharizdun

Gryffin listens at the door. Nothing. His hand checks the handle. It is open. He twists. The door shifts to reveal a short dark corridor with a heavy iron-clad door at the end. You all file forward, Gryffin signaling for you to stop 5 foot from the door. He edges forward, and presses his ear to the door. Time slips by as he crouches like that, listening for several minutes. At last he turns to you all and shakes his head. Nothing.

He tries the lock again. Open again. The door creaks a little as he twists it open.

Inside is a large room. (OOC: Room D9) It is unlit. There is silence within. You edge forward into the room, casting the light from your torches into the large space. The southern wall of this room is a bank of cells with iron bars and barred doors, six in all. The rest of the room is obviously a torture chamber; a rack sits against the far wall, an iron maiden stands to the north, and a fire pit (empty of all but ashes) lies below a spiky cage dangling from a chain in the ceiling to the east.

The place is deserted, and has the dull air of a room that hasn't been opened in at least a few days. The north wall of the room has two doors. The second one, to the right, is swung open. Inside is a tiny little room. (OOC: Room D10) It is a nest of rags, dog hides, and straw. A workbench lies against its southern wall, cluttered with pliers, hooks, tongs, saws, and knives. A bunch of keys hangs from a nail on the side of the bench - probably the keys for the cells. The cells, however, as you have already ascertained, are empty.

Orik points towards The second door, the one to the west, the party follows his direction.



* * *

Gryffin listens. Hearing nothing he checks the door. it is unlocked. He moves his hand slowly, turning the handle little by little. It gives without a sound, opening outwards (towards you all), to reveal a very short corridor beyond with a second door. This one is ornate, carved stone. Upon it is etched imagery of Tharizdun, the goddess of monsters. The etching is relatively recent, and relatively crude. Blood stains are visible in the recessed areas.

The door has no lock, being a simple push/pull affair. Gryffin listens again, and after failing to discern any noises through the stone door, signals the rest of the party. Lloyd pushes it a crack.

The room beyond is dimly lit. Noises are evident.

There is little else for it, but to open the door.

Within lies a large chapel to Tharizdun. (OOC: Room D12) The room is wider on the western side, where you entered, with the eastern section sunken a few feet into the ground. On the far east lies two large doors - the main entrance for worshipers.

The walls surrounding the raised section that you are at are lit by hanging braziers that emit glowing red smoke, giving the place an unnerving crimson lighting that throws the bas-relief carvings of countless monsters feasting on fleeing humans into lurid display. A black marble altar stone, its surface heaped with ashes and bone fragments, squats before a ten foot tall statue. The statue depicts a very pregnant but otherwise shapely naked woman who wields a kukri in each taloned hand and has a long reptilian tail, bird-like taloned feet, and the snarling head of a three-eyed jackal with a forked tongue. The left kukri glows with fiery orange light while the right one glows with a cold blue radiance.

Behind the statue is a circular hole in the floor that appears to be a spiral staircase that winds down into the dark below.

The room itself is not empty. Against the northern wall is a large table with two chairs. Its surface is cluttered with scrolls, books, stone tablets covered with dense, spiky runes, and fragments of carvings that appear to have been chipped off of statues or reliefs. A lantern sits atop the table casting its light over the items collected there.

Before the table, turning to observe you, is a woman in her early twenties with dark skin and long hair braided tightly into cornrows. She is robed, and has three scrolls tucked under her left arm that she lets drop to her feet as she sees you. A wand is tucked loosely in her belt, and a dagger is beside it. A cat wriggles between her feet.

A howl erupts from the east of the room as three black, very large hound-like creatures come racing towards you.

As they move towards you they start to howl. The noise they make appears to startle even the woman and the very familiar looking half-elf standing amidst the hounds - Tsuto Kaijitsu.