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Archer growled at the bard's lack of response.

"Damn it! If we didn't need him, I swear I'd cut him down where he stands." He hissed, driving a knife into a nearby tree.

Shara peeped anxiously.

"Oh, hush girl. May the ghost eagle have mercy, there's no way that I want to be here, trekking across some forsaken forest to find the fools who are trying to find the bloody demon that ruined my life!" He sighed, placing a hand to his temple. "I need a drink."

"Now this is more like it! Grrr." Xepil inspects the room whilst his axe rests on his shoulder. He glances up and down to the scriptures and though he admits they look pretty awesome, he has no idea what they mean. "Grrr, ey wizard boy, come here and take a look at these things." Commands the Hobgoblin.

Then at the second look he notices all the serpent skins on the ground and backs up a bit. "Woop! Wait, hold on, grrrr. What's with all these freaking snake skins?? Grrr..."

"My name is John, Hobgoblin. And besides, we're near the entrance of the Tomb - we are getting away from the grave itself, which must be down here."
The snake skins make him step back: "What in... So many dead snakes... Is this some kind of obscure offering? Must have been going on for a long while, judging by their amount... Yuck."
He carefully examines the floor, trying to find some hidden mechanisms or traps.

"Hah! You finally call me a HOBgoblin, grrrr. We're making progress, grrhehe."

Despite the verbal jabs, Xepil kept his axe at the ready to bail John out of trouble if he got ambushed. "They ain't necessarily dead snakes, grrrr, they were probably shedding skins. Which means they could still be hanging out here, grrr."

Lloré tensed as Archer slammed the knife into the tree, trying to take an involuntary step away from the falconer, though Droggo held him fast.

"Archie... Acher," he corrected himself. "You're not the only one to lose someone. Barrow was out here looking for a way to stop this hound! You should be too! They're looking for the Ulfheonar's wolf-spear..."

"The Jarl's got it under control," Iraco cut in. "Between you, the kid here, and those adventurers...maybe your girlfriend again... well, I'd say that gives us nearly a month of reprieve from the beast. Plenty of time to figure out how to get rid of it for good."

---

((Giving VampireDwarf another day before I reply to the tomb story thread...))

Archer grimaced, rubbing a hand over his face.

"Barrow isn't the only one I lost..." He mumbled under his breath, before shaking his head and ripping the knife out of the tree, placing it back in its sheath at his side. "Damn."

His brow furrowed, but he looked over at Iraco with a smirk.

"When we get back, I'm drinking myself into oblivion. Care to join me?"

His almost completely ignoring of Lloré was his way of coping, with the issue.

"Aye, John, hate ta tell ya, but the hobby's right. The entrance is b'hind us," Rae quietly replies with a grin. "Yeh tall, fine folks al'ays did tend ta lose yahr way underground..."

She shuffles through the snake skins and eyes the door for a few seconds. "Bet th' tomb's jus' b'hind this door, but we ain't gettin' in - least wise, not through the door... You can't portal ya through, ken ya?" The last question is aimed at John, though she barely turns in his direction and keeps her eyes on the door and engraving above.

"Yeh thin' a snake... or snakes, was keepin' tha' hound at bay 'til them thieves broke in? Anybody remember, were there serpents on th' banner?" She finally turns away from the door a bit and picks up one of the skins, examining the size of it.

Her eyes narrow in concentration as she remembers back to the noise she heard from the hall upon entering the chamber. She stares back toward the hall. "No', I donnae like it one bit... There's somethin' in here - snakes, rats, hounds, I donnae know... But I donnae like it."

"I don't remember a serpent on the banner," Galiena said, staying at the south entrance with her lantern and pointing it back the way they came while the others inspected the room.

As John start examining the floor, he finds no traps, but he does find a handful of twigs and short branches along the seam where the south wall meets the floor. All are ancient and crumble at a touch.

The snake skin breaks into several pieces when Rae picks it up, but she can still tell it was from a serpent at least 5 or 6 feet long.

Xepil, taking a more overall view of the room, sees there are small holes bored into the stone on the south wall next to the entrance, as if something was anchored there once upon a time.

---

Lloré, for once in his life, was left speechless by Iraco's implication. His mouth opened several times and yet no words came out.

But Josh managed to find his voice again and his head snapped up, looking accusingly at Archer. "You said we wouldn't be sacrificed!" He took a few steps backwards, looking as if he might try to flee again, but fell down on his butt as his injured leg refused to support his weight.

"Won't have to ask me twice, Arch!" Iraco said. "Sooner we get done here, the better, huh?"

With the bard being uncooperative, Iraco starts looking for the trail again.

"See if you or your old bird there can find it, huh?" Iraco says, still searching the ground but having little luck.

Archer growled at the boy.

"I said no and I mean no, alright kid?" He glared over at Iraco. "I ain't sacrificing kids, Iraco. Not today."

He sighed and stroked Shara's head.

"Think you're up for another flight, girl?" He asked.

She peeped and spread her wings, ready for takeoff.

((oh.))
Twigs. This south wall could have been a door, but that's not very useful for now. He approaches the wall, whilst carefully avoiding the snake skins, and begins inspecting the writings.

Same image. Just reposting for handy reference:


As best as John can tell by Rae's torchlight, unlike the writing that covered the southern entrance to the tomb, there is nothing magical about the writing itself here on this northern portal.

---

Iraco shrugs. "Up to the Jarl. Not our call."

As Shara takes to the sky, she heads roughly north...

"I'm no expert in ancient dialects and languages, and this has nothing to do with magic. Any ideas are welcome."

Archer rolls his eyes, but gazes up at Shara's path.

"She's heading North...ish." he bends down and picks up Josh, carrying the boy in his arms. "Let's go."

"Well, I'd like to check for hidden doors and such, but I really don't want to tread through all these snake skins, grrrr." Said Xepil. "Let's set them on fire first." He then tried lowering a torch down on the snake skins to burn them.

As Xepil puts his torch to the snake skins, they catch quickly, the fire spreading across the room as the skins quickly crumble and turn to a fine ash. The adventures notice that the smoke from the fire doesn't build up in the chamber, but escapes through a hole above the south wall entrance. It's above the lintel and a little hard to see from the floor, though looks about 2 feet tall.

---

Droggo and Hadden position themselves on either side of Lloré to make sure he doesn't try to run off. "Ya heard 'im. Let's go."

As Archer picks up Josh to carry him, a coin pouch falls from the lad's pocket.

((If Archer would investigate any further, he'd find it contains 20 gold coins... a suspiciously large amount of money for the boy to have.))

"I meant the writings - Galiena, you wouldn't happen to have studied similar texts before? This doesn't seem trapped for now, although snakes might come from the hole near the entrance."

Archer lifts the coin pouch up and puts it in front of the boy's face.

"What's this?" He asks, shaking it around.

It sounded suspiciously full, and felt rather heavy. Upon opening it, he saw the 20 golden coins.

"Now now, what would a young boy like yourself be doing with money like this?"

"Magic or no, we ain't gettin' through tha' door," Rae comments, "It's set inta the floor, an' wi' the weight above, mere mortal strength will nae open it. An' I donnae suggest breakin' it down, 'less yah're keen on wearin' the ceilin'. Now, I ain't sayin' there's no other way beyond this wall, but I ain't seein' it yet..."

The vent above the southern doorway is curious, and she shuffles about the room to get a better view of it. After a minute or so, she wonders aloud, "Do yeh ken there's someway t' get up there? Anyone got any rope, mebbe?

"I got rope but not a hook thingie, grrr." Xepil rubs his chin and looks at the dwarf. "I know! Lemme give ya a boost! Sit on my shoulders, grrr!"