Two horsemen ride up to a tavern...

" They might be lying in wait, pretending they've gone away. But we cannot second guess ourselves. We are ready, and we need to go through the door. If our master of the arcane can open the door let us see what there is to see." Kaed draws his sabre, in readiness after checking his shield is well positioned. "If there is combat immediately let me take the centre here," he points to a spot straight in front of the door,  a short way back, "if Katrin and Kou guard my flanks they rest of you should be able to attack over us.:

"As good a plan as any." She straps her shield back onto her arm, from where she had set it during their hour of respite. Drawing her sword, she moves to the point Kaed had pointed out. She looks at him for a moment, then gestures for him to come over. "Well? Come on then. Let's get this started."  Doing this for you, Rosie. I'll come back. I promise.

Positioning himself a short distance behind the front line of Kaed, Katrin and Kou, Thrandimir checks that his pack is secure, hefts his staff and draws himself up to his full height. " AVE ,"  the wizard declares confidently, his booming voice echoing about the tunnel.

The white stone where the riddle's text is inlaid begins to swim. It grows hazy and then solidifies again, with the text rearranged down to two Tollanian word. Once, it would have been considered a bright greeting. Now, it evoked a sinister beckoning: Grata Domum The white stone doors shift, and begin to swing outward with a groan. Inside, only darkness. Stale air with a dull smell of decay washes over the party. The doors shudder to a halt leaving only silence in the place of their dramatic movement. Then light flares into existence from braziers about ninety feet back from the door, revealing a rectangular room with four pillars holding up the high-vaulted ceiling. Three sets of double doors are set into the walls, one each on the north, east, and south walls of the chamber. The flames reveal the source of the knocking: shambling figures that turn toward the open door, their movements jerky and seemingly unsure. The nearest steps into the light pouring in from the campfire, revealing decaying flesh nearly sloughing off bone. It lets out a dull, low moan and shambles closer, rotting teeth gnashing and dead eyes gazing hungrily at the party!

Kaed stands ready as Thrandimir prepares to open to the door. His easy smile played across his face, " Ascian, just so you know I have every faith in you to not shoot me in the back, in case you were wondering." As the door opens and he sees the shambling creature the look on his face darkens, "The dead walk, but only for a little while ." Seemingly forgetting all talk of tactics he screams his warcry and changes forwards, the darkness creeping out a little as his rage takes over, as ice cold as usual, adding strength to his arm and speed to his movements. Throwing caution to the wind he launches a brutal slash across the creature, its rotting bones offering scant resistance the diagonal cut slicing the shambling creature almost in two. " They offer no challenge, let us finish them!"

As the doors grind to a halt, and fire flares up inside, Katrin steels herself for the fight. "Ah, fantastic. Just what Tempus ordered." She pushes off from the floor, the newfound strength from her gauntlets giving her a revitalized energy from the rest. As she runs, she whispers "Burn,"  in her native Dwarvish. Her sword ignites, white-hot flames licking the edges of the blade hungrily. She slashes across the zombie's chest, slicing through dead flesh and igniting the shambling corpse.

A wash of gold energy rolls through the room, accompanied by a low rumble that seemingly emanates from the pillars. The sound shakes ground and dust falls from the walls and ceiling, as if a great giant sleeping beneath the ground had awakened. The energy rolls over the undead as well as Katrin and Kaed. It feels like a bolt of lightning across their hearts -- invigorating, but not at all pleasant. The undead seem to benefit from it as well.  The rumble fades as the golden energy disperses at the door. It sounds almost...apologetic in nature as the sounds recede.

The unmistakable groans of the damned had barely reached Cal's ears than the boisterous bruised Kaed had already minced once to bits. For once, Cal feels sure of himself that he's making the right choice. Allowing the power to well up within him once more, his form ignites in a starry glow as a bolt of energy careens out of his hand, exploding in radiant fire against the first walker he sees. With the glow practically beckoning further fire, Cal allows the archer form to take over once again. With graceful fluidity his arms draw back, nocking a golden arrow in the glimmering curve of an ethereal bow, he aims for nought but a second before the nebulous strands of light that hold it together are loosed.  As the arrow pierces the undead's torso, searing off a massive section of its body, even its face is left dangling by nary a thread.

"You don't make it easy," Ascian mutters in response to Kaed, aiming his bow just past the barbarian's shoulder at the creature shambling in the distance. Light flickers off of what he had first thought was another bandit, highlighting decaying flesh on a frame so emaciated it's almost familiar. There's an unpleasant emptiness in his chest where he thinks his heart might have stopped if it were still beating; instead, the silence thuds twice as loud. Get it together , he tells himself, willing his hands to steady around his new bow. Forcing his focus, he lets loose an arrow before he can think further about it, watching it skim just barely past Kaed's broad shoulder to meet its mark in the distant flesh of a rotting arm that barely seems to register it. Slowly, Ascian lowers his bow, looking down at the cold, pale hands that hold it. Kaed had shredded the creature in front of him seemingly without problem. Ascian's aim had been true, but the arrow... What if it's not the arrow. What if it's who's holding the bow.   Looking up again, the shadows of the room flicker unpleasantly, and it's only when Ash swallows a breath to steel himself that he's hollowly reminded it's one he doesn't need. 

Kou sinks into a defensive fighting stance prepared to hold the line, as Thrand speaks the command to open the door. But as soon as the door opens Kaed bolts from the line into the fray and obliterates the first unfortunate undead he comes across. Kou turns towards Katrin but before he can say anything the Dwarf charges in herself.  Before he can even look to the backline he sees flashes of light and a golden arrow fly out. Grumbling as he bolts forward to assist Katrin "My friends, we must strive to stick to the plans we devise." He then taps into his body's spiritual energy and unleashes a flurry of slashes at the undead that Cal lit up. The flesh peels apart easily enough with chunks of the beings body flying off with each swipe. But somehow the undead clung to animation, vexing Kou.

With a rattle of rolling bones, three skeletons, armed with shortbows and shortswords step forward. Their movements are jerky as unseen muscles pull and maneuver the bones into something resembling an archer's form. They fire at the three party members inside the entrance to the retreat. The arrows fly wide, with the exception of one that grazes off Katrin's armor. Katrin takes 5 points of piercing damage to vigor, reduced by 4 to 1 by DR. Thrandimir's action.

Seeing the zombie near Kou just barely cling to unlife, Thrandimir advances on it, sending a wave of cold pulsing towards the monster. However, its icy flesh is untouched by the evocation.

The flames eating away at the flesh of the zombie on Katrin disperse, finding very little flesh to burn. It retaliates against the cleric, bashing its fists against the armor. Katrin takes 3 points of bludgeoning damage to vigor, reduced by 3 to 0 by DR. The other zombies also approach and attack, but Thrandimir and Kou are able to stay away from the flailing undead arms. Kaed's action.

As the battle develops Kaed finds himself closest to Thrandimir who is keeping a zombie at bay, jumping over his first kill of the fight he spins past the wizard and his foe who seems completely focused on the old man, Kaed makes it pay for it's lack of awareness, slashing clean through its neck, his measured attack doing enough to keep the wizard from immediate harm whilst not leaving himself exposed. He looks across at the skeletal archers in front if him calling out to them, "I'm coming for you next!" hoping to distract them from some of his more fragile companions.

Katrin grins at Kou. "Now where's the fun in that? Plans are made to be ignored, my friend." The flames die and the zombie continues its attack. Katrin grits her teeth, and swipes at the creature once more, cleaving its head from its shoulders. The body twitches slightly, falls, twitches again, but does not get up. Satisfied, she rushes around behind the zombie Kou is facing. "Hey! Over here, smelly!" She makes as if to strike right, but immediately feints left, and the zombie staggers, thrown off its rhythm.

A wave of green energy emits from the pillars, leaving Katrin, Kou, Kaed, and Thrandimir staggering, looking greatly confused.

Cal's starry form flickers momentarily as the faces of his comrades go slack and vacant. "Loathe as I am to say it, this is not the time to take up stargazing my friends,"  his face remains stoic as he fires off another volley of bolts and arrows that erupt in white flame across another zombie's chest. Unfortunately, the monster simply lets out an audible groan before shambling forward once more.

The green light flashes nearly throwing Kou to the ground. The flash clears but bit's of green light still blur across his eyes. He tries to move but his mind feels sluggish and unresponsive. It takes nearly all of his effort just to stay standing as his body ignores his minds commands.

Taken off guard by the looks of dazed confusion that overtake those in the room, Ascian pulls his scattered thoughts together enough to steal forward, attempting to rouse the others.  "Since when do you  stop ,"  he mutters to Kaed, stopping just behind the barbarian as he lifts his bow to plunge an arrow deep within the flesh of the barely-standing creature flanked by a perplexed-looking Kou and Katrin. There's a moment where he fears it will be shaken off again, but the dull, roiling panic is kept at bay as rotting knees hit the floor, followed by decaying shoulders. Expecting a reaction from the clerics or at the least a quip from Kaed, he looks between them with a frown, caught off guard when quiet greets him instead. Even Thrandimir, usually so present, looks disconnected – and suddenly that same noxious panic of before begins to brew within Ascian as he looks from his comrades to the only others still moving in the room; to a creature directly across from him, pale and thin and alarmingly skeletal, its hands wrapped expertly around a bow. Just like his. Get out. Get out before they notice.  Swallowing thickly, he lowers his bow and dashes for the threshold again, resolving to cover his companions from the door, beyond which at least things seem to still make sense. As he runs, he can feel more than see the faint grey wisps of smoke lift like a film from his skin, drifting lazily into the air behind him before darting with resounding speed for the skeleton beyond Kaed. Coalescing back into mist, they flood into the gaping holes of the creature's nose and mouth as they have before and from the doorway Ascian watches, his hands shaking around the curve of his bow as he waits and wills the unpleasant mirror to crack. The silence inside him is deafening when the skeleton instead stares back.

The skeletons loose another volley. One misses Kou, and the other two sink arrows into the meaty flesh of Kaed's shoulder -- much to the barbarian's indifference, both due to his rage and his apparent confusion. Kaed takes 14 points of piercing damage to vigor, reduced by 3 to 11 by DR, resisted to 5 by barbarian rage. Thrandimir's "action." The wizard simply stands inert, looking aware of his surroundings, but potentially confused by them. The vacancy in his eyes is very much counter to their normal twinkling intelligence. The one remaining zombie attempts to bite down on Kou's arm, but the newly unconfused monk dodges out of the way. Kaed and Katrin too, seem to snap out of their confusion. A gout of flame flares across the floor, again emanating from the pillars. Kou and Kaed are able to dodge away without much trouble, but Katrin and Thrandimir just barely evade the flames, leaving the wizard's robes singed and the cleric's feet uncomfortably hot in her armored boots. The flames burn away at the bones of the skeletons and entirely incinerate the remaining zombie.

Seeing the creatures swarm around his allies - each left stupefied in their place - and a gout of flame erupt from the pillars on top of them, something starts to snap within Cal. Deep within the recesses of his mind, withdrawn within to have allowed the stars to guide him, a primal fear takes hold. Where the galaxy's will would retain an air of pragmatic calm, he sees only potential ruin. Oh stars, they're being burned alive in there! Do something! Say something! But the voice in his mind continues along methodically, calculating the best angles and proper applications of its cosmic fire. If it felt to Cal like he was screaming into a vacuum, it's because in many regards he literally was.  No! We have to do something! Help them, warn them! Get them out before something worse happens!  And yet the stars only disregarded his concerns. This was no time to act emotionally. His allies had trust in him to aid them by destroying the enemy. They were serving as distractions while he could wipe out these abominations. Doing anything different would upset the natural order of such things. Another burst of light just about exploded one skeletal warrior, and a further arrow dropped one to the ground unceremoniously. Immediately, the stars started angling for any more hostil- "Get out of there! Please, I don't want to see you die!"   The voice erupted from the firbolg and yet seemed unnatural. Like the body knew not what the mind had said. For just the briefest of moments, Cal had managed to wrest complete control back over himself. For just a moment, he could warn his friends. And then he felt himself falling. Deeper down, far back into the corners of his own subconscious. But he'd helped, he thought. He'd done his part.

The heat of the flames that ripple toward him in the doorway is thick and intense, almost enough to warm even Ascian, whose hands have gone slack on his bow. Warm. When was the last time I was warm?   Distantly, he sees his allies dance away from the fire; watches it lick up the skeleton at the far end of the room and heat far-off bones. Radiant light fires past him in the corner of his vision, soaring into other rotting flesh, but Ascian barely sees it; his attention is locked entirely on the side of the room still haunted by empty black sockets and newly charred bones. Get out , he thinks dully. They need to get out . He could grab them perhaps. Push them. Pull them. Drag them. They were no longer unmoving; it might not even be hard. But those dark holes are still boring into him and that bow is moving and Ascian is all but frozen, sick with disquiet and terrified if he lifts his hand the skeleton might too. "Get out of there! Please, I don't want to see you die!"   As if from nowhere, Callahan's shout behind him takes him by surprise, piercing through the sluggish fog that had settled on him like a shroud. Jerkily shaking his head clear, Ascian lifts his bow and steadies it at the skeleton opposite. You can't hurt them like the others can. Pulling the bowstring back, he forces the thought from his mind and takes a breath he doesn't need, feeling it whistle through the emptiness in his chest. The tension releases, the arrow soars; and Ascian watches as shards of proverbial mirror rain in pieces alongside bones to the floor.

The bones drop the the floor. The pillars bow at the middle, as if the ceiling had suddenly become millions of pounds heavier. Then, a faint white glow shines in the ceiling, and the pillars straighten. The group braces themselves, but no more pulses of energy come from the pillars. As the energy of the room disperses, the party sees not desiccated undead at their feet, but eight freshly killed humanoids. Their bodies look as if they had just died by blade, arrow, and flame.

Katrin staggers back, feet still warm from the flames. "Oh my gods, what in the name of Tempus is this?" At first, Katrin thinks she might be sick. She looks around at all gathered. "This place... … it's messing with our heads." She regains control of her stomach, and kneels down to inspect the body of the burned humanoid, the one she can only assume died by her flame.

"I, I did not see them like thry are now, what trickery is this?" Kaed growls at his own confusion as much as the manipulation, looking to the others for some sort of explanation,  He starts to pace, taking in the room for the first time clearly without the focus of battle splitting the world into the black and white of friend and enemy, he starts to examine the room,especially the pillars which seem to be the source of much of the magic to him.

Thrandimir shakes his head as the confusion clears, quickly grabbing a hold of his hat before it slips from his head. The flames lick at the wizard's clothes and he leaps aside with a cry of surprise, just barely avoiding serious burns. "I think ... we're okay," he assures Callahan and Ash as everything goes quiet, wandering closer to the fallen and beginning to inspect the corpses. "Temporal magic perhaps?" Thrandimir muses to Katrin and Kou. "We are seeking an incantation from another time, after all."

Executing a tight backflip to dodge the sanctum's inferno, he nearly comes crashing to the ground as the undead morph into humanoid bodies covered in blood. Rubbing his eyes praying to Tempus this is not what it seems. He quietly mutters  "This has to be another trick"  Leaning down he quickly inspects one of the bodies noting that the wounds lined up with the party's weapons and magics. Panic begins to build within him, fear that their haste led to the death of innocents before he realizes that each of the bodies are cold. If they were alive at the start of the fight they would be much warmer. As his hands examine the corpse he notices that his claws are clean, there are not traces of blood upon them. Standing as relief begins to surge through his mind   he says "The sanctum is trying to unsettle or test us. These bodies are cold as ice, it isn't possible that they were alive seconds ago." Looking to Kaed he says "Look at your sword, there is no blood on it even though your struck quite a few of them down. We were not responsible for the death of these .... abominations."  Looking over to Thrand he says "It seems likely it is some type of magic. I still have Tempus' ritual for magical detection prepared from our business with Ash earlier today. I think it may be wise if we both cast it and see what spells we uncover."

Katrin raises an eye, and clears her throat. When she has the attention of the men in the room, she gestures with her chin towards Cal. "You're not the only one graced with the gifts of Tempus, Kou. Perhaps three, or even four, are better than two." 

The room warps and suddenly the skeleton Ascian had decimated is no longer a skeleton, but a being of flesh and bone. His bow nearly falls from his hands, held only by muscle memory and badly shaking hands that aren't quite willing to let it go. Nausea roils unpleasantly that he tries to swallow back, watching the others surge into motion, attempting to force himself to believe Thrandimir's words.  "They were dead," he says shakily to no one in particular. "They were dead for you too, right. Skeletons."

With a smile and a small bow towards Katrin he says "An oversight on my part, I of course meant to include you as well. Your connection to Tempus' divine power surpasses my own, and will be much needed here." To Cal he nods and says "Apologies, I often forget your magic extends beyond the natural realm." Finding a place on the floor clear of blood and debris he sinks into a meditative pose and says "Though regardless of who is invovled, I believe we should hurry. Who knows what other defenses the Sanctum will awaken."

Thrandimir nods affirmatively. "They were dead," he states with confidence, before looking to Kou. "Let's do it." Reaching for his spellbook, the wizard opens the page with his ritual for detecting magic.

Kaed's pacing takes him back near to the entrance way, where he sees Ascian still holding his bow, he nods at the slender man, and goes a little closer wiping some soot from the flames off of his best as he does so. " That was not as straightforward as I had thought it would be. I apologise for ignoring my own plan, are you ok? Those fell magics didnt reach back here, did they?"

Cal has remained rather quiet following the brief outburst from earlier. The swirl of stars still enshrouding him in a bright, cosmic haze, he approaches as Katrin and Kou beckon for him. As kou speaks to the cosmic form before him, acknowledging his own magics, Cal just silently meets his gaze. Turning back to the others, he too begins centering himself, summoning the will of the stars to focus their efforts no longer on raining radiant light upon the creatures in the room but instead on shedding such light on their demise.

"I don't know," he says blankly to Kaed, his pale stare lingering on the felled former-skeleton a beat longer before it switches to the barbarian. He shifts his grip on his bow, attempting to hide his shaking. "No, the magic stopped at the threshold. I could feel the heat from inside. Is that why you froze? You’ve never been confused before about who to kill next."

"This place is strange, I do not think any of us were in our right minds. Better to ignore what happens here when we can." He looks down at his bare shoulder where an arrow drew a line of blood l, "I was not so much confused as held in place, I had no control over my body." The tribesman grumbles, "I do not appreciate having my freedom taken from me, but I suspect the creator of these magics is long dead, I doubt I will be able to return the favour!"

Standing back with the prisoners, looking aghast at what just happened, Fliek and Flimm look at each other, then back to the group.  "Well, that was truly horrifying to watch," Fliek says. Flimm grunts and calls out, "Anyone dead?"

" They are, but then they were already.... at least I'm fairly sure they were." Kaed raises an eyebrow as the others prepare their spells "I think they will be able to tell us more in a few minutes."

"This whole place reeks of necromancy," Thrandimir notes, turning up his nose at the bodies, "and these corpses have been transformed. Have no doubt - we fought the undead."

Katrin grunts in mild satisfaction. "Well, that's good news." She moves away from the crisp corpse she had been studying. "Doesn't seem like this place is throwing anything else at us for the moment. We should use this time wisely."  

Thrandimir begins to search the room for murals, carved script, furniture and magical items of any kind. Perhaps there's a hidden door leading further into the retreat or a compartment containing the knowledge that they are searching for. Three sets of double doors are set into the walls, each labelled in old Tollanian, and Thrandimir once again settles down to perform his ritual of interpretation. "The way straight ahead leads to the main workshop and vault," the wizard explains to his companions. "The doors on the right lead to the dormitories and the first workshop, those on the left lead to the second workshop." Thrandimir slowly stands, before stretching and yawing. "Maybe we should get some sleep before tackling them? It's late."

Finally emerging from the stars and their stupor, Cal simply mumbles, "...that would be wise," and begins preparing a space for his bedroll off to the side of the exterior chamber, eager to put the day behind him.

Thrandimir closes the door with the Tollanian word for goodbye: "Vale."  The party beds down for the evening. The two bandits sleep in their bindings, seemingly docile for the moment. The two tabaxi curl up near the fires and the rest of their party lay out their bedrolls around the cavern, leaving Thrandimir and Ascian on watch. The stone floor is cool and uneven, but the party is able to get some rest. The sounds of the cave begin to filter in when people stop moving around. The drip drip drip  of water from the roof of the cave to the pool of water, the crackle of the flames, and the chittering of bats exiting the cave through a hole somewhere in the ceiling. 

Ascian sits stoically on the stone floor, his gaze on the fire in front of him as his fingers move methodically and absently along a length of rope in his lap, flashing over the cord to tie knot after knot until he abruptly switches backward, moving just as quickly to untie them. In the peripheral of his vision, he can see Thrandimir studying; nearly a familiar sight by now. He finds he takes more comfort than he would have thought in routine, though even familiarity can't quite purge the sight of that skeleton from his mind. More than once he glances toward the looming stone door, as if half-expecting to see it yawning open again, more undead within its depths. And there very well could be, when they ventured forward tomorrow. I don't want them to think I'm a liability,  he'd told Thrandimir just the night prior. But what if he was? The magic in there had affected the undead differently, and if that same effect haunted him, what if that only compounded the further in they went?  "The magic in there. It didn't seem to always hurt the skeletons," he says slowly at last, breaking the silence that had fallen around the campfire. "Neither did I. And I didn't miss." His fingers hesitate briefly on the rope in his lap before starting to knot again. "No one else had trouble. Is that - could that be a symptom too."

Once more, Thrandimir looks up from his spellbook. He's come to enjoy his evening conversations with this pale young man. Setting the tome down on his pack, the wizard pauses as he contemplates how to explain this. "Ascian, you fight with a bow and arrow . It's not a particularly effective weapon for destroying bone . Consider trying a hammer next time,"  Thrandimir teases with his familiar keen smile. "Swords are perfect for hacking up zombies and most of the skeletons were purged by holy light. Nothing about it is personal to you."

He pauses, registering that. “Oh. I see.”  It’s obvious in hindsight that his arrows might not find true purchase in rotting flesh, but with those dark eyes staring at him and skeletal fingers lifting a bow it had been near-impossible to see. He nods shortly, looking back to his knots in embarrassment. “Things come off of me sometimes. Since Fireblade. Things that hurt people.” He glances up at Thrandimir, who always seems to have answers when Ascian himself is adrift. “When I run, normally. They’re like...mist. Or smoke. They didn’t seem to hurt them either.”

Thrandimir ponders this new information for a moment, before making a suggestion. "Since Fireblade, you've behaved in some ways that living creatures don't typically behave... perhaps these 'thing' can only harm the living?"

That hollowness whistles through him again, a swooping sensation reminiscent of a sinking heart.  “That sounds bad ,” he remarks without judgment. “Good people aren’t supposed to harm the living.” He thinks of the orcs, and the lions, and Callahan’s horrified face, and for the first time in a long time, it all makes sense. His hands resume tying, no longer shaking, and Ascian nods. “I think you’re right. Thanks.”

Thrandimir shrugs. "Power is not inherently 'good' or 'evil'," he tells Ascian with certainty. "What matters is how you use it. You have used it to save innocents from bandits. That sounds like good to me."

“Your balance. I remember.” Ascian looks to the wizard’s spellbook and back. “Was your magic like this too. Sudden.” He tries to imagine a Thrandimir who didn’t have answers, and fails. “ Who taught you?”

Thrandimir shakes his head. "Study and practice. Years of it," he tells Ascian with a wry grin. "That is only one path to arcane might though. Some are born with it in their blood. For those without such fortune, a quick and easy path can be a vow of service to a greater entity. The rush of power from these pacts is seductive and addictive, yet insidious. Nothing in this life comes for free." The wizard laughs knowingly before continuing his lesson. "The divine magic of our companions in Tempus's service is drawn from their connection to Him through prayer and sweet, gentle Callahan's abilities come from his affinity for the natural world around us." Thrandimir watches Ascian with renewed intensity as he talks. "I suspect that these new skills that you are manifesting are derived from your connection to the veil between this life and the next. Somehow you are connected to both. What that means, or what the source of this connection is, remains to be seen."