The company spends a bit of time debating the merits of opening one door, both doors or just saying
to hell with it and moving on. Eventually after some debate, they decide to opt for the unadorned door down the eastern stairwell.
Guillemin carefully searches and probes the door jamb and listens intently for noise as others, like
Grima, crowd around him and listen for themselves. After careful consideration,
Grima thrusts the door open as
Guillemin instinctively jumps backward a pace with his heart up in his throat.
The chamber beyond is square space with a low ceiling about 10 paces along each wall. Along the northern and western walls are clay jars, receptacles, and an array of ancient copper scalpels, knives, and spoon-like implements tinged heavily with a patina of green oxidation. Along the western wall,
Grima finds a shelf full of ancient scrolls still stacked neatly, where someone left them ages gone by. Most disintegrate into moldy pulp when he tries to pull them down, but there are two bone scroll cases, with their ends sealed with wax that he's able to retrieve to examine later. In the center of the room is a very enticing stone coffer about 3 feet long and 2 feet wide, with a stone lid. Suspicious,
Guillemin carefully searches the lid for nasty surprises and finds a tiny barb of a needle in the recessed handle along its edge. He opts for a prybar and puts all of his strength into the thing, which appears to be stuck. With a jolt the lid pops off and luckily
Vandal and
Madeline are close at hand to catch it before it can crash into the ankle-deep water that floods the entirety of the chamber.
Inside are some curious things: a small plate-size bundle wrapped in linen and two ornate glazed, urns with golden lids sealed with wax.
Guillemin works his knife into the seal and breaks it on the first jar. He peers inside the vase and sees what can only be described as a perfectly preserved human heart. He opens the other jar and inside is a perfectly preserved brain. The little linen bundle reveals a mask of pure, untarnished silver, with a stylized dog's face. It looks to be a very similar make and style to the one that Horatio purchased in that market in Arles which lead them all here in the first place. If that bit of ancient ceramic went for a hundred or more deniers , it boggles the mind to think what this might fetch. Not satisfied that this is all that is here,
Grima,
Madeline and
Guillemin continue searching the room, including the coffer.
Madeline finally taps on the bottom of the box and notices a distinct hollow sound. Nearly at the same time,
Guillemin finds a small button on the side of the coffer where it rests on its plinth. He pushes the button and the false bottom of the box pops up, it is carefully lifted with the aid of the prybar and inside is a scabbarded bronze shortsword. The scabbard is chased and gilt in silver, and the broad leaf-shaped blade is pulled forth. It is bright and lustrous and catches the torchlight in a remarkable manner. Why these things were put here and by whom must remain a mystery.
While the troupe collects their new-found wealth,
Vandal begins to notice a very foul taint upon the air, like rotting flesh. He sniffs about and is unable to divine its origin. Meanwhile, as
Madeline inspects a stone door set on the diagonal in the southeast corner, there is a scrabbling sound from beyond the portal. The noise continues to grow louder over several seconds and while
Madeline is listening intently with her ear against the door, something scratches the other side and a moment later starts pushing with terrible force. In a panic, or perhaps thinking her companions are more prepared, she lets the door go free and tries to hide behind it as it swings toward her. Suddenly the actress is overcome with the most stomach turning stench she's ever smelled as two hideously deformed man-like creatures with extremely gaunt features, elongated skulls and over-long arms that terminate in black talons lunge through and throw themselves heedless at the companions.
Grima runs up the stairs as
Ganelon runs down just in time to launch a sling bullet. Unfortunately, the missile flies wide and splashes harmlessly in the water flooding the floor.
Guillemin braces himself with his spear at the ready for one of the abominations bearing down on him and
Vandal in a fit of heroic pique dashes across the room to scoop up the helpless
Madeline, to try and bring her to safety. Unfortunately the floor, slick with several inches of standing water causes the hulking mountainman to lose his balance and he nearly falls into the water himself just as one of the terrifying things bears down on him, raking him across the shoulder and causing him to instantly seize up and unable to move a muscle. Across the room
Guillemin's spear thrust fails and the creature leaps upon
Ganelon inflicting a great gash across his neck. The crusader suffers a similar fate to
Vandal's and also topples backward, completely paralyzed. The quick thinking
Guillemin feints at the creature to drive it off for a split second and
Grima grabs
Ganelon by the tunic, dragging him backward through the door. Guillemin seizes the door handle and holds it back while the abomination tries to pull, just in time for
Grima to weave a spell, holding the portal fast. Horrific scratching noises against the door go on for a few seconds and then faint rending and tearing can be heard for a minute or more, before the survivors can regroup and drag
Ganelon up the stairs and the waiting daylight.
As
Ganelon is dragged up the stairs, Felix and Jacques's eyes go wide and they tentatively ask where
Vandal and
Madeline are, the vancant stares and curt answers cut them off and the party hastily loads the inert form of
Ganelon onto the back of the mule and the beat a hasty retreat off of the plateau in the warm summer afternoon. Bedraggled and harried, the companions arrive in Les Hiboux without further incident several hours before sunset and proceed with haste to their rooms or to Prior Guillaume to tend to their hurts and shocked psyches.
guess I'll be sticking to no alts in the future, waste of approval process 
