Chapter 3.2 - Return to the Golden Grain Inn

Since the tunnels are narrow enough to require moving single-file, the party smoothly shifts back into their established marching order: Myrtha in front, then Chase, Ember, Morton, Aanbo, Arya, and Theran...where does Lyrel insert herself in that line-up?

Able to see in the darkness, Morton examines the bodies of the monsters while the others are disrobing and showing off their scarred physiques (but no tattoos or spiral jewelry). There is nothing of special interest on the corpses; they've clearly been dead a long time, though unlike the other undead the Dungeon Busters have previously encountered in the Dim Forest, the magic that animated these bodies seems to have protected them from much decay: the flesh is only shriveled and the skin stretched taut, with wide staring eyes and intact teeth rather than empty sockets and gaping jaws. There is no sign or smell of decomposition, nor are there are invertebrates consuming the bodies. Their hair and nails seem to have continued to grow after death; the hair is matted with blood and the nails are cracked from scraping the broken bones of their victims for marrow. They are unclothed, and do not bear any spiral tattoos or symbols, nor do they have any pockets or containers for holding items of value or utility.

The party is beginning to get a picture for how Her people have been using these monsters, supported by the evidence of no personal belongings or valuables of any kind among the victims' remains. The adventurers were the first people to come in here with weapons and useful gear.

Once everyone is dressed again, Ember and Arya pick up their torches again as the party prepares to head back into the tunnels. Myrtha leads the way back out of the feeding chamber, each party member crunching on the bones as they move out of the room, and then they step carefully over and around the fresh corpses. They reach the first branching of the tunnels, and Myrtha and Chase proceed cautiously forward into the darkness until Ember can turn the corner and shed some light in front of them.

"It makes sense to me," Myrtha replies to Lyrel's voice behind her, then turns to Chase. "Let's go, Mr. Brandstone." They proceeded down the tunnel, Ember following behind with the light source. The tunnel turns to the southwest and proceeds for several yards, widening as it goes. The group pauses when the passage opens into a larger space with tunnels leading away in different directions. There is a dark patch of earth on the ground with a half-eaten fresh rat corpse in the middle.

---

Aanbo (27/27)
Arya (10/10)
Chase (14/14)
Ember (9/9)
Lyrel (9/9)
Morton (9/9)
Myrtha (17/18)
Theran (18/18)

Morton quiet walks along picking where he steps to make least amount of noise as he does run his left hand along the wall.

It's blood. The party recognizes that the rat being caught and eaten was likely the source of the noises some of them heard earlier.
As they pass the large open space on their left, the adventurers see that two other passages lead off north on the other side.

But as they progress, following the left-hand wall, the tunnel ahead narrows abruptly, forcing each character to turn sideways to squeeze between two partially-buckled support beams, and as each character moves through, they are struck either with an awareness of how much earth is pushing down at them from above, ready to bury them in an instant, or how bad it would be to be caught by a monster while stuck in such an awkward space.

But then the passage widens again. Chase's torch illuminates the space ahead of them, which widens further into another chamber. A dim shape ahead materializes out of the dimness to be a white humanoid face staring at them out of the darkness: cold, pitiless, and pale. It is clear after a heartbeat that this is not a living creature, but a mask or carving high up off of the ground ahead. Stepping cautiously further, Myrtha, Chase, and Ember at the front realize that it is an extremely lifelike statue that catches the light and almost glows, seemingly hovering in the air. A further step and the reason for its position becomes clear: the face is the furthest-forward part of a full-body sculpture. The statue is of some white, pearlescent material and depicts something abominable: a human face on the body of a vast serpent rearing up from a stone pedestal. The gnawed bones of other humanoids lay here, scattered in the dirt and less immediately obvious for being dirty and low to the ground. Everyone files into the chamber and sees this, too. There are no other obvious exits from this chamber.

---

Aanbo (27/27)
Arya (10/10)
Chase (14/14)
Ember (9/9)
Lyrel (9/9)
Morton (9/9)
Myrtha (17/18)
Theran (18/18)

Theran's examination of the statue reveals exquisite artistry; the statue appears to be cunningly crafted from ivory, though where someone would get tusks of such size beggars the imagination. Perhaps it is multiple tusks that were shaped together?

Ember looks around to see if the obvious has occurred to anyone else; she observes that only Morton has a similar gleam in his eye. The criminal and the charlatan both recognize that an eccentric art collector or a curator of the arcane would probably pay a small fortune for such an object of art. Failing that, Ember knows some fences in Hookhill that would be just as eager; based on her experience, she figures probably every community has someone serving a similar public service...