Some workers have been killed in this cave, and quite recently. Nobody has forged out to recover their bodies yet. Whoever killed them had large, nasty claws.
You stumble into a dim, icy-cold cave, which reeks of death and decay. It is dominated by a deep shaft, black as night. You shiver, both from the chill, and from the sense of evil pervading this place.
Someone has butchered several Empire soldiers and hidden them in this little hidden tunnel. It's a grisly sight.
It looks like someone started to build a room here, but then abandoned it. When you walk in to check it out, you hear growling behind you. It would seem you've walked into an ambush...
This fence has a small gate in it. Etched on the gate are all manner of magical runes, apparently intended to keep undead away.
Someone has been digging a narrow tunnel here. However, they've not been using shovels and picks, but claws. The tunnel ends in a wall of the fort, and it looks like they were starting to claw through that too.
Someone or something has painstakingly hacked this tunnel out of the living rock with clawed hands. To do this must have taken intense strength and single-mindedness.
This was clearly intended to be main well for the fort. However, someone has quite deliberately (and possibly magically) befouled it. The water is grey and murky, and smells of the long-dead.
This is clearly the commander's quarters. One interesting detail - runes of protection have been etched all around the bed.
You find plans for the fort. It looks to be fairly impressive, if they ever get it finished.
Since then, undead have been appearing everywhere, ambushing the soldiers and workers, and killing a fair number of them. The commander is at a loss for what to do about it, but despairs of ever getting the fort completed.
You find in the desk a journal describing the building of the fort. It's pretty boring, up to an account of breaking open some new tunnels about a month back.
The air is thick with the smell of trash long ago left to rot. The piles of ordure are so decayed and overgrown with mold that you can no longer tell what the stuff originally was.
With a flash of light, you end up back where you started.
You try to enter the portal, but invisible hands push you back. A soft voice whispers in your ear "I'm afraid you left some items behind. I'm sure you wouldn't want to forget them."
You peer through the window, and see a low-ceilinged room. In the middle of the room is a pedestal. On the pedestal is a small, wicked looking knife.
There is no response. However, the invisible barrier is still there.
With a click and a rumble, a section of the south wall slides open.
That's very peculiar. You'd swear those monsters weren't there a moment ago.
You step into the teleporter. As your surroundings start to fade, you see long white filaments of light sweep around the room behind you, seemingly scouring the surface. Then...
This door has a steel keyhole. You insert your steel key and turn it, and hear a satisfying clicking noise.
This door has a large steel keyhole. Unfortunately, you don't have the key.
The door has a very unusual lock - it's carved out of a piece of solid amber. You insert your key, and here a soft clicking noise.
The door has a very unusual lock - it's carved out of a piece of solid amber. Unfortunately, you don't have the key.
The third statue says "Quib."
The second statue says "Fump."
The first statue says "Plor."
You pull the lever, and the runes in from of each of the statues momentarily glow brightly.
A large eye appears in midair in front of you, and looks you over. Then, a mouth appears below it and says "Insufficient clearance." Then the mouth and eye disappear, and invisible hands grab you and throw you back. Very odd.
A large eye appears in midair in front of you, and looks you over. Then it disappears. Nothing else happens. Odd.
A soft, disembodied voice says "You may not pass." It is right. Invisible hands grab you and throw you back.
You hear a popping noise to the south. You look, and see that a crate has appeared down the corridor.
You hear a popping noise to the south. You look, and see that a barrel has appeared down the corridor.
A soft, disembodied voice says "You may not pass." It is right. Invisible hands grab you and throw you back.
A soft, disembodied voice says "You may pass."
Suddenly, huge clots of the vegetation in front of and behind you start moving! The lumps quickly slide across the floor, melding into each other. Soon, large, clumsy plant masses are lumbering towards you.
There is a stairway down here. However, it only goes down eight feet before hitting solid stone.
You peer through the window, and see a low-ceilinged room. In the middle of the room is a pedestal with nothing on it.
The wall in front of you slides out of your way.
The voice says "You may pass." You approach the pedestal, and see, much to your disappointment, that it has nothing on it. After a brief search for secret stuff, you leave.
