“Jiron,” James says after they’ve crawled for several minutes.
“What?” he hears him reply from further ahead.
“Why is it, that no matter where we go, we always seem to be crawling around in some sewer?” he asks.
His laugh echoes back to him. “I don’t know man,” he replies. “Just lucky I guess.”
After crawling for what seems like half a mile, he hears Jiron holler, “I’m through!”
“What’s there?” Aleya asks him.
“I’m in a small room with two feet of water,” he replies. “Might be some kind of drainage system from the looks of it. A set of rungs lead up about twenty feet to what looks like it might be another passage.”
James looks down the drainage tube and sees the back end of Aleya silhouetted by the light from the orb. Another minute of crawling soon has both he and Aleya standing in the room with Jiron, both soaking wet.
The room is about fifteen feet square and slightly taller. Water pours into the room from numerous openings in all the walls, save the one with the rungs leading up. The water itself seems fairly clean.
Aleya checks her bow quickly as Jiron begins ascending the rungs. “Wait here,” he tells them as he climbs up to the passage above. Upon reaching the top, he peers over the edge then turns to them waiting below and says, “Looks like it goes down a ways.”
“Alright,” hollers James, then to Aleya he says, “After you.”
Finding her bow still to be in good shape despite having scraped along the narrow passage as she crawled, she slings it behind her shoulders and grabs one of the rungs. After she climbs up several feet, James follows.
When James crests the top, he glances down the long dark passage that Jiron mentioned. At least this one will enable them to follow it without crawling. Shivering slightly from the chill in the air, he indicates for Jiron to proceed.
Holding the orb in front of him for light, he begins moving down the passage. “Wonder what this place used to be?” he asks.
“Who knows?” replies James. “Could be anything.” Taking a closer look at the walls, he adds, “Whoever built this, made it to last a long time. This stone still looks in good condition.”
“I doubt if anyone’s been down here in a long time,” pipes up Aleya.
“I agree,” says James.
The passage they’ve been following suddenly ends at a stone stairway, spiraling up. Without even pausing, Jiron takes it with the others following close behind.
The stairs circle around twice before ending at another passage similar to the one below running left and right. Jiron glances down both ways then turns back to the others. “Can’t see anything other than corridor either way,” he tells them.
“Take the right,” suggests James.
“Okay,” he replies before stepping out to the right. Moving quickly, it isn’t far before they come to another corridor branching off to the left. “Keep on straight,” he hears James say behind him. Nodding, he continues on past the new corridor. He shines the light from the orb down it but doesn’t see anything of note.
A little further down, the corridor opens up to a square room. It’s a rather bare room, an old tapestry hangs upon one wall but is so faded and tattered by time that whatever it once depicted is now lost forever. On the left side of the room lies the opening of another corridor.
Suddenly, James starts when he sees a pair of red, glowing eyes stare at him from the other corridor. Then the eyes disappear and a rat scurries into the room. His overactive imagination seems to be working in high gear.
Ever since coming here, he’s had a feeling of foreboding, though he can’t quite say why. He doesn’t sense anything magical in nature, no tingling or anything like that, just a feeling of unease, as if this place doesn’t want to be disturbed.
There’s got to be a way out of here, other than the way they had come. Jiron crosses the room to the other corridor and enters. He continues holding the orb in front of him as he moves down the corridor. The only thing they encounter is the occasional rat or other small animal which has made this place their home.
James is somewhat comforted by the fact living things have made their home here. If there was a malignant presence here, nothing living would’ve chosen to stay.
They come across another corridor on the left again but the light once more fails to reveal anything of interest. “If we fail to find a way out up ahead,” James tells them as he indicates the passage they’ve been following, “then we’ll come back and try the passages we passed by.”
“Good idea,” Jiron says as he continues down the corridor.
James can’t help but think that if this was an adventure he was running, the players would never have passed up anything which might’ve held possible treasures. But this is real life and he just wants to get out of here. The last time they’d been in a similar situation, Miko had almost been killed by a trap set to guard a handful of crystals. That’s the last thing they need right now.
They pass another passage and again, nothing could be seen when they shine the light from the orb down it. Thirty more feet and the left side of the passage opens up to a room, twenty feet wide by forty feet long. Several rotting tables sit within the room, the chairs which once sat around them now all but disintegrated.
Pausing a moment to investigate, James has Jiron bring the light over to one of the tables and he takes a good look at it. He reaches out his hand to touch it, and when he touches it, a section of the table breaks off, falling to the floor where it crumbles apart. “Rotted,” he tells the others. “Looks like termites or some other sort of insect’s been feeding off this for centuries, or used to. There’s no sign of them now.”
“This place must have been here for a very long time,” offers Jiron.
“I would think so too,” agrees James. “I would also think that it has remained unknown to the locals, otherwise it would be used by smugglers and thieves if by no others.”
“Any idea yet who used to be here?” he asks.
“Not yet, no,” replies James.
“I don’t like the feel of this place,” announces Aleya from where she stands at the edge of the light.
Glancing at her, James nods and says, “I feel that way too.” Then to Jiron he adds, “We better get moving.”
Nodding, Jiron moves out and they return back to the corridor and continue down to the left. Just after they leave the long room with the tables, the corridor opens again on a room of similar dimensions. This time, the length of the room is ahead of them rather than to the right.
Two small niches on either side of the room hold busts of men. Upon closer examination, it’s hard to tell from what nationality they belonged. At the far end of the room, they find another winding stairway leading up.
Getting a nod from James, Jiron moves to the stairs and begins climbing. Just after the first turn, they come across a human skeleton lying spread-eagle on the steps. The clothes that the man had once worn have long since disintegrated into rags.
Stepping carefully, Jiron moves past the dead man and then pauses when a light blossoms to life behind him. Looking back, he sees James with another orb bending over and poking through the dead man’s garments with a knife. After just a moment, he stands up and shakes his head, indicating he didn’t find anything.
Jiron turns back to the stairs and resumes the climb up. At the top, they find another room similar to the one below, only this one doesn’t have niches with busts of men. Several worn tapestries hang along the sides of the room, the scene depicted by one can still be somewhat made out.
Most of the scene has long since faded away, all that is discernable are two men, kneeling before the figure of a third. The two men are dressed in rags and shackled, what the man whom they’re kneeling before is wearing or looks like is distorted by the tapestry’s poor condition.
Jiron looks to James who shrugs. “Weird,” he says as he indicates for Jiron to continue.
The only way out of the room is a single corridor running to the left at the far end. They don’t go very far down before they come across a cave-in. Partially buried under the rubble, they discover two more human skeletons. The corridor is completely blocked by the cave-in.
“Poor guys,” they hear Aleya say when she sees them.
“I wonder what happened here.” Jiron says.
“So do I,” replies James. “Guess we’ll have to go back down. Let’s hope there’s another way out.”
“What about secret doors?” Jiron suddenly asks.
“With the Empire’s forces above us, I don’t dare try to find any with magic,” he explains. “I doubt if we would find one otherwise, though you never know.”
With Jiron leading the way, they return down the stairs to the lower level. Passing back through the room with the busts, they take the corridor to their right which they have yet to explore.
As they move down it, they encounter several more tapestries, all of which are in such bad condition that whatever they once portrayed has been lost. They don’t walk far before the light from the orb illuminates a large door set into the right wall ahead of them.
“Wonder what’s on the other side?” Jiron asks as he moves toward it.
“I don’t know,” replies James. “But we better find out.”
Jiron goes up to it and pulls on the handle. The door moves only slightly before stopping. “I think it’s stuck,” he replies as he hands the orb to Aleya.
Taking the orb hesitantly, she takes a close look at it, almost as if she expects it to burn her palm.
“Give me a hand,” Jiron says to James.
Coming over, he grabs the large handle with Jiron and they both pull with all their might. A loud grinding sound of rusty hinges fills the corridor as the door slowly works itself open.
When the door finally clears the door jamb, a puff of stale air wafts from the room. They continue pulling until the opening is wide enough for them to squeeze through. Taking the orb back from Aleya, Jiron holds it out into the room as he looks inside. “Looks like someone lived here,” he says.
Moving through the doorway with the other two right behind, he finds three well preserved beds along with chests at their ends.
“The fact that the door remained shut all this time must have aided in the preservation of this room,” explains James.
Aleya comes over to one of the chests and moves to open it.
“Stop!” cries James, but is too late. She opens the lid and he braces himself for something bad to happen. When nothing does, he opens his eyes and finds her staring at him.
“What?” she asks.
“There is no telling what could happen in a place like this,” he explains to her. “Best to leave things alone.”
Giving him an exasperated look, she reaches in and pulls out a set of robes. From the cut of them, they look like ceremonial priest robes. She holds them out to him and says, “Looks like this place might have been a temple.”
Coming over to her, he takes a closer look at the robe. It’s rather plain but of very fine quality. Looking within the chest, he discovers the robe was all there is. “Come on,” he says to them, “we still need to get out of here.”
Aleya lays the robes on the bed before she follows them back out of the room.
Continuing down the corridor to the right, they arrive at a junction just past the room they left. The corridor ahead is blocked with rubble from a cave-in and is impassable. To their left, another corridor moves off into the darkness.
Moving down this new corridor, they go about fifty feet when on their right, a set of ornately decorated double doors appears. When James’ gaze first settles upon the doors, his feelings of foreboding increases. Aleya seems to feel something as well.
“Wait,” James says as Jiron moves to open the doors.
Stopping, Jiron turns and glances back at James. “What’s wrong?” he asks.
“Not sure, exactly,” he replies. “It’s just that there’s something about this place that gives me the willies.”
Looking at him in concern, he asks, “Do you want me to open these doors?”
Nodding, he says, “We have to. The way out could be in there.” As Jiron reaches for the handle, he adds, “Just be careful.”
“I will,” he assures him. “I’ve come to trust your feelings.” As his hand comes close to the door handle, he pauses just for a second. The worries James has about this place are beginning to affect him as well. Then he reaches out and takes hold of the handle to the right door and pulls.
Where the previous door had been all but rusted closed, this one moves easily on silent hinges. As the door begins to open, light from within the room fills the corridor. Jiron shuts the door quickly when he sees the light coming out and turns to James. “What should we do?” he asks, worried.
“Open it slowly,” he tells him. “I don’t feel magic or anything like that, and I seriously doubt if anyone is still inside.”
“Then where’s the light coming from?” he asks.
“Open the door and find out,” Aleya tells him. “Or stand aside and let me do it.” She begins moving toward the door when Jiron holds out his hand to stop her.
Taking a deep breath, he slowly pulls open the door. Aleya has an arrow knocked and even James has unconsciously pulled a slug from his belt. As the door opens, the light from within again spills out into the corridor and James cancels the orb as he no longer needs its light.
They gasp when the door finally opens enough for them to see what lies within. To their right and left are two rows of three wide columns stretching all the way to the ceiling. A large open space lies between the two sets of columns.
Four large braziers are evenly spaced, forming the points of a square within the open space between the two rows of columns and from these is where the light is originating. A flame burns atop each of the braziers, casting sufficient light to illuminate the entire room.
Within the square formed by the flaming braziers is a raised circular pedestal, five feet in diameter. Rising two feet off the floor, it dominates the room.
“What is this place?” breathes Aleya from behind him.
“I don’t know,” replies James. “Considering the robe you found in that other room, it could very well be a temple of some sort. This could be the room where the priests would perform their rites.”
“How are the flames still burning?” Jiron asks. As he begins moving into the room, James grabs his arm and stops him.
“I should go first,” he says.
Nodding, Jiron moves aside as James passes him on his way into the room.
He moves slowly and cautiously toward the closest of the burning braziers. They are about a foot in diameter and when he comes closer can see they’re partially filled with what looks like some kind of oil. The braziers themselves are stone and their base runs all the way to the floor. Turning to the others, he says, “It’s possible there could be a storage tank with the oil somewhere and they’re being fed from it through pipes.”
“It must have one massive storage capacity for them to still be burning after so long a time,” Jiron says as he comes to stand next to James.
James just nods his head as he moves toward the dais. He comes to a stop and gasps when he sees what’s inscribed upon the face of the dais.
“What?” asks Jiron before he too, notices.
Aleya comes to them and asks, “What’s wrong?”
Upon the dais is a symbol they’ve seen before, three dots forming the ends of a triangle with lines running between them, yet not touching them.
“Then that would mean this was once one of his temples,” Jiron says.
“It would have to be an old one,” he replies.
“Who’s temple?” asks Aleya. “What are you talking about?”
Pointing to the dais and the symbol inscribed upon it, James says, “Dmon-Li. One of his warrior priests that we ran across a while back had been bearing this symbol.”
“But what can it mean?” Jiron asks. “Why would this temple have been abandoned?”
Looking to him, James replies, “We really don’t know that for sure, do we? The lights here would indicate something has been going on, though just what I can’t for the life of me figure out. But whatever the reasons, we’ve got to get out of here, and right now.”
Turning around James makes a beeline for the door. Once outside, he again creates the orb as he presses on down the corridor away from the room with the dais. The light coming from the room suddenly goes out when Jiron closes the door behind him.
Now he understands why this place has bothered him so much since they arrived. The presence or maybe the old signatures of evil which must have been practiced here still resonate within the halls.
“What’s wrong?” Aleya asks when she stops James by taking hold of his arm.
Turning to look at her, he says, “Dmon-Li is the god whose warrior priest has been pursuing us,” he explains. Casting a quick glance to Jiron, he returns his gaze back to her as he adds, “For reasons we can’t go into right now, suffice it to say it would be extremely bad for us to be found by them.”
She studies him for a moment before nodding her head.
Jiron rushes past James as he once again takes the lead. “Just cursory looks from here on out,” James says from behind him. “We no longer have the luxury of satisfying our curiosity.”
“I hear you,” he replies.
The corridor ahead of them suddenly ends at another corridor cutting across the one they’re in. Jiron automatically turns to the right and continues moving. Shortly they come to a set of winding steps on their left going down. “I think this is the way we came up,” he announces, pausing for only a second.
“I think you’re right,” agrees James.
Leaving the steps behind, they continue down the corridor and come to a branching corridor to the right. Jiron pauses a moment and glances back to James.
Shaking his head, he says, “This just leads down the other side of the room with the dais in the middle. Remember the doors that were on the other side?”
Nodding, Jiron turns back and continues moving down the corridor. Another thirty feet and it opens up into what James is beginning to realize as ‘anchor’ rooms, rooms of similar design lying at the corners of a level. He always had them in his dungeons, but never really thought they would be used in actuality.
Another corridor exits the room to their right. Passing by two pedestals with statues of demonic creatures, they quickly cross the room to the other corridor. Once the room is behind them, they go down twenty feet before yet another corridor branches off, again to their right.
“Just keep going,” says James. “I think there will be another stairway leading off the room at the end.”
“Now how do you know that?” Aleya asks.
James shrugs and says, “Just sounds reasonable. It’s how I would have done it.”
She shakes her head and continues following Jiron.
Sure enough, they pass two more right hand branching corridors and come to the fourth ‘anchor’ room. This one is completely bare. Across the room from where they enter lies the stairway James foretold.
Aleya looks back at him and he gives her a grin. “Always trust his instincts,” Jiron says.
“I can see that,” she says.
Moving across the room, Jiron takes the stairs and they wind up to the next level. When they reach the top, James says, “Wait!”
The others stop as they turn their attention to him. “Do you feel that?” he asks. He holds his hand out in front of him as a smile comes to his face.
“A breeze!” Jiron exclaims. “That means a way out!”
“Exactly,” agrees James, nodding his head.
The light from the orb shows the room to be just like the ‘anchor’ rooms from down below, only this one has but a single corridor running off to the right. Several faded and tattered tapestries adorn the walls.
Not taking the time to closely inspect them, they cross the room and enter the corridor. Jiron leads them down fifty feet before it branches, with passages going either to the right or continuing straight ahead. He pauses a moment until he determines the breeze is originating from the corridor to the right. Pointing to that passage, he glances back at the others and says, “It’s coming from this direction.”
James nods and says, “Lead on.”
Turning down the right corridor, he continues fifty feet or so before coming across an area of the corridor which has been blackened by fire. Three skeletons lie in the middle of the floor, all are wearing what at one time could have been an exact match to the robes found in the room below.
Coming to a stop, James examines them a moment and then takes a good look at the corridor itself. “It looks like fire killed them, but there’s nothing here to burn,” he says.
“Magic?” suggests Jiron.
“Maybe,” he says. “A temple such as this had to have made its share of enemies, I’m sure.”
“What, you think the priests were eradicated by someone?” asks Aleya.
“Possibly,” reasons James. “It’s the only explanation which seems to fit.” A glint from the midst of the three corpses catches his eye and he leans forward for a closer look.
“What are you doing?” asks Aleya nervously. Her nerves have been on edge ever since they first entered this place and being around the dead priests hasn’t calmed them down any.
Taking out his knife, he begins moving the rags and bones away, “There’s something here.”
“You shouldn’t disturb the dead,” she warns. “It isn’t good.”
James suddenly stands up with a chain dangling from the point of his knife. An amulet is attached to one end of it.
Coming closer to take a better look at what he found, Jiron suddenly gasps when the face of the medallion comes into the light. He glances to James.
“I thought so,” he says. Holding it up, they all see the three points with the lines running between them. “The sign of the warrior priests, or at least something to do with them.”
Taking it from his knife, he takes a closer look and says, “I once had an amulet exactly like this one that I bought from a merchant in Cardri.” Removing it from his knife, he places it within the pouch at his waist. “I’ll not lose this so readily this time,” he announces.
“Why take it?” asks Aleya.
“Never know if it’s going to come in handy or not,” he tells her. To Jiron he says, “Now, shall we continue?”
“Yeah,” he replies. “Let’s get out of here!”
As they continue past the dead priests, Aleya says, “You know, if that is the sign of these priest, why didn’t everyone have them?”
“Maybe it was only given to a priest once they achieved a certain level of the temple hierarchy,” suggests James. “Simply having one may have afforded them some privilege or it could’ve been a sign of rank or trust as well. We may never find out conclusively.”
The tingling sensation of another doing magic suddenly comes to James. It isn’t very strong and it feels like it’s far off, probably the mage up on the surface hunting for them. Whatever the reason, he doesn’t mention it to the others, he can tell Aleya remains quite agitated about being in here. No sense giving her more to worry about when nothing can be done about it anyway.
They come to another junction of converging corridors branching off to the right and left, or they can continue on straight. Shining the light from the orb down the left corridor reveals another impassable cave-in. To the right the corridor extends further into the dark, as does the one continuing on straight.
A moment’s hesitation is all they need before feeling the breeze once again coming from straight ahead of them. Not worrying about the corridor to their right, they continue on down the corridor ahead of them.
From where Jiron leads, he suddenly says, “I think there’s light coming from up ahead.” Glancing back at James he adds, “Douse the orb.”
“Right,” agrees James as the orb disappears, plunging them into darkness. It takes their eyes a few moments to adjust before they can make out the faint light from up ahead that caught Jiron’s eye.
As they move closer, their excitement mounts as they realize it is in fact sunlight coming in from the outside. The corridor is blocked by a cave-in except for a small opening near the top.
Jiron climbs the rubble pile and looks through the opening. Turning back, he whispers excitedly, “I see trees out there!”
“Can you make the hole bigger?” asks Aleya, anxious to get out of the underground temple.
“I think so,” he replies. Soon rubble begins to cascade down from the top as he begins widening the opening.
“Jiron,” James suddenly says, interrupting his excavation.
Glancing back at him, Jiron pauses in his labor and asks, “What?”
“Maybe we should rest here until night and continue this once the sun goes down,” he suggests. “Then we could get out without anyone noticing.”
Aleya gets a panicked look in her eyes at the prospect of spending any more time in this old temple which is now more of a tomb.
James lays his hand on her shoulder as he says soothingly, “We’ll be okay. We’re right next to the opening.” He can tell she has a strong desire to simply get out of here, but her expression begins to soften as she realizes the logic of his suggestion.
Nodding, she says, “I guess we could all do with a rest before trying to reach Kern.”
“That’s the spirit,” he says, giving her a big smile.
As Jiron comes down from the top of the pile, he says, “If it hadn’t been for all we’ve already come through, I wouldn’t want to stay down here either.”
“You’ve seen worse?” she asks.
“Oh yeah,” he says, coming close and sitting down next to her. “I’ll tell you about it sometime when your imagination won’t run away with you.”
“That bad, huh?” she asks, unconsciously scooting slightly closer to Jiron.
“Oh man, yes,” he says with a laugh. “You get into interesting situations if you stay long enough with James.”
They sit down along the sides of the corridor and break out what little rations they have left. Most of what they had from last night is still on their horses. James sits along the wall on one side of the corridor while Jiron and Aleya sit on the other.
“I’ll take first watch,” offers Jiron after everyone’s done eating. “You two try to get some sleep.”
“Very well,” agrees Aleya. Resting her head against the wall, she closes her eyes and tries to relax.
James stretches out against the wall, lying on his side and trying his best to use his arm as a pillow.
Jiron sits there next to Aleya and listens to her breathe as she slowly slips away to sleep. He’s never felt this way about anyone before. Oh sure, he’s had his share of girls, but none had ever touched him as this one has.
Once Aleya at last succumbs to sleep, she begins tipping to the side until her head at last rests on Jiron’s shoulder. He moves slowly and works her head down until it’s resting on his lap. Using his fingers, he gently moves the hair off of her face and watches her as she sleeps.