The Age of Worms Chapter 1: The Whispering Cairn (Game Thread, Closed, Started)

The Harkinator

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"Are we going to move into there? Do we have the torches?"

"Our eyes will get used to the darkness, though if anyone has a torch or lantern with them it'd be very useful." Said Godric to Thalith, who had just been regaling Auric and he with a tale of hewing a giant in twain.

Their sizeable group had possibly overlooked one of the smaller details associated with dungeon delving, as not all species had low-light vision. Godric certainly didn't have any source of light with him, nor had he thought to acquire one before setting off. Such had been his enthusiasm to set off it had completely slipped his mind.

"But we can still see a little way into this place," Godric said as he drew his sword and walked up to the entrance to the Cairn, "Are we to turn back now when something like this beckons us in? I think not."
 

suspicious guard

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"So, have St. Cuthbert's faithful found a new temple?"

Millie sniggered, and replied "Oh, it's probably just the tortured souls of the dead preparing to devour all who dare defile the thrice-cursed tomb of the Wind Duke..."

She was momentarily distracted as the woman in the mask released a small, furry animal into the Cairn. She called out in an overdramatic tone - "The Queen of Chaos accepts your sacrifice!"

Some of the big, bad 'n' bloodthirsty types were discussing the practicalities of exploring the crypt, which was a fair point. Millie dug around in her pockets hoping for loose matches. She'd burgled- er, visited places in the dark before, of course, but there was a difference between a dingy basement and an underground dungeon.
 

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Charles shook his head at their reason for entering the cairns now. Regardless, if they were wandering in it was better to know. He walked back to the church, informed one of the others within of the adventurers that had wandered in, put on his armour not expecting to actually need it, grabbed his shield and his pack, and wandered back to the group as it walked and to the whispering cairns.

He listened to them talk amongst themselves as they moved, saying little if asked anything and warning about past infestations of the cairns. He would have preferred they weren't opened at all, or if they were it was done by locals. The whole point of leaving them unknown to travelers was so that someone could use them to escape their debts.

When Charles arrived at the Cairns, the sense of unease that usually came from being outside of the town, the feeling that came with the nightmares wasn't there. The lack of the normal unease made him uneasy about the cairn. The "whispering" coming from it didn't help and neither did the words of the young... the child and the halfling.

As the subject turned to torches, he pulled two from his pack, looked at the group and said "if you have a free hand you can have one."
 

DarkRawen

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James rolled his eyes as someone whined about it being too dark. Surely, even without eyes like his, they could see vague outlines. The woman with a mask had sent a squirrel in, probably to see if it triggered any traps, but that was ridiculous, eventually the squirrel would follow its instincts and turn back, or even just go hide. It was night-time, and squirrels weren't fond of the dark. At least, they shouldn't be, they didn't have the eyes to navigate it. James had read that in a book in Jonathan's large library.

Couldn't she at least have gone with something useful? Like... I don't know, a nocturnal critter?

Of course, the others chose to stand around still.

"For the love of--- can't we just get a move on?" he muttered quietly under his breath, as he looked for the path of the squirrel. While he didn't think it would be particularly useful, tracking where it went could still have some merit.

"if you have a free hand you can have one."

James turned around and gave the armoured man a look that said he certainly would not need the torch -despite his free hands- and looked back at the Cairn. As he did, he folded his arms.

"Keep the torches away from me, it makes it harder for me to see," he told the others. He would go on ahead once the squirrel had made it through, or, alternately, once it had gone to hide or gotten itself killed in some manner. Of course, if any of the others would get a move on, that too would be a good way to check for traps.
 

IFS

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Wilmet had to admit he was surprised with the traction James got, even drawing the adventuring party to his side. Well now the finds will get split more ways, unfortunate, but then perhaps we'll need the manpower? He was not surprised when Khellek revealed what they knew about the caverns, it matched up with what he knew after all though the 'rod of law' was quite intriguing. I believe that is a powerful artifact of some sort, I wonder if I will be able to tap into it, if we can find it at all that is. The cairns have been here for some time.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Arriving at the cairns and entering them they were greeted by a faint whispering noise, and by rather unfortunately vandalized carvings. My, once we might have been able to learn something from these, a pity. Others in the group made light of the whispering sounds, just as well considering it was quite likely just the wind.

"The Queen of Chaos accepts your sacrifice!"

Wilmet laughed aloud at this "Why I had no idea I was traveling with such esteemed company," he said, grinning broadly. Perhaps these people would make good company after all.

Noting the others working to produce fire and torches he rolled his eyes. Child's play. A brief moment of concentration, a muttered incantation, and a small deft motion of the hands and an orb of light sprang into existence, resting on the tip of his walking stick. Making light was one of the first arcane spells he had learned.

"That should help," he said, somewhat smugly as the others were still distributing torches.
 

hiei82

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As the small squirrel skittered into the cairn in horror, the trio looked on in varying states confusion and amusement; mostly Auric and Tirra respectively. As the squirrel disappeared into the darkness, the Trio began their entry. Khellek followed Wilmet's example by creating a number of dim, free-floating magical lights that floated wistfully around him; each little more than a candle. From there, he directed Auric and Tirra forward into the long hallways of the cairn.

50ft inside, they came to the first cross path. Fifteen feet down the passage to the right, a huge pile of collapsed rubble blocks the alcove from top to bottom. It looks like it would take weeks to tunnel through the densely packed debris. While this wasn't very interesting at all, the opposite alcove held a slightly more interesting find. The left hall extended perhaps forty feet, ending at a small marble platform raised about six inches off the floor. A strange, shattered arcane apparatus rested upon the platform, its curved ovular frame giving the appearance of a noble's dressing mirror. Only a third of the frame was still intact however. An unusual arcane glyph about the size of a man?s head had been delicately carved into the baseplate of the support platform.


Now, further in and with sufficient light, a staircase could be seen at the end of the hallway (past another cross way) leading down and into the depths of the hill.
 

DarkRawen

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As the squirrel got lost in darkness -hiding, obviously- James sighed. Of course it wouldn't work out. At least there hadn't been any traps, at least in its path. With hesitant steps, he started walking, though he was quickly overtaken by the trio. Not that he minded that, walking behind them meant they were the ones exposing their backs to him.

"That should help,"

The tiny mage said, and created a light at the end of his walking stick. James narrowed his eyes, torches and lights were apparently plentiful. Putting his hands in some of his many pockets, he walked closer to the gnome, making sure to stand on the side opposite of the light.

"Can't you magic your eyes better instead?" he asked, annoyed. "First the torches, now the magic lights... could just as well have been the bloody day." However, for some reason, he didn't just step away. "... you can't make it day, right? It wouldn't matter inside this place, but..."

James found it aggravating to admit, but he was curious about the magic. He had never really spoken to a mage, and this one seemed intelligent enough to have a conversation. Well, he didn't doubt the wizard with the adventurers couldn't also ask questions, but the trio was currently going ahead, and James trusted them the least.

Though, I am not entirely sure it is possible to have less than none at all trust in someone.

Would that qualify as anti-trust? Did he anti-trust the newcomers? Because distrust meant having a lack of trust, and it was probably worse than that. Not only did he distrust them, but did he feel the very opposite of trust, even more distrustful than distrust?

...What?

As he walked, he looked around, picking up details few if any of the others would. He stopped to examine the mirror frame, or rather, what remained of it. There was some glyph, magic probably, and he raised an eyebrow.

I wonder what it means.

"Say... mage. What would that glyph mean? No, actually..." he trailed off a brief moment, then looked back at Wilmet, shielding his eyes a bit that they didn't hurt. "Define magic, will you? What makes up the very foundation, how it built up... then I can find out what it does myself."
 

booksv2

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Narrowing his eyes to get used to the light from the torches and balls of light Thalith follows the group as they walk in. When they get to the crossway Thalith looks at those around him before walking over to the cave in and stamps his foot against it. Digging his fingers into the rubble and pulling out a handful of gravel and small rocks he starts shaking his head as he lets it pour from his hand. Throwing the rest back onto the pile the rock man turns to walk back to the rest of the group already knowing it would take months of work to mine through that and even then it would take more people than they had to do it well.

Getting back to where the path split Thalith looks down the other way and sees the arcane apparatus after everyone else had. Glaring at it he flicks his eyes at the wizard and mages in the group Thalith stomps towards the thing and stops about 10 feet away as he crosses his arms. He knew nothing about magic and didn't want to know anything, his place was swinging his axe and making sure those who knew what to do with magic could do what they needed to to keep the group alive.

Looking back as he hears something Thalith snorts softly.
"Say... mage. What would that glyph mean? No, actually...Define magic, will you? What makes up the very foundation, how it built up... then I can find out what it does myself."

"You want to learn how to do magic? Your probably to old for that now.."

Looking back at the group that hadn't moved or was just starting to Thalith scratches at one of the crack like scars on his skin.
"Are we stopping here to look at this thing or going down those stairs?"
 

The Harkinator

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"Are we stopping here to look at this thing or going down those stairs?" Said the rocky Thalith.

"I don't know. This is interesting, but if we don't know what it is and can't decipher that marking on the base we're just wasting time. The blonde kid is working on it." Said Godric, taking a step back from the group that were inspecting the apparatus. He knew little about magic and wouldn't have a chance in hell of deciphering the glyph.

"Give them a bit of time to work it out, this place isn't going anywhere." He continued, hopeful the apparatus would give them a lead to other potential treasures. If they could rebuild it and get it out of the cairn it could be worth a fortune. If it was a trap or magical ward device it made sense to know what sort of danger it might put them in.

Places like this were often filled with the skeletons of treasure hunters who rushed in too fast. Godric didn't want to become the next skeleton near the entrance to be picked over by the next group that entered.
 

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Charles shrugged as the others began walking into the Cairn. One hand on his hilt, ready to draw and to force prepared magics into his blade and the other still holding the torches, waiting to see if another desired them or he required them he followed the others into the tombs.

As Charles walked and the others began to talk again he watched his surroundings, what little there was to look at. When they arrived at the first crossroads it was learned by them that one was blocked, another led to a... he needed a better look at that, and the path forward into darkness.

As the others wondered what it might be, he walked a bit towards it, enough to see around the goliath and looked at the glyph upon it. It looked akin to the runes for travel, transportation, perhaps teleportation? The shape... two more of those and it would be perhaps a portal or gate of some variety.

After a few moments he said "I think that it's the remains of a portal, I'd advise leaving it alone."
 

IFS

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Wilmet chuckled to himself at James' barrage of questions, the lad was certainly inquisitive. No doubt he had the right mindset for working magic, though aptitude and mindset were of course very different matters. Still before he could begin to address the questions the Thalith spoke up.

"You want to learn how to do magic? Your probably to old for that now.."

"Depends on how quick a study he is," Wilmet said "Other factors contribute as well of course, not everyone has the aptitude for it, and certainly starting from a young age helps but is hardly necessary."

With that addressed he turned back to James, thinking for a few moments about how to answer the various questions the man had asked. The last in particular would be difficult to address, such a simple question, yet even the greatest archmages might struggle to define magic perfectly, though of course there were a number of simpler explanations he could resort to.

"Let's see, where to start..." he said, taking a deep breath, he would need to speak quickly "firstly yes I could improve my ability to see in the dark but that hardly helps the rest of you see, changing the time of day is a considerably more difficult thing and well outside my current abilities, though conjuring daylight itself is fully possible, a glyph is a mark or rune with a specific meaning or purpose, and as for what is magic well that is an entire conversation in and of itself. Suffice to say it is power, the sort which underlies all of reality."

With that addressed he turned his attention to the matter of the strange arcane apparatus in the center of the room. Certainly he would like to examine it before they moved on.

"I think that it's the remains of a portal, I'd advise leaving it alone."

"An interesting theory," he said, stepping closer to get a better look "if so a portal to where? Is it an entrance or an exit? If say, it is a portal from which demons were called, then it would behoove us to examine it. It looks well and truly broken anyways, I doubt it poses any significant danger."

Stepping closer he reached out and ran his fingers over the glyphs, brow furrowing in thought as his mind turned over what he knew about the place. The writing was utterly unfamiliar to him, some old dialect that was quite likely dead and forgotten. It did seem broken beyond repair, it would likely be easier to build a new one rather than repair what was left, assuming he acquired the knowledge to do either.

"I'd wager it connects to another cairn," he said "more than that I cannot say, I'm afraid I'm not familiar with the dialect of these symbols."

He stepped back from the device, a shame it was inoperable but little else could be expected after so long.

"I don't think I can glean anything more from it, we may as well move on," he said.
 

DarkRawen

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"You want to learn how to do magic? Your probably to old for that now.."

"Depends on how quick a study he is. Other factors contribute as well of course, not everyone has the aptitude for it, and certainly starting from a young age helps but is hardly necessary."

"Looks can deceive," James responded dryly, his tone mostly intended for the stone guy. "I don't know how old you think I am, but you're wrong. I'm... I think it's gotten to three months now. If that's too old, do tell me how you teach an infant magic tricks. Not to mention, I can understand anything, surely I would be able to learn magic too," he said as if it was the most sincere thing he had said yet. To him, there wasn't a thing he could not figure out. Well, apart from people.

He sighed, picking a small vial in his pocket -hand still in the pocket- and rolling the vial between his fingers.

"Regardless, it wasn't a question based on me wanting to learn magic, but rather understanding it. I care more for alchemy than magic tricks either way."

"Let's see, where to start... firstly yes I could improve my ability to see in the dark but that hardly helps the rest of you see, changing the time of day is a considerably more difficult thing and well outside my current abilities, though conjuring daylight itself is fully possible, a glyph is a mark or rune with a specific meaning or purpose, and as for what is magic well that is an entire conversation in and of itself. Suffice to say it is power, the sort which underlies all of reality."

"If it is a conversation in itself, then what better time is it to talk of it now?" No reply, instead people started talking about the glyph again.

"I don't know. This is interesting, but if we don't know what it is and can't decipher that marking on the base we're just wasting time. The blonde kid is working on it."

"Holt. My name is James Holt," James corrected. Hopefully everyone had heard it, so that he didn't need to repeat it ever again to these people. He could have let it go, being called a blonde kid was among the more neutral things he had been called, but he wasn't really a kid... or anything, really, simply James. Himself.

If I'm just not Jonathan, of course.

"And I'm just curious. I don't think it'll do much to help us, being broken and all, but..." He looked towards the people who had started talking about their theories, the gnome's being a bit more founded in knowledge than the other's. But then again, that was just an assumption, perhaps a silly one, given that being unaware of someone -anyone's- magic abilities could be dangerous. Scary, frightening.

He listened in silence as they did speak, not wanting to interrupt. It was intriguing, and he wondered what the purpose of connecting one cairn to another had been, though if they didn't know what cairn it was, or how it worked, then they could work out possible reasons and still have gotten nowhere.

"I don't think I can glean anything more from it, we may as well move on,"

the small mage said, and James tilted his head. "Yeah, I suppose so. Perhaps I'll figure out what it means one day, as long as I remember what it looks like. Besides... I'm more curious about what magic consists of." He looked at the smaller man expecting a reply. It was clear to him that the other could provide some information he could use to understand how everything worked, just a little better.
 

suspicious guard

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The arcane apparatus held Millie's attention for about a minute, but she moved aside once Crazy James came over to scowl at the thing up close. The gnome in the robe seemed interested in the relic as well. Millie was a little wary of the religious symbol he was wearing, but he seemed friendly enough. Besides, she liked gnomes. They made her feel tall.

Stepping around the large, muscular types, Millie moved over to the staircase, where the tall, strangely-dressed squirrel woman was doing something clever with a torch. Even with the light she couldn't see more than a few steps ahead. She considered throwing a rock down the stairs to see how far down they went, but thought better of it. If there was a vengeful undead bloodthirsty Queen of Chaos somewhere down there, best to catch her by surprise.

Instead, she said "Looks ominous. I hope there are traps!" and followed Andria down the stairs.
 

hiei82

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As Andria and Millie made there way down the long corridor, the quickly outpaced the rest of the group. The trio of adventures had paused at the second cross path before walking into the left annex. Just inside there was a wide dais spanning the back half of the wing, calling attention to a faded fresco upon the south, west, and north walls. From a vantage point at the center of the dais, the wall painting made it look like you stood within a massive room with seven short hallways radiating outward from a central point. Paintings of chains dangling from the ceiling at the end of each hallway; each with a gleaming colored lantern hanging from the chain; each a different color of the rainbow.

As the rest of the party began to catch up, it was first Charles, then James and Clodagh a second behind, who noticed the faint gleam of indigo light down the right passage. The dim light was obscured by ruined stonework, a ratty old pack, and the bones of the pack's former owner who had fallen victim to some unknown, horrendous fate.

Andria and Millie reached the bottom of the stairs relatively quickly.

The wide stairway descended into an immense domed chamber. Seven short tunnels branched from the room in all directions, extending some thirty feet before ending in rounded walls. At the terminus of each passage, a thick chain could be seen dangling from an unseen high ceiling. Five of the chains had differently colorful lanterns at there ends, but two held nothing at all. Each lantern cast a weird, murky light about the room. Countless chips of glass and shiny metal inset into the chamber?s domed ceiling reflected this light, giving the impression of starlight and falling snow. The dome itself started about ten feet off the ground and reached an apex about thirty feet over the center of the room.

Below the dome?s peak, a long dais held what appeared to be a marble sarcophagus. A milky white bas-relief figure rested passively upon the sarcophagus lid. Unlike the rest of the tomb, the room was completely silent.

 

Josh123914

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Clodagh trailed past the others for her own safety, but also to take in the atmosphere. She had never been in a real physical crypt before, so this was the start of something exciting for her.

She overheard a few people talking about the crypt gliphs,
"I think that it's the remains of a portal, I'd advise leaving it alone."
Clodagh was going to say something, but then Wilmet interjected and started going on about transportation.
Cloagh had only read glyphs before, but the symbol looked as though to read the word "Nexus". She would have said something, but they sounded somewhat educated on the topic, and besides, she didn't even know if the glyphs in her old library were even in the same library.

Then she looked around to see where Millie had went off to, and trailed after her. Down the steps they went, and she emerged into some strange room with light everywhere. She wanted ask who had been lighting this place all these years, who the people were that would invest this much time into an underground tomb, but what she went with was the stone sarcophagus.

"This sculpture's finger is missing." She stated. The thumb bent to and clung to the marble palm, but the actual finger had been knocked off. The question was where. "Can anyone see it?" She asked, checking around her own feet.
 

booksv2

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Watching the two people walk down the stairs Thalith follows them. Thudding on the last step and looking around he grunts softly as he takes in the lights. The topic he had left was something about what they had found but most of it was magic in origin and he was not interested. This on the other hand was something he was familiar with and after pausing at the bottom of the stairs and a cursory look at the lighting for this place he walks over to the statue like thing and leans over to take a closer look at the craftsmanship of the statue. Looking down and looking at the finger missing from it he can hear one of the people behind him commenting on it and its absence. Looking closer at the statue he grunts softly and straightens, looking the room over again before saying back at the woman who had asked about the finger.

"This statue was made by magic, or some way of shaping stone i have never seen or heard of."

Glancing down at the finger and running a finger over the rough edge he frowns at the mark to this unnatural but beautiful workmanship. Turning around and looking at the floor close by he stops on one of the lamps. Rubbing his hands together and cracking his knuckles Thalith ignores the rock on rock sound it causes as he steps away from the statue and crosses his arms.
"More magic, though the craftsmanship is incredible."
 

IFS

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James provided an... interesting response of his own to Thaltih's comment about his age. Why would he claim such a thing though? It is clearly not the case, a compulsive liar perhaps? Bah, it makes no difference we have more important things to concern ourselves with. Still the man introduced himself so Wilmet felt it was only polite to do the same.

"Well met James," he said "I am Wilmet Ningle, though you may call me Wilmet."

The man's interest in magic was hardly uncommon, though his insistence that he would be able to grasp it so easily amused Wilmet. He could recall a time when he was similar, convinced that the secrets of the universe would simply reveal themselves to him.

"Yeah, I suppose so. Perhaps I'll figure out what it means one day, as long as I remember what it looks like. Besides... I'm more curious about what magic consists of."

"That could prove quite a lengthy explanation," Wilmet said "perhaps one best saved for another time, for now the dungeon awaits."

"Looks ominous. I hope there are traps!"

Delightful. Wilmet thought as he followed the girls down the stairs. No doubt the halfling considered herself a deft hand with traps, otherwise why wish for them, but he personally would be quite happy to never see one. The room they entered did not seem to have much in the way of them though, at least not at first glance. A sarcophagus with a depiction that was missing a finger and posed in a curious manner, and a number of colorful lanterns. Clodaugh began looking for the missing finger while the Thalith admired the craftsmanship. Wilmet meanwhile cast his gaze about looking for the missing finger as well as trying to glean the significance of the lanterns.

"Why are there only five lanterns but seven chains," he said, "a chain for each tunnel, I wonder if that is significant."
 

DarkRawen

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"Well met James. I am Wilmet Ningle, though you may call me Wilmet."

"Well met, Wilmet," James replied, smirking at the way it sounded out loud.

Welmet-Wilmet, wonder if he considered that.

James had to admit it rolled off the tongue easily, though he was not the type to enjoy play on words... that much.

"That could prove quite a lengthy explanation, perhaps one best saved for another time, for now the dungeon awaits."

"Perhaps never then, for if this goes well, I'm leaving. I have nothing but the cost of travel and protection stopping me from leaving Diamond Lake," he replied, and then decided to start walking a bit quicker. However, he trailed off for a bit, as he saw the light of a lamp in a side passage, the owner seemingly caught in some kind of trap or accident.

That's... unfortunate? I suppose.

That meant there had been other people there, other people who had been hurt.

I don't know if I find the idea of traps being more comforting, or the chance of this place falling apart. One of those are designed to kill us, the other means whatever us doing well could be foiled at any time...

It made him a little scared, and he didn't want to think about it. Instead of going closer to the body, he continued ahead, meeting the others in a dome-shaped room. It had lanterns in almost every colour, and the ceiling was shimmering like the star sky.

"Why are there only five lanterns but seven chains. A chain for each tunnel, I wonder if that is significant."

"We already know where the indigo one is," James said, thinking back at the path with the indigo light. "At least, there was a light down another passage, close to a body, and it seems to match one of colours that would be missing." He looked in towards the passages with missing lamps. "The indigo lamp was taken by someone whose path ended in a trap. My question is; the remaining colour, the one we haven't found yet... Red, I think. Did that too lead to a trap? Or did someone pass unharmed? Should we not think of that, rather than think about a missing finger?"

He crossed his arms, unless the statue was rigged in some manner, it had little meaning to him. However, he did -as a rare and never to be repeated again courtesy- look around for the finger, perhaps his eyes would catch something the others' wouldn't. However, as he looked around the sarcophagus, he noticed something particular.

"Say... doesn't that look like an arrow?" James asked and looked towards where it led. The orange lantern, though his walk over there was for nothing, the only thing at the end of the path was an orange lantern. "... Okay, I'll give you that the finger could prove useful, but I still think we should consider the lanterns. Why is the red gone? should we attempt to return them to their places? And what is the importance of the arrow..."

He crossed his arms, frustrated. Of course he couldn't figure out the puzzle if not all of the pieces were there... the one with the red lantern hadn't taken the solution and hidden it, right?
 

The Harkinator

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Another room, another puzzling situation. Some of Godric's travelling companions had already started to work it out. There appeared to be a lantern upon all but two chains for each tunnel and each had a different colour of the rainbow. The blonde kid, James, was suggesting the missing lanterns could have been taken to lure them, or someone, into a trap. He was probably right, and it worried Godric that something in the Cairn was alive and had malicious intentions for their group.

The puzzle of the lanterns was a little too complicated for Godric, there wasn't much chance he'd be able to figure it out that the cleverer members of the group couldn't. Instead he directed his attention towards something potentially simpler.

Godric strode over to the sarcophagus and looked at the figure carved on the lid, "Why is one hand open and one clenched into a fist? You'd think they'd carve them both the same." Something about it troubled him, but more than that he didn't like the deathly silence of this room. It was less of a quiet place and more somewhere with an absence of sound. Godric was sure it had something to do with the nature of the room, he didn't like burial places, there was no place that more illustrated the difference between death and the very absence of life. It was the latter that really got to Godric.

"Is the key to unlocking the secrets this room hides held here somewhere, or will we have to do more exploring?" Godric already knew they'd be looking further into the Cairn, but secret doors and hidden passages could be around.