Lucky hops up on the altar and mewls.

Catching your breath after defeating two undead dinosaur skeletons, the party takes another look around.

You are in a sizable cavern, with a ceiling thirty feet high. A platform – the bottom of the elevator shaft, it looks like – is fixed in the center of the chamber. A loop of rusty chain still dangles down the shaft. There is nothing but blackness visible up the shaft.

Strange symbols are scrawled in paint across the walls of the chamber; you cannot read this language. (Although you are welcome to make an Intelligence (Arcana or Religion) check to see if you can sort out anything from context.)

Near the skeletal remains is an altar covered in filthy feathers and a mewling cat.

A level tunnel exits west. A very subtle breeze flows from it, carrying a faint scent of smoke.

All is quiet again.

Aranor clutches his side, which is still bleeding from the dinosaur's bite. He walks over to the nearest wall and leans against it for support. "Well, that was...something," he says, wincing. "I'm gonna need a moment...unless anyone has healing magic."

Zartan Arcana 20

Zartan examines the scrawls from an arcane vantage. 

It's immediately clear that the demonic symbols represent omens and prophecies sent by the demon lord Pazuzu, as scrawled by a mortal hand. This chamber is evidently a space for performing unholy rites in the worship of Pazuzu. 

With a little more puzzling, Zartan further gleans from the pictograms that an innocent creature is being twisted into an envoy of Pazuzu, and is spreading corruption through the region.

Zartan shares this. 

"Corruption. Well that explains the sickness. 

Onwards?"

“Aranor…you don’t look well. Please take this healing potion. And don’t forget about that little berry I gave you earlier. Here take a few more.”

Walt hands Aranor a potion of healing and 3 more good berries. 

Aranor gratefully accepts the healing potion and berries from Walt. He drinks the potion right away, grimacing a little at the medicinal taste. Then he pops each of the berries and immediately begins to feel reinvigorated.

"Thank you, Walt," he says. "I should be good to move on now." 

The western tunnel is easily wide enough to fit two abreast. So marching order similar to last time?: Aranor & Bendrak (front), Walt & Pax (middle), Zartan and Tuuli (& Lucky) (rear)?

Do any of you have further business in this chamber, first?

Zartan does a look see around the room for anything interesting or of use

Pax returns to the altar ad picks up one of the filthy feathers that was upon it, pocketing it. While he does so, he quickly casts an eye over the altar to see if it can be opened or if it is solid. If he finds nothing, he follows the group from the chamber, walking alongside Walt.

Perception: 24 (igl)

As Pax looks over the altar, Walt sifts through the pile of bones and snatches up a couple of dino claws. 

“Aranor, pardon the taste of that potion. That was my first batch. Everyone else feeling okay?”  

Once everyone is ready to go, Walt will fall in line behind Aranor and Bendrak. 

"You made it yourself? That's impressive," says Aranor. "I didn't realize you were an herbalist."

The moon elf watches Walt snag some dino claws, and he takes his own trophy, a memento of the time he was almost disemboweled by a skeletal dinosaur. Then he takes the lead with Bendrak down the western passageway. 

Lucky hops down and pads over to Tuuli, who is retrieving the bolts she fired. She picks him up and puts him on her shoulder, where he promptly curls his paws into her hair for better purchase. Done with her task, she stands up and moves to the tunnel, watching carefully while the others finish their inspection. She is ready to go.

When the party moves on, she does stay at the back with Zartan.

Lucky goes back on the ground, but stays with her.

The party collects some souvenirs and prepares to depart through the western tunnel.

Zartan finds nothing else here of interest or of use. Pax carefully inspects the altar, a slab of raised stone carved with glyphs and spattered with wax. It has neither compartments nor signs of openings. 

The group exits. 

Eerie scrawls cover the walls of this round tunnel. A breeze flows from that darkness, carrying a faint scent of smoke. Foul-looking feathers litter the floor, and claw marks gouge the stone walls. The tunnel turns south and becomes straight and long. 

Very long. You follow the dark and level tunnel for five, ten, then fifteen minutes. It continues south without turn, branch, door, or change of any kind. You find a few more feathers here and there, and an occasional claw mark or scrawl, but little else.

Pax moans quietly to himself about his aching knees as they walk. Eventually something occurs to him: "I wonder if this tunnel leads to San Citlan. Or back to Milzapul. It seems our fiendish owl travelled down here; perhaps this is how the creature preys on the villages."

The tunnel continues, and continues, and continues. You walk for an hour, then two. All remains quiet. The featureless passage continues without door, fork, or details of interest other than the occasional feather or claw mark.

The smell of smoke has become slightly stronger, and there is a little dried grass and natural detritus in the tunnel, together with small abandoned animal nests (mice?), as well as a stain where a flood long ago must have once filled the bottom of the passageway. You estimate that it must be evening by now.

But still the passage continues...

"Does this tunnel go on forever?" Aranor grouses as they continue to walk. "Maybe this does lead to one of the villages."

"Maybe it does lead to San Citlan. Some of the drawings I found back there depicted a cityscape with the word 'Home' scrawled on them. Maybe this leads to 'Home'. Who's home? Not quite sure. Some of the buildings looked very fancy."

Walt recasts produce flameto help light up the cavern and warm up his hands. 

"It must be evening now, wouldn't you say? Let's keep alert."

(DM: How is the temperature in this tunnel? Walt will monitor for sudden drops in temperature.)

Bendrak retrieves a loose tooth from one of the dinosaurs before leading the way down the long passage. After a half hour or so he begins singing some jolly marching tunes, with the clinking of his chain mail and backpack as accompaniment. But eventually that becomes boring and he keeps busy twirling the tooth in his fingers in silence.