As you pick up the potato, you touch one of the wires on it. A blast of electricity shoots out, destroying a nearby wall. The voice shouts again:

"AT YOUR FACE IF YOU-STOP RIGHT THE-WE MUST BE CAUTIOUS!"

Zaliey moves to the side of the group to allow for a safe angle to cast a spell. “ can you understand us?  We mean you no harm.  We are looking for our friend.”

" UNDERSTAND-FRIEND-NO HARM"

Sylrea looked past the others and at the creature. "I think it does understand us" She said with a confused look on her face. She walked a little bit closer to the creature and spoke. "We are currently looking for a human. Have you seen one, other than us,  come through here?"

Cedrick, seeing that no attack seems to be imminent, relaxes just a bit. "See, Cinder, my friend, I do not always have to fight everything that crosses our path." He then looks to the creature, waiting to see if it will answer Sylrea's question, lead them onward, or attack.

A horrible monstrosity leaps from the shadows. It's body is covered in eyes and mouths, all screaming and moaning and singing and making various other noises. It charges and grabs Pietr, then promptly runs away with him off into a corridor.

Cedrick yells a cry of both surprise and anger, "Foul beast from the netherworld! Helm be dammed if we do not save our companion!" He then dashed off after the creature and Pietr, mace and shield at the ready.

You hear a struggle from another side corridor, and a strangled chorus of yells. Pietr walks out, his armor mangled.

"I killed it. Left no corpse, just dissolved there like a sugar cube."

Zaliey says, “ How did you kill it?   What did it do to you?”

"I-"

He looks a bit odd...

"Can't really answer that question. It was really all a blur."

To everyone else..... “I think something is up here... let’s be sure this is really pietr.”

Cedrick, seeing his fellow follower of Helm in his current state, attempts to see if he is truly OK.

"Pietr, by Helm, you have been victorious! My, how the power must be flowing through you. How do you feel?"

Insight check on his condition and response: 11 to see if he is really Pietr, both on the outside, and on the inside.

"I feel good."

He seems legit.

Cinder stayed near Sylrea, she had no idea how to properly use the potatoes or how to fight whatever could be the targets. So she decided to just watch and try to learn, she smirked at Cedrick as he commented about not attacking. "Show off."

Sylrea was too slow to react to Pietr being taken. As she was about to run after him, he quickly showed back up. Something that was pretty questionable. As she watched Pietr get questioned by Cedrick, she made sure to to look him over his image and their surroundings. It would be pretty bad if this wasn't him and the creature was still around.

Perception: 21

"Well then, if everyone is alright, and everything check out, let us move on to find Elroy." Cedrick sizes up the group. "Delay not in your assigned task for now is the time, and this is the place." Seeing the doubt cross their faces. "Well, that IS what to ancient tomb states."He then rechecks his mace and shield to be sure they are ready when needed.

Zaliey keeps his distance from Pietr but follows along.

You reach a wall covered in murals. They tell a tale of the Five-armed Old Ones, a race of starfish-like creatures from another realm.

Long ago, the Old Ones came here to establish a city with a species of formless creatures as their slaves and workers. The murals show aspects of the bizarre lives of these creatures, with the Old Ones performing experiments on local wildlife, enfusing them with planar energies. One day, a horrible, colossal creature, quite similar to the talking statue, arose from the earth along with its army of godlike humanoids. The Old Ones and their servants fought bravely, but only a few of the Old Ones survived. The mural continues on the ground, showing the slow degeneration of the former inhabitants of this place. The newest mural shows the Old One's degenerated, dwarfed descendants taking two humans, one recognizable as Banjo Man and the other ad Elroy, into the largest building in the very center of the city.

Cedrick studies the murals for a few moments, taking in their meaning, and coming to a conclusion. "Our path is laid before us as sure as the path Helm walked from the morning star to the nighttime tree. We must head to the center of the city with all haste if we are to save Elroy." Cedrick looks to his companions for their assent to his plan.

Zaliey nods his approval to Cedrick and follows along.