((Nib had lit his bullseye lantern once they reached the bottom, casting the beam of light forward as they were walking.))

Nib looks around Ashley and sees the door and the strange writing.  “What the heck does that say?  Strange, I wonder who built this?”  Nib puts his ear up to the door, listening for any sound or movement.  

Perception : 13

Dardek creeps out stealthily (16 stealth) and looks (Perc. 13) in the opposite direction Ashley went, not out of curiosity but out of fright of something coming up from behind them.

Ashley pauses at the door and responds to Nib, "Enter, child of light, and be welcome."

The fire genasi flicks her wrist and a flame appears cupped just above her palm.  Reaching towards the unlit torch, she silently lights it with the flame in her hand.  Then does the same with the other.

She pauses here. 

If nothing happens, she tries the door.

Nib hears no perceivable sound on the other side of the door, but the door itself seems to crackle faintly like the last log of a dying fire.

Dardek turns the corner in the opposite direction. At the end of the eastern passage he finds the archway to the southern passage blocked by a thin stone slab acting as a sort of door.

Ashley lights the lamps with her magic. The flames seem to ignite some sort of internal mechanism. Immediately, glowing red cracks, like embers start spreading through the black, charred door... and you all watch as the portal crumbles into burning ash right before your eyes, revealing a larger, rectangular chamber beyond.

The room itself smells of burned metal. In the center, a bronze statue of a kneeling, muscle-bound man bows its head humbly while leaning on a massive warhammer. The ground itself is covered in glittering sand. Closer look reveals shards of black glass covering the surface.

Like the previous corridor, the walls appear to be made from porous stone, akin to sandstone, shaped without any sign of cutting or chiseling. The walls are completely covered with an overwhelming array of pictograms from floor to curved ceiling.

To the east... A narrow archway leads into another narrow corridor.

To the south... a pair of doors stand next to each other...

The easternmost door is marked with a single square filled with vertical lines.

The westernmost door is simply marked with an X

Ashley steps forward into the room and heads to the statue to admire it.  Looking back, she sees that Dardek isn't with them and she frowns.  "Nib, do you know what happened to Dardek?  He came down with us, didn't he?"

"What a peculiar space."  She walks over to the doors and runs her fingers along the lines that are marked on the doors.  "Should we try the corridor first?  These doors don't seem exactlyl inviting."

Dardek turns to talk to the others and realizes he is alone....He panics and runs in the opposite direction of the door where he last saw Ashely and Nibs headed towards. As he turns the corner he stop himself from crashing into the others 2. Gasping a bit from running "You.....You....I....There's a door down the other end....What's in here? Danger? We should leave."

As if in response to Ashley and Dardek's chatter, the bronze statue suddenly starts speaking.

Child of light. What do you seek here? it asks in a voice that sounds like bending metal.

While the mouth moves, and hot metallic breath billows from within, it doesn't change its position.

Nib is bumped by Dardek running into his backside into the room, startled and thinking that he was just right behind him.  When the voice from the statue speaks up, Nib has a sharp intake of breath, eyes wide as he stares at the statue.  He looks to Ashley, in a quiet conspiratorial voice, “Ummm…. Treasure?”  He gives her a sheepish grin.  

A moment after the word "treasure" escapes from Nib's lips, the statue on the pedestal lifts its head and turns its gaze in his direction. Before anyone can react, flames erupt from its head, like a firey mane. Its eyes glow like a pair of burning coals and it stands to its full height, about the size of a tall dwarf. It lifts its war hammer, ready for battle.

As the figure stands, the metalic patina crumbles off of it revealing actual skin with a brushed metallic texture to it.

"If it's treasure you seek, intruder... You are welcome to try and claim it."

The flames suddenly flare around its head as it prepares for battle.

To be continued in via Discord!