Arkon realizes he got distracted and moves to fall in line behind Marasatra.

Perception: 16

The group hears a string of curses coming from the room as Sarris slowly backs out of the room.    

He runs a hand down his face to compose himself before speaking to the others.  "I don't know what went on in there but there is an open sarcophagus in the middle of the area, filled to the rim with blood and blood all over the floor.   You mages want to do anything with that mess?"

He will slowly take a breath and move down to the next door.

Marasatra edges into the chamber, staff horizontal to screen her advance. She kneels beside the open sarcophagus, tilts the scalpel tip to collect a single drop of the dark fluid, and lets it slide back to gauge its flow. With her free hand she traces a slow circle in the air, eyes shifting as her lingering spell sweeps for any arcane glow. She studies fine knife-scores along the stone rim, then leans to inspect the partially buried lid and the nearest wall for carvings or sigils. Rising, she wipes the blade clean, signals the others to keep their distance, and steps aside to rejoin the line. 

(Mara investigates the scene, trying to combine clues to discover if this was a religious ritual. Investigation: 13+3 (Guidance); Religion: 13)

Val's imp flies into the room, but sees nobody in the room. The blood itself is already old, most of it dried on the floor and inner part of sarcophagus. If there were any sigils or carvings, the blood covers most of it, making it indecipherable for now.

Four flickering torches in wall sconces illuminate this crypt, the middle of which is occupied by an open stone sarcophagus. The sarcophagus bears no carvings or other ornamentation, but is full of humanoid skulls and bones. Six dusty bedrolls lie on the floor around it.

Again Mal flies into the chamber and has a look around to make sure there are no pesky cultists still lurking in there.

Mal finds the bed rolls empty, and with the sarcophagus filled, finds nothing hiding in the room.

Zim opens the next door, the South Door?

Marasatra lingers a breath longer at the rim, then lowers her hooded gaze, expression unreadable. With a soft exhale she pivots, staff tapping once against the stone floor, and strides back into the corridor to fall in behind the others as the next door swings open.

Arkon follows the others, making sure not to leave Val behind.

Sarris is muttering under his breath, "That is how many now?  Five?  Six?  What was inside and what might have been taken by the cultists... or, for that matter, by that bunch of black clad skulkers?"   One last body shiver and he goes to back up Zim... just in case.

Gorin follows the others and wonders who lay here he tries to clean a bit of the blood op using his mage hand, and mending. Hoping to find an inscription of some kind.

Marasatra exhales in quiet sympathy at Sarris’s mutter, then steps past him into the newly opened chamber. She circles the bone-filled stone coffin at a measured pace, fingertips hovering over its rim without touching, eyes narrowing as she scans the interior and the surrounding floor for dried sigils, loose dust patterns, or dislodged bone. Kneeling, she lifts her staff’s scalpel tip to nudge aside a fragment of debris, checks the underside of the lid for carvings, and angles her gaze toward the walls for any faint paint or chisel marks that surviving grime might reveal.

(Investigation: 14+4 (Guidance); Religion: 16)

Val gives Arkon a grateful smile for thinking of her and follows close behind him.

The room is lit by two sputtering torches in sconces on the north and west walls. A stone sarcophagus in the middle of the room stands empty, its lid half buried under rubble on the floor behind it.

(Mending is unable to repair the wear of item. Able to fix breaks but not general weathering.)

Cleaning the blood off the sarcophagus will take time, both to empty the blood and to scrub the dried blood away.

The room with the bones has a slight sheen of dust, even the bedrolls have the same. It seems to have not been in use for a whole day. Any carvings on the sarcophagus has long faded and with the lid missing, hard to tell if there was any significance to this room.

Gorin sees his efforts are not doing anything so he stops and joins the others waiting if anything interesting has been found in the other rooms. If not he backs away towards the secret entrance. Letting the others pass to get back in their usual walking order.

"No pesky cultists still around it seems, perhaps we can go down those stairs now?" Val suggests.

"The dragonmasks did a good job," Arkon agrees, a bit uneasy at the lack enemies so far, "But if they just wanted their treasure back, they might not have needed to go deeper. Let's keep our guard up."

"Exactly.  We can not assume all is cleared or that the dragonmasks searched every nook and cranny.  They were talking about something specific.  If they found it; they probably did not stick around to chase cultists into the sewers."  Sarris spit as he finished speaking.   "Bloody catacombs.  I will be glad when I can breathe fresh air again."

He grunts as he works to the front of the group again.  "So we can tell the Captain we looked in every room .. so far.  Time to dive deeper.  Stay alert."

This ten-foot-wide flooded passage is braced at regular intervals by wooden beams. Old torch stubs float on the murky water.