Threnody gives Kaster a sharp, suspicious look, but then returns her gaze to the three statues. "I think we can conclude that this isn't some improvised, makeshift bolt-hole. Seems like they've taken up residence here for a while."

"Sounds wise enough to me." She concurs as Liatris formulates a plan. "We'd better make sure that our way back harbours no nasty surprises, in the event that we need to make a hasty retreat."

With that, the paladin begins striding down the open channel to the west. 

Bees stays behind as the others scout the open passageway. He gives the carvings a wary look as he begins to scan the doorways for traps in preparation for the groups return. He asks for a torch as one of the two pass him by. "Mind if I borrow that for a bit?" Pointing to a torch. (I don't remember who was holding them.) As the group leaves, Bees listens at each door for any sounds on the other side. 

OOC: Samosh also has Guidance so I think we have the party covered for skill checks. 

(OOC: It is Samosh and Liatris who had a torch after Thernody gave up hers to the latter0

Liatris started to follow suit, but following Bees request, she found herself instead regarding Samosh half expecting the man to volunteer his torch. But at any signs of reluctance out of the man, she simply but softly sighed before handing off her own torch. "Do not tarry long." Her parting request before continuing after Threnody, but at a snail's pace to give Bees plenty of time to catch up. 

...Not that she could get very far without some measure of light anyhow.

Bees nods at Liatris as she hands him the torch. "I'll be right behind ya. Just want to check these doors for a moment."

OOC: Samosh has darkvision so doesn't need a torch =)

Threnody looks reluctant to separate the party, but then gives Bees a swift nod and a smile. "Try not to get into too much trouble while we're away."

She turns on her heels and slowly makes her way down the west passageway, keeping an eye out for danger.

 Perception: 15 (with Guidance)

Bees hangs back for a few minutes while the rest of the party starts down the western passageway. He listens at the two other closed doors but doesn't hear anything. The darkness and the silence are oppressive down here in this dank place.

Threnody leads everyone else down the western passageway which is short and ends in a little alcove. The back wall of this dry alcove is hung with a 5-foot-wide, 7-foot-tall tapestry. It depicts a grisly scene of four faceless figures ripping apart a fifth figure, who is screaming. 

To the right of the alcove, the passage opens up into a larger room to the north. Three wooden beams brace the ceiling of this flooded chamber, which features a stone altar covered with bloody entrails in the northeast corner. Hanging on the wall above the altar is a three-foot-tall steel mask cast in the form of a frowning human skull.

     "What kind of person spends time making such a tapestry, do you think?" Kaster asks.  "Mostly I see them being made by old women teaching younger ones how to do it.  I can't imagine this being made at night as the generations hang around the family hearth... Ugh."  He shivers then moves on.

     In the room he spends some time studying the alter.  It gives him the chills but he'll see if there is anything he can learn from it. (Religion 14)  He'd spend some extra time studying the mask, which is almost as big as he himself is, and try to get a look at the back of it and such, without actually touching it.  If he has to climb up on the alter to get a better look at the mask he would first rinse it off a bit, perhaps using his shield to collect some of the water flooding the floor and pouring it over the alter to try to wash off the entrails and such.

"A bhaalist, likely, given the lack of bones. Though, I wouldn't put it past a Banite to harbor similar sense of aesthetic." Liatris replied nonchalantly. "Regardless, I would caution to anyone of mind to abscond with the tapestry against the idea. As there's little telling what else might've been woven into the fabric itself." She warns in passing, leery of the very notion of contracting some disease through contact alone! Whenever she was to enter the alter room next, rather than pay the alter any immediate mind, Liatris approached the columns to give them a once over and make sure no hidden glyph, contraption, or other alternative signs of the pillars being trapped in such a way as to bring at least a portion of the ceiling down on any wayward intruder.

Investigation: 20(unnatural)

 "I wonder how specific that tapestry is - whether we can expect four followers of Bhaal to turn up somewhere around here, rejoicing after their unholy rite of humanoid sacrifice." She attempts to peek behind the drapery, but heeds Liatris' warning against removing it from where it hangs. 

The paladin's mail jingles slightly as she moves over to the shrine. Threnody blanches at the sight of the bloody disarray strewn across the altar. Leaning over, she examines the gore in an effort to gauge how fresh it might be, as well as studying the surrounding chamber for clues as to the victim's identity. Her gaze rises to the macabre mask before she spits on the unholy idol. "The Lord of Murder, no doubt - may the Doombringer strike him down."

Threnody closes her eyes in mediation, quelling the anger welling up in her at the sight of the desecrated body. With a deep, grounding breath, she centres her desire for retribution and scatters it in every direction. When she opens her eyes more, they glow with a hellish radiance as her senses unfurl beyond mundane perception, scouring the vicinity for traces of fiends and the undead with the power of the divine. 

 Investigation: 21 (with Guidance)

Also made use of the Paladin's 'Divine Sense' ability.

"A tapestry to honor an evil god? What could possibly go wrong by taking it? HA!" You can smell the heavy load of Samosh sarcasm.

Feeling confident the door aren't trapped, Bees moves to join the others in the flooded altar room. The gruff halfling stops to look at the painting for a moment and shakes his head in disgust. He takes the torch and holds it under the painting for a moment until it catches. As the smoke swirls through the passageway, he watches the direction with curious intent and makes note of it. A reminder there's a way out of this hell hole. Though the thought brings more grief than reassurance as he understands they've only just begun.

Moving to the altar room, Bees begins to wretch as he sees the bloody entrails on the altar. Stifling his vomit, the gruff halfling asks the group, "Can someone please destroy that thing?" The Harper agent in him sickened, seeing such an evil altar. He'd seen his fair share of evil acts while reporting against the Keene and the guild, but this... this was worse. 

Bees doesn't linger long. He moves past the group to the northwest hallway and takes point once more as he holds the torch out before him. All hope for stealth drained from the demoralized halfling. Replaced by a strong desire to end whatever evil lies ahead of him. He warily presses onward, trying to be aware of each deliberate step he takes, but worry and self-doubt distract him from this goal (Perception: 7) 

(I will post another map soon but the room Bees finds the body in has no other exits.)

Kaster spends some time examining the bloody altar. He realizes that Liatris is correct. This is an altar to Bhaal, the god of murder. The mask is a depiction of Bhaal's twisted visage. It's made of some sort of metal and looks heavy, probably very uncomfortable to wear too.

Liatris studies the pillars in the room with the Bhaal altar. They seem sturdy enough but enough force or damage could cause them to crumble, which she expects would cause a minor cave-in of the room. She's seen other pillars like this down here, and if there are more, it seems reasonable they are all in about the same condition.

Threnody notices a strange yellow mold growing around the tapestry but doesn't touch it. As she focuses her desire for retribution, she doesn't sense the presence of any celestials, fiends or undead nearby, just the general feeling of malevolence that seems to emanate from the very walls down here. Studying the entrails, she surmises they are relatively fresh, perhaps a day or two old.

Bees lights the sinister tapestry on fire which also burns the yellow mold. The smoke drifts ever so slightly back toward the chamber with the Dead Three doors. He takes point down the northwestern passage which is short and ends in another small, dark room. Water sloshes on the ground as he walks. Disturbed by the sight of the bloody altar, he doesn't notice the dark shape on the floor until he very nearly trips over it. Floating face-down in the middle of this flooded room is the bloated corpse of a shirtless male human with knife wounds in his back...

Bees inadvertently walks right into the floating corpse as his eyes scan the ceiling and walls. "Bloody hell... this place is just the worst." Bees says as he draws a dagger with his free hand. The knife wounds evident in the corpse's back causes Bees to look over his shoulder to see his allies behind him.

Holding the torch aloft, Bees says to the group, "Dead end down here." Or is it, he thinks as he skirts the perimeter of the room looking for hidden doors. (Perception: 21 if a new roll is relevant, if not, my previous roll of 7 will stand)

At Bees' behest, Threnody feels the restraint she summoned upon witnessing the carnage unravel. The confirmation that her anger at this ritual sacrifice of a sentient being is both justified and righteous spurs her to ascend the profane altar. Her eyes lock on to the metallic mask where it hangs on the wall, and she attempts to remove it without another moment's hesitation. In the event that it is attached to the wall, she will attempt to wrench or cut the effigy free, and toss it unceremoniously on the ground. "May you and your followers be cursed forever and ever." She swears at the idol, a disgusted look on her face. 

Either way, she hops back down to the makeshift temple floor and follows the scout down the north-west passage to the chamber he is currently exploring. Upon seeing the bloated corpse, she grimaces and prods it away with the butt of her spear. "Even if Zodge hadn't conscripted us, destroying this cult would have been the right thing to do." The tiefling mutters, wading into the water and checking the body for identifying possessions. 

Strength check: 16 + 4 (from STR modifier) + 2 (from Guidance) = 22
Investigation: Natural 20 + 2 = 22

     Kaster stands back and mostly tries to stay out of the way as others investigate.  When he hears that the one way is a dead end he allows his light from his holy symbol to shine it's full brightness, apparently not needing to worry about tipping anyone off of their presence.  At least for the moment.  As always, he is happy to provide guidance if he notices anyone focusing on doing anything that may benefit from such.

Upon completing her examinations of the pillars a worrying thought wormed its way to the forefront of Liatris mind and left her frowning ever so slightly in distaste. Yet she could do no more than start rubbing her chin when the sound of Bees wrenching both drew attention and stirred a hint of ire behind her gaze. "Make steel of your nerves going forward, Bees, as it will only get worse from here." Her response to Bees as he carried on scouting ahead, her tone so calm and dispassionate as to come off as practically cold.

Scarcely had she delivered the lines when movement out of the corner of her eyes draws focus back on the altar. But rather than words of warning leaving her mouth, a sigh of defeat escapes as Threnody is a touch faster on the draw. Having half expected some measure of divine retribution to swiftly follow, Liatris started to back away from Threnody, only to instead perk up at the mention of dead body and ultimately follow whoever decided to go over to examine it.

"... If Zodge hadn't conscripted us, I believe at best only you might've wound up down here with noble attentions. But as for the rest of us, it would've likely been as sacrifices captured by the cults, rather than the dismantlers of this unfortunate blemish upon the city." She corrected the tiefling, having plainly overheard, before at the cost of further soiling her pants, knelt down to examine the body to try and figure out how they might've been dead... once Threnody was of course done search it. Just before doing so, she pulls from her satchel a peculiar vial that upon consuming its stimulating contents, before really setting to work. 

 Medicine: 14 (w/ guidance self cast).

Bees nods at Laitris as she addresses him, wiping some spittle from his beard in the process. He doesn't take offense and accepts the wisdom as truth. So far she's been right and as Bees stumbled into the murdered corpse floating in the water confirmed her words even more. When the Githyanki Wood Elf, and Teifling begin to disagree on the merits of our venture the gruff halfling responds to Threnody after she follows him into the next room, "I'm with you Threnody. This evil must be destroyed."

Samosh shakes his head sadly when he sees the corpse. Too many times in a previous life he caused the same sort of results. Although whoever did this was some sort of amateur. Done right, a body can be tossed in a sewer and never be found again.