Arkun walks up as they have paused, listening down either passage for any sounds of movement.  

Perception : 16

”Which way?  To the right?”

The cave is eerily silent to Arkun, devoid of the sounds of scrabbling rodents and whistling wind that one might be accustomed to while traversing a cave. He hears nothing distinct from either passage.

Aldric gathers with the others and hears that the left passage is just as unknowable as the right. He takes a breath and looks around. "I'm no dictator. I'm open to suggestions. What I am going to be rigid about is staying together. Anyone have a strong feeling about which way we all go?"

Rylan holds up a finger as if to say, "I have an idea." 

He closes his eyes, points down one of the passages, then starts muttering something under his breath... a rhyme... perhaps a spell or incantation... as he does this, he repeatedly points back and forth between the passages rhythmically, like he's counting down...

Finally he concludes his counting rhyme with a finger pointing down the leftmost hall.

He looks at the others and says, decisively, "That one."

Arkun shrugs, having no reason not to try the leftward path and he starts to follow, unclear of the pointing, rhyming, sing-song decision method.  City people are so odd…. He goes up to the wall at the intersection and makes a mark, in Druidic that is difficult to see. 

Rumble just shrugged at Arkun's initial question, then looked to the cave flooring as if looking for something. Unfortunately, despite practically growing up underground, no particular scrapped stone or dirt smear looked any different from one another as to suggest heavily trafficed areas. Not to him, in any event, though he half-heartedly made the effort all the same while muttering something about "No storm in them? Wouldn't gone with a thrum, but I s'pose..."

"Well..." He started to say, but paused upon catching the gesture from Rylan. As the man went on with his 'ritual', the earth genasi watched seeming equal parts confused and fascinated by the process. "That one?" He repeats while putting away the handaxe. "Well shucks, alright! Not sure what'cha were doin' there but far be it for me to distrust someone able to call upon magical guidance." Rumble said, seeming to not have clocked on at all any shenanigans at work, but made himself ready to move out using the same marching order as before without fuss.

The narrow passage is about ten feet high in most places, with rough, irregular walls. Small objects made of some largely rusted metal, like spurs, protrude from the walls, coated in brown, dried blood, forcing you to walk very carefully to avoid adding to its macabre coat of paint.

Eventually, this natural passage widens out, into a star-shaped cavern with many clefts in its walls. Only two of the clefts, across the cavern from you, seem large enough to actually traverse. Three zombies lurch about the area. One is costumed like a bear, with a thick fur robe draped around it. The second is dressed as a lady in a frilly dress and thick makeup, while the last is costumed as a jester with small, jingling bells on its collar and sleeves.

The bear zombie seems to be chasing the lady zombie, albeit quite slowly, dragging their feet as they lurch in a circle around the room. In the middle of them, the jester zombie points a finger and emits a harsh, rasping sound repeatedly.

Arkun stops, jaw dropping.  “What kind of circus is this…?”  He readies his staff to dispatch the undead.  

Rylan loudly, almost comically, gags in disgust at the display in front of him...

"Ulgch... Oh Gods... Okay, maybe we should've gone the other way... This is... worse than profane...." He looks to the others, eyes pleading.

"Can we please kill them?" He whispers, then glances back at the zombies for a moment. "Preferably at a distance."

When Rylan suggests the left passage in his unusual way, Aldric scowls — both confused and dubious. However, after Rumble mentions something about magic, the knight softens. Magic has always eluded the half-orc, and so explaining the human's erratic behavior by blaming magic satisfies him. He gives a little shrug and follows the others.

The Knight of Samular would rather be leading — protecting — but the others have a head start, and the passage is narrow, so Aldric has to follow behind, attempting to be patient. However, when the others start verbalizing their disgust at the sight of the zombies, he almost begins pushing to get through. His armor scrapes against one of the spurs, making a grating noise in his haste.

When he finally finds himself in the star-shaped cavern, he halts.

"There's barely enough room to turn around in here," he comments. "I'm not saying we don't have room to maneuver ..." He pauses as he continues to watch the strangely-dressed monstrosities. "But they don't seem to pose a threat. If we needn't take the chance of getting hurt, perhaps we should leave them be, and I will continue to be last and watch to make sure they don't follow."

"I-I...I... I don't even..." The rest dies in Rumbles throat as he stared flabbergasted at the sight before everyone; his words having come out quiet from just the shock of events playing out before all. If none of the zombies reacted with violence immediately upon seeing or sensing the party's presence, then there's little in the way of resistance from the Genasi to Aldric's plan of action once he'd gotten a better view on the situation. Though there would be a small part of him that half-wished to go back and try the other path, without guarantees of a similar lunacy awaiting there, the thought never gains enough traction as to find its way to the genasi's lips. Instead, he added to his fellow knight's wisdom by saying, "'sides, if they yet walk by the time we deal with the perpetrator of all this madness, we can always deal wit'em after. 'cause I doubt they'll be wandering off anytime soon." He half-whispered to keep his words from carrying overly much beyond the undead.

Sylra steps into the cavern, her breath catching—not from fear, but from the sheer wrongness of the scene. The air here is heavy, not with decay, but with mockery. Her gaze sweeps over the costumed undead, and her expression hardens.

“This is not death,” she says quietly, voice edged with storm. “It’s theater. Someone is playing with the dead like dolls.”

She watches the jester’s rasping gestures, the bear’s slow pursuit, the lady’s painted face. Her fingers twitch near her holy symbol, but she does not yet call down Akadi’s wrath. Instead, she listens—to the rasp, to the shuffle, to the wind that does not move.

“If they’re not hostile,” she murmurs, “then they’re bait. Or worse—message. Someone wants us to see this.”

She turns slightly toward Aldric and Rumble, nodding at their caution. “Let them dance. For now. But if they turn, I’ll silence the bells myself.”

Rylan points beyond the room, narrowing his eyes... "Are there passages beyond them though? Should we turn back or, eh... try to... I suppose... scoot by them?"

"What do you -- oh right, yer eye thing. Uhm... yea, there's like two potential passages. And seeing as how there ain't any greater guarantee of not finding something just as equally strange or potentially dangerous situation doubling back, we might as well double down on press forward Mr. Rylan." Rumble plainly replied to the paladin, then nudged his shoulder with his own shoulder and smiled. "sides, it's like Sylra there said. If those 'actors' get uppity, well, it weren't like we wouldn't have had to put them down anyhow in the event dealing with their creator wasn't enough alone."

Aldric steps through, walking toward the southwest passage. He keeps his axe at the ready and his head swivels to keep tabs on the zombies. If they continue to ignore the living, he will stop at the passage entrance and turn to let the others enter first.

The zombies continue their macabre parade, ignoring you all until two or three of you have reached the center of their dance. Once Aldric reaches the center of the chamber, the creatures stop focusing on each other, instead converging on Aldric and Sylra.

Round 1 Order:
Players <=====
Zombies

Placement:
All combatants are within movement range of one another.

"Agh-ullghch-ew.... Stay away! Get!" Rylan yells as he stows his longsword and brandishes his whip, moving no closer than 10' from the creature, relying on the reach of his weapon to keep clear of these things as he attacks the closest corpse...

(15 To Hit, 6 Points Slashing Damage and (if hit) creature's speed is reduced by 10')

He'll then fall back, keeping as much distance as he can, shouting "Should we fall back? Force them to face us single file?"

Rumble started to engage the one struck by Rylan. But after the man's words, he hesitates for just a moment, before then opting to fling his handaxe for the same wounded zombie. The hit is anything but a clean one, as that brief moment uncertainty biting grazing a shoulder instead the head.  "Don't know if'n I have nearly enough handaxes for that sorta thing, but we can certainly try!" He called out in reply, before then falling back just behind Rylan in the tunnel. Though the moment he did so, Rumble stomach churned at the thought of his action being a little too unknightly..

Action: Strike with a Handaxe.
(Thrown, Lethal)Handaxe - Attack #1 - To Hit: 15, For: 4 Slashing Damage to Rylan's target.