And so, the team takes another right down the hall. After another few moments of travel, the trail reaches a dead end. Matthias steps up to the dead end and brushes a hand against it. He frowns, “It’s a real wall. It’s as I thought, they are using a warding spell to obfuscate any real entrances to the inner sanctum of these catacombs. Unless we were to walk around with our hands on every point, we’d just be banging our heads against the wall. Besides, who knows what may happen if we stay too long. I doubt the other masters will dawdle...”

"What is our play here?" Caster asks Oz. 

"Can you mold earth? Maybe break through these walls some other way and simply bypass this maze." Oz shrugs. "If we can't do that, you'll have to use some mana and find the path again."

Caster takes the suggestion and casts Find the Path once more, using mana.

While caster is castering, Imani moves a bit closer to Oz. "You've been in the magic game for a while, right, Oz? How does The Grail work, exactly? What is it? Frankly, I just don't understand why a bunch of literal superheroes would care about a single wish- these people can do almost anything."

Lancer speaks up as he leans on the wall, “The Grail offers us a chance to get what we desire most. Power isn’t everything, and despite what you may think, the World is constantly trying to get rid of our existence. That’s why we need mana.”

Imani looks at the Lancer appraisingly for a moment. "You lived once before, right? I understand second chances. I just don't understand what mages want in all of this. There are people suffering all over this world. The power that mages-" a look of surprise crosses her face, "The power that we control could change all of that- no grail required."

Quote from Awaypturwpn >>

Caster takes the suggestion and casts Find the Path once more, using mana.

 The path doubles back around the corner to the original fork in the road.

Oz follows Caster for a while and thinks. Finally he says, "Okay. So. Everything I'm about to tell you I've pieced together from various conspiracy theories, mad rantings, and religious beliefs, but it's probably most likely maybe true... I think... sorta... Anyway... All the magic in the world comes from something called the Root. Some may call it Ki, or Holy Spirit, or the primordial ooze, but it's actually a place. This," He stamps his foot, "is Earth. Mother Earth, Gaia, Avatar, whatever you call it, it's real, it's alive, it's sentient, and it can die. She must protect herself from other celestial bodies that are also alive and have their own agendas. There are other threats too, mankind, aliens, and what not. To that end, she created the Throne of Heroes. A kind of defense system that will summon Momma E's greatest champions in the event of a threat. People like Caster here. She did this by tapping into The Root. I don't know how, you'll have to ask her... So people, mages, who used to be a lot more powerful, created The Grail to access the Root, 'cause, why not? the problem is, it needs to be powered somehow, so these same mages made the lesser grail to sort of hack into the Throne of Heroes and summon copies of Gaia's champions. That's what we did with our rituals. We used the lesser grail to steal some power from God's defense network. Anyway, it's unstable. The Heroes, 'Servants', need a steady flow of mana from the mages that summoned them, 'Masters', to keep them here. When a servant dies, it creates a mana surge that charges the lesser grail. When enough mana is stored, IE when all but one servant dies, the lesser grail interfaces with The Grail to punch a hole through reality, access The Root, and use it to get a real, true, unlimited Wish. Thus the Holy Grail Wars. A true war hasn't happened in a long time. For some reason, something has gone wrong. This though, what we're doing now, is a true war. At the end of this, someone will get their Wish."

Matthias looks over Oz, “A simplified summary, but it will suffice. However, as for you,” He turns to Imani, “Yes, we could do that. Will we? Likely not. Why? It’s not our business. We are mages, not humans. They’re business is nothing of ours. If you haven’t noticed, the general populace and especially the Church don’t appreciate our talents or methods. Naturally, we will keep to ourselves as we have continued to do for millennia. You may do as you please.” Matthias continues following Caster.

(If it is dark in here, Caster will need assistance, but will keep following the path to the best of his ability)

Oz’s light is still functioning. Following the spell, you see that the path leads to the solid brick wall. The voice booms once more, “You, who brave the catacombs of King Solomon of Israel, leave. You follow path upon useless path, and you beat your head against the stone.”

The path seems to hit the stone wall.

As the powerful discuss the mortals and their problems, Sarai gets even quieter than normal. Then, she interjects, "This is the attitude that makes me want to help you all kill each other as fast as possible, with as little damage to the rest of us as possible."

When the group arrives back at the wall, she listens to the ancient voice. "Duh," she says, and 'beats her head against the stone' wall, touching it, then (she assumes) walking through it. "That's about as obvious as 'Speak, Friend, and Enter,'"

(assuming Sarai passed through)

Imani grins wolfishly at Sarai's comment and makes spooky fingers at her, the beginnings of an Eldritch blast crackling between her wicked fingertips. 

Quote from Mingofaust >>

As the powerful discuss the mortals and their problems, Sarai gets even quieter than normal. Then, she interjects, "This is the attitude that makes me want to help you all kill each other as fast as possible, with as little damage to the rest of us as possible."

When the group arrives back at the wall, she listens to the ancient voice. "Duh," she says, and 'beats her head against the stone' wall, touching it, then (she assumes) walking through it. "That's about as obvious as 'Speak, Friend, and Enter,'"

 You don’t quite walk through, but you feel a clearly wooden door being covered by the illusion. As you touch the door, ancient script ripples across the door as you try the handle.

Sarai will stop in her handle turning to see if she or someone else can read the script.

Imani opens up Google Translate on her phone. 

(Not really: still wolfy)

Looking over the door, Matthias and Oz both point out the various facets of the spell on this door, revealing it do be an Arcane Lock spell, tied to the Guards and Wards spell. Matthias takes a step back. He nods to Lancer who grins under his helmet and raises a boot. Lancer slams his foot into the door (Dispel: 18, Athletics: 28), but is stopped by the shimmering script.

Lancer squints at the door, “Give me a moment.” He rears back and dashes at high speeds toward the door, (Dispel: 17, Athletics: 24). This time, the magic seal shatters upon his impact, but he rebounds as the spell shatters and is thrown back into a nearby wall. The door creaks and falls over, very loudly. Matthias, though invisible, audibly sighs. Meanwhile, a few moments later, you hear the sound of multiple claws on stone.

(I assume the sounds are coming from within the door?)

"Yeah, this was a stupid idea. Combat time, Sarai!" Imani drops her wolf disguise in favor of her normal appearance in a Mad Max-esque spiked leather jacket. She readies another volley of Eldritch blasts to trigger as soon as she sees fur. 

Then, if she has time to act quickly, she drops the illusory chains and forms a silent image of Mary (the imposter and possible connection to the wolf maker) kneeling directly in front of her with her hands behind her back. Imani takes out her knife and holds it to the illusion's throat.

Sarai will pull her pistol and aim it into the doorway, backpedaling but Ready to fire (if she has a Bonus Action now, she will cast Lightning Arrow, charging the gun).