Grenk looks at the others and says, "well we got 3 days, might as well make the best of them.  We should just go to next level right focus on the keys.  Hey, show Keshma the keys so she knows what to look for."  Assuming that happens he'd say, " so plan, since you can walk through stone walls, look for the key on the floor, you warn us of dangers, and then we get key.  We take it floor by floor."

Mal says over her shoulder to the group, "This way." And then climbs into the passage way and braces herself as she slowly descends into the liquid. As she gets close she will dip a finger into it just barely to see if it might be a form of acid before dunking her head in it to see if she can see how far it goes.

Perception: 18

When Mal gets to the bottom, she realizes the liquid is red..and smells of wine.  It's not acid.  Even from above though, with light shining through the red liquid, she can see the tunnel goes another 10 feet, and then banks up.....so she can't see past that point without going for a 'swim' in the red wine.

Keshma looks to Grenk and sighs heavily....she mutters to him, "You must be exhausted too. I literally just said I can't move through these walls. They're enchanted in some way." 

"Ah, I misheard heard.  Thought ya said you couldn't move the walls.  Don't know about Doas, thought you meant you could use magic to move walls but not these."  He shrugs, "and yes this whole deal has been exhausting but ya just gotta grit your teeth and push on."

Seeing Mal crawl into the small passage gives Badger the shivers. Not that he has a problem with small underground spaces, but to just crawl in there so readily without the proper precautions is just suicidal. He thinks quickly about the layout of this floor, and assumes the small passage exits into the checkered room at the end of the eastern hallway from the staircase. Unwilling to leave everyone here with the dao, or to have the group leave Mal in the tunnel, he instead sits quietly in the corner and conjures his Arcane Eye, then sends it back through the zombie room, into the stairwell, past the gravity ring and into the hallway beyond.

The arcane eye slips into the room that Badger suspects this would lead to. Past the looping hallway it opens up into a fairly sizable room, almost sixty feet across and forty feet wide. It has a checkerboard marble floor, and a gilded coffin sparkles in sunlight streaming down from the chamber's vaulted ceiling, which arches twelve feet overhead. Four huge stone gargoyle heads, their mouths agape, protrude from the walls. There's no obvious crawlway opening in the wall. The only obvious openings in the right wall, which would be where the crawlway would come from, are through the two gargoyle mouths on that wall. Each easily large enough for a person to crawl in, though the eye goes only a two feet before it is blocked. Though as the eye looks around, it looks like the stone blocking the way is meant to move. The mechanism for how to move it isn't immediately obvious. 

Badger assumes the moveable stone inside the gargoyle mouth is probably blocking the wine-filled tunnel on the other side. He isn't sure what the purpose is, but assumes it is another deadly trap of some kind. He uses his eye to quickly examine the rest of the room and see if he can tell which god is buried here, and also see if there are any obvious trap-like doors at the entrance, before exiting the room. He will send the eye up the northern corridor as well, while he passes on his observations and deductions to anyone that might listen. Sickle perhaps, or Silas. Mal is crawling in the tunnel and Grenk is busy embarrassing himself with his new servant.

Mal shrugs, and then dives in and starts to swim through the liquid to get to the other side.

Indeed, Badger's eye can discern what looks like a large block that is set to descend and block the doorway, though there are no obvious triggers or other doors or levers in the room. 

Mal takes a deep breath.  Swimming through red wine is most unpleasant, and she's not really able to open her eyes as they sting too badly...but she feels her way along, the tunnel slopes up a bit and then opens up into some sort of large open area.....like a tank....but it's full of wine...hundreds of gallons of wine by the size of the huge cistern.  About ready to burst, Mal feels her way back down the tunnel, and crawls out of the wine with an explosive gasp for breath.  Her hair, face, and clothes soaked with red wine. 

Silas will remains near the back of the group, distrustful of the Dao, low on spells slots and in bad shape overall while his temper is quite high. ocassionally he can heard muttering to himself  about exhuastion and madness. 

Mal shakes off the excess wine from her body as she crawls back up the passageway, "Well that way is a bit of a bust, unless you like wine and then by all means dive on in. Let's go back the way we came."

The group passes down the hallway and through the tomb to Papazotl. The chariot sits here carrying it's sarcophagus, the lid turned aside. Two glass cauldrons filled with bones have been smashed, bones are everywhere.  The rest of the room is blocked by a large L shaped wall of rough stone. From the other side a faint clattering sound can be heard. Mal walks ahead of the group. There is a brief pause to slay the two zombies that hold the door open so you can get past without being attacked. You find a bolt on the floor that you can hook the chain around to keep the door open. Mal walks out into the grand stairway. Grenk is just behind her, the large warrior looking about this way and that....switching from foot to foot glancing around...that weird unicorn wand clutched in his hand. Following Grenk is Grenk's new servant. The Dao silently float behind him, making the odd comment.  "Interesting". "Strange". "Acerack is a psycho." and so on...as she sees each room. She seems happy enough to float along with the group. Following her is Badger and Silas. Both following along warily.....Silas looks dead tired on his feet as the large dark skinned priest trudges around the hallways of this place.  It seems like you've been going back and forth over the same hallways and stairs for ever.  Almost last is Sickle. His hazy blue eyes follow, a placid look on his face as his staff which he is using for walking goes "thunk.....thunk.....thunk..." on the ground as he walks. Whisps of hazy frost smoke waft from his right hand where the frosty ring sits.  Lastly, behind Sickle, is that crazy guy you found who has been following you around. He has been out on the balcony the entire time, having never even come into the zombie room at all.  He stays behind Sickle, his eyes wide, as he glances about in fear, attempting to stay back from any horrible thing that might occur. 

The 2nd floor is not entirely explored, but you've found the key, which was your goal.  Only one key remains....on the 4th floor down...so the group trudges down the stairs until they reach the balcony on the lowest floor.  There is a 10 foot wide hallway that leads away from the main floor room, or another hallway that leads away from the balcony, that you know goes to the hallway with the mirror of soul trapping at one end....and a door at the other end. 

2nd floor, key now found: 

4th floor, last key to find: 

Badger is a little bit surprised when he sees the crazy dude, but isn't sure why. It's not like Badger forgot about him or anything. Badger doesn't forget things like that. Badger sees all and knows all...   (what was his name again? did we ever figure that out? should we give him a name?) 

Badger also wonders what became of Professor Hopkins. He hasn't seen the little frog for a while and wonders if it got lost somewhere in the excitement. It's a shame - it was the most intelligent company he'd had in months. Just as Badger thinks of this, he feels a welling up in his throat which grows until he gags, and in a moment another frog appears, identical to the last. Hopkins! You've returned! I missed you. Badger strokes the little frog and then places it again on the top of his helmet, oblivious to the looks and opinions of the others.

Badger continues down the stairs, silently staring at the trail of red wine left on the floor as it drips from Mal's clothes and wondering if there might be some pattern there that could portend the next encounter. It is not entirely unlike reading the flight of birds, Badger supposes, but he himself has such little experience with that technique, having spent most of his life underground. In the end he can only gain brief premonitions of chaos and disaster, so he abandons the attempt.

Reaching the bottom of the staircase, and seeing the others wondering where to go, Badger offers to use his magic eye to investigate the unexplored tunnel coming directly off the staircase...

(Still have Arcane Eye active, so happy to use it as long as it doesn't ruin the fun of exploration for anyone. Also still have Comprehend Languages spell active)

Mal looks at Badger noticing the eye floating above his shoulder and the frog closes her eyes and then sighs."Go ahead and send your eye along, I grow increasingly weary of this place and want to be done with it, the faster the better."

Badger....frog on his head....and invisible eye nearby, sends it forth to explore.  A six-foot-tall green devil face is carved into the far end of this hallway, its mouth agape. Painted murals on the walls show faceless humanoid figures doubled over in pain, clutching at their heads and ears. Near the end of the hallway on the right is a hallway.  The eye follows this and turns right, and sees a set of stairs leading up to a door. 

There seems to be only one unexplored area left on this level, but Badger suggests they approach it along the southern corridor, seeing as they have been there before, and have remotely observed the tomb guardian walk along here before. This seems like a safer option than going near a huge devil face. He waits to see if the others agree, and to allow someone to move away first...

Badger considers the words from the plaque that referenced other locations on this level. Some are still cryptic to him, but he can't think of any that apply here. He mumbles them out loud as he stands before the stone slab...

Death to fire, dine or drown, precious air, and falling sand.

The army sleeps in silence.

Find the iron scepter's twin.

However, glancing at the 'peasant' following them and being reminded of the mirror on this level, Badger absent-mindedly raises his right hand in a pose that mirrors the painting.

"All too easy" thinks Badger smugly, trying to muffle his triumphant smirk. But it is hardly necessary - the others are just standing there like statues.

Badger looks at his companions, wondering why they are just staring stupidly into the empty hallway. He starts to wonder whether the tomb has finally driven them from their senses. After many long awkward moments of silence, Badger clears his throat and says: "Urgh, shall we venture to the left then? It may be logical to commence with the outer edge and work our way inward..."

He waves his hand in front of Sickles face, but the druid seems lost in deep thought, caught in a thousand-mile stare. He walks up to Grenk, contemplates sliding the unicorn horn wand from his hand, then thinks better of it and just walks on. He walks over to Mal, who also doesn't respond to his hand-wave, so he takes some black pigment from his pouch with one finger and draws a pair of spectacles on his/her face. He walks over to Silas, but is restrained by pity. The stalwart cleric is even more cautious than Badger, and the gnome seer gets the premonition that Silas will survive longer than any of the others, and that alone is worthy of pity, for he may be subjected to more horrors than any. Plus Badger can't shake himself of the horrific sight that he alone saw in a cage in the deepest room of the dungeon where the gate awaits the skeleton keys. No, Badger can't bring himself to do anything to Silas.

Knowing they will snap out of their reverie eventually, Badger carefully walks ahead for a change and turns left.