The burning cerulean in Siréne's eyes burned ever brighter as Cor moved toward to open the boxes. They might well need to open them, but she was loathe to do so before exhausting all options. Every step bore ripples of consequence.

"I implore you," Siréne began reaching out a hand to the dwarf, "tread lightly on this path. Leave these boxes as they are until we know more!"

Lothor with the first words, was also the first of the party to enter the room.

"Before we clean those things off and disturb the dust, let us see if the dust has any stories to tell."

As the large fighter looked upon the dust on the floor he could tell by the lack of any pattern that it had not been disturbed for quite some time. Only with his moving forward and the breeze from the door did the dust finally shift. His check of the room not revealing anything he stood to the side allowing the rest of the party to enter behind him.

Cor believing that the boxes would have to be opened eventually seemed at a hurry to do so and made no secret of it to the rest.

"We all know we are gonna have ta open the boxes. Maybe the item we seem is inside, maybe not. Only way ta know is look. If it is the wraiths, perhaps they are not yet fully formed and as powerful as they are in our time."

A short pause to catch a breath, the dwarf Knight Cleric moved to the third of the ten boxes.

"Well, let git ta doing. Any box is as good as any other ta start. I say we start here. Who wants ta help open it and who wants ta stand beastie watch?"

However though both Rayne and Roan were in agreement with Cor, both Sirene and Ulthok were not and for the moment Aliya and Lothor remained quiet.

"I implore you," Siréne began reaching out a hand to the dwarf, "tread lightly on this path. Leave these boxes as they are until we know more!"

Then as Cor paused by the third of the boxes she at once cast Detect Magic and was greeted by the room, boxes, walls and even the dust being revealed to be magical in some form. Her warning to tread lightly now showing to be a wiser course of action then just opening a box at random.

"Wait Cor, let me once again cast my cantrip" Ulthok said as he intoned the minor spell once more. At once the dust begin to disappear as it had in the last room to reveal the true nature of the boxes to each be one solid mass of stone, the floorboards of each attached to the next. Cor standing close could tell that though they were attached at the base they were each yet a separate container having a slightly wider stone lid.

With the dust finally fully gone, Sirene's spell of Detect Magic shined bright upon the stone, showing the boxes to radiate more magic then before. Once more the Elf Enchantresses warning had been proven valid. With everyone now on alert Ulthok slowly moved forward to look for locks, catches, or any type of trap, but finding none. The lid and box underneath indeed two pieces, however neither one showing any line of separation.

The question for the party now to open or to leave alone..............

((DM OOC: Ok good posting everyone and great Q/A discussions.

Impulse your first post was good and I think once you get more comfortable with the character, game, and people you'll do great.

Ok I NPC'd Ulthok as I needed his information to be revealed so that the party knew what the boxes were. Ok next post next Sunday))

"All right lass, wat da ya propose we do? Te spells have shown these boxes ta be enchanted but that was expected. Anyone who wants ta do something before we open the box speak now. I know ye may think I am acting rashly but no matter what, the box must be opened."

"I agree with Sirene. We should perhaps wait to open any of these until more is known. With their placement and proximity to each other, and that they are connected at the base, could make one believe that they are either a mass burial of very high ranking beings in which they would be highly magically protected; or perhaps guardians of something deeper in this place, made to sleep until unwise adventurers disturb them. I of course will bow to the wishes of the party, but I suggest extreme caution, my friends."

*Aliya draws her sword, placing the tip on the ground in front of her and placing both hands on the pommel to await the group's decision.*

As had been expected, magic was woven into the circle of stones. The azure light of arcane power shone through the hallway like a heatless sun. Siréne hissed at the all too clear warning of the magics potency. To enchant a place so had taken great power indeed, and whatever the stones held were no doubt filled with a great power all there own. Her resolve deepened; they must only open these tombs as an absolute last resort. To do otherwise would surely lead to doom for all.

"Hold back," Siréne spoke as she raised a hand. "We must learn more."

Breathing softly, the enchantress drew on her fey senses and began to chant softly. Her awareness drifted through Faery and into the magic itself. A part of her danced through that azure glow and caressed it. She would know this magic, she would come to know it all.

((OOC: Casts Wizard Sight))

As Cor went to open the one box, Sirene stopped him. Instead of physically opening them, she wanted to use some magical spells instead. A wise precaution, as she was one of the most capable spellcasters in the party. As she cast some spells, she quickly found that there was magic all over this room. As Sirene continued her investigation, Rayne kept up her guard. She didn't have any useful spells for this situation, so just being ready for threats was as useful as she could be. Especially when they had encountered no problems except dust so far in here...

(OOC: If something does come out of the boxes, Rayne will cast Bless on the party.)

Roan listened to the elfs words.

Although he thought that the boxes would have to be opened, her exclamation gave him pause. He decided he would wait. Until some of the spellcasters had finished their incantations, until they were done dusting the tombs for any sign of traps.

He stayed quiet, drawing his bow and nocking an arrow for the worst. He had nothing to say for now.

Lothor looked at the cleaned off boxes and shook his head. he was no closer to figuring out what to do. The whole place was magical. He did not like the idea of opening the boxes? What did it mean that they were all tied together in some way?

Well, there was one more spell to go, at least. He'd wait for that and then they would have to make a decision. The room they had rested in - that had other hallways, didn't it? There was another option.

Once more it was Sirene's caution and magic that seemed to determine the party's actions. With the spell of Wizard Sight cast the Elf Enchantress gazed upon the stone boxes.

She could clearly see with her new magical sight the auras of different magic's around them and within. A shroud of dark evil coated the stone structures, clinging and moving in and out, bathing them as if alive. However as if a beacon in the night she could detect a second neutral type magic somewhere within the stone structures. This bright bit of powerful magic, neither good nor evil, seemed as if that which would come from some type of item or spell.

Turning to the rest of the party she relayed to them her findings. The question once again what to do next, stay and tempt fate, or leave these stone boxes alone. For clearly some danger lurked within them.........

((OOC: Ok my late post, sorry about the delay. Thanks to Nimu for giving the spell description and where to find it as I do have the Tome of Magic. Ok next post Sunday.))

"Well lass if ye want ta do other things first then so be it. These boxes are nay going anywhere. Mayhaps something else will be found but I think in the end this is where we will find ourselves again." Cor motioned for her to lead the way.

Ulthok had listened and watch as the other pondered the boxes.

Finally he tossed out his options.
"Here are some thoughts to ponder.
1. We know that the Wraiths were put into a sleep, the summery of the battle we received included that as we tried to learn more of the sword.

2. We know that one of the 10 was sent to limbo.

3. We learn that the ten were controlled by their amulets.

4. We know that each wraith had a powerful sword.

So in battle cutting the amulets off the necks of the 10 would reduce the control Karza had over them and may help us destroy them.

These boxes may be their phylactery and by destroying them it destroys the Wraith. But these are big and may be hard to destroy. And by opening them we may break the Sleep Spell and awaken them to battle us.

So once we open these it may well be chaos. Battle goals MAY be, remove amulet, destroy box, destroy Wraith, retrieve swords.... Oh yeah and save our own bottoms.

Later goals will be destroy the amulets and swords even if we have to take them back to our own time to do it.

So for the moment letting sleeping dogs lay and checking out the other passages could be a good idea. These boxes don't seem to be going anywhere soon."

Ulthok then shuffled toward the door.

Rayne paced the perimeter of the room as she would normally do. Normally; however, they would have had to fight their way to the centre of whatever lair they had entered. For a place being called the 'Isle of the Cyclops' the keep had been almost a haven.

The party seemed to reluctantly agree to go and back track. Rayne was fine with that. Covering all the possible ways of attack may be for the best. Besides, maybe something would explain why this place was so desolate.

To no one in particular, Rayne said, "Nature is at its quietest when a predator is about to strike. Be wary, for I suspect that something lurks in these halls." With that, she followed as the party began to leave the room.

The onslaught of arcane evil burned her eyes, and after a time Siréne turned away to recount what had been revealed. And though there might be a light within the darkness, that darkness was far greater than anything she had imagined.

"Evil hides within, of that be sure," Siréne spoke with urgency burning in her eyes. "We may yet need to open these tombs, but I say let us only do so after all paths have been followed. Dare we release the nightmare again onto the world? Dare we set it free only at the moment of its imprisonment?"

Pausing the witch exhaled and let her cerulean gaze take all in. They were warriors, priests, rogues, and wizards. Somehow the light had drawn them together and the Goddess had forged them into heroes. Yet, could they take on the wraiths? Did they have even a prayer?

Siréne found herself missing old Maggot. Few among them shared her timeless perspective, in this she missed his council. Would Maggot, who had already walked this path, open these boxes or walk away. Thoughts of the ancient bard brought a smile to the witch's face. As always, they would do what must be done.

Regarding her companions, Siréne spoke once again, "Let us search these halls again. If we find no key, then the boxes must be opened."

Lothor listened as various members of the party expressed a desire to backtrack and search elsewhere. The choice was what he had been hoping for. While it seemed very likely that they would be back in this room again before long, there was no reason to release great evil from it's tomb without checking out all alternatives first.

"I agree. Let us check other paths." As he moved to the doorway he added with a grin, "Why is that when we are discussing opening tombs and releasing great evil nobody says "be careful not to change the past!" This might qualify."

Lothor moved with the group back down the hall. "I want to examine a couple of the side rooms as we go back - we might as well be sure. We probably don't want to take the time to check them all. but a few." His plan was to pick 4 rooms - two on each side of the hall. He'd look around for signs of anything in the dust, secret doors in the floor, walls or ceiling. Hopefully Ulthok would use his expertise at these tasks as well. It might even be worth a 'clean' cantrip in each room as well, but that wasn't his call. he just wanted to make sure that by the time they got back to the crossroads room, they had a sense of the rooms they had passed. A 'clean' cantrip would also mark which rooms they had searched if that came to matter later - Lothor also intended to make a little mark on the doorway of eachroom he entered to identify it as searched.

Aliya stands straight and adjusts her armor and her grip on her sword. "If we're going to search the other rooms, then let's get started. Waiting too long may give whatever evil these walls hold an advantage over us. Where shall we start?"