Lothor looked at his coin and, shrugging, put it back in his pocket. "You are probably right Ulthok, let us know all of our options. But this one does seem better than the tombs."

"Speaking of the water, it is also very odd that it even exists. With no visible source, it should have evaporated a long time ago if, as all appearances suggest, it has been a long time." Lothor took the time to look into the fountain at the suggestion to see if he could recognize anything on the coins. He did the same for the tapestry. But as all good (or at least, living) adventurers do, he made sure that at least someone was on guard at all times. Dusty or not, this did not seem to be a place to let down ones guard.

Aliya moves closer to the fountain, her curiosity getting the better of her. Concentrating for a moment, she decides to cast a spell towards the fountain looking for any sign of magic on or within it. (OOC - she will relate her findings to the party, if any).

Nodding her head in agreement with Lothor she says, "Agreed, there must be some magic to the fountain or perhaps the water itself".

"Hmm," Aliya thinks to herself, "perhaps I can levitate a coin out of this fountain to see if it's real or an illusion".

She concentrates on one of the gold coins, casting her spell on it to lift it from the water and set it on the floor near her feet.

The party of seven for the most part having decided to touch nothing in this second strange room and with Aliya's failure to levitate a coin from the fountain, thus finding nothing of any information from the coins, once more turned back to return to the octagon shaped room of the four doors. After only a dozen steps they were once more passing through the rotted and decayed wooden door to stand at the rooms center. Gauging which of the doors was the remaining one they once again proceeded down a new/old hallway and once more the walk was a long one, almost three hours in length.

Once again before them lay the remains of a wooden door hiding nothing behind it. Inside this dark chamber of a room your torches reveal a 50x50 room running Northeast to Southeast. Running its length the light from your torches reveal ranks of marble statues, 5 along each wall of human appearing warriors armed with sword, axe, and mace, all carrying shields of various types and sizes. Gazes turned upward a lattice of heavy wooden beams span the room at its highest point creating a type of vaulted ceiling.

From these hang four rusty old cages on thick chains resembling squat ugly eggs with curved bars instead of a white shell. As you scan closer the party easily can see the scattering of bones both in the cages and on the floor around them, yet none forming a whole skeleton. As in the rest of these old rooms everything here is covered in dust and cobwebs and looks long abandoned. Nothing of value stands out.

((Ok DM post once again. Ok as for the fountain room I assumed that with the failure to levitate a coin you would still leave the room and search elsewhere. If I moved you out prematurely please backpost as such. If not feel free to search and do what you do to get to where your going in this new room. Happy 4th of July to you all))

The party finally entered the third room. It was some kind of strange hall with two files of five statues. From the ceiling hung four rusted cages that at one time held prisoners, their bones now scattered on the floor.

"Search those statues for any items or devices. Be careful there may be traps or triggers. Look for runes, writing or designs that may give us more clues. What you find may be of help later. I will go up and check those cages." Ulthok slipped on his boots of spider climbing and carefully scaled the wall to the beams above. He searched the wall as he climbed to watch for possible traps. When he had reached the beams he cautiously made his way over to where the chains held the cages. He looked to see if there any device to lower cages to the floor for closer study. From his perch on the beam he studied the contents of the cages to determine what had been caged and to see if there was anything else in the cages that he could retrieve.

(OOC, if Ulthok is not able to lower the cages and he sees something to retrieve he will climb down the chains, pick the cage door locks and get the items. Peri will assist him by steadying him as he climbs on the chains and cages. He will then climb back down to the party. If the cages can lowered he will lower them and then climb back down to search the cages.)

Lothor watched as Ulthok put on his boots and started to climb up the walls to get a better look at the cages. "At least they don't have giant spiders around here, just this little one." he said with a smile as he kept his eye on things from the floor.

The big warrior carefully examined the statues for anything that might be out of the ordinary - was there anything on the shields? Any sign that part of it could or ever had moved? And sign of wear and tear other than simple age? And what would age them in here? Certainly there was no wind or rain. Did statues crumble from time if there was nothing to wear on them? These seemed to do so.

That done he also took some time to examine the floor. "Hey spider - take a close look at the ceiling while your up there" Of course, he kept his sword in hand and his eyes open the entire time he did these things. Statues in such places frequently were not just statues. Where would the threat come from?

Cor watched. He said nothing. His instincts told him that they would find nothing of value here. The boxes were the key. However, he was content to allow the others to search all other options first. For now, he simply stood ready.

Aliya looks about and silently takes in the scene of the new room. She decide to cast her spell to discover if any magic resides within this room.

(OOC - if anything glows, I will head towards it to carefully investigate. If not, I will head towards the first statue on my left and making my way around the room, looking at each in turn for anything out of the ordinary - runes or any other markings. Also looking at the shields to see if any of the herealdry is familiar at all.)

Rayne studied each room with the others, even if it was not her expertise. It was definitely some sort of dungeon. This torture room showed it. This room, the torture room, was the antithesis of the fountain room. This room seemed much darker, the statues eyeing the cages as if some sort of death or sacrifice was about the occur. The fountain room at least seemed peaceful. However, the stone coffins did not seem to fit in with a simple sacrifice. If someone was sacrificed the people who did the sacrifice would probably not bother to go to all the trouble to make stone coffins for them...

What if this wasn't so much a sacrifice, but a transformation? The skeletons spread across the floor could have been unable to survive the transformation? Or a disastrous attempt to do so? Maybe there would be some sort of markings under the cages to represent a structure that would give a hint? Rayne moved to the areas under the cages and investigated the floor for any sign of something being there previously.

Siréne took flight to join Ulthok and Peri in their search of the cages and the ceiling. She followed their lead, taking care all the way.

Cautiously moving past the remains of the wooden door and into the 50x50 room before them the party as was their normal routine began a systematic search. While Ulthok wearing his boots of spider climbing moved up to the cages, Sirene and Peri took to the air to do the same.

As the two mages and Peri first lowered, then searched the cages and bones with Rayne's help, they could not find anything other then long dust covered remains. With no traces of skin, clothing, scraps or what had caused them to fall apart there was no way to determine how they had died. By the number of bones Sirene and Ulthok came to the conclusion that at least 15 creatures had died here. The skulls as much as could be seen were all of humanoid creatures, possibly elves and human, but easily other creatures as well those without distinctive facial bone features.

With Cor standing watch, Lother moved to take a closer look at the 10 statues. As he got closer it became clear that the statues had been crafted without any sort of facial features and left as a blank head, much like that of a mannequin.

Aliya not content to wait decided to cast a spell of Detect Magic and was puzzled by the result. Though nothing glowed as magical there was yet a strong feeling of magic within the room. However from where or what this magic came from was a mystery for the moment.

With nothing to show for the nature of the room, other then some type of prison, the party once more left in mystery.

((DM OOC: Ok only 3 days late lol. Ok as most of you post between now and Sunday normally I'll wait and see and if most have posted I'll post again this Sunday.))

"Gather all the bones. Their souls are tortured and need to be released from their torment. Once we have them all I will bless them and consecrate a small area." Cor began to gather the bones.

As Cor moved to start collecting the bones, Lothor spoke up. "Cor, stop. There are voices. I hear them - they may be connected to the statues." Lothor looked at the statues and attempted to speak to the voices in his head. "Who are you? How can I free you?" At that point Lothor backed up from the statues a bit to see if the voices went up or down in volume. (Tann????) "Male, female. maybe even a child. They want help - release, but are getting demanding, even threatening. Do we have a way to detect spirits?"

"I hear the voices as well. They ask, nay demand release. If we bless the bones and set them on holy ground it may allow the spirits to rest."

When Ulthok and Sirene had finished searching the cages the Halfling became aware of what seemed to be voices. The words were in his mind and not his hearing. At first the voices, they sounded of male, female and even those of children, pleaded to released and then demanded release using threats of attack.

Both Lothor and Cor spoke of the voices too.

Cor giving his opinion of how to respond. "I hear the voices as well. They ask, nay demand release. If we bless the bones and set them on holy ground it may allow the spirits to rest."
Ulthok agreed with this idea. "I have no knowledge of a way to release spirits, perhaps if we do as Cor suggested and each of us pray to our deities we can leave the spirits fate in their hands where it should belong.

Ulthok then began gathering the bones and placing them where Cor indicated. When that was complete he turned his thoughts to his goddess and asked if she might help these souls to find peace.

The cacophony of voices filled her ears. They wailed and pleaded. They demanded and threatened. Siréne knew not what horror held these spirits here, but the very core of her being ached to free them. To hold any against their will beyond death was an abomination.

"I hear the voices as well. We must find a way to release them. We must bring them peace." Turning to Cor she spoke again, "I must pray to the Great Mother for any magics of consecration. This task might well be up to you now. I will add my voice and sing to the Great Goddess for their release."