Relaxing just a little as nothing jumps out at them, Cirice sighs. "Great job Gerhart! I thought for sure all the coffins were going to have monsters in them. I'll keep my eyes closed while we go down the tunnel. I'll let you know if I see anything and call it out. We should probably keep a look out for traps too." She turns and grabs the end of Cyran's cloak and closes her eyes. "I'll follow after like this so I don't get left behind! Lets go a little slow so I can have time to look around, okay? Teamwork!"


She'll try to keep as close to Cyran as possible and keep her eyes shut tight as they go through the tunnel, scanning everything top to bottom. Anything odd she'll alert the others to, and if they come into a fight she'll be ready to heal.

Nothing popped out at them when Gerhart moved the coffin- only when moving the coffin revealed the tunnel behind it did Cyran breathe a small sigh of relief, but he did not relax his guard. He nodded along with Cirice as she voiced her own gratitude that no monsters had popped out at them. That didn’t mean he wasn’t expecting anything at the end of the tunnel, however.

“Great job, Gerhart.” Cyran complimented, proud of Gerhart for showing caution once rather than charging in blindly. He was about to caution Cirice to stay behind him in the marching order down the tunnel, but she had already grabbed onto the back of his cloak, asking the two of them to lead her slowly down the tunnel so she could keep an eye out for anything in the tunnel itself.

“That sounds like a good idea.” Given the traps they had already encountered, they couldn’t be too careful. With Gerhart leading the way down the tunnel, Cyran followed behind at a distance, watching for any threats in the shadows. He moved slowly, ready to react if Cirice spotted anything strange. Wary of the coffins behind them that still might open now that their back was turned, Cyran prepared to construct a wall of shadows just in case anything came after them. While he watched from behind, he trusted Gerhart to watch their front while they progressed closer towards the light.

“Are you two doing alright? Take it easy- we still have no clue what might be at the end.” If his suspicions proved correct, given that the riddle at the beginning read He Who Lies Beneath the Eye of God, Cyran had a sneaking suspicion that they were going to stumble upon the Sultan soon… whether in death or undeath.

---

Casting Death Wall if Cyran spots anything coming from the room behind them to block them.

The trio had managed to make it this far, now working together to push their way through the tunnel. Gerhat took point, guiding his team forward, slow and prepared for whatever happened. Cirice and Cyran remained in the back, scanning the hall, looking for clues or hints to reveal more traps. The group managed to make it the full length of the tunnel with no incidents, the walls having nothing to show or hide. The entire time our heroes closed in on their goal, the brighter and closer the light became.

Eventually they came to the mouth of the secret passage, a massive chamber opening up before them. Directly above their heads, attached to the wall was a small glass orb glowing red and giving off enough light to dimly illuminate a small area at the opening of the doorway. Before them stretched a vast expanse of darkness, with another similar light on the other side. It was hard to clearly make out any details, only able to see a field of medium tall sand dunes separating their side of the room from the other. It looked like a desert, with rolling hills of sand in various heights and sizes.

Other than this, the room was pretty bare. A 50 foot ceiling and 150 foot expanse of room sat there quietly, only the two red glows of light and the questing party of three.

---

Notes:
The room

SPOILER: Click to show

-Cirice- 0 Wounds
-Cyran- 0 Wounds, one blind eye
-Gerhart- 0 Wounds

"Okay I'll try making a couple red lights for us to match the lanterns, maybe that will work!" Cirice holds her hands up over Gerhart's sword, summoning a red light to make the metal glow. She then summons a small ball of re light in her hands and takes a tentative step forward towards the nearest bit of sand, looking to see how it reacts to the light and to see if it will reveal anything. "Maybe the sand will receede from the light or perhaps a path will show. I'll also try changing the color to a more sunny color after this!"

Gerhart grins a bit at the now glowing sword. “Smart idea, good thing I have you here or I would’ve been buried by now.”

Gerhart waits for his sword to alight before he takes a few steps towards the sand, sword out to see if it effects anything or illuminates a path forward. Hopefully an actual path is revealed to them, his head was starting to hurt from all the riddles and thinking.

Cirice and Gerhart both seemed to have different ideas for how to tackle this room. Cyran watched as Cirice tried casting different shades of light, even casting light on Cirice’s sword. Once his sword was lit, Gerhart tried getting close to the sand, waving his sword around in an attempt to see if shining light did anything. Cyran waited for them both to finish their own experiments, waiting to see what they discovered, before testing his own theory.

He looked up at the faint red lights on the ceiling, waving his hand. He attempted to dissipate the light sources, trying an opposite strategy to Cirice’s own, wanting to see what plunging them in darkness for a moment might reveal.^[1] They needed to be sure they knew the safest path to take here and avoid triggering any more traps.

---

1. Remove Light

Now in the massive chamber and under the soft glow of the red lights, the team moved about to figure out the next step. Cirice began with casting her own light spell, illuminating Gerharts blade and creating a red orb of her own. Now with an illuminated weapon, Gerhart neared the edge of the sand and waved the sword around, attempting to discern anything. During and after, Cyran also set out to remove the pre existing light, snuffing out the red orb that hovered above the door they entered through.

However due to the other light being on the complete opposite side of the room, it was out of reach of the spell, remaining unaffected. Darkness fell over the trio's side of the room, plunging the group into the shadow as only the opposite sides light and Gerharts blade were giving off enough light to see. An already eerie room grew stranger as the lights dimmed, but nothing happened. No paths were revealed, no secrets or clues, both with eyes closed and with them open. There they stood, inches from the sand, now in darkness.

---

Notes:
Nothing gained, the opposite light did not go out (has no direct impact, just too far away)

-Cirice- 0 Wounds
-Cyran- 0 Wounds, one blind eye
-Gerhart- 0 Wounds

“Turn the lights back on! I don’t think going blind is the move this time.” Gerhart gave off a little laugh as he tried to think of something. Suddenly he perks up, reaching into a hip pouch. Gerhart pulls out a few pebbles, “Let’s see if this can stir something in the sand.

A handful of popping pebbles are scattered against the sand. Gerhart tries to get a good spread in the toss to affect was wide an area as possible. The tiny explosions hope to reveal something hidden below

Cirice frowns, sad that her idea didn't work and reaches up to relight the light above them Cyran put out, but this time for fun she makes it a bright yellow-orange, like a miniature sun¹. That just seems to match this place's vibe more to her. Sands in the sun. She's trying not to feel frustrated as she hasn't been able to help her friends as much as they've helped her. She leans down off to the side of where they're standing and bends down to look at the sand a little more closely. Carefully she gathers a little in her gloved hand, letting the grains sift through her fingers and fall into a tiny dune of her own. She wonders if there's anything strange about the sand itself and watches it closely to see if anything happens with it.

It was a bit disappointing that the darkness had not revealed anything, nor had the light. “I suppose I’ll have to try closing my eyes again.” He could feel that he had enough energy to summon his wings forth once more, so after observing what happened with Gerhart’s pop rocks, Cyran would call on them again.

“Don’t stray too far into the sand, Cirice.” Cyran warned, concerned. He didn’t want to stop her from investigating, but she was so happy-go-lucky that he didn’t want her to throw herself into something that she couldn’t handle by accident. “We don’t know if there’s anything hiding in here yet.”

He took off into the air, informing the others, “I’m going to see if looking from the sky will tell me anything.” He flew at a snail’s pace over the sand but a safe enough distance from the roof above, making his way over to the light on the other side that he hadn’t managed to snuff out, closing his eyes just in case anything might be revealed to him as he slowly inched his way through the air. With his eyes closed, he also clicked his tongue, using echolocation to determine if there were any other creatures in the chamber besides the three of them.

---

Bat Wings

Stumped, the group continued to try and figure out what was going on, having failed each time before. It seemed like the light and blind trick was not at play here, but what was? Gerhart and Cirice approached the sand, one throwing some exploding pebbles and the other investigating the sand. As Cyran summoned forth their wings and took to the skies, the two left on the ground waiting to see if anything revealed itself. Cyran was now in the air, preparing to move forward and using their eco sense to scan the room.

Thats when it shifted, the sand dunes themselves moving across the ground, a slithering motion moving beneath the loose earth. Cyran felt it, a massive entity buried beneath the sand, a creature of some kind resting under the surface. Everything happened so fast, before any of the three were able to alert the others, the sand began to whip around, spraying through the air as a large skeleton structure rose from the sand. Bone could be seen through the dimly lit lantern light, a towering thing now face to face with Cyran.

Gerhart and Cirice would watch a huge snake made of bone rise up and coil around, causing the sand to shift and fly everywhere. Its entire body was made of bone, no skin, no muscle, and where its organs should have been, emptiness. They stood in astonishment as it rose towards their air born comrade. Cyran had less time to admire the grandness of it, for they instead had a wide open skeletal serpents mouth attempting to close down around them. It was the quickest motion Cyran would have seen in their lives, just barely able to react before the mouth enclosed around them.

---

Notes:
Big Snake go ssssssss

-Cirice- 0 Wounds
-Cyran- 0 Wounds, one blind eye
-Gerhart- 0 Wounds

SPOILER: Click to show

"Well I think we upset it." Gerhart's attempt at a bit of light hearted banter is cut short as he sees the snake bearing down on Cyran. Shit, time for Gerhart to resort back to 'do something incredibly stupid and dangerous in the hopes you get hurt instead of your friends.'

"DOWN HERE YOU BONE SNAKE....DORK...STUPID FACE." Coming up with good insults was hard under stress, but a challenge was issued.[1]

Gerhart drew both swords and dashed across the sand with incredible speed hoping it was actually solid sand beneath him. If he was able to cross the chasm[2], Gerhart would try and stab both swords into a vertebrae of the snake's body. One sword was enchanted with Double Strike which would hit just a bit harder if this lands.

---

<sup>1. Challenging Mark
2. Rushing Charge</sup>

Looking up from where she's investigating the sand to watch Cyran unfurl his wings and head out over the sand, Cirice yelps. "CYRAN!" she screams as the monstrous skeletal snake erupts from the sand. The flying sand spray stings her skin as she watches in horror as the creature heads for her friend. And then the mouth is closing over Cyran. 

"NO!" But Gerhart is faster, he shouts at the creature, trying to divert its attention to him and attacking it from head on. He's big and strong and powerful and she isn't, but she can't stand aside and do nothing. There is no sinew, no skin to inflict wounds upon, but maybe if they can sever whatever connects the bones they can weaken it! As Gerhart charged towards the thing she runs out to the side, trying to keep clear of the tail in the coil as the runes on her arms flash with violet light and malevolent-looking claws of that same violet light stretch from her fingertips¹. She doesn't have a hope for doing much damage, but maybe she can get past the hardness of the bones and sever anything inside as she swipes at where two vertebrae meet. 

---

1 Death Swipe

The skeletal snake was so fast as it snapped into the air, maw opening as it prepared to eat him, that Cyran could barely track its movements, much less think about his next course of action. He didn’t have anything that would protect him from getting swallowed if he got caught, so his only chance was to spook the snake. He did the first thing he could think of- he pulled up his hood, hoping that his horrifying visage would prevent it from attacking him out of fear, all while flying to the right in a diagonal motion in a hasty attempt to put some space between them.^[1]

He heard Gerhart crying out, attempting to catch the creature’s attention, and Cirice’s horrified voice as she screamed his name. If Gerhart’s provocation worked, and the beast turned its attention away from Cyran to him, then Cyran would drop down and slash at it with the dagger of torment clutched in his hand. He wasn’t sure if the serrated blade would be enough to cut at the bone, but he had to try something- both Cirice and Gerhart were within striking range, and he needed to seal it in its own body before it hurt either of them, and give Cirice and Gerhart a chance to strike with their own attacks.^[2]

---

1. Hood of Horrors
2. Dagger of Torment

Cyran had just barely enough time to fly backwards, using their wings to move them out of the way as the giant skeletal snakes mouth snapped down, the sound of bone colliding with bone echoed out in the vast chamber. Just as Cyran began to grab their gear to defend, Gerhart activated his challenging mark, pulling the attention of the snake towards him instead. With lightning quick speed the snakes head arched downwards, racing towards Gerhart who was now rushing towards the monster, blades swinging from side to side.

Despite their heroic valor none of the trios attacks seemed to do anything. Gerhart and Cyran's blades simply collided against solid bone, clanking off as if they had hit solid stone. Cirice's claws also seemed to do nothing, having no effect on the giant creature. In response, the serpents body coiled around once again, spiraling around as the large flat side of the skeletons tail swept across the floor, sliding right towards both Gerhart and Cirice. It was wide enough to prevent them from side stepping, either left or right, and was fast enough to prevent them from running backwards. The thickness of the tail also prevented them from jumping over the tail without any enhancements.

Cyran was no longer focused as the serpent completely ignored them, allowing them to continue to hover mid air. The two on the ground however were in a tight spot, having the body of the snake slide towards them and the head descend upon them, racing to follow up with a secondary attack.