Raffey chuckled at Drache's various jests. Such jokes easily traversed the language barrier. He was about to make a comment on Kavinog breath but stopped when she told him to wait. He looked back to her, admiring her curves outlined by the light from behind her. Listening to her as he enjoyed what he saw, he found he disagreed with her. He walked over, looking closer, head cocked to the side.

[color=fff79a][b]"Ah dun thin' so. Ah thin' we come dis way."[/b][/color] He pointed at the hall following the line to the intersection, opposite where the line continued onto. [color=fff79a][b][b]"Ah thin' dah seercle he'e ees sometin' else. Ah thin' mahbee dees stahrs guh tah dah seety. Ees seem lahk eempotent place, nah?"[/b][/b][/color]

He wasn't sure what the line meant, but he figured perhaps it went somewhere very important to the culture. He thought it best to check the room with the circle, since it seemed to be the only dead end. [color=fff79a][b]"Le's guh he'e. We dun mees anythin' dees way."[/b][/color]

With that, he turned off to the right, scouting down the corridor that they believed led to the circle. The corridor was long, had many carvings. Raffey went slow, watching the carvings on the walls. The smell grew stronger and stronger, the air warmer and more humid. One carving stuck out in particular. It showed a line of people walking toward a circle, then into the circle, then out of it again. The landscapes on either side of the circle were quite different.

Eventually a room far ahead came into view, giving off its own light, a dull blue glow. The stench was so bad, Raffey stopped, ripped some cloth from his shirt, spit on it, and plugged his nose. He offered Drache some of the same. Something was tickling the back of his neck, a warning of the sixth sense sort. He drew one of his javelins, easier to handle with a single hand, and continued toward the light. He didn't bother to walk with stealth, for the torch would give them away. 

At the edge of the room, he could see what was clearly an ornate alter. It was obvious raiders had been her before, from the empty gem slots and the chisel marks all over it. In its prime it was probably worth more than any single person could earn in a life time. But that was far from the most eyecatching thing in the room. Off to the left, set in the wall, was what was emitting the light.

A giant circle was set in the wall, from floor to ceiling. It seemed like the mouth to a cave, but was off, unnatural. It was a portal, to somewhere else. The edges were frayed between this reality and the other. Through the portal, there were many dangling blue lights, that seemed to look like fungi of some sort. The torch did nothing to further illuminate the path through the portal.

Around the room were many stone benches carved high into the walls, like some sort of ancient arena, with this being the main attraction. There were other entrances to the room, only accessible from other areas, and the walls to the benches were quite high. Raffey looked at Drache for guidance, for his area of expertise was monsters, not portals. Raffey was too in awe and too on guard to notice that the first stones past the doorway were slightly raised. But he had yet to move.