In all honesty, the unpreparedness on the Shinobi's part was duly noted with a sigh, and the elf, visibly perplexed and tired, was ready to pluck one of her arrows to give this clone of a lousy spy some light so she wouldn't jump into a dark abyss.

But Fia would step in, flicking her wrist forward to conjure a small ball of light and then guide it to be next to Akari. It glowed in a similar intensity to Rezello's candlelight and seemed 'smart' enough to follow whoever the spell was assigned to. "How convenient".
“Here you go, darling. Treasure awaits us.”

@Akari

The figure of Akari that was being told about interacted with the small ball that flew around her, and she made a small bow to both Fia and Jazdia. As her party was told to make it quick. She proceeded to head to the Treasure Room at great speed while extending her arms behind her back and keeping her hands open. While running forty miles per hour, the young kunoichi has no problem with obstacles along the way, as with a faster reaction and a light provided, luckily the small ball of light is bound to her and matches her speed. Reaching the Treasure for a short time.

"She arrived in Treasure Room now." One of Akari who have been with Eblana approached the two lady and told them.

When Jazdia saw Akari's clone propel herself away, she couldn't decide if she should feel relieved or worried.

"Should have asked her not to run," quipped Stepan.

Mr Elc joined them to see the clone run off.

"Nah, it's fine. If she somehow ran into any devourer, we would know it."

"Thankfully, there will be no bodies to retrieve, eh?"

"Ain't that right."

Jazdia could only let out an inaudible groan. Two men gossiping as if they didn't realize that the real one was still with them was quite a silly situation to see. Diverting her attention to Fia, she made small talk to kill time.
"That's an interesting spell. To command it to follow someone other than the caster is not something that can usually be done in seconds."

@Randomness

She found the chamber, slithered up the roughly hewn stairs that was unclear whether it was natural or manmade, then shifted into a somewhat different snake that sprung and glided across the chasm before latching onto the opposite site. It was... getting a bit too dark even for a snake's darksight, but the dim glow of Viridian's spectral form overlapped with her and provided just enough illumination for her to find the rest of the way.

Verdant found herself in the treasure room, treasure cave? Anyway, she made her way to the dust-covered boxy shape that was definitely the treasure chest, taking a moment to investigate the surrounding before returning to the human form.

Flicking out her good old steel knife, she poked around for locking mechanism before sliding the blade through the side and trying to pry it open from there rather than standing in front of the whole thing. Blasted by unpleasant stuff from a box was an experience that she's perfectly content on not repeating again.

"I wonder what's in this..."

The box was made of wood, maybe as old as the skeletons that littered the place, which wasn't really that old, actually. Yet prying it open was an easy endeavor a random poke into its keyhole disengaged whatever lock that held it shut. Inside were gold coins, Coins that were commonly minted and still in circulation on the continent. Looking at the size of that chest, one could approximate that it contains around 800 identical coins inside.

Verdant stared at the shinies, and though its glimmer was much dimmer under the darkness the telltale shape of coins was rather obvious. Picking one and flicking, tossing it around her fingers... it got the right heft. Probably gold?

Oookay, that's quite a lot of shinies. How to bring it back, though? Rather than heavy it was densely unwieldy, she'll have to abandon stealth to transport the chest.

Hm. Hmm. Hmmm.

She had an idea.

Verdant picked up the chest with a grunt and veeery carefully retraced her steps, ears open for potential devourers. Her bare feet made no noise in her passing, though minute clinking occasionally echoed from the coins inside. At the chasm she simply reverted to her original form, the chest clamped between her jaws as she bridged the gap... running into Akari in the process.

"Oh hi there!" The same high-pitched voice whispered, though now completely unfitting with the massive physique. Verdant reverted back to her two-legged form, catching the chest in her hands with a soft series of clinks. "Found some shinies!"

When Jazdia saw Akari's clone propel herself away, she couldn't decide if she should feel relieved or worried.

"Should have asked her not to run," quipped Stepan.

"Nah, it's fine. If she somehow ran into any devourer, we would know it."

"Thankfully, there will be no bodies to retrieve, eh?"

Jazdia could only let out an inaudible groan. Two men gossiping as if they didn't realize that the real one was still with them was quite a silly situation to see.

"No worries. One of my clones can be replaced instant. Great thing is. We have a shared memories, so I could used it as a scout." Akari who had with Fia and Jazdia approached the two curious mercenaries.

Verdant picked up the chest with a grunt and veeery carefully retraced her steps, ears open for potential devourers. Her bare feet made no noise in her passing, though minute clinking occasionally echoed from the coins inside. At the chasm she simply reverted to her original form, the chest clamped between her jaws as she bridged the gap... running into Akari in the process.

"Oh hi there!" The same high-pitched voice whispered, though now completely unfitting with the massive physique. Verdant reverted back to her two-legged form, catching the chest in her hands with a soft series of clinks. "Found some shinies!"

"Hello.. What we got here? Also I think we can keep those chest as a container. If you don't mind?" Akari replied. She seemed to be panting and the small ball lightning is slowly fept flew around her.

@Akari
"No worries. One of my clones can be replaced instant. Great thing is. We have a shared memories, so I could used it as a scout."

"Is that so?" Replied Stepan, sounding intrigued. "Means all good, all bad, all pleasant and all nasty your other bodies feel, you feel it too?"

The shinobi nodded.

"If they are dead, by all manner of killin', you'd remember it too? Damn Gal! I wonder how you've stayed sane all these years. Do they behave like you do? Techniques, strategy, and all?"

@Akari
"No worries. One of my clones can be replaced instant. Great thing is. We have a shared memories, so I could used it as a scout."

"Is that so?" Replied Stepan, sounding intrigued. "Means all good, all bad, all pleasant and all nasty your other bodies feel, you feel it too?"

The shinobi nodded.

"If they are dead, by all manner of killin', you'd remember it too? Damn Gal! I wonder how you've stayed sane all these years. Do they behave like you do? Techniques, strategy, and all?"

"We got used to it... The real Akari is no where to be reach physically as for now. Until the last figure remain, it will shift the real self to it. She is currently inside of some Realm, controlling all of the clones. We behave same as the real one." One of Akari who is with the two mercenaries continued.

---

With both the speed of the snake and that of the ninja girl, the wait for not so hidden treasures would be short. Still, most of the party was waiting in the near dark cavern until they returned, so there was some time to kill. A few of the others chatted among themselves, mostly about Akari’s ability to clone herself. Fia herself was also intrigued, but from what she gathered, it was more of a technique than a spell. No matter, Fia worked best when all her magic originates together from one source.
Fia rested her arms on top of each other pressed softly against her abdomen when Jazdia asked her question. Fia’s eyes looked at the ranger elf, her composure fair, yet her eyes tired. While she was able to imbue her arrows with mana, it didn’t appear that Jazdia worked with the free flow of raw magical power. It was no matter, using a medium made things easier, and the results were nothing to scoff at. And even then, easier was a trapped word. It still took control to command mana to do what it needed. Otherwise, the elf would risk blowing herself packing the explosive energy within those arrows of hers.
“Interesting? Dearie, that is probably one of the least interesting things about my capabilities. All the same, thank you for the compliment.” said Fia. She smiled at the elf, though the low light might not have allowed it to show. Fia moved closer to the elf to be within more conversing distance. “Unlike those casters from academia, or who hide out in their palaces, I derive my magic from more primal sources. If you’re curious, darling, I can tell you more about it when we are somewhere less... drab.

"Coins! I think we'd have to keep the chest, it's not easy to carry everything otherwise." Verdant quipped lightly, tottering back to the party with barely any noise. Still no devourers anywhere close... the short trip ending rather anticlimatically as she emerged into the magical light.

Anticlimatic was good. It's nice and peaceful.

"I found shinies!" She announced with an excited whisper, the small chest lifted up high as if she's worried someone wouldn't get a good eyeful of the dusty thing.

“Interesting? Dearie, that is probably one of the least interesting things about my capabilities. All the same, thank you for the compliment.Unlike those casters from academia, or who hide out in their palaces, I derive my magic from more primal sources. If you’re curious, darling, I can tell you more about it when we are somewhere less... drab."

"It would be a pleasure to gain new knowledge. I will take that offer then, thank you," answered Jazdia finally, smiling earnestly. Jazdia remembered the last time she read a magical tome; it was during her last days in Daystar Academy some 25 years ago. She took a three-year course there, not to learn ways of wizardry, but rather to deepen her understanding of her own magical capability. Mostly for combat, and nothing else. Her overall magical aptitude was always limited at best, and it was a practical decision to focus on what she was always good at.

So it was a bit of a new experience for her to see someone performing an array of spells that even the brightest student in Daystar struggled to master: versatility, flexibility, and variance.

"I found shinies!"

Despite Verdant's attempt not to announce her findings out loud, her voice was too distinctive it immediately seized Jazdia's full attention.

"That's... fast," she remarked. Vigilant as ever, Jazdia glanced at the tunnel the explorer just left behind and half expected the devourers would leap out of the darkness. Nothing happened, and at that point, she realized that she needed to lower her stress level down several notches.

"Well, well, look at that." Stepan was seen rubbing his palm, while Vesemir reacted to the good news like a proud father.

Mr Elc approached Jazdia to spy on the findings. But with his mask still covering half of his face, it was hard to say if he was impressed or disappointed.

"I must say, had I known there was this much gold hidden in those tunnels would have volunteered. I wonder how many it is."

"Enough to buy Vesemir seven more mercenaries."

Not even gold coins escaped Jazdia's scrutiny. Locks and the chest itself were obviously something designed by Westernant workshop, and when Verdant proudly showed the insides, the glittering coins were not at all ancient. It was recent, still in circulation, and they were found in the section where human knights fell. Jazdia felt a sudden surge of uneasiness, and at that moment, she remembered Rezello.

But the elf did not say anything.

Rezello

---

While Verdant and one of the three Akaris set out to retrieve the treasure, Rezello gathered the old weapons scattered on the floor of the chamber, sending them into his Armory. Rust and age had rendered them unsuitable for more than one or two good strikes, and that same decay would make them worthless to a typical merchant, but he figured if he could use them to make the killing blow on a few devourers then that might help the spirits of their former users rest just a bit easier.

When the ascended snake and the illusory ninja returned, the former bearing a chest of coins - “shinies” - and the latter... exhausted, more than anything else, Rezello shifted his light towards them before approaching to better witness firsthand the party’s first acquisition. Aside from the layers of dust that coated the outside, the treasure chest and its contents seemed... far too recent. It didn’t seem likely that any expedition that would’ve made it this far would have left such valuables behind - let alone brought them into the tunnels in the first place - so where did these come from? Several of the deceased in the cavern still had their equipment and clothes with them; perhaps some unfortunate merchant or noble was transporting the gold when the corrupted magic that had affected Scheel whisked them away.

Of course, this was all just speculation on the assumption that it had come from Scheel at all. Regardless of how it arrived or who it once belonged to, it did no good sitting in the dead end of some cursed tunnels, doomed to rot and be devoured by... well, devourers. Better off in the hands of the living.

“A good find, this. Though...” Rezello paused, picking up one of the coins to inspect it closer before continuing, “I can’t help but wonder where it came from.” He flipped the golden disc between his fingers a few times before tossing it back into the pile, shrugging. “Well, better with us than forgotten here. I’m sure the original owner would agree.”

"I move fast." Verdant answered the elf with an unmistakable preen, basking in the compliment with a gleam in her eyes. "The slow sneks gets eaten by bigger stuff." She added with a hint of morbid cheer, before skipping toward the oddly familiar miko.

"Dont worry about that, I'm pretty good at spotting those. Or laying those, for the matter. It's actually easier to improvise when I'm alone, I think? Cant spray the room with venom if there's friends in it." She saw the hand coming, subtly leaned in for the well-deserved pat, then withered with a hint of disappointment when it was retracted. Whyyyy? Pats was nice. She liked pats. And physical affection in general. Too bad that most people didn't share the same sentiment, or at least to the same degree that Verdant was.

"That's definitely good news. Especially because... you know... Chests in a dungeon... On most stories, things like these always come with either traps or ambushes. You should rely on us a bit more. Running headfirst towards a possibly dangerous situation is never a good idea." Miwa said, delicately lecturing Verdant.

It was clear that the plan was scouting the path ahead, not a treasure retrieval. But what was done was done, and truth to be told, if there were traps, Jazdia would have seen them in her first scan and warned the party. The intention to claim the treasure together was to minimize the altercations that came with it; everyone would witness the treasure being found together, get it together, and open it together so no one would feel cheated.

But that too didn't seem to be in everyone's mind at the moment. The topics went on, and some of them took their time to inspect the findings, and yet Nobody was talking about dividing the wealth. So the moments stretched, and the rangers had grown uneasy.

"We should move now." Said Mr. Elc.

"Yeah, we should! More treasure awaits us in that vault."

The elves decided not to wait. It was now up to the rest of the party to distribute the gold among themselves. For now, the chest was secure in Verdant's possession, lugged around as they resumed their march into the tunnel. Jazdia and Vesemir, in particular, did not mind as long as the gold did not slow them down.

And finally, the first sign of masonry could be seen replacing the craggy wall, and in front of them was a ruined wall that exposed several small rooms behind. Dark and reeking of death, there was something eerie about that section that made even seasoned rangers like Jazdia and Mr. Elc reconsider. Not a mere ghost or supernatural entity, but something enigmatic and unfathomably evil, even the light from Vesemir's enchanted lantern couldn't penetrate.

"Is that our entrance?" Asked Vesemir, oddly enough, he seemed unaffected by dreadful whispers coming from that dark room. "and here I am already prepared the key access."

"I have no recollection of this..." Jazdia mused, gazing into that unnatural darkness that gazed back with a haunting lure. The elf quickly assessed that it was magic, a dark, necromantic type. Cast ages ago, but designed to linger. Jazdia took a step back as if it was fire that harmed.

"That can't be it." Eblana inched closer to Jazdia. "Right, miss? I... don't like the looks of it. It's like the darkness that can swallow you whole."

"Nonsense! I've been in many places like this. Black Magic? Pah! That's just your imagination, My Dear." Vesemir had had his hat fixed, shoulder square, "Follow me, Lads!" and he would have sauntered into that room had Mr. Elc not seized his arm and forcibly pulled him to his side.

"No. I'd have followed you if it were just us, but this party has a Navigator, and it is wise to listen to her before doing anything against our better judgment."

He shifted his gaze to Jazdia, silently asking her for alternatives.

"Seeing that wall, I do not doubt that this entrance may lead to that vault, but let us keep walking. I think the door I saw before should be near; otherwise, we can always return here."

True, the tunnel hadn't ended yet. There was another path to the right. It was still darkness whichever direction they chose, but at least it wasn't as creepy as that broken room they just left behind.

After roughly thirty strides, they saw a door.

"That must be it then?"

There were two skeletons near it. One wore knight armor. The other skeleton leaned against the wall, hugging a golden scepter that emanated an ancient magic. A scimitar and a greatsword lay between them and the door, and both suffered damage that could only be caused by madness or desperation.

"Yes."

Jazdia joined Vesemir as he examined the door, the last barrier that separated her from salvation. It was made of stainless steel and copper. Its surface bore numerous scratches and shallow dents, likely caused by broken blades. There was no visible keyhole; the door was a solid slab of metal and the only irregularity on its otherwise smooth surface was a small square area on the left, engraved with intricate patterns about the size of a person's palm.

"Yeah, no doubt about that. Though... this is not like what I've imagined."

"How was it in your imagination?"

The old elf ran his fingers along the smooth surfaces before answering solemnly. "More engravings, symbols, or heraldries. Things that show who we are."

Jazdia politely let the scholar savor his moments before asking the big question.

"Any idea how to open it?"

Vesemir did not answer with a word; he enthusiastically fished out a card from his suit pocket. It was made of silver, like a miniature of the door itself, with similar engravement on one side of it. The moment Vesemir placed the card on that engraving, the lines started to glow, but the process was not instant. The glow flashed multiple times, and she could have sworn there was a faint voice somewhere behind the walls.

"That's gold, ain't it?" Someone said. Jazdia looked over her shoulder, thinking they might be referring to the door. Turns out it was Stepan. The man observed the skeleton, but there was something unnatural in his voice when he talked about gold and he did not sound like himself.

"Right. I know it looks tempting, but it is wise to exercise some caution." Fully turned back toward the party, Jazdia continued. "Miss Fia, would you mind handling that scepter and seeing what it is all about?

---

Giddy with their newly acquired treasures, the party ventured forth. “We can worry about splitting the gold once we are out of the caves and safe at camp” suggested Fia. This wasn’t her first excursion that uncovered hidden treasures, and it wasn’t likely to be her last. Stuck in the middle of a dungeon was not really a good place to start dividing loot. There were too many chances for things to go wrong. Especially if during the process one of the party members felt cheated. The gold was neatly contained within the wooden chest, so it wasn’t going anywhere anyway. Though the box was dingy, it was still sturdy. The only cumbersome thing about it was the size. Not exactly a small box, but small enough to try onto someone’s pack.
After several minutes, the walls began to smooth, and the moisture lessen. The sounds of the creatures left behind deafened. What lay before them was a fork in the road. One way led down a path that Rezello’s flame could not penetrate. It was ominous, almost otherworldly. Whatever it was, the darkness worked well as both a wall and a deterrent. For the time being, it was silently decided to leave it alone. After all, the other path led to the very door Vesemir had been anticipating.
Compared to normal elven architecture, or at least compared to much of what Fia had seen when it came to their architecture, the door war mostly plain. A minimalist look even, with the only intricate designs it had designating the lock. A solid block of metal otherwise. Truly, the best word to describe it was a vault, even if the true vault lay somewhere deeper within the structure. This place wasn’t built to be pretty, it was made to be sturdy and secure deep underground.
As luck would have it, further treasures were to be found. More remains of travelers or victims past lay by each other, the cold steel door being their remaining obstacle for salvation. Though, evidence shown that it was one they could not overcome. Poor dears. To find themselves desperate and isolated in these caves. Whatever drove them here, they knew it was a door, but clearly lacked the key. Unlike those poor souls, the party did have a key. Vesemir produced a card and though the door didn’t open immediately, it was enough to get some kind of reaction out of it.
“Jazdia is right about that. Gold it may be, but there is something tantalizing emanating from it. An enchantment? Some ancient magic, perhaps?” said Fia, “Yes, give me a second. Lets see what we have here.” Fia knelt down next to one of the skeletons. The person this once was died embracing a golden sceptre, a treasure Fia took notice of, but Stepan brought attention to. It must have had some importance or power because they died with their arms tightly around it. Even after so many years where the connective tissue had been rotted away, the bones remained in place.
The sceptre was covered and dirtied by the passing of time. Yet even so, was still clearly a valuable item if only by the materials it was made. A short rod with three pointed crown on one end, and tapering to a point at the other. A vine motif wrapped around the shaft ending at the crown resembling the large bulb of a closed flower. Two thorns formed at the top of either side while a central spike formed the middle of the three points on the crown. There were inlays for eight gems, three of which were missing. An ornate item indeed, and one that held magical potential.
“Oh, this was a neat find, my dear Stepan.” said Fia. Gingerly, she released the golden sceptre from the embrace of the skeleton, its arms finally able to relax after so many decades. The magic it held was drained, yet it still emanated power like a candle that refused to dim even as the wax had burned away. Attempting to activate it proved futile. It wasn’t a tool for channeling, but rather one that contained an enchantment of its own. Though Fia failed to actually activate the sceptre, she was able to glean what its purpose was. She looked over to the mercenary who shown interest in the sceptre even if it were for monetary reasons.
“What we have here is teleportation.” said Fia flatly. Teleportation. At least proper teleportation had still managed to elude Fia after her countless hours studying creatures capable of it themselves, if in only limited capacity. Perhaps it was those limits that made it hard for her master it herself. To travel more than the distance of a city block was advanced magic. So to have something capable here, and somehow programmed into a magic item was intriguing. Truly ancient technology that has since been lost or stifled. “It’s dead, of course. It needs a new source of mana. I have to give credit to the people of the distant path. It managed to hold its identity even after several millennia. I’m not even sure if the elves alone are the ones who crafted it.”

Rezello

---

With their newfound gold secured, the party carried on through the underground labyrinth, jagged edges of the tunnel walls eventually giving way to carved stone as they approached their destination. There was an opening in the wall ahead of them that opened into some unidentified chamber, engulfed in a shadow that seemed to consume any light shone upon it. There was something unnerving about that abyssal darkness, as though whatever magic had created it emanated malice, and they quickly carried on down the rest of the path.

At the end of the tunnel was another smooth stonework wall, this time with a large metal surface built into it; the door they had been looking for, evidently. Two more of the deceased rested along the wall near the base of the sealed opening, some slight damage to the otherwise pristine surface of the metal slab and a pair of damaged blades evidence of a futile struggle to break through. While Vesemir produced a small silver card and placed it on the door, activating some sort of magic or mechanism in the door, Stepan had taken interest in the scepter one of the corpses had been holding. Rezello watched as Fia, at Jazdia’s request, inspected the ornate gold artifact and the lingering magic within. Once her appraisal had concluded, she explained its arcane nature to Stepan: teleportation magic.

“Teleportation...” Yet another point towards one of Rezello’s current theories. Of course, given the nature of such magic, the scepter alone likely wouldn’t have been able to cause the Scheel incident, but its presence here couldn’t have been mere coincidence... could it? A piece of a larger puzzle, perhaps. The question at hand now was whether any more pieces to that puzzle, be it artifact or information, would be waiting for them within the vault.

“What we have here is teleportation.”

For some reason, the words sank in her deeper than Jazdia would have thought. Sure, back in her old days in the Organization, she had seen similar magic being tested, developed, and utilized in a very limited capacity. However, it was a tricky thing to work with, required a lot of power, and came with risks and rules that all combined make it somewhat impractical. To imagine they were literally picking up the superior specimen from the dirt makes the coincidence bizarre, to say the least.

But then she realized that they were standing near a vault that likely stored these kinds of items. However, this raised more questions than answers. The biggest one yet was: how it was out here and not in there?

“It’s dead, of course. It needs a new source of mana. I have to give credit to the people of the distant path. It managed to hold its identity even after several millennia. I’m not even sure if the elves alone are the ones who crafted it.”

"One thousand and eight hundred years ago..." Vesemir said, for once, he directed his attention away from the door that now sounds off multiple mechanical chatter and clacks, and directed it to the scepter, examining it just by looking, and then stroked his thin beard. He looked intrigued, but at the same time, doubtful.

“Teleportation...”

Vesemir could hear the masked knight's musing, but he let the man have the time to ponder it himself and turned to Fia.

"Miss Fia, if I heard you right, then this item could be the answer to the mystery we saw in that baleful chamber. It's running out of mana, you said? A dormant, but dangerous thing nonetheless. You hold on to it for now. Until we concluded our business here."
After saying that, the much-anticipated door behind him announced with a low, but distinguishable voice.

"Atil atsinta. Tuya naran let'atil. Salam, muaqar nathla!"

Vesemir's elven ears perked up upon hearing that, and he immediately scrambled toward the door, exclaiming something in mixed Elvish before reclaiming the keycard as the voice instructed.

"Yes! of course. Aywa! Im tèan!"

The door rumbled as it sank into the frame, and Vesemir walked in, seeing the ancient, well-lit corridor like a thing he had never seen before. It was wide, and the tiles were marble. This section was supported by an excessive number of pillars, which seemed to be the style of that time. Classic.

At the end of this corridor were two sets of doors: one was the heavy doors on the north, and two smaller doors on the western side. The heavy door had an engraved socket that matched Vesemir's keycard, while the smaller door was less sophisticated: the only thing that kept it shut was two metal bars that could be removed with bare hands. The feeling of dread similar to what they encountered earlier in the broken room, could be felt if one approaches those smaller doors, making the larger one seem like the obvious choice. However, perhaps your curiosity was stronger than your fear?

The chest was secured-ish in Verdant's Bag of Many Things, practically doubling, tripling its weight but she's hardier than she looked. The small interlude passed, and they moved in toward the main goal of the trip.

She had vaguely expected horrors and wonders in this land. Looks like they're running into the former first.

The serpent stared at the breach in the stone wall, where rough natural cavern gave way into precisely cut bricks quite obviously made by a different, sturdier kind of stone. A larger concern though, was how the darkness grew ink black past the threshold. There were no obvious sign beside it but she felt it anyway, like a shiver of icy touch dragging down her spine. A feeling of intrusion, of standing on the precipice, like the moment before jumping into deep water. Malice hung in the air, poorly disguised by the stench of ancient decay and dust, an open invitation to some kind of festering banquet hidden by the abyssal darkness.

Nope. Nope, nooope, absolutely not. Verdant's instinct and common sense united in a rare moment of complete and total agreement, that she almost screamed when Vesemir went to enter anyway. Thankfully Mr Elc grabbed him and prevented a very comically dumb ways to die.

"Bossman, that room is bad news." She said with an uncharacteristically grave tone. "Even if whatever it sealed is long since loose. Look at the rubble, it shattered outward."

What were the chance that some ancient abomination survived through some two millenia seal and eventually breaking out, but remained lingering here?

Her attention quickly moved on, almost too eager to get away from the dark room. She find two corpses, still clad in their full gear, and marked signs of desperately futile violence on both the door and weapons. The serpent knelt next to the skeletonized bodies, brusing the scattered patches of dark brown on the floor around them.

"They died slowly." She proclaimed, having good estimate of how much bleeding the doomed pair had. "Deep injuries? And it keep reopen when they attack the door. Until they run out of strength and lay down waiting for the last moment." She stepped back, watching curiously at Vesemir uttering some foreign language to the door. "Why dont they just leave? What's trapping them here?"

While Vesemir strode past that door as if he owned the place, Mr. Elc remained near the doorway, guarding the entrance in case that loud rumbling attracted some unwanted attention. He didn't want to act too hastily in this dungeon-crawling business, and while he was glad his doubt was proven wrong, he still thinks this was all uncannily too easy.

Jazdia was with Vesemir, so it was fine on the frontline in case their boss was doing something reckless again.

Verdant too didn't seem too hasty to go in. The curious youkai was examining the dead, something that no one else seemed interested in doing.

"They died slowly."

She proclaimed, seemed to have a good estimate of how much bleeding the doomed pair had.

"Lucky. Considering the devourer's modus operandi..."

"Deep injuries? And it keep reopen when they attack the door. Until they run out of strength and lay down waiting for the last moment."

Verdant stepped back, watching curiously at Vesemir uttering some foreign language to the door, before she added, to no body in particular, but Mr. Elc felt oblogied to sate the Youkai's curiosity

"Why dont they just leave? What's trapping them here?"

"I think they did, or at least some of them tried." The masked elf said, pausing uneasily.

"If it's true that this ill-fated group was here via teleportation, I bet it was against their will, and something they did not expect. Only half of them were prepared, while the other half looked as if they were spirited away into this tunnel in their sleepwear. I assume, in panic, some of them tried to leave this place, but lost their way in the dark mazes. straight into Devourer's ambushes, or I am very sure they were teleported at night, where the monsters are hunting. Even if a handful of them managed to escape the maze, their chance of surviving in the forest without any preparation is very slim. It's a chilling thought that none of them survived, else we rangers would have found someone who lived to tell the tale."

It was even more chilling that the slaughtering was very likely a deliberate act. When he returned to Alkautsar, he would report this tragedy.

@13org
Mr. Elc was glad that Miwa's proposition to purify the remnants of the dead ended with a conditional if. They indeed did not have much time, and it was best to keep their eyes on the prize and then get out. They were incredibly lucky that their adventure into this maze did not trigger any confrontation, and it was best to keep it that way.

"Any kind of magical protection would be welcome. If my theory is correct... Whatever it is that is this sinister power, it is capable of messing with one's mind. Amplifying their greed, desires and fears until there is nothing but madness left. Think twice about every decision you are about to make and carefully consider if you are being affected by whatever is this power or not." Miwa said.

"It might just be me being a bit paranoid... But If I'm right... It's better to be safe than sorry." she completed, looking to Fia and especially to Mr. Elc.

"You are right." Mr Elc said, smiling behind his mask as he tried to lighten the mood. "We can't just barge into every dark corner. We have plenty of it ahead of us, and I have had enough of that for today."

Well, Miwa had already moved into the corridor. Quite a light-footed that Sojourner was, the masked Elf did not see her walking past him.
It was just him and the Yokai now.
"Wait, you hear that?"

Suddenly, the earth beneath him vibrated. He looked behind and saw the door slowly rise again from its frame.

"Hey! Get inside!" Shouting to everyone who hadn't entered the vault, Mr. Elc gripped the Youkai's wrist and almost dragged her in the process as he leaped into the corridor, just in time before the door completely sealed the room shut.

"Vesemir! What the hell was that! The door, was it your doing? Hey!"

Up in the distance, the door in front of Vesemir had been opened, and the old elf was too mesmerized by whatever he saw that Mr. Elc's words did not reach him.

A fountain, which was surprisingly still in working order, was the first thing they saw upon entering that hall. Other than that, tt had two large statues, assuming the shape of two giant knights with grotesque-looking, horned, frog-mouthed helmets standing menacingly at the eastern side.

This section, like the previous corridor, was illuminated by a series of crystal lamps lining the corners of the ceiling. However, the additional crystal chandelier hanging in the center made this space brighter. The lack of any significant objects suggests that this was simply another antechamber. There was another heavy door to the left, while the corridor stretched straight ahead, devoid of any lighting, making it difficult to discern what lay beyond.

"Friends. I hope you are as excited as I am!" Vesemir was indeed visibly excited, and he breathed the air around him, dust, dampness, and all, like it could energize him.

"I am happy for you," huffed Mr. Elc as he managed to catch up with the group. "But be careful with anything you touch, you almost gave us a huge trouble back there."

"Mr. Elc, I apologize! But let us move past that insignificant thing. This breakthrough should be written in our archive! THIS place, we are the first people who set foot here after more than a millennium! "

"A little more than ten years, actually." A voice interrupted, and in sheer displeasure, the old elf glanced at the intruder who had spoiled his celebration.

"Excuse me?"

"This workshop received a visitor 4115 days ago, not much for the elves, but still considerable. So, Congratulations, you've reached this far!"

The speaker was a semi-translucent man standing at the east door. His face showed little interest as he clapped silently. He appeared neither old nor young and was sharply dressed in a grey suit and tie. His hairstyle was neat, resembling a stereotypical Westernant butler, and he wore thin-framed eyeglasses that made his eyes look partially closed.

This stranger's strange disposition was alarming, but Vesemir seemed more troubled by the disproved claim rather than the potential danger he might inflict.

"Who are you if I may ask?"

The semi-translucent man hovered from his position and stopped a few tiles away from the group. And being this close, the nature of this entity becomes more of an enigma; too collected for a common ghost, yet he didn't seem too ancient looking at his appearance and mannerisms. His voice was slightly echoing, with an accent that felt familiar but hard to place.

"I am Arcan, the only curator of this collection. I considered using the language of the Malaikh, but you are a very colorful bunch, so I think I will use Common language for the sake of courtesy and efficiency." He placed his hand upon his breast to regard Vesemir, and briefly paused to inhale and recite the speech he hadn't rehearsed much for the past millennium.

"So, Visitors, I now formally welcome you to Theriadoere's gallery. As the bearer of the silver ticket, you are free to look around and entitled to claim two artifacts of your choice at the end of your tour, small gifts from my late employer to remind you of us."

With that, he turned back to the door and placed his palm to push it open, surprising Vesemir, and showed that the man wasn't completely ethereal.

It revealed another room where artifacts were displayed. Weapons, jewels, ornaments, and even magic catalysts are all secured inside glass cases reinforced by protective magic. The air inside was conditioned and felt regulated for some reason. The floor was grey tiles arranged diagonally with smaller, round brass separators at every angle, and the ceiling had a similar configuration to the previous room. Another set of doors could be seen, and the socket glowed green, indicating that it could be unlocked with Vesemir's Keycard.

"I hope you enjoy your visit. Please do not hesitate if you have anything to ask."