Getting to Lake Gorm from the village of Gormless was much easier than expected, thanks to everyone in the group being able to fly (and thus avoid the Disenchanted Forest, even though the Yodhblakat would have probably loved it). The underwater passage was the real challenge, especially for those laden down with armor and weapons. There was a close call with one of the slakash getting disoriented and nearly drowning, but Roogi managed to drag her back to the guide rope in time.

The caverns where just as empty as before, and there were any signs of anyone having come through since they did before. There was quite a bit of grumbling from the slakash during this part of the trip, since it was mostly walking for over a mile underground, which the Babelites really didn't care for. The light from Mave's held spells provided enough illumination to avoid the use of sonar at least.

By the time the group reached the hidden door, they could hear sounds of commotion on the other side. "You two stay here and guard this passage," an unfamiliar voice commanded. "Something's going on at the gate and the rest of us are going to guard this side of the bottleneck." After a few moments, another voice spoke in a whisper, "Why are we guarding a cave-in anyway?"

As planned, Alptraum cracked open the secret door just enough for Mave to cast one of her spells through. The two guards stiffened, and then collapsed into quivering bundles. It was clear from the glimpse of them that they were disguised as the sorcerer Dack, both appearing to be aging Khattas in dark robes.

Alptraum draws the dark dagger and fingers it lightly in his hand. "Prisoners or not?" he offers quietly to Tulani. "Just remember that they would have killed us before you decide."

Tulani stands back, crossbow held at the ready as looks to Alptraum with an arched eyebrow and a grim look on her face, "While I'd rather not make the decision at all. If there is something to bind them with and time … then prisoners," the Sphinx quietly replies… "If not… " She simply lets the sentence fall off, it was rather obvious what the not likely was.

"If not, then you go ahead and I will handle it. See what everyone has while I check them," Alptraum notes as he kneels down to inspect one of the fallen foes with his free hand. His other hand remains ready to strike should he need to.

"They will be helpless for several minutes," Mave whispers to Alptraum, and follows him out into the tunnel. The men's features are already breaking up, as parts of them real faces begin to show through the illusion. One is indeed a Khatta, although with brown fur and a white chin, and the other is a Gallah mutt with thick black fur. Both stare blankly.

With a nod, Tulani turns back to the group following, asking in a whisper, "Does anyone have anything that could be useful for binding or restraining a captive?"

The Yohdblakat all produce various bits of rope, chain and even one garrote with wooden handles.

"These must be some of the ones he 'summoned' to his side. Some sort of mind control, I would assume," Alptraum notes as he looks grimly over the two. "Anything, Tulani? If not, then I'll do what must be done."

"We've got some rope and chain", Tulani replies as she Quickly takes the offered materials, carrying them over to where Alptraum is and starting on quickly binding the arms and legs of one of the now 'prisoners'.

Away goes Alptraum's knife and he works on binding and gagging the other one. To Tulani, he notes rather grimly, "You will have to kill sooner or later. This is the world at stake, we cannot take too many risks. If killing Dack doesn't free them … then I will finish the job later."

"More for us to kill then," Roogi says, grinning wildly.

Tulani doesn't reply for a moment but looks solemnly at Alptraum as she stands, "I understand that… I haven't been in many situations like this. If you don't think there is a possibility do not ask me to make the decision, and I will simply assume the second choice." She sighs and winces slightly at Roogi's enthusiasm. "Onwards?"

Alptraum double checks the bindings on the prisoners, then nods. Back to his feet, the bat then starts slowly slinking down the passageway, ears erect and listening for anything.

The Sphynx follows nearby, crossbow held at the ready, watching carefully for any troops … or, in fact, anything unusual.

There is a group of men back along the main passage, easily audible to the Eeee. At least eight are clustered near the old 'trap' that was triggered to seal off the passage before. The chamber with the sarcophagus is along the other direction, but is far enough off that any sounds likely wouldn't reach this far.

"Hm," Alptraum muses quietly as he peers at the men near main entrance. "My concern with striking them now would be rousing whomever is active in the chamber. I would like to strike at Dack from a position of surprise. However, if they hear a battle in the sarcophagus chamber, they may come to assist, which would be bad as the entrance is too wide to easily secure. Wait here. I want to see how many are in the main chamber too before I decide."

"I can silence half of them," Mave claims.

Tulani does not look pleased with the idea of letting Alptraum scout ahead on his own, but concedes readily, nodding, "Do what you think is best, come back quickly." she tells the Sylvanian Eeee.

"Be right back," Alptraum whispers and slinks off towards the former dragon chamber. His plan, just see how many are present, then slink back. No entering, no fighting.

In the darkened hall, it's easy to spot the passage leading to the sarcophagus chamber. Firelight spills out of it, and two shadows are projected onto the far wall of the main hall. Each is unmoving, and holding a spear or a pike from the silhouette. The soft voices of at least three other people can be heard as well, moving about inside the chamber.

Nodding to himself, Alptraum slinks back to the main group. "At least five in the chamber. That leaves us with thirteen total to deal with if we do not trim these down first," he notes quietly. The Eeee rolls his jaw in thought, debating the situation. "You can disable half of these?" Alptraum asks Mave. Then I have a suggestion. We enter the main chamber now. Mave, you take position near the entrance and disable them when they come running then withdraw quickly. Roogi, your team them tears them down from the shadows near the entrance. My hope is this will prevent Dack from preparing anything nasty for us if he had heard a fight out here. Any disagreements?"

Waiting anxiously, Tulani lets out a small sigh of relief at Alptraum's returns, tilting her head as she listens to his proposed plan. "I have nothing better to suggest, I'm with you on this." she replies with a decisive nod.

"Roogi, Mave?" Alptraum asks the other two Eeee.

"We get to kill these ones, right?" Roogi asks.

"Soon, yes," Alptraum whispers with a nod. When they come running into the main chamber. "I don't want to give Dack more prep time."

Tulani says, " Um… the only thing I can think of is to hide her behind someone or something. We can't be seen from where we are now, and probably not from a little further forwards, she is Eeee as well, so could probably hear if a commotion started or people came running?"

Alptraum stops for a moment and rubs the bridge of his muzzle in thought. "Better plan, let's lure them back into this passage and have Mave incapacitate them," he says, "Everyone, back the way we cam a bit. I'll try to lure them down."

"Alright." Tulani says and backs up a ways, crossbow raised and ready to try to peg any that might not fall to Mave's spell.

"And Roogi, if you kill, do it quietly for the moment. Don't worry, it'll get loud soon enough," Alptraum tells the red Eeee.

The slakash nods, and flashes some hand signals to her three subordinates.

"Yes, whoever had the garrote, this is likely a good time for it." Tulani adds, remembering that as the one item she hadn't taken for securing the first 2.

"Right, now back into the shadows. Time to lure," Alptraum says as he slinks to the corner where he can peer around at the eight. There he pauses … and after a moment actually starts coughing loudly. "In a rasping and strangled sort of voice to disguise his own, he calls out to the guards, "Hey, there's a problem back here. I think there's some sort of hot spring leak … some nasty steam is leaking up from a huge crack in the cave in. We've got to seal it before it disturbs our Master. Quickly, we need help!"

And right after saying that … Alptraum does a rapid retreat to join the others.

"That you, Francois?" one of the guards calls at the sound of the cough. When there's no reply, three of the guards start down the hall to investigate.

Alptraum holds back in the shadows and resumes his coughing as a 'guide' to the approaching guards. "I hope Mave can hold them… " he thinks.

Tulani holds ready, waiting and hoping on Mave's spell.

"What's going on?" the lead guard asks as he turns into the side passage, the other two on his heals. His face shows surprise, and then all three drop their jaws and fall to the knees. The faces show identical expressions of rapture.

Alptraum nods, pleased. "Excellent," he murmurs and moves to secure these two with what he can scavenge from them. "That just leaves five in the hall and five in the chamber. Better odds," he whispers.

As soon as the three investigating halt, Tulani quickly steps forwards and assists Alptraum and binding them. "Definitely better odds … now the question is, do we go on, or wait to see if the others follow suit and come to investigate?" she asks in a whisper of her own to the Eeee.

"I was thinking on sending three of the slakash to deal with the five in the hall, then Roogi, you, Mave, and I, go after Dack, but I'm open to suggestions at this point. "Opinions? What spells do you have left, Yodhinala Mave?"

"I have only one miracle remaining," Mave explains. "It will cause them to view me in awe, but it may not protect the rest of you."

"Three against five?" Roogi asks, and turns to her three slakash, who grin in anticipation. "Do they need to be very quiet?"

Tulani crouches down for a moment to think about how to proceed next, looking over the three new captives tied up on the ground.

"Then I know what you can do with that. Can you trigger it … wait, better. Can you walk closer to those remaining five and make them stare at you in awe? Then we charge in and eliminate them quietly. That then allows us to be as loud as we want when we enter the main chamber," Alptraum offers, grinning.

Mave nods to the suggestion.

"Hang on a moment… there may be a small problem Alptraum… " Tulani says quietly, "So far all we've run into have been disguised as Dack. I'm wondering why. You don't think they could have managed to move the sarcophagus do you?" she asks quickly, looking over at Alptraum.

"Unlikely, it was huge, remember," Alptraum points out. "Though I could be wrong. We won't know for certain till we get in there."

"Alright, just something I wanted to note." The Sphynx admits with a nod.

"As for why, easy enough. Which one do you kill if you have to pick?" Alptraum adds. "If Dack was recognizable, he would be the first target."

"True." The Sphynx concedes, "I'm as ready as I'm going to get, just tell me when to move."

"All right, Mave, time to pretend you're a ghost of beauty and pleasure. See if you can get them to put down their guards. Roogi, have your team ready; I want them down quickly and quietly. Tulani, be ready to shoot any too if required," Alptraum instructs.

Standing tall, Mave steps out into the darkened hall and turns towards the remaining guards. The three slakash trail a dozen yards behind her. A flash of light signals the release of the glamour, followed by the rattle of weapons being dropped. Then the slakash move in, and a few moments later the narrow passage that was hacked through the tunnel blockage is under control of the Eeees.

"Right, so that deals with them," Alptraum mutters a bit grimly. He gets up and goes to join Mave and the slakash to survey the damage as well as if this point should be guarded or not.

Holds her crossbow at the ready, though she doubts any of the guards would be missed by the violent Eeee and quickly finds herself to be correct as she follows Alptraum over. The Sphynx looks quickly back towards the light coming from the main chamber. "So, how do you want to handle this Alptraum? Do you just want to rush in weapons drawn? I don't know if there is a way to get in there stealthily." she asks of the Eeee.

"Well, there are several possibilities, and you're right, we aren't going in stealthily," Alptraum notes, "So, I think we should go for shock and terror. Roogi, how many of your team do you think would be required to hold this passage in case others come? Mave, could you stay here and pray for another Miracle on the off-chance we may need it?"

"Without the Light, I may not have time," Mave says, seemingly more beautiful than ever now. "And your foe is a sorcerer. He may be immune to Inala's touch."

"Two can hold this passage," Roogi says. The carved out tunnel is barely wide enough for one person to move through at a time.

Alptraum nods. "Then I think your role may be done for now. You have helped immensely by reducing what we have to deal with. I would like you to stay back in safety. If the slakash here have to start fighting off foes, we will need you to come warn us as well," he tells Mave. To Roogi, he says, "Then select who you feel should guard this passage from more of Dack's minions. You and the other will then come with us towards the main chamber. And … I think this time I want you to be loud. I want them to think the countless Hells are coming for them, so to speak."

Roogi grins and taps the eldest of the three other slakash. Both of them then pop the corks on the little vials they have hung around their necks, and down the contents.

"I suggest keeping a small distance back from them," Alptraum says to Tulani, then steps back from Roogi and her partner. "This will get ugly."

The two slakash dash off down the hall, and let out blood-curdling screams as they go!

Tulani glances in Alptraum's direction, trying to suppress the cold feeling in the pit of her stomach and does as bidden, not sure entirely what to expect, but quite sure it will be violent … and 'ugly'.