After about 5 minutes of occasional attempts at moving the statue, G had managed to move it enough for them to slip into the passageway underneath the statue's base.
Using (Echolocation) to scout out the passage first, Alex didn't sense much. The passageway beneath the statue was constructed of the same bricks as the other parts of the ruin, and similarly looked to be covered in a layer of moss. The passage was oriented like a hallway, continuing far past the edge of his perception, and had unlit torches held in metal sconces lining the sides of the hallway, marred by rust.
Being so close to the stairway, he could feel cool, moist air from the darkness, indicating either a source of moisture or an opening later down the tunnel.
'It definitely is manmade, but I have no idea what it is…well, we almost HAVE to go down there now.'
"Alright, grab your torch. I'm pretty sure there are some sconces we can light down there."
"Geez, hold on for a minute…that thing was heavy. Let me catch my breath first."
Taking a moment to catch their breath, G sat down and rubbed their shoulder.
"Man, that's the first time I've felt something like pain here. It's kind of like I'm under the influence of some weak painkillers, with the pain being suppressed somehow. I guess that's the benefit of having stone skin…"
"Yeah, the species selection seems to be a lot more potent than the profession so far, but I expect it to balance out as we progress. Anyway, any idea what this ruin was for? I was hoping your skills from choosing stonemason might give you an idea."
"Not at the moment. The statue might clue me into something if we knew anything about this realm, but unfortunately we haven't had enough time to look into the more intellectual sides of this Dream. Though even if we had the time, we don't have any money yet…"
"Yeah, hopefully we can rectify that by the time we get back to Mosshaven. Maybe we'll find something valuable down there, or maybe it will just be an old sewer or something."
"Don't say that, we kind of need it to have something, even if it's just something to fight."
Standing back up and grabbing their torch, G let out a sigh and looked towards the passage.
"Well, even if it is a sewer, there would probably be something we could fight…maybe a giant rat, or some shambling zombies…anyway, I'm good to go. I'll lead the way this time since it's pretty open down there and we can use a torch safely."
With that, G descended the stairs into the darkness, torch in hand. Seeing that, Alex followed suit, following G into the damp corridor. The stone steps were cool from unknown years spent in the darkness, and the air had a sort of wetness to it, indicating some source of moisture deeper in. The moss was less thick past the stairs, but still continued to pattern the ruins for as far as Alex could perceive at the moment.
Seeing the sconces on the wall now that they were both in the passage, G lit one of the torches in the sconces. Seeing that it still ignited, they swapped out their makeshift torch for a real one.
"Looks like this ruin was either secret, these torches are special, or the ruins were only abandoned about 40 or so years ago. The fact that the torches still ignite when it's damp down here is odd."
Staring, surprised at G's confident assessment, Alex looked at one of the other torches.
'Where the hell did they pick that up?'
"I'd bet on the 3rd option, since the sconces are pretty rusty. Either way, that doesn't really matter, does it?"
"Ha, of course it matters. We can guess about the previous purpose of the ruin, and with more knowledge, the more accurate the guess will be. Think about it like this, in those old video games back from before Dreams, "players" prepared for what was in certain areas so that they could either get more out of the area or just make it easier. And you tell me, would you rather know if there were traps down here or not?"
"Fair enough I guess."
'I forget they like to think of Dreams as a separate life, so no shortcuts or outside knowledge…'
Continuing forward in the dark tunnel only illuminated by the torch in G's hand, Alex occasionally used (Echolocation) to get a read on the areas further down the path. It was surprisingly long, with occasional turns and incline changes that made it hard to guess how far they had travelled from where they started.
About 10 full minutes of traversing the stone passage led them to a slightly ajar door in a wall different from the rest they had seen.
The wall had something carved into its surface, but the characters didn't make sense to Alex, likely belonging to an ancient text since it didn't match the written language of Mosshaven as seen on the signs. The door itself was mostly unadorned, but did look to be made of a dark and sturdy metal different from the one making up the front gate to Mosshaven.
The most interesting part of the scene though was that dim, blue light was visible inside of the door, and peeking out. The edge of the door seemed to have some slightly glowing blue material stuck to it as well, which is likely to be the source of the light inside.
G, growing close enough for their torch to shine onto the door, looked at the markings on the wall.
"I can't decipher these, so maybe we can make a rubbing later? As for the door, this glowing stuff is confusing. It's probably some type of bioluminescent plant, maybe moss, but the fact that it hasn't grown outside of this doored chamber is confusing…"
Catching up and standing next to them, Alex looked at the door, pondering the situation.
'The door being open indicates someone or something either having opened it later or left it open when it was abandoned, but there isn't much reason to do the latter. Assuming something opened it after, that would mean that something is probably deeper in…'
"Hey G, something moving might be past this door, so put up your guard. It might be time to drop the torch since the room has some passive lighting too."
"Understood. Should I go first again? I'm probably a bit tougher than you when taking attacks, so if there is an ambush waiting, then I'm better in front."
"Go ahead and go first yeah. I'll enter once you're about 4 steps in, that way we still have room to maneuver if we have to fight in there."
Using a quick burst of (Echolocation), he absorbed the information he could on the room. The door looked to be blocking more hallway, this one populated a large amount of the assumed bioluminescent moss spreading on the bricks making up the walls.
The passage went on for about 10 more meters, before opening into a bigger chamber with a floor that seemed to have a divot deeper than the hallway.
While he analyzed the room, G stepped in cautiously, spear held in both hands after balancing their torch in a sconce. Sliding a step forward at a time while maintaining a defensive stance with their spear, G inched carefully into the room. Carefully taking several short steps, they quickly butted the haft of their spear against the wall, then returned back to their previous pose.
Waiting a moment, they listened for any movement down the corridor reacting to the noise they made. Not hearing anything after about 10 seconds, G looked over their shoulder back through the door, and called out to Alex.
"We are safe up to here, but if there is something in here, it's probably in the chamber up ahead."
Nodding quickly before G turned to face forward again, Alex readied their bow and stepped through the open door.
Skill Description:
Nightvision-This skill grants a portion of one's normal vision in low-light conditions like pure darkness. At higher levels, this benefit can reach further away, eventually working no matter the distance.