The following day the party and all of the survey crew set out in different directions with plans to meet back at camp in 12 hours to consult about what they discovered. After moaving through the bone yard for some time the party came across what appeared to be ghosts sifting through the bones. All attempts at communicating with them failed. They seemed completely unaware of the party’s presence as they went about their business. Though they appeared to be digging through bones, they didn’t actually move anything, and their hand movements didn’t match the environment anyway. One of them triumphantly held up its hands as though it had found something, and they all set off.
Elsewhere the party discovered anotheg group of ghosts climbing out a shaft, and miming the act of laying out some items across a non-existent table. While the space was clear the party laid out a rope and descended into the shaft themselves, with Jinny and Karya staying above to keep watch. The party discovered a ceiling embeded with pearl-like objects, and continued descending down into a water-filled cavern. At this point Jinny and Karya decided to join their companions, but about halfway down the shaft the ghosts also started to descend. Wary of surviving a reckless descent, Jinny and Karya remained still as the ghosts passed through them, each one draining away some of the character’s vitality. Jinny took 18 damage and lost 1800xp, while Karya took 16 damage and lost 1600xp. Once at the bottom of the shaft the ghosts spread out across the ceiling and mimed harvesting pearls.
Once they were all in the water-filled cavern below, it took the party some time to navigate their way around, eventually climbing up onto a ledge where they discovered some standing stones, and a tunnel. No one could read what was written on the stones, thought the alphabet was familiar. (They were written in Mycenean Greek. Fortunately players don’t read play reports, so this note to myself will go unnoticed!)
The party followed the tunnel away from the direction of the bone cavern. It ended in a wall with a face embeded in it. The face spoke very slowly, communicating that God had punished him in ancient times. Washington Crusher attempted to free him, but failed. The party went the other way down the tunnel, and it did indeed meet up back with the bone cavern. They returned to camp and shared their findings. Each of the other groups also reported encountering ghosts acting in a similar manner, and several had found gems akin to the ones found on the armor last session. These all had a very faint hint of past magics, now useless. As though each were a single fragment of an intricate spell that would have long since failed even if its components hadn’t been disassembled.