Talos’ eyes trained on Marissa as she surmised what he had addressed.<strong>”The involvement of a malevolent party is only a theory at this point, but there is no doubt in my mind that the wards of at least one key shard are failing despite the fact that they were set in such a way to last eons before their power dissipates. Thus it stands to reason that they are being undone intentionally. Though they have not yet fallen, for this I’m sure for I would have sensed it and likely would have been successful in my attempts to locate it through scrying.”</strong><br/><br/>The sound of his library once again being pillaged caused the elder wizard to close his eyes with reproach, steeling his patience in his knowledge that the young mageling is not equipped to wield such spells. It would only be through some miracle that she actually understood any of the arcane glyphs scrawled within to derive any sort of stable magical crafting. It was during this moment that one of the tomes slipped from her grasp and fell open to a random page as it thumped to the ground. She only had a few scant seconds to observe the cryptic writing and unfamiliar runes before she was being hauled away by her brother while another wave of Talos’ hand returned all of his material back to their proper place on its shelf. Gilbert’s suggestion elicited a deadpan expression from his distant grandsire.<strong>”I’d sooner give a torch to a gremlin and let it loose in a grain silo. It would be far safer than allowing somebody of her skill free access to any one of those books.”</strong><br/><br/>It didn’t take long for Talos to reassume his stoic composure after a few more harsh puffs from his unlit pipe, causing an abundant amount of brimstone scented smoke to cloud from his mouth and nose.<strong>”Gaius’ resting place is back the way you came. Like the others that came before him, the passages leading to their tombs was where the guardians resided.”</strong>With that last bit of knowledge, the five of you withdrew back whence you came.<br/><br/>Not having been given specific directions, you try the corridor furthest to the east where rounding the bend reveals a masterfully adorned burial chamber wrought of obsidian. In the middle of the modestly sized space was a single sarcophagus made of the very same glossy stone with the visage of a man carved upon the lid adorned in a style of armor that had long since been obsolete. Its craftsmanship is unlike any other you may have witnessed in your life, the details and care with which it was made gave it a lifelike realism suggested it could wake at any moment and go about its day even though it was nothing more than inanimate stone. As you get closer, you can see the name chiseled into the pedestal at its base.<br/><br/><div align="center">Lucian Talonius<br/>Beloved son of Talos<br/>Kin of the Dovah</div><br/>After a moment of befuddlement, you make your way into the next chamber over to find it too was just as elegant as the last, though this one wrought of granite. The figure upon the stone box bore an uncanny resemblance to the previous one, which makes sense with a glance at the pedestal.<br/><br/><div align="center">Serai Talonius<br/>Beloved daughter of Lucian<br/>Savior of the Blighted</div><br/>Moving on you find the third chamber wrought of onyx with a pedestal reading:<br/><br/><div align="center">Aldrick Talonius<br/>Beloved son of Serai<br/>Slayer of Zephyr</div><br/>Finally you enter into the fourth and final chamber adorned in rich, grey marble flecked with seams of gold and silver. As you likely expected by this point, if not recognized the stone figure depicting a man at the height of his vitality, the pedestal read:<br/><br/><div align="center">Gaius Talonius<br/>Beloved son of Aldrick<br/>Champion of Viemera</div>