"Keep together guys."

These rather obvious words of wisdom were uttered by the party head, Arin. A successful Elfin Rouge, she had the agility and skills to see this expedition through. Her party had decided delve into the ruins of the Kartse Plains, a rather bold, and quite possibly dangerous, choice by their leader. The Kartse Plains were not known for their tendency to bring adventurers back alive. Arin, of course, was well aware. In fact, though she wouldn't admit it to her companions, she was rather worried about this entire ordeal. She had decided to take the job because, while arguably the riskiest job that an advenurer could take, it was also the one with the highest potential payout. There could be age-old magical artifacts or treasures buried deep in the crypts or tombs that could  raise their party's ranks up in the Guild by quite a few notches. Of course, there was an equally probably chance that all they would find might be some cobwebs and some dusty books tended to by the occasional undead, but there was no such thing as a guarantee to anybody in the adventuring profession.

Her party still rolled their eyes at her statement. They were obviously not going to stray away from the group, not that any of them were even mildly foolish enough to take such a moronic action in what was considered to be the most uncertain and dangerous area within the Iron Lands. If anything, the entire party had their eyes peeled for anything out of the ordinary. Their spellslinger, Kenia, had cast a 「Lesser Detection」on the area, to scout out any potential traps or lurking enemies. It had turned up clean, which unnerved the party more than anything. How could such a hostile and mysterious place be bereft of any movement or life, dead or otherwise? They weren't buying it, which is why they were still acting cautious despite the magic telling them there was nothing to be wary of. Then again, nobody became renowned adventurers by getting comfortable in what was obviously enemy territory.

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"There's something that looks like a mausoleum up ahead, Arin, should we check it out?"

This little tidbit was brought to them by their resident scout, Daken. A rather modest human, he had been a major member of the Terdine Kingdom's Forest watch, and had the achievements and records back up the name. His passive 「Night Vision」skill alowed him to see details that weren't obvious in the dusk. Daken was a crucial piece of the expedition. Without him, the party would essentially be going in blind.

Arin and everybody moved closer to the entrance that Daken had spotted. It was run-down, cracks evident in the decorated and carved stone. Arin moitioned for her membersto prepare for their descent.

"This is what we've been looking for mates. Keep a sharp eye, this is close to the center of the ruins, and this appears to be a mausoleum rather than a mere crypt. Hopefully we've hit the jackpot. Let's go."

Arin and her party quicly descended into the depths below, aided only by torchlight. The party, in their haste and worry, hadneglected to examine signs that otherwise would havejumped out as warnings to them. So preoccupied with whatever may jump out, with jittery nerves and cloudy vision, even their resident scout skipped out on alarming details. For example, with more scrutiny, they would have noticed the claw marks that lined the walls and stairs, clear evidenceof somethng struggling to flee, or something worse struggling to catch something else. They would have noticed how the door was locked from outside, rather than in, meant to keep something in, rather than keep them out. Blinded by greed and anxiety, they delved deeper.