Somnak raced ahead impatiently, down the left passage, following the Seneschal's spilled life essence, as the others inspected the twin chambers and the metallic knobs...
He must have gotten forty feet down the tunnel, when up ahead, he could make out a dead-end. No, not a dead end! Instead the tunnel appeared to turn at a ninety degree angle approximately sixty feed in front of him.
Aha! One of the four corners of the pyramid.
The tunnel, all white and aglow, looked eerie to the half-orc. Unnatural!
But he didn't have much time to contemplate his next move, because from around the blind turn in the hall, a creature of nightmare emerged, rounding the corner.
Somnak could make out a hulking shape shambling along the passage heading directly for him now, but in no apparent hurry. The droning mystery was now solved as well, for the haunting sound seemed to emanate from this very creature!
The monstrosity resembled a vaguely humanoid ape-like creature. It was constructed out of what appeared to be a giant pile of hundreds of rotting bamboo poles, fungus, and decomposing plant-life. The droning came from the many bamboo-like tubes, extending from its body, in all directions.
Exhale. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Vssshhhhh, Sphiiiiisshhhh, Vsssssshh, Sshoooooooooooooooo.
The sound, so gentle and soft, was somehow horrifying to the half-orc' ears.
The thing drew closer slowly, lumbering along on four limbs, ape-like. If it saw the half-orc it didn't register any reaction. But directly toward Somnak it came...
Somnak hesitated.