At the start of this session, the PCs were joined by a wildling ardent. They just woke up, and there he was. None of the PCs found this the least bit odd (by DM fiat), and they are all (the ardent included) closer than brothers.
It might be worth noting at this point that the carvings are of unknown origin. There are no chisel marks, no remnants of magic, no bubbling or scarring from heat melting the rock, no signs that the images were pressed into the rock, no nothing. Arcana, Nature, History, Religion, Dungeoneering, none reveal anything.
The PCs find a tunnel that slopes down. Deep down. Like, twenty stories down. It opens into a cave, complete with stalactites, stalagmites, blind cave fish, the works. At the back of the cave is a carefully-constructed ten-foot-wide tiled-stone tunnel. It leads to a carefully constructed staircase. The stairs seem old, but solid, and there are no 'moons' in the middle of the stairs. ('moons' being the indentations that develop in the center of old stairs, from countless people stepping in the same place over the ages).
At the base of the stairs, there is a crossroads. Constructed in the same building style (ancient, high-quality stonecutting, tiled floors, walls, and ceilings), there are four paths leading out. One is the path leading up to the surface that the PCs came down. One leads off in an indeterminate direction with no markings. One leads the opposite direction, and is marked with the symbol of an anvil. One leads to another flight of stairs, some ten, fifteen stories down.
At this crossroads, there were four goblins waiting for the PCs. The paladin fell into a pit trap, and the goblins ambushed the PCs in the meantime, twice dropping the ardent below 0 HP. Our first-level heroes dealt with the goblins with great skill, and a good time was had by all (including the ardent).
Inside the crossroads were two main rooms: a bedroom (with two beds) and a storeroom. In the bedroom, there was a loose tile. On the underside of this tile was the following image: a shepherd's crook etc. is bent in a circle around a green disk on a tile in the goblin bedroom. Beneath that tile is another tile. On that one, there is the image of a great tree stands between a bed of flowers and a pile of ashes. The tree, and ashes (but not the flowers) are above a shepherd's crook with a trowel for the butt end.
In the storeroom, there are barrels and crates that fall into three types. The contents are all of mundane items, food, and trade goods.
1. These contain objects in an altered form of the elven style. The materials are low-quality, and the craftsmanship is shoddy, and the tradition isn't quite elven, but it's quite close.
2. These contain objects clearly of dwarven craftsmanship. There is an anvil branded onto each crate.
3. These contain objects in an unknown style. Half of these objects are material. Half appear immaterial. They are translucent, and glow faintly blue. However, they can be held and carried, and are otherwise quite solid. The translucent objects reek of godly magic.
The PCs opted to head down the staircase leading deeper into the earth when they found dust with the same blue glow in the cracks of the stairs.
