IC VIII Lost in the Flood

[Admiral]

Once Rhenner has shattered the lock, Natalia rushes in and begins searching the cell. From the appearance of the cell, Stephan had not been exaggerating the kobold's mental state: the floor, walls and ceiling are covered in random, frantic scratchings. The cell is rather bare so appears to be little to find, and Natalia doesn't look forward to searching the wooden bucket in the corner of the room.

...lies the web that catches all souls...

Something catches Natalia's eye as she glances around the room. The stone in the corner of the room is scratched just like everywhere else, but the scratches seem to be swimming and rearranging themselves in front of her eyes, until they form readable words. It takes a moment for Natalia to understand: the scratches are not random, but form badly distorted words in an obscure language, one that the only the spell of Tongues grants her the ability to comprehend. Once she points them out to Rhenner, the elf recognizes the alphabet, but not from his education in the Church. He'd seen the language in the Arachnomicon; the alphabet is Infernal and the tongue Abyssal, the language of the high priests Lolth.