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Roderick,
You are standing in a long hallway in front of a heavy, wooden door. To your right and left is a long, high-ceilinged hallway, with magnificent and rather ornate support beams.
In front of the door, a long, thick plank rests in a simple brace - keeping the door from opening towards you. You have an unease about what must be on the other side. It is clearly designed to keep something in - perhaps something dangerous.
There is a window in the door with small, iron bars. You step up to look through, and are hit with a powerful stench. You recoil instinctively, but after fumbling briefly for a handkerchief, you cover you nose and mouth, step back and try again.
At first, you see nothing but darkness. Within a few seconds, though, your eyes adjust and you can make out a dim stairway descending down. From deep below, you hear a man moaning. Or is he praying? You strain to make out his words, but cannot. However, there is something familiar about his cadence.
A voice to your right startles you back from the door.
“Are you here for me?” A young man asks. His head is shaved clean and he wears a simple, white robe. His skin is pale and his cheeks are sunken - as if he is not getting enough food.
“I hope you are,” he continues as you try to regain your composure. “I can help you find the tower.”
You are jarred awake by a small thump as the boat you are on strikes something floating in the river. “Sorry,” calls out the barge master to no one in particular.
It takes a few seconds for you to regain your bearings, but you realize you were dreaming - and now you are back on the barge heading down river to Shima. Nearby, Kesi is meditating and humming one of the chants you had taught her. This particular one is a tale of Imhotep healing the starving prisoners of the dread lord of Isme peninsula. You are fairly certain that she doesn't understand the rich, religious signifiance to the poem - but she picked it up quite easily and it has a pleasing cadence.
It is also the sound you heard in the darkness beyond the door in your dream.