(Optional approach: in the distance atop a hill you observe a series of stones silhouetted in stark relief against the (night?) sky. (A plume of thick smoke rises from the circle's center.) What will you do?
- Investigate
- Pass by)
You approach a/the circle of mysterious|ancient|foreboding|moss-covered standing stones. (There is a flat slab in the center. Dark stains splashed across it make you shiver ... is that blood?)
{High intelligence: you note the type of stone. Different types of stone can denote different outcomes.}
There is nobody here. What will you do?
- Enter the circle
- Continue your journey
As you enter the circle... (nothing in particular happens |the noise of the birds and the wind rustling in the grass fades and you are in complete silence |) {various different things could happen depending on the type of circle}
- Meditate in the center of the circle
- Perform a sacrifice (choose from party members / pets / items (maybe only burnables?))
Many figures cowled in brown robes, many with grey beards reaching to their feet, surround the central plinth with their arms outstretched and chanting loudly. In the center a figure is sprawled, perhaps unconscious or perhaps drugged, their hands and feet bound to stakes.
- Wait and watch from a distance
- Charge and attack
- (Disguise) join in the ritual
The chanting grows louder and louder, and more frantic, until as it reaches a cresendo one figure who until this point was indiscernible from the others breaks from the circle and strides forward, raising a curved and jewel-studded dagger from a fold in their robe.
- Intervene
- Continue watching