"The first step in reclaiming our place in the world is a simple one."

"Our would-be conquerors know that to control land requires far more than simply laying claim to it and sending in the tax collectors every once in awhile. No, they will have needed to secure the shards of our realm, put down roots here, and to do so they must have built fortresses of their own. As the beating heart of our realm, they would have built a fortress to watch over it, to secure it. No doubt they rewarded their own heroes by giving them old Alarandisian titles and lands. That will be your first task - find and deal with whatever fortress is watching over our fallen capital. Infiltrate it, subdue it, conquer it, the choice is yours to make; I am content so long as it shall not stand against us."

"But first, there is one thing you must do. You have to go to the surface," King Arslan says as he turns towards the ninth tunnel, pointing his hand towards its summit. "That tunnel rises towards the surface, a staircase. Go there, and you will find your way back to the surface...and hopefully, to our city."

You ascend the steps

You turn about from your king, certain of your task, and ascend the steps one by one. The incline is shallow, making it easy to climb up the staircase, but there are thousands of steps all the same, and you only have one another and the elaborate stone carvings for company during your long ascent. Still, the proximity of the Soulstone and its energy pushes you onwards - there truly feels as though there is no challenge that you could not conquer when you are so close to its power. Glancing at the walls every once in awhile, you see the history of the Alarandisian people stretched out before you. The voyage from the old homeland whose name has been lost to the passage of time, the first few settlers and their struggles against the creatures of the wild, their triumph and the glorious early days of a civilization that managed to tame the land, acre by acre.

Then, there is a split. Two stone figures are shown arguing with one another, two brothers wearing warm furs and thick chainmail and with a crown between them and armies besides, and the next moment sees them fighting a bloody duel as a crowd watches on. The two combatants are equally matched, but one triumphs over the other, cutting off his brother's swordhand and sending him crashing to the ground in defeat. Allowing the fallen fighter to live and letting him and all his supporters leave the realm peacefully, the first brother takes his throne, but is miserable all the same.

But a later image shows the two meeting again, as friends and not as enemies, their sons having reforged the friendship between them. They were cousins, and the closest of allies despite what had happened a generation before.

Finally you reach the top, where the steps settle out to flat smoothness and where there stands a thick, round door of solid rock. A deep trench in the stone shows the path it is meant to follow, and hand grips make it surprisingly easy to move. You step close, fingers upon the grips and then you -

Then you hear voices on the other side. One, a woman, drowns out the rest with song and the faint sounds of a harp, heard only as you place your ears against the stone to listen and hear a new verse of whatever song she sings.

"Knights with shining plate and shining swords scaled over his wall,
Against golden guardsmen and verdant wizards did they brawl,
Till the bloody tyrant emerged and said, "You attack me? The gall!"
Hours of fighting, hours of death, but the tyrant king did finally fall,
and our conquering heroes raised their banners over his hall."

"Be quiet," complains another, a man. "The wizard won't be able to concentrate if you keep up that bloody singing."

"It would be little help anyway," sighed another man. "I cannot for the life of me figure out what kind of charm they used on this door. It's something...new. Or at least, something unknown or forgotten. Jerald, pass me my tomes."

"Oh for god's sake. You mean we came all this way, killin' brigands, dodging armies and paying a ♥♥♥♥ fortune in order to get here in the first place, only to get stopped by the first damned door?"

"...and our questing band did argue and fight,
deep underground where there was little light,
One was a rogue with too much bite,
One was a wizard tall in height,
One was a brawler strong in might,
One was a bard who aimed to excite,
One was a mercenary whose hair was white.
Oh! What a motley sight."

"My spirits have been raised already. Not by your song, mind, but by this ale."

"Look, try not to kill each other just yet. If anyone has a pickaxe, now is the time."

The group on the otherside grumbled quietly, but at the very least they had no idea you were there.

Grave robbers, come to pilfer the tombs of the dead. Have they no honor? No shame? Deal with them, in whatever means you see fit.

Can't roll without actions, chaps. For reference and to avoid another transition roll so soon after the last one, you're going to be starting from the door and going from there - and of course, you have the element of surprise and the initiative.