He can't really tell, on account of how it's pitch black.

What he can tell, though, is that all of his clothes are gone—and Herod will be noticing the same—and that the floor is the kind of extremely cold that almost precludes dampness while not quite being frosted over. It's also bare stone, and uneven in a way that suggests a cave of some kind.

What the Tartarus?

They huddle together. Angels are more cold resistant than humans, but that isn't the same as comfortable. Maybe this is a kidnapping attempt?

Either way, the two keep hold of each other and feel around the place. They both bring out their halos. Gav's is too dim. Herod's is naturally invisible, but enhances his senses and allows him to detect magic, if there is any nearby.

There's... some magic here and there. Most of it is too faint to make out, but there is a few bundles of magic up ahead inside...

...corpses?

Yeah. With Gav's halo and Herod's enhanced senses they can make out that they seem to be in some sort of mausoleum, or tomb, or something, carved into rock or packed earth. There are unlit braziers and torches along the hallway, and the walls have horizontal alcoves in which skeletons and desiccated corpses are set.

And three of the corpses in the room a few metres ahead of them have some sort of magic in them. It's dormant, but it's there.

Magic corpses? His first instinct would be to assume some kind of anti-theft, he isn't sure. He takes a closer look, at what kind of magic it is.

It's... complicated. On a conceptual level, it seems like the magic isn't really the kind that has kinds. There's just a whole thing. But if he looks more closely, he will notice there are individual pieces of the magic he can classify. These particular spells have something that is dedicated to preventing decay and that part is closely enmeshed with another bit that prevents leakage of magic from itself, something that seems to directly interface with the motivational system, and some very deeply engraved bits that want to make extra sure that certain types of actions are categorically impossible to anything affected by them.

These pieces are not the only things that exist in these spells, though. There are lots of bits that seem to have no conceptual analogue to what Herod is used to, which seems to be dedicated to making sure the spell functions as intended, overall structural and metastructural thing, and a bit that seems to interface with every other part of the magic at the same time and which is by far the most complex part.

This is absolutely fascinating. Herod can't quite put his finger on how to describe why the magic is different.

His magic almost labels it with a sparkly tag of "novel". Herod is feeling some of it.

But considering that they are not the fun kind of naked and imprisoned, maybe they don't have time for nerdery!

(It's always weird when Gav is the sensible one.)

Herod will go to the nearest torch or brazier and ignite it with a small spell that makes a burst of flame.

It lights up to reveal more of the same. The place isn't very complex or decorated, and the gloss of "a mausoleum of some kind, dug into a cave" is pretty accurate.

Not the best interior design Gav has seen. But better than stumbling naked and blind. Is there any sign to which direction they should go?

There sure isn't. But there is one direction that has the weird fascinating magic embedded in the corpses (that are visible) and one direction where the corpses (that are visible) don't have such magic in them. Do they follow the magic, or do they flee the magic?

They follow the magic. It should at least be a sign of man-made structures. Which could mean not being in a tomb carved into a cave.

Or it could instead mean that the magic inside the corpses is animating them into walking dead. Hostile walking dead. Who are just as naked as Herod and Gavriel but who separately have access to weapons.

"Dispel!" It doesn't work. Not in any way he can tell.

Gav pulls Herod out of harms way.

"Battle Strength! Battle Strength!" He casts on them both. Then he jumps on the nearest corpse with a feint to put it off balance.

It's... not very smart. It doesn't shamble but it's not intelligent. Its two friends are also not incredibly smart.

What they are, however, is durable. They seem to be operating on a "hit points" model rather than a "damage" model: as long as you haven't damaged them enough, they will keep going, even if you manage to do something like remove limbs.

It's a bizarre thing to see happen magically.

The going down is the important part. The weapons can still be removed from their hands, right?

Yup. They're not themselves magical or glued to the corpses. And the zombies do go down, which magically looks—well, each time they're damaged a bit of the magic is spent to try to heal the damage or if that's impossible it just leaks, and eventually there's too little magic for the structural stability of the spell to withstand and suddenly all of the magic dissipates all at once.

Except, that is, for that one large chunk of magic that was interacting with every other part of the spell. That part remains whole and slips away out of this dimension as a single unit.

Once again: Bizarre.

But it doesn't sound of immediate practical importance.

They will keep going, now a bit better armed.

Those are not the only walking dead.

But also, they are not the only magical things in these tombs. If Herod's paying attention, he will find tiny amounts of magic hidden away—small enchanted rings, earrings, and such—inside what look to be burial urns, and sometimes even the coffins themselves. More unsettling still, though, are the skeletons and corpses that litter the floor. Those look more like they died fighting rather than having been buried; their distribution tells a story of a sack, as if there were people here that tried—and failed—to fight off invaders who were hell bent on killing everyone.

(And they'll need to light the torches and/or braziers along the way, if they want to be able to see. It is otherwise very dark.)

Are they able to take a torch with them?

Herod is in fact very much paying attention to any magic around them. He doesn't want to get caught off guard by whatever else is here. Does the enchanted jewelry look the dangerous sort of enchanted upon inspection?